I will now squat slightly,

bumping my lef t leg into the
back of his body, of f-balancing
him. I will make a sor t of
“chair” for him to make it easy
to suppor t his weight.
At this point, I no longer
need to concern myself with
his ar ms. I will now grab both
of his legs as shown here to
the lef t and begin to pull him
up, back and to my lef t.
The finish is obvious
and simple. I will lif t and turn
him until I have enough height
and leverage to “dump” him on
his head or back.

After I break my opponent

’s gr ip, I control both of
his hands as shown here in fig -
ure 3. It is very impor tant to
control the wr ists or hands of
my opponent to ensure that he
does not use them in order to
choke me or star t a new attack.
Once I have control of
his hands, I will then step to
the side, leading with my hips
out .
Once I have made the
appropr iate amount of room
with my hips to facilitate this
next move, I will step behind
him with my lef t leg ( figure 4).
At this point it is cr ucial that I
control my opponent ’s r i g h t
arm so that he does not grab
my head. In the event that he
does, the next technique will
come in handy .

Bear Hug from Behind

In this situation, My opponent
is holding my from behind.
He has both of my arms trapped
by wrapping his arms around my
entire body.
My first priority is to
“break his grip” so that I may
begin to escape. To do so, I will
first take a very deep breath in,
filling my lungs completely with air
and expanding my diaphragm as
much as possible. This will cause
my opponent to widen his grip.
Once my chest is expanded,
I will make my move to escape.
All in one move, I will combine
the following steps: I let out my
air, becoming instantly smaller
than I was before. I Squat to the
floor, lowering my base, as shown
in Figure 2. I spread my arms
apart as shown here to the left. I
will also drive my butt into his
hips ar I drop my weight. The
combination of these above
moves done simultaneously with
proper speed and force will
break my opponent’s hold.

The pressure

created on
my opponent’s r ight shoulder
will cause him to lose his balance
to the right side of his body.
I will take advantage of
this loss of balance by hooking
my r ight leg behind his r ight
leg (figure 4). When I do so, I
must be sure to pass my cent
e r line beyond his and lean
forward so he cannot counter
my throw.
At this point, I will use
the O Soto Gari technique by
k i cking my r ight leg up and
back, reaping my opponent’s
r ight leg. As I do this, I dr ive
my r ight shoulder into his r ight
shoulder and maintain pressure
on his shoulder.
The combination of the
movements described above will
cause my opponent to fall to
the floor as shown in figure 5.
Once my opponent is on the
floor, I will secure his arm for
potential follow -up techniques.

opponent

Since I cannot pull my
opponent over my head, I pull
my opponent’s r ight elbow into
my chest and begin to tur n to
my r ight. As I tur n, I lean forward
and secure his r ight wr ist
with my lef t hand (figure 2). I
try to keep his r ight ar m at an
angle to create pressure on his
shoulder.
Some less exper ienced
opponent’s will submit or fall to
the floor because of the pressure
created on the r ight shoulder
when this move is properly
applied. The proper application
of this movement will come
in time with a great deal of sensitivity
and practice.

As I complete the throw,
my opponent will land directly
in front of me, being flipped
over my front. I continue to
secure his ar m for potential
follow -up techniques in case
the throw has not neutralized
his desire to fight ( figure 5).
Rear Choke Defense 2
In this situation, my opponent
pushes the back of my leg
with his foot. Because he is
doing this, I can not lean forward
to flip him over my head
(figure 1).
To begin my defense, I pull
down on his right arm as I did
during the first choke defense.

After I lower my hips

below my opponent’s belt line, I
will make a move to lift my
opponent onto my hips. Shown
to the left in figure 3, I do so by
straightening my legs and leaning
forward slightly. I am still
pulling down on my opponent’s
arms to assist the lift and take
pressure of f the choke.
I will now “throw” my
opponent over my back with
the “seoi nage” movement (fig -
ure 4). To do so, I will pull my
opponent’s arm down and to
my r ight, leading him to my
r ight side. I will also make a
slight twisting motion to the
r ight with my hips to roll him
over my shoulder and back.

Rear Choke Defense
In this situation, my
opponent has secured an arm
around my neck from behind.
This is a typical “street hold”
that all Jiu-jitsu students must
lear n to defend against.
In figure 1, I begin to set
up my defense by bending my
knees and positioning my hips
to the r ight. I grab his sleeve
at the shoulder with my r ight
hand and pull down. I also
grab his wr ist with my lef t hand
as shown.
I n f i g u r e 2 , I drop my
hips below his by bending my
knees and squatting down. To
avoid additional pressure on
my neck dur ing this movement,
I will continue to pull down on
my opponent’s r ight arm with
both of my ar ms.

