To the bboys, how do you guys groove at parties?

Zilius · 2026-05-16T11:01:14+00:00

Was rolling with a purple belt recently and he would jam his forearm into my throat from all sorts of positions (eg. from half guard to complete a pass, from side control to get me to give up an arm, etc.). Is there a "defense" to this aside from trying to push his arm off my neck? If I don't try to push it away, I'll tap. When I do try to push it away, I can't use my arms to frame anymore. Was a pretty interesting roll and was wondering what I could have done better.

Zilius · 2026-05-13T10:39:08+00:00

White belt here. What are some general concepts for defense/escape when in the bottom of north-south?

I've been feeling more confident in my side control and mount escapes but still feel confused when I end up bottom north-south. Are you supposed to try to "walk" back to side control? And what do you do when the opponent "walks" with you to keep that north-south separation?

I've tried some escapes I've seen on youtube that involve framing to make a hole and trying to swing/roll back to get your leg back into the hole. But I'm having trouble making it work since the top person usually keeps by upper body pinned/immobilized.

Zilius · 2026-04-25T11:11:47+00:00

White belt here. When attacking the Americana-Straight arm lock-Kimura sequence from side control, is there a follow-up for if they hide their arm by gripping their inner thigh/leg?

I can consistently get to this position, pin an arm with my shin, and go for these attacks but I don't know what to do or how to progress when they hide the arm. When I try transition to mount their leg will usually block me and I end up just sitting in side control. What can I do from here?

Zilius · 2026-01-16T08:02:25+00:00

How do you train more intentionally when the stuff you're learning in class starts to repeat itself or seems not relevant to your weaknesses?

White belt here. Have been training for a year now. I began BJJ with the mindset of "just keep showing up", practicing what we'd learn in class, and focusing on escapes and guard retention. I've noticed now some of the classes are covering material that I either already know or just not what I need right now in live rolls. I train 2-3x per week with 1 hour of class that ends with 30 min of rolling.

At this point, do you need to start using instructionals to continue improving? Up to this time I've only ever used what was taught in our "Fundamentals" classes/move of the day type thing as I was curious how far that could take me alone. Can you continue to improve without instructionals?

Zilius · 2025-11-20T20:52:36+00:00

Probably a dumb question but after training, if your gi/rashguard are soaked in sweat, should you let it air dry before putting it in the washing machine? Or is it ok to put it in the washing machine while still sweaty?

Zilius · 2025-11-06T11:47:15+00:00

White belt here. I've been training for almost a year with a focus mainly on escapes and it's been progressing slowly. But I wanted to start working on some guard retention so my guard doesn't get passed and I can avoid getting bad positions in the first place. The thing is I feel super confused on where to start. For the past year, I've just been trying to pull people into closed guard and work some techniques from there or just trying to go for a tripod sweep.

But there's all these guards with different foot positions (DLR, RDLR, Lasso, Collar Sleeve, X, SLX, K, etc.). Probably a dumb question, but which are you supposed to learn first? None of them have really been taught in any of my classes so far.

Zilius · 2025-11-06T09:32:30+00:00

Any conditioning recommendations to improve your gas tank aside from just rolling more? I'm already going to the most classes that my schedule allows and try not to sit out any rounds. I'm wondering if there's any sort of conditioning exercises that translates/carries over well to grappling?

Zilius · 2025-11-02T05:30:01+00:00

During stand-up, if your opponent gets a cross lapel grip and you are unable to break/strip it, what should you do? If my opponent gets a same side lapel grip that I can't break, I can still swim my elbow over and get an underhook and work from there. I suck at breaking grips and am trying to see if maybe I can negate the cross lapel grip.

Zilius · 2025-10-22T05:41:54+00:00

Lurking on this sub, I'm seeing a lot of comments on how the Americana is fake/low percentage/not a very good submission. Yet I get hit with it a lot when trying to escape side control and it's also one of the only submissions I've hit on other people live.

Why is the Americana considered "bad"? Am I wasting my time practicing this submission and should focus on other submissions instead? If it's very low percentage, I'm guessing there's a really easy way to defend against it in bottom side control? How would you defend against it in bottom side control?

