Technique Library
Positions, problems and the concepts underneath them
Organised by the problem you are trying to solve, not by an alphabetical list of moves. Every entry states the objective, the mechanics, the common errors and the risks, and none of it replaces a qualified coach watching you do it.
Safety
Written material cannot see your body, your training partner or your injury history. Submissions, neck exposure, leg entanglements and inversions carry real risk and several of them injure people quietly over years rather than immediately. Learn these with a qualified coach present, start at low intensity with a cooperative partner, and stop when something feels wrong rather than when it hurts.
Guard
Bottom / control
Closed Guard
Breaking posture, controlling the head and the inside space, and why the position collapses the moment your knees separate without a reason.
Bottom / distance
Open Guard
Managing distance with feet, knees and grips. The umbrella term that hides most of the difficulty in modern no-gi.
Bottom / underhook
Half Guard
The knee shield, the underhook battle, and the difference between holding half guard and being flattened in it.
Bottom / elevation
Butterfly Guard
Hooks, posture and the connection that has to exist before any elevation is possible. Position before lift.
Bottom / frames
Guard Retention
Frames, angles and distance treated as one system. The most transferable skill on this list.
Bottom / escape
Guard Recovery
Recovering guard is not the same as escaping a pin, and confusing the two is why people get stuck under side control.
Passing and top
Top / structure
Passing Fundamentals
Headquarters, connection and the knee line. Why passing fails before it looks like it is failing.
Top / wrestling
Rear Body Lock
Closing space and taking the back from the feet or from the pass.
Top / finish
Back Control
Seat belt, hooks, chest connection, and holding the position against a competent escape.
Bottom / survival
Escapes
Getting out from under pins. Structure and framing first, explosiveness a distant second.
Neutral / entries
Wrestling for BJJ
Level change, contact and the adjustments needed when there are no points for a takedown that gets reversed.
Submissions and defence
Attack / sequencing
Submission Chains
Why an attack that fails should already be the entry to the next one.
Attack / mechanics
Common Alignment Errors
Where finishes go wrong. Angle, not strength.
Status
This library is being written
The structure above is the finished architecture. Six entries are published and linked — Half Guard, Guard Retention, Guard Recovery, Knee Cut, Back Control and Defensive Concepts. The remainder are in research and drafting, and each one publishes when it passes fact-checking and editorial review rather than when it reaches a word count. We would rather ship six entries that are correct than sixty that are padded.
Each published entry will carry: the position or problem, the objective, the core concept, key mechanics, common errors, a safety note, a training progression, related entries, a difficulty label, and whether it applies to gi, no-gi or both.