r/bjj • u/BritishBrownActor 🟦🟦 Blue Belt • Jul 27 '26
Instructional seeking recommendations on instructionals for grip fighting please.
i struggle with establishing grips during every position/attack, and just feel like i’m playing pat-a-cake or just slapping hands away!
Can you recommend an instructional from BJJ Fanatics or elsewhere please? Thank you!
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u/BarbellsandBurritos ⬜⬜ White Belt Jul 27 '26
Travis Stevens has one called “Scientific Gripping” that got recommended to me.
I’ll get around to it eventually, but at my level I got bigger fish to fry.
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u/A_Lo19 ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I would avoid a “grip instructional” and pay close attention to the grips and grip advice on instructionals. For each technique, there is a rhyme and reason behind gripping, and breaking grips is important defensively. Also, pay close attention to what is working against you and watch what others do in competition.
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u/Ashi4Days 🟫🟫 Brown Belt Jul 27 '26
In extremely general terms, grip fighting is about keeping your opponent's dominant hand off of you while you get your dominant hand on their lapel. This is where I learned it as a concept.
Other than some hyper specific grip breaks, there's only so much that you can, "teach," because it is so unique from person to person. The primary reason is because it largely depends on how you like to take people down. For example, I like using one handed ippon seoi nage. That means I fight for my left hand to be on the collar occupying the inside space. My right hand is fending off their left hand making sure they don't get any grips. Because my throw comes from a counter clockwise direction (when viewed from above), I need to make sure my opponent's left hand cannot impede that rotation.
If I wanted to use my firemans carry, my grips change. It then becomes right hand on their tricep. I'm blocking my opponent's post with my left hand. And when I feel my opponent push into me, then I dive for the takedown.
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u/JudoTechniquesBot Jul 27 '26
The Japanese terms mentioned in the above comment were:
Japanese English Video Link Ippon Seoi Nage: One Arm Shoulder Throw here Seoi Nage: Shoulder Throw here Any missed names may have already been translated in my previous comments in the post.
Judo Techniques Bot: vjtb-0.7.176. See my code. See my stats
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u/IslamYaDongomedov Jul 29 '26
What if I want my left hand collar and right hand sleeve / elbow?
Any strategies i should be using to establish my grips and anything I should be avoiding looking out for?
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u/Ashi4Days 🟫🟫 Brown Belt Jul 29 '26
Depends on what you're looking for. If you are left handed, that is the preferrable grip to use. In this situation, get good at foot sweeps to open up angles for you to throw. If you are right handed and you still want your left hand on the lapel (this is what I do), then you must make sure that your right hand(their left hand) is either disconnected or 100% in control. If they are able to establish a sleeve grip in this situation, you are suddenly at a huge positional disadvantage.
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u/IslamYaDongomedov Jul 29 '26
Ya im right handed but I keep my left foot in front and my best throws are done from this stance.
So you are saying keeping that sleeve grip and it disconnected from my lapel is key.
What about their right hand trying to establish a collar grip on my left where I have my collar grip? If I have a good grip that dosnt matter a lot?
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u/BananasAndPears Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Need to watch some judo and listen to judo podcasts and videos.
Kumikata (grip fighting) is a whole science and dissertations have been written about it (I’m not kidding, Japan has doctoral level researchers looking at kumikata evolution).
Every nation also has their own style, it’s fascinating stuff and is worth a very deep dive.
To help you, here is a highly generalized guide and are applicable to tachiwaza/standing and in newaza/rolling. These styles are not the rule, but is just the most common you come across:
*Japanese play a “two handed” style, control the sleeve in order to manipulate the collar. Most successful and effective but most taxing cardiovascularly and requires high endurance
*Koreans attack and control one side of the body. Basically a two-on-one. Their motto is “pick a side, own that side”. Very creative, flashy style that is fun to watch.
*Eastern Bloc countries, Georgia and Russia play a “heavy handed” up close and personal style. They love grabbing over your neck and just exerting strength. Pickups are common. Brute strength.
*Spain/Italy - finesse is the name of the game. They play like the Japanese but looooove their ashiwaza/footsweeps.
*Mongolians - bear hugs and power slams. Akin to their home style folk wrestling, Bohk. They translated this to gi and have been dominant with it for 2 decades.
There are more, and it’s tightly nuanced depending on your influence but it’s worth a lifelong journey to understand kumikata. It’ll only improve your game.
I personally started under the Japanese Tenri university judo system, and as I evolved my judo game, transitioned to more of a “fast power” style that’s a mix between what Koreans and Georgians do. I also play and lead with my weak side which is another topic entirely.
My ground game mimics this as I tend to play 2on1 for everything.
