Jon Thomas’ BJJ Principles at Estilo Jiu Jitsu
We recently hosted Jon Thomas for a two-day seminar on guard retention and guard passing at Estilo Jiu Jitsu. Jon is a respected BJJ black belt, competitor and teacher, and over the past several years has become an incredible resource for studying Jiu Jitsu techniques online. I think that he does a fantastic job systematizing information and presenting it in an accessible fashion. And he mainly does this by explaining positions in great depth and by also using transitional techniques to flow from one position to another.
Guard Retention
From Jon's perspective, guard retention is the most important skill in BJJ, and I could not agree more. We have structured much of our Fundamentals curriculum around this core skill for beginners, and it was great to have Jon share some really insightful details. By developing guard retention skills, you will be a lot more confident in attacking from your guard because you know how to get out of potentially bad positions and back into an attacking mode (or how some people would describe moving from a "defensive cycle" into an "offensive cycle"). In essence, it allows you to try techniques with less fear of failing. Jon talked about the critical importance of distance management through the use of frames and angles, as well as using a hip tilt from open guard to keep them aligned and facing the guard passer. The side tilt is such a great detail to prevent stacking passes as it allows the guard player to stay on his/her side and not with both shoulders pinned against the mat.
Guard Passing
The really interesting principle that Jon talked about on day two was that most passes necessitate getting your chest over the guard player's chest, while bypassing the legs and frames. "Most passes" is a key term here, as some passing situations won't allow for the immediate or early placement of the passer's chest over the guard player's chest due to frames. The concept isn't necessarily easy to master, but I think it is a sound strategy. When your chest is over your opponent's chest (not necessarily chest TO chest), their shoulders are forced to be flat, and their frames effectively drive them into the mat as opposed to pushing away from the passer and creating space. Getting into a chest over chest position creates a huge amount of pressure and can really nullify the effectiveness of frames.
Distance Management
The common thread at both of the seminars was distance management -- as the guard player you largely (but not always) want to create or at least maintain distance, while as the guard passer you largely want to close distance. The finer details that Jon presented were very informative to me and to those who attended, and I look forward to all of us continuing to experiment and implement them.
