It can often be difficult for BJJ practitioners to develop their takedowns, but there’s a lot that can be learned from both wrestling and Judo. Which standing grappling art you choose to learn will likely depend on whether you’re practicing BJJ primarily in the gi or no gi. There’s a lot of similarities found between wrestling and Judo, but the different rulesets that the sports use have also resulted in several huge differences between them as well. It’s important to learn how to dive deep into both of these sports and adapt the techniques that are found so that they can be used effectively in BJJ competition.

How To Learn Wrestling Or Judo For BJJ

There are a number of different ways to develop standing grappling for BJJ, including dropping in to Judo or wrestling classes or buying instructionals from experienced practitioners. When you’re presented with the wide range of options that are available, it can seem daunting at first. That’s why so many BJJ practitioners simply abandon the idea of working on their takedowns altogether and start pulling guard instead. Pulling guard is a big part of the sport and a completely viable tactic but there’s a lot of value behind learning how to take someone else down too, whether you’re practicing BJJ for competition or for self-defense purposes.

Learning Judo For BJJ In The Gi

The fact that traditional BJJ competition is contested wearing a gi automatically means that there’s more cross-over with Judo than there is with wrestling. Something as simple as collar and sleeve grips change the whole nature of standing grappling, and using them to launch opponents into the air is something that Judoka are well-versed in. There’s a lot more to Judo than just that though of course, and a lot of the smaller nuances of the sport can often be lost on new practitioners. Because of that, it’s best to break the sport down to it’s smaller elements in order to start introducing it into your regular BJJ practice without getting overwhelmed with information.

Learn The Value Of Footsweeps

Footsweeps are a key element of Judo that many BJJ practitioners end up overlooking. The problem is that they don’t look as aesthetically-pleasing as a huge throw, and they can be difficult to get used to when you first start practicing. That means that practitioners often try them a handful of times and abandon them very quickly in favor of more attractive or easier techniques. Footsweeps are incredibly useful though, and not just because they are undeniably among the lowest-risk and most energy-efficient takedowns available. When practitioners get competent at footsweeps, they’ll find themselves manipulating their opponents much easier and the opportunities for other takedowns suddenly reveal themselves.

Practice Your Kuzushi (Off-balancing)

Kuzushi is one of the key foundational principles of Judo and although it’s a general concept that is used in wrestling as well, it’s more pronounced thanks to the use of the gi in Judo and BJJ. It’s essentially the way that Judoka successfully set up their throws, by breaking an opponent’s posture or taking them off-balance. Making sure that you use the gi to push and pull the opponent into position for takedowns will immediately increase your chances of success even if everything else remains the same. This is also why footsweeps are such a valuable tool, because even a failed footsweep can force an opponent into the right position for another throw.

Gripfight, Gripfight, Gripfight

Gripfighting is one of the most important aspects of standing grappling because winning the gripfight will often lead to winning the whole exchange. It can seem overwhelming at first because there are so many different grips available to both you and your opponent, and so many different ways of breaking those grips. The best approach is to figure out the grips that you want first, and then deny everything your opponent wants. In an ideal world you would take the grips you want and perform the throw you’re attempting, but you will need to break any grips that they lay on you at the same time.

Learning Wrestling For No Gi BJJ

BJJ without a gi is slightly different, in that the standing grappling exchanges have more in common with wrestling than they do with Judo. Anyone watching high-level no gi matches will see a lot more shooting for double-legs, battling in the clinch, and pummeling for underhooks than they would if those two competitors were wearing a gi. This is even more pronounced thanks to the fact that the most prestigious no gi tournament is the ADCC world championship, and it uses a ruleset that heavily encourages working for takedowns over pulling guard.

Don’t Be Afraid To Engage

Wrestling can often seem more intimidating than Judo, particularly when the techniques from those sports are used within BJJ and submissions are available. A large part of why wrestlers dominate the standing exchanges with BJJ practitioners, aside from pure experience, is their willingness to engage and push the pace. Their sport teaches them to maintain a high level of action at all times, whereas BJJ is often contested at a considerably slower pace. Being afraid to engage against someone when standing is a recipe for disaster, as it gives them much more time to attack. The best approach in training is to commit the takedown you’re trying to work and if it goes wrong, try it again next time. Don’t waste time disengaging and then never get the chance to attempt it at all.