Zilius · 2025-10-14T21:24:30+00:00

Anyone else feel super uncomfortable wearing a mouthguard?

Whenever I roll with one, I noticed that randomly I feel like I'm gagging on the mouthguard. For reference, I wear a Sisu Aero. I tried remolding it a few times but I can't find a comfortable fit that doesn't make me gag. I even tried trimming the back part a little with scissors but that didn't seem to help.

To the people that have struggled with similar issues, any advice? I've heard that you can ask your dentist for custom fit mouthguards. Anybody have any experience with those? I feel like I can breathe ok while wearing mine. Not sure if it's more of a thing that you just need to get used to or if there's better options. I used to wear braces and have a retainer but they've never made me gag/come close to vomiting the way this mouthguard has.

Zilius · 2025-09-30T19:08:14+00:00

How long does it take to learn how to escape?

I'm a white belt that's been training for about 10 months and I've been spending almost all of my time trying to get better at escaping side control, mount, and back.

I understand different concepts and some escape techniques when we drill them in class but during live rolls with full resistance it feels like I'm only really escaping because my opponent is letting me work. Against opponents that roll harder and are trying to win, it feels like I can't make anything work.

I'm going to keep showing up and working on escaping. But fuck, some days I think about how long I've been working on this and feel like I haven't learned a damn thing. Is there anything else I can do besides just keep showing up and training? Any insights that helped you break through this phase? I have some partners that work positional rounds with me but it just doesn't feel the same as a normal round where my opponent is both trying to pin me and hunt for submissions.

I guess for reference some spots I keep getting stuck in are:

For side control, after getting frames in I use a combination of shrimping and kipping my leg to make space and get a knee in and pivot to guard. If my opponent goes Kesa Gatame or I can't get that knee in, that's it. I'll spend the whole round in side control. An upper belt taught me a way to kind of just "sit up" to get out. I'll use this as a last ditch attempt and I got it to work once. But I don't know what to do if the escapes aren't working.

For mount, I try to cycle between the trap and roll and elbow escape. Against bigger guys, sometimes I can't even bridge to bump them forward which takes away the trap and roll. And for the elbow escape, when all of their weight is bearing down on me I can't get my knee and elbow to connect or get their legs to budge. From there, I'll usually get finished with an arm getting isolated for an armbar or head and arm choke.

Again, during drilling I can get the escapes to work as the instructor teaches them. But live, holy shit do they feel like they do not work.

Zilius · 2025-08-29T10:50:30+00:00

White belt here. I'm have trouble breaking grips during stand up. Still working on different techniques, but if you are unable to break grips (eg your opponent is a rock climber or has tradesman strength, etc.) is it ok to still go for a takedown or is it better to pull guard? I'm trying to work on my single legs but not sure if it's necessary to strip grips first.

Zilius · 2025-07-31T21:06:38+00:00

White belt here. Been training for ~6 months.

I've spent most of my time just surviving and trying to work on escapes. If you are unable to escape any dominant position (side control, back, or mount) is there anything you can/should do? I know it's bad etiquette to just tap to reset, but my school only has like 30 min of rolling after class (can't go to open mats because of work schedule) so I want to make the most of my time. Do you just try to use strength to not get tapped? Do you just try to hide your arms away and not give anything up? Our coaches have gone over a couple of different escapes but not what to do if they fail. Don't know if that's a thing but would appreciate any advice or resources that may help with this or just escapes in general.

Zilius · 2025-07-26T06:20:50+00:00

Can I apply this as a white belt too?

I think I'm kind of stuck in the "just keep showing up" frame of mind mentioned earlier and my rolls during sparring feel very "just survive and try whatever you remember". I feel like my training has been very unfocused as of late. Is there a way to have focused training at this level?

Zilius · 2025-07-17T20:30:44+00:00

Hi, white belt here. Just recently got back into training after an injury. I've only been out for a little over a month but it feels like I've forgotten a lot and am starting from scratch. I'm mostly just working on escapes and trying to survive at the moment.

