For decades, competitors in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu have been taught a familiar idea: fundamentals mean escapes.

And hours are spent learning how to survive mount, back control, and side control.

But Lachlan Giles believes that mindset may actually be hurting competitors.

In a recent discussion on the BJJ Mental Models Podcast, Giles challenged one of the sport’s most common training habits:

I think for fundamentals for a competitor, if you actually want to compete, spending a lot of time learning how to escape out of bad positions is not really a great use of your time.

Basically, if someone has had your guard passed or you are stuck under side control, mount or the back, it is an extremely hard task to come back and win that match.

He isn’t suggesting athletes ignore defense.
Instead, he argues competitors should shift their defensive focus earlier in the sequence:

Time spent preventing that from happening is probably a better use of your time rather than spending a lot of time actually getting good at getting out of those positions.

To illustrate the concept, Giles pointed to Rafa Mendes who rarely allowed himself to fall behind in the first place:

There was one match, but otherwise I basically have not seen him ever under side control, anyone on his back or anyone past his guard.

Would it be to his benefit or his detriment if, when you started him out in Jiu-Jitsu, he spent 80 percent of his time escaping out of bad positions?
Or would it have been better to take someone like that and go, okay, you are going to be spending most of your time playing guard?

Let us start you there and get you good at keeping it there and prevent them from passing…

In competition, once points are awarded, the match changes dramatically:

Defense before you have actually been scored on in a competition… You are still in the match.

That’s why Giles prioritizes preventative skills – guard retention and denying hooks – rather than late escapes:

The things that you can do before you are scored on are just much better.

Defending hooks from the back is a better skill set for a competitor than being really good at escaping once someone has hooks, because now they have the hooks and they have their points.

It is a very difficult task to not only escape, but then come back and actually get yourself ahead on the scoreboard or submit your opponent.

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