Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Seminar

Wednesday… groundfighting night… our training center had Adrian Fulk, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) instructor from Mat Santos’ Fighting Academy, conduct a 2-hour BJJ seminar. Adrian is also a Mixed Martial Artist (MMA) competitor with four wins and no losses to his record.

Our groundfighting night is a mixture of the grappling arts that can enhance our Krav Maga groundfighting skills. BJJ… tweaked for Krav Maga… is a large part of the curriculum. Adrian’s style of BJJ complements Krav Maga’s groundfighting very nicely.

We started the night off with warm-up wrestling. Warm-up wrestling is wrestling without applying submission holds to your partner, e.g., arm bars, chokes, etc. When warm-up wrestling, you try to improve your position. For example, if you re in a bottom position, you try to get to a top position or if you re in a side mount position, you try to get to a top mount position.

Adrian’s first lesson was on head and arm control of your opponent when he/she is in your closed guard. If you watch any BJJ sparring, you will see that the combatants spend most of their time in one of the following positions:

1. Guard
2. Side Mount
3. Knee Mount
4. Mount
5. Rear Mount
6. Turtle

Of these six positions, the Guard has three basic subcategories:

1. Closed Guard
2. Open Guard
3. Half Guard

Adrian’s next lesson was on transitioning from the Closed Guard position to the Triangle Choke. He then showed us how to apply the Triangle Choke and then transition to a Straight Arm Bar. Next, he showed us how to apply the Straight Arm Bar. It’s a beautiful Plan A to Plan B move.

In BJJ, for every technique that is applied there is a counter move to that technique and then a counter to the counter. If your opponent senses that a Triangle Choke or Straight Arm Bar is imminent, he/she may try a counter move. So, Adrian showed us a nice little move that sweeps your opponent when he/she tries to thwart your attack.

We ended the last half-hour of the seminar by wrestling (sometimes called rolling). Partners were switched every 2 minutes with a 30 seconds rest in between matches.

The seminar was a lot of fun. During the wrestling matches, it was great to see everyone applying the techniques that Adrian had taught earlier. Once again, the benefit of live grappling.