EditorialMay 7, 2026

10 Essential Jiu Jitsu Drills for All Levels

Your first day on the mat probably felt like everyone else spoke a different language. People were shrimping, framing, posting, pummeling, and moving in ways that didn’t look natural at all. That feeling is normal, and it’s exactly why jiu jitsu drills matter so much.

Drills turn confusion into pattern recognition. They help your body learn where to go before you have time to overthink. In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, that matters a lot, especially for beginners. Training data also shows that drill-based technical work is the more common focus for novice athletes, with 54.5% emphasizing drills and technical development rather than competition-focused training, according to Gold BJJ’s BJJ statistics overview. That matches what good instructors see every day. New students improve fastest when they repeat sound movement with coaching, not when they rely only on hard sparring.

If you’re a parent looking at kids classes, this matters too. Children usually learn best through repetition, structure, and simple movement games that build confidence before pressure rises. And if you’re an adult beginner, drilling gives you a safe way to build timing and body awareness without feeling like you have to “win” every round.

Table of Contents

1. Shrimp Drill Escaping Mount Position

If I could only teach one movement to a new student on day one, the shrimp would be near the top of the list. It teaches you how to move your hips away from pressure, create space, and start escaping bad positions instead of freezing underneath them.

That’s why you see it everywhere. Beginner classes use it, kids classes use it, and advanced classes still come back to it because the movement shows up in mount escapes, guard recovery, and even guard retention.

A jiu jitsu practitioner performing a hip escape drill on a mat inside a sunny gym studio.

How to make the movement useful

A good shrimp isn’t just scooting backward. Start on your back, plant one foot, lift your hips slightly, then push off that foot as your hips slide away. Your shoulders stay connected to the mat while your body turns to the side. That turn is what makes the drill useful in real jiu-jitsu.

A common beginner mistake is moving flat. If your hips don’t turn, you don’t make meaningful space. If you’ve ever been pinned in side control or mount, you already know that a small angle change can feel like a huge difference.

  • Keep your upper body grounded: Your head and shoulders help you stay stable while your hips move.
  • Drive off the planted foot: The movement comes from the leg and hip, not from flailing your arms.
  • Add frames early: As you improve, connect the shrimp to forearm frames so it resembles a real escape.

For a practical example of why space and transitions matter, study how guard-to-mount transitions in BJJ work. You’ll start to notice that the same hip movement that helps you escape also helps you reposition and attack.

Practical rule: Slow reps teach direction. Sharp reps teach timing. You need both.

2. Armdrags and Collar Drag Drill

Some drills build movement. Others build connection to another person. Armdrags and collar drags do that fast.

When you hit a clean armdrag, you’re not muscling somebody around. You’re redirecting their upper body just enough to move to a stronger angle. In no-gi, that often means pulling the arm across and stepping toward the back. In the gi, a collar drag creates a similar off-balance effect with a different grip.

A simple partner pattern

Start from seated guard or standing. Your partner gives you an arm or collar grip with light resistance. You pull, step, and circle. Then reset and repeat on both sides.

This drill helps beginners understand an important lesson. Good jiu-jitsu often starts with making your partner’s shoulders and hips point the wrong way.

A teenager preparing for a first tournament might use armdrag reps to build confidence entering exchanges without a wild scramble. A parent watching a kids class will often see the same idea taught in a more playful format, where the child learns to “pull and turn the corner” rather than force the movement.

  • Work both gi and no-gi versions: The mechanics overlap, even though the grips change.
  • Start with light resistance: You’re learning angle and timing first.
  • Add footwork next: The drag matters, but the step to the outside is what gives it real value.

Don’t yank the arm and stop. Pull, move your feet, and claim the angle.

3. Grip Fighting Drill Gi-Specific

Gi students learn quickly that the match often starts before anyone passes guard or attempts a takedown. It starts with the hands. Who gets the collar, sleeve, cuff, or pant grip first often controls the next exchange.

Grip fighting drills make that phase less mysterious. Instead of letting students discover grips by accident during sparring, a coach can isolate the hand battle and teach how to establish, break, and replace grips in a controlled way.

Two people grappling in jiu-jitsu uniforms, practicing grip fighting techniques to control their opponent's gi.

What beginners should focus on first

Keep this drill simple at first. One person tries to secure a cross-collar grip while the other strips it and replaces with sleeve control. Then switch roles. Later, you can add movement, posture changes, and takedown entries.

This is one reason gi classes can feel technical in a good way. There’s a lot to learn, but small details matter. Thumb position, elbow angle, and posture all affect whether a grip becomes a tool or just extra effort.

