Top 10 Principles of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu You Should Know

To start anything new in your life, you should first understand its basics and principles. If you are able to understand them, then you can easily start doing that particular thing. Similarly, if you are thinking or planning about doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, then you should first understand its principles. This is the most important thing for beginners in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to understand deeply. So if you are also an aspirant planning to join a BJJ, then start with the principles. The following article is focused on some principles that you should learn and understand completely. This is a complete guide for all BJJ practitioners, especially for beginners. Let’s dive into this in detail.

• Everything is based on some principles that indicate the overall format and structure. The same is the case with the Brazilian Jiu Jitus. It is not a very short art. Instead, it is very comprehensive and has a lot of techniques and other things to learn.

• Moreover, all these techniques are not very easy. You need to have a very deep understanding of the concepts to properly execute them. So, such a comprehensive and complicated martial art without any principles? Can you understand it without the principles?

• Absolutely No! So it is very necessary for you to understand the BJJ principles. It does not matter which technique you are executing and at which level you are practicing. You just need to understand the principle.

• The principle also makes it easy for a learner. When a beginner is learning a technique for the very first time, they may get very confused because the technique looks like a very complex which cannot be learned easily. However, if they start understanding the principle behind it by breaking the complex technique into smaller and easy to execute parts or steps, then the technique is easily solved.

• This is not a shameful act to break down a move into smaller ones. Even the world-renowned and famous grapplers have done it multiple times to make it easy for them.

There are many principles in BJJ that everyone must understand if they want to shape their BJJ career on the right path. Some of them, which are considered the best, are the following:

• The posture is one of the basics of BJJ, which greatly determines the dominance of a grappler. The one who utilizes their posture completely and accurately is going to stay dominant over their opponent. The principle about the posture of a grappler in a BJJ match is that they must be in a strong position that their opponent cannot compromise. They must be in a position where they can execute multiple moves.

• Ideally, the posture depends on the technique you are executing or the purpose during the match. However, generally, the posture of a grappler must be in such a way that their back is fully straight and their head and spine must be in line. This makes a very strong posture or position of a grappler, and it makes it very difficult for their opponent to make any move or execute any technique against them.

• The second principle of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the framing. It is more like a clever technique to use during grappling. In this principle, the grappler utilizes their body weight or frame for attacking their opponent. In this technique, the grappler will not use their energy or strength to execute the attack. Instead, they will be relying only on their frame to make attacks, moves, or execute any technique, hence named framing.

• The grappler can use their shin, elbows, forearms, and knees instead of the muscles to create an opening or space if they are trapped in any move executed by their opponent. Using this space, which they created using their frame, they can move themselves out of an uncomfortable and uncontrolled position. This principle enables the grappler to conserve their energy, and they can utilize it for executing further moves and techniques. So instead of using the force and strength to create an opening, they can use their frame and then their strength to execute the moves.

• The third very important principle in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the connection. It can be a physical or a mental connection. There must be a connection between both grapplers in a BJJ match. This is also the principle in the other martial arts that the presence of a connection is very important. So while grappling in a match, maintain a connection. More often, the physical connection is always present. What can be absent is the mental connection. For this, the presence of your mind is very crucial. You must be present actively and mentally in the game. You cannot let even a second pass without this connection.

• The presence of a mental connection means that you are observing each movement or moving your opponent very closely. When you are doing this successfully, you will observe that they are following a specific pattern or a format. You need to understand that pattern. Once you are able to understand that, you can predict the next move or technique of your opponent easily. This is the mental connection that you must adopt while grappling in a BJJ match.

• So with the help of your mind or mental strength, you are able to predict the next move of your opponent. This is why it is called a mental connection, because you are connecting your mind with that of your opponent. Without this, or if you are absent mentally, then you cannot predict which will make it very difficult for you.

