Where are you from (hometown)?
I was born in the city Leuven (Louvain) in Belgium in 1982. I still live there today and I also have my BJJ Academy here.
What age did you start training BJJ?
It’s hard to tell exactly as it is something that went gradually. I started training martial arts (mostly judo and Japanese Jiu Jitsu) since I was 9 years old. The first time I came into contact with BJJ was when I was around 15 years old. The internet started to become available in our public library. I used to go there with a floppy disk and download some techniques explained through photos and descriptions. I would train those then together with my friends after a judo training on the mat or even on the grass outside whenever I had the chance. Weird and great times! The first time I ever joined a real jiu jitsu class with a black belt teacher (Kazeka Muniz) was when I was 19.
How did you get into grappling originally?
I always liked fighting as a kid. I didn’t have a particular preference for grappling or striking. I just liked fighting. Most of what I knew in those days was through watching Bruce Lee and Kung Fu movies. Those movies always put a bigger emphasis on striking so I thought that was the real deal. When I was 9 years old a small judo gym opened in my hometown and I joined. I always loved it. I remember most kids in the gym always wanted to goof around or play silly games. And this was annoying cause I really wanted to become good.
Between 9 and 19 years old I kept doing judo and japanese jiu jitsu, but at the same time I tried many different arts like wing chun, jkd, taekwondo, kali, boxing and capoeira. I always enjoyed the grappling aspect the most, but like most people (due to movies) I considered striking to be more effective. This changed around my 15 due to the internet and stories about the Gracies and I started to be more and more convinced about the effectiveness of grappling against striking, at least in a pure style vs style contest.
I bought my first car when I was 19 year old and at the same time a gym opened in Antwerp where I would go once or twice a week. Later, an older and more advanced student of that gym and a friend I met before on the mat, Ken Van Gilbergen, starting teaching in Leuven and I joined him as it was just easier to get to and financially doable. Occasionally I kept attending classes from Kazeka Muniz. When Kazeka left Belgium (I was around 21), we were without a main influence. We learned a lot through tape and seminars. We used to attend every single seminar possible within a 4 hour car drive. In the beginning Erik Paulson used to be a very big influence. My main blackbelt teacher became Felipe Costa in 2004.
What age did you get your current belt?
I got my blackbelt in 2012.
What is your favorite guard position/s?
I always liked to explore everything, but I do have a preference for close range guards that offer a lot of control. The main reason for having this preference is that I entered jiu jitsu originally with real fighting (self defense) and MMA in mind. Initially, we didn’t see jiu jitsu as the means to all ends. We just saw ‘groundfighting’ as an essential part of the fight. In our head, strikes where always involved. In this context, it was inevitable to mostly get exposed to and train close range guards.
So mostly Half Guard, Closed Guard, and Butterfly Guard. I initially did Closed and Half guard in an MMA context. Butterfly Guard came later when I started getting more into sports jiu jitsu competitions. First, after studying Marcelo’s Garcia’s game and later Adam Warzinski. I’m mostly effective from Half Guard. I consider Half Guard to be the last layer of defense before your guard gets passed and the first layer to recover after getting passed. In that sense you always encounter it.
When competing and under pressure, I always favor Half Guard. But, after playing it for so many years I also got bored of it. This makes me occasionally explore long range guards for a while, mostly for fun. I know what to do from everywhere, but never to the point where I can use them as a main game at high level. Then after a while, I feel my timing and efficiency in half guard diminished so I have to get back to that. The short answer is Half Guard, but it’s kinda love hate! The guard where I’m mostly having fun with lately, is single leg X.
What is your favorite sweep/s?
From Half Guard the Old School Sweep combined with the Duck Under or getting into Dogfight and wrestling from there. From Closed Guard the Pendulum Sweep combined with attacking the back or sweeping from the Triangle.
What is your favorite form of passing/favorite pass?
I prefer close range passing for the same reason as I prefer close range guards; avoiding strikes in an MMA context, preventing the opponent from getting back up, and to wear him out through constant pressure and force him to make a mistake. My main passing game consists of a combination between Double Under, Over Under, Double Over (Body Lock) and Single Under (aka ‘the fireman’).
