Principle 1: Connection
Preventing, promoting or predicting your opponent’s movement using the 32 methods of connection
If jiu-jitsu is the language, then connection is the alphabet.
There are at least 32 connections that we seek to optimize in jiu-jitsu. Once you master them, there is no limit to what you can accomplish.
The purpose of any connection, or combination of connections, typically falls into one of three categories:
movement prevention,
movement promotion,
movement prediction
Each connection is actualized via push or pull, and in some cases, simultaneous pushing and pulling.
When a connection is facilitated by gravity, we call it pressure.
Principle 2: Detachment
Achieving optimal efficiency in transitions through deliberate disconnection from your opponent
You have to know when to let go.
Timely detachments from your opponent can be used to maintain control, lure your opponent into a submission, survive an attack, build momentum, and more.
The most challenging aspect of this principle is the need to overcome the internal struggle that invariably occurs every time you need to release something of value in order to get or keep something of greater value.
Principle 3: Distance
Neutralizing the application of a technique against you by disrupting the optimal distance from which it is applied.
We initially learn about distance in the context of a street fight:
“Whoever manages the distance manages the damage.”
This principle also applies in non-striking encounters.
Once you understand the optimal distance required for the successful application of any technique, you can use that understanding to disrupt the opponent’s distance and neutralize their effectiveness.
submission,
sweep,
guard pass,
positional advancement,
escape,
etc
Principle 4: Pyramid
Optimizing connections with the ground and with your opponent to maximize balance and control at all times
Successful employment of this principle requires constant awareness of your center of gravity and your connections to the ground and your opponent.
Just like a pyramid that remains firmly grounded from every attack angle, our goal is to maintain optimal base and control in every position.
Principle 5: Creation
Using targeted actions to force specific reactions in your favor.
Jiu-jitsu is a game of counter-attacks.
If your opponent gives you an opening, take it.
If your opponent does not give you an opening, then create it with an action that triggers an exploitable response.
Regardless of the form – direct threats, decoys, disruptions, distractions, etc. – the underlying goal remains the same:
“be first, and be third.”
Principle 6: Acceptance
accept the inevitability of an action so that you are best prepared for the outcome.
Jiu-jitsu is a game of constant movement and endless transitions.
In some cases, full resistance to the opponent's action is warranted.
But, in cases where the opponent's action is unstoppable and the outcome is inevitable, it can be beneficial to yield, rather than resist,
to achieve a submission, maintain control, survive an attack, and more.
The sooner you yield to an inevitable outcome, the sooner you can prepare your mind and body for the resulting circumstances.
Principle 7: Velocity
Constantly changing your operational speed to confuse and overwhelm your opponent.
If you’re always fast, you risk losing control of your opponent.
If you’re always slow, your opponent can predict your next move.
By frequently alternating between “fast and loose” and “slow and tight” grappling styles, you will keep your opponent guessing and increase your probability of success.
Whoever says “go” in a race, always has the advantage at the start.
Principle 8: Clock
Disrupting the anticipated timing of your opponent’s techniques to reduce or eliminate their effectiveness.
Just as every technique has an optimal distance for execution, every technique also has an optimal timing for its completion.
When you understand the techniques being used against you, you can take control of the “clock” to disrupt their timing and supplant their desired outcome with your own.
Clock Principle applications are generally defensive, and you disrupt timing by either slowing down or speeding up your opponent’s clock.
Often, disrupting your opponent’s clock by one or two seconds is enough to completely derail a technique!
Principle 9: River
Bypassing resistance by flowing around it.
When your path is obstructed, efficiently flow around the obstacle by following the path of least resistance.
Your objective may change as the situation changes during positional advancements, escapes, submissions, and energy recovery opportunities.
The key is to flow like water to find a new path around the obstacle without sacrificing the progress achieved during the previous attempts.
The river water wastes no energy focusing on the rock, but rather all of its energy where the rock is not.
