Have you ever heard of the term ‘chaining moves’ or attacks together in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? For those wondering, the term basically describes the process of putting moves together to defeat counters and defenses. Like the links on a chain, these combined moves only add to the strength and make attacks stronger and harder to avoid. It could be argued that this is key to your progression in BJJ.
If you’re unable to chain moves then in reality your skill level will almost always sit at blue belt and go no further. The good news is for most people, this skill comes naturally. However, reading about it and trying to consciously put it into practice should help speed up the process. So, what is an example of chaining a move, and how do you do it successfully? Read below for examples of how to improve your attacks and take your game to the next level.
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Examples of chaining submissions together
Imagine you have an opponent in the front headlock position. They are turtled up and expect some kind of submission attempt by yourself. You opt for a guillotine choke and then defend by moving their body and neck off to the side. If you are too inexperienced, you may lose the submission and even the position. Too often, people try to insist on the same submission when it’s already lost. This is where chaining moves comes into play. By defending the guillotine, they may have unknowingly created the angle to attack the darce.
From here, if knowledgeable enough, you attack the darce instead. Next, they block your hand to protect their neck. If you are a real master of chaining attacks, you then switch to an anaconda choke. By creating a triple threat of submissions, you keep the opponent guessing and constantly defending. Similarly, you can switch back to previous attacks if your new one fails.
Importantly, this concept applies to various submissions. For example, from closed guard you can attack omoplatas, triangles and armbars simultaneously. When you start thinking about moves in this sense, things begin to get far easier.
Examples of chaining sweeps together
The chaining principle also applies with sweeps and other offensive situations. For example, from the closed guard you can threaten a few sweeps in unison. To start with, you could attack a scissor sweep. On its own, this sweep is ok but lacks depth. However, you could then use the collar grip to attack a collar grab if they defend too much to the one side.
If quick enough, you could even switch grips to their sleeve and then kick up into their armpit with the scissor-leg. This would mean a switch to the flower sweep. Basically, once again the idea is to keep mixing things up until the opponent makes a mistake. At that point, you should find a way through their defense and hit a successful move.
Chaining sweeps and submissions together
Obviously, the idea of chaining moves is to be as fluid as possible. It’s not good to be static in BJJ and have predictable moves. These moves may work on white belts and bad blue belts, but not people beyond that level. This is where combinations come in handy.
Imagine you’re in butterfly guard and you attack a shoulder crunch sweep. The opponent defends by pulling their arm back, so you naturally switch into a straight armlock as the elbow is now presented. Alternatively, you could stick to the shoulder crunch as a sweep if they do not defend correctly.
You could even throw your legs up to hit a triangle if they back their body away. The point is to combine sweeps and submissions to constantly keep your opponent on the back foot. By doing this, they will be less likely to attack themselves and in turn you can begin to dominate.
Is chaining the reason why the Danaher Death Squad are so successful?
It’s no secret, but John Danaher has often spoken about his ‘systems’ that are successfully implemented by Gordon Ryan and the like. Gordon Ryan himself successfully hits the butterfly guard combination that we spoke about in the above section. Whilst Danaher’s systems may be a little more complicated than the idea of chaining, at their core, they are about a set of moves that can be used as a combination to unlock an opponent.
If ever you have watched his videos, then you will see there is a clear roadmap that allows for creativity. By doing this, in theory, he has an answer to every defensive question that is asked by his student’s opponents. Sadly, many teachers still teach BJJ in singular blocks. Whilst this may teach some BJJ, it’s a very staggered approach that doesn’t work higher up the belts.
Another BJJ legend who speaks highly of putting moves together is Roger Gracie. He famously combined a few set moves together to devastating effect. In brief, if chaining works for Danaher. It should be a good enough principle for everyone else.
Can chaining be used for defensive BJJ too?
In short, yes it can. Defensive BJJ may be different to offensive BJJ in many ways. However, fundamentally BJJ is still BJJ. For example, if you’re stuck in side control and bridging to escape doesn’t work, you shouldn’t mindlessly spam bridges and hope to escape. As mentioned, this is a very primitive way of thinking.
Instead, you may opt for a combination and switch between various escapes. As well as bridges, you could also try slipping your legs into a half guard and regain your guard. Alternatively, you could also try shrimping to create distance, or come up for an underhook and wrestle your way out. The point is if the opponent defends one method, then you can chain them together with another escape.
At some point, you may find a way out. Although this isn’t an invincible method and it may not always work, the point is that it at least improves your chances. The same concept can be done for passing too. Don’t just try spamming a single pass if it doesn’t work, setting up feints and tricks will often throw the opponent off and make life easier. You’ve guessed it, it also works for guard pulling and takedowns. We could go on, but it’s getting a little obvious at this point.
How do I learn to chain moves together?
In the same way a boxer would never throw the same punch all the time, you shouldn’t do the same with your BJJ moves. To learn to chain, your ideas should be creative. Of course, you should have some base of BJJ knowledge to begin with and be around blue belt, at least.
A good way to learn this is by drilling things together and watching videos for inspiration. If you are good at hip bumps, then see if a kimura works. Then, get your opponent to defend the kimura and see if you can take the back from there. Quickly, you should start to build up a road map of how to improve your attacks and add more variety. So, next time you’re training, give it a go. It’s a sure-fire way to improve your BJJ and step your game up, otherwise your BJJ may be basic forever, and no one wants that.
For more examples of chaining, watch this fantastic video of Brian Glick below on linking back takes with sweeps and submissions.
