Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
5 Mobility Secrets That Will Instantly Improve Your Guard Passing
You may think your lack of mobility only holds back your guard retention, but they could be wrecking your passing as well. We are going to give you 5 bits of information on target areas that will help you improve your guard passing tremendously.
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A good martial artist does not become tense but ready. Essentially, at this point the fight is over, so you pretty much flow with the goal. Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power?
Speaker 2:I'm ready.
Speaker 1:The five mobility qualities you need for better guard passing in modern Jiu-Jitsu. Now, modern no-gi Jiu-Jitsu is a very dynamic thing. I've witnessed it firsthand from some of the best passers in the world and what I've observed is they have certain movement qualities and it requires a lot of mobility and a lot of you are not necessarily aware of what that is. So we're going to break it down. We're going to go through these five movement qualities, how they relate to modern no-gi passing and also the exercises you need to improve them.
Speaker 2:You know what I think is tricky about identifying the deficiencies you might have in these positions they don't stand out to you in the moment, like coaches are like hey guys, we're working on this and you give it a try and you, whatever, drill it for a few minutes or a few rounds and you just often end up being like this position just feels shit, for me, it doesn't work. Yeah, you often don end up being like this position just feels shit for me, doesn't work. Yeah, you often don't link it to oh, it's because my hamstrings are super tight or because my adductors are fucking tight, like I can't actually get into a good position.
Speaker 1:Yes, but I think I agree with you on that. But I think when you start to look more closely at videos of people who are very good at passing and you look at the positions they get into, you're like I need to be able to do that.
Speaker 2:Well, that's, that's right. For those who are, you know, switched onto that you're like, oh shit, how do I get actually has really good hip flexion, or actually has really good hip extension, or whatever.
Speaker 1:And. But the thing is, most people in jujitsu don't talk about it in those terms.
Speaker 2:Coaches don't often go hey guys, we're working this, check it out. You will struggle with this if you can't touch your toes. Yeah Right, they're just like hey, we're doing fucking J point. Yes, Everyone do this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, yeah, and so that's why I wanted to talk about it, because I think the first well, the number the first this isn't process of order in terms of like this is the number one thing.
Speaker 1:Lateral movement is one of the most essential things when you're looking at, like outside, leg passing, leg dragging, this kind of thing. Lateral movement is really dictated by your ability to stretch through your adductors and get into a very low squat position or like a split stance position. So the Cossack squat the Cossack squat is absolutely the best movement you can use to improve, like lengthening through the adductors, deep flexion of the knee, uh, dorsiflexion of the ankle, like getting into that low squat position. Whether you're doing a knee cut or you're doing a leg drag, like you need to be able to improve your base in this position, yeah, and so this is something that we've. I, you know, I guess Cossack came to me more from my kind of Taekwondo background, but just identifying it as a really bang for your buck gets your hip and knee and ankle strong and mobile but also helps loosen up the other side.
Speaker 2:I love it for that Cossacks yesterday and um, the yeah like lower body leg strength, but really that whole lengthening and strengthening of the the straight leg side on the inside of the hip there, which is the adductors that we're referencing um is kind of pivotal to that style of wide base, like wide stance, lateral movement, um.
Speaker 2:I think that, yeah, the main thing there is, if you don't have some capacity in that lateral movement, then you are basically you've got a handbrake and you're basically not going to be able to maintain base when that structure gets threatened. But if you can, then you're comfortable there.
Speaker 1:And here's the interesting thing, because this is it's interesting you mentioned that, joe. This has come up a lot recently in different discussions around, like the principles or the ideas behind sweeping and maintaining like posture and balance for passing, which is destabilizing. This is this is something that the less impressed, more involved has talked about Greg Souders has talked about. He's talking about destabilizing someone's structure in able in order for you to be able to sweep them and come up, and so if you lack mobility, stabilization is much harder. You are far easier to destabilize because you can't hold the position and it will be harder for you to maintain your balance switching side to side, yeah, and so by improving your mobility, you are much harder to destabilize in that context.