Principle 10: Frame
Substituting muscular strength with skeletal structure from every position in the fight.
When the goal is to preserve or create space between you and your opponent, use skeletal structure instead of muscular strength and endurance.
Use one or more limbs to create open or closed frames.
Open frames consist of one limb supporting the opposing force by precisely aligning along the limb’s skeletal axis.
Closed frames connect two or more limbs and require less strength and precision.
Above all, frames increase your energy efficiency, and decrease the need to match your opponent’s physical strength.
Principle 11: Kuzushi
Breaking your opponent’s balance in your favor.
For takedowns and sweeps, breaking your opponent’s balance is the most essential component for success.
For other techniques – including many submissions or escapes – breaking the opponent’s balance is a valuable enhancement, particularly in making the technique more effective against a larger, more athletic opponent.
Regardless of the application, at the core of any successful Kuzushi Principle application is a sound understanding of the relationship between the opponent’s based points and their center of gravity.
Principle 12: Reconnaissance
Gathering information about your opponent’s behaviour for use against them.
Half of what you need to defeat your opponent, you’ll learn before the fight;
the other half you will learn during the fight.
In every exchange, the Reconnaissance Principle calls for you to observe and exploit your opponent’s habitual and instinctive responses.
Learn to use feints to elicit responses.
Every exchange, regardless of outcome, is an opportunity to learn something about your opponent that you can later use against them.
Principle 13: Prevention
Putting your opponent’s objectives before your own to prevent their progress.
The Prevention Principle is a core tenet of self-defense because it disrupts your opponent’s ability to achieve their objective.
It applies to offensive, and defensive positions.
The goal is to provoke an overreaction that creates an opportunity for you to counter their action.
Successful application of this principle rests on your knowledge of the technique your opponent is attempting to execute
– you cannot prevent that which you do not understand.
Principle 14: Tension
Capitalizing on the offensive and defensive opportunities enabled by tension.
The tension between two connection points creates vulnerabilities and opportunities.
From breaking your opponent’s grip to breaking your opponent’s balance, your understanding of this principle will determine whether tension is an asset or a liability
Principle 15: Fork
Creating positional dilemmas that force your opponent to choose how they lose.
A forked position creates two or more “prongs” of opportunity.
The Fork Principle forces your opponent to choose between a submission, sweep, takedown, pass, reversal, positional advancement, or a combination
The River and Fork Principles are similar, but one is reactive and the other is proactive.
The River Principle applies to an open, free flowing situation in which you react to obstacles by flowing around them.
The Fork Principle actively limits your opponent’s options causing them to flow into positions in which you will determine the outcome.
Principle 16: Posture
Neutralizing a technique by disrupting the optimal posture from which it is applied.
Whether standing or on the ground, on top or on bottom, on offense or on defense, there is always an optimal body position from which to initiate a particular technique.
Like the Distance Principle (where we disrupt distance) and the Clock Principle (where we disrupt timing), the Posture Principle disrupts the opponent’s optimal body position to drastically reduce their ability to execute the technique.
Ultimately, our goal is always to apply our strongest postures against our opponent’s weakest postures.
Principle 17: False Surrender
Feigning surrender so that your opponent lets their guard down.
In combat, most of our actions are predicated on what we perceive to be the mental state of our opponent.
If our opponent is over aggressive and over confident, we will often take a defensive posture and mindset.
Alternatively, when our opponent is tired, exhausted or weakened, we are more likely to make our advances.
With this in mind, it's easy to see how feigning compliance or surrender in a specific situation can lure your opponent into making a move that you are not only anticipating, but prepared to capitalize on.
Like a magician’s use of misdirection, your success with this principle lies in your understanding of human nature, and the ability to disguise your true intentions.
On offense, this principle is often used to overcome a strong focused defense by luring the opponent into a false sense of security.
On defense, this principle can be used to conserve energy and create escape opportunities when movement is heavily contested.
Principle 18: Depletion
Draining your opponent’s physical and mental energy using targeted actions and connections.
