True Fundamentals of Jiu Jitsu

True Fundamentals

It ain’t what you do, it is the way that you do it.

Everybody in Jiu Jitsu agrees we should focus first and foremost on the fundamentals.

If you ask most practicioners what those fundamentals are, they will name you some basic “techniques”; kimura, americana, double leg, armbar, scissor sweep.

This answer will greatly be dependend on the way this person was taught and on his favorite set of techniques.

However, these are not the fundamentals of Jiu Jitsu. And this misunderstanding leads to a lot of injuries, frustration and slow improvement.

True fundamentals of jiu jitsu Wim Deputter BJJ Fundamentals

What are the Fundamentals of Jiu Jitsu?

The Fundamentals of Jiu Jitsu are the same Fundamentals as in any sport or human activity:

-Breathing

-structure

-muscle engagement

-integration of structure and engagement = posture

-angle

-weight distribution

-basic human core motions: hollow spine / curved spine, hip hinge / extension, lateroflexion, shoulder / hip rotation

-basic limb motions: flexion, extension, rotation

-basic grips

-integration of limb and core motion

The integration of all these basics form the “illusive” concept that is CONNECTION. At a first level connection with oneself, at a second level connection of oneself with the enivironement and a third level connection with the body, motion and breathing of your opponent.

Once you are understand that, you will realise that “techniques” are merely pathways to get from a certain point to another in the complex landscape that is Jiu Jitsu.

Always try to see “techniques” as examples or situations where you have to apply and learn your fundamentals. Every next step in Jiu Jitsu is determined first and foremost by the motion of your opponent and secondly by the situation.

If there is no time pressure, you can always just focus on the moment, on yourself and react when the opportunity arises because of the action of your opponent. This is Jiu Jitsu in ideal circumstances without time pressure. This is the setting in which “techniques” should be trained.

If the situation becomes stressed (self defense, last seconds of a lost match, submission getting tighter), there is not always time to wait for the ideal. In this setting you cannot wait for opportunities that present themselves. You have to act fast. Your basic fundamental training will kick in.

If you do not train and focus the proper on fundamentals, your “techniques” will be less effective, you will not see why they failed or succeeded, Jiu Jitsu will stay a a maze of infinite complexity and you will never be truly a safe training partner.

Don’t focus on basic techniques. Focus on the true FUNDAMENTALS.

I wish someone would have told me this when I was 6 and started with gymnastics, repeated it to me when I was 9 and started martial arts, mention it again when I was 18 and my mind a bit more mature, kept hammering it in till today and give me a slap every time I drifted from this path and lost focus on what is important.

December 26, 2022/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, Inspirational

Invisibilest Jiu Jitsu

Rolling with your eyes closed

I often get asked why I close my eyes when rolling / competing.

The answer is very simple. There are four reasons:

1). You feel better. Once you are close, it is all about connection, angle, posture, weight distribution, breathing and pacing.

2). Your eyes deceive you. By closing your eyes you become immune to feints.

3). It calms your nervous system and it prevents it from overloading. Every time you react, your nervous system ininvigets more tired and your reaction time diminishes.

4). Last but not least… it prevents accidental eyepokes

Invisible Jiu Jitsu, taken very literally 😄

Do you roll or compete with your eyes closed?

September 14, 2022/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, BJJ Techniques

The 50/50 Truck – Improve Backtake

The Truck is one of Jiu Jitsu’s most interesting positions and ways to take your opponent’s back.
Mastering the Truck can be one of the quickest ways to improve your level and understanding of Jiu Jitsu.

It’s also one of the more “flashy” positions. So Bonus Points for style 🙂

There are two downsides however:

1). The Truck is a bit complex and can be hard and scary for a beginner to master or even begin.

2). The Truck is a 50/50-like position; you and your opponent have equal options. If you fail in your entry or the opponent simply has better posture, grips, timing or transitions, you end up giving your back instead of taking your opponent’s.

The Drill in this video aims to fix both of these issues by focusing and explaining what happens in the middle part of the Truck.

Understanding the moment where both you and your opponent have equal options is the key to understanding every exchange in Jiu Jitsu and in this case the Truck Backtake.

Equal options for both players, **50/50 Truck**

Have a look at my video and led me hear your thoughts in the comments!

This is part 1 of a new series on the Truck. Stay tuned for part 2 “The Most Complicated Drill in Jiu Jitsu” in the next few days 😉

If you would to see a whole class dedicated to the concept of 50/50 games? I highly recommend you watch the following class as well: “What I learned from Backhold Wrestling”.

March 11, 2022/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, Competition Footage, Pressure Passing

Dealing With Younger Explosive Opponents

“Give the opponent what he wants until he does not want it anymore”

Younger explosive players tend to favor an open guard and distance. Distance is crucial if they want to use their physical attributes to the maximum.

Spider guard is very often the initial open guard that gets used as an initial step towards a more favorable attachment.

The most common way to deal with spiderguard, is to to move away, bring the opponent’s feet to the floor, keep them pinned, make an angle and pass.

This is definately a good valid strategy.

However, spider guard is most often preferred by younger and faster players who tend to be more explosive than the older generation of grapplers.

The last thing I want to give a younger explosive opponent, is the space to move as that is when his physical attributes will shine the most.

My strategy is the opposite.

“Give the opponent what he wants, until he does not want it anymore”, is the pathway of minimal effort and maximum efficiency.

Whenever a foot is placed on my body as a frame, I want to give “a reason” to that foot.
I start to add more pressure to that foot.

This achieves a number of things:
1). The opponent will have to carry my weight, thus making him tired
2). Space is denied, the opponent can’t work
3). There are less options, thus less complexity. The game becomes slower and more predictable.

In order for the opponent to be able to work his game, he needs to create space.
He can achieve this by pushing, framing + walking away or bring you out of balance and move away as you recover the center.

When passing, you have to keep your weight forward (for pressure) and centered for balance.
Once the opponent gets tired, he will react by making an angle. The angle makes the frame of his feet and legs weak. Your constant forward pressure against the now weaker frames, allow you to progress your pass to the next line of defense (knees and arms), where you can repeat the same process again until you pass the opponent’s guard.

You can find an example of this process in action on the video below.

January 17, 2022/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, Teaching BJJ

The Art of Teaching BJJ – Finding balance between Order and Chaos

The Art of Teaching BJJ – Finding balance between Order and Chaos by Wim Deputter

The day I started truly learning Jiu Jitsu, was the day I gave my first private…

“If you want to master something, teach it.

The more you teach, the better you learn.

Teaching is a poweful tool to learning – Richard Feynman”

Once gym’s reopen, I’m going to implement this concept more in my own classes.

I was always allergic to overstructured classes.
Too much order destroys creativity. (wim deputter)
You need creativity for progress and to make an activity fun to begin with.

Too much chaos however will also halt progress as it lacks direction.

If you keep walking circles in the forest, you will never reach an edge.
You need to reach an edge to be able to appreciate the forest as a whole.

Understanding the bigger picture gives you more appreciation for the smaller parts of the system.

Beginners need more order, advanced practicioners in any field need more chaos. Classes should always reflect that.

It’s my (untested) believe that this will also follow the pareto principle; more or less, beginners need 80% of your class structured and guided, 20% free exploring and experts vice versa with gradations in between.

Order needs chaos and chaos needs order. (wim deputter)

But, if I had to choose between one of the other, I would always choose chaos.

Out of chaos you still have good things randomly happen and some degree of order emerges naturally.

Structured chaos as an ideal. (wim deputter)

Just a few months ago I did a podcast with Sonny Brown of The Sonny Brown Breakdown
where we talked about the topic of “Order and Chaos“, among other things. Feel free to check this podcast over here: The Mirroring Principle and Controlled Chaos for Learning

Sonny Brown Breakdown - The Mirroring Principle and Controlled Chaos for Learning With Wim Deputter BJJ Podcast

April 21, 2021/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, BJJ Techniques, Jiu Jitsu Philosophy

Complexity in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and The Unbreakable Arm

Complexity in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

The Unbreakable Arm

When people talk about Posture in Jiu Jitsu, they usually mean “alignement of the spine and back engagement“.