The Single Under is something I fully developed myself and it became a staple of my game. It is when you put your right arm underneath your opponents right leg when on top and keeping his leg pinned with shoulder pressure. It’s like a fireman’s carry, but without necessarily having control over the upper body of your opponent yet. I teach this type of guard passing in my BJJ Fanatics Instructional ‘Back Defense and Being Offensive with Someone on your Back‘.
What is your favorite submission?
This is ever changing. It went from Armbars from Closed Guard to Triangle Choke and back and Rear Naked Choke. It’s not so much about what is my favorite submission, but more a question of what I can get to work on good opponent’s and training partners. My favorite position to submit from and which I can get to work on most people I roll with, is the Reverse Triangle. From there I can Choke, Armbar, Americana, Kimura, Shoulderlock and even attack the feet with some creativity.
I like to set the Reverse Triangle up from Closed Guard, Mount and the Back. I consider all three to be different sides of the same position “the opponent between your legs” position. I think it really helps to think about it that way. The Arm Triangle Choke from Mount and the Rear Naked Choke have always been reliable favorites as well. The submission I have the most fun exploring the last two years, has been the Heelhook specifically and just Leglocks in general.
What gym do you train under?
I have my own gym in Leuven, Brasa Belgium Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy (www.brasateam.be)
How do you apply your philosophy to BJJ?
My philosophy towards BJJ and pretty much anything in life, is minimal effort and maximum efficiency.
This doesn’t mean I don’t want to put much effort in. Just the act of grappling alone requires quite a lot of effort. What I mean is, that I look for the most efficient way in achieving my goals or executing my techniques.
The best way to describe my style would be to “give the opponent what he wants, until he does not want it anymore”. My philosophy directly applies to the “Mirroring Principle”. I will talk more about this in the questions at the bottom.
What is your typical competition weight?
74kg
Who is your current teacher?
My friends and training partners, Youtube, BJJ Fanatics, teaching, analysis and trial-and-error. I think teaching classes and privates yourself, is by far the best way to learn and understand Jiu Jitsu. You learn 30% of what you see, 70% of what you do and 90% of what you teach to others. Big influences in the past and present are my friends Felipe Costa (who graduated me as well), Arbi Muradov, Visraïl Khamiev, Octavio Couto, Ken Van Gilbergen and Priit Mikhelson.
What is your best achievement to date?
Having a family with my wife and two daughters. Professionally, having my own gym and being able to make a full time living from jiu jitsu in a country like Belgium where nobody I knew deemed this possible. Also, making some successful instructionals on BJJ Fanatics.
Sports wise, I have a few achievements which I’m proud off. The reason why I’m particularly proud of these, is not necessary always the size of the tournaments, but often what happened in the background leading up to these victories or my personal struggle. For instance, JJIF World Championship in 2014 in Paris; you have to get selected by your country in order to be allowed to fight in these events. I did 4 minor tournaments in the JJIF that year, leading up to the World Championship. In each of these events I fought Sebastien Lecoq. Sebastien is a very nice and good BJJ competitor from France. Every time I fought Sebastien, I lost by a margin. A few times fair and square and a few times due to very bad refereeing.
In the finals of the World Championship I faced of against Sebastien again. We went 2–2 and in the JJIF at that time when there is an equal score, they do overtime with golden score (sudden death). In overtime rounds I took him down which should have resulted in a victory. But the (French) referees overruled it and made us go an extra round. In the extra round Sebastien pulled guard. I had never been able to pass his guard before. But against all odds, I did and managed to win the World Championship. This was a very big personal victory.
There was also IBJJF London Open in 2013. This was my very first major tournament as a blackbelt and I managed to win the adult division.
What is your worst injury to date?
I’m lucky that I’ve been spared so far from injuries that would take me out of training for months.
