Why I love Jiu Jitsu

My first lesson in BJJ wasn’t that I was terrible at the sport, but rather that I could literally trust my training partners with my life.

There are a million reasons that people train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Some like the self-defense aspects. Some like that it is an amazing workout. Others just love feeling confident and in control. If you’re thinking about trying BJJ, then let me tell you why I LOVE jiu jitsu.

This “Gentle Art” has changed me in ways that I never expected when I started. I’m so thankful that I swallowed my fear and walked into the gym on that first day.

While I’m far from a professional athlete, I have enough basic athleticism that I’m rarely the last person chosen in recreation kickball. That being said, I had never been so thoroughly outclassed in anything as I was in that first training session. Every single instinct that I had was wrong. When I finally left the gym, my head was spinning and I was trying to understand what had just happened to me.

I had tried other martial art classes before, but at 25 years old (at that time) I wasn’t challenged by even the meanest 9-year old black belts of those other sports. I felt those ranks were purchased rather than earned, and so it felt very inauthentic to me. BJJ was something different. Something special.

BJJ White Belt > TaeKwonDo Black Belt

The people that I trained with that first session were maybe at the blue belt level at the time, which is just one rank higher than my lowly white belt, and several ranks still below black belt. I don’t think that I even gave them a proper warm-up, though I had put everything I had into each match.

I had been submitted countless times, yet I left the gym without a single injury. I didn’t have a black eye or a busted nose. My teeth were all intact. My joints had been stretched to the limit, and I had been choked out several times. Every single time that I tapped out, however, I was immediately released and was shown a lot of respect. No taunting or jeering like you see in so many other sports.

I learned that day that a Rear Naked Choke is the ultimate trust fall.

My first lesson in BJJ wasn’t that I was terrible at the sport, but rather that I could literally trust my training partners with my life. I get goosebumps thinking about how powerful of a first lesson that is. I can promise you that I wouldn’t trust Devon from my book club with anything more than a handshake (if you’re reading this, Devon, I want my copy of Twilight back!) Yet, every single day I trust each person in my gym with my health and my livelihood, and they trust me with theirs.

This unique social dynamic allows you to short-circuit the typical process of making friends and quickly plunges you deep into the folds of the brother/sisterhood of the Jiu-Jitsu community. When somebody submits you, you show them a vulnerable side that you probably have never shown even your closest friends before. It strips the ego away and reveals the true person beneath. The people you train with bond with you in ways that normally take months or years to achieve otherwise.

This could be your next BFF

I have some amazing friends at my gym that I know I could count on for anything, yet we know almost nothing about each other outside jiu jitsu. Earning trust is usually a long and complicated dance. It’s a dance where both parties slowly give small, intimate pieces of themselves through conversations or shared experiences, and then they wait to see if that other person somehow breaks that trust before extending greater amounts of trust. BJJ cuts through all of that.

If you don’t believe me, I challenge you to go to a Jiu-Jitsu tournament sometime and watch the competitors before and after a match. Before the match, these people are strangers. They have their emotional walls up and their game faces on. There is rarely small talk unless the two people happen to know each other from somewhere before. But after the match, you would think they have been friends for life. They’ll often discuss the match excitedly. They’ll trade pointers, joke about mistakes, and show every indication of deep friendship. Sometimes people are too disappointed by a loss to make friends, but often there is a new bond that was built in 5 minutes of sweat that would have taken two months in the real world.

You don’t just make friends in Jiu-Jitsu. You create intense bonds that go deeper than the limitations of conversation will normally allow. You learn to trust people, and people learn to trust you. The more people trust you, the more you become a teacher to them, and becoming a teacher is where real confidence begins.

Some people seem to be born with an abundance of self-confidence, but most people need social feedback to build themselves up on the inside.

We often need somebody else to believe in us before we too start believing in ourselves. Positive feedback is the seed crystal that allows all of our self-worth and confidence to grow.

The problem with a lack of self-confidence is that in showing that you lack it, society will readily agree with you. And why not? You know yourself better than anybody else can. If you don’t believe in yourself, why on earth would anybody else take the chance to believe in you? You have to reverse this cycle, and I promise Jiu Jitsu is a great way to do that.

Elite Sports

This sport drew me in because it was a challenge to my own self-confidence. When I started training, I was a lost lamb out there on the mats, and the wolves were getting hungry. I knew that I wouldn’t have confidence in myself again until I had proven myself capable of succeeding in this sport.

Day after day I put myself out there and day after day I learned important but tough lessons through defeats. In the beginning, I never felt like I was improving, but I had no frame of reference for judging my improvements.

That changed the first time this new guy came into the gym who was maybe 15 pounds bigger than me. He was a macho guy, and that intimidated me. I was nervous to roll with him. I had worked so hard and I didn’t want this brand new guy to be able to beat me even though he had never trained a day in his life.

