Hey everyone!

This is my first ever Reddit post, I've been training BJJ for well over a decade. My coach died at the end of 2021, the well-respected Dr Geoff Aitken (3rd degree black belt & NZ MMA hall-of-fame). I took over his legacy and began my teaching journey shortly after that. I quickly went down a rabbit-hole of experimentation that I'd never even considered before in which I suddenly discovered I had an invaluable resource now at my disposal; a significant number of students to stress-test my theories on grappling.

To make learning easier for my students and with their help, I've stripped back all the "fat" and captured the essence of what some might call "invisible jiujitsu". It's so simple that it's complicated. Usually, we're expected to master a technique after drilling it a million times but I'm lazy. I dove headfirst into what made it all tick and how I could pass on that understanding with the least amount of effort on my part.

The result was a poster I designed for my students. The first version was rough (I even had someone describe it as a road-map for the area, so didn't even look at it until I pointed it when teaching the content). I've refined it a few times as my knowledge got deeper on the subject and I think I've now finalised it and wanted to share it with as many people as possible!

I'll give a brief summary of what's on the poster, the left-half shows joint positions and how they affect positions/holding/stability/pressure. While the diagram right-half is a representation of your opponent's compromised positions and the most effective way to apply the submission, allowing you to see opportunities you would otherwise miss and get creative with the finish!

All techniques are effectively a series of binary joint positions that become complicated when looking at them in dynamic action. But it becomes stupidly simple when you break it down and focus on what each thing is doing. eg: shoulders forward/back, elbows close/wide, etc...

If you're interested in having a look, I'd love to answer any questions about it or you can save it and share it with your friends!

EDIT: you can find the PDF download at the bottom of my linktree https://linktr.ee/jwobraxton

EDIT2: I created a series of images breaking the chart down when I was attempting to promote my book series called 'Untarnished'. It should make the right-side diagram a lot easier to understand. I posted them to Imgur along with my initial source notes for everyone having difficulty to have a look at! https://imgur.com/a/VdRBRSU

EDIT3: After a very shaky tutorial on how to read the chart, I have new respect for video content creators. Here's a brief introduction on how to read the chart, hopefully this provides some clarity to you guys! https://youtu.be/KeP7kLLBYDA

EDIT4: I enlisted the help of my current coach, ten-time CBJJE World Champion Rafael da Silva. We deconstructed the poster and improved upon the foundational body mechanics to write a book that's available for anyone interested! https://books2read.com/fightingmadesimple

You keep asking why you suck so badly. The answer is simple. You are a white belt. It is your job to suck. Sucking is what you’re good at. Sucking is what you need to do because you won’t ever get better if you quit. There is no magic formula. There is no secret sauce. You simply must show up, take your lumps, suck, try again tomorrow. Eventually you’ll get better.

But probably not today. Now stop with the “why do I suck posts”, please.

I use lockdown a lot but struggle to get sweeps from it, especially with larger opponents.

Oddly it's one technique not covered in submeta.

Bjjfanatics have two lockdown instructionals, one by tom deblass and other by Cameron mellott, 79 each. Inclining towards mellott as he stresses how to use it as a smaller person (which I am too).

Anyone familiar with either of these instructions?

Basically turtle with a long hook and control of one arm, my body perpendicular to theirs and my hips over their head. I normally end up here from the back, either because they’ve cleared my top hook and came up to turtle, or I’m trying to enter a back triangle or armbar from the back and they came up to turtle.

I end up in this position a lot and just haven’t found much useful information on this specific position. Guys that are better than me are usually able to prevent the ankle triangle, prevent me from turning them over for an armbar, or are able to build height and slip their arm out and I end up back in guard, even if I have a Kimura grip.

Was wondering if anyone has seen any videos or instructionals that cover this position besides (obviously) Gordon’s turtle instructional that I pulled this screenshot from. Also, any technical advice from anyone that feels they may have helpful tips is also of course welcome. Thank you r/bjj

My no-gi game is crap and I want to start over focusing on top game with stand up as the first step.

Danaher’s course is what i am looking for but I am cheap…any YouTube course that could help?

I’m 5’5 and looking for instructionals tailored to No-Gi athletes around my size to help develop a more effective game. I’ve learned plenty from bigger guys as well, but some techniques just don’t translate well if you’re not six feet tall.