In the following article I will talk about “Arm Posture“; how to engage and move your arm in order to make it seemingly “Unbreakable“.

Complexity in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu BJJ Wim Deputter The Mirroring Principle The Unbreakable Arm Armbar Defense

Jiu Jitsu is seemingly very complex.

Imagine all the possible motions a human-body can make. The number of possible motions, if not unlimited, is at least very high.

Now imagine the number of possible motions your body can make, combined with all the possible motions of another body.

That number is truly insane.

However, there is a way to break down this complexity in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Let’s use chess as an allegory.

Shannon's Number Chess BJJ Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Wim Deputter The Mirroring Principle

A conservative estimate of the amount of chess games possible, is 10^120.

This is more than the total amount of atoms in the visible universe! Shannon’s number.

Even though chess is so complex, it can be understood by breaking down the movements of each individual piece and the rules.

I would dare to argue that the total number of possible jiu jitsu matches is higher than the possible amount of chess games (possible infinite).

And yet, all this complexity arises from just two “groups” (bodies) moving their “pieces” (head, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, hips / core, legs, feet and toes).

Just as chess, Jiu Jitsu is impossible to solve and completely fathom.

Yet, it becomes easier to understand if we look at Jiu Jitsu in therms of the movement of our individual pieces / bodyparts.

First the movement of our bodyparts by themselves, then in combination with eachother and ultimately in combination with our opponents moving bodyparts.

To understand Jiu Jitsu and to be able to teach it better, The movement of the human body can be broken down in

core-, arm- and leg movement.

The core movements are quite easy to understand, and so are the arm and the leg movements.

Indivually, the movement of core, arms and legs are not that complex. But it is in the combination between the movement of our parts and those of our opponent that give rise to the complexity in Brazilian jiu jitsu (and all other movement arts).

In this video I will break down the motion of our arms and the relation between our arm motion and core movement (and hopefully give you an “unbreakable arm”).

In the second part of the video, I will show you how the arm and core motion relate to the armbar attack.

Understanding the armbar as an attack and how our arms and core can move individually and in relation to this attack, makes you both able to do, teach and explain late armbar escapes.
If you have very good late game armbar defense and armbar escapes, if not truly, your arm will at least seem “unbreakable” for all intents and purposes

In that sense “The Unbreakable Arm” is not an ultimate statement, merely a goal.

Want to learn more about the armbar?
Check out the following playlist!

Complexity in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the unbreakable arm

January 26, 2021/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, BJJ Techniques, Competition Footage

The King’s Gambit – Baiting The Triangle Choke

The King’s Gambit – Baiting The Triangle

Chess and BJJ’s most “aggressive” opening

The King's Gambit in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu BJJ Baiting The Triangle Choke Wim Deputter The Mirroring Principle Jiu Jitsu Offensive Defense

Do you want to see Wim Deputter’s way to defend the triangle choke and use it to pass the guard in action and explained? Click here!

“A gambit in chess is a move where you sacrifice material in order to gain structural, positional or other advantage”

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu we have “gambits” as well.
If your defense is well, you can bait your opponent with a submission and use his or her eagerness to your advantage.

My favorite BJJ gambit, the core of my game, and the one I have practically made my “career” on, is baiting the Triangle.

If the Footlock is the sneaky Thief, the Armlock Queen and The Choke King, we can consider baiting the Triangle “The King’s Gambit” of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu”.

Gambit’s can played if you know the position, structure and possibilities well. If you have a system to answer the different reactions the opponent might throw at you.
And all of this has to rest on a solid, systematic defense in case you make a mistake in your system.

For years I have understood the top part of the triangle better than the bottom. My Triangle Choke Defense was better than my choke itself.
I always found it easier to beat the triangle than to finish it. Something was missing on bottom, something didn’t make sense.

I have been willing to make an instructional on this topic for a long time. But to bring something out, you have to understand all aspects to it. One important ‘piece of the puzzle’ was missing on the bottom triangle.

Until today. Today I discovered something new. Something not generally known and used.

I will start filming the next installement of The Mirroring Principle “The King’s Gambit” this week.

