Understanding basic concepts are crucial in various sports activities. It’s even more vital in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. If you want to develop your fighting skills, you have to understand the BJJ concepts. 

 

Every combat sports buff has to embody the fundamentals to make them better fighters and move from one belt color to another. Just how important is it? Let’s examine further.

What Is the Concept of BJJ?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is fundamentally about the ability to fight regardless of one’s size. A fighter with smaller body size can take down even an opponent with a much larger size. Instead of relying on brute force, BJJ strategically identifies weak points and chokeholds. You don’t necessarily have to waste energy and muscle movements. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu takes a more optimal approach to fight an opponent by making each movement count.

 

This is what makes Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a more preferred form of self-defense and martial arts for its aficionados. Being able to fight an opponent who has the size and strength advantage makes it a strategic combat activity. However, for you to counter the opponent’s size or strength, you first need to know the BJJ concepts.

 

It’s important to gain a solid understanding of the fundamental concepts before you execute more advanced techniques. Every technique out there about how to neutralize your opponent’s movement comes from the basic concepts. Think of BJJ concepts as the pillar or umbrella – where all other movements and techniques originate. 

 

These BJJ concepts are the general principles that cover every movement and technique. Understanding the BJJ concepts equips athletes and practitioners with the basic skills to follow when in a fight. It’s about simplifying the game, understanding that advanced techniques work best with a solid footing on the basic Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu principles.

Concepts = Core Understanding of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Knowing the conceptual framework behind Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu provides benefits in an actual fight. You’re not merely remembering theories as they have real applications.

 

If you want to be a better fighter, here’s how Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu concepts enable you to refine your fighting skills:

Able to connect techniques

The basic ideas from the BJJ concepts allow you to connect various techniques. When you follow them, it’s easy to switch to another maneuver without wasting milliseconds of game time. The fundamentals enable you to relate various techniques and head on to a much better position against an opponent.

 

One of the key things to remember about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the ability to latch or connect your body to your opponent. And to do that properly, you must know how to keep the proper posture at all times. Maintaining the proper posture is one basic principle of BJJ that you have to master. The stable posture makes it easier to transition to a new position or technique once you know the fundamentals.

Can manipulate grappling techniques

Grappling techniques serve as advanced ways to take down an opponent. Doing hand grips is a common and efficient way to control your opponent’s body. However, you first need to understand the BJJ concept of how to use your opponent’s movement.

 

This is to make the grip position work for you instead of against you. Instead of letting the opponent control the fight, you can easily modify their activities and offset their control. When you know how to make use of the opponent’s power, you regain the control back to you.

A defensive stance against new techniques

Have you ever been surprised by a new technique that an opponent used against you? A solid understanding of BJJ concepts makes it easy to defend against an unfamiliar move since it’s impossible to know every BJJ technique out there. At the very least, learning about BJJ concepts is your best approach to defend your position.

 

Guarding your position may mean doing a mount or turtle position. This will need a crucial understanding of maintaining a firm posture to prevent the opponent from dismantling your guard. You have to know first what’s the proper way to move your body into a defensive stance without risking injuries. Only then can you keep your opponent from dominating over you.

Come up with new moves

Here’s how BJJ concepts can bring your creativity to a fight. You can combine the various fundamentals and improvise new BJJ techniques. They don’t have to be the best or remarkable enough to merit attention from experts, but they will work to your advantage. Keep in mind, though, that improvising while in a fight only comes after gathering sufficient knowledge of the fundamentals.

 

Most beginners may find it difficult to improvise a move. Those who have been through a lot of sparring sessions are the ones who see opportunities to improvise. Behind their ability to improvise is the principle of timing, a BJJ concept that practitioners have to embody. It’s about knowing the right time to move or modify a technique, depending on the fighting style your opponent is doing.

Develops muscle memory

There are thousands of positions and techniques that promise a better way to neutralize your opponent. You could even refer to different fighters and instructors, each one providing various angles to a specific technique. Is it possible to even remember all of them and apply them to a fight?

 

It takes a while to memorize thousands of techniques from different fighters. However, BJJ concepts will enable you to do a BJJ stance properly as a reflex. You don’t have time to think about which technique to use in an actual fight, which is why it’s important to understand BJJ concepts. It will be faster to move and execute.

Examples of BJJ Concepts

1. Using the opponent’s movement  – where you use the opponent’s power instead of using your own in a fight. Have a solid understanding of your opponent’s weaknesses or how they use a technique. Observe and utilize the opponent’s movement for your gain. This will help prevent the opponent’s actions from taking over you.

 

2. Keeping a proper posture – maintaining the right posture allows you to gain stability while doing several techniques. Switching from one movement to another can be difficult if you haven’t already had a good posture. Good posture has to be second nature already. This allows you to attain a winning position easily. Also, when you keep a proper posture, you avoid risking injuries in a fight.

 

3. Knowing when to move – in BJJ, you must have the right timing when to strike. This is because not every opportunity will lead to a favorable outcome. It’s about assessing the fight situation you are in and determining if the technique you’re about to execute will result in taking down the opponent.

 

4. Dominating before submission – this is also one of the key BJJ concepts. You have to dominate your opponent first before switching over to a submission position. The benefit of this is you’re able to take control beforehand – allowing for an easy transition to make your opponent submit.

In Conclusion

BJJ concepts provide athletes and practitioners with a solid understanding of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a combat sport. Learning about the fundamentals is crucial to how a fighter uses techniques.

 

Without these important BJJ concepts, you’ll have a hard time understanding how to best use a technique or position to your advantage. Similar to understanding a language, for instance. You can only get creative in mixing and matching words if you know the right grammar. It’s the same idea behind BJJ concepts – you must have a keen understanding of the fundamentals for you to use BJJ techniques in a way that benefits your fight.

 

That’s why when choosing an instructional material for BJJ, you should see to it that they place a heavy emphasis on the basics. Grapplers Guide has thousands of BJJ instructional videos available. And every one of these training resources integrates Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu concepts. This approach to BJJ training ensures that practitioners have proper guidance, making you a better fighter who can use advanced techniques by applying the fundamental concepts.