Still, there’s two that come to mind. So far the worst injury, was dislocating my right clavicle when I was 21. It took 6 weeks before I could moderately start training again and it causes me slight discomfort to this day. The second major injury was on my left elbow, which I dislocated three times. It never took me off training for more than a week initially, as you can perfectly roll with one arm you can’t straighten fully. I had surgery at one point which took me two weeks to recover. Now the elbow is back at 95%.
Who is the hardest opponent you’ve ever fought?
The hardest opponent I ever fought is hard to say, as it really depends on the moment in my career. A tough opponent when you are a blue belt, isn’t necessarily tough years later. This being said, by far the toughest fight I ever had, was an MMA fight in 2005 against Usama Aziz from Sweden. He trained at Hilti and was coached by Per Eklund. One of the best European MMA fighters at that time. Sweden was always a bit ahead of it’s time. Usama competed before as a wrestler in the Olympics and had an amateur boxing record.
I was a 22 year old naive blue belt at the time. In the early years they told us ‘a blue belt never loses from a white belt, a purple belt never from a blue belt, and so on! These were the days when the internet wasn’t what it is today. We knew about wrestling, but in our heads BJJ was the ultimate art ever created. The mindset of my coach at the time was also “we fight anyone”. Which in hindsight is easy to say, cause he wasn’t the one doing the fighting! In my head, I didn’t care for his wrestling or boxing record. I was a blue belt and I wouldn’t lose from someone who “doesn’t do Jiu Jitsu”. Was I wrong!
The fight was completely one-sided. Usama knocked me through the ring. The only chance of survival would be to take him down. My takedowns were easily stuffed and I spent most of the fight in closed guard. To my credit, I fought out the fight, avoided most damage and never got my guard passed. Eventually losing on unanimous decision, but relatively unscathed. This fight could have ended a lot worse and ultimately it was a great lesson and valuable experience.
In sport Jiu Jitsu, Alan “Finfou” Nascimiento, Theodoro Canal, Reinaldo Augosto Ribeiro, Miogre Tavares and Gabriel “Palito” Rollo come to mind. The toughest person I ever trained with, is without a doubt Terere. Terere wasn’t tough in the sense that he went hard. He is one of nicest and smootest persons I ever I had the pleasure of rolling with. He just plays and makes it look easy, in a super nice way!
Most influential grappler on your style?
I can’t name a single name here as the biggest influence on my style. “My style” is what I put together over the years by myself, influenced by the people I trained and competed with. I never really watched fights or instructionals a lot. Maybe every now and then I watch something. I never really had a coach follow me day by day. Until purple I had a coach, but after I have been pretty much on my own. I really consider my style “self made”. There are a few names I have to mention though. The first is Xande Ribeiro. I saw one seminar of his online in relation to guard retention and that was a big “ahah” moment that changed my game.
The second name is Josh Waitzkin, a Marcelo Garcia blackbelt and author of “The Art of Learning”. He has one video on youtube with Tim Ferris (“The 4-hour Workweek”). His theory of teaching and learning jiu jitsu (and pretty much everything) is “endgame first”. It really changed the way I look at, teach, and train Jiu Jitsu.
The third name is Priit Mikhelson. When I first met Priit, we immediately got along and had a good conversation where we discovered we had very similar views on Jiu Jitsu. This gave me the courage I was on the right track and explore the path I was on.
The fourth name is Christian Graugart, owner of BJJ Globetrotters. Christian helped me out with a bunch of things and his camps gave me a bigger network and audience which helped my career as an instructor immensely.
Lastly, I want to mention Bernardo Faria and Michael Zenga who gave me the chance to make instructionals on BJJ Fanatics and cement my name as an instructor.
What are your plans for the future? (Goals etc)
– build my gym and group back up to the numbers that we had pre-covid
– teach, train and roll till my last breath
– teach my daughters what I know and learned in all my years training
– stay healthy and strong
– win the IBJJF Europeans Master 1 Gi and No Gi
– compete for as long as I can
– make more instructionals
– build a successful competition team
– become an renowned instructor
Any other comments you want to be mentioned?