And where there is a King there is a “Queen’s Gambit” in the future as well.

“The Thief’s Gambit” is, for now, still a work in progress 😀

Check out the link in bio for an example of “The King’s Gambit” in action.

In the mean time, here you can see an example of The King’s Gambit in action on competition and a basic intro.

December 9, 2020/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, Jiu Jitsu Philosophy

The Four Threats in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (by Wim Deputter)

The Four Threats in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Wim Louis Deputter

There are four ways to make your opponent react to you and guide him or her into making a mistake by Wim Deputter

In BJJ there are four main ways to make your opponent react to you. A properly executed threat, should in general leave your opponent only two options. In the following article I will list these four threats from weakest to strongest.

“Don’t react to your opponent, make your opponent react to you. Reactions can be predicted and taken advantage of.”

Wim Deputter VS Muuig Atlantuig. Photo by Morgane Gielen[/caption]

1) Off balancing:

An opponent out of balance has the choice to let you come on top or recover his balance by posting and pushing back against the force pushing him out of balance.

2) Pressure:

Pressure, when not adressed, will drain your opponent of his stamina. The opponent has to create space either by pushing (bad) or framing, bridging and hip- or shoulderescaping.

3) A lock:

The threat of a lock blocks your opponent from moving in one direction and gradually forces him into the opposite direction.
The opponent has the choice between going with the direction of the force or possibly injurying a limb.

4) A choke:

The choke is the king of the four threats in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

While a lock can be ignored at the price of possible injury, a properly executed choke has to be adressed. The opponent has the choice between defending his neck, with his hands or by turning his chin in, or passing out.
In a roll outside of a competition environment, were time and points act as an external oppressor, the threat of a sweep or takedown can be largely ignored.

You only lose position.

Pressure can be ignored for a good amount of time, until you are completely drained.
With a lock you still have the ‘choice’ of risking your limb.

A properly executed choke is the only threat were all choice is taken away.

Like I remember Chris Haueter saying in his speech at the BJJ Globetrotters Camp: “When possible, always be choking”.

This is one of my older articles that I wrote in the past and got uploaded by multiple Brazilian Jiu Jitsu related websites. I will first post all of my older articles, after which I plan to start writing on the regular again.
If you enjoy my articles and video’s, please subscribe to my email list, free of charge and spam 😉

Do you want to suggest a topic for a new article? Leave a reply in the comments or write me.

Wim Deputter

Pressure, being one of the four threats in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, is something you will have to learn how to deal with. That’s is exactly what my instructional ‘A General Introduction to the Mirroring Principle and the Baby Bridge’ was designed to do; a postural approach on defending and dealing with pressure. Tired of suffering on bottom and getting smashed? Be sure to check it out!

Wim Deputter ‘A General Introduction of The Mirroring Principle and The Baby Bridge’

December 4, 2020/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, BJJ Techniques

The hidden framework of Jiu Jitsu (a bjj hack by Wim Deputter)

The hack to make you understand Jiu Jitsu and improve faster

There is a hidden framework in Jiu Jitsu. The red line through all of your techniques. The bjj unifying principle that all techniques have in common. Learn this and it’s like a hack that makes you understand jiu jitsu faster.

What do all techniques have in common?

The way your core, your body moves.

Wim Deputter Mirroring Principle BJJ Fanatics The hidden framework of jiu jitsu the hack to make you understand BJJ and improve faster hack to improve faster in bjj

Watch this short video by Wim Deputter and learn the hidden hack!

In jiu jitsu we have to learn to exert strenght with our core. Our frames (arms and legs) are merely conductors that transmit the pressure from our core to our opponent. If we keep our frames rigid and our body connected, every movement we make, will be felt by our opponent.

If we realize that movement is so important, it makes sense that we have to move as efficient as possible. The most effective way to apply pressure on our opponent, is by using rotation from the core.
If our frames are conductors, then our core is like a battery; it’s the one part of our body that can generate strength most efficiently with minimal exercition.

In this video I will show you how to rotate as effectively as possible. It is shown here from a defensive perspective. The challenge for you is to see the applications in offense and reactions on top that counter it.

