Top 7 Most Powerful BJJ Pin Escapes: The Pillars of Defense

You should have strong defensive skills to win in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Defense in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu means that you should be able to protect yourself from unwanted positions against your BJJ opponent.

It also means that if somehow, your BJJ opponent succeeds in dominating you and you are stuck in some submissive position against your opponent; you should have enough skills to escape yourself. These are known as Defense skills in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. These are also known as BJJ escapes or BJJ pin escapes.

When discussing Defense skills in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the most essential skills are BJJ pin escapes. Pin means that you are stuck in a somewhat horrible position against your BJJ opponent, and standing up and taking your opponent down is challenging.

BJJ pin escapes are considered the pillars of Defense in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. They are referred to as the pillars of Defense in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu because they are the most common positions you can be in by your BJJ opponent.

Therefore, escapes from these pin positions, i.e., BJJ pin escapes, are considered the pillars of defense in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Most BJJ practitioners, mainly white belts, underrate these defense skills and think they are unimportant.

They focus entirely on learning BJJ techniques and moves, which they believe will help them defeat their opponents. They think they will win a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match by learning these moves and techniques. However, they ignore the value of BJJ pin escapes.

Everyone learns BJJ moves and BJJ techniques. The BJJ pin escapes distinguish you as a BJJ practitioner from others. You can gain a significant advantage over your BJJ opponent by learning and mastering these top seven most powerful BJJ pin escapes.

Many BJJ coaches teach BJJ white belts to get out of the worst positions. After that, they teach them offensive BJJ techniques. The reason is that when they get somebody in any sport, whether it's wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or boxing, whatever the case may be, they are very shy about pulling the trigger. They are very shy about incorporating their offense. They don't want to get hit in the face if it's boxing. If it's wrestling, they don't want to get sprawled. They don't want to get put in a BJJ pin if it's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. But they have to learn BJJ pin escape.

But imagine an athlete and a BJJ coach have taught him and made him good at BJJ pin escape. How scared do you think he is about getting pinned? Take a boxer and teach him how to dodge a punch. Teach him how to parry a punch. Teach him how to slip a punch. How much more scared do you think he is getting punched in the face? Same thing with wrestlers.

Teach them how to deal with a sprawl. He gets good at dealing with sprawls, which no longer scares them. What do you think is going to happen to their offense? It's going to shoot up like a rocket. Because now this guy's like, what's the worst that could happen? This guy sprawls on me, but I'm good at dealing with sprawls. I don't care.

So, the first thing you should consider is getting good in the areas you fear the most i.e., BJJ pin escape. BJJ white belts don't take it seriously and continue their focus on learning more BJJ moves and BJJ techniques. You should do two things as a BJJ white belt. First, practice any BJJ move or BJJ technique again and again until you master it, and then move to the next BJJ move or BJJ technique. Second, you must get good in positions where you are weak and those you fear the most i.e., BJJ pin escape.

BJJ white belts fear getting pinned the most. So, they should practice repeatedly until they are no longer scared of getting pinned. Once they master the BJJ pin escape, they will be ready for offense. BJJ white belts have to be offensive in the match. They should not be scared of any BJJ move or BJJ technique played by their opponents. So always remember to get good in the areas you fear; being offensive is the key to winning in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

There are many BJJ pin escapes that you can learn to get an advantage over your BJJ opponent, but you can't remember them all. Initially, you should focus on important and main BJJ pin escapes that will get you ahead of others. After learning and mastering these most powerful seven-pin escapes BJJ, you can learn other BJJ pin escapes. Following are the top seven most powerful BJJ pin escapes you should master by practicing repeatedly when starting as a BJJ white belt.

• Among the most common and powerful pin moves of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is BJJ Kesa-Gatame. The strength of BJJ Kesa-Gatame is in a perpendicular position. You can hold them in that position as long as you and your BJJ opponent stay perpendicular to each other. But the point is, how can you break the BJJ Kesa-Gatame if you are in that position held by your BJJ opponent?

• The answer is simple and easy. You can break the strength of BJJ Kesa-Gatame by getting parallel to your BJJ opponent. The more parallel you get, the more you feel like you are starting to escape from the BJJ pin. You cannot stay in that position. You have to move your hips. It is so easy for you to reverse the position. 

• So don't stay there. You should walk away or walk in, and now, from there, you can hit all the different reverses. The main thing is to create movement and move your hips away. If you just stay there, you are going to get pinned again. You need to walk away to get on your BJJ opponent’s side. This has the risk that your BJJ opponent can get back points against you, but losing some points is better than getting pinned for a long time. You often have to get your hips underneath them to bridge out of this position for BJJ pin escape.