In a fight, the rate of energy depletion is often the key deciding factor in determining who will win and who will lose.
Consequently, your main objective should always be to burn energy at a slower rate than your opponent, and there are two ways to accomplish this:
1) invest in techniques that burn less of your energy,
2) invest in techniques that burn more of your opponent’s energy.
Once mastered, the Depletion Principle can be applied from every position in the fight (offensive and defensive) to drain your opponent’s energy and break their spirit, one frustrating connection at a time.
Principle 19: Isolation
Tactically containing of one or more of your opponent’s limbs for your advantage.
Whether used for the finalization of a submission, the neutralization of your opponent’s defensive structure, or the impediment of movement, the Isolation Principle is about gaining a resource advantage through the restriction of mobility.
All joint lock techniques require the targeted limb to be isolated and restricted from pressure releasing mobility.
Precedingly, the Isolation Principle can be applied to neutralize a defending asset.
Finally, the Isolation Principle can be used to control an opponent by restricting the mobility of the limb that might be used to actualize an escape.
Principle 20: Sacrifice
Giving up something of actual or perceived value to gain a tactical advantage in another form.
When progress is not possible in using convention methods, you might consider making a sacrifice.
As in the game of chess, a sacrifice play can be a surprising and elegant solution to making progress out of a difficult situation.
By dangling a decoy opportunity in front of your opponent (e.g. a submission opportunity or positional advancement opportunity), you will incentivize them to move in a specific direction that, if timed right, you can take advantage of.
Although there are no limits to what the Sacrifice Principle can help you accomplish (escapes, submission, counters, sweeps, etc.), you must be careful, because if you dangle the decoy for too long it may lead to your demise.
Principle 21: Momentum
Capitalizing on mass in motion to maximize efficiency against your opponent.
Momentum can be used to facilitate movement while conserving energy in a fight.
In some instances, the momentum exists, in others, it needs to be created using one or more additional principles.
Like all principles, there is no limit to what positions, or for what objectives, the Momentum Principle can be applied from.
Sometimes the smallest amount of momentum is all you need to make something out of nothing.
Principle 22: Pivot
Increasing the effectiveness of a technique by changing the angle of its application.
Angles are everything in jiu-jitsu.
By merely changing the angle of any technique, you can increase (or decrease) its:
leverage, control, base, tightness, and more.
Oftentimes when you learn a specific technique, you learn it from a single angle, such that when the angle changes in real-life application, the technique no longer works.
Upon adopting the Pivot Principle, you will have the ability to explore angle-change opportunities more naturally and with greater frequency so that your techniques remain effective, even when your opponent does something other than that which you specifically trained for.
Principle 23: Tagalong
Seizing the “free rides” in the fight to save your energy while depleting the opponent’s.
Discomfort creates movement, and movement creates transitions, and transitions create opportunity if you own the Tagalong Principle.
Often times you can reduce your energy by half (or more) by using your opponent’s movements to achieve your objectives.
To maximize the frequency and quality of the free rides available to you in transitions, you need to maximize the “stickiness” of your entire body, and this requires optimal application of the 32 methods of connection demonstrated in Principle 1.
Submissions, sweeps, escapes … everything is easier when the Tagalong Principle is part of your arsenal.
Principle 24: Overload
Disproportionate application of your resources to target a specific part of your opponent’s body.
Just as multiple attackers have a significant advantage against a single person in a street fight, the Overload Principle gives you a significant advantage over a single part of your opponent’s body.
Whether you are using two more limbs to control a single limb of your opponent’s (outnumbering),
or you are using the weight of your entire torso to control the chin of your opponent (overpowering),
the underlying goal in every application of the Overload Principle is to give you an “unfair advantage” over your opponent
Principle 25: Anchor
Pinning any part of your or your opponent’s body to a surface to inhibit mobility
Sometimes referred to as “pinning” or “stapling,” the Anchor Principle is a powerful way to achieve optimal control of your opponent in both offensive and defensive positions.