If it had been a movie scene, I’d have beaten him using some ancient secret that looked fantastic in slow motion. But this was real life. It was a very physical match that ended at the buzzer with neither of us “winning”. While not getting tapped out was a confidence booster for me, the real ego boost was yet to come. “Man, you’re strong,” he said. “How did you flip me like that?”

I’d never been called strong before, and he was bigger than me! But more importantly, I had just become a teacher. The lost little lamb had grown a little claw. Suddenly the wolves didn’t seem quite so intimidating. Now, 10 years later, BJJ has built upon that moment for me and has brought me such a deep feeling of inner peace and belonging. Those voices in my ear that always whispered doubts have had their volume turned way down.

BJJ has given me that quiet inner-strength that lets me know that I can deal with defeat, and so I’m no longer afraid to take risks in order to win–both in BJJ and in all other aspects of my life.

I have met so many people that started their journey in Jiu-Jitsu as timid or meek individuals, and over time I have watched them find a strength that they never knew they were capable of having. I don’t believe for a second that this new-found confidence is a result of developing the ability to beat people up. I believe it comes from naturally transitioning from the role of a student to being a teacher.

The beautiful thing about Jiu-Jitsu is that you don’t have to be the person leading the class to help teach a teammate some detail that they are struggling with. White belts teach each other all the time; it’s just part of the culture of the sport. As those little lessons increase in scope and complexity, so the student becomes the teacher. Teachers become leaders, and leaders begin to receive those positive social cues that reinforce and build self-confidence. By the time somebody reaches the rank of blue belt, they are already stepping out of their own shadow and into a brighter version of themselves.

So, to answer the question of why I love Jiu Jitsu:  it is a fundamental part of who I am. It continues to steer me towards being the best version of myself that I can hope to be. I can no longer separate the part of me that practices Jiu-Jitsu from the rest of my identity. Through learning the sport, I’ve discovered more about myself than I ever thought possible. I’ve exposed my hidden doubts to the world and have watched them whither as I’ve become stronger both in and out of the gym. I’m a better communicator. It has helped me in my career. It has helped me as a husband and as a father. It has shaped me for the better, and I can’t wait to see where it will take me next.

I plan to always be a Student of BJJ, even as I become a teacher through this site.

If you made it this far, Thank you! I’d love to hear your story below in the comments. Also, I want to take a minute to thank Elite Sports for sponsoring this post. If you’re looking for quality, budget-friendly gis and fightwear, look to them first! (You can also find them in the UK and Australia)

Is Wrestling Influencing Jiu Jitsu?

To be a high-level MMA competitor, you have to have some grappling skills. Period. If you can’t defend basic takedowns and submission attempts, you will not consistently win at the elite level. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu used to rule the ground at most of the major MMA events, but I’ve noticed in recent years that wrestlers with very little BJJ experience are dominating fights, even against savvy BJJ competitors. With wrestling obviously influencing high-level MMA, I was curious what influences wrestling was having at high-level grappling competitions, so I reached out my old coach, Roli Delgado to get his thoughts.

Roli is a veteran UFC and Bellator fighter, and medalist at BJJ Pans and Worlds Masters divisions, and active coach at Westside MMA in Little Rock, Arkansas. He’s a leglock specialist that has had one of the best straight anklelock games in the world since before people were going crazy for leglocks. What I’m trying to say is that he’s plugged into the fighting community and his tactical mind notices the trends before most other people do.

I thought his take on wrestling vs. Jiu Jitsu was incredibly interesting, so I wanted to share it with everyone. Let me know what you think!

Roli Delgado: Wrestling Vs Jiu Jitsu

The historically recent surge of Jiu Jitsu’s bottom based game compared to the greater history of the grappling arts, in general, is like the comparison of how old the earth is compared to how long we as humans have been on it. It’s pretty insignificant.

A bottom-position focused game has flourished in this part of the world in that short time because of a combination of reasons. Judo almost completely focused on takedowns. Catch wrestling was consumed by entertainment pro-wrestling. Russian Sambo was geographically so far isolated from everyone else. This created a vacuum in the grappling arts where you could get away with not having good takedowns and fighting from a bottom position became easier.

To say wrestling is influencing BJJ is also a bit historically short-minded in my opinion. What a BJJ player sees as a half guard a wrestler may see a Turk (pinning position). Wrestling in a lot of ways is more about control than BJJ.

I consider myself a grappling coach [as opposed to just a Jiu Jitsu coach], I primarily compete in BJJ however I teach wrestling and Sambo in addition to the amazing BJJ I learn from GFTeam. In no way does this take away from what BJJ has accomplished. BJJ is young, but evolving. It is the melting pot art where we can see so many influences from other combat arts. As new skills are rolled into the BJJ universe, a truth is starting to surface.

The top position is the dominant position.

