The Specialists
THE TAPPER'S TOOLBOX: Fixing the little mistakes in your BJJ game - "Mistakes Beginners Make – The Butterfly Sweep"
Aug 25, 2010 - 3:35:11 PM THE TAPPER'S TOOLBOX: Fixing the little mistakes in your BJJ game - "Mistakes Beginners Make – The Butterfly Sweep"

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By: Rob Gramer, MMATorch Specialist

Mistakes Beginners Make – The Butterfly Sweep

Butterfly, hooks, elevators; call them what you will, but most beginning grapplers make a huge mistake that murders their ability to sweep from the butterfly guard.

Let's take a closer look:

If you've been grappling for more than a day, you've probably heard the term leverage. Archimedes said, "Give me a big enough lever and I can move the world." And leverage is exactly what allowed BJJ Grand Master Helio Gracie to beat bigger and stronger opponents.

Leverage is the linchpin that makes BJJ work.

Is it easier to finish an armbar if you are pulling on an opponent's hand? Or on his elbow? If you just caught a kneebar, do you pull on his calf? Or the back of his ankle? Is it easier to break posture in guard if you pull on your opponent's shoulder? Or the back of his head?

I hope you answered the second ones, because you increase leverage (making your life a ton easier) as you apply force out farther from the body.

Now, what's this got to do with the butterfly sweep?

Most beginning grapplers simply fail to take advantage of leverage in the butterfly sweep, meaning they:

• waste a ton of energy struggling for the sweep, which leads to...

• failed sweep attempts, and...

• an easy guard pass for their opponent.

What's the big mistake they are making? Take a look at the following picture:

If you look closely at my butterfly hook, you'll see I'm practically kicking him in the groin. The problem here is that I have absolutely zero leverage to manipulate his legs. Since I can't cause his legs to move left or right, I can't get his hips to swivel.

Think about that last part for a moment. If I can't get his hips to swivel at all, is it possible for me to sweep him on his back?

Of course not!

I'll simply waste energy lifting him in the air. Now let's take a look at another picture:

If you can ignore my friend's cheesy grin, you'll notice I moved my butterfly hook down to his knee. I did this for one simple reason.

This gives me leverage on his hips!

If I kick his knee out, up and to my right his hips MUST begin to rotate. If I can rotate his hips enough, he will fall over on his back and I will get the sweep.

So here's the big takeaway lesson from all of this. To get more leverage and easier sweeps, move your butterfly hook away from his groin and towards his knee.

Why? Because you always get MORE leverage when you move the control points further away from your opponents core.

Rob Gramer is a mechanical engineer and BJJ brown belt. For more BJJ articles with a scientific bent and a free report revealing the 33 Grips every grappler must know, visit www.backchoke.com