Some generally applicable concepts

Remove all options for your opponent to post against a given direction, and move your opponent there.

• This is why you trap an arm and a leg for the bridge-and-roll mount escape
• This is why you trap an arm for scissor sweep, hip bump sweep, etc.
• This is exactly how foot trips work- you shift your opponent's weight balance onto one foot, and then hook/swipe the said posting foot while you continue driving your opponent that way.

Turn your opponent's response against them.

• Often, in the attempt to defend your foot sweeps, your opponent will inadvertently shift their weight onto the other foot. This is great, quickly swipe the other foot.
• If you like big forward-hurling throws but your opponent is bending backwards to resist, no problem, this is ripe for a takedown or throw that sends them backwards!
• If you and your opponent are tied up together and your opponent is suddenly charging in forward, no problem! Help them right along, and use a takedown or throw that involves your opponent flinging forward. Your opponent is asking for it at that point.
• When submission hunting, do not be discouraged if your opponent resists the initial attempt. For example, if your opponent is focused on defending the armbar, their neck is exposed! Likewise, if your opponent is putting up hands everywhere to cover their neck, you can just as easily attack their hand or arm instead. 
• If you are attacking a kneebar, toe hold, or a heel hook, and your opponent is using the other foot to pry your grips apart, maybe you can attack the other foot instead.
• If you get caught in a submission hold in a street fight, tap out of it. On a serious note, this has been used as a "cheat" in a real match between Murilo Bustamante and Matt Lindland.
• Often in BJJ, people have a serious case of hunchback when standing up. While this means that you cannot take them being upright for granted (something that really messed up my standup until I found out that there is no penalty for being bent over- Judokas and ex-Judokas take note), this also means that you can grab the high collar grip easier. Uchi mata for isle 3! 

"Stretching the rubber band": tying in with turning your opponent's response against them, if you induce a particular response, make your opponent over-commit to it, and suddenly turn their response against them, you will certainly do very well indeed.

• The Hitchhiker is built on this very premise. You hold on very tightly while your opponent is struggling to pry it apart, and then you suddenly let go on your own terms while turning away. 
• If your opponent is very stubbornly trying to strip a grip to no avail, and then you suddenly let go on your own terms, you have an opening while your opponent must recover from the jolt. This is particularly useful for transitioning to sit-up guard from De la Riva, for example.
• If you are using sit-up guard and your opponent suddenly drives their knee into your solar plexus, intending to flatten you out, no problem! In fact, make your opponent really commit to driving that knee. The harder your opponent tries to flatten you out, the easier it is for you to ride the momentum, lie back, and fling him over. 
• In rear mount with you on their back, very stubbornly hold onto the seatbelt, and then deliberately let go on purpose, flinging the opponent's arm away and giving you an opening for a choke. 

Shrimping when lying down is like running and walking on your feet.

Strength Hierarchy of Limbs: two arms beat one arm, one leg beats one arm, two arms may or may not beat a leg.

If you ever struggle to lift any part of your opponent because it is just "too heavy", try shifting the weight balance away from there, utilize better structure rather than pure strength, etc.


When it comes to guard retention, frame and hip escape.


Always remember your frames and your levers, as Rob Biernacki would like to say. In particular, I would like to add: the head is the most important lever that controls the entire body. Where the head goes, the entire body goes. It also follows that if you immobilize the head, you immobilize the body.


Oh, and as someone with a Portuguese accent would say, control deh heeps! Think about just how many umpteen maneuvers involve hip movement of some capacity, especially when it comes to groundwork.


On one hand, you need to study the common cases that arise every step of the way so that you can readily respond.

• If you are let's say, a "butterfly guard player", you need to have responses against these two scenarios thoroughly prepared and drilled:  being flattened out and having your feet/legs grabbed.
• Likewise, if you let's say, have a "passing game" based on the double under pass, you need to understand just how vulnerable you are in the moment just before you actually stack your opponent (hint: if you get the double underhook broken and your opponent successfully fishes out one of your arms...)

On the other hand, approaching it as a memorization test will either not get you very far or cause unnecessary struggles, and you actually need to start speaking the language of leverage.

• "Scrambles" do not have to be purely about athleticism if you understand how to control your opponent's hips and shoulders even when you cannot stay "tight" to them.

One very good heuristic to tell that a joint lock is coming is that your opponent will try to isolate a limb away from you. If your opponent suddenly starts trying to yank your arm or leg away from your control, beware.

To be pinned is to have your hips and both of your shoulders stapled to the ground against your will. "Position before submission" means to achieve a "pin" in some capacity first before going for the actual finish. While a pin only gets you points, there is a reason why settling into a dominant position still gives you points yet.

• Speaking of which, this is why you generally do not just lie flat when you are using any kind of guard- a live fish actively flops about; a dead fish just lies there flat. 
• On the other hand, if you are looking to maneuver yourself into a dominant position, absolutely seek to staple your opponent's shoulder blades -both of them- and hips at every opportunity. 
• Depending on the guard pass in question, you either apply force directly around the area or simply maneuver the opponent's the legs and arms in such a way that their hips/shoulder blades respectively immobilize themselves. 

Similar positions can play out very differently depending on who has more initiative.