Pirate BJJ

7 Drills Every Jiu Jitsu Student Should Practice Weekly

It sounds like you're ready to take your jiu-jitsu game to the next level! That's awesome. You've been showing up to class, learning the moves, and maybe even getting a few good rolls in. But if you're like most BJJ students, you've probably hit a plateau, or you feel like you're forgetting techniques the minute you step off the mat.

The secret to moving past that isn’t just rolling more; it’s drilling smarter.

Drilling is the engine of your jiu-jitsu progress. It's the repetitive, focused practice that moves a technique from your conscious brain—where you have to think about every single step—to your subconscious, where it becomes an automatic, intuitive reaction. This is muscle memory, and it's what separates the smooth, effortless practitioners from the spazzy, unsure ones.

You know that black belt who always seems to be three steps ahead? They’re not using magic; they’ve simply performed the core movements of jiu-jitsu thousands of times.

We all have busy lives, so your drilling needs to be efficient. You need to focus on moves that are universal, movements that build your base, and sequences that you can chain together. That's why I've put together this list of seven fundamental drills. If you dedicate even just 15-20 minutes of your weekly training time to these, you’ll see a massive improvement in your flow, power, and confidence.

Let's dive into the core seven drills that every serious jiu-jitsu student should be practicing every single week.

1. The Hip Escape (Shrimping) Sequence

If jiu-jitsu has a single most important movement, it's shrimping, or the hip escape. This isn't just a warm-up exercise; it’s your primary tool for defense, creating space, and escaping bad positions. If you can’t shrimp effectively, you can’t play jiu-jitsu effectively. Period.

Why It’s Essential

The hip escape creates the necessary space to recover guard, move out from under side control, or get your back off the wall. It’s the foundational movement for almost every defensive action in BJJ.

How to Drill It

This drill should always be performed for distance, not just reps. Think about how far you can travel across the mat using only your hips.

• Start Position: Lie flat on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor.

• The Turn: Turn your head to the left, look over your shoulder, and lift your hips slightly.

• The Push: Push off with your right foot and your left shoulder/elbow. Your hips should shoot out to the left, creating a gap between your back and the floor. You should feel all your weight resting on your head, shoulder, and foot.

• The Return: Bring your hips back to the center and flatten your back.

• Repeat: Turn your head to the right and push your hips out to the right.

• The Sequence: Once you can do individual shrimping well, practice the full sequence: Shrimp out, bring your foot up to hook your partner’s hip (even if they aren't there—visualize it), and then return to center.

Advanced Variation: Hip Escape and Guard Recovery

Get into a partner drill. Have your partner lay light pressure on you in side control. Every time they try to cross-face you or shift their weight, you need to execute a powerful hip escape, inserting your knee shield or knee-and-elbow frame to recover full guard. The drill ends when you establish a proper, closed guard. Repeat until this defensive sequence is second nature.

2. Guard Pass Posture and Movement (Head-Shoulder Drill)

If you're going to spend so much time escaping bad positions, you need to be equally good at keeping your own position dominant. When passing the guard, your posture is everything. It’s your defensive shield against sweeps and submissions. This drill is all about getting your base solid and moving around the hips without losing that rock-solid posture.

Why It’s Essential

Losing your posture is how you get submitted, swept, or lose control of the guard pass. This drill hardwires your body to maintain a strong, upright, and mobile position.

How to Drill It

This is a partner-based drill, but it requires cooperation, not resistance. Your partner is your anchor.

• Start Position: Stand in your partner's open guard (or squat over their legs). Grab a collar grip and a sleeve grip, or two grips on their pants. Keep your back straight, your head up, and your chin slightly tucked. Your weight should be heavy on your partner’s hips.

• The Pressure Point: Place the top of your head against your partner’s chest or sternum—this is your constant point of contact.

• The Movement: Keeping your head glued to your partner’s chest, move in a circle around their hips. Circle left, circle right. Take short, quick, powerful steps.

• The Rule: Never let your head detach from your partner’s chest, and never let your back round. If your head pulls away or your back rounds, you lose the pass.

This drill forces you to move your hips and legs while maintaining a rigid, unbreakable upper body structure. It’s great for building the isometric strength needed to hold dominant positions.

3. The Technical Stand-Up (T-Stand)

The Technical Stand-Up (T-Stand) is often taught on day one, but rarely practiced with the frequency it deserves. It’s not just a way to stand up; it’s a non-negotiable defensive and offensive transition. It’s how you disengage safely, maintain distance, or transition to a takedown.

Why It’s Essential

It allows you to stand up without exposing your back or falling forward, and it keeps a frame between you and your opponent the entire time. If you ever need to disengage for self-defense, this is the move.

How to Drill It

You should practice this moving backward for distance, just like the hip escape.

