Learning brazilian jiu jitsu techniques without a structured approach? You’ll spend years figuring out moves that could take months with proper guidance.
Here’s the thing: this combat sport isn’t about memorizing random moves. The fundamentals of jiu jitsu follow a logical progression from defensive positions to dominant control, and understanding this system makes all the difference for self defense and competition alike.
This guide breaks down every essential technique step-by-step, from bottom positions and guard work to top control, submissions, and escapes. Whether you’re just starting out or refining your skills, you’ll learn exactly how to approach each move systematically.
Understanding BJJ Fundamentals Before You Start
What Makes BJJ Different From Other Martial Arts
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu stands apart from striking-based martial arts through its focus on ground fighting and grappling 1. While karate, taekwondo, and kickboxing emphasize punches and kicks requiring distance and space, BJJ brings the fight to the mat where these techniques become ineffective 2.
The core principle of this combat sport centers on using leverage and technique instead of strength 2. This allows smaller individuals to defend themselves effectively against larger opponents, making it accessible regardless of size or athletic ability 3. You don’t need to be the strongest or fastest person in the room to succeed.
Training methods in BJJ differ significantly from traditional martial arts 4. Rather than drilling movements alone or practicing forms in the air, you’ll spend nearly all your time working with a partner 4. Live sparring, known as “rolling,” becomes the most essential part of training 1. This constant pressure testing against fully resisting opponents ensures techniques actually work in real situations 2.
Unlike other grappling styles, BJJ places equal importance on both top and bottom positions 2. While being on top remains ideal, the guard position from your back provides equally powerful attacking and defensive options. This mastery of playing from your back separates BJJ athletes from grapplers in other fighting styles 2.
The Position Hierarchy in BJJ
The positional hierarchy in BJJ functions like climbing a ladder 5. Each position offers varying degrees of control, leverage, and submission opportunities 6. Understanding this hierarchy lets you strategize and prioritize movements during training and competition 5.
The guard sits at the center of this ladder as the most neutral position 5. From here, you defend on your back using both arms and legs to control your opponent 2. The closed guard, where your legs wrap around your opponent’s waist, is typically the first guard beginners learn 2.
Side control rises above guard in dominance 5. The top person has superior positional control and more attacking options. Knee on belly occupies roughly the same level, offering even more attacks but sacrificing some control 2.
Mount position provides excellent control over your opponent’s upper body 5. Many attacking options become available from here, especially chokes and armlocks 5. This position also allows you to transition to back control if your opponent rolls to their stomach attempting to defend 5.
Back control stands at the top of the positional hierarchy 2. Considered the most dominant position in BJJ, you sit behind your opponent with both legs wrapped around their body or placed near their hips 2. This position grants maximum control while providing easy access to the neck for chokes and strangles 5.
Basic Movement Patterns You Need to Know
Specific movements form the building blocks of nearly everything you do on the mat 3. These aren’t warm-up drills but fundamental skills that appear in countless techniques.
Shrimping ranks as one of the most critical movements 7. You lie on your back and use your hips to push your body sideways in a curved motion 7. This technique helps you retain guard, escape side control and mount, and create space for sweeps and submissions 7.
Bridging involves planting your feet on the mat while on your back and driving your hips upward explosively 7. This movement appears in escapes from mount and side control, but also in various submission and passing attacks 7.
The technical stand-up provides a safe way to return to your feet when an opponent tries to control you on the ground 7. You post up on one arm and the alternate leg, using these posts to bring your free leg back underneath your body 7.
Forward and backward rolls do more than warm you up 7. Proper rolling lessens impact when thrown or swept, helps you escape bad positions, retrieve guard, and even roll into attacking maneuvers 7.
How to Approach Learning BJJ Techniques
Position comes before submission 3. Focus on controlling the position first before attempting to finish with a technique. This principle guides your entire learning process.
Start with fundamental positions, escapes, then guard work, followed by top game and high-percentage attacks 8. Beginners benefit most from mastering these basics rather than jumping to advanced moves.
Drill techniques slowly and accurately to build muscle memory 3. Speed and pressure come later. Learning a handful of techniques and refining them until they work against practitioners of all levels proves more effective than collecting a vast library of moves 9.
Consistent training develops both physical and mental skills 2. BJJ builds endurance, problem-solving abilities, and discipline through regular practice and live training. The art teaches patience and composure, skills that transfer beyond the mat into daily life 10.
Essential Techniques for Bottom Positions
Bottom positions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu offer more than defensive options. These positions generate sweeps, submissions, and back takes when executed properly.
Closed Guard Basic Attacks
Wrap your legs around your opponent’s torso with ankles locked behind their back to establish closed guard 2. This guard provides the safest starting point and proves most difficult to pass 2.
