BJJ Defensive Game: A sports adage states that the best offensive makes for the best defence. Having an impenetrable defence in Jiu-Jitsu requires mastering unstoppable transitions. It takes time and persistence to level up your guard, therefore it is challenging.
Despite the fact that some grapplers choose to concentrate more on standup and guard passing techniques, improving your defence is crucial to your development as a grappler since it will allow you to defend successfully from any position. We’ll go through four tactics for improving your BJJ defensive game in this post.
How to get better at your defence?
John Danaher contends that successful offensive performance starts with solid defence. Your defence confidence is the key to getting on the offensive. Because of this, the long-term objective of any grappler should be to improve as an attacker; in order to achieve this, you must prevent your opponents from dominating you.
According to Danaher, you must learn how to escape any pins, submission holds, and different types of controlling grips that your opponent could use. This prevents the adversary from ever forcing their will on you. And if they are unable to do that, you may impose yours onto them. The four abilities listed below are necessary to establish a strong defensive game in BJJ.
1) Pin Escapes
Your ability to escape pins like the mount, side control, and north-south is the first benefit of having a strong guard. The majority of BJJ matches are won by being pinned and persistently held down. You have the courage to strike from the bottom when you know you can escape pins.
In order to avoid pins, you must figure out how to create some space between yourself and the adversary. You may do this by focusing on crucial movements like framing, shrimping, and bridging. You gain room and allow yourself more time to recover your guard from the pin by doing this. In a match if both grapplers are equally skilled on offensive, the grappler with the better defensive will prevail. Pin escapes should be your initial BJJ goal of mastery, hence positional drilling drills should be employed to spend time mastering them.
You might also be interested in reading this: What Does the BJJ Buggy Choke Mean?
2) Guard Retention
One other vital BJJ technique to learn is guard retention. If you are a smaller grappler, you will typically be pinned by bigger and stronger grapplers. You must learn how to hold onto your guard after evading pins and regaining it.
The first two BJJ techniques you need to learn are pin escapes and guard retention. In order to maintain your guard, you must effectively use your legs because if you can’t be pinned by your opponent, they will find it difficult to control and submit you.
The opponent will often follow through by re-passing your guard and racing around your legs after getting away and evading the pin. A basic reminder is to frame not to expose the area between your torso and hip by keeping your defence tight by tying your knee to elbow just below your armpit. The best course of action is to also use your mid-range defence to prevent them from passing. Keep in mind that the opponent will have trouble completing you if they can’t get to their favoured pins and placements.
The guard is your shield and sword at the bottom posture, as Danaher noted. You need to escape pins and keep them using your guard retention abilities if you want to develop into a dangerous bottom player. If you can achieve that, you’ll have an unfair edge that will let you continuously strike from below and negate the other person’s ability to control you. Practise your pin escapes and guard retention together because they may both have a big impact on a match’s result.
3) Grip Fighting
Guard retention also requires effective grip fighting. When grip combat on the ground, you must utilise controlling grips to connect oneself to the adversary. Maintain your guard while fighting off your back and grip combat by using controlling grips to the opponent’s sleeve or collar. You may then switch to guardians like the lasso, spider, and de la Riva thanks to this. To practise strikes like the collar pull and snap down, you may also sit up (wrestle up) and begin grasping their collar and sleeves.
Remember that in BJJ, the grips are the foundation of every move. One of the indicators of who will control the transaction is gaining an advantage over your adversary while preventing them from applying one. Although grip fighting is not a particularly interesting skill to learn, it is an important part of a battle since it might hinder your ability to perform your moves. Make learning the various grip configurations for your preferred techniques a part of your training regimen by including grip fighting in it.
4) A Strong Guard/Position
Finally, it all comes down to how well you can manage both your own position and that of your opponent. This suggests that you have the capacity to manage the adversary when they are alert. You should learn how to retain the opponent and prevent them from opening your guard, using the closed guard as an example. Developing assaults while you control the guard is crucial because the closed guard places the adversary at your mercy. In the event that your guard is opened, guard retention kicks in, and you should be able to connect it to the rest of your guards.
Using your chosen guards to control the opposition can help you improve your game rapidly. You may become more aware of the normal answers from even the strong opponents by mastering your guards.
Conclusion
When honing your defensive game in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, keep in mind to be patient and put your ego aside. It is one of the hardest things to perfect because, more often than not, when you practise, someone will slip past your defences and shatter them. Consider learning to play guard as a long-term investment in your game since it takes time to become good.
So these are the ways you can boost your BJJ Defensive game. Let us know your reviews in the comment section below.
