Positional and Submission Escapes, the Secret to a Good Offense

Escapes are one of the most essential components to a well-rounded bjj game.  In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu it is very common to overlook the benefits of good escapes.  In order to develop an aggressive and confident offense, you need to be confident in your defense. 

What better way to be confident in your defense than to develop good escapes.  There are so many different escapes. You can work submission escapes, or positional escapes.  These are the two main categories of escapes.  If you want to increase your offense, you need to increase your defense first.

Submission Escapes

Submission escapes are what people assume the term “escapes” refers to.  That is because we typically associate the term escape with a frantic effort to get out of a submission.  It is imperative to develop strong and confident submission escapes in order to progress in bjj.  Why is it so important to have good submission escapes?

If you enhance your submission escapes, you will ultimately be assisting your attacking game.  This is because when you are relentlessly attacking your opponent, you will have the confidence to move fast and aggressive.  Why? Because you will not have the fear of getting caught in a submission, confidence in your submission escapes will give you the liberty of being worry free in bjj.  Why be scared to get caught in a guillotine if you know a good escape to it? This is the biggest benefit to learning submission escapes.

 We recently wrote an article on developing confident escapes, if you’d like to refine your escapes more, check it out.  Also, check out this Heel Hook escape by Dean Lister, he was not submitted for over a decade at black belt.

Positional Escapes

Positional escapes are another element of developing a confident defense.  Theoretically, you will be utilizing positional escapes more often than submission escapes.  Positional escapes refer to getting out of a bad position, or guard retention.  For instance, escaping side control, full mount, and back control are all parts of developing positional escapes.

You want to develop good positional escapes for the same reason that you want to enhance your submission escapes.  You will be able to move more worry free.  Why worry about having your guard passed if you know you are capable of escaping side control? Another massive benefit of having good escapes is the fact that you can use your escapes to set up attacks.  Many attacks can stem from good escapes.

For example, you may escape mount and go straight into a leg lock, or escape an arm bar and go straight into a pass. Increasing your escapes will assist every aspect of your bjj game, you will benefit exponentially.  We recently wrote an article on “hip escape details” it has great content on the fine details of a hip escape.  Also, check out this guillotine escape from Bernardo Faria below.

Every good black belt has unbelievable positional and submission escapes that allow them to be confident in their offense and play an aggressive game.  If you want to take your bjj game to the next level and enhance your escapes, check out Dean Lister’s 4 DVD set, “Worry Free Escapes.”  Dean Lister won the ADCC absolute and was not submitted at the highest levels of black belt competition for over a decade.