Glossary
The words you'll hear
in your first month.
Guard, mount, tap, roll, oss. Nobody explains these on day one because everyone forgot they once didn't know them. Here they are, in plain English.
26 Terms
Jiu-jitsu and Judo, translated.
Read it once before your first class, then come back when someone says something on the mat that you nodded along to.
- BJJ
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Grappling focused on the ground: getting a dominant position, controlling the other person, and finishing with a choke or joint lock. Trained live against resistance.
- Judo
- The Japanese throwing art. Grips, off-balancing and throws that take a standing opponent to the ground, plus pins and submissions once there. BJJ grew out of it.
- Gi
- The heavy cotton jacket, pants and belt worn for jiu-jitsu and Judo. Also called a kimono. Grips on the gi are part of the game; training without it is no-gi.
- No-gi
- Grappling in a rash guard and shorts instead of the gi, so there is no cloth to grip. Faster, slipperier, and closer to what a street situation feels like.
- Roll
- A live sparring round in jiu-jitsu. Two people start from a position and try to work their technique against each other for real. "Want to roll?" is how you ask for one.
- Tap
- Two clear taps on your partner or the mat, or saying "tap", to signal a submission is on and the round stops immediately. Tapping early is how you keep training for years.
- Submission
- A choke or a joint lock applied with enough control that the other person taps. The finish of a roll, and the reason position matters first.
- Open mat
- A scheduled session with no taught lesson: people show up, warm up, drill and roll with whoever is there. At KDL it is Saturday at 9:00 AM.
- Drilling
- Repeating one technique with a cooperative partner until the movement is automatic. Most of every class, and the part that actually builds skill.
- Positional sparring
- Live training that starts from one position, such as mount or guard, with a goal for each person. Resets when someone escapes or submits.
- Guard
- Fighting from your back with your legs between you and your opponent. In BJJ the bottom person in guard is not losing; they are attacking with sweeps and submissions.
- Closed guard
- Guard with your ankles crossed behind the other person's back, holding them in close. The first guard most beginners learn.
- Guard pass
- Getting past the bottom person's legs to a dominant position like side control or mount.
- Sweep
- Reversing the position from guard: taking the top person off balance and ending up on top yourself.
- Mount
- Sitting on top of the other person's torso, knees on the mat. One of the most dominant positions in grappling and in a real fight.
- Side control
- Pinning the other person chest to chest from the side, past their legs. A strong controlling position and a common place to attack from.
- Back control
- Behind the other person with your legs hooked in and their back to your chest. The most dominant position there is, and where the rear naked choke lives.
- Shrimp
- The hip-escape movement from the warm-up: on your side, push off your feet and slide your hips away. The foundation of almost every escape.
- Bridge
- Driving your hips up off the mat from your back to make space or unbalance someone on top of you. Drilled in warm-ups, used in nearly every escape from mount.
- Breakfall
- The Judo way of landing safely from a throw: chin tucked, arm slapping the mat, air leaving your lungs on purpose. Taught before anyone is thrown.
- Takedown
- Any technique that takes a standing opponent to the ground: a Judo throw, a wrestling shot, a trip. The link between the standing and ground parts of a fight.
- Grip fighting
- The battle for hand position on the gi, wrists or collar before a throw or pass. Whoever wins the grips usually wins the exchange.
- Oss
- A catch-all word of respect you will hear on the mat: yes, thank you, let's go, well done. Say it back and nobody will ask questions.
- Belt ranks
- In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu adults progress white, blue, purple, brown, black, with stripes in between. Promotions are earned slowly, which is why a black belt means something.
- Professor
- The traditional title for a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who teaches. Coach or the person's first name is just as common in most rooms.
- Mat etiquette
- The unwritten rules: clean gear, short nails, shoes off the mat, tap early, match your partner's pace, and never leave someone hanging when they ask for a roll.
Learn the language of the hive
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