I would like to ask the readers to check out my youtube channel. I release a new video every Sunday and I do my best to answer every question asked. In case you like my video’s and would like to delve a little deeper, I would like to ask the readers to check out my instructionals on BJJ Fanatics. And lastly, also check out my website www.wimdeputter.com where I post articles whenever I feel inspired and you can find more information about me.
Q&A
As you’ve had a good career in MMA, other than strikes, what do you think the main difference is between grappling in sport BJJ and self defense BJJ?
There are five big differences that come to mind. The first big difference is that in sport Jiu Jitsu, people are happy to play guard. The consensus is, that after one person gets taken down or pulls guard, he or she stays on bottom until he either sweeps the opponent, submits or takes the back. You hardly see any scrambles instigated by the bottom player just to get back to the feet. This is a pity I believe, as a constant threat of the bottom player getting back to his feet, puts a lot of pressure and stress on the top player and also limits the ways you can pass.
If there is a genuine threat for the bottom player to get up, the top player has to put constant pressure to keep the guard player down. As a result, the passes you would mostly see, are high pressure passes and stack passes. Standing passes are hard to keep the person on bottom down and you also have the danger of up-kicks.
The second big difference is that you need to be much more aware and careful when closing in or creating distance. In a fight there are always three distances: far, middle and close. Far and close you are both safe from the biggest impact of strikes. Middle is were the biggest danger for strikes is at.
Therefore, a fighter in MMA has to be much more aware and precise when closing in or making distance.
The third big difference is that you absolutely need wrestling. In sport Jiu Jitsu you can get away with zero takedown skills. You or your opponent can pull guard and that’s it. No takedown needed.
While in MMA having no takedowns whatsoever, really limits your options as a Jiu Jitsu fighter.
The fourth big difference is that the common scoring system and the traditional positions don’t matter. While a guard pass in Jiu Jitsu will score you three points regardless of what you achieve in that position, in MMA passing someone’s guard but failing to do damage or submit your opponent from there, achieves nothing except potentially mentally and physically draining your opponent (which are big factors in a fight, of course).
A mount in sport Jiu Jitsu will score you 4 points, while being in mount with one foot trapped between the bottom players legs (quarter guard) doesn’t score anything at all. In MMA both mount or quarter mount are great. The only things that matter in MMA position wise, are “Can I damage my opponent?”, “Can my opponent damage me?”, and “Does the position offer good control?”
The fifth big difference in MMA, is that turning and showing your back to your opponent is a needed defensive option. “Showing your back to your opponent” isn’t the same as “giving your back to your opponent, allow him full control and get choked out”. I am a big propagator of rotating away from your opponent defensively in both sport jiu jitsu and MMA.
Imagine being mounted while your opponent has great control and is raining punches. Are you going to try a hip and elbow escape and try to recover guard while eating some strikes? Or are you going to turn your back, get to all fours and up, while defending the choke? Both options are hard and risky, but I’d rather risk a choke than punches. And ultimately, with proper back defense, controlling the back and choking is actually very hard. Especially when wearing MMA gloves.
Could you tell us a bit more about the BJJ scene in Belgium?
We’ll have to see what the jJiu jitsu landscape looks like after the whole covid ordeal, cause right now “officially” nobody is training as indoor sports are forbidden. The situation before covid I can describe is that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was getting more and more popular and probably the biggest growing martial art in Belgium now as well, together with MMA. I have the impression traditional martial arts keep shrinking.
I estimate there are 70 to 100 gyms in Belgium that are either fully or partially dedicated to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Since last year some other gym owners and myself created together the first fully recognized Flemish Federation dedicated to Brazilian jiu jitsu called “Grappling Vlaanderen”. Belgium is divided in three regions: Flanders (Flemish), Wallonia (French) and a smaller German speaking part. Politically, it is impossible to make a federation for the whole of Belgium. So, a recognized Flemish federation is the best thing possible at the moment. It was hard to achieve because there already was a traditional jiu jitsu federation trying to claim BJJ as well. Bureaucrats don’t understand the difference between both, so it was hard to achieve but a very necessary step.
