Top 5 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Drills To Do At Home
These are easy drills.
There are certain times when you can’t train Jiu-Jitsu in the gym and I fully understand, these are the absolute worst times! we all want to be training with our friends and academy family in the gyms. It may be that you’re in lockdown due to the current Covid-19 outbreak we are currently having in Australia right now or maybe it's the future and you're on a vacation, too busy to get to class, or the gym is not open every day like some academies. When you’re in such a situation, BJJ drills can be a great way to practice some BJJ and get a workout in.
So what are the Top five that are easy and effective that you can do from the comfort of your home?
#1: Hip Escape
The hip escape is a fundamental move however, it is the most important defensive BJJ movement you can learn and that's why it is in the fundamentals program. It is applicable in every escape scenario and is something you’ll use at all belt levels. In other words, there’s no more integral movement than the hip escape or ‘shrimp’ as it is sometimes called in some academy.
The hip escape can be done in several different ways. One of the most basic BJJ drills is to simply turn to your side while prone on the ground and use your feet to push your hips upwards while extending your arms. Variations include pushing off with just one leg, which can be either the top or bottom one. You could also sit up to escape your hips or even hip escape to the front.
The best thing is that if you’re pressed for space, you can do hip escapes back and forth in place and still get all the benefits of this essential BJJ drill.
#2: Technical stand up
The technical stand-up is yet another one of the staple BJJ motions. Unlike the hip escape, though, this one can be used both offensively and defensively. In terms of defense, it can get you on your feet from the ground or help you create space to execute a hip escape. Offensively, the technical stand-up helps you with a variety of sweeps and reversals.
The way the technical stand-up works is by helping you keep a safe distance when you’re on the bottom. This is done by extending one leg. The other leg should be bent, with the heel next to your butt.
In order to have balance, you want the arm on the opposite side of the bent leg to be palm down on the ground. This creates a diagonal line that will keep you stable when you lift your hip off the ground and retract the extended leg all the way behind you, near the planted palm.
#3: Penetration steps
Wrestlers do them for hours upon hours, so why wouldn’t we do them in BJJ as well? After all, the double leg is one of the highest percentage takedowns in Jiu-Jitsu. Penetration steps usually require space. However, you could do one forward and one back and still get all the benefits of the drill.
In order to do this drill, from standing make a small step forwards with one leg. Then, get your knee as close to the ground as possible, but try not to touch it if you can.
The goal is to do a huge step forward with the opposite side leg, gaining momentum and standing up in the process. The entire motion needs to be explosive, making this one of the toughest BJJ drills to do for a prolonged period of time.
#4: Sit Outs
One more wrestling classic and a drill everyone in grappling should do. In wrestling, the sit-out helps get people off your back, while allowing you to recover positions. In BJJ, it helps in a bunch of situations from escaping the turtle, to dealing with front headlocks.
For the sit-out drill, start on all fours. The drill starts when you lift one arm in the air, making space for the opposite side leg to slide through the spot where the arm was. The goal is to extend the leg as far as possible, raising your hips and pulling the arm that’s off the ground backward. From there you return to all fours and repeat on the other side.
#5: Granby Rolls
I looooooooooooooove Granby Rolls!
This really is #1 in my book. It's incredibly important to do as it assists you to be comfortable being upside down and this is very important for you leveling up your jiujitsu and being comfortable in inversion scenarios.
Granby is one of those BJJ drills that looks fancy af and can be really tough to master at first. However, it is essential to learn how to Granby roll if you’re to have any hope of developing a respectable guard retention system.
The Granby can be done in many ways, but the easiest is to start sitting on the ground with your legs extended. Try to touch your ankles with your arms, bending your body towards the legs. The idea is to roll sideways, onto one shoulder, and then the other, while the arms and legs keep pointing in the same direction at all times. The key detail is rolling shoulder to shoulder and not over your neck.
Summary
If you are currently locked up at home and need some exercises that will dramatically improve your Jiu-Jitsu then the above is my recommendation. You will sweat and get some exercise in and you will also be leveling your Jiu-Jitsu up and be ready for competition when these lockdowns end or if you are simply on holiday and looking to come back in form.