Position of the Month

It’s side control month again, where this week we’re looking at maintaining side control. Last night focused on ‘hip to hip’ side control (class write-up on slideyfoot.com as always), with lots of drills intended to help students get used to mobility from side control. In the ‘no hands’ drill, you have to try and either…

Artemis BJJ is a year old! We’ve come a long way since January 2014 and our classes are expanding. As a result, from this Monday onwards, there will be an additional 30 minutes of open mat time after the Monday class. In a few months’ time, we’ll also hopefully be able to move to the…

In closed guard, your legs are around the waist of your opponent, while in half you’ve captured one of their legs. Eventually, you will find that your opponent has been able to disengage your legs: that’s where open guard comes in. With open guard, you do not necessarily start out attached to your opponent: your…

Brazilian jiu jitsu is probably most famous – and indeed most innovative – in its use of the guard position. Although this was certainly a part of BJJ’s parent art, judo, it is in BJJ that the guard has arguably reached its highest level of sophistication. Closed guard is where it all begins. From the…

Mount is the classic starting point for your BJJ journey. Rorion Gracie used to teach the upa and controlling the mount in his famous intro lesson. It’s a great way of showing just how potent a force leverage can be, even if you’re much smaller than the person sat in mount. For that reason among others, the…

Returning to our first ever position of the month, Artemis BJJ will be exploring side control over October.  BJJ terminology is not standardised, so this position has a few other names. The most common alternatives are ‘side mount’ and ‘cross side’: for a listing of some others, take a look at Can’s BJJ glossary. In jiu jitsu, you…

We’ve now done a full circuit of the six major positions in BJJ, so in September it’s time to return to the back. More specifically, we’re going to focus on a variation called the ‘turtle’, where you are on your elbows and knees. This position is  common when you’re trying to pass the guard and…

Having done focused on open guard during July, we decided that there is so much to the position that it warranted another month (keep in mind that the new free women’s class will not stick to open guard in August, following a condensed positional overview instead). That means we will continue to explore some of the numerous…

Having covered closed and half guard, we are now moving on to what is the third and most varied type, open guard. In closed guard, your legs are around the waist of your opponent, while in half you’ve captured one of their legs. Eventually, you will find that your opponent has been able to disengage…

Closed guard is a solid defensive position with multiple high percentage attacks, but eventually somebody will break your closed guard open. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to stop them before they fully pass, trapping them in half guard. Unlike closed guard, in this position you only have one of their legs under control, rather…