There is a lot of talent among Belgian BJJ competitors. The biggest name for the moment is without a doubt Amal Amjahid who has a lot of big victories in the women divisions. In the male division, the biggest talent is probably Alan Ciku. An up and comer is Florian Bayili who recently placed second in the Abu Dhabi Pro Adult brown and my own student Shai Gerena who has been tearing up the local competition scene in blue and now purple. I believe he will do great things in the future.
The atmosphere between teams is great overall. Most practicioners in Belgium are open to and do train among each other across teams. Especially now when individual teams are still comparatively small in comparison to the rest of the world, this is an important step.
You seem to be quite focused on the intricacies in BJJ and have an almost philosophical approach. Do you think sometimes BJJ teaching can be a bit primitive?
When teaching jiu jitsu, I often use metaphors to explain concepts and ideas as I feel people can understand and remember better this way. I don’t mean to be philosophical when teaching jiu jitsu, but I understand it comes over like that. It might not be for everyone. Some people like more to the point, and that is ok. I do think the way jiu jitsu is often taught, could be better.
In the early years when Brazilian jiu jitsu first appeared in Europe, we relied on photos, written instructionals, occasionally VHS tapes, and seminars by Brazilian instructors to learn jiu jitsu. These days, there are whole systems within jiu jitsu. An A-to-Z approach such as how to control your opponent and finish them off with a submission or to defend. In the early days, there were no systems. People learned jiu jitsu in fragments and we had to fill in the blanks ourselves.
I remember following seminars where the teacher would start with a scissor sweep, followed by a collar choke from mount, then a back attack and maybe a knee bar. Sometimes 30 unconnected techniques. And we were all in awe cause we didn’t know any better. The result of training without systems, is that your knowledge of jiu jitsu is very fragmented. You have certain moves in certain spots, but ultimately they are unconnected. Uncritical thinkers will consider jiu jitsu to be exactly like that: an amalgam of moves with chaos in between.
If this was the case in my part of Europe, it is reasonable to assume this was the case in other parts of the world. I, half jokingly, ask myself often the question if our early teachers didn’t know any better or that they knew better but didn’t want to teach us “the secrets”!
I’m inclined to assume they didn’t know any better. The age old cliché “being a good fighter doesn’t necessarily make you a good teacher” holds very very true. Teaching is an art in itself.
I studied Physical Education and worked as PE teacher in school for about 8 years before I could live full time from jiu jitsu. We had to study theory and teach loads and loads of classes, had to do self reflections and correct our mistakes before we could call ourself teachers. To be able to open a doctor practice, you need to study to become a doctor. Nobody questions that. But everybody can open a martial arts gym haha, there is no background check.
I don’t mean to say you have to follow a teachers course or study PE in order to become a good teacher. But you should at the very least have the drive and the will to become a better teacher. Self reflect after classes, ask your students about their opinions and listen to those, check how well the students retain the information, see how other people teach, etc…I doubt many BJJ instructors do that.
Very often people stick to a given formula that seems to work. Traditionally a BJJ class looks like this:
– run a few laps around the mat, do some natural gymnastics, shrimp, rolls, cartwheels, pushups, etc…
– instructor shows 3 techniques
– students practice these techniques
– students asks some questions
– questions and demonstrations take often long, so everybody is back cold
– positional rolling if you are lucky
– regular rolling
This was the way we were shown in the early years and people often still do this today. If we are honest, the warmups are mostly a waste of time. The function of a warmup is to get your body ready for what comes after. If you warmup for 20 min and then sit down and listen to a 10 minute explanation of a technique, you are often cooled down again. There is some merit to training basic movements like the shrimp, technical standup, a sprawl, a shoot, a front roll, a handstand, etc…for beginners.
However, when doing these motions as a warmup they are often shown quickly without a lot of explanation and the practitioner is often just expected to “get it” after a few weeks or months.
