I have to admit that I really love the pesky side of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. You know what I’m talking about, those moves or positions that really irritate your training partners and opponents and make them do dumb stuff that you can later capitalize on. The only thing is, these positions do work the other way around as well. So, my irritation when caught in one of them used to go through the roof. Until I decided to try and reverse engineer how to get past them instead of being angry for getting lured in there in the first place. One such highly irritating position is the ¾ mount in BJJ, and I have the perfect recipe to take away all its power with a simple pass to full mount.
The ¾ mount is one of those positions that can make you really miserable. Mount is just within reach, all you have to do is free up a heel and you’re there, but it may as well be thousands of miles away. Positions like this are many in BJJ, and they all have a solution. However, you first need to accept the fact that sheer force or nervous fidgeting won’t get you where you want. On the contrary, you’ll never reach the mount in BJJ if you are not methodical and patient enough to deal with the ¾ mount first. You literally have to take it step by step.
BJJ Math – Solving Grappling Fractions
I don’t like math either. I know plenty of the BJJ nerds in our community are math wizards, but I belong to the branch of the medical sciences where we’re not too keen on solving complex number equations. In particular, I dislike having to deal with fractions. However, when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu, we simply have to come to terms that there are equations to solve, and fractions to deal with. Two of those “fraction” positions that are often used are the ¾ quarter mount and the ¼ guard.
The quarter guard is a story of its own, one that we have tackled before. Just to summarize it quickly, it is when you think you’ve gotten past someone’s half guard and into side control, just to end up stuck with your foot between the legs. As insignificant as it may sound, the quarter guard is very powerful and secure, and you can’t just wiggle a foot out and get the points for the pass. As such, you really need to consider the possibilities of getting there and facing someone who knows how to play from the position. That means you need to know how to get past this particular irritating BJJ hurdle.
However, the quarter guard is far from the most irritating guard out there. The ¾ mount in BJJ might not be considered a guard per se, but point-wise it is just that – a guard. Get past it and you get both pass points and mount points, which usually amounts to a total of 7. The position itself is beyond simple. Imagine you’re in someone’s mount, only the have their legs wrapped in a triangle around one of your feet. It is just like the quarter guard, but with the top person in the mount, rather than in half guard. And getting out of the ¾ mount can be a real hustle, one that could easily end up with the tables turning due to acting angrily and rashly.
A Foolproof Way To Pass The ¾ Mount In BJJ
The approach to passing the 3/4 mount in BJJ is a simple one. It has to be, given that you’re dealing with a simple position that’s highly effective precisely because it is not too complicated. The fact of the matter is that an opponent can’t do many things for the ¾ mount in BJJ if you’re patient and stay in place. Moving around, frantically trying to get the leg loose will open up all the space they need to get out, reverse you, or go for counters like leg locks. So, the first thing to do in the 3/4 mount is to relax and be patient. If they can’t do anything to you, you’ll eventually find a way to solve this particular grappling fraction.
The one thing that will both help you to stay in place, and will open up a pass is to be heavy. Focus on loosening up, so that your opponent has to carry “dead” weight on top of them. In terms of gripping, you could go for a crossface by placing the arm on the far side under the head. This is the option I prefer, but there’s also another one. You could grip the belt with the same arm, given that the opponent is on their side, leaving their back open for grips.
As for the pass itself, think of a knee slice, just done on the opposite side of what you’re used to. In other words, you take your free leg, and place the knee right next to the opponent’s hip, on the side where they have your leg in the ¾ mount. This will give you the wedge you need to get your foot free, while also providing you with lots of pressure to keep them in place. A little trick to consider when freeing your foot – all you need to free up is the heel. Once it pops, you can get the rest out with ease.
Completing the pass is possible in two directions. One will take you to side control and earn you 3 points for the pass. After you free your foot up, use the knee that’s already on the ground in front of the hip as a pivot, and surf your hips over to the other side. With the crossface/belt grip you’ll end up in a very strong position.