Speaker 1:And so number two then is when we look at leg pummeling and knee cutting, and so whether you're kind of into the cord and rind, kind of hand basing and cutting with the knees, like the kind of floating, passing hip, internal rotation is what we want to look at there, as much as you need to be able to bring your knee over, or the Fion knee cut, fion knee cut, and so really, the stretch or the movement I like for this is the kind of 90-90 kind of shin box type. Side to side, you're keeping the shoulders square internally, internally rotating the hip, externally rotating the other hip, while keeping the torso very square.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I find this is a very easy movement to do and it'll show you straight away if you're lacking internal rotation of the hip yeah, yeah, I really I like that a lot, for I like that a lot for internal rotation, I like for external rotation, which which is, you know, rotate the other way, obviously for people listening. I like probably something that you know, I feel like you can get more leverage on, say, the active pigeon or box pigeon or something.
Speaker 2:But I do think that general hip rotation for people is a really overlooked facet of movement. We kind of don't really think about it. You know, a lot of people have switched on to like, oh, I should lengthen my hamstrings, I should stretch my hip flexors, yeah, but we don't think about that rotation piece.
Speaker 1:I think for most part, if people do jujitsu consistently and they play guard, people will do a bit of glute stretching right they will. They will open up to their glutes a bit, because external rotation is very helpful for pummeling from guard. But what is most lacking for jujitsu guys is hip internal rotation and this is a key unlock for knee cutting and leg pummeling and passing. And so.
Speaker 1:I feel like spending a bit of time doing that. Not only will that help your passing, but also help your knees, because folks who lack hip internal rotation tend to cop knee injuries as well. Yeah, so there's that to consider. And then we're going to go to number three, which is forward flexion. So when we go to outside camping that kind of J-point camping, the hip and knee post, like gordon ryan, joseph chen, like a lot of the really good monday passes you want to do that. J point. You know what move you need, joe you need to be able to fucking touch your toes, bro, j curl, j curl for j point.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah. So what are we talking about here? Because you need to be able to have your head low, hips high, and you need to be able to stay mobile and move. And you, yeah, and you want, your, you want to stay mobile and move. And you, yeah, and you want your, you want.
Speaker 2:like, what you see with a lot of these guys is their feet are kind of underneath them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're not, they're not way back, Not too far. Yeah, and, and, and it's their ability to keep their head in down like back pretty straight.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because they want to keep a good structure there and really moving around yeah, like really being able to move around there and maintain good structural integrity at this flexed position and for the best part, most jiu-jitsu folks they might try to touch their toes, but it's rare that you'll see people do a loaded stretch. So the J curl will have you standing on a box or a step of sorts will have you standing on a box or a step of sorts. You might be holding a small dumbbell or a light kettlebell and you're going through this flexed position, legs straight, toes on the edge of the elevation whatever it might be box or step and slowly lowering yourself down through this full spinal flexion and trying to get as low as you can into that flexed spot and then working your way out with control.
Speaker 1:You say hip flexed right Hip flexed like torso close to the spine, and then yeah, yeah, it's a, it's a real centerpiece.
Speaker 2:I mean it's, and that that position I mean like all these positions has also huge application to a bunch of other jujitsu positions, right, but yeah, specifically in the realm of passing, I find that again, it's kind of one of those things where if you don't, if you can't really go down and like touch your toes or you know, if you, if your range is limited there, it just takes away a lot of movement options from you generally.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And what we know. Going back to your point before about destabilization as a precursor to sweeping, you know, like, when you've got someone in your guard like you're playing open guard and you can tell they're really tight in the hips sweet, it's not hard to knock them off balance. Yeah, is it? No, you know, um. And so, yeah, it fucking buys you a lot of time, but also, like, it buys you security to be able to mount your pass or your defense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it just sweeps that you think would work. If someone's flexible and mobile, they find a way to balance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're like ah, like, when I fucking try to X guard sweep you, what's going to happen? Every time I'm like why the fuck did I do this again, this again?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean it's. I mean, this is where we can get into the. I'll swap it around. Let's go number. This was number five. We'll make it number four, which is front split. Front split is exceptionally good as a movement quality for countering X guard and leg locks. Now, why do I say this? I've trained front split since I was very young because I did Taekwondo and it's one of those things that has paid dividends in jujitsu, because if you can rest in a dancer's version like a dancer's split, where your back leg is bent I actually witnessed PJ Bartsch at IEGA using that as a defense against single leg, where they're trying to split your leg, and he's just based with his back leg bent oh wow, and he really uses that to not which just makes the front leg super heavy, heavy and they can't pull it around. But when, yeah, like if someone puts you in X guard, whether it be single X or full, X guard you can just kind of front split into that and feel very stable.