Beginners take a long time to learn the basic moves this way and more advanced practitioners just find it boring and mostly a waste of time. The basic movements are important and deserve to be taught and explained as such as the main theme for a beginner class for example. As a warmup I often just let people roll lightly, do a few drills or just go straight into technique.
I believe instructors often want to entertain their students with a “technique of the day”. I mean they might want to show something different every day. While I do believe variation is important, I do believe it is equally or more important to give people the time and chance to learn what they are being taught.
I can sometimes stick one month to the same theme within my classes.
Training should be as close as possible to reality. The big thing that in my opinion is missing often when people teach jiu jitsu, is that they forget the action – reaction part. A technique might for example, take 5 steps. An instructor can very well show all five of those steps without a single reaction from the opponent as a first demo.
However, if students will train all those steps without any action – reaction, or input from their partner, the training is too far away from reality. Every single step is a battle, a pathway to multiple options on the flowchart or decision tree and therefore jiu jitsu should be trained and taught as such. It is ok if a student does those the steps a few times without any interaction of the partner as an initial exploration of the technique. But as soon as possible, action – reaction needs to be introduced.
Initially you can ask for the reaction you want from your partner and right after you can explore the opposite reaction. Little by little, the partner can start giving a bit of resistance and before you know it, you are doing positional rolling while the resistance increases progressively. I feel this is a way more natural way of training and learning than automated repetitions.
I’m not opposed against drilling. I am opposed against multiple step or even single step drills without any reaction of the opponent. Jiu Jitsu is a dynamic art and should be trained as such. It isn’t always easy to give the correct reaction to a single step. Let alone multiple steps in a row. Therefore in general, and especially with beginners, if you do drill, it is probably better to do microd rills; one step of action – then reaction.
I always found repetitive technique classes to be a bit boring. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one with this feeling. I feel I always learned best when exploring a technique or position by myself after an initial instruction. People come back and learn more when they have fun. I find self exploration and mini games (positional rolling) very fun.
People often teach too long and with too many details at once. This is something I have been guilty of in the past as well. Too much details and structure take away the creativity and the fun. What I feel now, is the best and most fun way to improve in jiu jitsu, is to do an overall demonstration, set some guidelines and then let people explore by themselves. You can make variations in the way people pair up (advanced with advanced and beginner with beginner, advanced with beginner, mini-groups…many options). I think initial guidelines set the “environment”, “the structure” where in the “exploration”, “the game” can be played. Structured chaos. That for me, is the definition of a game.
While I believe that in techniques, teachers shouldn’t always go too detailed (except with maybe an advanced group), there is one part of jiu jitsu that should be taught detailed. The part that is often most neglected: posture. How to organize you spine and joints, how to tense your muscles. I feel this is the most important and most neglected part in all of jiu jitsu.
Let’s have a look a weightlifting. Weightlifting is the art of moving a static weight as economic as possible in relation to gravity. The one thing that is always emphasized when lifting weights, is to start with the correct tension and posture. In basic weightlifting, where you move weight in one single vector in a static environment, everybody agrees posture is absolutely critical for both generating maximal force and to prevent injuries.
Yet, in Jiu Jitsu… An art where we have to move a dynamic weight as economic as possible. Where we have to generate force in changing vectors and the “weight” is actually trying to resist and move us. Posture is often, if not completely neglected, at least under emphasized. Injuries are very common in jiu jitsu and they are a high reason for dropout.
In an ideal world, every jiu jitsu student that steps through your door, should train basic weightlifting and gymnastics for 6 months. We would see way less injuries and students would improve much much faster. However, we don’t live in an ideal world. Therefore, we owe it to our students to focus a lot on correct posture and body mechanics. If not for faster improvement, at least for safety.
The average practitioner of jiu jitsu will always tell you that there are an insane amount of techniques available. While I do agree there are a lot of techniques, I believe the actual number is way less than people think there is. If you teach jiu jitsu as an amalgam of different techniques, then yes it appears a huge amount.
However, if we focus on what is “the same” in all those techniques, than we see that jiu jitsu is actually way less complicated than we initially think. What is practically “limitless” in jiu jitsu, is the way we can attach and connect to our opponents. Every different “connection” is a different guard or position.
