_edited.png)
Advanced Jiu Jitsu Techniques: A Locals Zetland Guide
- 2 days ago
- 14 min read
You're probably at the point where the basics aren't the problem anymore. You can frame, recover guard, hit a clean scissor sweep, finish a decent choke, and survive hard rounds. But when you roll with other blue and purple belts, the match starts to feel crowded. You know plenty of moves, yet they don't connect fast enough under pressure.
That's where advanced jiu jitsu techniques are often misunderstood. The assumption is that “advanced” means a longer list of clever moves. In practice, it usually means better choices, better timing, and better links between positions. The athlete with the sharper system often looks calmer, not flashier.
Beyond the Blue Belt Plateau
The blue belt plateau usually isn't a technical drought. It's a decision-making problem. You've got enough tools to attack, escape, and counter, but the tools still sit in separate drawers. Under resistance, you hesitate between options, commit late, or chase a move after the moment has gone.
That gap shows up in a lot of online instruction. As noted in this breakdown of advanced technique coverage, most material explains how to perform a move, but not the more useful question: when should you choose one pathway over another, and what should you do when the first attack fails? That's the difference between collecting techniques and building a game.
A move is not a system
An advanced student doesn't just know berimbolo, arm drag, omoplata, or an inversion entry. They know what each one is trying to force.
A valuable perspective on this topic:
A move list gives you options.
A system gives you order.
A strategy gives you decision rules.
If your collar sleeve guard only works when your partner reacts exactly the way you hoped, it isn't a system yet. If your front headlock only leads to one finish, and you freeze when it's defended, it isn't a system yet either.
Practical rule: Advanced jiu jitsu techniques start making sense when every attack has a follow-up, every follow-up has an exit, and every exit still protects position.
That's why ambitious belts often benefit from revisiting structure instead of hunting novelty. The path from basic competence to reliable performance isn't mysterious. It's usually about tightening the chain between position, reaction, and next action. If you're still building that base, this look at how to get a blue belt in BJJ is useful context because it shows how the early layers should stack before the advanced layers make sense.
What changes at the advanced stage
At this level, the questions shift:
Earlier stage | Advanced stage |
|---|---|
How do I do the move? | When is the move worth committing to? |
Where do my hands go? | What reaction am I trying to trigger? |
Can I finish this? | What's my second and third attack if it fails? |
That shift matters because resistance strips away isolated knowledge. Good opponents won't let you reset and try the same clean demo sequence. They post, hide elbows, square hips, hand fight, and scramble.
The answer isn't to memorise more. It's to organise what you already know into pathways. That's the lens that makes advanced jiu jitsu techniques useful rather than decorative.
Advanced Guard Systems Creating Dilemmas
You enter shin to shin, your partner squares up, and the whole exchange stalls for a beat. That moment decides whether your guard is a collection of moves or a real system. Advanced guard has to give the opponent bad options from a stable structure, not just flash one attack and hope they react late.
At Locals Jiu Jitsu Zetland, we teach guard in layers for that reason. Blue and purple belts usually do not need more techniques. They need clearer decision points, better entries, and a better sense of when to switch from one threat to the next. That is the gap between watching an advanced sequence online and being able to use it in a hard round.
A K-guard style sequence is useful here because it exposes the logic clearly. The value is not the position itself. The value is how it connects off-balances, leg attacks, sweeps, and back exposure without giving up your base if the first look disappears.
Build the entry before you chase the attack
Advanced guard starts with winning the line inside their knees and elbows. If you cannot create that wedge, the rest of the sequence is guesswork. A knee shield, shin to shin, collar tie with inside foot position, or a seated hook all do the same job. They create structure first.
From there, shift their weight to one side of their base. That matters more than the grip combination. If their weight comes forward, their hands often get busy and their back can show during the recovery. If they pull away to clear their legs, the lower body becomes easier to isolate. If they drive in to flatten you, they often narrow their turning options and expose a sweep or wrestle-up.
That is the progression. Entry, balance shift, reaction, follow-up.
For many developing guard players, the real fix is not an exotic position. It is sharper control of the same frames and angles taught in fundamental BJJ and ground control concepts. Advanced options hold up better when they sit on top of that base.
The decision tree that makes guard hard to defend
The opponent should feel late even when they know what is coming. That comes from forcing decisions early.
If they post wide to stop the tilt, their recovery step is committed, and the sweep often gets easier because they have already given you a direction.
If they pull their upper body back, the leg becomes lighter, and the entanglement route is usually cleaner than trying to chase the torso.
