BJJ Terms You Should Know Before Your First Class

You do not need to memorize an entire Brazilian Jiu Jitsu vocabulary before your first class. However, there are a handful of terms you are very likely to hear right away. Knowing these will make it much easier to follow along and understand what your instructor and training partners are talking about.

Gi — Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practiced while wearing the traditional jacket, pants, and belt.
No-Gi — BJJ practiced without the traditional gi, usually in a rash guard and shorts.
Rash Guard — A tight-fitting athletic shirt commonly worn for no-gi training.
Roll / Rolling — Sparring in BJJ. If someone asks whether you want to roll, they are asking whether you want to spar.
Round — One timed period of sparring.
Drilling — Repeatedly practicing a technique with a partner, usually with little or no resistance.
Tap / Tapping — The signal that you submit. You can tap your opponent or the mat several times, or say “tap” clearly. Once someone taps, the technique stops immediately.
Guard — A group of bottom positions where you use your legs to control or defend against the person on top.
Closed Guard — A guard position where you are on your back with your legs wrapped around your opponent’s waist and your ankles crossed behind them.
Open Guard — Any guard position where your legs are not locked around your opponent’s waist.
Half Guard — A bottom position where you have one of your opponent’s legs trapped between your own.
Mount — A dominant top position where one person sits over the other person’s torso with their knees on either side.
Side Control — A dominant top position where you are beside your opponent and controlling their upper body.
Back Control — A position where you are behind your opponent and controlling their torso.
Turtle — A defensive position where someone is on their knees and elbows or hands with their body curled inward.
Pass / Guard Pass — Getting around someone’s legs so you can establish a stronger top position such as side control.
Sweep — Using guard to reverse the position so that the person on bottom ends up on top.
Submission — A choke or joint lock used to make an opponent tap.
Escape — Getting out of a bad position such as mount, side control, or back control.
Base — Your balance and ability to avoid being knocked or rolled over.
Post — Putting a hand, foot, elbow, or other body part on the mat or your opponent to maintain balance.
Frame — Using your arms, hands, knees, or shins as structural barriers to create or maintain space.
Shrimp / Hip Escape — A fundamental movement where you move your hips away from your opponent. Beginners usually learn this very early.
Bridge / Upa — Driving your hips upward off the floor, often as part of an escape.
Underhook — Putting your arm underneath your opponent’s arm and wrapping it around their torso or shoulder.
Overhook — Controlling over the top of your opponent’s arm.
Hooks — Usually refers to placing your feet inside your opponent’s thighs while controlling their back.
Seatbelt — A common back-control grip where one arm goes over the opponent’s shoulder and the other goes under their armpit, with the hands connected.
Gable Grip — A palm-to-palm grip where the fingers wrap around the outside of the opposite hand without interlocking the thumbs.
Position Before Submission — A basic BJJ principle: establish control before trying to finish a submission.

Full BJJ Glossary of Terms

Table of Contents

Common BJJ Positions

Closed Guard — You are on your back with your legs wrapped around your opponent’s waist and your ankles crossed behind them.
Open Guard — Any guard position where your legs are not locked around your opponent.
Half Guard — You are underneath your opponent and have one of their legs trapped between yours.
Full Mount / Mount — You are sitting on top of your opponent’s torso with your knees on either side of them.
Side Control — You are on top of your opponent, controlling them from the side.
North-South — A top position where you and your opponent are facing opposite directions, usually with your chest over their upper body.
Kesa Gatame — Also called scarf hold. A side-control variation where you control your opponent’s head and arm while sitting beside them.
Back Control — You are behind your opponent and controlling their torso, usually with your legs around them.
Turtle — A defensive position where someone is on their knees and elbows or hands with their body curled inward.

