Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Q & A One.pdf

HARRIS INTERNATIONAL

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Questions and Answers - part one

8250 Camino Santa Fe, Suite J, San Diego, CA [email protected] 858. 550. 2021 www.royharris.com

BRAZILIAN JIU JITSUQuestions and Answers

Part One




Since the fall of 1994, I have answered thousands of martialarts questions online: Questions about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, JeetKune Do Concepts, Filipino Martial Art, Self-defense,Streetfighting, physical fitness, law enforcement defensivetactics and more. To date, I have written over 800 pages ofanswers. I would like to begin sharing some of them with youin this new format (which is a mixture of text, pictures andvideo).

I pray you enjoy and benefit from them!

Good training to you,

Roy Harris




Question #1: Mr. Harris, when an opponent hooks his leg to defend againstthe knee bar, is there another attack I can perform?

Answer: When someone hooks their foot under the bend of the knee of theirother leg, do the following:

1) Pry the second leg off of the first legand then attack the first leg again. Inother words, if you are attacking youropponents left knee and he places hisleft foot in the crook of his right knee orcrosses his ankles so that his left ankle isunderneath his right ankle, grab a holdof his right foot and pull it to the left sideof your body (underneath your leftarmpit). This will expose his left leg andallow you to finish the knee bar on his leftleg.

2) A second way to attack youropponents left knee is to pry the right legoff of the left leg. However, when the op-ponent resists by keeping his left leg bent,keep your left forearm underneath his leftthigh, between his thigh and his calf. Takeyour right leg and put it over top of theopponents left ankle. Triangle your legsby placing your right foot in the bend ofyour left knee. Pull your heels to your but-tocks and squeeze your knees together.

Roy HarrisNoteBoth of these are video files. All you have to do is click on them to play them.

Roy Harris




Additionally, you will want to turn your left wrist so that it is perpendicular toyour opponents left leg. This will cause the radial and ulna bone to cut intothe top of his left calf. This is not a lock. Rather, it is a compression of the knee.Pain can be felt in the upper calf and the middle of the knee.

Question #2: Mr. Harris, how do you promote your students in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?Do you give a belt test and give stripes? Or, how do you determine when astudent is ready for the next belt level and if you can give examples of thetype of knowledge to go from the bottom at white to top at black?

Answer: I promote my students by giving them an examination. I do not usethe stripe system just yet. However, I will begin to use it in 2003.

When a student shares with me their desire to move on to the next belt level,I sit down with them and discuss their current level. Sometimes, we roll first andthen I give them an evaluation. I explain to them where their game needsimprovement, where it should progress and how I can best help them.

For example, the blue belt examination is a technical examination. I requiremy students to know a certain set of techniques, as well as require them tohave a basic level of skill in certain areas of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I also interviewthem and give them a practical, hands-on evaluation.

Click here to see the blue belt examination

The purple belt examination requires the student to possess a specific set ofskills. They must also be able to perform the blue belt curriculum.

When a blue belt student asks me what they need to do to obtain the purplebelt, I tell them what I am looking for in a purple belt and how they can besttrain for the examination. This same process goes for the brown and blackbelt examinations. (I require specific skills for the higher belt levels.)




Each promotion requires a lot of my personal attention. I do not promotestudents based upon their knowledge of technique. Rather, I look for a com-bination of technical proficiency, skill on the mat, time in service and attitude(I am a firm believer that the darker a persons belt color is, the more a giverhe or she should be! For example, purple and brown belts at my academyare the favorite training partners amongst students. Everyone loves to trainwith these guys because of their skill level, but more importantly, becausethey give back to the students. These purple belts dont kick everyones butt,every class. Rather, they allow the junior students into the game. They teachthem by example! This is a very important quality for a purple belt to possess.)

When I promote a student to one of the higher belt levels (purple, brown orblack), I consider the following:

1. Technical proficiency.2. Performance (skill) on the mat.3. Time in service.4. Attitude towards other students.

I require my higher belts to have ALL of the above, not just one. I do notbelieve that just because a student knows a certain amount of techniques,or because he can hang with a purple belt at the academy that he de-serves the purple belt. In order for him to qualify for this belt, he must demon-strate the following:

1. A high level of technical proficiency with the basics. In other words,most of the techniques he uses should be good, solid basics. There shouldbe a minimal amount of force being used to accomplish his objectives.

2. Skill on the mat. The purple belt is the belt of combinations and momen-tum. What that means is this: When I see an individual who powers his waythrough every escape and explodes into every submission, he is not readyfor the purple belt. What I need to see is this: I need to see him use hisbasics together in combinations that set up sweeps, submissions and other




positional exchanges. I also need to see him use and create momentum.

With the use of combinations and momentum, the amount of energy apurple belt uses in comparison with a white belt or beginning blue beltshould be much less.

