As a beginner in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Submission Wrestling, or Mixed Martial Arts you can either try to hold someone (create pressure) or reposition yourself (movement). To develop, you need to be able to keep pressure as you move. You need to move to get into a position to strike/submit, but if you’ve no pressure your opponent will get away.

Jim is a good example of a constant pressure as he moves. In this vid against Stephen you clearly see how Jim keeps pressure by holding the head on top, making movement for Stephen uncomfortable. Indeed the choke Jim catches Stephen with is a great example of how you’ve got to keep pressure on as you move to tighten the submission.

Download Jim-Stephen here (mpg format, 2:46, 31.5MB)

Jim vs Dan (mpg format, 1:33, 17.7MB) – Dan doesn’t put enough pressure on Jim’s guard, which allows Jim to recover full guard and get the sweep. Once Jim gets top he constantly has a pressure point on Dan, be it his hips or hands, there’s alway a pressure on which limits Dan’s movement.

Jim vs Stef (mpg format, 3:24, 38.7MB) – nice back and forth. Both Jim and Stef have very choppy, staccato games. You’ll notice there’s a lot of distance between Jim and Stef when they’re in guard. This is mainly because they tend to use explosive bursts to pass and stay outside of range until they spot the opportunity.

The advantage to this is that you’re out of range of most first wave attacks when you’re in their guard. The disadvantage is that you give your opponent a carte blanche in guard. There’s no pressure on them so they’re free to launch any attack – stand up, shoot, go for subs.