Warm Up Motions For Jiu Jitsu

There are some key warm up motions for Jiu Jitsu that need to be practiced, for white belts and higher ranking students as well. They are the motions and movements that will always be the base of BJJ and will help us learn about a variety of movements later on. While a newcomer will learn different motions, all of which are important, there are three that need to be mastered in my opinion. This motion/movement drills will come in handy in some different situations that you will get into while on the mats. Here are those three movements.

Forward Roll Motion

The forward roll motion is a movement that transcends BJJ. It exists also in Judo, Sambo, Hapkido and Aikido. It is because there will be times that you can use a roll both offensively and defensively to get out of certain situations. Besides being an applicable motion, it will also work on your balance and precision. You can start by doing it on your knees, just to make sure you know the correct motion of how to use your shoulder and arm. Eventually you will be able to do the motion standing up. Then you can really master it, and use it for real. Try going down the mats, going from one end to the other.

The Shrimp Motion

The shrimp motion is absolutely essential to become good at Jiu Jitsu. Many Jiu Jitsu techniques require strong and fast hip motion. The shrimp will help out with that. You can generate a lot of power with a solid shrimp. Besides the concept of strong hips, it is also applicable to one of the fundamental escapes from mount, which is also, the shrimp. If you have a good shrimp, no one will be able to hold mount on you for any substantial amount of time. Master the shrimp, and become great against the mount.

The Triangle Motion

My favorite fundamental base motion to learn and teach is the triangle motion. It is locking the legs with the correct triangle lockdown, while cutting an angle. While most people teach that as the motion in a drill, I also advocate doing the same motion but with throwing your hips up as well as if you were actually throwing up a real triangle choke. Anyone that wants to become a master of the triangle will have to become good at the motion. It will pass right to your technique when you use it on sparring on the mats.

There are so many more motions that you will learn in class. Back rolls, break falls, peak outs and sprawls are just some of what else you will encounter during training. While techniques are of course the majority of what you will learn in Jiu Jitsu, movements make up the base of the techniques. Hence that is why they are important to practice on the regular. It is one thing to understand the technique, but a whole other thing to understand the motion behind the technique. Work at both to really understand and become a master of Jiu Jitsu.