Speaker 1:But then also, if someone starts to attack your leg and you need to turn out and throw the next leg away and turn your hip, having the flexibility through your hips and your hamstrings actually really helps, yeah, and so that's the thing you can feel very stable, even though it looks like your base is very narrow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know I, you know there are a bunch of choices out there for your strength and mobility training, and when it comes to choosing a program, it's really hard to sift through what's good and what's not. One thing I can guarantee you is that the Bulletproof for BJJ app is exactly what you need as a busy grappler who wants to prioritize time on the mat, which means you're not spending hours upon hours in the gym each week. But you also want the biggest returns in terms of your performance on the mat and also your recovery off. The Bulletproof for BJJ app has you covered. You can take a two-week free trial right now, and if you go beyond that and you commit to a subscription and you get a few weeks in, you realize you know what I don't love this. We give you a 100% money back guarantee. So nothing to wait for.
Speaker 2:Jump into the two-week free trial right now. Go to the app store, search Bulletproof for BJJ and we'll see you on the inside. Well, and that I mean for that, for that x guard thing specifically. Um, you the whole idea, right, and I've been working this with the guys on mondays but the whole idea. With the x guard swimsuit you're trying to for the person attacking, you're trying to drive their weight onto the far leg and pick that leg up yeah, and and so thereby making the leg on your shoulder light.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but if you drop into a front, split your leg that's on my shoulder gets fucking heavy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm like I can't sit up with this thing, you know, and there's opportunities there where you can kind of roll the leg over and kind of hip over and pass, and I've been playing around with that for a long time and there's lots of opportunities that present. So, even though you might not think, oh, I'm not a gymnast, I'm not a fucking ballerina, why would I work on my front split by opening up through the hamstring and opening up through the hip flexors, it actually does a lot to take a lot of pressure off your lower back and a lot of people underestimate that that having tight hip flexors and tight hamstrings loads up your lower back. So if you're someone who does get tight in the lower back and you're struggling with your passing, spending some time working on that front split position, you're struggling with your passing, spending some time working on that front split position. Now, actually, let's say, front splits impossible for you. What would you say? Joe is a good halfway step.
Speaker 2:Well, let me just add in before that the concept here that applies to every grappler. Yes, Because there's going to be people listening like, well, that's super advanced, I'm not trying to do front splits, I just fucking my hamstrings suck. Like I'm not fucking with that here. Like if you're really bad at mobility, then what you want to do is get some more range in your hamstrings, get some more range in your hip flexors. Right, this is going to give you some. This is going to help to start opening up your hips Over time as you get more advanced to that.
Speaker 2:The stretches or the drills that you did to open up from in that really tight position, they now don't do anything for you Cause you're actually, you know you're getting somewhere. You position, they now don't do anything for you because you're actually, you know you're getting somewhere, you feel good. So we've got to up the intensity of these drills. So when we say front split, we're talking about, like, the front split being the pinnacle movement that is an expression of excellent hamstrings and excellent hip flexors. But going back to the other end of the spectrum, your shit at mobility you can still be working on the front split, but just at a very beginner level. Sure Right, and it's not actually about getting you to a split. It's about addressing your hamstrings and your hip flexors, Of course. So to that point I mean Jefferson curl, as we mentioned before, for the flexion, also great for the hammies, right For a beginner stride stance. Good morning, yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, good morning.
Speaker 2:We got that in all of our programs Elephant walk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, elephant walk really good for opening up through calves and hamstrings and flexing forward. If you struggle with that, what about hip flexors, hip flexors. So this is actually going to kind of lead me into the next point Long lunge pulse, I think, is a great one because it's just really getting you deep and opening up to the hip. But you're still working there, you're still stabilizing Super loaded and you can do I forget the name, I apologize. You know the ones we're using with the sticks. You've been doing that for a little while. Is it just like a supported front split?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's where you take that even a step further and you slide the back leg back and you kick the front leg out, but you're using, um, two supports to kind of take the weight out a little bit. So it's not as fucking crazily intense, not as heavy still awful but but it still allows you to develop a degree of um, uh, familiarity there. I wouldn't say comfort, it's not comfortable, but you get familiar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and just like with any strength work, it's um, it's. It's allowing you to progressively increase the load, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you take. You take the weight out of your hands, you take more of the load in the hammies and the hip flexors. But I wanted to go to hip extension because when you're looking at squashing the squashing the hooks, someone's trying to false reap or someone's trying to butterfly a hook and you're looking at sprawling and and really trying to turn the hip slow, like uh, joseph chen is really good at this. You see him going from like down in a flex position to like opening up to the chest and really kicking the hip through. Yep, squashing the hook, turning the hips.
Speaker 1:If you don't have hip extension, you're going to struggle. Yeah, so if you're someone who's really tight through quads and hip flexors from a lot of guard work, but you haven't done much of the opening up of the hip, you're not going to be able to express this dynamic kind of movement. And it's not that it's unattainable. You just have to spend a bit of time opening up through the front and that's where something like the couch stretch or the kneeling wall stretch, shin to wall, is very helpful, very effective.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, hanging Cobra, hanging Cobra, definitely, if you're a bit more advanced you can get into the hip flexors and the rest of the spine there, definitely, and I think, even if you're not someone who's necessarily familiar with all these different styles of passing, if you just were to reference a video, say you were. I want to go have a look at a video of Joseph Chen passing. He is doing all of these movements. He won't say to you oh, you need hip extension or you need this amount of hamstring flexibility, but you can see the kids made of like black magic and rubber, like he moves so well and we want you to see the, the kid's made of like black magic and rubber like he moves so well, yeah, and we want you to do the same and it is attainable, but you've got to kind of come in at certain entry points.
Speaker 1:And so, when it comes to tightness through the front of the hip, the couch stretch, which is the easiest, most attainable way to start opening up to the front of the hip, that's really good and even like a little bit of a if we're talking about an active exercise, it's like a reverse Nordic yeah, like to stretch out the quads, stretch out the hip flexors, but also get the quads like around the knees working, yeah, and load them up, and load them up. And so I think, when you look at all of this, most of the time people don't think about mobility related to guard passing. They think about it probably more around guard and inverting, but when you look at all the best guard passes, they move exceptionally well.
Speaker 2:So you need to be able to think about like um think about some of those scrambles that we saw um Cade Ruotolo and Andrew Tackett at CJI right it was just like two fucking Panthers, yeah, just yeah.
Speaker 2:And like I mean the Ruatolos often go into a split position. Yeah, you'll see, like in their, when they're playing because they're always, almost always playing on top, they're always like side splitting, front splitting, just because they're refusing to concede a sweep or whatever, or a takedown, and you're like you don't have to have that capacity. But you see, with people that move like that, ah, like when there's no restriction on my movement, there's so many options.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And majority of people listening to this will have a lack of options because of a lack of movement capacity. This is just what happens to our bodies as we get older and we do a fucking sport like jujitsu. So unless you're working on it, you're probably you're probably being held by, you're probably being held back by this to a point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you don't realize it until you put a little bit of time on it and you're like, oh, that skill is easier, whereas a lot of the time I think for the best part we think, oh, I just suck at that, oh, that's not for me, and then look, it's easy, I'm going back to half guard. It's easy to fall into that trap mentally, but for you folks, definitely you can unlock it. It's just a matter of identifying what is the right technique for you, putting a bit of work on it and then chipping away and you will get better with the modern day guard passing.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what, just quickly we've been talking about it. We've been redesigning standards. We have it will be coming out soon I've been running the level three standards this week for myself oh nice. And I've not been doing much mobility work in the last six months. Okay, I've been doing like bare minimum, if that. And um, the new level three standards program has two days dedicated to range oh okay, and they're short workouts but it's like it's deep like you're going, you're going to and I'm like, fuck, I feel so good having hit all five sessions this week.
Speaker 2:Nice, I'm like man so good, like I was doing deep. I did cossacks yesterday, deep jefferson's. I did backbend earlier in the week. Yeah, it's fucking sick. So I think for the people that are already on this tip and been working on some of our previous stuff, they're going to love the new release of this.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So there it is, folks. If you want to unlock that mobility, check out our new standards program coming very soon.
Speaker 2:See you.