• Start Position: Sit up with one leg bent, the foot flat on the mat. The other leg is extended out in front of you. The hand on the side of the extended leg is on the mat behind you.

• The Frame: The hand on the side of the bent knee comes up to create a frame, protecting your face and neck.

• The Lift: Drive your weight into your bent foot and your planting hand. Lift your hips up high.

• The Retreat: Bring your extended leg back underneath you, planting the foot just behind your bent leg. Your hips should still be high, and the original bent leg should be a strong shield in front of you.

• The Stance: Once your feet are planted, stand up into a combat base (or a strong, staggered stance). Your hands should stay up, ready to block or grab.

• Return: Sit back down and repeat on the opposite side.

Advanced Variation: Stand-Up with a Push

Drill the T-stand while your partner applies light pressure to your knee shield. The pressure makes you work harder to create the space needed to bring your leg underneath and stand up.

4. Submission Chaining (Mount to Armbar to Triangle)

Individual submissions are great, but the true mark of an advanced student is the ability to flow from one attack to the next when the first one fails. Your opponent won’t just tap; they’ll defend, and you need a Plan B and a Plan C ready to go.

Why It’s Essential

This drill teaches you to maintain control and pressure even as your opponent resists, and it forces you to understand the relationship between different submissions. When a move fails, it almost always leaves an opening for the next.

How to Drill It

Start with your partner in a cooperative defensive position. You should move slowly and deliberately, focusing on seamless transitions rather than speed.

• The Initial Attack (Mount Position): Start in high mount. Attack a cross-collar choke. Your partner defends by pulling their elbow in tight.

• The Armbar Transition: Because your partner's elbow is tight, their arm is exposed. Transition immediately to an armbar. Your partner defends the armbar by gripping their hands together (a common defense).

• The Triangle Transition: This is the key moment. Instead of fighting the grip, let go of the armbar, move to break your partner's posture, and swing your leg over to lock up a triangle choke.

• The Reset: Your partner escapes the triangle. You should immediately look to recover mount or a dominant position.

The goal isn't to submit them every time; it's to be able to go from one attack to the next without pausing, breathing, or letting your control slip. This teaches you how the opponent’s defense creates your next offense.

5. Positional Cycling (The Guard Pass Flow)

If you find yourself stuck in one place when passing the guard, this is the drill for you. It’s about learning to flow around an opponent’s defense, moving from one side of their body to the other until a pathway opens up.

Why It’s Essential

An opponent’s guard isn't a single barrier; it’s a dynamic, fluid system. When they shut down your pass on the left, you shouldn’t pull back and reset; you should immediately shift your angle and attack the right. This drill builds that seamless transition.

How to Drill It

This is a dynamic, high-repetition partner drill. Your partner should give light, positional resistance.

• Start Position: You are standing in your partner's open guard.

• Pass Attempt 1: Drive into a knee slice pass to your partner’s left. Your partner manages to block it with a strong knee shield.

• The Reset (Hip Switch): Instead of backing out, you immediately shift your weight and switch your hips, moving to the other side of your partner's legs.

• Pass Attempt 2: Drive into a toreando (bullfighter) or double-under pass to your partner’s right. Your partner sprawls their legs and maintains a frame.

• The Transition: Immediately jump your knees into the center and attempt a leg drag.

• The Goal: You should continuously cycle through three to four different passes, moving from left to right, high to low, without your partner being able to establish a solid grip or sweep. The drill ends after you successfully cycle through your passes and achieve side control.

This is a fantastic drill for developing "heavy hips" and maintaining relentless pressure. Ask your training partners at piratebjj offers Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gym if they have a favorite flow they use during open mat.

6. Granby Rolls and Turtle Movement

The turtle position is one of the most misunderstood positions in BJJ. For many people, it’s a last-ditch defense, but for those who understand movement, it's a powerful transition. The Granby roll is the core movement that allows you to turn the turtle into a dangerous place for your opponent.

Why It’s Essential

The Granby roll is a universal movement that allows you to: a) Escape an opponent trying to take your back. b) Transition from a failed sweep into a guard or submission. c) Improve your general body awareness and agility, which is vital in scrambling.

How to Drill It

This is a solo drill, which means you can and should practice it literally anytime you have a mat available.

• Start Position: In a tight turtle position.

• The Entry: Tuck your chin deep to your chest. Take one hand and reach over your body, planting it far on the mat.

• The Roll: Drive your weight onto your shoulder (the one opposite the hand you planted). Roll over that shoulder, pulling your legs through the hole you’ve created.

• The Finish: You should end up on your back, having recovered a form of guard (like a butterfly or deep half guard) or immediately standing up.

• Repetition: Practice rolling from left to right, maintaining a tight core and a tucked chin the entire time.

