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Brazilian jiu-jitsu learning path

39 skills in a suggested learning order. Difficulty is the learning order scaled from 1 to 5.

Beginner (13 skills)

Step	Skill	What you learn	Difficulty	Tutorials reviewed
1	BJJ for beginners	What happens in your first class, what to bring and how to survive it.	1.0 / 5	38
2	BJJ belt system	How the belts and stripes work and what each level means.	1.1 / 5	37
3	Breakfalls	Land safely from throws and takedowns.	1.2 / 5	35
4	Hip escape (shrimp)	The core movement for creating space and escaping bottom positions.	1.3 / 5	38
5	Bridging	Use the hips to lift and off-balance an opponent on top.	1.4 / 5	35
6	Posture and base	Stay upright and heavy so you are hard to sweep or submit.	1.5 / 5	36
7	Closed guard	Control, break posture and attack from closed guard.	1.6 / 5	41
8	Mount	Keep the mount and stop your opponent bucking you off.	1.7 / 5	40
9	Side control	Hold and apply pressure from side control.	1.8 / 5	41
10	Mount escape	Escape the mount with the bridge-and-roll and elbow-knee escape.	1.9 / 5	41
11	Side control escape	Frame, shrimp and recover guard from under side control.	2.0 / 5	40
12	Scissor sweep	The fundamental closed-guard sweep every white belt learns.	2.2 / 5	40
13	Armbar	Attack the armbar from guard and mount.	2.3 / 5	40

Intermediate (13 skills)

Step	Skill	What you learn	Difficulty	Tutorials reviewed
14	Half guard	Play and recover from half guard instead of getting flattened.	2.4 / 5	41
15	Back control	Take and keep the back with hooks and seatbelt grip.	2.5 / 5	42
16	Back escape	Strip the hooks and escape back control before the choke.	2.6 / 5	42
17	Hip bump sweep	Sit up and bump to reverse the position from guard.	2.7 / 5	40
18	Americana	Finish the americana shoulder lock from mount and side control.	2.8 / 5	40
19	Kimura	Attack the kimura from guard, side control and half guard.	2.9 / 5	37
20	Rear naked choke	Finish the rear naked choke from back control.	3.0 / 5	40
21	Triangle choke	Set up, lock and finish the triangle.	3.1 / 5	36
22	Guillotine choke	Catch and finish the guillotine, high elbow and arm-in.	3.2 / 5	43
23	Breaking closed guard	Open a locked closed guard before you can start passing.	3.3 / 5	40
24	Toreando pass	Pass by controlling the legs and moving around them.	3.4 / 5	39
25	Knee cut pass	Cut through the guard with a knee slice.	3.5 / 5	40
26	Competition points and rules	How points, advantages and penalties work in a BJJ match.	3.6 / 5	36

Advanced (13 skills)

Step	Skill	What you learn	Difficulty	Tutorials reviewed
27	Gi vs no-gi	How grips, pace and technique differ between gi and no-gi.	3.7 / 5	38
28	Arm triangle	Finish the head-and-arm choke from mount and side control.	3.8 / 5	35
29	Open guard	Use grips and frames to control distance in open guard.	4.0 / 5	41
30	Guard retention	Stop your guard being passed with frames, hips and timing.	4.0 / 5	34
31	Butterfly guard	Elevate and off-balance with butterfly hooks.	4.2 / 5	38
32	Butterfly sweep	Elevate and sweep with the butterfly hook.	4.3 / 5	35
33	Knee on belly	Hold, attack and transition from knee on belly.	4.4 / 5	35
34	Turtle position	Attack and defend the turtle.	4.5 / 5	41
35	Leg drag pass	Drag the legs across to pass and take the back.	4.6 / 5	38
36	Double leg takedown	Shoot, penetrate and finish the double leg.	4.7 / 5	37
37	Single leg takedown	Take and finish the single leg.	4.8 / 5	47
38	Omoplata	Attack the shoulder lock with the legs from guard.	4.9 / 5	39
39	De la Riva guard	Use the De la Riva hook to control and off-balance a standing opponent.	5.0 / 5	40

See also

Learning order and levels from the Subskills sports technique taxonomy (subskills.xyz), licensed CC BY 4.0.

Data: Subskills sports technique taxonomy (CC BY 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.