What we’re seeing now is a return to what to me is a universal rule–the guy on top is winning. Of course, there are outliers, specialty positions, and unique body types. In general, however, when two equal competitors meet, a wrestling match breaks out, and this favors the top position.

Aside from that all-encompassing and broad stroke opinion/observation, another reason wrestling is the glue that should hold grappling together is that so many reversals or sweeps aren’t perfect. You sweep 40% and finish with 60 percent wrestling! How often do you see good young grappler’s wait for the perfect sweep only to be outworked by the wrestling-minded opponent? It happens all the time.

Wrestling is not only refined so much more than other arts, but it’s also a mentality that has its own fundamentals that are different from BJJ. I had the rare opportunity to spend considerable amounts of time with the Late Billy Robinson and it was amazing to see his take on grappling philosophy compared to Jiu Jitsu specialists.

Of course, the competition rules are what shape the style, so we can look to MMA to see that wrestling is the #1 factor for consistent control on the ground. Most wrestlers with defensive submission skills can still maintain top position while not getting subbed.

Student of BJJ – Final Thoughts

While the topic of grappling influences on each other through the ages could be discussed for days and days, I thought this was a nice snapshot summary of Jiu Jitsu. As guard passing and leglocks become more refined, I tend to agree that the advantages of top position will begin to assert themselves more and more. What do you think? Leave a comment below!

And thanks, Roli, for always taking the time to discuss Jiu Jitsu with me.

If this is your first time visiting the site, don’t forget to check out our free compilation of resources at our Submissions and Positions pages.

This site is free from advertisements because of the generosity and loyalty of fans like you! You can support the site by visiting our Store (free shipping using this link!) or just by simply sharing with your friends 🙂 )

#SHEspect – Women of Jiu Jitsu

Before we begin…

Through this site and social media pages (Instagram and Facebook), I’ve been able to come in contact with some truly inspiring women in Jiu Jitsu. One such woman, Jody Morgan, has made it her mission to help get women out of abusive situations through the power of Jiu Jitsu. She agreed to share her story on my blog. I’m honored to help spread her message! With no further ado, I’ll turn it over to Jody!

Women of Jiu Jitsu – Jody Morgan

Statistically, the most dangerous place for a woman is in her own home.

Let that sink in a moment.

Over 1 in 3 women have experienced some type of violence or rape….by an intimate partner….someone  they once trusted…Someone they once or still love. This means that one-third of women that walk through the gym doors has had a violent past and will have triggers that they will have to overcome in order to train Jiu Jitsu.

Everyone is nervous on their first day of jiu jitsu, but for women, it’s especially terrifying. One of every three women that walk through the gym doors has had a violent past that they will have to overcome in order to take that first step on the mat. Watching from the sidelines doesn’t help. Witnessing a demonstration of a Full Mount or Closed Guard position isn’t inviting. Listening to the weird names of the moves is confusing. And what’s worse is that it LOOKS a lot easier than it really is.

Why Jiu Jitsu?

I started jiu jitsu because my entire family was involved in the MMA scene, and secretly I just wanted to know what a “Shrimp” was. (Seriously who comes up with these names?) I wanted to watch a UFC fight and recognize the submission that the fighters were attempting. I wanted to stand on the sidelines of my 8-year-old’s jiu jitsu tournaments and know how to help him obtain a victory. (because you know momma’s have way louder voices than dad’s and coaches LOL)

What I really needed was a “Jiu Jitsu for Dummies” Crash Course. I asked my Pro MMA Husband to give me privates and he refused. He was willing to coach me in striking, but if I wanted to learn jiu jitsu I needed to come to class and learn from his professor.

Demonstrating Jiu JItsu Techniques

I literally had anxiety attacks for the first 3 months every single time I came to class, even though I had a huge advantage over most other newbies. I knew everyone at the gym by name and my husband and older kids attended the same class as me. Plus, I was lucky enough to start at the same time as another woman so we became drill partners and fast friends.  (Both of us have stuck with BJJ for two years now. It is a given that if one of us gets promoted the other is about to get her name called as well! She is definitely a key to my success) STILL, I got so nervous that I almost medicated before class. I refused to live roll with anyone for months.

I’ve always been one to easily bruise, so you can imagine my boss’s reaction when I came to my office job in a sleeveless dress with 25 fingerprint bruises all over my arms. He was briefly concerned that my husband was being abusive. I laughed and set the record straight.

When I told the story later to my husband, it wasn’t as funny. It wasn’t as funny because all of a sudden I was 12 years old again and reliving an abusive childhood. All the emotions came flooding back as if it were yesterday. Constantly having to walk on eggshells in my own home in case he was in one of his moods, or hiding the truth from teachers and friends as to not draw attention and make the situation worse. Hiding at a neighbor’s house for days or weeks at a time to let him cool down.

My Bruises are from…

As fate would have it, I found a non-profit organization called “My Bruises are from…”. It is a Domestic Violence awareness campaign that designs shirts, rash guards, and spats, and in turn, donates the proceeds to the Domestic Abuse Shelter of your choice.  

