Shin To Shin Position in BJJ: Quick Guide

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is an art that consists of a range of techniques, from being easy to being the most difficult technique, from the quick to the time taking techniques, from very lightly effective to the most effective techniques, and from the soft to the very dangerous techniques. So BJJ has a number of techniques that you can learn and implement in your BJJ matches. Moreover, the art of Jiu Jitsu is continuously evolving, and the grapplers are introducing new skills and techniques by slightly modifying the existing ones to make them better or borrowing the techniques from other arts. One of the positions in BJJ is the shin to shin position, which is a way to gain dominance against your opponent.

The shin to shin position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu refers to the position in which both grapplers have their shins on the shin of each other. It is a very simple and easy position to do. You just have to position your shin against your opponent’s shin. Basically, you do the shin to shin position to control their leg with your leg. You can do the sweeps and transitions with the help of this position. You gain dominance. If you are in a submissive position, you can take this position to get yourself dominant over your opponent.

Shin to shin position has a lot of benefits that you can get in your BJJ match. Some of the benefits are discussed as follows:

• The balance is very important in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If you compare the importance of techniques and balance, then it may surprise you, but it is a fact that the balance is even more important than the techniques and their execution. The reason for this rare fact is very straightforward, and that is, if you cannot even maintain your body and position balance, then how can you expect from yourself that your techniques would be as perfect as they should be. Your execution will either fail, or your techniques will not have force, power, or effectiveness.

• Since the start of the match, both grapplers try to unbalance each other due to the fact that they know about it. Disruption of your opponent’s balance wins matches. The best, easiest, and quickest way to alter their balance and unbalance your opponent is through the shin to shin position. You just have to position your shin against your opponent’s shin, and you will get them unbalanced.

• Sweeps are also a very important tactic or movement to learn in BJJ. By doing the sweeps, you are transitioning your body from the submissive position to the dominant position against your opponent. In sweeps, you disrupt your opponent’s posture and balance. This disruption makes it easy for you to substitute your position relative to your opponent’s position.

• So if your opponent is in the top position and you are in the bottom one, then you can easily move to their position by making a sweep. You can do the sweep by executing the shin to shin position. So the technique is very effective in making the sweep for transitioning your position from the submissive to the top position.

While grappling in a professional Brazilian Jiu Jitsu match, a stronger position is all you can wish for because it is a gateway to successful execution of any BJJ technique you want, thereby leading you to victory. You can get that stronger position by the execution of some techniques, among which one example is the shin to shin position. By the execution of this technique, you can get yourself into many stronger positions against your opponent, such as single leg x-guard.

• You continuously try to find opportunities to attack your opponent in various ways. You create spaces and different angles just to land your perfect technique. But you don’t know the fact that there are some techniques that you can use to create opportunities for various attacks.

• Some attack opportunities that you can get from the execution of shin to shin include back takes, x guard, and leg locks, as you are focusing a lot on your opponent’s leg. These attacks are very effective, and the shin to shin position makes it easy for you to make these attacks.

• Your effective and efficient movement is very critical for grappling in arts like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If your movement is perfect, then you can defend yourself against your opponent’s moves as well as you can effectively execute your techniques against your opponent. If you cannot move effectively and efficiently, then it means you cannot defend yourself, and also cannot execute the techniques against your opponent. The same goes with your opponent. So you should have some way to hinder your opponent’s moves.

• That perfect way is the shin to shin position or technique in BJJ. In this technique, you control your opponent’s leg with your legs, and therefore, their movement is restricted. By implementing the shin to shin position, you are hindering your opponent’s ability to execute the movements effectively and efficiently. The hindrance in movements means not being able to defend or attack against you. Therefore, you have an open opportunity for attacks.

The shin to shin position in BJJ is not difficult to do, but it requires full focus, perfect timing, and precision to make your implementation both effective and efficient. Follow the steps given below in the stated order to establish the shin to shin position:

The first step for you to do the shin to shin position is to get yourself in a perfect position. For shin to shin, the perfect position is the seated position. So get yourself in a seated position and also establish a guard. This will be beneficial for you if you are in a guard position. Moreover, don’t allow your opponent to pass your guard. For this, you must be very careful about your position.

The next step is to get engaged with your opponent. This is the start of interaction with your opponent to get them in a shin to shin position relative to you. So engage with your opponent in such a way that you are controlling their body. Controlling their posture or body will provide you with the initial dominance over them and help you execute the later stages of your position effectively. By controlling their posture, you are breaking their established posture and disrupting their balance to help you gain dominance and keep them submissive from the start.

