The greatest submission in all of Jiu Jitsu: I teach six complete submission systems covering the whole body to my students. In addition I teach many other submission holds that we use somewhat less often but are still very important nonetheless. However, there is one root basis of all submission that stands far above even the most high percentage submission holds when it comes to accounting for the success or failure of submissions – this is the notion of PRESSURE. Pressure, the act of putting an opponent under physical and mental duress through tactics, weight of attack, intensity of attack, off balancing, combined attacks and a host of other elements, has finished more opponents than any one submission hold ever did. Indeed, without antecedent pressure the vast majority of submissions never would have succeeded. IT IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL THAT YOU DEVELOP THE SKILL OF PUTTING AN OPPONENT UNDER CONSTANT PRESSURE OVER TIME – When you can do this the submissions come easy. In many cases you must break an opponent mentally before you can break him physically. This is done through pressure that makes him feel defeat is inevitable – as such they learn to ACCEPT a submission hold – but the real submission was a mental act before it became manifest in a physical move. When you first begin Jiu Jitsu the two most important ways to develop a pressure game is through POSITIONAL pressure when on top – constant advance toward superior position and not relinquishing it once gained – and through KUZUSHI (off balancing) when on bottom. If you can develop strong Kuzushi from underneath and consistently get past legs and into dominant pins on top, you will finish many opponents. Make every facet of PRESSURE an object of study and watch your submission game go to a new level.
