BJJ Self-Assessment

[skribs]

I decided to give myself an assessment on how I'm doing with different concepts in each position. I figured this is a good way to help organize my understanding of BJJ, and also to figure out what to work on. I would give myself a position and concept (such as Stand Up: Take-Down Attacks) and then give myself a letter grade and a weight for that particular category. Low weight is something that isn't important to me in the short term, high weight is something that is.

I also ranked myself based on my rolls with opponents of a similar size and skill level. I'm not worried about my failures against purple belts or against the 300 pound wrestler that just set his high school's bench press record.

Part of this was trying to sift through advice that the purple belts are giving me for what is going to be the most helpful for right now. For example, one purple belt was telling me I am telegraphing my moves. While he's not wrong about that, I don't believe I'm at a point where I should be worried about telegraphing or not. I need to be able to do the move properly in the first place.

A few examples:

• Stand-Up, Take-Down Attack: F, Low (I can pull guard effectively, so for now I have a method of taking the fight to the ground)
• Closed Guard, Bottom, Guard Retention: F, Medium (I can barely lock my feet half the time, so I'd rather focus on open guard)
• Closed Guard, Top, Submission Defense: B, High
• Open Guard, Bottom, Guard Retention: D, High
• 50/50: F, Low (I'm rarely in this position and I have other positions I spend more time in that I need to improve)

Out of these 5 categories, the one I want to work on most is my open guard retention. The only other High I had given myself a B.

Have you done assessments like this for yourself? If so, how did you break things down? Do you have any suggestions for me for the next time I do this?

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I keep track of my skills and abilities in different areas along similar lines, but I don't go so far as to assign any sort of formal grade.

As far as advice, I'd start with creating a list of priorities first, then worry about evaluating where you are for the areas at the top of the list. (50/50 really isn't anything you need to be worried about as a relatively new white belt.)

Your own priority list will vary depending on whether you are approaching BJJ primarily as a sport or as a martial art. Also your prior background can come into play. Since you have experience in a stand-up striking art, you're probably less concerned about BJJ methods for defending against stand-up striking.

Since I teach BJJ as a martial art and a sport second, my top priorities for white belts to work on are the following:

Falling safely
Getting back to the feet safely
Clinching safely against strikes and getting at least a couple of takedowns to a functional level. (Pulling guard is not usually advisable for self-defense.)
Basic takedown defense
Basics of surviving and escaping bottom of mount and side mount (including punch defense)
Basics of maintaining top of mount and side mount, plus getting 2-3 submissions to a functional level from those positions.
Basics of bottom closed guard and feet on hips open guard, including punch defense and 2-3 functional sweeps and submissions
Basics of top closed guard and open guard, focus on maintaining good posture and having 2-3 functional passes
Basics of defending and escaping back mount
Basics of maintaining back mount, including having at least a couple of functional submissions

Secondary* areas to work on would be:

Top and bottom of half guard
Top and bottom of knee ride
Basics of leg entanglements & footlocks - primarily ashi garami and the straight ankle lock
Defending and escaping turtle
Butterfly guard
Transitioning smoothly between all the positions mentioned above.

*(By secondary, I mean that I expect my students to be somewhat functional in these areas by the time they reach blue belt, but they aren't a top priority for the first year of study.)

My white belts do get exposed to more than is on the list above, but some of that is laying the groundwork for future development. In accordance with your priority ranking system, everything in the first list would be high priority, everything in the second list would be medium priority, and most other areas would be low priority for a white belt in their first year of study.

 

[skribs]

I keep track of my skills and abilities in different areas along similar lines, but I don't go so far as to assign any sort of formal grade.

As far as advice, I'd start with creating a list of priorities first, then worry about evaluating where you are for the areas at the top of the list. (50/50 really isn't anything you need to be worried about as a relatively new white belt.)

This helped me create my list of priorities. I think we have a chicken-and-egg problem here.

Your own priority list will vary depending on whether you are approaching BJJ primarily as a sport or as a martial art. Also your prior background can come into play. Since you have experience in a stand-up striking art, you're probably less concerned about BJJ methods for defending against stand-up striking.

Right now my priority is to learn what BJJ has to offer, that I can incorporate it. BJJs strongest aspect is the groundfighting, so my goal is to learn that. Pulling guard gets me on the ground so I can work on that.

At this point, my long-term goal is still to open a TKD school. What I would like to do is be able to incorporate the "anti-jiu-jitsu" concept that apparently is making the craze these days. I am going to be less concerned with using BJJ effectively as I am with being able to effectively teach someone how to defend against someone who knows a little jiu-jitsu (with the understanding they would need to train in BJJ to be effective against someone who knows a lot of it).

That's not to say that I won't try and work on my take-downs. Just that it's not among my priorities for right now.

