The pins of Jiu Jitsu: Any grappling style that involves ground work will have some form of pinning built into it. Pinning demonstrates control and dominance. Each grappling style has its own interpretation of pinning and the differences between them are very significant for your development within each sport. In Jiu jitsu the whole notion of pinning is radically different from other grappling sports such as wrestling, Judo and Sambo. The basis of Jiu Jitsu's interpretation of pins is the idea that pins should reflect the degree to which a pin allows the dominate athlete to strike an opponent while not being struck back. As such, Jiu jitsu is unique among the main grappling sports in that it recognizes rear mount as a pin – even in cases where you are underneath an opponent. In wrestling, Judo and Sambo rear mount scores nothing. In Jiu Jitsu is scores the maximum four points. There are five major pins recognized in Jiu jitsu. The first two are non scoring – you score zero points when you attain them. They are great positions with high tactical value, but you get no points for getting them.
1 Side pin
2 North south pin
The other three are the scoring pins of Jiu jitsu.
3 knee on Stomach – 2 points
4 Mounted pin – 4 points
5 Rear mounted pin – 4 points
You can clearly see that the by far the biggest point scoring opportunities in Jiu jitsu come from the ability to move INTO A SCORING PIN AND FROM ONE SCORING PIN TO ANOTHER. This skill of dynamic pinning, the skill of moving into a pin and between pins is crucial for your development and allows you to amass big scores on an opponent with almost no risk. The biggest challenge when you learn these skills is to balance MOVEMENT with tightness. You want to be loose enough to move efficiently from one pin to another, but tight enough that you give no space for an opponent to escape as you move. As such, it's a subtle part of the game and given the scoring methods of the sport, the most lucrative!