3. With respect to time in service, I require my blue belts to spend at least18 to 24 months of time working on their basics and combinations before Iwill even consider them for purple. Yes, I have made some exceptions tothis rule. However, the students who were the exceptions to the rule wereathletes when they came to the academy. They were also visual learnerswho attended every class. Because of their athletic background, their vi-sual learning skills, and, because the frequency of their attendance, theyprogressed faster than everyone else. Keep in mind, these kind of studentsare not the norm. They are the anomalies!

I have found that it takes the average student 21 months to make theleap from blue to purple.

4. Finally, theres the students attitude. I require my purple belts and higherto have a higher standard of moral. I require them to be kind, gentle, re-spectful and considerate. Obviously, they also have to have the ability tokick butt. However, anyone can be taught to kick butt, and, anyone withskill can kick butt......but, it takes more strength of character to withholdthat power.

I also require my higher belts to give more, especially with beginning students.Too often, Ive seen higher belts from other schools stop by to train and allthey do is try to kick everyones butt, including the beginning white belts. Iwatch them tap out the beginning white belts repeatedly, without giving themany kind of advice or recommendations. While that may be acceptable atother schools, it is not at my academy.

The bad boy, look at me kick butt attitude is not welcome at my academy.




I want my students to learn how to give AND take, how to win AND lose gra-ciously. Students need to understand that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a sport and ahobby. It is supposed to be fun! With that fun attitude comes respect andconsideration for others. Now, am I saying that my higher belts are nevergiven the opportunity to kick butt? No. However, before they do, they musttell their training partner the following, If you dont mind, Im going to train abit hard tonight. Ive been going easy all week and I need a good work out.So, since I am going hard and fast, please know that I am not upset with youor purposely trying to hurt you. I just need to train hard.

Question #3: Hey Roy, do you have any ideas on solo drills I can do todevelop a good guard in terms of movement for attacking or maintaining anopen guard?

Answer: Unfortunately, there are no solo drills that one can do to improveones guard. The reason is simple: Theres no pressure or movement to re-spond to!

To be effective with any type of guard,you need to learn how to deal with pres-sure and movement. You must learn howto follow it, move with it, lead it and con-trol it. Unfortunately, you cannot do thisby yourself. Someone needs to give youthat type of energy so you can first learnto follow.

Now, there are exercises you can do to strengthen and lengthen the musclesin your legs so you can use them more effectively. However, they do not helpyou with attacking or maintaining an open guard. Only another person canhelp you accomplish that.

Roy HarrisNoteThis too is a video files. All you have to do is click to play.

Roy Harris




Here are some stretches and exercises that will help your use of the guardmore effectively. Keep in mind these strengthening exercises are designed tohelp you push and pull stronger:

1. Adductors.2. Abductors.3. Leg press.4. Squats (without weights)5. Leg curls.6. Inward/outward circles with leg weight, on your back.7. Inward/outward circles with leg weight on, standing.8. Seated rows.9. Bicep curls.10. Crunches.

Here are the areas to stretch:

1. Hamstrings.2. Quadriceps.3. Inner thighs.4. Outer thighs.5. Hip flexors.6. Gluteals.7. Lower back.8. Middle back.9. Upper back.10. Back of your neck.

Developing a good guard is something that will take time, effort and pa-tience!




Question #4: Do you have any solo drills to help overall body movement or forside mount escapes?

Answer: What I wrote earlier holds true forside mount escapes as well. To effectivelydeal with pressure (and movement) aperson will need to have another personto move and apply pressure at randomintervals.

You can train the muscles in your arms,shoulders, chest, back and hips to makecertain movements stronger. However,you will need another person to help yourespond to pressure and movement.

The reason for this is simple: When someone is side mounted on top of you,and you attempt a specific escape, they provide a specific type of resis-tance (movement and pressure) to counter your escape. When you respondto their counter with a counter of your own, they may or may not respondwith another counter. Or, you may pretend to attempt a specific escape,and when your opponent moves just like you thought he would, you immedi-ately follow up with a specific technique you intended to bait him with.

For example, placing an opponent back into your guard by using the basicelbow/knee escape is a great way to bait your opponent into moving toeither the scarf hold, north and south position or knee on the stomach. Whenhe does, you can follow-up with a pre-planned technique.

However, to do this will require you to have a training partner. Unfortunately,you can not accomplish this by yourself.




Question #5: Mr. Harris, what are some good ways to practice keeping thingstight while going for your submissions? Slow motion drills are fine, but every-thing changes at 80-100%.

Answer: It is true that a lot changes at 100%. However, the purpose for train-ing at slower speeds is to be precise with your movements. When you areprecise, speed rarely changes anything.

If you are able to obtain a minor positionof control and keep it for any length ofperiod, you should be able to finish.Contained within the mechanics of eachsubmission are the minor control positionsused just before you finish your opponent.

When I use the terms, minor control posi-tion I am not referring to the major onessuch as the mount, guard or side mountpositions. Rather, I am referring to a minorposition that gives you the same amountof control as a major one. The only difference is the minor one is related to aspecific submission, such as an arm lock or choke. Many are unfamiliar withthese control positions. However, they do exist. And, they are the reason whyI stress mechanics!

