ONE athlete Leandro Issa fell in love with the sport of Brazilian jiu-jitsu when he was just 14-years-old, and now he takes great pleasure in sharing that passion with students at Singapore’s renowned Evolve MMA.
The former Mundials world champion offers some tidbits below that will help you improve your BJJ game.
1. Begin with defense
Stage one for any budding BJJ practitioner is defending, which is the ideal place to start, says Issa.
“The way I think jiu-jitsu works is, the first step of what you are going to learn is how to protect yourself. You learn how to protect yourself and how to defend yourself better. When you are defending, you have to be really calm,” Issa states.
Patience is one of the key principles of BJJ, and defense is what best cultivates that crucial sense of calm in testing situations.
“If you rush, then you start to make mistakes, and then you are going to get choked or submitted, so you have to be calm. I think your defense needs to come first. First, you are going to only defend.
“For example, when I train with a white belt, there is no way they can submit me. For the first bit, all they can do is just try to defend. Then, when they start to get better, maybe they will try to control me. Then one day, eventually, maybe they are going to submit me.”
2. Develop a solid foundation
Defense is one of the many fundamentals of BJJ that need to first be put in place before you’re able to further develop your repertoire.
“Learn the basic needs for a good strong base. For example, when you build a house, you start with the foundation. If there is no foundation, then the house is going to fall. It is like BJJ, so if your base is not as strong, then your game is going to have a lot of gaps,” he says.
Issa believes there are three key areas on which you focus your learning in order to cement a solid basis to your game.
“Some starting blocks are good posture, good pressure, and good balance. Those are the things you need to learn as a beginner. Anything you try after is going to work if your foundation is strong. Plus, once you have reached that level you can watch some videos as homework, and try to learn from them as well.”
3. Practice, practice, and practice
As with anything in life, practice makes perfect, and it’s no different with Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Repetition is critical to making certain movements and techniques second nature, says Issa.
“I always tell my students to be on the mats as much time as they can. You have to drill those techniques so you develop muscle memory because during training and rolling, you do not have time to think. So to get there, it is just drilling and muscle memory,” he says.
