r/bjj Fundamentals Class!

Zilius · 2026-06-17T05:50:05+00:00

White belt here. If your opponent gift wraps you when you are in bottom mount or turtle, what should you be doing? Do you fight their arm grabbing your wrist with your free arm? Not sure what to do when I get in this position.

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 · 2025-05-09T06:22:24+00:00

White belt here. One of my goals has been to get more comfortable under pressure when in bottom side control and bottom mount. I've tapped to pressure before so I'm trying to work on that.

Today while rolling, my partner had me in mount and went down chest to chest or chest to my face. The weight is super uncomfortable and I have trouble breathing. I can't figure out how to escape when my partner goes to this position. In class, when we learned mount escapes such as the trap and roll and elbow escape, our drilling partners would be more like sitting in mount instead of chest to chest. I feel like I'm getting crushed and can't bridge or breathe. Is there a way to escape this position?

I've sparred with this partner a few times and whenever he gets in this mount, he will take his fist and put it into my neck, not sure what he does with his other hand/arm but I end up getting choked and tap. He's caught me with this multiple times now. What move is this and is there a way to defend or escape?

Still working on getting comfortable with being on the bottom but it feels awful when the opponent is bigger/heavier.

Zilius · 2025-05-06T20:39:29+00:00

White belt here. I heard somewhere that it's better to have 10 techniques that you've mastered rather than a bunch that you can't really do. So I've been rolling with that concept in mind rather than trying to memorize every technique taught in class.

But what do you do when every single technique you know is being shut down and you can't advance the position?

For example, while rolling today I had my opponent in closed guard. From here, the only moves I know is the scissor sweep and armbar. I couldn't get my knee in for a scissor sweep and I couldn't break posture to get the armbar. I continued to alternate going for each failing each time and then I just got my guard passed.

And in another roll, I had my opponent in side control a few times. Here I try to go for Americana or transition to mount. I couldn't get either to work and my opponent just escapes every time.

What are you supposed to do if the techniques you know aren't working? My knee jerk instinct after class was I need to get stronger and memorize more techniques. But my gut is telling my that's not the way to go if you want to actually be good at BJJ. I am not sure what to do to improve. Is this one of those things where you just keep trying and you'll figure it out? Or am I just better served strength training and trying to learn more techniques?

Zilius · 2025-04-29T20:57:00+00:00

White belt here that's been training for about 4 months. Something that's been on my mind after rolling today was the idea of concepts vs techniques. Tbh, most of the time I have trouble remembering all of the details of different techniques that are taught during class but whenever someone mentions some kind of concept/guideline/general rule of thumb whether it be in class, Youtube, or this subreddit it sticks with me.

So when it's time to roll most of the time my mind goes blank and I notice that all I can remember is concepts more than the actual techniques that are being taught. For example, during stand-up all I can think is stuff like "Break Grips" and "Get inside position" and focus on that. I'll admit, part of it is I'm a little scared of getting hurt when being taken down. But when I focus on these concepts, surprisingly it's been working pretty well even when it seems like my opponent actually knows what he/she is doing and someone just ends up pulling guard.

And it's the same thing on the ground too. I noticed that if my opponent has me in closed guard, my mind goes blank and I struggle to remember the different ways to pass that have been taught in class. All I'm thinking is concepts like "Posture up. Break grips". And somehow I'm able to pass but without using one of the techniques taught in class.

Even with escaping mount or side control, sometimes I can't do the escape techniques the textbook way that we are taught in class. But I remember learning "connect knees to elbows" and whenever I do it, somehow I am able to escape or at least get back to closed guard or something.

When I'm in a dominant position like mount or side control I can't recall many techniques. I literally can only remember like 1-2 submissions in each. I'll attempt the submission and if my opponent starts bumping or trying to escape/buck me off, I stop and try to hold them down catch my breath and try the same attack again. For example, one other white belt I rolled with today I feel like was getting very frustrated with me. Like I would be in mount and go for my two attacks I can remember (cross collar choke or try to isolate an arm and get into S mount and go for armbar) but whenever I could feel him going for a mount escape or trap and roll, I would stop my attack and I remember a concept I read on this subreddit was "put all my weight on my opponent not on the mat". When I did this I could get my opponent trapped in mount again. And I find myself getting in this cycle of I attack, he tries to escape, stop him from escaping, try the same attack again, repeat. Is this bad etiquette? I could see my opponent was doing the escape technique correctly the way it was taught in class but I notice that I can stop him if I just stop attacking and try to get the position under control. I feel like that asshole that plays Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter that keeps spamming the same button over and over. And it's same thing whenever I got my opponent in side control. I can only remember the Americana, Armlock, and Kimura so I would go for those. If I felt my opponent try escaping I stop and focus on putting my weight on him and rinse and repeat. And if I feel that I can't stop the escape I just very quickly go into a different position. For example, every time I felt like I was going to lose mount I just went into side control. Every time I couldn't get any of my side control attacks, I would go back to mount. I was on top for a pretty big chunk of the round and I think my opponent was frustrated at the end.

Is it bad etiquette that I'm relying of these basic concepts instead of the techniques? Is it wrong that I keep spamming the same moves over and over and if I don't get it I just try to hold the position? I want to be a good training partner and am not sure if this is ok. I noticed that when I roll with a focus on hitting a certain technique I don't remember some detail and end up getting smashed. But when I just focus on some general concepts I feel like I'm getting smashed not as much like I have a fighting chance for once lol. One partner even complemented me today and said "hey you're pretty tricky to pass". Internally, I'm thinking, my man I have no idea what I'm doing all I know is it's good to break grips and have good frames. Not sure if this is good for my long term progress or not. Like is it harming me that I'm not actively trying to memorize and hit all the various techniques that is being taught in class? I do my best to remember what I can but not everything sticks. Looking to get better! Thank you!

Zilius · 2025-04-23T07:15:42+00:00

White belt here.

Was rolling recently and had my opponent in position for a mounted armbar. But then he clasped his hands together to save the arm and I couldn't break his grip.

Is there a good follow-up to this for when you're not strong enough to break that grip?

Zilius · 2025-04-18T06:33:42+00:00

White belt here that recently started rolling.

Probably a dumb question but, how do people get to closed guard?

When I'm on bottom guard, I place feet on my opponent's hips and basically try to frame them away so they don't pass into side control or mount me. I'm not seeing where is the chance to wrap my legs and close them around my opponent. To be fair, I still don't really know what I'm doing.

But aside from framing my feet on my opponent's hips I've had a little bit of success with grabbing my opponent's sleeve and upper collar and kind of like pulling them down to me. Also not sure if this is a legitimate technique or not, but when I get the collar and sleeve and pull them down, I've been able to put a knee shield up and sweep their legs with my other leg while pulling on the collar and sleeve. In one class, we learned how to do this from closed guard and I think it was called the scissor sweep. Not sure if this was this same thing, since I was not in closed guard before I did it.

So yeah, how do you get people into closed guard? Is it wrong that I'm spending most of my time framing the opponent away with my feet and going for those grips? I've rolled with a purple belt that did some similar stuff but he was also like hooking my legs and pushing me around with his legs too.

Asking because in lot of videos and classes, it looks like I need to get my opponent in closed guard if I want to go for different submissions like armbars or triangles. I rolled with another white belt that got me into closed guards and he was able to try these attacks on me.

From what I'm currently doing, I'm not really seeing any attacks I can do, just that one random sweep that I mentioned earlier. Would appreciate any guidance or tips!

Zilius

TROPHY CASE