I will continue to step

through in a counter clock-wise
motion until I am positioned as
shown in figure 5. You will notice
that because I performed this
movement slowly, my opponent
had the opportunity to let go of
my lapel with his left hand.
I will not give him the same
option with his right hand. I secure
my opponent’s right hand as
shown here and begin to push
his elbow down and forward.
Take note of this grip I am
using on my opponent’s
right hand - I have
switched from the sleeve
to the knife edge of his
hand. My palm is over the
top of his hand with my fingers
gripping the pinky-side of his
hand. This will allow me to twist
his wrist, bending his arm in such a
way that his elbow will point up.
The pain at his wrist will cause
most to submit at this point.
In figure 6, I step behind
him, creating pressure on his wrist
as I just described and his shoulder
by pushing his elbow down and
pulling up on his hand.

To begin this movement, I

control my opponent’s right hand
with my left (figure 3). Note that I
will not let go of this hand throughout
the course of the entire technique
- this is important. My right
arm reaches over my opponent’s
left arm until my right hand is
pointing down between my opponent’s
arms.
In figure 4, I step forward
slightly with my right leg and thrust
my right hand between my opponent’s
arms, passing my right side
to my opponent’s left. I duck my
head under his right armpit while
still controlling his right arm. This
control of the right arm will be
important later to finish him, but is
crucial now to protect myself from
potential chokes that my opponent
may choose to apply.
By practicing this technique,
you will notice that if it is
being performed on you, your
right wrist will begin to twist if you
choose to continue holding my
jacket. Once you master this
movement, you may try it quickly in
oder to actually flip your opponent
over.

Basic Throat or Lapel Grab
Defense
In this next segment, I will
illustrate a defense against a
common lapel or throat grab.
This is a very unique defense
that I have not seen elsewhere. I
learned this technique while
studying a classical form of Jiujitsu
and believe it to be very
effective in the event that a person
attacks you in this way.
One important thing to
remember is that at any time, you
may simply strike your opponent
to the face in order to release this
hold. If his arms are grabbing you,
they are not defending a strike to
the face. If you strike your opponent
to the face, he will have to
release his hold to defend himself
or be hit.
Some practitioners of Jiujitsu
are against methods of striking.
It is an issue that I have gone
into great detail about philosophically
in The Master Text, but the
purpose of this book is simply to
illustrate basic techniques.

To bring my opponent

to
the floor, I will use a technique
that comes from Judo called O
Uchi Gari. In order to per form
this movement, I Push my opponent’s
chest forward with my
right arm (I may also push his
face for extra effect if desired), I
pull my opponent’s right leg with
my left arm and simultaneously
hook my right leg behind his left
knee and kick back (figure 5). A
counter clock-wise twisting
motion may be employed in
order to provide me with extra
momentum during the application
of this technique.
Once my opponent lands
(figure 6), I may pass his guard,
ankle lock him or strike my opponent
from the top. These methods
of follow-up attack will be
discussed later in this text.

As I lift my lef t leg to
defend, I make sure my knee is
raised above my waistline and my
toes are pointed down. My right
(rear) leg is bent slightly at the
knee for extra balance and shock
absorbancy. You will notice that
in figure 3, I keep my right hand
up to defend my face. My left
hand now reaches down to grab
my opponent’s right ankle.
Once I secure my opponent’s
ankle, I will step forward,
hooking my right leg behind my
opponent’s left. I step forward
enough so that my belly is touching
my opponent’s inner r ight
leg.

Basic Kick Defense

In this situation, I have not
yet had the opportunity to create
an opening to clinch. Before I can
set anything up, my opponent
throws a kick.
There are a few very important
factors that must be present
in my initial defense: First, both of
my hands must remain up at either
side of my face to protect it from
strikes (figure 1). Second, I will
use my legs, not my hands to
defend myself from this kick, since
it is low (figure 2).
The reasons for this
method of defense become clear
when you consider that by “dropping”
my hands away from my face
to defend the kick initially, my
opponent might chamber his kick
and land a second one to my
head. My opponent might also
be setting me up with a combination
of kicks and punches, hoping
that by kicking low, I will reach for
his leg. If I reach for his leg, I will
create an opportunity for my
opponent to land a punch to my
undefended face.

To flip him over my back

(hips) and throw him to the floor, I
pull down and to the left with my left
arm. At the same time, I twist my hips
to the right (counter clock-wise).
Once my opponent has
landed in front of me, I must
assume a position of control. In
this case, I have chosen knee on
belly, which will be discussed in
greater detail later on in this text.