• But if you start chasing the hips, your BJJ opponent will start moving their legs away, and you will be unable to get out. So, walk your hips away and get your back off the mat. Instead of being flat on the mat and getting pinned, walk your hips away. Push on the back a little bit, and walk your hips away. As your BJJ opponent goes to recover and bring their hips in, you can meet him.

• You have two options here: one you can lock. Locking does help because you can get a little more leverage by bridging them to their head first and then rolling through. Depending on where the leg is, the second option is to step and hook the leg. So if the knee is in, you won't be able to do that, but if their knee is out a little bit, you can hook it, and it's all the same thing. Both options will help you with the BJJ pin escape.

• You can throw your hips underneath, bringing them through and getting out of that position. There are a million different ways to play BJJ Kesa-Gatame. The most common one is an overwrap on the elbow. People do this because if your BJJ opponent can keep their elbow off the mat, it stops you from turning into them.

• So, for you to like to turn into them authoritatively, let go of the elbow. Your elbow has to come in, and then you can start to turn in right, but if they can stop your elbow from coming in, you should try to turn into them. It's tough.

• If they don't control your elbow with an over-wrap, it's easy for you to take both hands on their face, push their face away, and begin to build up. But the main thing here is not so much what your arms are doing, but the essential thing in this position is understanding that as long as we are perpendicular to each other, as long as we make the shape of a cross, the better it is for them to pin you.

• The more you can get out of that cross shape and go to parallel positions, the easier it will be for you to escape. So, always with a pin, try to ask yourself what part of your body is your BJJ opponent controlling, what part of your body is they not controlling, and how you can use the part of your body that's not being controlled to assist you in your BJJ pin escape.

• Number two is BJJ side control. So, if you are stuck in BJJ side control, you should focus on getting one of your hands through the space between you and your BJJ opponent. So you can try to turn it in or turn it away. People often try to turn away, but you can't turn to your stomach if your arm is stuck.

• So often, you might bridge to get some space because when you drop back down, you might be able to get that hand through because of getting some space. You will bridge, then you loose, and finally, you will get some space to pass your hand through. But there is a balance. At any moment when you are flattening your back, it is like you are stuck and losing. So finding a way to wiggle your hands through and trying to bridge and get your arm through is pretty important. 

• You can just try to muscle and bridge through, but like this position, you feel like this is so hard.Another thing you can do is bridge yourself and then move towards the mat, depending on how they are holding you, and then pass your hand through the space created by this. But often, your hands are stuck, so you have to get your hands through in addition to just bridging.

• Anything you have in that position, the general premise is very true: if you can get your hands between you and your opponent, it's an advantage because, essentially, what you are doing is number one. You are negating that chest-to-chest. So let's understand that anytime you are in a BJJ pin, go back down if you can get chest to chest. If you can completely put your chest on your BJJ opponent’s chest, your BJJ opponent can feel the pressure on your body. But if your BJJ opponent just puts both hands between them, he will not feel the same pressure due to their hands between you and them.

• So remember that from the top position, one of the best ways to create pressure on your BJJ opponent is to get chest-to-chest position. If you can simply get your hands between your chest and your BJJ opponent's chest, you can start to negate some of that pressure and then use that to escape.

• Let’s discuss a couple more BJJ techniques to achieve that hand-inside position. So, suppose you are at the bottom. If your knees are away from here, then it's easy for you to get an elbow inside. But getting an elbow inside is much more complicated if the knees are in. You should slip an elbow inside and start to work on that immediately.

• Now, post your right hand on your BJJ opponent. Start to walk away, and off that walk away, your hand comes inside, so your BJJ opponent goes to turn back to you. You can work to your side and start to scramble out now that you are on your side. So it's the same basic premise that you should work on: if you can just get a hand between you and your BJJ opponent, you can work it out.

• Now, suppose your BJJ opponent has their knees away. The disadvantage of knee-away is leaving much space between your BJJ opponent’s hips and your shoulders. Make your elbow slip inside, and you walk your hips away onto your side.

• That allows your hand to come entirely inside. It goes to pressure back into you, you turn to your side, and now, from here, you are out. If the knees are in, that's a little bit harder to hit because your elbow can't come inside. Take your hand up and over, and your elbow will act like a block on your knees. You should take your right hand back as your elbow blocks your knee.

• Hit a directional Bridge. As your BJJ opponent goes to come back, your hands come inside. Now, your BJJ opponent will try to hold you down. You can get the very least belly out and now start to work out of a belly-out position. Create a quick off-balance.