If they smash back into you, the turn can expose the far hip or shoulder line, which is where back exposure starts to appear.
If they square their knees and hide everything, you should be ready to reset to seated guard, shin to shin, or a wrestle-up instead of forcing a low-percentage entry.
Good guard players are rarely guessing. They are moving through a decision tree they have trained on purpose.
That training can be very specific. Constraint-based rounds, short positional starts, and timed reaction drills work well here. Resources like Vanta Sports coaching drills can help coaches structure those rounds so the athlete is rehearsing the decision, not just the finish.
What usually breaks advanced guard
The common failures are technical, but the cause is usually strategic. A player commits to the move they wanted before they earn the reaction they needed.
Three problems show up all the time:
Inverting without the right hip angle: The neck and shoulders carry the load, while the opponent stays balanced enough to clear the position.
Chasing the leg when the posture is wrong: If their hips are free and your own knee line is loose, the entry becomes a scramble you are more likely to lose.
Refusing to reset: Strong guard players bail out early, rebuild inside position, and attack again. Stubborn players stay attached to a dead look and get passed.
There is also a physical trade-off. Guards that rely on inversion, repeated angle changes, and leg entanglement entries put more demand on the knees, shoulders, and rib area than a simpler closed or seated guard game. That is consistent with broader summaries of common grappling injury patterns in combat sports, so training volume and progression matter as much as technical ambition.
A better progression looks like this:
Priority | What to develop |
|---|---|
First | Hip mobility, shoulder tolerance, and safe inversion mechanics |
Second | Entries and off-balances with light resistance |
Third | Reaction-based chains from one reliable starting point |
Fourth | Hard rounds where the opponent knows the system you want |
That is how advanced guard becomes dependable. It stops being a highlight move and starts becoming a framework. When the structure is sound, every reaction gives you a direction.
Mastering Transitions The Back Take From Turtle
You flatten a passing exchange, your partner turtles, and for about two seconds the back is there. Then it disappears because the elbow line recovers, the hips turn, and you end up chasing instead of controlling. That is the essential lesson in advanced transitions. The opening is rarely the problem. Keeping the sequence connected is.
At Locals Jiu Jitsu Zetland, we teach the turtle back take as a decision chain, not a single move. Blue and purple belts often know the finish they want, but they rush to hooks before they have won the shoulder line and hip line. Against experienced training partners, that usually turns a strong attack into a scramble.
The three-part sequence
The back take works best when each layer removes one of the defender's escape routes.
Secure a deep thumbless grip on the tricep This grip keeps your connection without overloading your wrist and gives you a cleaner way to steer the elbow away from the ribs. If the elbow stays glued in, the rest of the attack gets crowded fast.
Rotate your hips away while driving your head across the shoulder line At this stage, their posture begins to break. Good head position turns their upper body and limits their ability to square back up. If your head is lazy here, they can build back to base even if your hands are in the right place.
Insert the knee behind the hip before you chase full back control The knee wedge blocks the turn and buys time. It also solves a common problem at this level. Players try to place both hooks too early, their chest disconnects, and the defender surges forward into open space.
That sequence gives you a system. First win the arm and shoulder. Then turn the posture. Then trap the hip and collect the back.
What changes with resistance
The trade-off is simple. If you commit hard to upper-body control, you can be slower to insert hooks. If you rush your hooks, you usually lose upper-body control. Advanced training is learning which problem matters first. From turtle, shoulder control and hip blocking matter more than arriving with both hooks.
I tell competitors to judge the position by the defender's ability to turn, not by whether the back is technically "taken" yet.
Opponent reaction from turtle | Better response |
|---|---|
They clamp elbows tight | Pry the elbow line open with the tricep grip and keep your head past their shoulder |
They drive forward | Follow the hip with your knee wedge and stay chest-connected |
They start to roll | Keep chest-to-shoulder pressure and come up with the angle they give you |
The pattern is consistent. Do not treat every turtle the same. A static turtle, a forward-running turtle, and a rolling turtle all ask for slightly different timing.
How we build it in class
Random rounds help test the movement, but they are a poor place to learn the order of decisions. A better progression is constrained work. Start with the attacker on a side angle at turtle. First round, the goal is only to break posture and hold the wedge. Second round, add back exposure. Third round, allow full seatbelt and hook completion. That progression makes each layer accountable.
If you want ideas for structuring rounds like that, Vanta Sports coaching drills are a practical reference for timed constraints and repeatable positional work. The value is not variety for its own sake. The value is getting enough honest reps that the correct choice shows up under pressure.