I was instantly drawn to the idea of using jiu jitsu as a way to support other women. I was a newbie white belt who didn’t know anyone in the BJJ community. With permission of the gym owner and the support of my professor, we organized an Open Mat for Women Only.  We made it open to the public. The price of admission was an item from our local Domestic Abuse Shelter’s wish list. The response was overwhelming!

I imagined it was going to be other women in the surrounding area who would come out and enjoy another woman to roll with. But instead, it was the women who watched on the sidelines that showed up. They secretly wanted to try BJJ, but not with some huge sweaty guy. We had women of all ages and walks of life join us. The majority of women were moms, so I named it “Momma’s on the Mat”. They get what I wished I had when I started…..a Jiu Jitsu 101 class and another woman to drill with.

What do we do?

  • We go over the importance of wearing our bruises with pride while we stand in the gap for those who hide their bruises.
  • I educate them on the resources available to those who may be in need and we always take a group picture. We take the picture blast it all over social media for the simple fact that if one of our acquaintances is in trouble and they are READY to leave they will come to those pictured.
  • I arm them with tiny tri-folds that lay out a “Safety Plan” so they can give them out discreetly or boldly [Click HERE for a downloadable PDF so you can print your own].
  • We practice the most useful basic moves of jiu jitsu and we have a blast.
  • I don’t claim that I teach them how to defend themselves in a live attack but I did give them their first step.

Here’s the thing…

Real life self-defense cannot be attained in a weekend seminar. You need to attend classes regularly. You need to drill moves until they become muscle memory. It involves live rolling with 200+lb men who are trying to submit you as much as you are trying to defend the submission. You need to FEEL somebody’s full weight on your chest and learn to keep breathing and keep THINKING. You have to train in order to overcome that paralyzing fear.

I don’t claim that I saved anyone’s life by holding a quarterly open mat. I just help them take that first step on the mat. And that makes my heart happy.

Closing Thoughts (Student of BJJ)

I want to personally thank Jody for taking the time to share her story amidst her obviously busy schedule of empowering women through Jiu Jitsu. Problems like Domestic Violence only get better through awareness and action. It takes a courageous soul to step up and be the change they want to see in the world.

If you’re curious about #SHEspect

Student of BJJ started the movement as a way to support and show respect the female grappling community. It’s our way of helping to welcome females into BJJ and let them know we stand behind them. You can find #SHEspect apparel/stickers HERE. The profits go towards supporting this site, keeping it both free and free of ads. You can purchase “My bruises are from…” apparel HERE, and the profits will all go to Domestic Abuse shelters and other support organizations.

#SHEspect Logo

Lastly, If you’re looking for a Jiu Jitsu “crash course”, I’ve compiled a BJJ Glossary to help you learn the lingo. My Positions and Submissions pages are full of free resources that can help you quickly understand the important concepts so that you can progress faster through the ranks.

Train hard, my friends. To all my female grapplers, Student of BJJ has the utmost SHEspect for you.

Jiu Jitsu Sweep Theory

Welcome, Estudantes, to Sweep Theory 101.

The purpose of this post is to help my tribe, my Estudantes, think about their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in a new, fresh way. These are the sweep concepts that work for me, and they are broad enough that I think everybody can benefit from them. Nothing is 100%, but approaching sweeps using these core principles have really increased my sweep success rate.

I spent a long time learning Jiu Jitsu the wrong way.

To put it more precisely, I didn’t learn the wrong way, I was (and sometimes still am) taught it in the wrong way. My Jiu Jitsu system didn’t really improve like I wanted it to until I took my education into my own hands. I find it overwhelming to spend a class learning a series of ultra-specific moves branching off of some themed position. I just can’t bring up that obscure technique or detail that I drilled 3 years ago. Especially while in the heat of a live roll. I need concepts that I can fall back on.

Concepts are adaptable.

Concepts grow with me and allow me to be creative when situations get tough. Details are what separate a brown belt from a black. Most of us aren’t brown belts, so details overwhelm and paralyze us. This resource may be lacking in specific moves, but it is rich in concepts, which can be adapted towards your specific body type and style of Jiu Jitsu. Mastering a single concept is like learning a thousand techniques at once. Spend your time learning why a particular technique works, and you’ll be a much more competent grappler than if you mindlessly drill each variant over and over and over just in case that specific scenario comes up in a live roll. My goal is to introduce you to the foundation that almost every sweep is derived. Understanding that will help you understand how each and every sweep variant works, and perhaps why it failed when you tried it last. It will help you understand what you can do in order to succeed next time. Understanding and internalizing the core concepts will allow you to improvise during a live roll and even pull off sweeps that you’ve never seen before.

The first thing that we need to do is define a sweep.

