Offense vs Defense in Jiu Jitsu

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[@killtune]

Only a purple belt but agree with your philosophy. I spent a lot of time as white and blue belt focusing on defense and now I think I'm able to defend most positions well enough to allow me to see/feel the openings for offense. Appreciate your videos and "side note" thanks for taking the subtitles out, they are very distracting :)

[@harpssidhu625]

I agree. As a blue belt, I'm gaining a better understanding of defence. So, if I know how to defend something, I can have better knowledge of attacking. Yes, many will say the opposite to this can also be true, which I agree with. However, I go by the philosophy of, "Attacks win you games. Defences win you leagues!"

[@TehZexD]

Really reassuring to read this - I’m one year in 2 stripe white belt and i feel like my offensive game really lacks. Very rare I get subs against people with the same or more experience but I can avoid getting submitted or having my guard passed by those similar level / experience quite well, in comparison.

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Absolutely I can say as a coach if a student has amazing guard retention I can always relax when they fight but when their retention isn’t so good it’s always stress because I know they are always one pass away from losing

[@mavka.chorna]

The "I see red" reference at 5:09 killed me 😂😂 much appreciated

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Hahaha lots of high school kids see red lol

[@Thecelestial1]

One man’s opinion, probably different from most: offense. First, the more you understand how to attack, the more awareness you have of vulnerability and how people will try to submit you. Second, and this is me personally speaking, my offense has stalled out. It leads to rolls where my friends and I aren’t rolling to win, we’re rolling to not lose. I think it’s hindering my progress. Our defense is too good and we can’t submit each other lol.

[@LemonyBrisket]

True intellect in my opinion is taking a subjective subject and breaking it down so well that it becomes not subjective.. Its truly what becoming smart means ,,looking at sumthing complicated you don't understand and breaking it down piece by piece into its simplest forms in order to understand it and for it to be digestable for your brain. This guys has complete understanding of this and every single time I've seen a video of his he's a aced it. Undefeated 100 - 0. Round of applause emojis. Tarantino level applause. Keep the videos going im super impressed every time I watch reshreshing to see someone as analytical as myself. Keep spitting those intellect bars.

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Maybe the best compliment I have ever received thanks so much buddy! Really happy to see the nuances in depth discussions are valued and appreciated. I will keep doing these and pick more and more detailed topics

[@LemonyBrisket]

@@JonThomasBJJ Thanks for reaching out ! And your welcome! I give credit were credits due. Real recognize Real.🙏

[@rolandoestradachang639]

amazing vid.... I loved defensive bjj as well

[@Kuroyamitv]

What he’s saying is 100% true. I’m currently a white belt but I have a boxing background and the first thing you learn in boxing is to Develop footwork for movement and defense. Along with this you also are taught to keep your hands up and it’s drilled constantly which is the first defense you learn, “High Guard Defense”. Thank you for this!

[@epicassassin11]

One important thing I’m trying to solidify is not letting myself consistently stay in a defensive cycle. I have solid defense, and learning how to transition from pins to offensive guards is something that made sense to me. However, one thing I am learning I need to sharpen is transitioning from leg lock defense to an offensive cycle. My defense for leg locks is a lot of finding ways to free my knee, rotate away from pressure, etc, but i realized I need to start grabbing my partners legs and posing threats of back takes and my own leg locks, otherwise I end up in defense until I get caught.

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Well if you get full put of the keg lock position you can then go back to trying to sweep or pass you don’t necessarily have to reattack back with your own keg lock. If you want to and you know the position well enough you can but at the end of the day defending theirs then resetting to a position where you have competence is the best.

[@raymondchou9550]

Jon is right. "The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy." - Sun Tzu

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Didn’t know that was a quote from Sun Tzu but it makes total sense and I totally agree!

[@LGOP528]

I had a really rough first year competing at blue belt because I was not calm. My mind set was push hard and get ahead but then as they defended, it made me push harder and make more mistakes. I would get focused on a few particular moves. Watching the video of one of my failed deep half sweeps really stuck with me. I was use to taking them to the outside hip but you could see in the video obviously going out the back was the right answer. In the moment I was so focused on this sweep to the outside hip because it had been working in the gym. Now that I started trusting my jujitsu and reading the positions, I have won my last 4 comps with 7 of the 8 matches being subs. I am definitely going to try training the way you suggested. These concepts have really improved my jujitsu!

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Happy to hear it buddy! Yeah over attacking in wrong times can just frustrate you and fatigue you so keeping that ability to attack but being more precise with where you use it is the best way!

[@bradleylivingston6514]

i agree defense is the #1 most important part to develop starting very early. But, I am a believer in the best defense being a good offense. You must be able to chain your attacks, not burn yourself out, like you said. once you initiate an attack, they must defend. at the higher belt level, the defender will transition to offense as soon as able. On offense, the best option is to stay ahead by immediately transitioning to another attack they are opening up as they defend the previous attempt. The bottom line is, to be your best, you need to be good at both, then atay on offense whenever possible.

[@edburdo]

Something I struggle with (blue belt) is survival vs. defense. I can stall and survive quite a bit... but that isn't defending. Lockdown, 1/4 guard, etc. When other white/blue belts don't know how to attack those positions, I can survive for awhile. Note: I'm not into competing, so I don't worry about points... but I'm trying to change my mindset and focus on guard defense/retention.

[@TheOddStranger]

Congrats for winning the world's!!

[@JoshMcKinney]

This is gold

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Thanks buddy!

[@JokeritWasTaken]

Great content

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Appreciate it!

[@johnsebastianlervik9964]

when i play squid and worm guard i have big issues when people sit back and straight ancle locks me. any tips?

[@zacharywong483]

Really great explanations, as always!

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Thanks so much buddy

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Thanks so much!

[@simple8473]

Smart and amazing!!!

[@-jack-6801]

Hey Jon, do you ever work takedowns? And what are your thoughts on them?

[@ScolopaxJJ]

A very nice video Jonathan! My thoughts on this: what is the definition of offence and defense in Jiu jitsu? what kind of Skills are we talking about?

[@JonThomasBJJ]

I guess offense would just be going to score a point or submission and defense would be the ability to block that, although you could have grey area like making distance adds space helping defense but also increasing leverage on grips for offense

[@ItsPandatory]

Thank you. Can you do a video on passing cross guard?

[@JonThomasBJJ]

Yeah I can try to cover that in a short sometime soon

[@Azmx986]

great one thank you !

[@JonThomasBJJ]

No problem happy to help!

[@stefanslater8342]

Would you do any narrated rounds?

[@binyaming7921]

He has some on the channel

[@JonThomasBJJ]

I have and will definitely be doing more soon!