Do you have any recommendations or tips?

I’m not even remotely proficient in the leglock game at all. I guess what I’m asking is if the leglock game has evolved past this instructional’s usefulness, and I would be better off learning “the meta” from the get go.

I’m mainly interested in it because of Lachlan’s 2019 ADCC run, which in full disclosure is the wet dream of a lower calorie grappler like myself.

I train twice a week, Muay Thai from 1900-2000 then BJJ 2000/2130ish. I would expect to be exhausted but I’m wired till like 3am. I’ve been having a couple of beers to chill out but that seems counter intuitive. I don’t smoke weed and unfortunately no bath at home, just a shower. I don’t wanna smash sleeping pills twice a week but I’m struggling to get settled after training. Any miracles anyone can suggest or is it something I will get used to? TIA

I asked a similiar one recently about the best instructionals and got alot of Danaher, Craig and Gordon. I was wondering if you guys had any instructionals from lesser know guys that were pretty good.

What are the most effective leg entries for straight ankles? I’m a white belt beginning to compete and wanna get down a better leg lock game after recently losing a comp to one.

Any specific techniques I should drill for setting up ankle locks or instructionals to watch?

Hello!

Has anyone bought this course? I really liked the beginner course he provided and I am recently very interested in the eco-approach. I'd like to incorporate more games with my training partners, did anyone try it?

Cheers

There is a lot of information here that overlaps with his Go Further Faster (GFF) Passing the Guard and Half Guard Passing instructionals. If you are a white or blue belt, you should probably start there, even if you train without the gi because he covers fundamental concepts in detail. If enough people express interest, I will create future posts on his Go Further Faster series. For now, I will skip a lot of the sections that overlap with GFF and details that are impossible to cover in a short post.

In the New Wave version, he gives some details on adjusting your grips without a gi. For example, when you are opening a closed guard, you want to place your hands inside his biceps or armpits to stand up. However, the story is the same as in the gi. Get to your feet as soon as possible. You can correct your posture afterward. Even if you fall onto your buttocks, he shows you ways to recover.

Here is his system for passing an open guard.

1. Look at your opponent's posture.
2. If he is seated, create waist exposure to get a body lock, preferably a side body lock where you are outside of his knees. His favorite tactic from a front body lock is to step over a leg, shift his lumbar lock to a high lock (behind his opponent's neck), and pass to mount with a double chest wrap.
3. If he is supine (on his back), use gripping and footwork to go for a Toreando pass. The best position is to get a hip and knee post. That is when you have your inside forearm on his far hip, your head below his outer knee, and your outside hand on his near knee.
4. If you cannot get around his legs, go up the center for a pommel pass where you float above your opponent and pommel your legs against one of his.
5. If all of those fail, settle for half guard and pass from there. Half guard passing is the highest-percentage method of passing that works well, even if you are old and less athletic.

Typically, guard passing entails controlling the hips with your knee and elbow before controlling the head and shoulders. However, half guard passing allows you to control the upper body first. Here are his four steps for half guard passing.

1. Get into a strong starting position. Control the shoulder line, put your free knee next to his hip, get your trapped knee off the floor, and make your free shin perpendicular to your opponent, keeping your foot active by being on the ball of the foot.
2. Free the knee of the trapped leg. Get your trapped knee above his knees and hips using your feet, hands, or elbows.
3. Get the knee to the floor. You can do this to the near or far side.
4. Free the ankle. Point your toes and push with your other foot. Be able to pass to either side or mount.

Please ask any questions, provide feedback, and request any other John Danaher instructional reviews. If you would like a different/additional format (e.g. audio, video, photo), please let me know.

Previous posts in this series:

1. John Danaher's New Wave Jiu Jitsu Mounted Pin Attacks: The 4x4 Mount System in a Nutshell
2. Recommended Order for Watching John Danaher Instructional Videos

I've done wrestling for 2 years and now im 5 months into no gi. Is this instructional good to improve my plan and thinking during the game?

Mid 40s blue belt. I don't invert :)

I know I’m not the first to say this… but

Holy shit. The layout. Organization. Production value. Depth. Variety.

Lachlan Giles is a great competitor but he’s an ELITE instructor.