“Anchoring” falls into six categories:
1) you to the surface,
2) opponent to the surface,
3) you to yourself,
4) opponent to you,
5) you to your opponent,
6) opponent to themselves.
An anchor is either “direct” or “indirect.”
Direct anchors control the target with direct contact while indirect anchors achieve control using an intermediary connection.
Principle 26: Ratchet
Creating persistent incremental advancements in one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction.
A ratchet is a mechanical device that allows incremental linear or rotary motion in one direction, while preventing motion in the opposite direction.
In jiu-jitsu, we use “macro ratchets” and “micro ratchets.”
Macro ratchets pertain to advancements of your entire body, while micro ratchets pertain to advancements of a specific body part.
The Ratchet Principle, like the River Principle, is rooted in persistence.
While the River Principle is like water flowing around a problem, the Ratchet Principle is akin to a snake squeezing the life out of its prey with each exhalation.
Principle 27: Buoyancy
Capitalizing on offensive and defensive surfacing opportunities throughout the fight.
Buoyancy is the upward force that prevents an object in a fluid from sinking.
In a fight, buoyancy is the natural tendency for the person on bottom to try to get up.
From the bottom, successful application of the Buoyancy Principle will either result in you surfacing or it will trigger an exploitable response from your opponent.
From the top, you can use the principle to lure your opponent into a submission or use it to advance your position.
It’s easier to set traps if you know when and where your opponent is going.
Principle 28: Head Control
Controlling your opponent’s head to limit or direct their movement.
Where the head goes, the body will follow;
where the head can’t go, neither can the body.
The head has more influence over a person’s posture, mobility and balance than any other body part.
The most common head control methods are
twisting, turning, tilting, framing, hugging, pulling, pushing, or pinning.
Offensively, you can use your opponent’s head to
break their balance, contain and control escapes, and enhance submissions.
Defensively, understanding head control helps you to recognize escape and reversal opportunities, and to avoid strikes through distance management.
Principle 29: Redirection
Reducing your opponent’s effectiveness by controlling the direction of their energy.
There are two primary ways to redirect energy:
1) change the angle of impact, or
2) intercept the energy.
In the best cases, successful redirection of your opponent’s energy will create an opportunity for you to launch an effective counter attack.
But, at the very least, the redirection will stifle your opponent’s technique, deplete their energy and frustrate them in the process.
The Redirection Principle epitomizes the adage “use your opponent’s energy against them.”
Principle 30: Mobility
Moving yourself when your opponent can’t be moved.
Jiu-jitsu employs many highly efficient, leverage-based techniques to move and manipulate an opponent’s body.
However, sometimes these techniques simply don’t work against a much larger or strongly positioned opponent.
The Mobility Principle solves these problems.
Any time you can’t move your opponent when attempting a sweep, submission, escape, guard pass, or takedown, try circling, sliding, separating, swinging, pulling, shrimping, or spinning to achieve your objective.
Bottom line, when you can’t move them, move you.
Principle 31: Centerline
Limiting your opponent’s potential by taking control of their centerline.
Chess masters aim to control the center of the board, UFC champions aim to control the center of the octagon, and we aim to control the center of our opponent’s body.
You can apply this principle from every position.
We use two methods – “splitting” and “breaking” – to compromise the opponent’s centerline.
A split prevents the opponent’s appendages from crossing from one side to the other.
A break traps both appendages in one quadrant.
Splits and breaks make the Centerline Principle especially powerful for setting up submissions against skilled adversaries.
Principle 32: Grandmaster
Using the 32 Principles to continuously improve jiu-jitsu.
From a very young age, the Grandmaster constantly evolved the techniques of jiu-jitsu to accommodate his frail physique.
His lifetime commitment to continuously improving the art epitomizes this most important principle
– the unceasing pursuit of efficiency in combat.
to improve the art through principle-based exploration, experimentation, modification, and creation
