Stand Up Concepts
Position Series: We must depart from our standard position series structure to tackle this complex environment. And of course, there are no actual rules here.
Stand up feels like a different world. For many people it’s scary. I mean, you are way up there at altitudes that make the average Jiu Jitsu athlete get nosebleeds. Of course, stand up really is a different world if you were only introduced to grappling through the lens of Ne Waza. If this is so, it’s unfortunate. The stand up game is a lot of fun, offers endless depth and breadth of techniques to study, and can add a whole new dynamic approach to the way you roll. Like most Jiu Jitsu practitioners you probably put stand up on the back burner.
There is a lot to the stand up game, but don’t let it overwhelm you. You don’t have to be a D1 wrestler. You just need to be competent on your feet and have a general strategy for how to win the exchange. Here I offer you a simple road map to putting some muscle on those stand up bones.
Break Fall
Break fall a lot. Forward, backward, sideways. Over your shoulder. Over someone else’s shoulder. The more you breakfall the more relaxed you become with the idea that you will rapidly hit the mat. You will no longer fear it. This will help you prevent injuries, and also help you stay loose on your feet. A stiff body is easy to take down, and more easily breaks once it hits the mat. When engaging in stand up your body should be loose, flowing with the movement for most of the exchange. If your body tenses up during stand up, then keep break falling.
Go With The Throw
There is a moment in the exchange where someone enters for a throw. You know your base is compromised. Your feet haven’t left the mat yet, but you know it’s about to go down (or up…). In this moment just take the throw. If you resist here, your opponent will dig into their throw and throw you harder. This moment is where a lot of injuries happen. It’s akin to trying to fight against an extended arm bar instead of tapping. You will just make your opponent pull on your arm harder to force a tap, and possible an injury. Believe in your break falling skills, take the throw, and get back on your feet. This makes stand up work significantly safer and more enjoyable for everyone.
Posture and Stance
Understanding posture and stance is key to engaging in the game, and taking someone of theirs. There may be some wiggle room in how people define these terms, but I use them specifically in my coaching terminology. This is my view:
Stance: stance refers to the positioning of your feet. Draw a line across your feet, and then draw a perpendicular line against that. Not literally of course. Use your imagination. Is that perpendicular line pointed at your opponent? If so, take a step back. That line should shift out to an angle. This is important because that line is the path toward your destruction. You have no balance here. A savvy stand up artist is going to find that perpendicular line and use it to their advantage. They will chase the line, and you should chase theirs.
Posture: posture refers to the hinging of your hip and neck. Are you standing straight up? Are you bent over? Are you looking down at your opponent’s feet? Draw a circle around your feet. Not literally, of course. Your head and hips need to stay within that circle. If you need to change levels to a low posture, one foot must step back, expanding the circle. Your head and shoulders shouldn’t be hanging out over that circle. If so, you are going for a ride and not a fun one.
These are the fundamentals of the game. If you can maintain good stance and posture your ability to hold on your feet will improve immensely.
Movement Is Control
One of the challenges with the floor to feet training transition is understanding control. On the floor, stopping someone’s movement is how you establish control over someone. On your feet creating movement is how you control someone. These opposite goals are important to understand and embrace. Stiff bodies and planted feet will never take an opponent down. Always chase the perpendicular line of your opponent’s feet, and/or work to create circular movement. If you can successfully do this you will instantly gain an advantage over your opponent.
A good opponent will very well be doing this back. This is the game.
Who controls the movement?
This is a crucial question, and it takes time to get a sense of it. You have to have faith in your balance and be willing to move. Create movement. Redirect movement. Learn to live in this environment. This is the stand up game.
Standitions
Posture, stance, and movement. These are basic foundations of the game, but there is one more important concept for you to understand. You have to work from standitions.
Huh?
On your feet, you have positional control just like on the mat. Yes, movement is control, but you have to move with connections. These connections are your standitions. Your connections should give you a clear advantage in the grip fighting battle. Of course, you have to fight to get there. We will talk about that in the future. For now you just need a goal, otherwise you are aimlessly grabbing onto things for dear life.
There are a good number of standitions that you can play from on your feet that give you control and attack options. Some of this is style. Some of this is rule set. As time goes on you can build confidence with different standitions, but you need a starting point. This is where you should begin:
Collar/Sleeve - You will start square, so you very will have to fight square. The collar sleeve grip is traditional to Judo techniques and many attacks can be launched from here. This is only effective if you understand the nature of your connections. The sleeve grip should be low on the sleeve, and should be denying your opponents ability to grab you. This usually involves pushing the sleeve down into their hip. The lapel grip should be high, ideally all the way behind the neck. The biggest mistake Jiu Jitsu athletes make is putting these grips in the wrong place. Fix this, and you can play this game with increased success.
2on1 - Commonly known as the Russian tie, this is when we get behind our opponent’s elbow and control one of their arms with both of ours. This is a very dominant standition once achieved, with high percentage access to the legs, back, and a series of sacrifice throws.
Rear tight waste - Also sometimes called a body lock, but I reserve that term for the guard passing system. Here you are entirely behind your opponent. You can connect your hands together to control the waist, or achieve a cross lapel grip, and a pant grip at the knee. Either way, you are behind the opponent which makes it difficult for them to grip fight you. You have clear access to their legs without the threat of a sprawl, and a series of rear takedowns with virtually no defense.
There are other standitions out there, but these are the most suited for the Jiu Jitsu environment. It is conceptually consistent with your goals on the mat, and works well in both gi and no gi environments. Find these standitions, create movement. Your techniques will find themselves and you will find that stand up is a fun game after all.
Your Four Goals
Now you are working with an overview of what stand up is. Now its time to engage, and put this information to work.
Fundamentals first
Maintain your posture and stance. As soon as this breaks, you have lost.
Grip fight first. Whoever wins the grip fight will win their standition. Once this is achieved the person with their preferred standition will control the exchange unless the standition is broken
Keep moving. Rotation is the easiest way to force movement.
Snap down - You should always be attempted to drive someone’s head to the mat. Make them work just to stand up. Find their perpendicular line. Make them pay the price of a broken posture.
Foot sweep - If their foot moves, don’t let it land. Foot sweeps are the safest attacks on your feet, and should be used extensively. The risk/reward ratio can’t be beat.
Chase the back - As soon as you get behind your opponent you will meet much less resistance. The challenge is getting there, but once there the reward is sweet.
That’s it.
Or maybe that’s a lot. Stand up work is a complicated game that takes time to develop. You need focus. You need to gain experience. These are the concepts you should be utilizing on the mat to develop a safe and practical game for your Jiu Jitsu.