Tips on being better on bottom (BJJ)

[HOW5ER]

Im a BJJ blue belt and find I'm pretty bad on bottom, if I am on bottom I usually end up in turtle then grab a leg to turn it into a wrestle to get into side control, I allow my partners to get the dominant position so I can get a better bottom game but I just don't seem to get it.............any tips from the good guys?

Cheers

 

[Kaffe]

Do you know where you want to go when on the bottom? I'm guessing you struggle with standing passing from your description. I started sucking less when I started aggressively pursuing specific positions continuously. In my case, that ended up being shin on shin to 1lx. Just by doing that one thing, my open guard against standing passing went from shit to just bad. Later I added other things, but just by having one thing to pursue, I was able to make a huge change.

 

[SubmissionarY]

Pull guard every day for the next 16 years. That should do it.

 

[Chandler sama]

Work on your hip movement. Try doing wall spins everyday if you can. After that work with someone at your gym your level or lower. Have them try to pass your guard and you defend. Don't turtle, if you turtle or they get to a dominate position you lose. If you lose just start over. Try to do this every class. Then once you feel like they can't pass put both of your hands in your belt and do the same drill. Work on stoping the pass using only your legs, feet and hips. Once you can do that you should feel more confident in your guard and even if you can't get the sweep or sub quickly, you don't have to freak out because you know you can defend the opponents guard pass.

 

[SummerStriker]

It helped me to learn the names of things - positions, hand placement, movements... then I could remember specific places where someone beat me. Then I wouldn't worry about preventing the position. I'd worry about learning the escape from the position. Then I'd put myself in it rolling until I could beat it.

By my way, you will eventually learn to avoid positions by virtue of rolling, but you'll almost never have to guess what to do when you fuck up.

I almost never get caught before my arms get tired.

 

[TheMood]

I know you wanted tips from good guys but sorry I am going to reply any way. One thing you will need to do is start training from the bottom more. Start in guard consistently and see how that goes. You're not going to get better without practicing from the position that needs improvement.

The other thing you need to pay attention to is grips. If you're on the bottom and the top guy gets better grips than you they will probably pass. You want to have the better grips so you can stay connected to your partner and control their posture. If you can't do that then you'll end up in bottom side control pretty quickly usually.