• The next step is to grab your opponent’s knee or ankle. After engaging with your opponent, try to secure a grip on them. The grip must be very strong, and you should not let them escape from your grip. You should practice this by making your grips stronger by doing the grip strengthening exercises.

• Among them, the most common exercise is by using a tool known as the grip strengthener. You can grab with your right hand or left hand. Make sure you are grabbing the leg of the opponent that is nearer to you. So with your one hand, grab your opponent’s one leg, whichever is closer to your hand, and grip strongly.

The next step is to get your shin connected with your opponent’s legs. Take your shin to the inside of your opponent's ankle. The shin is the part of your lower leg from your ankle to the knee. Inserting your shin will create a connection between your shin and your opponent’s shin, thereby establishing a shin to shin position.

The connection between your shin and your opponent’s shin must be very strong so that you don’t let your opponent escape from your control. Although this is not difficult, among all the steps of establishing the shin to shin position with your opponent, it is relatively difficult because you are first establishing a connection and then maintaining it. Your opponent will continuously try to escape, but keep yourself focused and continue applying pressure and force on them to maintain your shin to shin position against your opponent.

• The last step varies depending on your strategy. You can do various things from the shin to the shini position. The position is established with your opponent, and now it depends on you how you want to proceed after establishing the technique. You should try to have more control over your opponent. For this, you need to grip other parts of their body and the Gi. You can grab their collar, sleeve, or foot with which you have not maintained your shin to shin position.

• Another thing you can do is that you already know you can get your opponent for many attacks if you get them in the shin to shin position. One of the most common and effective techniques that you can do from this position is the single leg x guard position. So you can follow the technique with a lot of attacks, sweeps, and transitions, which will help you take your opponent to the submission.

Now you know that establishing the shin to shin position is not difficult at all. But you need to consider certain things to make sure you are establishing and maintaining the shin to shin position effectively and efficiently. So, there are the following considerations you should keep in mind while implementing and maintaining the targeted position.

• We all know the grips are very important in targeting any part of your opponent’s body and controlling them. There are two important points in gripping that make it a perfect grip. These two points are the depth and strength of the grip. With the strength of the grip, we mean that you must be strongly holding your opponent’s leg. With the depth of the grip, we mean how much of your opponent’s body part you are covering.

• So you must cover the area as much as possible. In case of the shin to shin position, you should wrap your arm around your opponent’s leg instead of just gripping them with your hands. The more area covered, the more control you will have over your opponent. So, try to have a grip on your opponent’s leg with depth and strength for a perfect shin to shin position.

The second consideration you must do at all costs is to break your opponent’s posture and disrupt their balance. This is a very important step to take. Breaking and disrupting their balance and posture helps you to force them to tap out. The reason is that your opponent cannot defend themselves against your techniques and moves, and this will help you to dominate them and lead the match.

The shin to shin position sets up the field for the hand fighting. You should be ready to fight your opponent’s hands with your hands. Hand fighting means that your opponent will try to get rid of their legs from your hands by using their hands. They will try to use both their hands, and you have to counter them with both of your hands. So this is the hand fighting, and it is crucial for you to learn to make sure you are maintaining the shin to shin position.

• The next step is to maintain your posture. The posture, although it might seem like a very ordinary thing to you. But it is a very important aspect of your BJJ match. Whatever the technique you are executing, no matter what the situation of the match, it is necessary for you to maintain your posture at all times and at every interval of your grappling journey.

• The reason is very simple. Once your posture breaks, you cannot defend yourself against the moves and techniques of your opponent, and if they are successful in even the execution of one technique, then they will lead the match and can escape from your positions.

• Another important consideration is your head. Grapplers, while fighting in a Jiu Jitsu match, try to focus only on the execution of their techniques execution. They focus less on maintaining them, and the most important thing that they completely ignore is their head. The head is the critical point of your body in a grappling match.

• If your head gets submitted or trapped by your opponent, then you can think that the game is over for yourself because it is very difficult to get your head free from your opponent if they are doing everything well. The same goes for the shin to shin position. It is necessary that you focus a lot on executing and maintaining your position, but the same focus is needed to protect your head from getting trapped by your opponent.

• Don’t move your head forward or towards your opponent. If your head slightly falls forward or downward, then your opponent will quickly grab that and you will be highly vulnerable to guillotine chokes. And if your opponent is very good at the guillotine choke, then you will end up in a submissive position.

• The shin, as you know, is the point that leads the position. The position of your shin and its angle is very important for you to see if it is in its right place. For example, if you are keeping your shin horizontal to the mat or opponent’s body, then you won’t be able to maintain your shin to shin connection or position for a longer period.

• On the other hand, if you are keeping your shin vertical, then you can effectively execute and maintain your shin to shin position for a longer period. So that is the reason you should always keep your shin vertical while executing and maintaining the shin to shin position with your opponent.