What I did eventually settle on for my top 5 priorities I want to work in the near future:

1. How to properly be in control of closed guard. Brand new white belts tend to smash me and go for submissions, and while they typically don't get them, I still end up pinned in a position that I'm supposed to be on the dominant side of.
2. Not getting flattened in side control or half guard.
3. Effectively sweeping from guard. Most of my sweeps on white belts happen in mount. In fact, against white belts, I almost feel safer under mount than with guard.
4. Finishing guillotines. I catch people in them all the time and have yet to finish a single person with one. We haven't really gone over it in class, but I would like to find an opportunity to work on them with an upper belt.
5. Open Guard - just in general, developing an open guard game. I feel that point #3 will probably help a lot with this.

 

[drop bear]

Wrestle up.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Wrestle up.

This is a hugely important concept which is starting to be appreciated more in BJJ circles. It should also be a priority for someone like skribs who is hoping to one day teach "anti-grappling" skills to his TKD students. (Perhaps not so much at his current level of development, but certainly a little bit down the line.)

 

[wab25]

There is a natural progression I have seen when people learn these arts. If you understand the progression, then you can evaluate where you are in that progression.

Lets use an arm bar from guard as an example. Professor A teaches a certain series of movements to to get an arm bar from guard and Professor B teaches a different series of movements to get an arm bar from guard.

At the beginning stages, the student sees two different ways to accomplish an arm bar from guard. As the student studies these two ways, he sees more and more differences. The different moves do different things, which open up and allow the next part of each series. The two approaches focus on different things, since they are doing different series... or rather the series are different, because the focus is different. In this phase, the student is identifying more differences and the nuances of those differences. They should be getting better at each series.

There comes a point in time though, when the student starts to see how the two series share things, beyond just the arm bar at the end. As the student starts to understand the core principles of what is happening, the two series start to become more the same. Sure, the movements are the different... but what you are doing is the same. This is why you can go to Professor C and say "Prof A says to do it this way and Prof B says to do it this other way, which is the right way?" Professor C answers "Yes..... and this is how I do it..." followed by a 3rd way to get an arm bar from guard.

What gets fun is that this is an iterative process. The different approaches get closer and closer to being the same... and then something changes and you see a new difference, and then another and so forth. Until the point where these new differences start to converge again. Repeat....

Now you can let things go beyond the technique to started with. Is an arm bar from mount different than an arm bar from guard? Yes. They are done differently. But, after a while, you find that you really are doing the same things, and eventually see that they are the same.... at least in the important parts. Is a standing arm bar different than an arm bar from guard? Yes.... until they start to converge. When they do start to converge, you will be understanding the important principles. Sure, all 3 techniques here, do very different things to end in an arm bar... but they really are doing the same things.

When doing an arm bar, you need a fulcrum, just behind the elbow. Whether that fulcrum is your hip, your shoulder, your forearm, your knee or your shin.... you still need that fulcrum. That fulcrum cannot move, it has to be stable. You need a lever. You need to keep the other guys body from moving. You need to break their structure. You need to isolate the arm.... When you start seeing the techniques from this end... you can start to apply what you learn in one technique to another. It becomes easier to pick up the new variation. Heck, a lot of what you learn to apply an arm bar, can be used to apply a choke... break their structure, isolate their neck, keep the other guy from moving his body, get a lever, use a fulcrum...

So, when you are seeing mainly differences... you are progressing, you are learning. This is a needed step. You need to learn those nuances and the technical details. Eventually, you will start seeing similarities. This is good. As you start seeing more similarities, understand that you are on the down side and look for more. The more similarities you find, the better your technical details will get. (you have to learn them first, before you can refine them). Then, when you start to see the differences again.... it means you are ready to make your next iteration. When you are seeing the differences, focus on those, but understand that it will all become the same again.... and you will have made a lot of progress.

This goes for each technique and will be separate. Each technique will be at a different place. This will form groups of techniques... these are all the same. Then the groups will change or become one or whatever.

When I am seeing the differences grow.... I am working on technical skills. When I start seeing the differences converge, I am working on core principals and refinements. Until, I need to work on more technical skills and start the divergence again.

This is not to take away from your lists and priorities. I like to look at where I am on this progression in each of my priorities, instead of giving myself a letter grade.

 

[skribs]

(Perhaps not so much at his current level of development, but certainly a little bit down the line.)

My current tentative plan is to be at least a purple belt in BJJ before I open my own TKD school. Maybe brown. Maybe black. But definitely at least purple.

 

[skribs]

1. Finishing guillotines. I catch people in them all the time and have yet to finish a single person with one. We haven't really gone over it in class, but I would like to find an opportunity to work on them with an upper belt.

Hopefully I've gotten this figured out. I got partnered with the black belt and he asked if I had any questions, I said "Guillotines! I always catch people but I've never finished one." So we spent the round working on them and next time I catch one I have a better chance of finishing them.

My most embarrassing guillotine failure was actually against him. I had the headlock and yet he choked me out.

 

[drop bear]

Hopefully I've gotten this figured out. I got partnered with the black belt and he asked if I had any questions, I said "Guillotines! I always catch people but I've never finished one." So we spent the round working on them and next time I catch one I have a better chance of finishing them.

My most embarrassing guillotine failure was actually against him. I had the headlock and yet he choked me out.

