Roger Gracie: You’re Training Jiu-Jitsu the Wrong Way

Overview

Roger Gracie explains how he believes people should train Brazilian jiu-jitsu, emphasizing dominance and control. He argues that jiu-jitsu is difficult because it contains many variations of attacks, but he believes the objective remains consistent:

• Dominate the opponent
• Achieve control
• Secure a submission

Most Dominant Positions

In Gracie’s view, the most dominant positions are:

• Mount
• Back control

He suggests that reaching these positions represents the fight’s “end of the line,” because the likely next step is submission, rather than further positional improvement.

Strategy After Control

Once control is established, Gracie says the main focus becomes submissions.

From Mount

He notes common submission opportunities from mount, especially:

• Arm locks
  • Particularly the arm lock #1 he references
• Chokes
  • Specifically mentioning the Ezekiel choke or cross choke

However, he claims chokes are rarer from mount because arm attacks are more available, while chokes are harder to finish.

Persistence and Balanced Training

Gracie also discusses the importance of persistence and balanced training.

• He attributes his ability to finish from mount to years of development.
• He observes that opponents often improve their offense while neglecting defense.
• He trains offense and defense with equal time.

He describes structured practice where:

• One person attempts a goal (e.g., holding mount)
• The other works to reverse the position

This approach, he says, helps keep training effective for everyone—not only for a specific style or training partner.

Sparring vs. “Specific Training”

Gracie contrasts full sparring with “specific training.”

He argues that sparring alone may not provide enough repetition to truly develop skills, because against skilled partners, mount attempts may last only briefly. Instead, he recommends specific drills to build technical mastery.

Competition Preparation

When preparing for competition, he says he does not obsess over studying opponents to create rigid strategies. He believes fights often unfold differently than planned.

Instead, he focuses on:

• Implementing his own game
• Adapting only as the opponent’s actions become clear
• Prioritizing effort and execution over pre-planned scenarios

Presenters / Sources

• Roger Gracie