Another option is to head to mount, by placing the knee of the leg you just freed up next to your other knee. This allows you to shift the pivot point and run the nearside knee across the belly right into full mount.
Rolling Back Takes
Let’s make things a bit more interesting here. Sometimes, the ¾ mount is not at all easy to pass, even with the high percentage modified knee slice pass. It has to do with how you and/or your opponent are built, leg strength, foot mobility, and other individual factors. Luckily, freeing the leg is not the only way to get points. With the rolling back take you might not get 7 points, but you’ll certainly get 4 for back control and a perfect position to finish your opponent from.
Once again, stay heavy, loose, and patient. If they can’t get out, you’re in no rush to get your points. Next, use your free leg to lockdown the shin of the top leg of the opponent. Since your leg is already trapped in ¾ mount in BJJ, half the job is done for you. The cool part comes next – turn your body to face in the direction of the legs and focus on grabbing the bottom leg’s foot of the opponent. All you need now is to lay on your back. You’ll end up in the truck positions with lots of options. One is to finish right there with a calf slicer, while another would be to extend the legs and get the back. Of course, you could settle halfway between them too, and finish with a Twister too.
Conclusion
Passing the ¾ mount in BJJ can be difficult, but it is far from impossible. The trick is dealing with the psychological part of the puzzle, i.e. accepting that as close as you might be to full mount in BJJ, you won’t get there quickly. In fact, you might not get there at all, but getting the back is a fair trade, wouldn’t you agree?
Butterfly Guard: Timeless Sweeps And Submissions Rafael Lovato DVD Review
The slam is a simple move – you pick up a person that’s on the ground, lift them in the air, and slam them back on the ground, mostly with their backs being the surface that hits first. In some instances, slams might end up with the person that’s receiving them on their head, which is obviously a potentially deadly situation. The move is obviously dangerous, but we have to consider it as grapplers. Why? Well, because we are very open to it on many occasions.
However, others are also legal versions of the slam that can still end up being dangerous and painful for the recipient. One legal way is to gently place an opponent to the ground. This would not constitute a slam in BJJ, even if you first raise them several feet off the ground. That, though is the safe version. Given that slams are not strictly defined, there are takedowns that mimic slams but are legal simply because they’re done in continuous motion. One such example would be a power double where you lift the opponent on top of your shoulders and spin them before crushing them to the ground while you’re running forward.
Going without defeat is something that nobody has achieved so far in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. However, people have gone on long win streaks. To bee honest, some will find that there should be a Gi win streak and No-Gi win streak or starks that factor in all the different types of tournaments there are. I like to keep things simple, so I’ll just say that we’ chose simple criteria here – most wins without a defeat, regardless of apparel, ruleset, or tournament style/type. The winner is Gordon Ryan, who managed to go on an incredible 29 wins and 2 draws earlier in his career before an eventual loss to Vinny Magalhães brought his hot streak to a halt in 2018.
This one is easy – Buchecha. The man who has a spot guaranteed in any BJJ Hall of Fame and the man who has 13 IBJJF World titles to his name as a black belt. That’s before we throw in a couple of ADCC titles, 4 No-Gi World titles, two Pans titles, an IBJJF Grand Prix, and 6 UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Pro titles. The best part is that he is far from done and will undoubtedly add to that tally making braking his recorded even more difficult for anyone hoping to achieve it. The total number of titles he has so far is 28.
When it comes to BJJ records, of course, we’d all like to know who the undisputed submission king is. It will come as no surprise that it is the man dubbed “the King” that holds the record, which makes it a second BJJ record for him – Gordon Ryan. There is, however, a plot twist. To be completely fair, we have to take a look at who has the most submission wins in the Gi as well, seeing as Ryan is an exclusively No-Gi grappler.
Gordon Ryan, according to records, has a total of 65 submissions wins, making him the man with most submissions so far. His Gi counterpart, if we could call him that, is Roger Gracie, totaling at a number of 46 submissions in Gi matches.
