Beauty In The Brutality With Tom DeBlass

By Fanatics Authors, February 05, 2020

Tom DeBlass has been one of the most vocal and outspoken figures in the BJJ community for some time now. His philosophies, approach, and grit are becoming legendary. Simply put; DeBlass is as real as they come. He speaks from a place of authenticity and truth and he continually sheds light on some of the things in our lives that we don’t always feel comfortable confronting. Many of us had our first experiences with DeBlass on Facebook Live. I remember rushing home after training to make sure I was able to tune in and listen to him answer questions about all things BJJ and beyond. He approaches topics in a way that’s relatable, helpful, and he resonates with people all over the world. He’s helped countless people in our community to better themselves and continues to do so through his social media presence and rigorous seminar schedule.

Kimura Domination is now available at the BJJ Fanatics Online Store and in this new series, DeBlass covers the many different and exciting utilities of this classic submission. But we also get more than we bargained for with this particular instructional as DeBlass sprinkles in a bit of advice for us as well. Take a look at this excerpt from his newest project. Here, DeBlass gives us some ideas on how to approach our training and how to view our jiu-jitsu through a different lens. Enjoy…

Now that you’ve got your brain in the right place, let’s dive in to some instruction from the new series. Try to keep DeBlass’s remarks in mind as you work your way through this sample of technique. Jiu-jitsu is an incredibly vast art and one of the best parts about it, is that we’ll never know it all. But with focused study and staying present during our training sessions we can certainly increase our understanding and the scope of our knowledge.

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In this particular video we’ll get a look at the reverse kimura. This alternate take on kimura grips has been gaining some traction and DeBlass has his own unique method of application using the reverse grip. Take a look at this!

If you’ve been training for any amount of time, you probably understand that when you’re in the top closed guard, it’s not a great idea to place your hands on the floor. There are a variety of reasons for this. One of the main reasons being that we can’t create separation from the guard player to maintain our posture. The danger of the kimura is also present here, as it is quite simple for the bottom player to acquire a wrist, sit up, and begin to attack the submission. For this reason, guard passers are quite vigilant when it comes to those variables. They’ll be looking to keep their hands on your body to keep themselves safe. This is where DeBlass begins his instruction.

With the guard passer’s hands on his body, DeBlass reaches across with his left hand and secures a wrist with his palm facing down. He then uses his right arm to wrap behind his partner’s left elbow and threads it though, grabbing his own wrist, to secure the reverse kimura grip. DeBlass now has a tremendous amount of control over the limb and begins to force the arm to his right, separating it from his partner’s body. With the arm secure, DeBlass would now like to create and angle that gives him better leverage for the finish. To do this he simply uses a hip escape and travels on to his left side. From here he can add more force to the kimura lock and command the tap. DeBlass also offers a quick detail here for the finish. To provide more power to the submission he plants his bottom foot in the hip and uses it as a platform to help him finish the lock.

With another interesting adjustment, DeBlass also demonstrates how we can use this reverse grip to cause a reaction and return to a traditional kimura lock. Using the reverse grip as means to open the guard passer up to other forms of attack is another incredibly useful attribute of this unique grip. DeBlass also recommends an omoplata here if the top player begins to straighten their arm in response to the pressure.

So, if we take DeBlass’s advice and really look below the surface here, we’re finding that this reverse grip is much more than a means to submit. It's natural for guard passers to remain incredibly tight and closed off when their working in the closed guard. Gaining the angle and leverage necessary to hit a traditional kimura can be incredibly difficult. Using the reverse kimura to open up the top player gives us access to an entire world of possibilities, even outside of the kimura itself.

This is a great example of the innovations DeBlass is contributing to jiu-jitsu. We can draw so much game changing detail from this small piece of instruction as DeBlass leaves us an enormous amount of room to experiment and create. I’m excited to delve into the rest of the instruction in Kimura Domination and see what else this BJJ icon has in store for us!

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Kimura Domination by Tom DeBlass