Wrestle Up Too

One of the most interesting parts of the relationship between wrestling and BJJ is the concept of wrestling up from bottom position. BJJ practitioners are often taught to re-guard from bad positions and sweep their opponents from guard to a top position, but that isn’t the only option. Instead, you can wrestle up to standing from a bad position or guard and immediately find yourself in the final stages of a takedown. This is actually one of the most effective methods of improving takedowns from standing too, because it increases the amount of time spent in those positions and allows grapplers to perfect everything that comes after the initial entry.

Re-wrestle And Don’t Settle For Less

Along with being afraid to engage, abandoning after an initial failure is one of the most common problems when BJJ practitioners start wrestling. A failed shot can often lead to submission attempts from an opponent and the threat of that can be enough to force people to shell up and simply start defending from a bad position. While this reaction is certainly tempting, it only guarantees failure. It’s far better to develop the ability to continue driving for the takedown and fighting to finish it after the initial entry, along with chaining takedowns together so that you can turn a failed shot into a successful takedown in the end.

Top Tips For Learning Wrestling Or Judo For BJJ

Although there are some aspects of Judo and wrestling that are completely different thanks to the uniform and ruleset, there are plenty of similarities that require the same approach when adapting them for BJJ. After all, both sports focus heavily on standing grappling and there are a huge number of techniques that are virtually the same but with minor adjustments thanks to the gi, or lack thereof. Whether you choose to start learning wrestling or judo, or even both, there are some key tips that will help you include them within BJJ for either competition or self-defense.

Learn One Technique At A Time, In Sequence

Anyone who has already reached a colored-belt level in BJJ should already be familiar with this concept, but sadly not everyone will be. There are dozens of different base takedowns and each one has hundreds of different variations and set-ups that can often make them seem like completely different techniques. Trying to learn 5 different things at once can be confusing, and practically impossible unless you’re training full-time in the sport. It’s far easier to break down one technique at a time and move on to the next in a sequence of attacks once you can reliably land the first one. Otherwise you might end up knowing how to a dozen attacks in theory, but none in practice.

Find A Partner To Drill With

A lot of BJJ gyms simply don’t have the mat-space to teach Judo or wrestling to their students in regular classes, but the majority of them will have open mats regardless. Going to open mats, or even just arriving early for class, is a great way to improve your ability in an area that you’ve chosen to practice. Rather than relying on your coach to eventually get round to showing you how to take someone down, find a like-minded practitioner in your gym who also wants to develop their standing grappling. Arrange to attend the gym together at a time that is quieter and start drilling your takedowns together; that extra time is going to pay off very quickly.

Start Standing At Every Opportunity

Even though a lot of gyms will start from specific positions due to the aforementioned limited mat-space, that doesn’t mean that there will never be enough room to start from standing. There will always be quieter classes with enough room to develop your takedowns in sparring, but many practitioners maintain the habit of starting from grounded positions regardless. Take advantage of those times and ask your training partners to start from standing whenever there is enough room. This will not only give you valuable time spent working on your takedowns in a live scenario, but it’s also good practice for anyone looking to replicate competition.

Judo And Wrestling Are Useful, But You’re Still Doing BJJ

Both Judo and wrestling are fantastic sports in their own right and they both have a lot in common with BJJ, but neither one of them is completely effective in the sport. Among other differences, Judo does not allow leg-grabs and wrestling does not allow submissions. Those two factors alone completely change the way the game is played and as a result, not everything you learn in those sports will be useful for BJJ. If you’re a BJJ practitioner who’s goal is to learn takedowns for that sport then it’s important to make sure that whatever you’re taking from Judo or Wrestling is actually useful, or that you’re making the necessary adjustments to make it useful.

Don’t Be Afraid To Mix Judo And Wrestling Together In BJJ

Just because Judo has more in common with BJJ in the gi and wrestling has more in common with no gi BJJ, doesn’t mean that the reverse isn’t useful too. There are plenty of cases of footsweeps being used in high-level no gi grappling competition and of double and single-legs being used in gi grappling. Don’t limit yourself to the form of standing grappling that seems immediately obvious however you do BJJ, but learn from the other as well. Combining techniques from both Judo and wrestling leads to a much more well-rounded standing grappling game, something that is vital for anyone doing a grappling sport with a more open ruleset like BJJ.

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