Pressure Guard Passing and Postural Deviation : by Michael Jen

This article was emailed to me by Michael Jen from http://www.jenbjj.com/

Most Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners have heard the term "posture" most commonly used to refer to defensive positions when in an opponents closed guard or on the bottom of a pin or the mount. What must be understood is that posture really means the alignment of the body at every moment of every position. Therefore, postural alignment holds the key to not only understanding how to achieve maximum biomechanical strength, stability, and efficiency, but also how to take those qualities away from your opponent.

In order to understand this we need to first examine the ideal posture that serves as the original blueprint for the design of the human body in the standing position. From the front view, this consists of the center of the ankle, kne, hip, and shoulder joints being vertically aligned. In addition, the center of those 4 load joints on one side of the body should be horizontally aligned with the same joints on the opposite side of the body. Also, from the front view, the head and spine should be aligned with the center of the body. From the side view, the center of the ankle, knee, hip, and shoulder joint, in addition to ear, should be vertically aligned. This alignment should be the same when viewing the left and right side of the body.

If you were to draw a line from one joint to the joint that is either vertically above or below it and also the joint that is horizontally on the other side of it, those lines would form a 90-degree angle. If you examine the vertical alignment of the joints from the front and side view, in addition to the alignment of the spine from the front or back view, you will see that it is at a 90-degree angle to the Earth. So, if you look at the structural blue print for human posture, you will notice that it is based upon 90-degree angles.

When the alignment of the body begins to lose its 90-degree angles, what is created are known as postural deviations. The greater the number of deviations that occur and the farther from 90-degrees the angles, the weaker and the more structurally unstable the body becomes.

One of the most destructive postural deviations on the body is counter-rotation. Counter-rotation is when on side of the hips is rotated forward while at the same time, the opposite side of the torso is rotated forward. The more the upper and lower body are twisting in opposite directions, the weaker the body becomes. To comprehend how destructive counter-rotation is to the body, imagine doing a squat using a barbell loaded up with alot of weight with the upper and lower body severely twisted in opposite directions. It would be very clear that the greater the counter-rotation, the less weight it would take to make everything come crashing down.

For this exact reason, the application of counter rotation is an essential component to passing the guard with pressure. When an opponent is playing guard, he has the ability to use all his limbs against you at once. Power comes from the shoulders and hips working in unison. By applying counter rotation tot your opponents body, you are essentially severing the connection between those two sources of power. Once this disconnection occurs, all aspects of your opponents body weaken and it makes it that much easier to pass, and much more difficult to counter. Look at the guard passes that use pressure and see how the application of counter-rotation is an absolutely essential component.

2/23 Tournament Training Workout #2

12 KB Swings each arm

12 lat pulldowns

2 min on stair climber

12 KB Swings each arm

12 lat pulldowns

2 min on stairclimber

12 seated rows

10 explosive bar "punches" each arm

2 min on stairclimber

8 DB lateral raise each arm

10 upright rows

10 mph sprint on treadmill (400 m)

8 DB lateral raise each arm

10 upright rows

7.5 mph run (400 m)

This one wasnt too bad, just a constant push pull movement circuit. Stretching at the end was all dynamic stretches for triangles and sit-outs.

2/22 TOURNAMENT TRAINING WORKOUT #1

10 MINUTES STRETCHING

ON CABLE MACHINE - USE ROPE HANDLE FOR O GOSHI (LARGE HIP THROW) X 8 REPS EACH SIDE
30 LB KETTLEBELL SINGLE ARM SNATCH X 10 REPS EACH ARM
400 METER RUN

STRAIGHT LEG DEADLIFT X 10
EXPLOSIVE PUNCH ON BAR WITH 45 LB PLATE (PUSH FROM CHEST; BOTTOM OF BAR IS SET IN ANOTHER PLATE) X 8 REPS EACH ARM
400 METER RUN

25 SWISS BALL CRUNCHES
10 SWISS BALL SQUATS AGAINST THE WALL
400 METER RUN

REPEAT 2 MORE TIMES

This was a hard one. I tried to maintain between 6.5 and 9 mph on the treadmill. This was a good one to get back in shape and get ready for spring/summer submission tournaments.

Patience

Today I had a rolling session with two of my BJJ students, Mollie Porter and Caleb Hudson. They are both white belts, but Caleb is literally a week away from his blue. They both just worked out of basic positions and primarily focused on re-gaining the half guard and working to a sweep.