I’ll take a broad definition and say a sweep is taking an opponent from an equal or dominant position and forcing them into the inferior bottom position. In a very broad sense, it is flipping somebody that is on the offensive into a defensive position. If that’s unclear, you’ll know you’ve swept somebody when they go from looking down at you to looking up at you because of something you intentionally did.

Overhead Sweep

So… you are simply trying to flip somebody over.

See how easy that is? What’s weird, though, is that it took more than half of a decade for me to figure that out. People don’t teach you to flip somebody over. They teach you how to scissor sweep. Or hip bump. Or butterfly. Or bridge and roll. Or whatever and whatever and whatever. But when’s the last time that your professor told you to just flip somebody over?

A typical human body is, in its simplest form, a cylinder with 4 moving sticks attached to it, plus a smallish, lumpy stick at the top. It’s those five moving stick–or limbs–that keep the cylinder from just rolling right off of you. When you decide it’s time to flip somebody over, your priority becomes manipulating those limbs so that they can’t make it difficult to roll the cylinder around.

 

A sweep will almost always use this core concept: incapacitate two adjacent “sticks” and then push the cylinder in that direction.

So you need two main parts—a way to control two limbs, and a way to manipulate the mass of the cylinder body. The easiest thing to do is control an arm and a leg on the same side of their body and then push their body over those incapacitated limbs. If they can’t reach out with an arm and/or leg to stop the roll, then they have no leverage to stop you. You might have to get creative (and sometimes strong), but the core of most sweeps is in this concept.

The thing that took me so long to understand was what it meant to incapacitate the limbs.

It’s not always as straightforward as gripping a limb. For example, if an opponent is using one of the limbs to support their weight, then that limb is now anchored to the mat. Think about if somebody is standing on one leg. If they get pushed by anything, they’ll fall over unless they can either do a little hop or utilize another limb to catch themselves. That one supporting leg is basically incapacitated because it doesn’t have full mobility. It is performing a critical job of keeping the person upright, so even without you grabbing it, you incapacitate that limb if you keep them from adjusting their weight distribution.

via GIPHY

This concept can be used to incapacitate a limb when you get to be a more advanced sweeper. Shifting your opponents mass so that their weight is centered on a limb, rather than having their weight evenly distributed between two or more limbs, allows you to control that limb remotely without ever having to touch it. If I can get my opponent to put all their weight on one leg by pulling on their sleeve and/or lapel, and then knock that leg out from underneath them, they will flip before they know what hit them.

So, when you’re decide to sweep somebody, you’ll need to look for the two main components of the sweep: limb control and mass management.

This doesn’t have to be complicated. Start with that simple idea of wanting to flip somebody over. You’ll need to decide which direction you want to flip them (left, right, over your head, etc.), and start planning ahead to make it happen. Let’s say you want to flip them to your right. The first thing you’ll need to do is understand that they won’t want to be flipped, and when you make your move, they will try to stop you. A successful sweep will depend on you removing the ability of them to put a hand, foot, or head onto the mat on the right side. You’ll need to make sure both the arm and the leg on that side are incapacitated. Think of it like this: you know they’ll instinctively reach out to catch themselves when you push them, so for a sweep to work, you have to squash their ability to reach out in that direction. There are hundreds of variations of scenarios, but they all boil down to how can you incapacitate two of those limbs—and here is the important part—get the rest of your opponent’s mass moving in that direction.

Often, the most difficult part of the sweep is mass control.

via GIPHY

Grips can be easy, but convincing every atom in your opponent’s body to suddenly move in a direction that it wasn’t planning on going can be a tricky maneuver, especially against big, strong opponents. Your body type will often dictate what options are available to you, and your opponent’s body type will further narrow your options. Sweeping a big, savvy opponent will require you to improvise and be ready to exploit any mistakes in posture and positioning that they make. If you’re a smaller grappler (like me) controlling their posture will become very important to developing your sweep game. If you can break their posture, you can control their mass much easier. Remember, the human body is basically shaped like a barrel. It’s easier to roll a barrel on its side than it is to flip it end over end. The same is true with humans. Try to get their spine to be parallel to the floor, or at least not straight up and down. The closer you get them to horizontal, the easier your job of rolling them will be. Here are a few of the most common posture control methods:

  • Pull down on the back of their head in a clinch or horse collar to put a curve in their spine

 

  • Get an underhook, overhook, or lapel grip and use that to pull them to you. Your strength will be multiplied if you push their knees or hips with your feet

 

  • Change your angle so that they aren’t facing you head on. An opponent is strongest when facing you directly. If you can get even a small angle on them, their functional strength is greatly reduced, making you suddenly much stronger by comparison.


Keep in mind that double limb control and mass management aren’t necessarily two separate steps.

They are two components that must be used together in order to successfully sweep somebody. If you are using a clinch on the back of their head to break their posture, then you are also controlling one of the 5 limbs with that same grip. If you can get an overhook with your other arm, you now have both mass management and limb control of two adjacent limbs, which opens up your sweep options. You’ll see this applied in sweeps such as the butterfly sweep and from takedowns like the hip toss (a takedown is really just a sweep performed from standing).

