There’s so many techniques in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. You’ll never be able to learn them all, not even if you spent every single hour of every single day learning them. So, your best bet is to get extremely good at some of these techniques and positions; especially the high percentage ones, as they mean more of a likelihood for success.
And, well, there’s no higher percentage position to establish than the back control. For, if you take the opponent’s back, you’re putting them on the absolute defensive. There’s no way that they’ll be able to attack you from here (just don’t cross your feet), as all they can think about is not getting submitted.
John Danaher shares more on why finding and taking the back in Jiu-Jitsu is the best single instinct that you can develop:
Sometimes the action in Jiu-Jitsu can unfold very quickly and it’s not always clear in the time available where we should be going in the midst of the action.
That’s when instincts tend to kick in. Some are good, some are bad , but there is one that’s ALWAYS great – THE INSTINCT TO FIND THE BACK IN POSSIBLE SITUATION.
He emphasizes that you need to build your proficiency around this skill:
The back is the single most dominant position in grappling, the highest scoring and the best for setting up submissions. BUILD AN INSTINCT TO FIND THE BACK FROM EVERYWHERE and you’ll always be headed in the right direction regardless of where you are or where you’re going.
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