10 John Danaher principles to be good at BJJ
Tips from one of the best coaches in the sport
John Danaher is one of the most famous and respected coaches in BJJ. Danaher is a Renzo Gracie black belt, former bouncer, and philosophy professor.
The Danaher Diaries is a book that collects John Danaher’s Instagram posts where he writes about his philosophy on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
BJJ coach John Danaher gives you principals and insights to improve yourself as a grappler. With the sport exploding in popularity, the mental study of BJJ is more important than ever. His wisdom is good food for the brain on your BJJ journey.
Here's 10 common themes/principals John Danaher brings up that you can add to your BJJ game to improve immediately:
1. Don't focus on winning in the gym. Focus on improvement and skill acquisition.
2. Have a general sense of direction from each position (what is the goal from each position)
3. Be defensively sound. Have good defense.
4. Whenever possible, seek to get behind your opponent.
5. Always look to break your opponents posture/stance. Commonly referred to as off balancing.
6. To defeat bigger, stronger opponents look to fight your opponents upper body with your lower body as much as possible.
7. Understand grip and connection. If you can't grip you can't attack.
8. When watching BJJ. Don't just passively watch for entertainment. Put yourself in their shoes and think about what you would do in their situation.
9. Learn how to play with the push-pull dynamic. Push for defense, pull for offence.
10. Use leg locks as a basis for your bottom guard game.
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