Breaking your opponent’s posture sets up everything else. Keep your hips elevated off the mat and snap them down using your knees to pull your opponent forward. Grab cross grips and feed your hand underneath their grip to elevate their arm, breaking both their grip and posture.
The triangle choke represents one of the highest percentage submissions from this position 3. Pull your opponent close, create space with a hip escape, swing one leg over their shoulder while controlling their arm underneath, then lock your legs and squeeze. The arm triangle choke works when an opponent grinds their forearm into your throat. Even if the choke doesn’t finish from bottom, you’ve trapped one arm, making sweeps toward that trapped side highly effective 10.
The kimura armlock functions as both submission and sweep. Maintain the grip even from disadvantaged positions like bottom side control, using it as a lever to roll your opponent and reverse position 10. The omoplata becomes more useful as a sweep against advanced opponents. Underhook the near leg and roll your opponent over top of you in what some call the “Log Roll” sweep 10.
Open Guard Fundamentals
Open guard describes any guard where your feet aren’t locked around your opponent’s waist 11. Four points of contact with your opponent’s sleeves, arms, hips, or legs create optimal control, though three points suffice 11.
Butterfly guard places both feet as hooks on the inside of your opponent’s thighs 11. Lock your hands behind their back or grip their belt initially. This position excels at elevating heavier opponents using leg strength similar to a leg press motion.
Spider guard grips the opponent’s sleeves while placing your feet on their biceps 11. This creates powerful control through grip and leg pressure, neutralizing passing attempts. The De La Riva guard hooks your opponent’s leg while your hand grabs the same side ankle 11. Your other foot pushes their opposite hip while your free hand controls their sleeve, setting up back takes and sweeps.
Half Guard Techniques
Half guard controls a single opponent’s leg using both your legs 3. Once considered merely a desperate defensive position, modern grapplers transformed it into an attacking guard with reliable sweeps 3.
Get on your side immediately. Your opponent wants to flatten your back and control your head. Fight for the underhook with your top-side arm. Even without knowing specific sweeps, securing this underhook disturbs their center of gravity and prevents them from progressing past your guard 3.
The foot grab sweep transitions you from inferior position to top side control 3. Another high-percentage option topples your opponent into full mount when executed correctly.
Sweep Mechanics and Timing
Sweeps reverse positions, moving you from bottom to top 12. Three principles make them work: leverage over strength, proper grips maintaining control during the transition, and balance disruption as the primary goal 12.
Timing matters more than power. Use your opponent’s momentum against them. The scissor sweep demonstrates this. From closed guard, grip sleeve and collar, open your guard, position one leg across their midsection while tucking the other beneath their thigh, then scissor your legs while pulling and pushing simultaneously 12.
Guard Retention Principles
Your guard functions as a wall built from frames using shins, feet, and knees 13. These frames need hooks stopping opponents from running around you, plus hands preventing them from moving your frames 13.
Keep your hips mobile. When hip mobility disappears, opponents pin your legs and pass easily. Frames using arms, shins, and knees keep opponents from collapsing into your space. Create multiple defensive layers so beating one barrier still leaves backup options like knee frames or hip movement 14.
Distance management adjusts how close you keep opponents based on their passing style. Consequently, you’ll need different frame structures against pressure passers versus speed passers.
Mastering Top Position Techniques
Top position dominance separates effective grapplers from those who merely survive. Once you pass the guard, maintaining control while setting up attacks becomes your primary objective.
Guard Passing Fundamentals
Guard passing places you in favorable situations where pins and submissions become available 15. Passing the guard teaches you to bypass your opponent’s legs using specific techniques 15.
Grip fighting determines success before larger movements begin 11. Break your opponent’s grips immediately if your hands haven’t established required grips 11. Keep their feet off your body by grabbing and controlling them, stuffing them underneath you or pinning them to the ground 11. Make opponents carry your weight by forcing their knees to the mat, fatiguing their legs until they crumble 11.
Side Control Attacks and Transitions
Side control positions you perpendicular to your opponent, offering versatility and multiple submission paths 16. The americana targets the shoulder joint by controlling the wrist with one hand while securing the elbow, applying downward pressure 16. The kimura isolates the arm using torque on the shoulder joint 16. The armbar transitions by stepping over the opponent’s head while controlling the wrist 16.
Transitions include moving to knee on belly by securing collar grips while pushing the shoulder into the mat 3. The north-south position covers their head with your chest as legs sprawl out 3.