No Gi Butterfly Sweep Details

Once you have double limb control and have broken their posture in some way, you’ll have to actually get their mass moving.

Exactly what you do to make this happen will depend greatly on your position and body type. Certain body movements can help make this much easier in the right situation:

  • Bridging – make sure your feet are as close to your butt as you can get them, and arch your back towards the ceiling. This is a very strong movement and can often give you the momentum you need to make a sweep happen.
  • Shrimping – You learn this on day one, and spend the rest of your BJJ career realizing how useful this movement is. By shrimping, you can quickly change your angle and location relative to your opponent, which can multiply your strength relative to them and give you better angles of attack.
  • Butterfly hook and lift –  Getting your feet locked under an opponent’s leg, like in a butterfly guard, can greatly disrupt an opponent’s base, making it much easier to get them moving. A mistake people often make is to try to lift an opponent’s leg straight up with their hook. This movement is much stronger when you use it in a broad circular motion.

The last thing I want to mention about sweeps is the importance of sticking the landing.

A sweep isn’t over just because the person flipped. If you can’t keep the dominant position after a sweep, then you haven’t really accomplished that much. If you’re going to put forth the energy and effort to sweep somebody, train yourself to follow through with the attack. Press the advantage while you have it. Sweep them and then control them. Get on top, and stay on top.

Now that we’ve hit the core concepts of sweeping, what happens next?

How can we apply this to our jiu jitsu? Really that’s up to you, but I can tell you how I applied it in my own game if that helps. Once I finally got wise that almost all sweeps are rooted in the same basic concepts and share basically the same goal, I started picking apart every sweep that failed, and trying to understand why it didn’t work. I started recording all of my matches in class using my phone and a cheap tripod, and watching what went wrong during my attempts. I asked myself how my opponent was able to defend it and was it a breakdown in limb control or mass management? It didn’t take long for me to realize where the holes in my game were. And as a bonus, I had footage of every sweep that worked on me. I began to see where my opponents were able to control me, and I suddenly became much harder to sweep. Obviously, I’m neither unsweepable, nor do my sweeps always work, but the grappler I am today could 100% destroy the grappler I was a year ago, and a huge reason is how I’ve applied core concepts into my BJJ.

In Conclusion.

My goal is to take the information that I’ve compiled here (plus more!) and create a high-quality video to make the information easier to understand. I want to make it available free of charge on my YouTube channel, but video production can be an expensive endeavor. If you love what I’ve written and you believe a video of it will help you, please consider either donating via Paypal to the video fund below (or better yet, check out my apparel line here and support the Student of BJJ brand!) For the official “Sweep Theory” shirt, click here.

Don’t forget to share!

 

Student of BJJ Sponsored Athlete: Sidney Pruitt

Sidney Pruitt in championship belt

Student of BJJ is so proud to sponsor another amazing athlete with yet another amazing story! I want everybody to meet Sidney Pruitt, AKA “Sid Vicious”! This young lady is only 15, but has earned her nickname many times over on the mats. I asked her to tell me a little about herself for this blog, and she somehow found time to draft her inspiring story in the milliseconds of free time she has between training and studying. Share this post and help me welcome Sidney!

 

Continue reading Student of BJJ Sponsored Athlete: Sidney Pruitt

Xavier Marrero – Student of BJJ’s First Sponsored Athlete

Xavier Marrero

Hey Students,

I am so excited about this next post for a couple of reasons! First, I just love hearing the stories of people that have had their lives changed for the better because of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and what is written below is a pretty powerful turnaround. Second, this post helps to mark the moment when two of my passions are finally converging–my apparel brand and my blog. As I mentioned in my last post, my attention has really been divided lately, but a chance interaction on Instagram has helped me bring everything into focus. So here comes the big news! Student of BJJ’s has its first ever sponsored athlete! I asked him if he would be willing to tell his story. Without further ado, allow me to introduce:

Xavier “Bam” Marrero – Student of BJJ’s First Sponsored Athlete

Xavier Marrero

It was December 2012, and I was freshly new to Florida. At that time, I needed to leave my original state of residence, Pennsylvania. At the time, I was in a very dark place. I was involved in gang activity, selling drugs, and doing the complete opposite of what a law-abiding citizen should be doing.

 

As I was driving one night coming home from work, I passed a Gracie Barra school. It was a relatively sizable gym, and it seemed like a neat place to look into.  Some odd amount of days later I decided to check out a class. I parked in the lot, nervous about not knowing what BJJ was, what the rule sets were, and if I had the discipline and focus that was needed to really live this lifestyle–the BJJ lifestyle.

