Let's talk grips.

Goat Meal

Goat Meal

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I think one glaring weakness in my overall game is gripping.

- In grip fighting I find I spend much more energy than other doing what I think is the same technique to break grips (the circle method).

- I think I set my grips in arbitrary spots. For example, if I'm passing guard to my left, I might grip their right sleeve with my left arm but then grip with my right hand their left lapel, or their left knee, etc. How do you guys prefer to grip depending on the pass you're using? Same question for the guard.

I've Google'd this topic but other than some basic information I haven't found anything.
 
Gripping is very important, and rarely formally taught in BJJ in my experience. A couple key things:

-It's not always necessary to break grips. Neutralizing grips which force the opponent to re-grip is often as good with less effort.

-Circling is not the only method to break grips. Going 2-1, getting a grip in the crook of your elbow and posturing up, etc are all good ways of breaking grips

-If someone gets good grips on you, you can't really proceed until you're broken those grips. This may mean you have to reset multiple times. If so, just keep doing it.

Specifically for guard passing, I try to get one foot between their legs with that side hand gripping their lapel, and the other hand on their leg which is between my legs gripping at the knee, trying to get that leg all the way between mine. This works well with my passing game, which is based on the knee slide, X pass, Galvao torreando, and to some extent leg drags. But if I need to do a long step, I switch my grips up. Basically in terms of gripping for passing, figure out which passes you like to do and combo together, and try to find a set of reference grips from which you can work all those passes. Then practice getting to that gripping situation quickly. Also figure out which grips your opponent can get that will neutralize you passing game, and work on preventing those and breaking them quickly if the opponent achieves them.

In terms of standing grip fighting, that's a huge topic that's not easily addresses. Find a Judo BB and pick their brain. That's about the best general advice I can give on standing gripping.
 
I think this is actually an under-discussed part of the gi game in BJJ. You could easily fill a set of DVDs on gripping tactics and strategies. I wish more great competitors would break down their grip games the same way they teach their sweeps, passes, and subs.

For example, I feel grip fighting is a big part of Marcelo Garcia's guard. But his first book only devoted a few pages to the subject.
 
MG black belt Emily Kwok talks about her gripping guidelines



 
Great thread! Keep the post / videos coming!

I agree that grips are not taught and addressed enough. Could it be lack of understanding? Is it not flashy enough? A little of both?

The same can be said about posture breaking and control from the guard? I remember the old school drills of breaking posture from the guard. 20 min's of drilling, thinking, come on, really? I remember the saying "GRIPS & HIPS!!"
 
Spazzmaster said:
This has been my experience too. Why do you think this is?
Click to expand...

It can be very distracting from the techniques themselves, and adds a level of complexity that lower ranked students probably aren't ready for. It's also hard to train in a generally applicable way, because appropriate gripping changes a lot from situation to situation. I think most people learn to grip in an informal way, where they'll ask their teacher a specific question about a move and the answer will involve gripping, and over time they'll accumulate a wide knowledge of proper grips. It's a more organic process than actually sitting a class down and talking about gripping in general, which as I mentioned is hard to do because the subject doesn't generalize well.
 
Wanted to bump this and add a couple cool conceptual videos. Controversial title: "Grips are Overrated," but don't write them off without watching.

 
The best thing that you can get about grip fighting, if you can afford it (or getting it somewhere else ;-) ) is the 'Jimmy Pedro and Rhadi Ferguson- Underground Grip Fighting Secrets DVD set' or the 'Jim Pedro gripfighting dvd'
 
I love the monkey paw grip if you can handle the burn its a bitch to get off
 
it is BY FAR, the worst part of my game, and the part that I hate more about gi... there are some people who will get a grip on you and its a huge battle just for one grip...

I prefer no gi because of the gripping thing...
 
Rhadi Ferguson (Kimbo's cousin) has a good grip video for Judo on Youtube. I'd grab it now and post it but I'm on my work PC where youtube is blocked.
 
This thread has a lot of good stuff. Thanks guys! Appreciating.
 
Good thread! A while back I realized how important grips and grip fighting are, but as I continue to learn more I continue to realize that they are more crucial and more powerful than I thought. We have a brown belt where I train that isn't able to get in as much as he would like and cardio is far from what it was, but he still insists on excellent grips, especially on top, and it compensates a lot for his timing and some his physical attributes being off.
 
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