Mount Position Control and Submissions
Timing proves most important when attacking from mount 17. The armbar works exceptionally well against beginners who push away 17. The s-mount armbar places tremendous pressure on the chest and ribcage 17. The triangle choke targets opponents sneaking an arm under your leg 17. The americana works best from low mount, keeping you heavy and preventing bucking 17.
Knee on Belly Techniques
Knee on belly forces opponents to react because this position creates more discomfort than side control 18. Mobility allows you to move side to side, transitioning to mount or north-south while forcing openings 18.
Back Control and Rear Attacks
Back control sits at the top of the positional hierarchy 19. The seatbelt grip positions one arm over the shoulder and the other under the opposite armpit 12. Hooks wrap around opponent’s thighs without crossing legs 12. The rear naked choke wraps one arm around the neck with the elbow under the chin 12.
Maintaining Dominant Positions
Proper weight distribution makes smaller grapplers feel crushingly heavy 20. Block the opponent’s hip to prevent guard recovery 21. Control their head to control their entire body 21.
Core Submission Techniques Step-by-Step
Submissions finish fights, but understanding their mechanics separates effective finishers from those who merely chase taps. Most techniques fall into three categories based on the joint or structure they attack.
Chokes and Strangles
Blood strangles compress the carotid arteries rather than blocking the windpipe. This distinction matters since strangles render opponents unconscious in 5-15 seconds 22, while air chokes take significantly longer. The rear naked choke accounted for nearly a third of submission wins in the first 168 UFC events 23.
Arm Locks and Shoulder Attacks
Shoulder locks hyperrotate the shoulder joint beyond its natural range. The angle of the arm determines effectiveness. A 90-degree bend restricts rotation more than a straight arm 24. Consequently, the kimura and americana both require proper arm positioning before applying pressure. The armbar attacks the elbow joint instead, using hip extension while controlling the wrist.
Leg Locks and Ankle Attacks
The straight ankle lock provides the safest introduction to lower body submissions 25. Control the leg first using ashi garami position, place your forearm under the Achilles tendon, then extend your hips forward. Knee injuries from rotational leg locks often happen before pain registers, making control more critical than aggression 13.
When to Attempt Submissions
Position precedes submission attempts. Strong positional control increases success rates while reducing escape options 26. Attack when your opponent commits to defending another threat or makes positional errors.
Escapes and Defensive Techniques
Defensive skills determine survival on the mat. John Danaher suggests a grappler’s first responsibility involves learning survival and escape skills, as these keep you in the fight and eventually allow counterattacks 14.
Mount Escapes
Bridge and roll, known as the upa escape, works from white belt through black belt levels 27. Trap your opponent’s arm and same-side foot, then bridge explosively while rolling toward the trapped side. The shrimp escape creates space by turning to your hip and sliding away, recovering guard or half guard 27. Get your feet close to your hips before bridging for maximum power 28.
Side Control Escapes
Frame against your opponent’s neck and hips, then hip escape to recover guard 29. The knee-in escape requires inserting your elbow near their far hip pocket, bridging to create space, then sliding your knee through 30. The ghost escape works when their arm crosses over your head, using a scissoring arm motion while swinging your legs for momentum 30.
Back Control Escapes
Protect your neck first by keeping your chin tucked and hands in prayer position 10. Clear their hooks by sitting on one hook while bridging upward, then turn toward the underhook side 31. The baseball bat grip controls their choking arm, breaking their seatbelt grip before spinning into them 10.
Submission Defense Basics
Timing proves everything, being that defending before a submission locks tight beats fighting after 2. Three defensive timings exist: before the attack starts, during the setup, and split seconds before tapping 32.
Creating Frames and Space
Frames serve as structural barriers using arms, legs, elbows, and knees 33. These scaffolding structures prevent opponents from collapsing onto you, providing vital movement space 33. Your torso needs freedom to move, whereas proper frames create necessary pockets of distance 33.
Conclusion
Right now, you have a complete roadmap for mastering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques from the ground up. Given these points, your success depends on following the position-before-submission principle and drilling fundamentals consistently.
Start with defensive positions and escapes in the first place. Build your guard game next, then develop top control and submissions. Don’t rush through techniques trying to learn everything at once.
Pick a handful of moves from each position and refine them against fully resisting training partners. On the whole, quality repetitions beat collecting dozens of techniques you never use.
Most importantly, keep showing up to training. Your BJJ journey takes time, but consistent practice transforms these step-by-step techniques into instinctive reactions that work under pressure.
Ready to improve your jiu jitsu skills and learn effective techniques that build confidence, discipline, and control? Start training today and take the next step in your journey with expert coaching, supportive teammates, and a community dedicated to helping you grow on and off the mats. https://www.c2ma.com.au to book your free trial.
References
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