 

I stepped onto the mat for the first time with Professor Igor Andrade– the man who cemented my love for this sport. He had me roll with one of his white belts, just to see where I was grappling-wise. I had Army Combative Training and knew every WWE move known to man, and 2 minutes into the round I submitted my now great friend GBK (Gracie Barra, Kissimmee) Jean Iglesias via triangle. I received much praise for this as it was my first class. I figured since I was being praised, heck why not take the praise and run with it? I did just that. I took my praise and ran with it… right into Professor Igor’s baseball bat choke.

 

Xavier Marrrero Blue Belt Promotion

Once I woke up, I had a whole new level of humbleness! I fell in love. I couldn’t get enough of the adrenaline, the technique, of everything that was BJJ! To see firsthand that background, color, religion, none of that mattered we were all one on that mat. We were a family. We were Gracie Barra, Kissimmee. I studied under Professor Igor for a little over a year and a half before I was forced back to PA due to family affairs. I picked my training back up at Next Level Martial Arts practicing Muay Thai until they linked with a sister school, 3rd Generation BJJ, based out of Lancaster, PA . I was under the instructions of then brown belt Erik Faust (Owner of BCBJJ 3rd Gen BJJ Affiliate). After training there for quite some time,  I finally received my Blue Belt in August 2015 from a newly promoted Black Belt Professor Erik Faust and his instructor Shane Moss.

 

My love for Jiu-Jitsu will remain eternal due to the people mentioned above, and also the BJJ family I have come to collect along the way in the competitions, the travel, the tournaments and the festivities we all link through the sport. I believe we are all fighting with the same one purpose–Unity through Art.

 

What Xavier didn’t mention…

Through several conversations that I’ve had with him, he’s said over and over that BJJ gave him his greatest gift–his family. This Gentle Art put him on the good path, and he is now a role model for his wife and two children. If he had never decided to step into the gym on that first day, he might have continued down that dark path and found himself in prison (or worse!). I believe he’s going to do great things and I’m honored to share his story on this little blog! You can check him out on YouTube here:  Bam!

You can show your love for Xavier and me by ordering his custom gear here:

 

The Gentle Art is Art

The gentle art is art hero image

Hello, students!

If you haven’t picked up on it, I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. A lot. My mission in life is to get as many people from as many different backgrounds as possible to come and try the Gentle Art. I’ve heard many reasons from both friends and family as to why they wouldn’t try it, and a lot of these are excuses that are based on bad stereotypes and misinformation. This blog is dedicated to shattering those stereotypes and hopefully inspiring people to come try BJJ. I’ve had this specific post in mind since day one, but I feel like I only now have the words and audience to communicate it effectively. First, however, I need to set the stage. Bear with me.

Usually, my blog is focused solely on Jiu-Jitsu, but this post has relevance to many other forms of martial arts as well. This includes the mother of them all–Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, BJJ is a critical component of any MMA fighter’s toolbox.

An attack on MMA is also an attack BJJ, and recently my Gentle Art was publically shamed.

Why am I bringing up attacks and MMA? Well, back in January of 2017, one of the most all-time celebrated actresses, Meryl Streep, slammed MMA during her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. While on her soapbox, she made a snide comment that Mixed Martial Arts are not “the arts.” (See the video here, jump to about 2:05 for the quote).

I thought the comment was just a tad hypocritical since she stereotyped MMA in the middle of a politically charged speech denouncing a president for stereotyping and discriminating against groups of people without understanding who they really were.

I guess it is okay for her to make broad stereotypes because she is an artist and understands these things better than everybody else. It must be the view from her ivory tower that gives her such insight. She is, of course, entitled to her opinions and her prejudices, but “Martial Art” is not an ironic name no matter how highbrow you are. It is an art, and like all great arts, it tends to be widely misunderstood. Even by other artists, it would seem.

I know what you’re thinking: “Zack, how on earth is putting somebody into an Armbar or Knee on Belly art?” Well, perhaps those isolated pieces aren’t art. But a bucket of paint by itself isn’t usually considered art either. It’s a component that an artist uses to convey meaning. You have to look at BJJ more holistically than a list of techniques in order to see its artistic value. True art isn’t necessarily about colors on canvas or notes played with the perfect pitch. Sure those can be pieces of art, but they aren’t the essence of art.

I believe the essence of art is in exploring and expressing the Human Condition in all of its forms.

What is the human condition? Victory, defeat, passion, grief, ambition, sacrifice, and sorrow are just a few aspects of being human and are all part of The Condition. As an artist, you have to deeply experience one or more of these, tap into them for inspiration, and use them to try and change the world. Actors do it all the time. So do painters, dancers, musicians, and yes, even Martial Artists.

I think a defining characteristic of art its ability to connect people to larger ideas and potentially inspire a change in trajectory to their lives.

