Fighting Made Simple: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

By Jack Braxton

Automate Your Grappling!

 

I wrote this handbook by working closely with my coach, ten-time World Champion Rafael da Silva. His nickname is Gato Seco, the 'Dry Cat' in Portuguese. He's won a large number of international titles across Brazil, South America, and a large number of other competitions around the globe. 

 

This book condenses more than a decade and a half of training with world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners to improve your ground game massively. I strip away the idea of techniques to unveil the invariables that make them all work, regardless of attributes, or body shape. The outcome of your techniques becomes a foregone conclusion once you control all the inputs. People won't be able to stop you after having a solid understanding of fundamental body mechanics.

 

Some of the advanced concepts contained within may be difficult to wrap your head around but the subsequent implementation couldn't be any more simple.

 

What to expect from this handbook:

• A self-learning guide for aspiring coaches and athletes to complement your training and help identify strategies, common technique mistakes and how to fix them.

• I don't offer direct technique examples. Instead, I provide simple strategies and outline the body mechanics involved so you can learn how to optimise techniques.  

 

Nothing is a substitute for hard work and mat time under a credible coach! Combine that with this handbook to train with clarity and purpose, making fighting simple and maximising your desired outcomes.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Braxton
• Release date: Jun 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227500250

Jack Braxton

J.W.O.Braxton also goes by the online username JackOfHeart. He has been an avid fantasy reader and martial artist since childhood. Seeking to blend his two passions together in creating a story that will explore his imagination and share his experience with a larger audience! Jack has been training in and teaching martial arts since he could walk adding to more than Twenty-five years across various disciplines. He has trained with many world-class athletes in a range of different styles, including multiple world champions in both Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. It also extends to current UFC competitors and coaches in mixed martial arts. Jack is motivated to continue the legacy of his recently deceased mentor and friend who is recognised for his contributions to the sport in the New Zealand MMA Hall-of-fame. To find Jack's up-to-date work and social media, check out here! https://linktr.ee/jwobraxton

Book preview

Introduction

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, there are countless different submission, position, and transition techniques. After delving deeper into the art, it becomes clear that many students struggle to execute certain techniques. Quite often the cause is obvious in the way the technique is being taught because the majority of new students make the exact same mistakes the first time they encounter it.

The aim of this handbook is to shift the way instructors and students look at a technique. Instead of being distracted by the movements involved, you need to understand the objective of each step in how it affects both you and your opponent’s bodies.

By utilising the body mechanics and concepts outlined in this book, my experience has been that even day-one students can complete the technique within their first few attempts as if they have been training BJJ for years. It’s amazing the difference understanding has in performance and learning retention. It also makes it very easy as the instructor to quickly identify what’s going wrong when a student fails to grasp the technique. Usually something as simple as the alignment of their body or their opponent’s. 

Every technique follows a set of rules affected by whether you’re using the upper or lower part of your body. For lack of a better word, I like to term these as invariables. Body shape and natural attributes have far less impact on a technique’s outcome than many wish to admit. In most cases, it just requires a little extra effort to compensate. The remaining problems are often resolved by fixing the common flaws in how a technique is taught. I can think of a number of them that sport extra, unnecessary steps, or worse, are almost counterproductive to the body mechanics involved.

Over the next few parts of the book, I’ll cover the concepts of the alignment of your body to effortlessly sweep and submit your opponent, the importance of posture to make or break a technique, why you should attack and defend the ball-joints at all times to maximise efficiency, and lastly how the highest-level practitioners do things differently.

Section One:

Align & Counter-Align

I consider the Align & Counter-Align system to be the most fundamental for any student to learn. It’s a very easy concept to grasp, on or off, only those two binary options. Each one is defined by your head/torso orientation in relation to your opponent’s, like the hands of a clock. Hence my inspiration in naming them. I’m going to use that analogy to describe them.

Align is On. It’s when your spine is parallel with your opponent’s. With your head as close to their head at 12 o’clock. Or, your head as far away as possible at 6 o’clock, beside their feet.

Counter-Align is Off. It’s when your spine is perpendicular