The Matrix back-take is one of the more commonly-used modern BJJ techniques but it’s gotten quite a lot of attention lately when elite grappler Ronaldo Junior used it at the IBJJF pan-ams and ended up destroying his own knee in the process. As a result, a number of coaches and instructors have weighed in on some minor adjustments that could be made in order to prevent this from happening, most notable among them being one of YouTube’s favorite instructors, Jon Thomas.
Thomas has covered virtually every aspect of BJJ during his time making instructional content to release to the public for free but some of his shorter videos like this can be the most valuable. It isn’t actually as simple as it might seem at first glance, because there’s a lot of moving parts to take into account when performing the Matrix back-take to ensure that you keep your knees safe at all times. Thomas explains three key details to doing this as follows:
- Keeping your opponent’s foot pointed forwards and inwards to make sure they can’t rotate their knee outwards and put pressure on yours.
- Driving into the back of their knee with your heel as opposed to your shin, relieving the pressure on the outside of your knee if they choose to sit down.
- Don’t try to force your opponent into position and instead try to move yourself around them, to avoid putting pressure on your own knee in the process.
The full video breakdown of how to keep your knees safe when doing the Matrix back-take was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Jon Thomas, and can be found below:
