Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – Banana Split

We had a friend from my Muay Thai school join us this morning for some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I was pretty excited about this because he was my guest. I never brought in a guest before, so I wanted to really make sure he enjoyed himself.

This friend of mine is a blue belt. He’s has had this belt for quite some time because, from what I can gather, he isn’t too concerned about what color belt he has around his waist. I keep telling myself that I think the same way, but I pursue that next level up…every time.

Class went very well. We all learned a few moves that we hadn’t seen before and I was was pleased because my friend is now able to bring that knowledge back to the school where he trains Jiu Jitsu.

The way our class works is this; we go over some defensive moves or submissions for about three quarters of the class. For the remaining quarter, we spar, or what Jiu Jitsu guys like to call “rolling.” Since I had invited a friend to join us today, I thought it only fitting that I invite him to roll with me. I had only experienced his Muay Thai techniques, so I thought it would be fun. Plus, I get a fire in my eyes when I see someone fresh walk through the door.

We rolled. He got me in the Banana Split. I tapped.

I have limited knowledge of the banana split from a while back when I was on my Eddie Bravo kick. For those of you who don’t know Eddie Bravo, check him out here:

Eddie Bravo Rubber Guard Basics

For the remainder of our match, I pulled guard and tried out a few moves. Nothing really worked well, but I was complimented on my guard.

Banana Split: Submissions 101

This video doesn’t depict exactly the setup for the banana split I was submitted by today, but the ending is pretty much the same. The setup my friend used this morning was through half-guard.

I am actually doing a bit of self reflection now. I have a very strong guard, but I feel that I need to bring it to the next level. I need to learn a few more nice submissions I can put in my pocket to pull out when need be. I want to be slick and have a very high success rate. I’ll let you know what I find.