If you want a cleaner starting point, review grip fighting basics for BJJ. It helps new students understand which grips matter and why breaking a grip early can save a lot of trouble later in the exchange.

  • Train both hands: Don’t let your dominant hand do all the work.
  • Begin from static positions: Movement can come later.
  • Think about posture too: Good grips with poor posture still fall apart.

For kids, grip drills can be framed as control games. For adults, they’re often the difference between feeling lost in the gi and feeling organized.

4. Double Leg Takedown Drill

A lot of beginners avoid takedowns because they look explosive and complicated. The double leg becomes much less intimidating once you break it into parts: level change, penetration step, connection, drive, and finish.

That’s exactly why drilling matters here. You don’t want your first serious double leg attempt to happen at full speed with no pattern behind it. You want your body to recognize the position first.

A male athlete in a green shirt performing a double leg takedown on an opponent in a blue shirt.

Why takedown drilling deserves your time

At top-level BJJ events, takedowns appeared in 14% of 830 observed matches, and the athlete who scored the takedown won 88% of those exchanges, according to BJJ Heroes’ takedown study. That tells you something important. Even though takedowns aren’t constant, they can be decisive.

The same data also noted that double legs made up a small portion of successful takedowns compared with some other entries. That doesn’t make the drill unimportant. It means you should treat it as a technical foundation, not a wild shot from too far away.

  • Lower your level with your legs: Don’t bend at the waist.
  • Keep your head up: Good posture protects your neck and improves the finish.
  • Drill stationary first: Then add a step, then movement, then light resistance.

A younger student may learn this through knee-drop mechanics on crash mats. An adult beginner may start with partner entries and no finish. Both approaches work if the coach respects safety and progression.

5. Leg Drag Pass Drill

The leg drag is one of those passes that starts to make sense once you realize it’s really about alignment. You’re moving your partner’s legs to one side so their hips, knees, and shoulders can’t all face you together.

That’s why the pass shows up against different guards. The principle stays the same even when the entry changes.

Clean details beat speed

A solid leg drag usually begins with control of the ankle, shin, or pant area in the gi. You redirect the leg across your center line, staple or pin the hips, and move your own body to a passing angle. If you rush, your partner recovers guard. If you settle your weight well, the pass feels surprisingly smooth.

This drill works well in rounds. One partner starts seated or supine, the other enters the drag, secures control, and pauses for a count before resetting. That pause matters because beginners often “pass” in the air and never learn how to stabilize.

For families watching class, this is a good example of how technical jiu-jitsu can be without being reckless. The student learns pressure, movement, and position, but the drill can stay controlled and safe.

  • Start with one variation: Inside or outside leg drag is enough at first.
  • Pin before you move on: Don’t sprint to side control without control.
  • Connect to other passes: Knee cut and torreando reactions often appear naturally from the same exchange.

6. Leg Lock Entry Drill Footlock and Heel Hook

Leg lock training is now part of many modern rooms, but beginners need a clear rule. Learn the position before you learn the finish.

That matters even more for families choosing an academy. A school that teaches leg attacks responsibly should have clear safety language, close supervision, and a step-by-step progression rather than a free-for-all approach.

Safety first in modern leg lock training

A smart entry drill starts with entanglement awareness. Students learn where their hips go, where their knees point, how to control their partner’s leg, and when to stop. Early rounds can focus only on entering the position and holding it correctly without adding breaking pressure.

This area of training also highlights a real gap in many schools. Beginners who practice solo at home often have no good way to verify whether their movement quality is correct, especially with technical systems that depend on precise angles. That need for better remote feedback and form checking is discussed in Jiujitsu.com’s overview of solo drills and the need for better accountability in home practice.

A short demonstration can help students visualize the control phase before any finish is added.

If you can’t explain where your partner should tap and when you should release, you’re not ready to speed the drill up.

  • Begin with straight footlock control: It’s usually easier to organize.
  • Communicate constantly: Your partner should always know the intensity level.
  • Use qualified coaching: Leg lock details are not guesswork.

7. Guard Retention Drill Escaping Side Control

Being stuck under side control is frustrating, but it’s also one of the best places to build real defensive habits. Good guard retention and side control escape drills teach you not to panic. They teach frames, hip movement, and the discipline to recover one layer at a time.

Many beginners try to bench-press a person off them. That almost never works against someone with good balance.

A beginner-friendly sequence

Start with your partner in light side control. Your job is to frame against the neck and hip, bridge just enough to shift weight, insert a knee or shin, and recover guard. Reset before anyone starts muscling the exchange.

This pairs naturally with the shrimp drill, but it adds context. You’re not just moving your hips in empty space anymore. You’re learning when to frame, when to turn, and how to stop your partner from settling chest-to-chest.

