Beginner's course
Dive into the essentials of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and gear up for practical, hands-on training to build your grappling skills from the ground up
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What will you learn
This course will teach you the basics of BJJ.
When Royce Gracie beat several larger opponents with only 79 kg in the first UFC in 1993, it seemed like magic. But in fact, it was all simple science. Jiu-jitsu has a lot of moves and techniques, but they all rely on some fundamental principles. In this course, we will expose you to situations where these principles are clear and obvious, so you can start to recognize and understand them.
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Positioning: Achieving and maintaining the most advantageous position in relation to your opponent.
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Angle: Creating and exploiting angles to apply techniques effectively and defend against attacks.
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Distance: Managing the space between you and your opponent to control the engagement.
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Leverage: Using the body’s levers to gain a mechanical advantage over an opponent.
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Base: Maintaining a strong base and good balance to control yourself and your opponent.
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Speed: Utilizing speed strategically, knowing when to move quickly or slowly during a match.
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Timing: Executing moves at the right moment to maximize their effectiveness.
Who is this course for?
Anyone who wants to learn and improve another skill. There is no requirement, we have from athletes to pensioners in the same classroom. The classes are proper divided and our instructors are trained to group people according to their levels and goals, so everyone feels safe, welcome and motivated, regardless of any relevant characteristics.
So whatever is your motivation if you are happy and eager to learn, exercise and belong Frontline is the place and BJJ will absolutely welcome you.
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What are the benefits for this course
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu offers a supportive environment where you can develop self-discipline, improve fitness, and learn practical self-defense. It is a place to challenge yourself, grow, and enjoy the camaraderie of training with others that have similar goals and enthusiasm.
How long does it takes
The course lasts for 8 months, you can enroll whenever you want, and we suggest to follow the curriculum for about 12 months until the knowledge is well-established and we are prepared for the next level.
Meet your teacher
Andre Fievel de Carvalho is the developer of this course and the main instructor for the BJJ classes. Fievel is from Rio de Janeiro Brazil and have lived for BJJ most of his life, his passion for the sport is remarkable and sure you will notice in every class.
Fievel is one of the most technical and successful practitioners in his category in Europe. Multiple time European champion and world silver medalist as his main achievements.
Curious about the efficiency of the art, come to one of the classes to see him and his 60 kg managing someone double his size with a smile on his face =).
The Curriculum
There are 4 modules in the curriculum: Standing, Guard, Mount, and Back. Each module covers the basics of each scenario.
1. Standing
At this module we will develop skills regarding standing up exchanges, how to have a proper base, walk without giving unnecessary opportunities to your opponent, how to engage, counter, grips, etc... We will understand how to read our opponent's size and weight distribution, his moving patterns so we can make informed decisions on the correct techniques to apply and what is the correct timing for it.
Basic Judo
Break falls
One of the most important skill you will learn on this course is how to fall safely, for BJJ or for the rest of your life these skill is a must have for everyone.
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Back Break Fall (Ushiro Ukemi): Learn how to break the impact of a falling towards your back.
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Side Break Fall (Yoko Ukemi): Learn how to break the impact of a falling towards your side.
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Forward Roll Break Fall (Zempo Kaiten Ukemi): Learn how to break the impact of a falling farwards.
Judo Throws
These fundamental throws should help you learn the basics of judo, how to disrupt your opponent's balance and movement in order to create a safe fall leading to favorable positions on the ground assuring.
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O Soto Gari (Major Outer Reaping): A dynamic throw where you reap your opponent’s leg from the outside, using your leg to sweep theirs away from under them.
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Koshi Guruma (Hip Wheel): You encircle your opponent’s head with your arm and use your hip to flip them over in a smooth, wheel-like motion.
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Ippon Seoi Nage (One-Arm Shoulder Throw): A classic Judo throw where you load your opponent onto your back using one arm and then execute a powerful throw over your shoulder.
Basic Wrestling
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Stance: The foundation of all wrestling, a good stance keeps you balanced and ready to attack or defend.
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Double Leg Takedown: A powerful move where you attack both of your opponent’s legs to bring them down to the mat.
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Single Leg Takedown: Targeting one of your opponent’s legs, this move allows for various finishes to secure the takedown.
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Sprawl: A defensive technique used to counter takedown attempts by dropping your hips and legs back.
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Arm Drag: A move to create an angle and gain control of your opponent by pulling their arm across their body.
These moves are the bread and butter of wrestling in its essence and wrestling is one of the most efficient ways of taking the match to the ground.
Guard pull
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Learning the ways and the reasons why might be advantageous to take your opponent to your guard. The concepts on how to do it safely and efficiently.
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Foot on the hip. Here we use our foot on the hips as pivot point to drag our opponents to the ground generating energy for an efficient, fast and safe guard pull.
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2. Closed Guard
Closed guard is the fundamental position in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu due to its ability to control your opponent.
In this position, you cross your legs around your opponent’s waist and lock your ankles, forming a tight grip that restricts their mobility. This assure you good control over the distancing and angles , also alows you to perform various sweeps and submissions while reducing the chance of counter-attacks.
Grips breaking and controlling our opponent
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Understanding how to break opponents’ common grips, control the angles and distancing using preparing for multiples attacks.
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Back take using the grip take and legs control.
Sweeps:
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Scissor Sweep: Use your legs in a scissor motion to knock your opponent over to one side.
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Hip Bump Sweep: Sit up and use your hips to bump your opponent over when their hands are on the mat.
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Pendulum Sweep: Swing your leg like a pendulum to unbalance your opponent and sweep them to the opposite side.