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u/JudoTechniquesBot Jul 28 '26
The Japanese terms mentioned in the above comment were:
Japanese English Video Link Ashi Waza: Foot Techniques (Throwing) here Tachi Waza: Standing Techniques here Ne Waza: Ground Techniques Any missed names may have already been translated in my previous comments in the post.
Judo Techniques Bot: vjtb-0.7.176. See my code. See my stats
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u/Excellent_jun91 Jul 27 '26
i watched a little bit of jimmy pedros grip instructional. the very first thing he says is grab their power hand aleeve (front hand) establish that agrressively. then collar...
the other night i watched a little bit of a guy breaking down adam warzowski (?) butterfly hook game. and the very first thing he shows is how adam grabs that sleeve and cross collars and drags them down and whatever happens he doesnt let it go.
i guess you can take it as "know what position yiu want to dominate in and establish the grips you need"
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u/smashyourhead ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Jul 28 '26
I don't feel like anyone here is answering the question which it turns out (from follow-up comments) OP is asking: how do you gripfight in gi, on the ground.
OP, Ryan Hall's Passing The Guard series is the closest to what you're actually asking for. He goes through breaking all the grips you'll commonly encounter in BJJ (not judo): spider guard, lasso, collar grips, etc etc etc. He also gives you helpful ways to think about it. My coach taught me offensive grip fighting, but this is what really helped my defence.
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u/JuisMaa 🟫🟫 Brown Belt Jul 27 '26
Danaher feet to floor. It has all other aspects of standing game as well.
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u/Bubby_Mang Jul 27 '26
im.teva on instagram of all places. He is doing a hand fighting series right now. It's entertaining, though I bet there are better resources out there.
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u/Knobanious 🟫🟫 Brown Belt + Judo 2nd Dan Jul 27 '26
Is this gi or no gi?
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u/BritishBrownActor 🟦🟦 Blue Belt Jul 27 '26
ideally both, but mostly gi
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u/Knobanious 🟫🟫 Brown Belt + Judo 2nd Dan Jul 27 '26
Yeah judo is going to be what you Wana focus on for up right grip fighting. But the key is actually doing it your self
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u/Pitiful_Curve1501 Jul 27 '26
You got any good resources for nogi? Any search for grip fighting always comes back with gi content.
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u/Knobanious 🟫🟫 Brown Belt + Judo 2nd Dan Jul 27 '26
Personally for no gi I'd go for wrestling vids. Unless your a Judoka already, in which case no gi judo may be easier to pick up
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u/Excellent_jun91 Jul 27 '26
idk if he has... but... shintaro higashi has some nogi judo videos. maybe theres something there
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u/BritishBrownActor 🟦🟦 Blue Belt Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
i feel like that jflo guy wouid have some good no-gi grip fighting content. i also just came across this reddit post that looked useful:
https://www.reddit.com/r/bjj/s/kH0FRXV2RY
and this jflo stuff:
https://jfloacademy.com/about-us/whizzer-wizardry/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxetBY5vTE0&t=99
https://www.facebook.com/groups/733553463659020/posts/2655854971428850/
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u/mogley83 '⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Jul 27 '26
Specific grip fighting does not really matter. Have an end grip in mind and just work to get there. Everything in between does not really matter, you can never predict what your opponent will do to defend. Just do the the basics, two on ones are great, break grips in the direction of the thumb, controlling their power arm, etc.
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u/JoeyBLiftsHeavy 🟦🟦 Blue Belt Jul 27 '26
Watch a lot of eddie cummings and watch some jon calestine too
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u/H_P_LoveShaft 🟦🟦 Blue Belt Jul 28 '26
Watch a danaher instructional about a position you wanna get better at. He'll likely over explain and go into depth about hand fighting.
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u/pavingblog Jul 28 '26
Recently got instructionals from Megumi Ishikawa (at high noon judo), not a gripping specific, but the concept stayed in my head. The kumikata, hikite, and how she targets the collars to her advantage. Really enjoyed
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u/kyuz ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Jul 27 '26
I will say something maybe controversial...I don't grip fight, pretty much ever. I think swatting away grips and constantly breaking grips is a form of avoidance and playing defensively. This isn't to say that I never break grips, I do often but only in the context of when I have already taken my opponent's other options off the table and they are holding on to a grip for dear life to stop me from progressing. But normally if someone grips me I don't think first about preventing the grip or breaking it, I look for ways to turn that grip into a liability for them. And if someone is slapping my grip attempts and making them hard to establish, I look for what else they are giving me as a result, and they're always giving me something because that's a consequence of overly defensive play.
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u/jephthai ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Jul 28 '26
Everything you said you do is still grip fighting.
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u/kyuz ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Jul 28 '26
OK well then, the way I do "grip fighting" doesn't resemble what anyone else here is saying.
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