5 [SEEMINGLY SMALL] THINGS TO UP YOUR GAME IN BJJ

The martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu centers around technique, concepts of leverage and human biomechanics. Most people start by learning primitive movement patterns such as hip-escapes, bridging, rolling and framing. However somewhere along the line, they can get lost in the minutia of how to execute niche techniques — such as the buggy choke or flying triangle. 

While these movements have their time and place, you begin to notice a major gap many BJJ practitioners have between their fundamental skills and “the next thing to up their game” When I’m coaching, students frequently ask what they can do to improve as quickly as possible “what if this or what if that”, and, perhaps to their dismay, it’s always very simple. 

Below I’ve listed 5 seemingly small things to work on that can up your BJJ game.

1. Breathing

One of the biggest differentiators between a seasoned BJJ practitioner and a newbie often comes down to their control of their breathing. White belts notoriously tend to squeeze as hard as they possibly can and breathe like air will soon cease to exist; meanwhile, an upper belt partaking in the same activity can look like they’re ready for a nap. 

Learning to relax and breathe efficiently through you diaphragm will happen naturally as you become more efficient at Jiu Jitsu, but focusing on it early on can improve your game dramatically. The less you labor to breathe, the more you can focus on what you want to execute. Remember to breathe in through your nose, exhale through your mouth, and do not hold your breath. Start by simply taking note of your breathing while you train, and when ready, begin to try and further control it by lengthening your exhales or synchronizing it with your movement. 

2. Grips

Grip strength makes up a major component of BJJ and one that everyone starts in a different place with. Some individuals are gifted with a strong grip genetically or perhaps have developed it over time due to their occupation, while others struggle immensely in this area.  

If you find yourself struggling with grip strength, you can improve it through strength training, hanging from a pull up bar, carrying heavy objects, using grip trainers, practicing gi-specific grip drills and other movements that challenge your ability to hold, squeeze and carry weight with your hands.  This will not only help you break grips, but it will help you control your opponent more effectively.

3. Managing Effort

While having extraordinary grip strength can serve as a major asset, it will only last for so long. I’ve trained with extremely strong individuals who grab a grip and squeeze it like their life depends on it for a minute or two at the beginning of a round only to burn out within two minutes their FIRST five-minute period and find themselves helpless and quit class early. Their remedy is build up cardio rather than management of effort for the correct technical advantage. 

Grip things with force only when you need to. By that I mean, if you have your hand over somebody’s wrist, only squeeze hard when you’re looking to do something or if they actively try to remove the grip but you don’t want them too. If they aren’t actively fighting you, or you don’t have a plan for that grip, then you’re squeezing for no good reason and burning up valuable energy. Use your grip strength strategically!

4. Have a plan

It may sound simple, but any time you train, have a plan. A large majority of BJJ practitioners show up to train with no gameplan or strategy whatsoever.  They bump fists with the person across from them and just go into autopilot, ultimately falling back into what they know or bad habits. Instead, try and apply what you’ve been learning in class or attempt a certain pass, for example, that you’d like to work on and implement in your game. 

If you wanted to get better at shooting three pointers on a basketball court, you’d go out and get reps of exactly that.  You wouldn’t just show up to the court and start throwing the ball at the rim from random places.  Focused repetitions with concise strategy will always yield quicker results over random or inconsistent efforts.

5. Practice your weak side

As humans, we all naturally have a favored, or dominant, side. This explains why we write with either our right or left hand, kick a ball on our preferred side and eat our food with the hand we prefer. The same goes for our BJJ game — we learn how to operate a de la riva guard on one side and may never bother to practice it on the other side at all.  

This accounts for one of the biggest missed opportunities for anyone in training. Staying efficient and effective on both sides of your body will allow you to attack your opponent from more angles, open up more techniques and keep you from becoming predictable. Furthermore, learning a technique on your weak side can enhance your strong side because of the motor learning aspects.  You’re essentially reteaching your body how to do something for the first time and grooving that pattern twice as deep in your brain.

While there are many more tips, tricks, and nuances that can elevate your BJJ game, I view these five, above all else, as the most critical. I enjoy learning crazy and wild new techniques just like everyone else, but I also understand that if these five variables don’t hold up, then it does me no good. 

I encourage you to pick the low-hanging fruit and strive to improve in all five of these areas.  If you’re relatively new, you will amaze yourself at how much they help. If you’ve been training for a while, you may still find some weak points in one of these areas or require a tune up. Go ahead and evaluate yourself.  Stay safe and train hard!