Last night during our BJJ Team Training class we continued our study of the half guard position, specifically the waiter sweep and options which surround the position. All sweeps require the top players weight to be in a certain position and their momentum to be traveling in a certain direction, if the person on top can do something to shift their weight and/or change the direction of their momentum then they can defend the sweep. Jiu-Jitsu is all about having options, if you continue to apply the waiter sweep after it has been defended you won’t accomplish anything but making yourself tired.
In tonight’s class we worked on two follow up techniques that can be applied if the waiter sweep is blocked. The first bjj technique is a simple variation that simply changes the direction of the sweep. The second Jiu-Jitsu technique switches from sweeping to attacking the legs for a submission. In both follow up techniques we are moving into the open space our training partner provides. Switching techniques in bjj is what creates flow, and that flow is what allows a smaller weaker person to beat a larger and stronger opponent.