There is also a reason we keep revisiting fundamental BJJ and ground control. Better chest pressure, cleaner head position, and sharper wedges make advanced back takes more reliable than any flashy adjustment ever will.
High Percentage Finishes Refining The Rear Naked Choke
You get to the back on a good purple belt, settle your control, slide the arm under the chin, and still lose the finish. They strip the top hand, turn their shoulders, and force you to chase again. That is usually not a strength problem. It is a sequencing problem.
At Locals Jiu Jitsu Zetland, we treat the rear naked choke as the last decision in a chain, not a standalone move. If the control is loose, the hand fight is late, or your chest slips off the upper back, the finish becomes a contest of squeeze against survival. Ambitious blue and purple belts need a better model than that. The choke works best when the opponent is already carrying your weight, losing the hand fight, and running out of safe directions to turn.
What actually makes the finish high percentage
A clean rear naked choke comes from layered control. The order matters.
Trap their upper body before you chase the neck Keep chest connection, hide your choking shoulder behind their head, and make their first line of defence about posture, not escape. If their shoulders are free to rotate, your finishing window shrinks fast.
Win the hand-fighting exchange early The second hand decides more finishes than the choking arm. Control their top-side hand, clear it, then thread the choking arm. Reaching for the neck while their hands are organised creates long scrambles and messy face cranks.
Set the choking arm on a short line The forearm needs to cut cleanly across the neck. If the arm enters too deep or too shallow, you lose pressure and start compensating with effort.
Close the structure without opening your elbows Your support hand clamps to the bicep, the secondary arm hides behind their head, and the elbows stay tight. The finish gets stronger as the shape gets smaller.
Finish through connection, not recoil Good chokes compress inward. Pulling the elbows behind you often disconnects your chest and gives the defender the space they need to survive.
The trade-offs that matter
Every strong finishing choice closes one door and opens another. Good back finishers understand that trade.
If you chase the neck too early, you often lose the seatbelt battle. If you stay obsessed with control and never threaten the choke, experienced partners start turning your caution into escapes. The answer is timing. Threaten the choke when your chest is settled, your head is in the right place, and at least one of their hands is already busy.
The same trade-off shows up in hook position. Deep hooks can help you hold someone in place, but against a defender who is trying to slide to the underhook side, body triangle or a strong upper-body clamp may give you a better finish cycle. There is no single best hold for every body type or rule set. There is the hold that lets you keep chest connection, win the hand fight, and stop the turn that matters most in that moment.
That is one reason we pair back finishing rounds with our no gi jiu jitsu training approach. Without jacket grips, every weakness in chest connection and hand control shows up faster.
What good alignment feels like
A proper rear naked choke feels compact and quiet. Your partner usually stops moving before you feel the need to squeeze hard.
Look for these cues:
Your choking forearm is on the neck, not drifting across the jawline
Your head stays tight beside theirs and limits their ability to turn
Your support arm closes the space behind the head
Your chest stays connected to the upper back from entry to finish
Your elbows narrow the frame instead of flaring wide
The correction I give most often is simple. Stop trying to rip the finish backward. Bring the structure in, keep your chest glued on, and let the pressure come from alignment.
A rear naked choke should feel inevitable before it feels powerful.
A visual walkthrough can help if you want to compare your hand position and finishing posture:
The mistakes that keep showing up in advanced rounds
By blue and purple belt, the obvious mistakes disappear. The costly ones are smaller.
Mistake | What it causes |
|---|---|
Chasing the neck before controlling the hands | The defender strips grips and turns the finish into a scramble |
Letting the chest drift off the upper back | Shoulder rotation returns and the choke loses bite |
Setting the forearm too high across the face | You burn energy on pain compliance instead of blood flow restriction |
Flaring the elbows during the finish | The structure opens and the pressure leaks |
If your rear naked choke only works once training partners are exhausted, check the sequence before you blame your squeeze. In a good system, the choke is the final expression of control. It should arrive after the right decisions, not instead of them.
The No Gi Advanced Pathway At Locals
Take the jacket away and the game changes quickly. Grips disappear, scrambles get longer, and hesitation gets punished faster. A gi sequence that buys you time with sleeve control might last half a second in no gi before the opponent clears ties and circles out.
That doesn't mean your gi game becomes useless. It means the priorities shift. You still need frames, angles, posture breaks, and back exposure. But the way you create them is different.