Submissions:
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Armbar: Isolate an arm and extend it against the joint for a submission.
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Triangle Choke: Trap your opponent’s head and one arm between your legs to apply pressure on the neck.
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Kimura: A shoulder lock that involves isolating your opponent’s arm and twisting it behind their back.
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Cross Collar Choke: From the closed guard, you reach across to grip your opponent’s collar with both hands, pulling them down and using the gi to apply pressure on their neck
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Closed guard escapes
We will learn how to use posture and framing to defend ourselves, a good overview on how to place ourselves compared to our opponents to block their attacks and move to a better position.
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Posture Up and Open the Guard: This involves getting to a safe posture where your opponent can’t attack you easily, then standing up to open their guard.
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Knee Slide: You place one knee in the middle of your opponent’s butt while keeping your posture up, then slide your knee across to force their legs open.
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Standing Guard Break: You stand up while controlling your opponent’s sleeves or hips, then use your legs to break open their guard.
Submission defences
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Armbar Defense: When your opponent attempts an armbar, keep your elbow tight to your body and stack your opponent by driving your weight forward into them. This can prevent them from extending your arm and completing the submission.
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Triangle Choke Defense: Posture is key. Keep your back straight and head up to create space and prevent the choke from being tightened. Work to pass one arm across the opponent’s body and look to pass the guard.
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Kimura Defense: Keep your hand close to your belt or inside your thigh to prevent your opponent from isolating your arm and applying the kimura.
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Cross Choke Defense: Control your opponent’s wrists and prevent them from getting deep grips on your collar. Posture up and keep your neck safe.
3. Side control
Understanding how to control you opponent after passing their legs, we will understand the lines of control (hips and shoulders), how to follow our opponents' movements, how to effectively use our weight distribution and pressure to follow, dominate and progress without allowing our opponent to flip you or recover guard. These combinations of techniques allow us to make informed choices on how to tackle a variety of situations independent of our opponents' physical attributes.
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Side control
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Traditional Side Control:Your body is perpendicular to your opponent’s, with your chest against theirs. Your arm is under their head, and your other arm is under their far arm, securing an underhook1.
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Kesa Gatame (Scarf Hold): You’re turned more towards the opponent’s head, controlling their arm against your chest and using your other arm to hold their head or neck.
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North-South: Positioned over the opponent’s head, controlling their upper body with your arms and keeping your weight down to prevent movement.
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Knee-on-Belly: You place one knee on the opponent’s belly, controlling them with the pressure while keeping your other leg posted out for balance.
Side control escapes
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Kesa Gatame escape: Use a bridging motion to off-balance your opponent and roll them over.
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Underhook Escape: Secure an underhook on the far side and use it to turn into your opponent or to take their back.
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Frame and Hip Escape: Create a frame against your opponent’s neck and hip, then use a hip escape to create space and recover guard.
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Knee on belly Escape: Slip your nearside arm underneath your opponent’s armpit as they attempt to transition to mount, allowing you to escape out the back door
4. Mount
The mount is a highly dominant position in BJJ, offering a vast array of attacks on the opponent’s upper body. We’ll learn the basic variations of this position to control our opponents, but more importantly, how to apply the correct submission based on their defense strategy or physical attributes. This position provides a profound understanding of BJJ principles, as the limited and slower movements of the defender allow the top practitioner to think, acknowledge, and learn.
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Mont attacks
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Armbar: Isolating an arm and pivoting to sit beside your opponent to extend their arm against your hips.
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Cross Choke: Gripping the collar across the neck and applying pressure by bringing your elbows together.
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Americana: Trapping the opponent’s arm to the mat and applying a twisting pressure to the shoulder.
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Ezekiel Choke: Using your sleeve or wrist to apply a choke around the neck while in
Mount escape
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Shrimp Escape: Also known as the hip escape, where you create space by shrimping away and then recover guard1.
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Upa Escape: The bridge and roll technique, where you bridge your hips upward to off-balance the opponent and then roll them over.
5. Back
Back control is the most dominant position in BJJ, it is the situation with the highest submission rate in matches of all levels. In this position, we focus on angles and positioning to effectively attack our opponents’ necks and arms.
Back Control
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Hooks: Secure your legs inside the opponent’s thighs to control their movement.
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Seatbelt Grip: Use one arm over the shoulder and one under the opposite armpit for upper body control.
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Transitioning: Be prepared to switch to another dominant position if the opponent attempts an escape.
Submissions
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Rear-Naked Choke: A fundamental submission that involves wrapping your arm around the opponent’s neck and applying pressure.
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Bow and Arrow Choke: Utilizes the opponent’s lapel and leg to apply a collar choke.
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Cross Collar Choke: Involves gripping the opponent’s gi with both arms and applying pressure with your forearms to the carotid arteries.
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Armbar: Extends the opponent’s arm against the joint, forcing them to tap out.
Courses & Seminars
Here are a few instructionals coures we made to help you with specific subjects. The Idea is to follow you in a series of videos regarding a popular topic so by the end of the course you have a good understanding and a real improveent in your
The Loop Choke
In 2019 Alvaro Ribeiro, the head coach of Gym Yla in Oslo came to give us a workshop about his favorite submission the Loop Choke. Battle tested, surprising, effective and easy to apply quickly became one of the favorite submission of many in the gym including myself (Fievel).
Closed Guard for fundaments
Closed guard is one of the best way to get a good understanding on BJJ. Beside being a super effective and fun position, Closed Guard is for me the best position to learn some of the core concepts of our art.
Let's explore the importance of distance ,levels, angles ,framing, base, balance, pressure and strategy in a few fun classes.