The BJJ Path
Foundations
How to be safe on the mat, the names of the positions, the movements every escape is built from, what a guard is, and how a match is scored.
Before you roll
The tap, chokes and locks, what a class looks like, mat rules, and what a white belt may do.
The map of positions
Back, mount, knee on belly, side control, half guard, guard, standing. Who is winning where, and why.
Movements you need
Bridge, shrimp, technical stand-up, frames, base and grips. The vocabulary of every escape.
What a guard is
Legs between you and them. Closed, open and half guard, what passing means, and how you keep or recover the guard.
The language of control
Base, posture, frames, grips, hooks, underhooks, the crossface and the seatbelt. Escapes, sweeps, passes, takedowns and submissions.
How a match works
What scores and what does not, the 3-second rule, advantages, penalties, match time, and what is legal at your belt.
Foundations test
Open any time. Pass it to skip ahead.
White belt
You are in a bad position. Don't get submitted, don't get flattened, buy time with correct posture.
Back survival
The most dangerous position. Chin down, hands on the choking arm, elbows tight, back off their chest.
All-fours survival
When they're on your back and you're on your knees. Protect the neck and the hooks, roll to back survival.
Mount survival
Early posture, elbows in, hands guarding the collar. Nullify the choke before it closes.
Side control survival
On your side, frames in, never flat. Block the crossface, release the hand, survive kesa gatame.
Knee on belly survival
Prevention first, then the running survival posture. The exposed roll is what happens when you turn without it.
Inside the guard
Posture, base and hand position inside a closed guard. Block the collar grips, see the triangle early.
White belt test
Open any time. Pass it to skip ahead.
Blue belt
You've survived. Now get out: back to guard, to your knees, or to your feet.
Back escapes
Shoulders to the mat on the safe side, clear the hook, come up. Escape the body triangle and double underhooks.
Mount escapes
The elbow escape, the seated mount escape, and the upa. Choose by where their weight and arms are.
Side control escapes
Guard recovery, escape to the knees, the running escape, and getting out of kesa gatame and the wrestler's pin.
Knee on belly escapes
The running escape, pushing the knee to recover guard, and turning in for the leg.
Escaping armbars and triangles
Armbar escapes to the pass and from the bottom; triangle escape to the pass. Posture and angle, not strength.
Escaping chokes and locks
Guillotine, footlock and kimura escapes, plus the rear naked choke and collar choke hand fight.
Blue belt test
Part of Rolla Plus.
Purple belt
The guard is your home. Keep it, sweep from it, attack from it.
Closed guard: kneeling opponent
Break their posture and keep it broken. Arm wraps and overwraps, the armbar, triangle and cross choke chain, the hip bump and flower sweeps.
Closed guard: standing opponent
When they stand to open, their base is the target. Hip push and underhook sweeps, the rollout, and the guillotine and kimura traps they walk into.
Guard retention
Hips, frames and knees between you and the pass. Defend under-the-leg, over-the-leg and toreando passes, and attack straight off the defence.
Butterfly guard
Hooks in, chest to chest, elbows past their hips. The butterfly sweep, the arm drag, the straight armlock and the chokes from the hooks.
Spider and cross-grip guard
Sleeve and foot-on-bicep control, the cross grip, the tripod and backroll sweeps. No-gi: wrist and collar-tie control with the same sweeps.
De la Riva and reverse De la Riva
De la Riva hooks the outside of their lead leg; reverse De la Riva hooks the inside of that same lead leg. Rollover and tomoe-nage sweeps, the knee push, and when to switch between the two.
Sit-up guard
Sitting up with a collar or wrist grip and a post behind you. The classic and reverse roll sweeps, and the links to butterfly and standing up.
Half guard
Get off your back and on your side, win the underhook, go deep. The backdoor to the back, the kimura, the knee shield and the old-school sweep.
Purple belt test
Part of Rolla Plus.
Brown belt
Get past the legs to a dominant position, and keep it.
Coming soon.
Black belt
Set up, control and finish from every dominant position. Then chain them.
Coming soon.