Yet, what is common in all those connections, is the movement of our own body. We can divide our movement in core movement (the hip), limb movement (arm and legs) and the head.
To give an example, as basic movements we have the hip escape and technical stand up. A closer look at those two basic movements, reveals that they are mechanically one and the same thing for your core, just on a different level; shoulders press forward and as a result, the hips go backward.
And that same core motion we can also see in the Ippon seoi nage, and many other “techniques”.
Our core can curl and arch, hinge, rotate and move laterally. The core movement is always the same in every technique and relatively simple. The core movement, is lead by the head. Where the head goes the body follows. Individually, the motions of each limb are simple. But, it is the combination that makes it hard.
When I teach jiu jitsu, I often say I teach “motion” instead of moves. I put a lot of attention on how the core, limbs and head move just by yourself without a partner. That is the first step. First individually, later how core, limbs and head move together and how the one affects the other. In jiu jitsu, we move an opponent with our body. If we cannot even move our own body as economical and efficient as possible, how can we use our body then to move the body of our opponent? Only when a person fully understands how his body moves (and this is and ever going quest), can he correctly perform the techniques.
And once you realize that the motions and concepts in jiu jitsu are always the same, it doesn’t matter which “position”, which “connection” with an opponent your find yourself in. You can analyze every position by yourself. That is ultimately the goal of a teacher: to make your students understand, be creative and think for themselves. Ordered chaos.
Could you briefly explain what is meant by your idea of mirroring in BJJ and why it’s so important?
The Mirroring Principle is hard to explain in writing. It is something you have to feel and see. But I will do my best. In one sentence: “Give the opponent what he wants, until he doesn’t want it anymore”. Techniques and motions are nothing without the correct timing. Timing is often hard to explain to students. It is something that we often think comes with the experience of training. I do agree it takes time, but I believe by understanding the Mirroring Principle, students can learn and understand timing faster.
Imagine for a minute how a high level stand up MMA fight goes. Put initial pressure on your opponent. Just enough, without over or under committing. With pressure an opponent has to react. If he moves away, keep the same distance, if he moves in, you move away. This pattern of in and out, keeps repeating until the moment one of the opponents over or under commits. When the opponent under commits, he gets pressed against the cage and battered with long range strikes until he gets knocked out or over commits. When he over commits, he leaves himself wide open for a counter attack.
This same pattern of balance until one opponent over or under commits, also happens between two opponents in grappling (either in open or connected positions). The idea is to block and give pressure to your opponent until he over or under commitment. With under commitment you succeed your sweep, pass, submission, throw, postural break…with over commitment you use your opponents action to success by using an opposite sweep, pass, submission, throw, postural break. To keep it simple, forward pressure blocks forward pressure, inward rotation blocks inward rotation, outward rotation blocks outward rotation, and so on.
The first person to succumb to the initial pressure to start a transition, is theoretically on the downside.
In reality of course, where feints, strength, weight and endurance play a big role, it will not always be the case. But the Mirroring Principle can explain what can would and should happen in theoretical ideal circumstance and as such it makes the “invisible” more visible. This principle is not something I invented. I just gave it a name and made it a point to explain this dynamic to people. The Mirroring Principle is not exclusive in jiu jitsu. You can see the same dynamic in a relationship between two people, group sports and battles.
If this is a topic you or your readers, might be more interested in, I would love to go deeper in separate article.
You’ve been training martial arts for a while, what do you think the key is for keeping your body in shape as you age?
The general things:
– eat healthy
– drink enough water
– sleep enough (my big vise)
– stretch / yoga
– avoid chronic stress
– strengthh training / weightlifting
– sports in moderation
Specifically for jiu jitsu:
– tap before it hurts; jiu jitsu is a lot like chess: the game ends the move BEFORE you capture the King. It is about control. Ideally the fight ends right before the breaking of a joint or choking the opponent out.