Advanced Variation: Granby Roll from a Failed Takedown

Have your partner shoot a double leg on you. You sprawl, and as your partner tries to switch to a single leg, you immediately execute the Granby roll to sweep them or recover a dangerous guard (like a butterfly hook). This teaches you to move when your opponent’s weight is already committed.

7. The Pummeling Series (Hand and Foot Pummeling)

The stand-up and the closed guard are separated by the simple act of establishing grips. Pummeling, both with your hands for gi grips and with your feet for guard hooks, is the drill that trains your body to dominate the gripping exchange. If you win the grip fight, you’ve already won half the battle.

Why It’s Essential

Whether you’re in a gi or no-gi, on your feet or on your back, the ability to quickly and efficiently fight for the best grips is paramount. It’s what allows you to break your opponent’s posture (hand pummeling) or set up sweeps (foot pummeling).

How to Drill It: Hand Pummeling (Standing - Gi)

• Start Position: Stand with your partner, each with one hand gripping the other’s collar (or shoulder in no-gi).

• The Exchange: The goal is to continuously fight to get your hand inside the space between your partner’s arms, and then immediately fight to maintain that inside position.

• The Pull: Once you get an inside grip, practice a short, quick pull to break your partner’s posture. Your partner should immediately counter-grip and try to pummel their hand back inside.

• Repetition: Keep moving and keep fighting for that inside space. Do this for a full minute—it’s a great cardio and grip strength builder.

How to Drill It: Foot Pummeling (Guard)

• Start Position: You are on your back in open guard. Your partner is standing over you. You have no grips yet.

• The Exchange: Use your legs to pummel for hooks. Push one foot in for a butterfly hook, then immediately pull it out and insert the other foot for a shin-to-shin hook.

• The Goal: You should be constantly moving and re-inserting your hooks, never allowing your partner's weight to settle. This develops the dynamic leg dexterity needed for complex guards like De La Riva and X-Guard.

Making It Stick: Your Weekly Drilling Routine

Knowing the drills is only half the battle; incorporating them into your schedule is the other. Here’s how you can structure your week to ensure you get the most bang for your time without burning yourself out.

The Power of 15 Minutes

You don't need an hour. A focused 15-minute block before or after class can be more effective than two hours of unfocused rolling.

DayDrill Focus (15 minutes)Goal/NotesMondayDrill 1: Hip Escape SequenceFocus on traveling distance. Move across the entire mat length and back.TuesdayDrill 4: Submission ChainingFocus on smooth transitions. Go from Mount Armbar to Triangle, then back to Mount. Slow and perfect.WednesdayDrill 7: Hand and Foot Pummeling5 mins of standing gi grips. 10 mins of open guard foot pummeling. Drill winning the grip fight.ThursdayDrill 2: Guard Pass PostureFocus on maintaining a laser-straight back and a head glued to your partner’s chest. Move around their hips.FridayDrill 3 & 6: T-Stand & Granby Roll5 mins of solo T-Stands (moving backward). 10 mins of continuous Granby Rolls to recover guard.SaturdayDrill 5: Positional CyclingPartner required. Flow from one guard pass to another (e.g., knee slice to leg drag to X-pass).SundayRest & ReviewWatch video footage of the movements you drilled. Or, come to Pirate BJJ Fall Break Camp and drill all seven with advanced partners!

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How to Drill with a Partner

When you drill with a partner, remember this mantra: Cooperate to Create Excellence.

• The 70% Rule: The partner executing the move should use 100% of their focus and technique. The partner receiving the move should only offer about 70% of a real-life defense. They should give a genuine reaction (pulling an arm, shrimping a little, etc.) but not so much resistance that the move fails every time. The goal is to perfect the technique, not win the drill.

• Repetition with Correction: Do five repetitions, then swap roles. After ten repetitions total, pause and review. Ask each other: “Where did my grip slip?” or “Did my hip movement feel off?” Drilling should be a conversation about mechanics.

• Focus on the Transition: The real gold in drilling is the transition. Don't just practice the armbar; practice the moment you lose the armbar and seamlessly transition to the triangle. That's real jiu-jitsu.

A Note on Solo Drilling

The hip escape and the technical stand-up can—and should—be done solo. Don’t underestimate the power of solo drills. They help you build internal body awareness and strength without relying on a partner’s weight or resistance. If you’re at home waiting for the kettle to boil or a commercial break, drop to the floor and do ten shrimping reps. Every little bit of time adds up.

The Long-Term Payoff

Jiu-jitsu is a marathon, not a sprint. You won’t master these drills in a week, but the cumulative effect of consistent practice will transform your game over a year.

Think about it:

• Your Defense Gets Faster: Your hip escapes become involuntary. The moment your opponent gets a good position, your hips are already moving to recover guard. You'll stop thinking, “Oh no, I’m in side control,” and start thinking, “Okay, shrimp right, knee frame, escape.”