This week we talk about having a guard that is designed to submit your opponent. We have been working on our submission guards for a month now as part of the Bjj By The Month program.
Join Jake Fox and Byron Jabara for a day of training
Four solid hours of BJJ for just $50 (5 hours of fun). This will be two seminars that will complement each other.
Statistically the most effective way to get a submission is to get the back and attack. That is what this camp is all about. Byron will show you a variety of ways to back control, some keys to stabilizing this position, and techniques to make your attack unstoppable.
With such a variety of guards out there BJJ players feel overwhelmed with needing to know so many guard passes. Jake has a solution with this leg drag system you can apply it to almost every guard. The leg drag pass is simple, effective, can be done by anyone, and best of all can lead you to your opponent’s back.
By the time you are done with this camp you will have developed an effective system to help you attack above your skill level.
10:00-Noon Byron will be teaching back takes, control, and finishes
Noon-1:00 Break
1:00-3:00 Jake will be teaching a leg drag passing system (that often leads to the back)
Quote of the week: “I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.” Steve Irwin
Okay so there have been a couple podcasts talking about and asking about how other sports and BJJ interact. Joe Thomas talked about his fishing experiences, and brought up articles of different activities and their interaction; Gary Hull related a lot to basketball as a player and coach; and Byron Jabara … well… I am surprised how little he knows about sports LOL!
Anyway, I have been officiating youth and high school football for 20-plus years, and part of being an official is being calm under pressure. How in the world does football officiating help me in my BJJ journey? I believe that attribute helped me in my BJJ journey because one of the minute, but important aspects of BJJ I quickly learned, and am STILL learning is how you have to breathe and be calm in uncomfortable situations, and as a white belt, I am in a LOT of uncomfortable situations. To the outsider, this may not mean a whole lot, but when I was placed under the pressure of side control, knee on belly, americana, and various chokes, I quickly learned what pressure is, and no doubt, I panicked at times. However, my years of officiating under pressure kicked in, and while I still had anxiety and panic, I found myself not freaking out, but rather wondering things like, “What the hell?”, “How did he do that?”, “OMG, that is brutal pressure!”, and several more things. The point is, is that I was actually thinking of how to combat the moves, whether I used proper BJJ techniques or not… mostly, I did not use proper technique, and also learned that I better keep my arms close to me, and my elbows closer! Remaining calm enabled me to rationalize the experience the anxiety as a learning experience, rather than frustration, anger, or hopelessness. Not only is important in the short term, as I get smashed in a class or two, but also over the long term, over the span of a week, month, a few months, and more. Note that I have only been practicing BJJ for 11 months. There are factors and excuses that would make people quit BJJ,, and the mental aspect of it appears to be a bigger reason that just being physically beat down is.
So has BJJ helped me with my football officiating? Absolutely! Learning to be calm in BJJ has improved my on field demeanor, because on the mats, I learned about different kinds of pressure and anxiety not necessarily experienced on the football field… or I should hope not! I would never want to find the need to place a coach in a D’arce in order to calm him down while explaining why his team was flagged for a foul! Another thing I learned in BJJ that improved my field demeanor is being humble, and that is a reflection of the quality of the professors I learn from. Sure we all learn confidence, but when you couple that with humility, your mind thinks differently, and you end up rationalizing things differently. In BJJ, it seems like if you are placed in a pressure situation, you have to be calm, remember the of ways to combat that pressure, and rationally decide what to do to relieve that pressure. So on the field, I have to think of a number of ways to deal with the pressure , be it a coach, player, parents, fans, and any play that just happened. Basically, the BJJ mindset in this example forces a way of thinking to be 1) calm, 2) to look at a situation from several angles, and 3) to make the best choice possible to deal with that pressure.
So from the football officiating POV, being calm, humble, and rational is very important when dealing with close & controversial situations and making quick decisions (foul or no foul), then dealing with the fallout with players, fans, and especially coaches. The same can be said from the BJJ POV… being calm, humble, and rational is very important when dealing with close & controversial situations and making quick decisions (sweep, grips, choke, counter), then dealing with the reaction of your opponent’s moves and counters.
Lastly, I also credit BJJ getting my legs, cardio, and flexibility at a much higher level than in years past. I don’t think I have to explain the physical part of this part, LOL! But more so the mental part of my game has improved on both my officiating as well as my BJJ fronts.
One of the best ways to learn BJJ is to have focus on a particular aspect of your game. Join us on this journey as we train with a different focus every month. As the weeks go by you should notice a improvement in your BJJ ability. Join the community on our FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2518368208286581/
January 2019- Guard Submissions
Let start off the year with working from a place you can start a roll with. Pull guard and work on your submission game. Feel free to work in a sweep from time to time or a sweep might be your setup for a submission. If you get the sweep remember that you should be working on guard submissions and not your top game this month.
Here are some videos to help get you started taking your guard attacks to the next level. So let’s go to BJJ school before hitting the mats.
Here John Danaher helps you with understanding the closed guard.
Some key notes to look out for in this video
Your opponent is not truly on top of you
Using a knee pull
Making your opponent vulnerable to attacks
Upgrading a neutral position
In this video Jon Tomas helps us avoid some mental mistakes that limit our guard game.
Some notes from this video
Don’t box yourself into a particular guard type
Trying new guards for a minimum about of time
Finding rest spots from guard
This video by Alec Baulding will help prevent you from getting your passed
In this video you should learn
About framing
Good hip movement
When do stop attacking and start defending the pass
In the next video Jason Scully shows 55 high percentage closed guard techniques. There is a over load of info here. You might just pick two or three to work on.
