Last nights Brazilian jiu-jitsu class at Crossroads BJJ and Martial Arts focused on controlling the posture from the closed guard and what submissions you can begin to work for once you have controlled the distance between you and the person in the top position. Jiu-Jitsu is all about distance management, while striking martial arts want to keep you away so they can punch and kick you with maximum power, Jiu-Jitsu’s goal is to close that distance to where your opponent is no longer effective with their strikes. this is true both on the feet and on the ground.
From the standing position we worked a simple inside trip from the clinch. The clinch is simply a way to hold your opponent before you have gotten the match to the ground, where you keep your head tight to avoid being hit and where you have the ability to move or control your opponent. Once we were in the clinch we worked a simple trip.
Once on the ground we drilled a number of different technique’s the bottom Jiu-Jitsu player can use to control the distance and keep the top bjj player close to them so they can not be punched. Not getting punched is something every martial art teaches, however in Jiu-Jitsu we do that by keeping the person glued to us so they can not create the distance they need. Once we discussed how to control the distance and keep the top player close we worked 3 submission options from this position, two collar holds and an armbar.