• Get your hands between you and your BJJ opponent, and then work on your belly. From your belly, fight from there. Most of the time, you are taught to bridge as hard as possible. Try to get your arms free. 

• Let's move on to BJJ north/south position. This position happens when somebody goes to a sit-out position. You want both hands on the inside. When somebody comes to a sit-out, you take one hand to control the shoulder, and the other comes out of the armpit and to the chin.

• You are moving your body out of the way, so there is space for you to pull them back. Then, most of the time, you will switch the hand on the chin to coming over the top of the head to get a little more control. Your BJJ opponent aims to get your shoulder blades flat on the mat. If your BJJ opponent can get both shoulder blades flat on the mat, that's a BJJ pin, and the match is over. 

• Try to go side to side. Your relationship with the shoulders changes significantly when you go side to side. Notice the angle of your shoulders relative to the mat. How do your shoulders go side to side, and how do they change with the mat? When you bridge straight up, look at the angle of your shoulders relative to the mat.

• It doesn't change that much. Your shoulders disconnect from the mat. When you Bridge straight up, look at how much distance between your shoulders and the mat. Your hips are super high; look how high they are off the mat. But your hips don't go nearly as high, but look how much distance your shoulder has from the mat, like literally two or three times the distance, and that's how you will escape this BJJ pin.

• So when you are pinned, you should take your shoulders immediately off the mat. Turn away, but this isn't going to be your Escape. It will break that BJJ pin position where your BJJ opponent cannot end the match. Your opponent will try to flatten your back out. You go ahead, your BJJ opponent flattens you back out, and they pin you.

• Now, the biggest mistake BJJ practitioners make from here is they try to go for it. It fails, and they go again. It fails, and they still go again. They are like hard-headed dogs that keep going in the same direction repeatedly. What you should do from here is that as you feel this BJJ pin, your thumb will come to your BJJ opponent’s elbow, and now you will go back in the direction your opponent wants to take you. But your opponent takes you back. You slip out and post your thumb on your opponent’s elbow.

• What you are doing here is using your hips to generate momentum to slip your arm out. You are using your right hand to strip your opponent’s elbow off your head, thumb post it away and suck your elbow back. It’s pretty hard to hold onto. They just hit you with that suck-back position; you don't want to stay there for long, or else the match might end.

• So the moment your BJJ opponent puts you down or tries to flat your back out. You suck back and come back. So that's going to be the escape. It's called a pendulum escape in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where your legs pendulum back and forth, allowing you to make a BJJ pin escape. 

• Bridging directly up and down doesn't help much, especially when you get your shoulder blades off the mat. So just take an example of your BJJ opponent being completely on top of you, as if their weight is centered on you. You go to the bridge straight up, even if you bring a shoulder blade off the mat.

• When you come back down, your BJJ opponent is on top of you. It's like you didn't do anything to help the situation. Again, if you bridge straight up and down, your hips can make as much separation from the mat as you want. It doesn't matter if your BJJ opponent is back on top of you when you come back down. Think less about bridging straight up and down. Think more about bridging side to side.

• So, if you do bridging side by side, look at your hips relative to the mat. Your hips will be barely off the mat but look at your shoulders. How far are your shoulders up off the mat? So, the strength of a bridge is how far your hips are off the mat, which can be a little misguided. Think more about making angles and breaking angles relative to the mat.

• You can create a separation with your shoulders. Your BJJ opponent will probably get back points on you, but they should get back points rather than pinning you in front of your loved ones. In another fight, take them back down and win the match.

• If you bridge straight up and down, your shoulders will be close to the mat. You have to bridge to your side. When your BJJ opponent goes to hook on your legs, extend your foot out. Your BJJ opponent will not be able to hold on to it. Your heels come closer to your hips. Then, post your foot on the mat. Load your bridge back the other way.

• You will extend off the mat. Your shoulders are up off the mat. Put your foot back on the mat. Your BJJ opponent’s weight is going to come back onto you. You post your hands on their hips. Bench press them and take them back the other way. The idea here is to remember that you have to bridge side to side in this type of position. Don't let your shoulder blades be close to the mat. Extend your legs to eliminate the BJJ grapevines; you should be alright if you move from side to side.

• The BJJ leg turk position is a very difficult position to deal with. A lot of times, you try to go forward. You crawl yourself forward to be able to slip the leg out. You are not dealing with the head control. You are dealing with leg control and doing this with a BJJ shrimp. So, you must first see if you can get your hands on their hips.

