TFS#49: Become A Ninja...Turtle

If you find yourself in turtle a lot, that’s not a bad thing. It means you’ve added a new position to your Jiu-Jitsu.

But, if you’re staying in turtle and don’t have a progression after that, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. Upper belts will know how to keep you facing down and will take advantage of an exposed back.

Turtle is a transitional position, one where you get out of a bad position and connect to a better position. Ideally, you are able to recover your guard.

Misconceptions Of Turtle

It’s commonly thought that the turtle position is a desperate move to prevent guard pass. This is fundamentally true since it’s not a good idea to expose your back to your opponent since your offense will significantly suffer.

The trade off is that while your back is exposed, your limbs and head are safe (for the most part). This means you can focus your attention on preventing the back take and creating counters.

Building Your Game Around Turtle

This might be more an “old school” style but you can actually build your whole Jiu-Jitsu off the turtle position. Black belt Eduardo Telles is well-known for his effective use of the turtle—both defensive and offensive.

Similar to Ricardo de la Riva, Eduardo’s personal game was crafted due to his tough training partners. He saw turtle as an opportunity to streamline counterattacking since attacking options are limited while you are in turtle.

Attacks From Bottom Turtle

Learning to develop a few attacks from bottom will throw your training partner’s game plan out the window. You should be able to catch most of them out of position.

See the links in the next section to become a sneaky ninja…from turtle.

For Your Jiu-Jitsu

→ Kent Peter’s attacks from bottom turtle will make your opponents think twice taking your back.

→ Can you relate to this article? What makes you different from the rest of your peers?

→ If you haven’t had a chance to check out this positive BJJ podcast, a quick listen will turn your day around.

Closing Thought

You can look at turtle like spider guard, it’s a transitional position. You don’t want to stay there too long.

I think it’s worth studying how to attack from turtle since it’s a position most people (including upper belts) won’t expect you to know how to attack from.