This is a subject we’ve covered before and it is one that many people often like to bring up, hoping they could best the BJJ Hall Of Fame record for the fastest ever black belt promotion. The general rule of thumb is that it takes around 10 years to get a BJJ black belt. Of course, everyone hopes to get it in less, although very few succeed. The extremes that people strive to are 3-4 years, which is a hallmark set by some of the biggest names in the sport, like BJ Penn and Geo Martinez. However, the record for fastest ever promotion goes to Travis Stevens, the famous Olympian Judoka who got his black belt from John Danaher in just 18 months!
To be honest, this is the one BJJ record I was really interested in. As it turns out, it is not easy to figure out who got the fastest submission in a sport that’s growing daily. The criteria had to be more specific, given the sheer amount of matches out here. So, we ended up looking into the fastest black belt submission to date. The answer came in the form of Rodrigo Leite de Medeiros (AKA Comprido) who got a submission in the final of the 1999 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu finals, in Rio de Janeiro in just 17 seconds. His opponent was Roberto Magalhães.
This is somewhat of an open dispute if I’m being honest. There is plenty of information out there pointing to different score lines, but I opted for something that can actually be proven. To that extent, it is 
Once again, we take a break from competitive records and look towards the achievement of the black belt rank. While it may be hard beating Travis Stevens’ record in getting one, you could try and be the oldest person to get a black belt. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to wait, but let me say it won’t be easy. Gene Pace is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who earned this rank at the young age of 78, after 15 years of training. He trains at Gracie Barra Costa Mesa, California. Given that he accomplished the feat in 2012 I have no idea if he is still training.
On the other end of the spectrum is the youngest ever person to get a black belt. That seems like it wouldn’t be too hard, given that 19 years of age is considered the earliest on can get a black belt. However, rules have been bent no order to awards a black belt to one specific person, so that he could compete in the worlds at the highest possible level. The man is Robson Moura, who got his black belt on his 18th birthday in 1997. Subsequently, he won the Mundials that year, and 4 more times afterward.
This is a great drill not just for wrist protection in BJJ, but also for strengthening the grips. Simply go on all fours, place your palms in front of you and use your fingers to lift the palms up, so that only your fingertips are on the mats. Pulse through your fingers without bouncing for 10 to 30 times.
Still on all fours, make sure your elbows are straight and your palms are firmly placed on the ground. Then, rotate your palms so that the fingers so they’re pointing to each side. The drill is to shift your weight from side to side, making sure that you really place pressure on the side you’re’ leaning on to while letting the other relax before you switch. Once again, the benchmark is 10 – 30 repetitions on each side.
The rear stretch is one of the most important drills for wrist protection in BJJ. It will help you work on a range of motion that is often forgotten. On all fours, place your palms on the ground so that the fingers are pointing towards your knees. In fact, the fingers need to be as close to your knees as possible, at least at first. The drill has you shifting your weight backward towards your heels to put your wrists under pressure. Repeat 10 – 30 times.
The rear stretch drill also works with the palms facing up. Once again, your fingers need to point to your knees and you’ll shift the weight backward before releasing forward. It can be very uncomfortable, so make sure you start off slow with this one and build up to 30 reps. It is crucial for BJJ though, especially when it comes to wristlock safety.
Last but not least, a real strengthening exercises for wrist protection in BJJ. This one is really hard and you need to make sure you can do all the previous ones without issues before “graduating” to this one. The drill is easy – do pushups. The trick is, you have to do them with the back of your palm on the ground and your fingers pointing towards your toes. Extremely hard and demanding on your wrists, but essential for any grappler.
