Every martial art has a fighting stance to begin with. In boxing, you may have a lead leg and your jab lined up with your fists up, in Judo you may have your grips ready to be established with your feet ready for engagement. With this said, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is no different and there are a few fundamental stances that need to be used at the beginning of sparring.
These stances are crucial in a sports competition setting or even in fighting where BJJ is used as self defense. As a disclaimer, we will also briefly look at the stances used in Judo and Wrestling. As these two arts form the bulk of BJJ’s stand up game, it would be unfair to ignore them or put them into the same category as BJJ when they are different martial arts in their own right.
Table of Contents
The Judo stance
When starting from standing, your stance is similar to that of a Judoka although there are some differences in the rules. For instance, in BJJ you can get double lapel grips and use this method to engage with the opponent, whereas in Judo a double lapel grip is considered illegal. Typically a Judo stance has a lead leg which is usually your dominant side, whilst your posture is fairly straight. The idea from this position is to establish dominant grips from which you can move into takedowns. As Judo is Gi based, the use of sleeve grips is important compared to the starting stance in No gi.
The Wrestler’s stance
The wrestler’s stance is more of a crouched position. Whilst your head should always be looking up with good posture, the idea is to be low to shoot into takedowns. Because of this, wrestling can be effective against Judoka’s who keep their lead leg out in enabling a single leg takedown. Often, the wrestler’s stance involves having your arms tucked inwards to avoid arm drags whereas in Judo your arms may be used to stiff-arm the opponent to control their movement. This stance is easier to enter takedowns with whilst doing No gi due to the lack of lapel grips to slow your entries down.
The BJJ stance
The BJJ stance is a kind of hybrid between Judo and Wrestling as it combines both art forms. One key thing to look out for is keeping your arms tucked in to avoid flying armbars or triangles. Often the BJJ stance is more compact than that of a Judoka as the idea is to defend guard pulling or jumping. With this said, your stance is more compact, similar to wrestling which is also applicable for pulling guard.
Like Judo, it often uses the same leading leg principle which can be used to set up takedowns when ready. Remember to keep your head looking up with good posture. Otherwise, you can be controlled easier and the opponent has easier access to Guillotines and snap downs.
Defensive vs Offensive stance
Like all forms of martial arts, there are times when you want to engage, and other times when you need to back off and defend. In short, this is basic decision making which revolves around timing and reading the body positions of you and your opponent. For instance, a defensive stance would involve keeping physical distance and trying to break grips or tie-ups with your opponent whilst avoiding their feet getting close to yours.
Elsewhere, an attacking stance could be crouching low to begin a wrestling takedown or gripping the opponent’s belt to move into their near space. By closing the distance on your opponent, it means you can start attacking. However, with all forms of stand up takedowns, you should also be wary of counters which may end up with yourself being thrown.
BJJ stance when sitting down
There are two forms of stances from sitting down against a standing opponent. Sometimes practitioners chose to sit down to avoid getting thrown or their opponent decides to stand whilst in their open guard. As a result, your guard needs to involve a stance to avoid being passed or submitted by the top opponent. Perhaps the most important area of a good seated stance is keeping your knees close to your chest.
In both cases of the combat base and butterfly position, this makes it more difficult to get passed. Thought of a different way, if you sit with your legs stretched open, it can make passing far easier for the opponent who can simply step around the legs to pass your guard.
Combat base
There are roughly two forms of stances whilst seated. The first is the combat base. Useful for self defense, the combat base involves kneeling on one leg with the other foot planted forwards on the ground. This is a combination of kneeling and squatting at the same time. The idea of the combat base is that you can do a technical stand up at any time with the back leg being ready to stand. This means if you enter the combat base, it is easy to get to your feet. In terms of upper body, you want your arms tucked to avoid attacks such as triangles and arm drags.
Butterfly/seated position
This form of seated guard is often more oriented towards sport BJJ. Whilst seated you want to hold the butterfly guard position, again with your arms tucked. Some opponents may try to run around your guard but you can often follow them in this position. If the opponent decides to engage, then you can enter various other forms of open guard from the butterfly position which shows its versatility.
BJJ stance when standing against a seated opponent
As mentioned, you may be against a seated opponent whilst standing and this is due to several reasons such as them choosing to sit. Often, you want to be crouched but avoid bad posture in case they spring into a guillotine choke. Secondly, you want to avoid having your legs too near which they can use to engage in a guard or use to attack a single-leg takedown.
Thirdly, you want to avoid having your feet parallel and near them. If this happens, they may do a dummy sweep and put you to the floor in doing so. With this said, it’s best to have one lead leg to avoid this sweep whilst not being too close to avoid takedowns. When comfortable, you can use your hands to try and control their lower or upper body to get a reaction and start passing.
General thoughts
Overall, the concept of the stance in BJJ involves the use of Judo and Wrestling whilst standing. Your stance may differ in the Gi compared to No gi and also depends on whether you are the aggressor or more passive whilst standing. On the floor, the BJJ stance changes and often involves guard entries or retention whilst sitting, whilst the idea standing is to set up passes against the open guard.
In summary, it’s very important to learn the starting stances in BJJ to avoid takedowns, passes and generally take advantage of your starting positions. If you start a roll badly, then you may get punished as a result. Similarly, if you can gain an advantageous position early on because of your stance, then you may get rewarded for this later on.
