BJJ Techniques
BJJ Techniques: Positions, Sweeps, Passes and Submissions
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Jiu-jitsu is a game of positions first and submissions second. Every entry below has one cue worth thinking about while you drill and the mistake that shows up most when people watch their own rolls back.
Use it as a checklist for your footage, not an instructional. Your coach teaches the details. This list tells you which moment to pause on when you film a roll.
Guards
Closed guard
Legs locked around your opponent's waist from your back.
Cue: Break their posture before you attack anything.
Common mistake: Lying flat with the guard closed and no grips, waiting.
Half guard
One of their legs trapped between yours from the bottom.
Cue: Get on your side and win the underhook.
Common mistake: Flat on your back with their crossface on.
Butterfly guard
Seated guard with your insteps hooked inside their thighs.
Cue: Sit up with an underhook so you can elevate.
Common mistake: Leaning back so the hooks have nothing to lift.
De La Riva
Open guard with an outside hook around their lead leg.
Cue: Keep the hook, the ankle grip and a sleeve or collar together.
Common mistake: Letting them step the hooked leg free and pass.
Top positions
Mount
Sitting on their torso with both knees on the mat.
Cue: Knees tight to their hips, weight low.
Common mistake: Sitting high and upright so one bridge rolls you.
Side control
Chest to chest across their body, perpendicular.
Cue: Block the near hip and control the far shoulder.
Common mistake: Leaving space at the hip for them to shrimp in.
Back control
Behind them with both hooks or a body triangle in.
Cue: Chest glued to their back, seatbelt grip.
Common mistake: Crossing your feet, which invites a foot lock.
Knee on belly
Knee across their stomach, other leg posted wide.
Cue: Ride their movement, do not fight it.
Common mistake: Resting weight on the knee so you get knocked off.
Escapes and movement
Shrimp
Hip escape that makes space from the bottom.
Cue: Push away from them, not up.
Common mistake: Moving the shoulders and leaving the hips in place.
Bridge and roll
Mount escape: trap an arm and foot, bridge over the trapped side.
Cue: Trap the arm and foot on the same side first.
Common mistake: Bridging straight up with nothing trapped.
Technical stand-up
Getting to your feet from the ground while protected.
Cue: Hand and foot posted, head back, leg sweeps through behind.
Common mistake: Standing straight up with your head forward.
Guard retention
Keeping your legs between you and the passer.
Cue: Frames first, then pull your knees back in.
Common mistake: Chasing grips while your hips stay flat.
Passes
Knee cut pass
Slicing your knee across their thigh to pass half or open guard.
Cue: Crossface and underhook before you cut.
Common mistake: Cutting with your head high so they recover guard.
Toreando pass
Standing pass that pushes their legs to one side and runs around.
Cue: Grip the pants, move your feet, not just your arms.
Common mistake: Staying square in front of their feet.
Sweeps
Scissor sweep
Closed guard sweep chopping their base with a shin and a leg.
Cue: Pull them onto the shin before you chop.
Common mistake: Chopping with no weight on the shin.
Hip bump sweep
Sitting up from closed guard and bumping them over with your hips.
Cue: Post the hand behind you and drive the hip high.
Common mistake: Bumping flat so they just base out.
Flower sweep
Pendulum sweep from closed guard using a leg swing.
Cue: Trap the arm and swing the leg hard.
Common mistake: Leaving their arm free to post.
Joint locks
Armbar
Hyperextending the elbow with the arm across your hips.
Cue: Knees pinched, thumb up, hips high.
Common mistake: Leaving space so they stack you or pull out.
Kimura
Figure four grip rotating the shoulder behind the back.
Cue: Keep their elbow tight to your chest.
Common mistake: Cranking the wrist while the elbow stays free.
Americana
Figure four grip rotating the shoulder with the arm bent up.
Cue: Elbow tight to their head, paint the mat with their wrist.
Common mistake: Lifting the elbow so the lock loses angle.
Chokes
Triangle
Choke with your legs around the head and one arm.
Cue: Cut the angle and pull the head down.
Common mistake: Staying square so the choke never closes.
Rear-naked choke
Choke from the back with the arm under the chin.
Cue: Elbow under the chin, squeeze the elbows together.
Common mistake: Grabbing across the jaw instead of the neck.
Guillotine
Front headlock choke with the arm under the neck.
Cue: Wrist deep under the chin, hips up, pull toward your chest.
Common mistake: Pulling with the arms while the hips stay down.
Cross collar choke
Gi choke with both hands deep in the collar.
Cue: First grip deep enough to touch the back of the neck.
Common mistake: Shallow first grip so the choke never tightens.
FAQ
BJJ technique questions.
- A beginner should learn to escape and survive first: the shrimp, the bridge and roll, holding closed guard and guard retention. Submissions come later, because you need to stay out of bad positions before you can finish from good ones.
- There is no fixed number, but most academy curriculums teach a few dozen core positions, sweeps, passes and submissions to white and blue belts. The list above covers the ones almost every academy teaches.
- mmaGPT can: film a roll or a drill with your whole body in frame and it returns timestamped notes on what went wrong plus a drill, in about 30 to 45 seconds. It is a second set of eyes between classes, not a replacement for your coach.
Get one clip checked.
Film a 20 to 60 second clip on your phone with your whole body in frame, upload it in the browser, and in about 30 to 45 seconds mmaGPT returns timestamped notes on what went wrong plus a drill to fix it. It is a second set of eyes between classes, not a replacement for your coach. First session free, no card needed.