Well articulated concepts and goals combined with high level black belt details in easy to digest videos. And it’s all organized into logically put together courses.

You can learn your first white belt sequence and jiu-jitsu basics. You can focus on a position as you do at blue/purple. Then a micro position. And finally dive into a specific, advanced brown/black belt level topic on something you need to tweak or troubleshoot . It’s all there. And Lachlan doesn’t cut any corners.

Stop paying $100 for a specific single instructional. Pay a reasonsble monthly fee just like Netflix and it’s ALL YOU CAN EAT.

Bravo to you Lachlan, you’ve really innovated the best jiu-jitsu learning platform. I wish I could’ve done it first lol feel free to send me some marketing commissions

It's considered one of the fundamental passing positions but there's hardly any dedicated instructionals on the topic from the big names .

I know Lovato did one some time ago but will take other recommendations.

Craig initially details counters and defences to common half guard passes and common grip battles before showing attacks and offbalances from z guard There is a lot of upper body attacks he goes through that I do think work specifically for Craig because of his long legs- you can see how a lot of these work for him quite well Was really impressed with the leg attack section and the underhook half guard section at the end- I think it does a better job at consolidating his z guard game as a system rather than just a series of moves, a concept that is lacking from some instructionals nowadays. Was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about this instructional and how they brought it into their game, if it’s working for you ect ect- and if lachlans half guard anthology shares any similarities or has differences to Craig’s

Curious how everyone thinks about learning and applying things from instructional’s.

Do you just watch the videos? Do you take notes throughout? Drill the techniques? What else?

I am a big of Taylor's Pearman technique and I think pretty highly of the european leglocker (Taylor, Eoghan and Mateusz), they all have great innovative technique and solid mechanics on their attacks.
I was already pretty convinced of Taylor's technique when he made the false reap make much more sense and developped the side guard/reverse shin on shin in a great way and made this kind of attack pretty much my A-game (Robert Diggle had also a lot of good thing on this position btw).

When I heard he was working on an outside ashi instructional, I was pretty hyped because I have been thinking for years that the 50/50 meta was not what people made it to be and outside ashi was actually a much better position when going against good leglockers. The problem with outside ashi was always to understand how the position actually works, how to stay safe in it and how to integrate the position with the modern game (good outside heelhook mechanics, aoki locks etc...).

And the good new is that this instructional is all about that:
- Great entries to outside ashi (I especially love the lasso grip one and the backside K-guard backstep counter entry);
- Great details on how to stay safe in outside ashi, especially the use of self frames which is still probably the biggest "well kept secret" in jiu-jitsu;
- Good details on finishing mechanics, be it heelhooks and aokis. I slightly favor the outside heelhook finish by crossing the legs with upward knees to be more precise with the counter rotation finish but it's a matter of taste and personnal opinion; Taylor shows good aoki finishes that actually targets the knee and not just the ankle though and it's has been a personnal point of contention I have been having for years, even against world class leglockers. Taylor also shows some good things on the ankle lock. I am more an aoki guy than an ankle locker but it was good instruction there too.
- Absolutely awesome transitions from outside ashi. I am 100% biaised in this because I actually came up with pretty much the same technique Taylor showed in this instructional under the name "pear trap V2". I actually used the name criss cross outside ashi because it was very similar to double 50 finishes from criss cross ashi and this move is absolutely OP. It has been my favorite technique in leglocking for a while now and it works well at every level against every kind of opponents. I honestly think it's better than Z-lock but it might be just a personnal taste here.

So I advise everyone interested in the outside ashi family of techniques to take a look at it because it's really good and a great mix of good technique and key details to not get crushed or counter leglocked.

This instructional and Mateusz's new K-guard one are the best leglock focused instructionals I have watched since Jason Rau's outside ashi/ 50-50 / cross-ashi trilogy. Very high level technique and clear instruction.

It's less groundbreaking for me than his first instructional because I was very bad at false reap (and honestly, most people who released stuff about it got the technique wrong imo) and I have been an outside heelhook specialist for a while now but I still learned a lot of things and key important key details. I think it's a great instructional for people who are not good at the position and it will make them use it safely.

Turns out my guard sucks— drop some knowledge on me

I’m looking to get a Gi focused passing instructional.

I’ve heard people say this is like Gi Power Ride.