If You Can See the Back, You Can Take It!

Can a simple concept help your entire back game?

Over the course of our BJJ journey we will be exposed to tons of philosophy, and different ways of thinking. I always find that the simpler and more direct these philosophies are, the more applicable they will be to my training. Sometimes we hear things that completely blow our minds.

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It could be something that’s been right under your nose since you began your training that you just never made a connection to. It's these kinds of light bulb moments that can change the course of how you perceive a position or a technique.

Take this phrase from Travis Stevens for example. “If you can see the back, you can take it”. He credits John Danaher for the connection he made to this theme. Maybe this seems obvious to you, but it got me thinking about my success rate of taking the back, and if I’m applying this principle or overlooking it. In this video Stevens explains the methodology and provides us with a few examples.

In the first example Steven begins in a knee cut pass scenario, where his partner is clamping tight on his legs. As he side steps to reset, his partner’s back becomes exposed on the opposite side. Stevens clears the knee line of his partner and does a roll straight to the back.

The back becomes exposed in the second situation via a double under pass. As Stevens lifts his partner’s hips up, the back comes off the floor. Stevens simply puts his chest on his partners back using a small sit through and claims the position.

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The third example I find is most interesting, and It's probably a common mistake of many. During a rolling style back take, we often times stall out and get our back taken. Stevens presents the idea of positioning yourself more over top of your partner before you begin to initiate the roll. When we don’t have a clear view of the back from this position its likely that we won’t be as successful here.

If you can’t see the back before you take it, it might be dismantling your plans of securing the back position. Keep this in mind, and see if it helps your back-take success rate!

To get more effective Chokes, check out the instructional Chokes from Travis Stevens!  A John Danaher black belt and Olympic Judo medalist, Travis has been honing his chokes on some of the toughest necks out there!  You can get it here!

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