Technique Chaining

A series of attacks works better than a single attack by itself.

Ever felt the frustration of drilling a technique dozens of times, but still finding yourself unable to pull it off during a live roll? It might be because you're not chaining your techniques together.

It's hard to pull off a single isolated technique against an opponent with even the most basic understanding of Jiu-Jitsu. But when you chain attacks together, the chain is more effective than the sum of its parts.

The myth of “techniques”

THE MYTH: If you execute “the steps” to a technique perfectly, it'll work every time.

THE REALITY: Making a technique work isn't about perfect execution, it's about finding the right opening.

I spent a long time erroneously thinking that being “good at Jiu-Jitsu” meant you could pull off any technique any time you wanted, like a pool shark calling their shot. But it doesn't work that way.

It's almost impossible to hit a technique from a dead stop against a trained opponent. After just a few months of training, most people have developed enough awareness of body positioning to shut down obvious attacks.

Why technique chaining works

Real Jiu-Jitsu, against real resistance, isn't a pretty demonstration of perfectly executed techniques. It's really ugly. And although we might see techniques when we watch matches, victories are often decided by the moments between the techniques. As Claude Debussy once said, “Music is the space between the notes.”

It's through technique chaining that we create those “moments between techniques,” those windows of opportunity, where we can advance position or enter a submission.

As Rob Biernacki says, when your opponent's body is in alignment — meaning they have base, posture, and structure — it's hard to just “do techniques” to them because their body is properly positioned to defend. You need to break their alignment first.

This is why technique chaining matters. Your first attack might not work, but...Even if a technique doesn't work, it forces your opponent to react in a way that may create openings.

The more frequently you attack, the larger your opponent's reactions will have to be to keep defending. Every attempted attack, even if unsuccessful, breaks their alignment further and makes the next attack more likely to succeed.

How to develop technique chains

The short answer? You are what you train. If you want to learn to attack in technique chains, you should train in technique chains.

This is an argument against “dead drilling,” or executing reps against an unresisting opponent. Without resistance, you can't adequately train a technique chain.

Many approaches add realistic resistance to your training while maintaining an element of safety, such as the ecological approach based on ecological dynamics.

On the podcast:

• Ep. 28: Kuzushi

Further study:

• Windows of Opportunity
• Theory of Alignment
• You Are What You Train
• Ecological Dynamics
• Dictate the Pace