Mollie was under Caleb after regaining half guard from the side mount. She lowered her head in and tucked into his legs while shooting her bottom arm under the legs to grab the hips. When she did this, she worked up some momentum and tried to roll over for the sweep (diaper grab as I call it). When it did not work, although she used the right technique, Mollie became very agitated and said that she cant seem to do something as we are coaching her through it.

This is a very common problem for most everyone who has ever rolled. The key to making a move work, outside of correct technique, is just repitition.

Do you have a particular move that you know would get a sweep, submission, or better control, but when you do it, it doesnt seem to work?

DONT GIVE UP ON THE MOVE!

Caleb had an insightful remark today in which he said, "did you get a Kimura the first time you ever tried it? Probly not, but you didnt just throw it out."

This is a basic philosophy for BJJ that will benefit any practitioner. You need a drill or positional scenario to do that move over and over until it feels comfortable....and then do it about 100 more times!

A good example of this from both top and bottom perspective is:

You are in top side mount position and move to twister side control. You are keeping the hips blocked with your outside arm and keeping a frame on the opponents arm with your elbow in the armpit. With him struggling, slowly sneak in a north/south choke (monson choke) to submit.

If you force this move, you will not only lose the submission, but you have a great potential to get rolled to your back and he will then gain side mount without any resistance.

Bottom man:

Slow steady shrimping movements and protect the outside arm. If it takes fifty small moves to shrimp and sit-up to reverse the position, then so be it.

Dont be afraid to be caught in a bad spot. Work through your position in as much time as you need. If it takes 10 minutes to get out, then next time, try to get out in 9, then 8, and so on.

- Keep on the Path

Position over submission

When I first got into BJJ, it was all about the submissions. Sweeps and escapes were something cool that were only necessary to know, if you ever got caught in a bad spot. If you had never been put in a bad situation, you didn't really want to spend the time preparing for it when until after it had happened.

A great majority of the time was spent scouring the internet and images in books for new submissions and the "how-to" videos on Youtube or in the newest issue of Grappling Magazine (now known as Ultimate MMA Magazine).

Forget about learning hook sweeps, or how to better control from knee on belly. Lets learn how to do the triangle to omoplata with modified toe-hold!!

Since I have gotten older, and hopefully a lot wiser, I have learned that one of the most beneficial tools to your game (second to escapes/defense), is positional control. This has become my most preached lesson, and my greatest asset in grappling practice/matches/police scenarios/and practical application in the street.

The problem with this is easily evident in the opinion of some grappling enthusiasts, who, when watching a video of someone doing this on Youtube (I am namely referring to a match of myself against a much larger - 6'6 320 lb BJJ blue belt), the critic went on an on about me not capitalizing on my dominant position. His argument was that if you are in dominant position, you are not actually winning and demonstrating real BJJ skill unless you submit the person.

COME ON PEOPLE!!

Lets not forget that if you are on top of someone in side mount or mount, moving to north south or knee on belly, you are winning! Gracie Jiu-Jitsu teaches us in its basic philosophies that you must first gain dominance to be effective. From that point, your goal should be to maintain that dominant position and not let the person get on top of you. The trade of in some cases are usually the BJJ practitioner in top position giving up his dominant position in favor of a failed arm-bar or another "forced" submission, in which the bottom man has now reversed you for a better position.

Remember these main points next time you are rolling:
- Position over submission
- Use your positioning and top game to exhaust the opponent
- Let him dictate the submission i.e. don't force the submission, instead, let him work himself into a bad spot and capitalize on his mistake

Incorporate this into a drill by getting with your partner and have him work from a bad position for 1 round, and do the top 2-3 defensive counters. At each counter, change position in a "slow roll" manner. If he can sweep you or get up, then you must be on the bottom for 10 minutes. If you get where you can maintain top control during transitions and position changes, then have your opponent on bottom start to give you "submission indicators". These can be as simple as putting the arm up that gives away an arm-bar, or turning belly down to give up the back. This should help foster good reactions to these movements, which are signs that you must be able to key-off on to capitalize on the mistake of the opponent.

Please leave comments and questions. Especially if you are having a hard time identifying the "cues" that your opponent is giving that signal when to attack the submission.



-Keep on The Path