I have a question for you. Why do Jiu Jitsu players neglect takedowns? If you think about it, every Jiu Jitsu match starts standing, as does every situation you might need a takedown (like sweeps or scrambles). Yet most Jiu Jitsu players rarely spend time working on their takedowns.
Yes, you can pull guard, but that won’t score you any points and it gives your opponent an opportunity to attack. It never made sense to me. However, the lack of takedown skill in people’s Jiu Jitsu gives you an opportunity.
My ability to score a takedown at any point during a fight was one key reason for my success at the lower belt levels. Don’t get me wrong, my takedown skills are far from spectacular, but they’re better than most, and I could rely on them when needed.
Your takedown game doesn’t need to be amazing either to be effective. All you need are a couple of go-to takedown techniques and you’ll be streets ahead of most BJJ players.
What’s more, developing a strong takedown game will benefit many other areas of your Jiu Jitsu. You’ll be able to scramble out of dangerous positions more easily and, if you think about it, a sweep is just a takedown that starts in guard.
Where most people go wrong with takedowns is they try to learn too many techniques. If you watch most elite level Judo or Wrestling competitors they only use two or three takedowns. However, their set-ups, timing, and counters are perfect.
You don’t need to know hundreds of different takedowns, just one takedown really well. MMA super coach, Greg Nelson, put this perfectly when he said:
“Jack of all trades, but master of none. Master of few and JACK everyone.”
This concept should be applied takedowns and almost every other aspect of your Jiu Jitsu as well.
An excellent example of this concept is when Roger Gracie submitted all 9 of his opponents at the 2009 World Championships with chokes from the mount.
All of Roger’s opponents knew he was going to try to take them down, pass their guard, transition to mount, and choke them. Yet not a single one of these elite level competitors could stop him. Personally, I believe this is the highest level of skill in Jiu Jitsu.
You could argue that Roger Gracie is special, and he is, but almost every successful competitor applies this same philosophy to there game. Here are a couple of examples: Rousimar Palhares and heel hooks, The Mendes Bros and the Berimbolo, Kosei Inoue and the Uchi Mata, John Smith and the Low Single.
As I said earlier, your takedown game only needs to revolve around one grip or position. But from that position, you need to know how to enter it from anywhere and how to complete it regardless of your opponents reaction.
Once I understood that concept, I had a lot more takedown success. I even started competing in Judo tournaments and did pretty well. (Apart from the time I got a concussion, but that’s another story.)
Once I established my grips, my basic flow always goes something like this; off-balance with my initial attack, then follow up with counter attacks depending on their reaction.
If you follow a similar process (grip, off-balance, counter) and train it enough, you can become a takedown machine. But before we get into that you might be wondering who I am and why should you listen to me…
Before we go any further, I should introduce myself. My name is Tom Barlow and I’m considered to be one of the best British-born Jiu Jitsu competitors ever.
What makes this amazing is, I managed this without a regular supervision of a Jiu Jitsu instructor.
My training was limited to an hour or two PER MONTH with my instructor, Braulio Estima, and training with my students and friends at my Academy in Plymouth.
One of the reasons I have been so successful as a competitor is because I recognised the importance of takedowns very early in my Jiu Jitsu career.
Takedowns are everywhere in Jiu Jitsu. You use them anytime you’re standing, when you’re sweeping, in scrambles, and when you’re escaping. If you have go-to takedown game, all these things become easier.
Thanks to my understanding of takedowns, solid systems, and a good work ethic I have won numerous Jiu Jitsu competitions, most notably, the No-Gi World Championships as a Black Belt three years in a row (2013/14/15)
I know a lot of people struggle with takedowns, so I decided to do something about it put my takedown knowledge into an easily accessible instructional.
A short while ago, I was invited to teach a weekend seminar in Guernsey. The one of the topics they asked me to cover was takedowns. So I decided to share my entire takedown game plan with them from setting grips and controlling distance, to the highest percentage techniques, and how to counter the common defences.
The seminar was a huge success and as it was filmed, I’ve decided to make the footage available to anyone who wants it via Escapology Online. I’d like to offer you the chance to master this essential area of Jiu Jitsu too…
Here’s just a little of what you’ll learn in the takedown blueprint:
In total, the Takedown Blueprint is over 60+ minutes long and jam-packed with techniques and tactics to help you dominate the standing portion of Jiu Jitsu.
Along with the Takedown Blueprint., you’ll also get access to another seminar called “How To Start A Fight”
This 70+ minute seminar covers sooooo much technical and strategic info about starting a match the right way. Broadly speaking the seminar is broken down into three sections.
This recording currently sell on for £27, but could easily cost much more.
So you’re probably wondering just how much this all costs. That’s a great question… there isn’t really anything like this on the market. Most instructionals focus on either takedowns or guard play rather than how they connect together and use them to your advantage.
The closest similar instructional I’ve found costs $97 (~£70+). However, because this is a seminar recording, you won’t have to pay anywhere near $97…
(That’s about $37)
That’s £27 for over the 60+ minutes Takedown Blueprint and bonuses! To get instant access to the instructionals now click the button below:
I have a question for you. Why do Jiu Jitsu players neglect takedowns? If you think about it, every Jiu Jitsu match starts standing, as does every situation you might need a takedown (like sweeps or scrambles). Yet most Jiu Jitsu players rarely spend time working on their takedowns.