Build your escape in layers. First survive. Then make space. Then replace guard.

For a child, this often becomes a movement challenge with clear steps. For an adult, it’s a confidence builder. Once you know you can recover from bad positions, rolling gets less stressful and a lot more productive.

  • Protect your neck first: Bad head position makes the whole escape harder.
  • Use your frames as wedges: They create the room your hips need.
  • Train both sides: Real rounds won’t always give you your favorite direction.

8. Collar Choke Drill Loop Choke and Cross Collar

Few gi submissions teach precision like collar chokes. They don’t need wild squeezing if the grips and angles are right. That makes them excellent jiu jitsu drills for students who need to slow down and feel how technique creates pressure.

Cross collar chokes are usually the starting point. Loop chokes add motion and timing, especially when an opponent’s posture rises or they drive in carelessly.

Build the grip before the finish

A good choke drill often starts long before the tap. One partner feeds the grip, the other places the first hand, then the second, then freezes to check wrist angle, elbow position, and posture. Only after that should the finishing motion happen.

Patient instruction pays off. New students often grab too shallow, flare their elbows, or pull with their arms instead of letting structure do the work. Kids can learn the same lesson through “grip first, finish second” cues that keep them organized.

  • Practice deep, clean grips: The setup decides most of the result.
  • Keep your elbows disciplined: Wide elbows usually leak pressure.
  • Learn from multiple positions: Mount, closed guard, and back control all offer useful reps.

A well-run gi class makes these drills feel technical, not complicated. That’s a big difference.

9. Bear Crawl and Movement Conditioning Drill

Not every useful drill looks like a technique. Some help you become the kind of athlete who can use technique longer, with better posture and coordination. Bear crawls, sprawls, level changes, and movement circuits fit that role well.

These are especially helpful for beginners who still feel disconnected from their own movement. Before they can invert, wrestle up, or scramble smoothly, they need to move their body with control.

Use it for warm-ups and home practice

Bear crawls teach shoulder stability, core engagement, and coordination between the hands and feet. Add forward crawls, backward crawls, side movement, and sprawls, and you’ve got a warm-up that transfers to grappling.

This style of drilling also fits a broader lesson about training balance. Some mat time should sharpen technical positions, and some should build movement quality that supports those positions under fatigue. That’s part of the tradeoff discussed in drilling vs. sparring for BJJ tournaments, where structure and live work both have a role.

  • Keep your knees low but off the mat: That creates more challenge and better control.
  • Move with purpose: Don’t rush and lose alignment.
  • Use short rounds at first: Quality matters more than exhaustion.

A kids coach might turn this into relay races. An adult fundamentals coach might use it before takedown practice. Both are smart uses of the same drill family.

10. Triangle Choke Drill Setup and Finish

The triangle is iconic because it rewards mechanics, timing, and persistence. It also teaches a lesson beginners need early. Just throwing your legs around someone’s neck isn’t the same as building a real submission.

A clean triangle has stages. Control the posture. Isolate the arm. angle your body. lock your legs. Then finish.

Angle matters more than squeezing

A simple drill starts from closed guard with your partner giving a controlled arm position. You climb your legs high, shoot one leg over the shoulder line, lock the figure-four, and pivot so you’re not square underneath them. Then you pause and check the position.

That pause is what makes this one of the best jiu jitsu drills for beginners. You can feel whether your knee line is correct, whether the trapped arm is across, and whether your hips are helping the finish.

The wider BJJ world also shows how accessible training has become for people looking to learn these basics in person. The United States Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Studios industry includes 44,218 businesses as of 2024, according to IBISWorld’s BJJ studios industry research. For new students and families, that means there’s a strong chance you can find a nearby academy where an instructor can help you refine details like angle, posture control, and safe drilling habits.

  • Control posture before attacking: A tall partner is hard to triangle.
  • Cut the angle: Don’t stay flat under the opponent.
  • Drill the defense too: Learning to adjust when they posture or stack makes the attack more realistic.

