BJJ Basics for Beginners: Positions, Escapes, Submissions

BJJ basics for beginners come down to three things: knowing the main positions (guard, side control, mount and back control), knowing how to escape the bad ones with hip escapes and bridges, and learning a handful of simple submissions like the armbar, kimura and cross collar choke. Position comes first, submissions second.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is one of the seven martial arts I’ve trained over more than 20 years. I’ve taught beginner boxing and Wing Chun classes, but never BJJ, so think of this guide as a map to bring to class, not a replacement for a qualified coach.

What BJJ Basics for Beginners Actually Means

Jiu jitsu is a grappling art. There’s no punching or kicking in regular class: you and a partner try to control each other on the ground and, eventually, finish with a joint lock or choke that ends in a tap.

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That sounds intense, but the early lessons are slow and structured. Most beginner curriculums teach the same building blocks in roughly the same order: positions, escapes, guard work, passing and a few safe submissions. If you want to know what the very first session feels like, read my guide to your first BJJ class.

This article is the technique map that comes after.

The Six Positions Every Beginner Learns

Every roll is a story of moving between positions. Some are good for you, some are bad, and the whole game is improving your spot one step at a time.

Closed Guard

You’re on your back with your legs wrapped around your partner’s waist and your ankles crossed. It sounds like a losing spot, but in BJJ it’s a strong one: you control their posture and can sweep or attack.

Half Guard

You’re on your back with one of your partner’s legs trapped between yours. It’s a common in between spot when someone is trying to pass your guard. Many beginners also learn the knee shield version, sometimes called Z guard, where your top knee frames across their body to keep space.

Side Control

The top person lies across the bottom person’s chest, perpendicular, with their weight down. On the bottom it feels heavy and smothering. Learning to stay calm here is a huge early win.

Mount

The top person sits on the bottom person’s torso with knees on the mat. It’s a dominant position for the person on top and one of the first positions you learn to escape.

Back Control

One person is behind the other with an arm over one shoulder and under the other arm, often called the seatbelt grip, and hooks their heels inside the other person’s thighs. It’s considered the best position in BJJ, which is why protecting your back matters so much.

Knee on Belly

The top person places one knee across the bottom person’s stomach while staying light on their feet. It’s a mobile control position, and it also teaches the bottom person to frame and move.

How the Positions Rank

These are the standard IBJJF competition points, and you don’t need to compete to use them. They’re simply a handy ranking of which positions are worth working toward.

BJJ Escapes for Beginners

If you only practice one thing in your first month, make it escapes. You’ll spend plenty of time on the bottom, and calm movement there is what keeps rolls fun instead of stressful.

The Hip Escape (Shrimp)

Lying on your back, you plant one foot, push your hips away from your partner and turn onto your side. It creates space so you can bring a knee or a leg back between you. Many academies drill shrimping up and down the mat as a warm up.

The Bridge (Upa)

From mount, you trap one of your partner’s arms and the foot on the same side, then bridge your hips up and over toward that trapped side. Done well, you end up on top in their guard. It’s one of the oldest self defense escapes in jiu jitsu.

Escaping Side Control

The basic recipe is frame, shrimp, recover. Your forearms make a frame against their hip and neck, you hip escape to make space, and you slide a knee back in to rebuild your guard.

Protecting Your Back

When someone has your back, the first job is protecting your neck with your hands and keeping your chin tucked. Then you work your shoulders down to the mat and turn to face them. Your coach will show you the exact details, because back escapes have a few moving parts.

Guard Sweeps and the Guard Break

Your First Sweeps

A sweep takes you from bottom guard to the top. Two classics from closed guard are the scissor sweep, where your legs act like scissors to chop your partner over, and the hip bump sweep, where you sit up and bump them over with your hips. Both teach the same lesson: off balance first, then sweep.

Guard Break BJJ: Opening the Closed Guard

When you’re on top in someone’s closed guard, your first job is posture: back straight, head up, hands on their hips or belt. From there you open the guard, either by standing up carefully or by placing a knee in the middle and stepping the other leg back so their ankles uncross. Then you start passing toward side control.

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The First Submissions White Belts Learn

Submissions come after position, and in class they’re always practiced slowly with a partner who taps early. Common first ones include:

• Armbar. You isolate your partner’s arm between your legs and gently extend the elbow. It’s taught from guard and from mount.
• Kimura and Americana. Two shoulder locks using a figure four grip on the arm, rotating it in opposite directions.
• Cross collar choke. A gi choke using both lapels, usually taught from closed guard or mount.
• Triangle choke. You trap one of your partner’s arms and their head inside your legs.
• Rear naked choke. A choke from back control, taught with very strict partner safety rules.

None of these should ever be tried on friends, family or anyone who hasn’t trained. A joint lock or choke done roughly by an untrained person can injure someone fast.

Tapping, Safety and Gear

Tapping means patting your partner, or the mat, two or three times, or saying tap out loud. When your partner taps, you let go immediately, every time. Tap early, before anything hurts, and never fight through a submission to prove a point.

A mouth guard in BJJ is a smart idea from day one. Elbows, knees and heads bump more often than you’d expect, and a simple boil and bite guard is cheap insurance. Short nails, a clean gi, tied back hair and no jewelry round out the basics.

BJJ for Newbies: How to Learn Faster

1. Pick one position per week. Spend a week focused only on side control escapes, then move to the next position.
2. Ask one question after class. Coaches love a specific question like what do I do when they flatten me in side control.
3. Keep a short notes file. Write two or three details you learned after each class while they’re fresh.
4. Roll light and breathe. In live rolling, aim for smooth movement at about half effort while you learn.
5. Choose calm partners. It’s fine to ask a more experienced student to go easy, and good gyms expect it.
6. Expect slow progress. BJJ belts take years, which my BJJ belt order guide explains in detail.

Many women I coach tell me their biggest fear about BJJ is being stuck under a heavier partner. That’s a fair worry. The good news is that the escapes above are built for exactly that, and a well run academy will pair you thoughtfully while you learn them.

Your This-Week Plan

1. Day 1: Watch a short class or two at a local academy, or book a free trial, and ask how they introduce live rolling.
2. Day 2: Practice hip escapes on a carpet or mat for three rounds of one minute each side.
3. Day 4: Practice bridges for three rounds of ten, focusing on driving through your feet.
4. Day 6: Take your class, focus on one escape, and ask your coach one question afterward.

Your first month of BJJ will feel confusing at times, and that’s normal. Everyone gets there.

Quick Questions

More from this series: start with my martial arts for beginners guide for the full overview, and if you’re weighing grappling against striking, see whether BJJ is effective for what you want.

The Bottom Line

The best BJJ basics for beginners are simple: learn the main positions, get good at hip escapes and bridges, use your guard as home base, and treat submissions as the last step. Tap early, train with calm partners, and let a qualified coach fill in the details.

I’m a certified personal trainer and martial artist, not a physician, and this article is for general education only. Learn every grappling technique, especially joint locks and chokes, from a qualified coach in a supervised class, and never practice them on untrained people. If you have neck, back or joint problems or another health concern, check with your doctor before starting BJJ.