To finish a submission, you must be able to do the following:

1. Control the limb which you are about to manipulate.2. Control the movement of the head.3. Control or at least monitor the movement of the hips.4. Monitor the movement of the knees.




If you cannot accomplish the above, you will have to use speed to finish thesubmission. My suggestion to you is this:

When you practice your submissions, practice enveloping your entire bodyaround theirs. Dont focus on the submission. Rather, focus on envelopingtheir body. This will keep you close to them at all times.

Yes, it will make it more difficult for you to move. Yes, it will mean that yourbody will be closer to theirs, which will make it easier for them to bridge androll out of the submission. However, practice doing this and your submissionswill become tighter over time.

Also, it would be a good idea to do some isometric training in the gym.

Question #6: Can you give me any advice on how to structure a Brazilian JiuJitsu class to fit in all aspects of training? I think Im doing pretty well as it goesbut how much time would you give to syllabus training, grappling ground-work stamina etc. Im always glad of advice from other instructors.

Answer: Structuring a class to address all aspects of training can only takeplace over a long period of time. You can not fully address all areas of train-ing in one month or even one year.

For example, here is a brief list of areas to train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu:

1) Escaping the mount.2) Escaping (passing) the closed guard.3) Escaping (passing) the open guard.4) Escaping the side mount.5) Escaping kesa gatame.6) Escaping kuzure kesa gatame.7) Escaping head locks.8) Escaping the front mount.9) Escaping the knee on stomach.




10) Escaping the half guard.11) Escaping the back mount.12) Escaping the sprawl.13) One counter to each technique.14) Dominating from the mount.15) Dominating from the closed guard.16) Dominating from the open guard.17) Dominating from the side mount.18) Dominating from kesa gatame.19) Dominating from kuzure kesa gatame.20) Dominating from head locks.21) Dominating from the front mount.22) Dominating from the knee on stomach.23) Dominating from the half guard.24) Dominating from the back mount.25) Arm locks from the closed guard.26) Arm locks from the open guard.27) Arm locks from the mount.28) Arm locks from the side mount.29) Arm locks from kesa gatame.30) Arm locks from kuzure kesa gatame.31) Arm locks from the front mount.32) Arm locks from knee on stomach.33) Arm locks from the half guard.34) Arm locks from the back mount.35) One counter to each technique.36) Chokes from the closed guard.37) Chokes from the open guard.38) Chokes from the mount.39) Chokes from the side mount.40) Chokes from kesa gatame.

If you trained each area consistently for a period of two weeks, it would takeyou more than a year and a half to complete the training. Plus, training these




aspects for two weeks does not give your students a skill in each area. Rather,it only familiarizes them with the different positions and submissions.

Additionally, these 40 areas of training make up less than 10% of all of Jiu Jitsu.So, as you can see, theres a lot to train. So, theres no way youre going tocover all aspects of training in one class setting.

During one class, I would limit the amount of technical training to three or fourtechniques in one hour. If you do more than that, the students will not retainthe information for very long. They may think its cool to have seen 20 tech-niques, but their ability to remember them all will not be so good.

You can have the students warm up with exercises if thats what they want.However, it would be better to have them warm up with specific drills that arerelated to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, such as open guard work or side mount escapes.

And as always, try to end each session with sparring!

Question #7: What do you think about twisting foot locks, leg locks and heelhooks in both competition, Mixed Martial Arts and training? It seems to methey are becoming the cobra kai evil techniques, especially in sparring andBrazilian Jiu Jitsu competition. I know many schools do not allow them untilone is a purple or brown, but with all the instructional tapes and schools thatuse them, do you think they should be taught in order for one to AT LEASTknow the defense for them?

Answer: In one sense, twisting foot locks and leg locks are no different thanany other technique. All techniques must be performed with great care. Alltechniques can injure.

However, in another sense, I believe they are very different and should betreated as such. Since the twisting locks have come on the scene here in theUS, there have been a lot of injuries related. I believe a part of that has to do




with peoples lack of knowledge and responsibility.

I remember when I began learning them back in the early 1991. I got called abunch of names because I was doing that leg crap. Well, now that peopleare more aware of the leg crap, they are generally accepted, except forthose pesky twisting ankle and foot locks.

Teaching and training in martial arts bears a responsibility. An instructor mustbe cautious when teaching certain techniques because of their injurious na-ture (I believe the twisting leg locks falls into this category). Additionally,students must be cautious when using these techniques, as well as when theyare being applied to their body.

Twisting leg locks can and do cause injury, but so do other techniques. How-ever, because of the implied pecking order of certain schools, and becauseof the male ego, some students tend to get more bent out of shape over aheel hook than they do an arm lock!

So, to sum it all up, I think these locks should be used with care and caution. Ialso believe that those instructors who allow these locks in their schools andtournaments should bear the responsibility for the safety and training of allstudents!




I hope you enjoyed this first segment. There are more to come!

Good training to you,

Roy Harris

Documents

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Q & A One.pdf