• The fourth principle of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is isolation. This principle states that you must isolate and grab strongly or hold at least one relevant part of your opponent when you are executing a technique. Without properly holding, you should not execute the technique against your opponent, and if somehow you execute, they will easily escape. The reason is that they don’t have any part that is trapped by you. So they have all their parts for trying to escape from your technique. So to make the technique successful, you must isolate a part first and hold it strongly.

• Let’s take an example for better understanding. You want to execute the armbar on your opponent. We all know that for its execution, we have to first grab the arm of our opponent strongly and then hyperextend it. So the first step is to take hold of their arm. But what if you do not grab their arm? Will you be able to execute it? Certainly No! You cannot do it, and if you do, your technique execution will fail.

• The fifth principle of BJJ is the centreline. We all know that control is very important in a grappling match. This control can be of anything, but you must be able to get it. According to the centreline principle, you must control the centreline of your opponent. This control provides you with multiple advantages. You get all those benefits that you want to have in a BJJ match against your opponent.

• According to this, you will have a perfect posture, and that position will be ideal to make any attack or move against your opponent. Also, you are on a strong defensive end. You can easily defend yourself against the moves and techniques of your opponent. Moreover, you are more able to control the arms of your opponent, and this makes it easier for you to attack them.

• The head control is the sixth principle of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and we can all tell the importance of this principle just by reading the title. The head is the most important part of our body in the context of grappling. You might have observed that your body follows your head. Both cannot follow the opposite directions. So the movement of your body depends on the movement of your head. If you are moving in the right direction, then it means that you are moving your body accurately.

• Now, just imagine if your head gets trapped by your opponent. What will you be able to do then? Nothing. All you need to focus on is getting your head out of your opponent’s hands. That is why head control is very important principle in BJJ. You should try continuously during the match to take control of your opponent’s head. Once you have their head, the coming moments of the match are yours, and you can make further attacks easily.

The seventh principle in BJJ is the change in angles. This principle simply means to move your body skillfully and correctly in a way that makes strong attacks on your opponent. Movement is only good as long as it is in the right direction, and that is what this principle is focused on. The reason why it is important is that you might not be able to achieve your goals successfully if you are moving strategically. But if you are moving your body accurately, then you will be able to achieve your goals easily. So change your angles strategically in the right direction.

The next important principle is the acceptance of results. It is very important for a practitioner to know when they are being submissive to their opponent. They should not let their ego get in the way of the match. There are always ups and downs in a match. A grappler should keep themselves fully alert, and when they are losing the match, they should change their strategy. They should be ready to accept the results and change their movements or techniques so that they can get themselves back on top.

The bait is the ninth principle, which every grappler must practice during the match. It is a trap or a trick played by a grappler against their opponent. It is like tricking your opponent for another movement or technique, but at the last minute changing your technique. It is very helpful for you, and you can easily defend against your opponent or make any attack or move against them.

This is the tenth principle of BJJ. The principle states that you are behaving as if you have surrendered or given up against your opponent. The moment you do it, your opponent will let themselves down against you, and they will not be executing the technique as strongly as they were. After this, suddenly you will start trying, but this time you can do it easily because you have more chances to get successful, as your opponent is now not fully active.

To understand Brazilian Jiu Jitsu clearly, you must start with the basics, i.e., the principles. Understanding them clearly will give you a quick boost at the start, which will help you to learn all the techniques. You will also be able to execute them easily, as you know the basics. Some of the principles are discussed here. But there are a lot of others that you should understand and implement in your grappling game. The more principles you learn, the more your game will improve. So try to learn and implement these principles in your BJJ game.

Everything is based on some principles that indicate the overall format and structure. You need to have a very deep understanding of the concepts to properly execute the techniques. The principle also makes it easy for a learner. If you start understanding the principle behind the techniques by breaking the complex technique into smaller and easy to execute parts or steps, then the technique is easily solved.

There are many principles in BJJ that everyone must understand, such as:

• Posture

• Framing

• Connection

• Isolation

• Centreline

• Head Control

• Changing the Angles

• Accepting the Results

• The Bait

• Falsely Surrendering