Beginning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Hello! My name is Jeremy Lafreniere. I am one of the head instructors of Brazilian or Gracie Jiu Jitsu, here for Capital Jiu Jitsu. This is Stuart Knowkes (ph); hell be assisting me today. I would like to begin by speaking about our attire, and we call this uniform a Gi. The Gi is used for grips and holds, chokes and submission opportunities; its also used as a protective barrier, so that way, you know, theres not a lot of sweat or bodily fluids exchanged between partners. Additionally, if you are interested in obtaining a Gi, you can easily look online for Brazilian jiu jitsu or Gracie jiu jitsu Gis. We are going to talk now about what Brazilian jiu jitsu is. Its a complete art. In jiu jitsu, there are basic strikes, throws and takedowns, ground grappling and self defense. And today we are going to work through a variety of these different modes or ranges of combat, and we are going to build off of each one, developing a complete fight plan. I also want to address what these ranges of combat look like, and the different kinds of positions that you might see on the ground.

The first range of combat is the striking range of combat. So when we are here, and theres distance between the two partners, this is the striking range. As we close this distance, now we are in the trapping or throwing range of combat. If the fight then goes to the ground, we are now in a grappling range of combat here. I want to get a little bit involved with the different positions and we call this a positional hierarchy when we are on the ground. The first and most basic position is the guard position. Alright, so, I am here inside of Stuarts guard, his legs are wrapped around me.

I am sitting on my heels, I am resting my weight, but I have a strong back, I am looking up at the ceiling. My hands are in front of me, positioned on his rib cage. From here, if I were to pass his guard, I would move into a new position, and we call this position the Cross Mount. Now the Cross Mount is a good position for me to be in. If I achieve the Cross Mount position, it means that I am now in a dominant position. From here, I can move forward, I could then achieve the Full Mount. If my legs are straddling Stuart, I have the full mount position, and this is great position.

I can even get in a better position; the king of positions is the Back Mount. If he turns, I might achieve the Back Mount here, where I put my hooks inside of his legs, my hands are under his armpits and I am holding here. Now theres very little he can do, and theres a lot that I can do to attack - and this is the King of Position, and that is the basic positional hierarchy of Brazilian or Gracie jiu jitsu. The last thing we need to discuss before we get into some serious training is safety. You have to remember that if for any reason at any time Stuart is feeling uncomfortable, whether I have him in a submission, or if hes just uncomfortable because theres a lot of pressure, he taps my body two times.

When I feel the tap, I stop everything. If he cant tap my body, he can always tap the mat and he can even say the word, Tap. And again, if I hear that, or if I feel that, I am going to stop everything. The other thing is, if you are in fact working through some of these positions, and you are in fact working with your partner, make sure that you practice proper hygiene as well, keeping a clean freshly laundered Gi trimming your fingernails and your toe nails. Alright, thats it for this discussion. We will be moving on to some more detailed positions and attacks next.