Von flue choke.

You never had him. You never had your car.

 

[skribs]

Von flue choke.

Thanks, I'd heard the term once, but had no idea how to spell it.

You never had him.

Regardless of how they got there, my arms were around his neck. That much is a fact.

I accused him of breaking the laws of physics when he did that to me.

You never had your car.

Huh? You've lost me on this line.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Regardless of how they got there, my arms were around his neck. That much is a fact.

Having your arms around his neck doesn’t give you the choke unless your body is in the correct position relative to his. I’m guessing he got his legs on the opposite side of your body from the side where you had his head? In that case, you didn’t have a guillotine on him and he was in position to get you with the Von Flue choke.

 

[skribs]

Having your arms around his neck doesn’t give you the choke unless your body is in the correct position relative to his. I’m guessing he got his legs on the opposite side of your body from the side where you had his head? In that case, you didn’t have a guillotine on him and he was in position to get you with the Von Flue choke.

I'm not arguing that I didn't have the choke. I'm saying my mind is still adapting to that fact.

 

[drop bear]

Thanks, I'd heard the term once, but had no idea how to spell it.

Regardless of how they got there, my arms were around his neck. That much is a fact.

I accused him of breaking the laws of physics when he did that to me.

Huh? You've lost me on this line.

 

[drop bear]

I'm not arguing that I didn't have the choke. I'm saying my mind is still adapting to that fact.

Not only did you not have a submission. But you were helping him to get his submission.

Because if you had let go of your choke. He can't von flue you.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Von flue choke.

You never had him. You never had your car.

My favorite choke. Doesn't work against experienced people. But I can't beat them anyway, so it works for me.

 

[dunc]

Open guard is wonderful, but it is a long study and requires skill with several open guard positions to be successful (you have to be able to switch guards constantly to be effective against more experienced people) and it's more orientated to the guard pull situation - which I don't think fits your TKD anti JJ objective. This is not the case with half guard or closed guard

As a white belt I'd suggest focusing on defence because most people will be better at JJ than you
Create solid chains of movements from inferior positions into either half guard or closed guard. Then add a single solid sweep and sub from those two guards
If your legs are very short & you find closed guard really difficult as a result then I'd suggest focusing just on half guard
After you can reliably defend (& ideally escape/sweep/sub) against bigger or "one belt up" folk then start to focus on either broadening your repertoire of sweeps and subs from half guard and maybe put some energy into build a top game by focusing on passing half guard & closed guard and getting good at side control pins

In my experience people who have this focus become very difficult to submit around late blue belt level. They typically get caught when they start trying to attack (& open up as a result). This would seem to fit your broader objective

As an aside: You'll probably find that you can easily escape mount because your opponents suck at it. If your opponent has mastered the control of mount it's the hardest position to deal with defensively. Other positions like side control & closed guard take less study to get initial gains in terms of control so at white belt level you may be getting some unhelpful signals

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I'm not arguing that I didn't have the choke. I'm saying my mind is still adapting to that fact.

There are a couple of things which can help your mind adapt to understanding the situation.

The first is understanding the mechanics of what actually makes a choke work. Once you understand the necessary details of how and where you apply force to make the choke work, then you'll understand how from the position you were in you had no way to apply the correct mechanics. I might actually record some video in class tonight covering those concepts.

The second is to reach a deeper understanding of the mantra "position before submission." You've doubtless encountered this saying before, but at the beginner level most people only understand it as getting a position like mount or guard before starting a submission attempt. What they don't realize is that each submission is itself a position which requires study for how you can use it to control your opponent prior to actually executing the finish. Once you understand the various guillotine control positions, you'll understand why you didn't have effective control over your partner.

 

[skribs]

There are a couple of things which can help your mind adapt to understanding the situation.

The first is understanding the mechanics of what actually makes a choke work. Once you understand the necessary details of how and where you apply force to make the choke work, then you'll understand how from the position you were in you had no way to apply the correct mechanics. I might actually record some video in class tonight covering those concepts.

The second is to reach a deeper understanding of the mantra "position before submission." You've doubtless encountered this saying before, but at the beginner level most people only understand it as getting a position like mount or guard before starting a submission attempt. What they don't realize is that each submission is itself a position which requires study for how you can use it to control your opponent prior to actually executing the finish. Once you understand the various guillotine control positions, you'll understand why you didn't have effective control over your partner.

Just let me have this as a fun story for a while.

 

[drop bear]

Just let me have this as a fun story for a while.

Tell people you tapped but it was more of a crank.

 

[skribs]

Tell people you tapped but it was more of a crank.

No, it definitely wasn't.

I did make him laugh yesterday. He was putting on his gi and accidentally smacked me with the sleeve. He said "sorry."

I said, "Don't worry. I'll get you back later."

He laughed and laughed.

I'm really lucky the black belts at my school have a sense of humor. For example, my professor gave me an accidental private lesson the night before he competed in a tournament, where he easily took first place. My joke was "I did a real good job preparing you!" Oh he thought that was the funniest thing and told everyone that I'm a great training partner.