For a complete learning of the technique, it is very crucial for you to learn it from both sides. It means that you should learn it in the form of offense and defense. You should be able to know how you can effectively execute it and also how you can defend and prevent it if your opponent tries to execute it against you. The following are some tips that you should keep in mind while preventing the shin to shin position against your opponent.

The first thing that will give you a slight indication about the shin to shin position attempt from your opponent is the movement of their foot. They will try to move their foot and position it around you to establish the shin to shin position. So if you see your opponent doing this, then immediately shift to your defensive position. You can do a number of things here, such as moving away or deflecting their foot to prevent them from accomplishing the shin to shin position.

The next thing you should see is that if your grip on your opponent or your guard is still maintained or are it broken. If your opponent has become successful in breaking your grip or they have passed your guard, then quickly change your current position and move to some other good position where you can defend yourself and execute the attacks on your opponent.

Pressure plays a key role in your Jiu Jitsu match. Whether it refers to the force you are applying to your opponent or the mental pressure, both are important for you to apply to your opponent. You should establish a strong connection with your opponent so that they cannot execute the shin to shin position against you. Moreover, whenever you think your opponent is trying to execute the shin technique on you, driving forward can be a very useful tactic to make it easy for you to prevent your opponent from executing the technique.

The shin to shin position is not the position that is solely effective in giving you the submissions. So you must not take it as your final goal. Instead, you should try to follow it with a number of attacks, with the best one depending on the situation and condition of the match. With such attacks, it will be enough for you to take the lead and submit your opponent. Some of the best attacks you can do from the shin to shin position against your opponent are the following:

The sweeps can be more correctly called a technique instead of an attack. But the point is that you can do a sweep from the shin to the shin position. In sweeps, you transition yourself from the submissive or less dominant position to a dominant position. You do quick movements, trap your opponent, and apply techniques to do the sweeps. Through this position, you can use your shin as the main thing for doing the sweeps. Utilize the power and force generated from your shin to lift your opponent and take your opponent to a submissive position by making the sweep. So it acts as a perfect gateway for doing the sweeps.

The shin to shin position is an effective way for you to execute the single leg x guard on your opponent. Once you have taken them to the x guard, you can execute a lot of techniques and attacks. All these attacks will be related to the legs of your opponent or the foot. For example, you can execute the toe holds or leg locks, which can provide you a very good way to force your opponent to tap out.

There are a number of attacks you can do from the shin to shin position on your opponent, but the most effective attack is the single leg x guard. In this technique, you control one leg of your opponent with your legs. It is an open guard and dynamic position, not a static one. At the same time, you are also maintaining a strong connection with the hips of your opponent. You can use this position for more attacks, such as leg locks, and take your opponent to the submission phase.

The shin to shin position is not a very common position or technique in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. At first you might think that it is a rare technique and it must not be a very good or effective as it is not common. But this is a misconception. Reading everything about the move, now you know that it has a lot of benefits and is very effective against your opponents. The important benefit is that it is easy and simple to execute against the opponents bigger or smaller. So it is very important for you to learn the technique. Being a less common and effective position makes it even more important for you to learn it.

The shin to shin position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu refers to the position in which both grapplers have their shins on the shin of each other. Basically, you do the shin to shin position to control their leg with your leg. You can do the sweeps and transitions with the help of this position to gain dominance.

Shin to shin position has a lot of benefits that you can get in your BJJ match. Some of the benefits are discussed as follows:

• Disrupts The Balance of Opponent

• Making The Sweeps

• Transitions To Stronger And Dominant Positions

• A Gateway To Many Attacks On Your Opponent

• Hinders Your Opponent’s Ability To Move Efficiently

Follow the steps given below in the stated order to establish the shin to shin position:

• Start With the Seated Position

• Engage With Your Opponent

• Grab Your Opponent’s Knee or Ankle

• Getting Your Shin Into Action

• Secure a Strong Connection Between Your Shin And Your Opponent’s Shin

• Control Them Strongly

There are the following considerations you should keep in mind while implementing and maintaining the targeted position.

• Strong and Deep Grips

• Break Their Posture And Disrupt Their Balance

• Hand Fighting

• Maintain Your Posture

• Protect Your Head

• Keep Your Shin Vertical

The following are some tips that you should keep in mind while preventing the shin to shin position against your opponent.

• The Movement and Placement of Your Opponent’s Foot

• Try The Transitions

• Apply Constant Pressure On Your Opponent

Some of the best attacks you can do from the shin to shin position against your opponent are the following:

• Sweeps

• Leg Locks

• Strong Attack With The Single Leg X Guard