General Concepts

[Frenchie1133]

hey folks, amateur kickboxer whos diping his toes in BJJ

After a bout a month iv aquired some general concepts or rules if you want that I find really have helped me progress.
For example
-both arm in or both arm out in guard (to avoid subs)
-dont cross your hands across your center line unless you know why your doing it
-fight for underhook in half guard

Im just looking for more of those very general rules as im finding that when ever I roll I can get my sweeps/subs/passes that i know well often enough to be seing progress(witch is a very select few) the rest of the time im never sure if im doing big fundamental mistakes.

My coach keeps telling me it will come with time and that i can’t learn every move today.

Tldr: I am new, find im unsure of alot of things while rolling and i am looking for general “rules of thumb”.

 

[lechien]

Keep your enemies close and your elbows even closer.

 

[Frenchie1133]

Keep your enemies close and your elbows even closer.

Thanks for the reply my man! Definitly helps!

 

[esteven]

Keep your hands busy from guard. This applies to both top and bottom, but especially from the bottom. When we're in a bad position, we keep T. rex arms, but that's not the case from guard!

If you have a guard, grab SOMETHING at all times. If you're on top in guard, use your hands to keep your posture.

 

[efficientjudo]

When you attack, your aim is to eliminate space
When you defend, your aim is to create space
Attack and defence isn't just positional, but within positions, and you can change from one to the other with the slightest of movements.

 

[ChainFlow]

You want to be in a natural posture and your opponent to be in an unnatural posture.

Natural: spine straight(ish), chin not way up nor looking down, hips aligned with knees and shoulders, arms not way above your head or down by your hips, legs not locked out and not bent so your heels are touching your butt.

Unnatural: Spine bent forward or bowed backwards, head too far forward or turned out of line with the shoulders, shoulders facing different directions from hips, legs straight or completely bent, etc.

Also, with the exception of forward throws, leglocks, and a few other things like scarfhold, you want to face your opponent but have your opponent not facing you. Standing, that means getting an angle and dominating their head or shoulders. Ground, it mean hipping out when in guard so they’re facing the mat rather than you, or turning their hips and/or head away from you when on top.

 

[ArtemV]

If you are being pulled down from guard, try and grab the gi at the armpits of your opponent and push them up. It makes a little harder for your opponent to use his hands from guard.

 

[Frenchie1133]

Loving all the answers by everyone! Keep them coming!

 

[Knock Out Ned]

Breathe

 

[EndlessCritic]

All of this general concepts stuff is bullshit. Only way to get good is to get your body doing the motions hundreds of times so that you can do the movements automatically.

If you're doing anything consciously, you're already failing. Your body should almost be automatically reacting to what's going on.

 

[loyalyolayal]

It's called aspects. Aspects!

 

[FatherSauce]

Grips. Get yours, deny theirs.

 

[tekkenfan]

anytime someone gets deep collar rip post same side foot and start your stand up break basic but works at all levels

 

[Frenchie1133]

Wow was definitly not expecting so much help fam! Thanks alot!

 

[Gandhi]

Don’t be flat on your back when on the bottom, always b on your side a bit (but not so much you give up arms bars or your back).

Bridge, Shrimp, then bridge, then shrimp some more.

Learn the technical stand up and the 10,000 places you can use it.

Granby, granby, granby.

Just to start ....

 

[KikoJones]

Look for the angles.

Standing guard break, point your toes inward.

 

[winterbike]

Important universal concepts:
- Half-guard variations beat everything.
- Guard pullers are cooler because they don't take the easy way out (of going for takedowns).

 

[Frenchie1133]

I have a randory class tonight, looking foward to applying all of this

 

[Cappy Goodtime]

If you don't know what your opponent is doing with his grips, don't let them have them.

And as stated earlier, keep your elbows close to your body.

 

[Cappy Goodtime]

All of this general concepts stuff is bullshit. Only way to get good is to get your body doing the motions hundreds of times so that you can do the movements automatically.

If you're doing anything consciously, you're already failing. Your body should almost be automatically reacting to what's going on.

That's simply not true. I clearly remember when starting out being able to hold onto little things like looking up in someones guard and not getting stuck flat when playing half guard really helping me out, even though I didn't have an overarching gameplan.