Common Guard Types

Butterfly Guard — An open guard where you sit facing your opponent with your feet or hooks inside their thighs.
De La Riva Guard — An open guard where one leg wraps around the outside of your opponent’s leg.
Reverse De La Riva — A variation where the hooking leg comes around the opponent’s leg from the opposite direction.
Spider Guard — Usually a gi guard where you control your opponent’s sleeves while placing your feet on their arms or biceps.
Lasso Guard — A gi guard where one leg circles around your opponent’s arm while you maintain a sleeve grip.
X-Guard — A guard played underneath a standing opponent where your legs form an X around one of their legs.
Single-Leg X / SLX — A guard where you control one of your opponent’s legs between your own while underneath them.
Deep Half Guard — A half-guard variation where you get deeply underneath your opponent’s hips.
Knee Shield — A half-guard position where your top knee is placed across your opponent’s torso to create space.
Z-Guard — A common knee-shield half guard configuration.
Rubber Guard — A guard system that uses leg positioning and flexibility to control the opponent’s upper body.

Control Terms

Seatbelt — A back-control grip where one arm goes over your opponent’s shoulder and the other goes under their armpit, with your hands connected.

Hooks — Usually refers to putting your feet inside your opponent’s thighs when controlling their back.

Body Triangle — Wrapping your legs around your opponent’s waist and locking one ankle behind your opposite knee.

Underhook — Putting your arm underneath your opponent’s arm and wrapping it around their torso or shoulder.

Overhook — Controlling over the top of your opponent’s arm. In wrestling situations, this may also be called a whizzer.

Crossface — Using your arm or shoulder across your opponent’s face or head to turn them away and control their upper body.

Frames — Using your forearms, hands, knees, or shins as structural barriers to keep your opponent from collapsing their weight onto you.

Inside Position — Having your arms or legs positioned inside your opponent’s limbs, generally giving you stronger control.

Common Grips

Gable Grip — A palm-to-palm grip with the fingers wrapped around the outside of the opposite hand and no thumbs interlocked.

S-Grip — Connecting your hands by hooking the fingers together in an S-like shape.

Figure-Four Grip — Grabbing your own wrist with one hand while the other controls your opponent. Common in kimuras and Americanas.

Pistol Grip — A gi sleeve grip where you bunch the material and hold it similarly to a pistol handle.

Pocket Grip — Folding the end of the opponent’s sleeve material into your hand to create a strong grip.

Collar Grip — Gripping the opponent’s gi collar.

Sleeve Grip — Gripping the sleeve of the opponent’s gi.

Pant Grip — Gripping the material of the opponent’s gi pants.

Movement Terms

Shrimp / Hip Escape — Moving your hips away from your opponent by pushing off the floor with your feet.

Bridge / Upa — Driving your hips upward off the floor, often used to escape mount.

Technical Stand-Up — A way to stand while keeping distance between yourself and an opponent.

Granby Roll — A shoulder roll commonly used to escape or recover guard.

Sit-Out — A wrestling-style movement used to escape from underneath someone.

Hip Switch — Changing the direction your hips are facing while maintaining control.

Pummel — Fighting to get your arms or legs into inside position.

Invert — Rolling onto your shoulders with your hips elevated, often while maintaining guard.

Posting — Placing a hand, foot, elbow, or other body part on the mat or opponent to maintain balance.

Base — Your ability to stay balanced and resist being swept or knocked over.

Pressure — Using body weight and positioning to restrict an opponent’s movement.

Guard Passing Terms

Guard Pass / Passing — Getting around someone’s legs so you can establish a top position such as side control.

Knee Cut / Knee Slice — A guard pass where your knee drives across your opponent’s thigh.

Toreando / Bullfighter Pass — Controlling the opponent’s legs and moving around them, similar to a bullfighter moving a cape.

Stack Pass — Folding your opponent’s knees toward their chest while passing around their legs.

Over-Under Pass — Controlling one leg over your shoulder while controlling underneath the other.

Body-Lock Pass — Locking your arms around your opponent’s torso and using pressure to work past their legs.