Defending a Punch

(O Goshi)
In this situation, my
opponent attempts to punch
me at a closer range. To
defend, I raise my lef t hand to
my lef t ear, protecting the
entire lef t side of my head ( fig -
ure 1). To protect myself from
potential counter str ikes on my
r ight side, I grab my opponent
’s lef t hand.
Illustrated in figure 2, I
push my opponent’s left hand
down slightly to create space
for me to “enter”. I will also
wrap my left arm over and
around my opponent’s right arm.
In order to lift my opponent
off the ground, I turn, facing the
same direction as him. During this
turn, I keep my hips lower than his
and “bump” into him, off-balancing
my opponent. My right arm goes
under his left arm and to his back
while my left arm pulls his right to
my waist.

Takedowns from the Clinch

Once I have reached the
c l i n ch position, I must use it
to my advantage . i l l u st rated
i n f i g u r e 1 , I d rop to one
knee. I do so with my chest
very close to my opponent ’s
l e g , l e a v i n g h i m w i t h v e ry l i t t l e
space to st r ike.
Next (figure 2), I hug my
opponent’s legs at the knees,
clasping both hands.
Once I have control of
his legs, I squeeze my arms
together, nar rowing my opponent’s
base. Once my opponent’s
base is weak, I will dr ive
my head forward, pushing of f
my r ight leg for power and
s i m u l taneously pull his legs
toward me.
This movement will cause
my opponent to fall backward
( figure 3). As my opponent
falls, I will hug his legs tightly,
squeezing them together as I
move around to one side of his
body in order to control him.

Getting to the Clinch 2 (Baiting)
This method of getting to
the clinch is a “baiting method”.
In this situation, I place my legs
at a close distance to my opponent,
but lean back slightly so
that my head is just out of my
opponent’s reach. In order to
encourage my opponent to
attempt a strike to my head, I
lower my hands away from my
face. Two things make it safe
for me to do so:
-My head is out of his reach.
-I am anticipating the strike to
my head.
Once my opponent
throws the strike (figure 2), I
lean forward. As I lean forward,
I keep my hands up to protect
my face from both kicks and
punches.
As I “enter” in figure 3, I
hold him with my left hand to
prevent him from moving back
and control his arm with my right
arm. I place my head to his
chest in order to protect my
face from punches.

Clinching

is simply when both par tners
"hold" each other while standing.
Once a Jiu-jitsu practitioner
achieves the clinch, the ability of
his opponent to strike with a great
deal of force (damaging force) is
greatly reduced. After a level of
safety is achieved by the use of
this position, a skilled Jiu-jitsu
fighter will take his opponent to
the floor where any of the "ground
positions" previously soon to be
detailed will be used.
Getting to the Clinch
In this example to the left, I
am using a method of progressive
indirect attack to create an opening
so that I may safely achieve
the clinch position.
In figure 1, I throw a high
strike to my opponent’s head. It
is not my intention to strike my
opponent. My intention is to give
my opponent time to raise his
hand to defend my strike. By
raising his hand, he will create an
opening at his waist where his arm
would normally be blocking me
from “entering”. You will notice
that I control his right hand with
my left hand as I throw the strike
so that my opponent does not
strike me with that hand as I close
the distance.
In figure 2, I control his
arm as I finish closing the distance,
placing my head on his
chest. My left hand will wrap
around my opponent’s waits so
he cannot move back and away
from me, creating distance that
will enable him to strike.

Quedas

In this next section, I have isolated
the basic standing techniques
of Jiu-jitsu that most beginners will
encounter during their first year of
training. Practical application and
basic understanding of these techniques
is required by most instructors
before promotion to blue belt can
occur.

Called "quedas' in Brazilian
Portuguese, takedowns or throws are
standing methods of attack and
defense whose purpose is to bring an
attacker to the ground through the
use of balance, timing and leverage.
In most cases, Jiu-jitsu practitioners
utilize basic principles of physics
such as momentum, gravity and acceleration
to achieve the throw with minimum
effort and maximum efficiency.
Getting to the Clinch
Many great champions of
Jiu-jitsu through its recent history
have said, "If you have the clinch,
you have good Jiu-jitsu." This is a
theme that resounds strongly
through the ar t's value as a tool for
self -defense. The principle theory
is this: In any style of fighting,
whether the intention of the combatants
is to achieve victory
through the implementation of
str ikes or submission holds, one
thing is inevitable: most of the time,
the participants will clinch.