– dose your training: never train 100%. I always aim to train at 70%. Occasionally, going 90% on the days I feel really good and only 30% or less on the days I’m really tired. As a guideline I do five days a week 70% where I have 2 or 3 rolls (about 20min total) where I go 90% with an advanced training partner. Two days are at 30% for recovery.
This is what I suggest for advanced practitioners and competitors:
– beginners should never go 90%.
– focus on posture
– do a lot of slow and controlled rolling. Don’t always go for the kill.
Since this year I started with the Wim Hof Method (breathing and cold water dips) and intermittent fasting. I did this to battle inflamation. So far I like the results, but I will know more in a year.
Lastly, when your training partner janks your grips, don’t hold on, LET GO. I learned it the hard way with fingers full of arthritis.
Could you expand on your ideas about defensive BJJ, and why sometimes people seem to wrongly ignore it?
If I could give one piece of advice to my younger self and every single jiu jitsu practicioner in the world, it would be this: “Have as much fun defending from ‘bad’ positions as you have attacking from ‘good’ positions. Panicking, spazzing and disconnecting are the opposite of what is jiu jitsu. You are on this mat to learn jiu jitsu. No matter if you are in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ position, you can still be doing jiu jitsu.”
People always claim “your ego should be left at the door” and “you shouldn’t spazz” and “Jiu Jitsu is about technique, not strength.” Yet…more often than not, I pass an advanced practitioners guard, take the back or go to mount, they will absolutely go berserk. Or you tap them, and immediately thereafter they come twice as hard to “take revenge”. Instead of “Jiu Jitsu” they do the exact opposite.
Why is this the case?
– ego (which is absolutely necessary, but not over the top)
– a focus on winning instead of learning
– a wrong idea of what “defense” is
I don’t make a big distinction between offense and defense. I call my style “offensive defense”.
My philosophy in jiu jitsu and life, is as follows:
– keep what you have
– accept what is freely given
– give and you shall receive
– when they try to take something away, fight for it if possible
– don’t desperately run behind things you lost or you risk losing more
– don’t be desperate with a loss, something else will always come your way
– take slow deliberate steps towards your goal
– every once in a while, do something crazy
I want to believe there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ positions in jiu jitsu. Only positions you know what to do or don’t know what to do. Every position and connection is worth exploring. In some positions you can be less mistakes away from tapping than your opponent. But if you don’t make mistakes and do the right thing at the right time, you can make every position work. The opposite also holds true. You can have a submission almost locked in, make one tiny mistake, your opponent gets out and still submits you.
By truly believing that, you are more inclined to look up “weird” or “losing” positions. This gives you a better chance to fight from those weird positions than people who hold dogmatic believes. And if you feel comfortable in “bad positions”, imagine how you will feel in “great” positions!
Often when people think about escaping, they think about disconnecting and getting away from the “dangerous” position. By doing this, you will get at best a reset to a neutral position. “Offensive defense” means staying connected. Don’t try to get away from, but instead, spend time in the “dangerous” positions. Figure the positions out and try to solve them, not escape or break them. Make defense seamlessly transition into offense and bypass the neutral reset. Find the logic in every position. Solve the puzzle.
The more disconnected two grapplers are, the more possibilities of movement there are, the more chaos. Explosive and strong people hold a significant advantage over weaker people in most grappling related circumstances. The more disconnected a position is, the exponentially bigger that advantage is. The more connection, the least possibilities and chaos. More connection means more predictable. The more predictable the situation, the more the methodical technical grappler can shine.
Tightly connected “bad positions” are ideal to learn Jiu Jitsu. There are less variables and only the correct motion will allow you to move and make progress. Offense is starting from a ‘good’ position and slowly working your way towards a ‘better’ position. Defense is starting from a ‘bad’ position and slowly working your way towards a ‘better’ position. Both offense and defense are a battle for improvement and they meet in the neutral point were neither holds an advantage. From this perspective, there is no difference between offense and defense. You can’t teach offense without being aware of the defense, you can’t teach defense without being aware of the offense. Stay connected and realize they are both one and the same.