Leg Drag — Moving both of your opponent’s legs to one side and controlling their hips while passing.

Headquarters Position / HQ — A standing or crouched passing position used to control an opponent’s legs before initiating a pass.

Sweeps, Reversals, and Escapes

Sweep — Using guard to reverse the position so that you go from bottom to top.

Reversal — Any movement that reverses who is on top. Under competition rules, not every reversal counts as a sweep.

Hip-Bump Sweep — A closed-guard sweep where you sit up and drive your hips into your opponent to knock them over.

Scissor Sweep — A basic guard sweep using your legs in a scissoring motion.

Butterfly Sweep — Using a butterfly hook to elevate and turn your opponent.

Escape — Getting out of an inferior position such as mount, side control, or back control.

Elbow Escape — A common mount escape where you create space and work your knee inside to recover guard.

Trap-and-Roll / Upa Escape — A mount escape where you trap an arm and leg, bridge, and roll your opponent over.

Guard Recovery — Getting your legs back between yourself and your opponent after they have begun passing.

Common Submissions

Rear Naked Choke / RNC — A choke applied from behind using the arms around the opponent’s neck.

Guillotine — A front headlock-style choke around the opponent’s neck.

Triangle Choke — Using your legs to trap your opponent’s neck and one arm.

Armbar — A joint lock that attacks the elbow using your hips and legs.

Kimura — A bent-arm shoulder lock where the opponent’s arm is rotated behind their back.

Americana — A bent-arm shoulder lock where the opponent’s arm is generally rotated upward while they are lying on their back.

Omoplata — A shoulder lock primarily performed using the legs.

Arm Triangle — A choke using your arm and your opponent’s own shoulder against their neck.

Ezekiel Choke — A choke commonly performed using the sleeves of the gi, although no-gi versions exist.

Bow-and-Arrow Choke — A gi collar choke commonly performed from back control.

Cross-Collar Choke — A gi choke using grips on opposite sides of the collar.

Baseball Bat Choke — A choke using two collar grips positioned similarly to holding a baseball bat.

Loop Choke — A gi choke using the opponent’s collar looped around their neck.

Clock Choke — A gi choke commonly attacked against someone in turtle.

Straight Ankle Lock — A submission attacking the ankle and foot.

Heel Hook — A rotational leg lock that attacks the knee through control of the heel. Rules regarding heel hooks vary substantially by gym and competition.

Kneebar — A leg lock that hyperextends the knee.

Toe Hold — A rotational foot lock using a figure-four grip.

Calf Slicer — A compression lock targeting the calf and knee area.

Wrestling and Takedown Terms

Single Leg — A takedown where you attack and control one of your opponent’s legs.

Double Leg — A takedown where you attack both legs.

Body Lock — Wrapping your arms around your opponent’s torso while standing.

Snapdown — Pulling an opponent’s head and upper body downward to break their posture.

Sprawl — Driving your hips backward and downward to defend a takedown.

Whizzer — A strong overhook commonly used to defend takedowns or control an opponent.

Front Headlock — Controlling an opponent’s head and often one arm while positioned in front of them.

Arm Drag — Pulling an opponent’s arm across their body to create an angle toward their back.

Duck Under — Moving underneath an opponent’s arm to get behind them.

Mat Return — Bringing an opponent back to the mat after they begin standing up.

Inside Trip / Outside Trip — Using your leg to block or remove one of your opponent’s legs during a takedown.

Gi and No-Gi Terminology

Gi — BJJ practiced while wearing the traditional jacket, pants, and belt.

No-Gi — BJJ practiced without the traditional gi, usually wearing a rash guard and shorts.

Rash Guard — Tight-fitting athletic shirt commonly worn in no-gi training.

Spats — Tight athletic leggings sometimes worn during no-gi training.

Lapel — The lower portion of the gi jacket, which can be used for gripping and certain guards or submissions.