Yes, you can pull guard, but that won’t score you any points and it gives your opponent an opportunity to attack. It never made sense to me. However, the lack of takedown skill in people’s Jiu Jitsu gives you an opportunity.
My ability to score a takedown at any point during a fight was one key reason for my success at the lower belt levels. Don’t get me wrong, my takedown skills are far from spectacular, but they’re better than most, and I could rely on them when needed.
Your takedown game doesn’t need to be amazing either to be effective. All you need are a couple of go-to takedown techniques and you’ll be streets ahead of most BJJ players.
What’s more, developing a strong takedown game will benefit many other areas of your Jiu Jitsu. You’ll be able to scramble out of dangerous positions more easily and, if you think about it, a sweep is just a takedown that starts in guard.
Where most people go wrong with takedowns is they try to learn too many techniques. If you watch most elite level Judo or Wrestling competitors they only use two or three takedowns. However, their set-ups, timing, and counters are perfect.
You don’t need to know hundreds of different takedowns, just one takedown really well. MMA super coach, Greg Nelson, put this perfectly when he said:
“Jack of all trades, but master of none. Master of few and JACK everyone.”
This concept should be applied takedowns and almost every other aspect of your Jiu Jitsu as well.
An excellent example of this concept is when Roger Gracie submitted all 9 of his opponents at the 2009 World Championships with chokes from the mount.
All of Roger’s opponents knew he was going to try to take them down, pass their guard, transition to mount, and choke them. Yet not a single one of these elite level competitors could stop him. Personally, I believe this is the highest level of skill in Jiu Jitsu.
You could argue that Roger Gracie is special, and he is, but almost every successful competitor applies this same philosophy to there game. Here are a couple of examples: Rousimar Palhares and heel hooks, The Mendes Bros and the Berimbolo, Kosei Inoue and the Uchi Mata, John Smith and the Low Single.
As I said earlier, your takedown game only needs to revolve around one grip or position. But from that position, you need to know how to enter it from anywhere and how to complete it regardless of your opponents reaction.
Once I understood that concept, I had a lot more takedown success. I even started competing in Judo tournaments and did pretty well. (Apart from the time I got a concussion, but that’s another story.)
Once I established my grips, my basic flow always goes something like this; off-balance with my initial attack, then follow up with counter attacks depending on their reaction.
If you follow a similar process (grip, off-balance, counter) and train it enough, you can become a takedown machine. But before we get into that you might be wondering who I am and why should you listen to me…
Before we go any further, I should introduce myself. My name is Tom Barlow and I’m considered to be one of the best British-born Jiu Jitsu competitors ever.
What makes this amazing is, I managed this without a regular supervision of a Jiu Jitsu instructor.
My training was limited to an hour or two PER MONTH with my instructor, Braulio Estima, and training with my students and friends at my Academy in Plymouth.
One of the reasons I have been so successful as a competitor is because I recognised the importance of takedowns very early in my Jiu Jitsu career.
Takedowns are everywhere in Jiu Jitsu. You use them anytime you’re standing, when you’re sweeping, in scrambles, and when you’re escaping. If you have go-to takedown game, all these things become easier.
Thanks to my understanding of takedowns, solid systems, and a good work ethic I have won numerous Jiu Jitsu competitions, most notably, the No-Gi World Championships as a Black Belt three years in a row (2013/14/15)
I know a lot of people struggle with takedowns, so I decided to do something about it put my takedown knowledge into an easily accessible instructional.
A short while ago, I was invited to teach a weekend seminar in Guernsey. The one of the topics they asked me to cover was takedowns. So I decided to share my entire takedown game plan with them from setting grips and controlling distance, to the highest percentage techniques, and how to counter the common defences.
The seminar was a huge success and as it was filmed, I’ve decided to make the footage available to anyone who wants it via Escapology Online. I’d like to offer you the chance to master this essential area of Jiu Jitsu too…
Here’s just a little of what you’ll learn in the takedown blueprint:
In total, the Takedown Blueprint is over 60+ minutes long and jam-packed with techniques and tactics to help you dominate the standing portion of Jiu Jitsu.
Along with the Takedown Blueprint., you’ll also get access to another seminar called “How To Start A Fight”
This 70+ minute seminar covers sooooo much technical and strategic info about starting a match the right way. Broadly speaking the seminar is broken down into three sections.
This recording currently sell on for £27, but could easily cost much more.
So you’re probably wondering just how much this all costs. That’s a great question… there isn’t really anything like this on the market. Most instructionals focus on either takedowns or guard play rather than how they connect together and use them to your advantage.
The closest similar instructional I’ve found costs $97 (~£70+). However, because this is a seminar recording, you won’t have to pay anywhere near $97…
(That’s about $37)
That’s £27 for over the 60+ minutes Takedown Blueprint and bonuses! To get instant access to the instructionals now click the button below:
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