The main tactical shift
In gi training, cloth often lets you hold a decision for longer. In no gi, you need body connection and timing.
Here's the clearest comparison:
Gi emphasis | No gi emphasis |
|---|---|
Sleeve and collar control | Wrist rides, underhooks, collar ties |
Slower grip battles | Faster hand fighting exchanges |
Friction helps hold position | Movement and pressure must do more work |
Guard can pause the action | Scrambles punish slow transitions |
That's why advanced no gi training usually borrows heavily from wrestling. Not because it stops being jiu jitsu, but because wrestling gives you the tools to win the spaces between contact points.
What carries over and what doesn't
Some principles transfer cleanly:
Angle wins exchanges
Head position matters
Inside control still sets up offence
Back exposure remains one of the safest high-value targets
Some habits need adjusting:
Hanging on weak grips stops working quickly.
Playing from too far away creates scramble problems.
Waiting for static positions means you'll always be late.
For athletes training both formats, the benefit is that each one sharpens the other. Gi can improve patience and connection. No gi cleans up urgency, hand fighting, and transitions.
A structured no gi progression
A good no gi pathway should build in layers instead of dropping students straight into leg-lock chaos. The sequence that tends to work best is:
Hand fighting and stance
Body-lock and underhook control
Front headlock and go-behind decisions
Leg entanglement awareness
Back-take and finishing integration
That's the same logic behind the no gi classes at Locals Jiu Jitsu Zetland, and similar training is available at Locals Maroubra. The aim is straightforward: connect your BJJ foundation to wrestling-based entries and modern transitions without skipping the safety and positional control that make them reliable. If you want a broader overview of the format, this guide to no gi jiu jitsu lays out the basics clearly.
No gi doesn't reward indecision. The athletes who improve fastest are usually the ones who simplify first, then add complexity.
Train Smart The Path To A Lifelong BJJ Journey
The most advanced technique in the room might be restraint. Not passivity. Good judgement.
A lot of content around advanced jiu jitsu techniques treats complexity as automatic progress. It isn't. Some movements suit your body and your training season. Others don't. That matters more than people like to admit, especially once training volume rises and you start chasing more specialised positions.
A useful corrective comes from this discussion of advanced BJJ trade-offs. The key point is simple: advanced doesn't automatically mean better for everyone. The most effective advanced game usually matches body type, gym culture, and competition rules. That's mature jiu jitsu. Not every blue belt needs a deep inversion game. Not every older athlete needs heel-hook-heavy rounds as the centrepiece of training. Not every flexible guard player needs to wrestle up from every exchange.
A smarter way to choose what to develop
Ask three questions before you build a new layer into your game:
Does this fit my body? Hip mobility, neck tolerance, previous injuries, and recovery capacity all matter.
Does this fit my ruleset? A move can be brilliant in one format and a poor investment in another.
Does this fit my training environment? Some techniques need very controlled drilling partners and careful pacing to become safe and useful.
That approach keeps your game honest. It also keeps it trainable over years instead of months.
The right advanced game is the one you can repeat, refine, and trust without constantly paying for it with your body.
Longevity is built off the mat too
A lot of mat problems start away from the mat. If your sleep, consistency, and baseline physical prep are unstable, your technical learning gets patchy and your risk climbs. Even a simple outside framework for building a foundation for fitness can help athletes stay more consistent with recovery, movement habits, and general training rhythm.
A sustainable training hierarchy usually looks like this:
Priority | What it protects |
|---|---|
Recovery and sleep | Decision-making and tissue resilience |
Mobility and stability | Safer access to demanding positions |
Technical drilling | Skill acquisition without chaos |
Intentional sparring | Testing systems under control |
Max-intensity rounds | Useful in moderation, costly in excess |
What smart training looks like in practice
For ambitious blue and purple belts, smart training often means:
Choosing rounds with intent: Some rounds are for experimentation. Others are for pressure. Don't confuse the two.
Tapping before damage: Pride slows progress when injuries interrupt your training.
Drilling awkward positions calmly: That's how advanced movements become efficient instead of explosive.
Letting your game narrow before it expands: Depth usually beats variety in the medium term.
If your long-term goal is black belt, then sustainability isn't a side issue. It is the project. The athletes who stay on the mat, stay curious, and stay healthy usually end up far more dangerous than the ones who rush every phase.
If you want to turn isolated moves into a connected game, Locals Jiu Jitsu Zetland offers structured training for students who want clearer decision-making, stronger transitions, and a more durable path through advanced jiu jitsu.
Comments