This is a perfect introduction to my BJJ Fanatics instructional: ‘A General Introduction to the Mirroring Principle and the Babybridge’.

In the next video, you can see an example of how this sequence can by used offensively by Cody Maltais.

A common problem, and serious threat, when holding the guillotine in bottom side control, is the Von Flue Choke. Cody shows how you can not only use the Babybridge to defend the Von Flue Choke, but also use ‘Head – Shoulder – Knees and Toes’ sequence, to get back to your knees, while mantaining the guillotine. This way you can keep a constant threat.

Be sure to check out the rest of my channel. Don’t forget to give a thumbs up and subscribe!
If you see other applications of this concept or anything else I show on my channel, feel free to send me 🙂

November 13, 2020/by wim_deputter

BJJ Concepts, Jiu Jitsu Philosophy

There are no “bad positions” in Jiu Jitsu… (Offensive Defense))

Wim Deputter doing specific leglock training with Steven Royakkers

“Have as much fun defending from ‘bad’ positions as you have attacking from ‘good’ positions. Panicking, spazzing and disconnecting are the opposite of what is jiu jitsu.
You are on this mat to learn jiu jitsu.
No matter if you are in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ position, you can still be doing jiu jitsu.”

Who is "attacking" and who is "defending" in this photo? The '"fireman" position is one of the pillars in "The Mirroring Principle" Click photo for more info.

Who is “attacking” and who is “defending” in this photo? The ‘”fireman” position is one of the pillars in Wim Deputter’s “Mirroring Principle”

That is the first piece of advice I give beginners on my mat these days. And, if I could go back in time, it is the one piece of advice I would give to my white belt self.

Offensive Defense – Defensive Offense

There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ positions in jiu jitsu.
Only positions you know what to do or don’t know what to do.

In some positions you can be less mistakes away from tapping than your opponent.
But if you don’t make mistakes and do the right thing at the right time, you can make every position work.

By truly believing that, you are more inclined to look up “weird” or “losing” positions.
This gives you a better chance to fight from those weird positions than people who hold dogmatic believes.

The photo below was taken at a seminar I taught at Kaiser Sports in Olzstyn, Poland last year. Take a close look at the exact armbar position of Przemysław (partner on bottom).

Wim Deputter teaching armbar defense at Kaiser Sports in Olzstyn, Poland

It’s hard to believe, but from everything that I “discovered” so far the last few years, it’s actually harder to finish the submission here, than it is to escape (given no mistakes are made).

Often when people think about escaping, they think about disconnecting and getting away from the “dangerous” position.
By doing this, you will get at best a reset to a neutral position.

“Offensive defense” means staying connected. Don’t try to get away from, but instead, spend time in the “dangerous” positions.
Figure the positions out and try to solve them, not escape or break them. Make defense seamlessy transition into offense and bypass the neutral reset. Find the logic in every position.

The more disconnected two grapplers are, the more possibilities of movement there are, the more chaos.
Explosive and strong people hold a significant advantage over weaker people in most grappling related circumstances. The more disconnected a position is, the exponentially bigger that advantage is. The more connection, the least possibilities and chaos. More connection means more predictable. The more predictable the situation, the more the methodical technical grappler can shine.

Wim Deputter rolling at the BJJ Globetrotters Zen Camo in Talinn Estonia

If you have a good understanding of back defense, playing “panda” is easier than it looks. Click the photo for The Mirroring Principle “Backdefense and being offensive with someone on your back”.

Offensive Defense
Offense is starting from a ‘good’ position and slowly working your way towards a ‘better’ position. Defense is starting from a ‘bad’ position and slowly working your way towards a ‘better’ position. Both offense and defense are a battle for improvement and they meet in the neutral point were neither holds an advantage.
From this perspective, there is no difference between offense and defense.
You can’t teach offense without being aware of the defense, you can’t teach defense without being aware of the offense. Stay connected and realize they are both one and the same.

Click here to learn more about “The Mirroring Principle” and the concept of “Offensive Defense”. (FREE)

November 5, 2020/by wim_deputter