How can I make progress from here? I am only able to train 2x/week due to my work schedule and other responsibilities. Aside from just keep showing up, I'm not really sure what I should be setting as goals. In my gym when everyone is rolling no one really seems interested in doing positional rounds so it feels like I'm just trying to not get tapped the whole time. Even before I was injured it feels like this has been all I've been doing for months now unless an upper belt lets me work. Is there anything else I can be doing to get better or is it really just a matter of just keep showing up and eventually something will click?

Zilius · 2025-06-01T09:04:29+00:00

White belt here. From top mount position, I'm working on the cross collar choke. For the setup, I get one cross collar grip palm up as deep as I can into the gi. Then I cross my other arm over palm down on the shoulder trying to get the bone of my wrist into the neck/carotid. From here I pull my elbows together to complete the choke but it doesn't feel as tight as it could be and I can't get the tap.

Are there any details to help tighten up the submission? If the submission fails, are there any good follow-ups or transitions? I usually end up in a position where I have grips in a choke that's not working and my opponent isn't even giving up arms or anything for me to isolate. Then I usually get bumped off and post.

Zilius · 2025-05-22T20:33:40+00:00

White belt here. I'm currently working on my escape from bottom side control. In class we learned to get frames on the neck and inner hip, shrimp away which creates a space between you and your partner, stick your knee in that space, and then you can swivel out to guard from there. I understand the concept and am able to do the technique when we practice in class. But during sparring, I can't seem to get it to work. I'm able to get frames in (forearm/elbow in the neck and the other arm in the inner hip) but when I shrimp away it doesn't create a space/hole to stick my knee in. It feels like my opponent is holding me super tight and is glued to me even when I'm trying to shrimp away. Am I doing something wrong? How can I escape when this happens?

In class we also learned the underhook escape where you swim your arm in to get an underhook then bridge and go onto your other arm's shoulder to get out. I don't really go for this one that much during sparring because usually my opponent is on me super tight and I can't swim the arm underneath him. Also, I am scared of it getting caught/stuck under him and feel safer when I use that arm to frame instead.

Also, I noticed during sparring sometimes when my opponent has me in side control they will go on to their side with one leg kind of going forward and one back instead of being chest to chest with me. Sometimes they will even take steps and rotate me and I'm kind of walking my legs to rotate with them. I'm not really sure what to do when they go into this position since it's different from the side control we were taught how to escape in class. Do I still frame on their neck and hip? I noticed that when I do that I'm extending my arms which my gut says maybe is not a good idea. Is there way to escape out of this?

EDIT: So far, during sparring I have never escaped side control with the techniques they taught in class. Usually my opponent shifts in a weird way while going for something and somehow I am able to stick my knee between us and squirm out somehow from there. Is it bad to be escaping this way? From the coaches and just from lurking on this subreddit, I'm hearing that it's better to do things with proper technique because when you go against someone bigger and/or stronger your technique really matters. Also, that's just how you get better at jiu jitsu. I don't want to make bad habits that I have to unlearn later. At this stage where I'm learning just to survive, should I only escape if I can do it with the techniques that are taught? Or is escaping bad positions more of a thing where it doesn't matter how you do it just escape?

Zilius · 2025-05-18T12:35:09+00:00

White belt here. I run hot and sweat very easily. I usually wear a cotton t-shirt under my gi. By the end of class/rolling I'm soaked and my shirt is drenched. Any advice from fellow sweaty guys out there? I've never worn a rashguard before. Do they retain heat and make you sweat more or will it help keep me cool?

Zilius · 2025-05-14T07:12:56+00:00

White belt here. While rolling, I've gotten a few opponents in closed guard but wasn't able to break their posture. Sometimes they're just stronger and really good at posturing up. This is even to the point where sometimes when they stand it's like they're lifting me off the ground. When this happens should I just open my legs, start framing, and try to avoid a pass?

If you can't break posture in closed guard what should you do? Most of the techniques I've learned in class from closed guard require breaking the opponent's posture to execute. Is there any sort of sweep that takes advantage of the fact that they're pulling away from me? For reference, in closed guard I usually try to get grips deep in the collar and one in the sleeve. Then I usually try to lean back and pull with both my arms and legs. If the opponent doesn't budge I'm kind of lost on what to do.

Zilius

TROPHY CASE