What is the most important question to answer in regard to any Jiu-Jitsu technique, concept, principle, position, or whatever else there is? It is not how things work, but rather why things work that we need to answer. And the answer is usually not easy when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu positions. In fact, 
Let’s look at some examples to make everything clearer. IN the De La Riva guard, the hook leg is the most obvious – it is the one hooking their leg. You’ll notice that the hook leg is bent, thus allowing you to connect. However, keeping the leg bent also achieves something else – tit allows you to keep the knee of the leg near your chest, which helps you protect your inside space, or, in other words, prevents people from passing. It serves a dual purpose – while connecting you to the opponent it also prevents them from moving, while also covering your inside space.
Looking at some practical examples it is the leg that goes on the hip in the De la Riva guard. That is the leg that pushes on the hip, or pushes/hinges the knee, redirects the head, deals with grips, etc. In the 50/50 guard, that would be the outside leg, the one tasked with creating motion and helping you go on the offense. Looking at the spider guard, the active leg sit he one that is extended, given that it is directly responsible for the Kuzushi that leads to sweeps, or setting up the infamous triangle chokes from the Spider guard. IN the Z-guard it is the shield, in the Single leg X, it is the leg behind the butt, etc.
This is one of the dogmas of BJJ that I am really trying hard to dispel in my own gym. I’ll admit it is hard especially with the upper belts, who already have habits when it comes to passing. 
This one is probably not in use as much as it was a few years ago. However, I still see instructors telling people, mostly new students to never cross their feet when they’re going for an armbar. Back when armbars weren’t as developed, this was true, as crossing your feet does spread your knees apart. However, with the evolution of the armbar, and 
This is one of my favorite dogmas in BJ top challenge people with. Someone is in your mount. You’ve already lost 4 points (at least). Why exactly should you keep your knees bent? The answer that it helps you bridge and escape quicker doesn’t hold. Keeping the legs up opens up better control fro the top person and even leg lock transitions if they know-how. Keeping them extend and glued to the ground won’t get you in more trouble. IN fact, you’ll open up more ways of getting out. Try it.
In all those exchanges, we sometimes introduce the head even without thinking. When someone is attacking your back, they have two arms fighting your two arms, but you also have your chin to your chest to defend chokes. That’s just one example of using the head, without even thinking about it (pun intended). However, if you think about actively and consciously using the head, you’ll suddenly start to see plenty of ways to integrate into in your game and gain the crucial “unfair” advantage over an opponent.
One of the more unique Jiu-Jitsu hacks that involve using your head is to assist your other limbs in their task. A great example is an Americana from the mount. Whenever you have everything set up, place your forehead right at the point where your arms are creating the figure four. You’ll kill off any hopes of motion and defense and accentuate the submission when you start pulling back.
A muscle up is the one exercise you need to develop all of the above qualities and more. When I say that it is the only exercise you need, I really mean it. When it comes to bodyweight exercises for grapplers and fighters, muscle ups are an absolute must. The thing to consider, though, is that it will take a lot of time for you to be able to execute at last one if you’ve never done them before. Moreover, you’ll need to go through several progressions in order to learn how to do a single, full range of motion muscle up.
First of all, you need to be able to perform pull-ups. The more the better, but if you can’t do 20, make sure you reach that milestone first. Secondly, you’ll need to start learning how to use momentum,. Which is essential in transitioning from pulling into a pushing motion. You can see how such qualities will come in handy for those looking how to get better at BJJ. The motion you want is to keep your arms straight and swing your knees towards your shoulders while retracting your shoulder blades.
Next, you’ll want to find a low pull-up bar, one that’s at your chest level. Here is where you’ll kneel down underneath it, and then extend your legs, practicing how to get close to the bar. The key here is grip placement as the position of your palms has to change in order for you to push upwards.
Logically, the next step would be to go for a muscle up, but in the form of an assisted muscle up. At first, you should stick to a low pull-up bar, but find one that is higher than your head. You still need to have your feet on the ground, though. Your aim is to now execute the full motion, but use your feet to help propel you off the ground and towards the pushing motion. Later on, you can do the same while hanging completely, but with an elastic band.