• Get a little bit of control and get to your side. You will not get pinned because the match is over if your back is flat. So, on your side, your hands are just pushing on the hip. Try to scooch your hip away and slide your leg as low on their leg as possible.

• Your leg is deep in there. Push away and slide as much backward as possible. Once you have enough space in between to bring your other knee through, you will do that, and then you have to try belly out. This is called in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a knee-elbow escape where they bring their knee and elbow together and use that powerful frame to get out. This is a very good escape.

• The first thing you should try is to get your arms in the way. It will be tough to get back in if you get stuck with your arms outside and your opponent has that chest-to-chest contact. So turn to your side, push your hands on their hips, your forearms in the way, scooch your hips backward, and slide your leg out.

• Then, there will be enough space for your knees to come through, and then you can belly out and work out of that position.

• You can do two things to escape from the BJJ tilt position. One is dealing with the bottom knee. You should ensure you can get off their hips when your BJJ opponent brings you into a tilt. You are stuck. You should push on the knee and slide your hips to the mat. So, as you are fighting, make sure you are not flat. Push off and try to slide your hips off. Once your hips are off, you can belly out pretty easily.

• The second one is if you have given up all your points. So you have given up on turning your stomach. Your BJJ opponent has already gotten all the back points or close to it. So now you should try and look for a reversal. Peel the top hand and take your leg closer to your BJJ opponent. The one that is usually not being elevated, and you will put that foot underneath your opponent’s top foot.

• Roll your hands free and start looking to scooch your hips off of them because you have this hook. It's hard for them to come up on top of you. Then look for replacing it with your hand to a switch position. It is a little more advanced than the first one.

• As you get tilted, you want to get off your back immediately. But if you get stuck, you cannot go to your stomach. Attack the top hand and get your foot in position. Pop off their hips, and they will start to try coming on top of you. Keep switching your hips away from them so you can turn in the leg and get the reversal. 

• The last one we are going to talk about is the BJJ Cradle. Keep one shoulder off the mat as you fight the grip and extend your legs. So try to break the grip, but be careful not to get pinned. So suppose your BJJ opponent has you in the BJJ cradle, and you both fall to your side. As you are falling, try to get one arm through. Go to your left hip and lay on your side.

• This is kind of how normally people will be pinning. As you try to break the grip, ensure you have your shoulder off the mat. Common things that people do in this scenario are that they will try to lock their legs together, they will peel their fingers, they will extend, or they will try to break. But in reality, it is to fight as hard as you can. Keep one shoulder off the mat and attack the grip if you're in this position. You can interlock your legs and break.

• If you have a near-side cradle, you can get your arm through, and then you have options for just putting them to their back. The general advice is to stay off one shoulder if you are on your back with the Cradle. Try to attack your opponent’s fingers. Try to extend yourself and go to your belly if you have to.

This article explains the top seven most powerful pins that escape BJJ. Getting pinned down by your BJJ opponent in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match is common. This makes BJJ pin escapes very crucial to learn. Apart from focusing on BJJ moves and BJJ techniques to take down your BJJ opponent, try learning and mastering BJJ pin escapes. These are well considered as the pillars of defense. There are many techniques for defense against many submissive positions, but pin escapes BJJ tops them all. 

Pin or pinned in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu means that you are stuck in some lousy position against your opponent while playing a game in BJJ. In a professional Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match, you transition into different positions to help you win the game. You continue doing this for a whole match. In some positions, you are made submissive by your opponent.

You can't do a lot of things at that point. These positions are known as bad positions. You should be strategic at that time. You should display calmness and think a way out of it. Escaping from those bad positions and transitioning from being in submission to being dominant over your BJJ opponent is crucial for winning the match. This is known as BJJ pin escape.

BJJ pin escapes are considered the pillars of Defense in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. They are referred to as the pillars of Defense in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu because they are the most common positions you can be in by your BJJ opponent. Therefore, escapes from these pin positions, i.e., BJJ pin escapes, are considered the pillars of Defense in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Most BJJ practitioners, mainly white belts, underrate these defense skills and think they are unimportant. 

You can get good in the areas you fear by practicing repeatedly. So, the first thing you should consider is getting good in the areas you fear the most. BJJ white belts don't take it seriously and continue their focus on learning more BJJ moves and BJJ techniques. You should do two things as a BJJ white belt. First, practice any BJJ move or BJJ technique again and again until you master it, and then move to the next BJJ move or BJJ technique. Second, you have to get good in positions you are weak and those you fear the most.