Collar — The thick portion of the gi jacket around the neck.

Grip Fighting — Fighting to establish your preferred grips while preventing your opponent from establishing theirs.

Grip Break — Removing an opponent’s grip from your gi or body.

Training Terms

Roll / Rolling — Sparring in BJJ.

Round — One timed period of sparring.

Live Round — Sparring with full resistance rather than drilling.

Drilling — Repeatedly practicing a technique with limited or no resistance.

Positional Sparring — Sparring that starts from a specific position and often resets when one person escapes, sweeps, passes, or submits.

Flow Roll — Light sparring where both people deliberately reduce intensity and allow movement between positions.

Tap / Tapping — Physically tapping your opponent or verbally saying “tap” to indicate that you submit.

Reset — Stopping and returning to a starting position.

Specific Training — Another term for positional sparring.

Competition Terms

Points — Scores awarded for certain positions and actions in many BJJ rulesets.

Advantage — In some rulesets, a secondary score awarded for nearly completing certain scoring actions or submissions.

Pass — Successfully getting past an opponent’s guard into a controlling position.

Sweep — Going from bottom guard to a top position using a guard technique.

Takedown — Bringing a standing opponent to the ground while establishing control.

Back Take — Moving into a controlled position behind your opponent.

Submission Only — A ruleset where victory primarily or exclusively comes from submitting the opponent.

Referee Decision — When a referee determines the winner if neither athlete has won decisively.

DQ / Disqualification — Losing because of a rules violation.

Illegal Technique — A submission or movement prohibited under a particular ruleset, age, or belt level.

Things Your Coach Will Say Often

Posture — The alignment of your head, spine, hips, and limbs. Good posture makes you harder to control or submit.

Break Their Posture — Force your opponent into a compromised body position, often by pulling their head and torso forward.

Create Space — Make room between yourself and your opponent, typically when escaping.

Close the Space — Remove room between yourself and your opponent, typically when controlling them.

Connection — Keeping your body attached to your opponent so they cannot easily move away.

Stay Heavy — Keep your body weight positioned through your opponent rather than unnecessarily supporting yourself with your hands or knees.

Control Before Submission — Establish a stable position before attacking a submission.

Position Before Submission — The same fundamental idea: secure positional control before chasing the finish.

Elbows In — Keep your elbows close to your torso so your opponent has less space to attack them.

Don’t Reach — Avoid extending your arms unnecessarily because doing so exposes them to attacks and compromises your structure.

Keep Your Base — Maintain balance so your opponent cannot easily sweep or reverse you.

Stay Tight — Minimize unnecessary space between your body and your opponent.

Hand Fighting — Fighting for control of the opponent’s wrists, hands, or grips.

Winning the Inside Space — Getting your limbs inside your opponent’s limbs, which often gives you better leverage and control.

Common BJJ Slang

Getting Smashed — Being heavily controlled underneath someone.

Getting Stacked — Having your knees driven toward your face while an opponent applies pressure.

Getting Your Back Taken — Allowing your opponent to establish back control.

Playing Guard — Deliberately fighting from the bottom guard position.

Pulling Guard — Sitting or dropping directly into guard from standing rather than attempting a takedown.

Guard Player — Someone particularly comfortable fighting from bottom guard.

Top Player — Someone who generally prefers takedowns, passing, and top control.

Scramble — A fast transitional exchange where neither person has completely established control.

Stalling — Avoiding meaningful engagement or progression.

Chain Wrestling — Linking multiple takedown attempts together rather than relying on one attack.

Chain Passing — Moving from one guard pass attempt directly into another as the opponent reacts.

Submission Chain — Linking submission attempts together based on the opponent’s defenses.

White-Belt Spaz — Informal term for a beginner who moves too quickly, forcefully, or unpredictably without enough technical control.

Mat Enforcer — Informal gym term for an experienced practitioner who rolls with someone who is behaving recklessly or disrespectfully.