Travis Stevens, an Olympic Judo medalist and BJJ black belt, shows 3 highly effective back takes in this week’s video. In explaining his approach to taking the back he quotes John Danaher in saying, “if you can see the back, you can take the back.”
(Note: Travis does the techniques no gi, but they can also be done in gi.)
The Techniques
Technique #1 starts from Travis looking to knee cut to pass guard. Instead of passing, he stands up and shift their legs and hips to the opposite side. Now, that he can see their back, he clears the opponent’s shielding knee and does a front roll, rolling toward his shoulder facing away from the opponent, to get to the back.
Technique #2 comes from a double under pass attempt. When he stacks his opponent he exposes their back, allowing him to see the back, invert, and go straight into placing his hooks.
Technique #3 Travis shows comes from reverse half guard. From this position, he pulls them up, so he can see their back and take it. Similar to the first technique, he rolls to their back and takes it.
The most important principle is the one shared by Stevens via Danaher, being that there’s generally a route to take the back as long as you’re able to physically see your opponent’s back.
For more techniques like this check out our technique section and look for more techniques added weekly