How my Game Evolved from Training with a Danaher Black Belt to Moving to a "Fundamentals" Based School
Dissecting How I Play Jiu-jitsu and what MY Goals are in Training
Did I ever tell you about the time I was a white belt and got in big trouble for heel-hooking a blue belt?
I wrote about it in my books but I’ll go ahead and share the short version here.
I used to train with a Danaher black belt —this was way before the “DDS”. My professor, Aaron, used to teach us (white belts) all sorts of leg entanglements, neck cranks and leglocks. I didn’t know any better; to me, it was all jiu-jitsu.
I got fairly proficient at heel-hooks when I was a white belt and I enjoyed leg entanglements. I also had a good guillotine. I was on track for my blue belt when I moved across the country and found a more traditional jiu-jitsu school that focused more almost exclusively on Gi.
I was doing well. Then one day, my professor’s friend was visiting from Brazil. He brought in his cocky son, a blue belt. We had a pissing match and he tried to catch me in an ankle lock.
I suddenly remembered Aaron’s advice for beating an ankle lock: “Heel hook him.” So I did… In the Gi… lol
After he tapped, he made a complete display of writhing around on the ground, groaning about his knee. I got a verbal mauling by my professor about how it’s bad to be heel-hooking in a gi. I didn’t feel too bad… this kid was a prick. And the fact that he was flopping around on the ground made me feel better about my decision to heel hook him.
A few days later, my professor reached out to me and encouraged me to start using other guards (remember this was a time when leglocks were still “discouraged” in jiu-jitsu communities). He encouraged me to stay away from X and other leg entanglements to focus on guards like the closed guard, de la riva, spider guard, etc. I obliged.
Over time, I developed a solid DLR and RDLR (reverse DLR) game, but where I really excelled was half-guard. When I was a brown belt, seeing the rise of all the leg entanglement stuff in jiu-jitsu, I wanted to see if I still had an aptitude for it. So I returned to it.
I found out I could use a lot of the guards I was using as direct entries to the Ashi Garami, and now, it is the hallmark of my game again (IBJJF legal with the gi on, of course).
So, with this history in mind, what does my game look like now?
If you read my last email, I talked about how one of my private students needed a “Mindmap” for his jiu-jitsu. I told him, “Start with the end in mind”. We went over what that looks like with the Rear Naked Choke here. I even wrote one on how to mind-map your takedowns, here.
In any case, today I’m going to show you what my game looks like from the open guard. Today, I’m starting with the beginning in mind to show you how I like to engage from the guard position.
Below you’ll find approximately 13minutes of narrated sparring footage as well as a little tutorial (12-13 min) on what I’m specifically looking for with each manner of engagement I get from my training partner. You’ll be sure to love it!
Before we get started though… I should’ve done this a long time ago but as they say, better late than never!
Paid subscribers now get access to a private telegram chat where I’ll be posting a TON of supplemental content to the substack as well as interacting with readers via discussion. It’s a great time to join! (Free trials are available!)
Alright, now let’s dive in to see what my game looks like:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Constant Pressure: Jiujitsu, Training and Life to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.