Practitioners who specialize in certain kinds of guard are, in my opinion and experience, much harder to pass. These more difficult guards include positions such as Spider Guard, De La Riva Guard, Reverse De La Riva Guard, and any variations or combinations of guards that entangle either your arms or your legs or both. I have a few great tips to help you pass these troublesome guards that took me years to really understand and figure out. Check them out!
If you have been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for any amount of time, I can almost guarentee that you have had this conversation with a friend. In fact, I'd even venture to guess that you have had this conversation numerous times with several friends. And you may have even had this same conversation multiple times with the same friend. It usually goes something like this.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teaches us more than merely self defense. Imagine, if you will, you are driving down the highway at 55 mph when suddenly, your tire blows out. Your car immediately begins to pull hard to the right into other lanes of traffic, and right away you feel your heart jump into your throat. How could BJJ possibly help with that?
I see person after person fall into this temptation, and it has tremendous negative impacts on their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu game down the road. I know this all too well because I, too, was a victim of this very trap. Now that I am far more mature in my BJJ career, I cringe everytime I hear a white belt ask me or another instructor or training partner this request: "Can you show me the Berimbolo?"
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a great martial art and hobby for anybody to pick up. As long as you find a good school with a good instructor and great training partners, anybody can learn the art and progress. However, it is a two way street! While there are obviously some traits that you want to find in a school such as the previously mentioned good instructors and training partners, there are also some pieces of knowledge that you want to possess or at least be prepared to learn when you step onto the mats for the first time.
You have maybe heard about it. Maybe you have seen it used in the UFC or in MMA (Mixed martial arts). Maybe you've heard your friends talk about it using words like "rolling" "open mat" "Triangle" or any other terms you think sound strange or, at the very least, don't seem to fit with a martial art. But just what is this thing called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and why do it's practitioners talk about it like it's the best thing since sliced bread?