10 Jiu-Jitsu Drills Comparison

Drill 🔄 Implementation Complexity 📊 Resource Requirements ⭐/⚡ Expected Outcomes Ideal Use Cases 💡 Key Advantages / Tips
Shrimp Drill (Escaping Mount Position) Low (Beginner; basic hip mechanics) Minimal, mat; partner optional ⭐⭐⭐ (Strong positional escape); ⚡ High repeatability Beginners, warm-ups, positional escape training Keep head/shoulders on mat; explode hips; ~20–30 reps/day
Armdrags and Collar Drag Drill Moderate (timing & grip coordination) Partner required; gi/no‑gi adaptable ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (High control & back access); ⚡ Moderate (timing dependent) No‑gi standup entries, back‑take setups, competition Drill with varied partners; combine footwork; progress resistance
Grip Fighting Drill (Gi‑Specific) Moderate (sequencing & hand dexterity) Gi + partner; low space ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Essential for gi control); ⚡ Moderate (fatigue can reduce speed) Gi competition, grip battles, guard/control work Start static, use 30s intervals, train both hands equally
Double Leg Takedown Drill Intermediate (level change & drive mechanics) Partner + adequate space & mats ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (High takedown success); ⚡ High explosiveness Competition, self‑defense, wrestling‑integrated classes Master level change; drive with legs; film technique for fixes
Leg Drag Pass Drill Intermediate–Advanced (precision & hip control) Partner; progressive resistance; mat ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (High positional control); ⚡ Moderate (precision over speed) Modern guard passing, competition passing systems Drill slowly then increase speed; practice inside/outside variations
Leg Lock Entry Drill (Footlock & Heel Hook) High (advanced entries; safety critical) Partner + qualified instructor supervision ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (High submission options); ⚡ Variable (safety first) No‑gi leg‑lock systems, competition leg‑work Learn from experts; start with footlocks; communicate with partner
Guard Retention Drill (Escaping Side Control) Low (foundational movement patterns) Partner; mat ⭐⭐⭐ (Essential defensive skill); ⚡ Moderate with repetition Beginners, fundamentals, defensive conditioning Focus on bridge/turn and frames; progress resistance gradually
Collar Choke Drill (Loop & Cross Collar) Moderate (grip placement & timing) Gi + partner ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (High gi submission rate); ⚡ Moderate (setup matters) Gi finishing from mount/side/back, competition Drill non‑resistant grips first; train ambidexterity; use weight
Bear Crawl and Movement Conditioning Drill Low (movement/conditioning focus) Minimal, solo possible; open space ⭐⭐⭐ (Improves conditioning & mobility); ⚡ High for endurance/explosiveness Warm‑ups, conditioning circuits, youth classes Master pattern before speed; protect wrists; vary directions
Triangle Choke Drill (Setup and Finish) Moderate (angle & hip control) Partner; mat ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Reliable submission); ⚡ Moderate (timing critical) Guard offense, submission drilling, competition Practice high/low variants; prioritize setup and hip positioning

From Drill to Skill Find Your Mat and Start Training

Drilling is how jiu-jitsu starts making sense. The first time you shrimp, shoot, frame, or lock a choke, it feels mechanical. After enough good reps, the movement stops feeling borrowed and starts feeling like yours.

That shift matters for every kind of student. A nervous adult beginner needs reliable movements to fall back on. A child in class needs repetition that builds confidence without chaos. A returning student needs structure to rebuild timing safely. Good jiu jitsu drills help all three.

There’s also a practical reason to take drilling seriously. Some of the biggest gaps in beginner training aren’t about motivation. They’re about progression. Many students don’t know how to adapt drills around injuries, mobility limits, or different learning styles. That challenge is highlighted in Coach Danny Chacon’s discussion of jiu-jitsu drills and the need for more personalized progressions. A strong academy helps solve that by adjusting the drill to the student instead of forcing every student into the same mold.

If you want a simple way to use the drills in this guide, keep your week organized:

  • Warm-up days: Use shrimping, bear crawls, and guard recovery movement.
  • Technical days: Pair one passing drill, one submission drill, and one escape drill.
  • Partner days: Add light resistance to armdrags, grip fighting, or takedown entries.
  • Family practice at home: Keep it simple with movement drills, posture, and safe positional reps only.

Solo work helps, but it has limits. You need a coach to correct details you can’t always feel on your own. You need training partners who give the right amount of resistance. You need a room where safety, structure, and culture support learning.

That’s especially true when you’re choosing your first gym. With so many academies across the country and so many class styles, the right fit matters. Some schools are ideal for families and kids. Some lean heavily into competition. Some do a great job with beginner fundamentals and careful progression.

The best next step is to train these movements with real guidance. Use the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy Finder to search, compare, and connect with verified academies in your area. The right instructor can take these drills off the screen, put them into context, and help you turn repetition into real skill.

If you’re ready to start, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy Finder makes the search simple. You can browse verified academies by city or state, compare options for beginners, competitors, and kids’ classes, and connect directly with a gym that matches your schedule, goals, and comfort level.

Authored using Outrank app

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#jiu jitsu drills #bjj for beginners #learn jiu jitsu #bjj drills #kids jiu jitsu

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