Pressure Passing In BJJ: You may grapple in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in a variety of ways. Since each grappler is different, it may not be effective for you to emulate strategies that have helped other grapplers succeed. The good news is that you can always improve and broaden your grappling technique repertoire.
Passing guard is one way to do this. Although there are several ways to pass the guard, guard passing methods may be divided into two categories. We’ll talk about and contrast pressure passing and speed in BJJ today.
What Is Speed Passing?
Using rapid, muscular actions to penetrate an opponent’s leg, speed passing is a BJJ technique that helps you get past your guard and gain control of the match. A lot of footwork, athletic actions like the cartwheel, and manoeuvres are usually involved in speed passing. It redirects the opponent’s energy to generate openings and angles that leave their upper body exposed during the pass.
Speed passes typically go to the younger, smaller, more athletic, and agile grapplers. But with this kind of pass, timing is just as important as your ability to read your opponent’s moves. Recall that the goal of speed passing is to slow down your opponent’s response time as you pass, gain control over them in a dominating position, or apply a submission as soon as possible. When contrasted with pressure passing, this passing method is more fun.
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Pressure Passing in BJJ: What Is It?
You can misalign the opponent’s body and use a pressure pass to go past the guard by applying pressure and pinning their hips and legs with your body weight. This negates the opponent’s ability to utilise their legs, which are their primary defensive mechanism. With this type of pass, you have to be patient in order to gradually ascend over your opponent’s legs and land in a dominant position.
When pressure is passing, it’s critical to maintain tight quarters with the opposition to manage space. They are forced into compromising situations when you use your body weight to control their lower body and pin their hips, leaving them with just their arms to protect themselves. An astute strategy to wear out your opponent is to have them bear your weight as they constantly utilise their arms to frame and their lower body to generate space when imprisoned.
Any grappler with a bit of skill may learn how to pass pressure. While larger grapplers are more suited for this kind of move since they have more weight for the opponent to bear, lesser grapplers may still utilise these techniques as they are as effective against opponents of similar size.
Speed And Pressure Passing
Effective use of time and pressure is necessary for all kinds of passes. Without time, it is hard to put pressure on the opposition and establish a commanding position. When facing opponents with diverse tactics, a skilled guard passer may blend pressure and timing to their advantage. You have to implement a guard passing system that combines pressure and speed in order to create a more comprehensive game.
When crossing an opponent’s guard when they are on their back, you can employ pressure passing in BJJ or speed passing depending on how high their leg is. There are three categories for leg elevation: low, mid, and high. The opponent’s legs are in low elevation when they are parallel to the ground. The opponent is open in this situation for quick passes like the toreando or knee cut/slice. Because you can immediately control their legs and walk to the side, toreando works well in this posture. Because their legs are already at the ideal angle, knee cuts and slices make it simpler to transition into additional knee-cut varieties.
The position that is most difficult to pass is mid-leg elevation. That occurs when your opponent aims their feet to circle your chest. In this instance, you have to drive their feet down before you can try any speed passes, like the toreando or knee cut/slice. Because the opponent’s feet are moving so often, it might be difficult.
An opponent who is at a high leg elevation posture is almost self-stacking. This is usually seen in opponents who are extremely adaptable. This is a difficulty since it is hard to bring your opponent’s legs back down when you want to do rapid passes. Even if you’re trying to take down their legs, they can already use various controlling holds.
When your opponent’s leg elevation is low, you can use speed passes to change up your guard passing tactics. You can launch an attack with a pressure pass, where you can rapidly grasp their ankles and pin them over their head if their feet are up high. After you’re in this position, start applying pressure by placing your legs on the lower back.
In the end, you have to accept your opponent’s leg placement rather than trying to force your own. Instead of pressing the speed pass, which is most effective when the opponent’s leg elevation is low, seize the chance if they are setting themselves up for the ideal pressure pass (high elevation).
The intriguing thing about guard passes is that as you transition from one to the next, if your opponent is self-stacking and you try to pressure pass them, they will fight by putting their feet back down. As soon as they press their feet down, they will be able to execute multiple speed pass sequences (which puts them in low leg elevation). Comparably, if you are a grappler that mostly uses pressure passes, you could occasionally find it difficult to hold your opponent’s legs down while attempting to dig under for the double under position in order to obtain the stack. If the chance arises, you can think about switching to any kind of speed pass rather than pushing the pressure pass.
Summary
Linking pressure and speed passes is the best strategy for passing the guard. Recognise that there are times when speed passes are necessary, particularly when you are short on time and need to go past your opponent’s guard to win the match. Similar to this, if you’re ahead in points, you can continue to press your opponent until you’ve broken their mental toughness before letting them off guard.