As an example, I personally know several women who train BJJ and MMA because they became fans of Ronda Rousey and were inspired and empowered by her story. Ronda has overcome many obstacles in her life in order to become the trailblazer that she is today. Her incredible collection of victories has led women all over the world to shed their own insecurities and make positive changes to their lives and lifestyles. There is no way she could positively affect so many people without really confronting her own Human Condition and using it to create something beautiful from it.

So, what made Ronda an artist? I don’t think it was the fact that she won so many fights. I think it was the way in which she did it. She beat her opponents in 8 out of 11 MMA wins in less than a minute, with the majority being BJJ based submissions. She ended fights quickly and efficiently, often with little or no bloodshed. What she did was rich in technique and masterful in execution.

Anybody can brawl in a street fight just like anybody can smear colors on paper with their hands until everything is a nasty green-brown. I don’t think most people would consider either one of those as art.

It’s when you add the technical abilities that have been learned through years of study that art begins to emerge. If you compare Ronda’s fights with YouTube videos of people brawling in Waffle House at 3 AM, the huge difference in technique makes it apparent that she is, in fact, an artist and not some amateur finger-painter.

Going a little deeper into MMA, I think it needs to be said that an MMA fight is not the release of two rabid animals, but rather a three-dimensional, physical game of chess. Those athletes are not just throwing wild punches. They are making moves and counter-moves. They are laying and avoiding traps. They are creating and implementing complex strategies while dealing with the nervousness that comes from being at the center of a massive crowd. Maybe the casual observer wouldn’t understand the artistic merit in a fight, but then again the casual observer doesn’t understand the artistic merits of Jackson Pollock either. Not being able to understand a form of art doesn’t mean that it has no artistic value.

A jackson pollock splatter painting
Jackson Pollock – No. 5, 1948

To be a top MMA fighter requires years of careful study, patience, sacrifice, humility, and self-discovery. You can’t go into the cage with zero experience or training and expect to win. Or even to put on a good show for that matter. Martial arts are an expression of commitment and mastery of the body no less than ballet is. Just because there isn’t an orchestra under The Octagon doesn’t mean there isn’t art being shown on the stage. It is the nuances and complexities that make it an art. I think that Meryl Streep’s simplistic stereotype was based on ignorance, and she has no authority to label what is and isn’t art. When oversimplified, all types of art become meaningless and without merit. For example, look at this painting below.

Image of Van Gogh's Starry Night

 

This is Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and it is one of the most recognizable works of art in the world. Taken out of context, this painting could be oversimplified and described as a sloppily painted town under an absurdly out of proportion sky painted by a one-eared lunatic in an asylum somewhere in France. But this painting is so much more! It is pure emotion captured in oil on canvas. It is the culmination of a lifetime of pain and sacrifice and careful study. It took years to acquire the skills necessary to stir the soul by capturing such a landscape using only simple brushstrokes. Jiu-Jitsu, as a Martial Art, is no different. To those that study BJJ or MMA, the beauty of body mechanics and manipulation become masterpieces in motion.

If you don’t believe that the Gentle Art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is art, come try it and see for yourself. That includes you, Meryl. This sport has some amazing health benefits for people of all ages, races, genders, and egos. If you give my art a chance, maybe I’ll forgive you for the two hours I lost watching Julie and Julia.

I’ll leave you all with a quote from another famous painter that I think has relevance to Jiu-Jitsu. Pablo Picasso was sitting on a park bench when a woman recognized him and pleaded that he make a sketch of her. He finally agreed and drew her portrait using a single pencil stroke on the back of a napkin. She was amazed that he was able to capture her essence in just seconds with one stroke. When she asked how much she owed him, he quoted her a hefty price of $5,000. “But how could you want so much money for this picture?” She asked. “It only took you a second to draw it!” To which he replied, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

Even if you don’t understand the art, respect the sacrifices the artists have made to express themselves.

A real artist can make it look so easy that you don’t even realize it’s art.

5 Tips for Your First Week In Jiu-Jitsu

Two students of Jiu-Jitsu beginning to roll from guard position.

So, you’ve decided to take the plunge and begin Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Fantastic! In making this decision, you have already shown more guts than most of the population ever will. Maybe you decided to start your Jiu-Journey because you read my previous Post. Maybe you have a friend or family member that can’t stop talking about BJJ. Or maybe you just thought it might something fun to do on a Monday evening until the next season of the Bachelor begins. No matter what your reason is, you have made the decision. Now what? How do you get started in Jiu-Jitsu? Continue reading 5 Tips for Your First Week In Jiu-Jitsu

What is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (and what does it mean to me?)

Spider Guard in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

What is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? I get this question all the time, and though it seems simple enough, I always struggle with the answer in the same way that a racecar driver might struggle with the question “what is racing?” For example, if they were to answer like this: “I and my friends jump through the windows of our cars and quickly make left-hand turns on a one lane road until a black and white flag is waved at us!” They aren’t really communicating their passion or capturing the spirit of the sport.  Continue reading What is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (and what does it mean to me?)