When the cloth disappears you hold bones and angles — the grammar of every no-gi exchange
No-Gi Grips & Frames
- Brazilian jiu-jitsu
- No-gi · All levels
- 60 min
- Any class size, worked in pairs
- 1 coach
- Effort 3/5
- One mat space per pair
- no-gi
- grips
- frames
- fundamentals
Kit: Mats. No-gi — rash guards and shorts, no jewellery, nails trimmed.
Hands Awake
Setup: Pairs from the first minute, one mat space each, standing.
How it works: Two minutes of movement — jog the mat edge, sprawls, hip switches on the floor. Then wake the hands: grip-fight tig, ninety seconds on, thirty off, three rounds. One point for touching your partner's knee, one for holding their wrist for a full second. Feet stay planted no wider than a mat space, so it is hands and angles doing the scoring, not sprinting.
What to say
- “Hands live at chest height, elbows soft — a low hand is a late hand.”
- “Touch and leave — a grip you hold too long in this game gets you knee-tapped.”
- “Palms find wrists, eyes stay on the chest — the chest never lies about where they are going.”
Easier
Knee touches only, walking pace, no wrist holds.
Harder
Add a third score: one point for slipping behind your partner for a full second.
Technique of the Day — The Grip Ladder
Setup: Pairs standing, one mat space each. Demo each rung of the ladder twice on a partner, slow enough that the room can see exactly where each hand lands.
How it works: Teach the ladder as one sentence first: in no-gi you hold bones, not cloth — wrist, neck, armpit. Then climb it rung by rung, both partners working each rung a minute at a time. The ladder matters more than any single grip: every rung you climb is control they have to earn back. Walk the room checking thumbs, elbows and forehead positions — no-gi control leaks at the smallest joints first.
The technique, step by step
- Rung one — wrist control: cup their wrist thumbless, palm wrapping the bone, your elbow behind your hand. Rented, never owned: use it to enter, not to camp.
- Rung two — the collar tie: palm cups the back of their head, forearm bone lying on their collarbone, your elbow heavy down their centreline, forehead touching forehead-side.
- Rung three — the two-on-one: both hands own one arm — one at their wrist, one above their elbow — and drag it across your body so their far hand cannot reach you.
- Rung four — the underhook: swim your arm under theirs, palm landing flat on their shoulder blade, your chest closing the space you just won.
- The answer to their underhook — the overhook: clamp their arm to your ribs, wrist heavy on their shoulder, and angle away from their free hand.
- Climb in order, live: wrist wins the tie, the tie wins the two-on-one, the two-on-one wins the underhook. Skip a rung and you fall off the ladder.
Key details
- Sweat changes everything — grips in no-gi are frames and wedges that keep working wet, not squeezes that stop.
- Elbow position beats hand position on every rung: an elbow down the centreline controls posture even when the hand slips.
- Head position is the secret rung — forehead lower and inside wins every pummel exchange before it starts.
Common mistakes
- Holding a wrist like a trophy — wrist control is a doorway, and standing in a doorway gets you hit with the door.
- Reaching for the underhook from too far away — the arm gets snapped down and the back is suddenly behind you.
What to say
- “Hold bones, not skin — cup the wrist, never pinch it.”
- “The collar tie is your elbow's weight, not your hand's squeeze — hang on the head.”
- “Two hands on one arm beats one hand on each — commit when you climb.”
Easier
Partner offers each grip passively; climb the ladder five times naming every rung aloud.
Harder
Partner pummels honestly at half effort — you must climb from wrist to underhook without ever having no grips at all.
Drilling — Pummel Patterns
Setup: Same pairs, standing, a body-length between pairs. Coach calls the pattern changes for the whole room.
How it works: Three patterns, four minutes each, both partners working continuously. Pattern one: underhook pummelling — swim inside arms alternately, chest to chest, ten each then flow. Pattern two: collar-tie snap game — take the tie, snap their posture down once honestly but gently, they rebuild, swap. Pattern three: two-on-one hunting — from mutual wrist grips, fight to arrive at a two-on-one, hold it one second, release, go again. Everything at drilling temperature: alive hands, calm feet.
Rounds: 3 patterns × 4 min · continuous · drilling temperature
What to say
- “Pummel with your chest, not just the arm — the swim is a step, not a wiggle.”
- “Snaps come from your body weight dropping, never from yanking with the arm alone.”
- “Losing a grip well — peeling, framing, re-climbing — is the actual skill being drilled.”
Easier
All patterns at walking pace with named hand placements before each rep.
Harder
Patterns run continuously with no reset — the loser of each exchange must climb back from no grips.
Positional Rounds — Win the Grips
Setup: Pairs spread across the mat, one standing and one seated in open guard to start. Coach calls all starts and stops.
How it works: Two-minute rounds, half standing grip battles and half seated-guard battles, alternating. Standing rounds: win by holding a two-on-one or a collar tie with an honest posture-snap for three seconds. Seated rounds: guard player wins by climbing to an underhook or two-on-one from the floor; the standing player wins by pinning both wrists to the mat or clearing the legs to a chest connection. No submissions, no takedowns tonight — grips are the entire game. Rotate partners every round.
Rounds: 4 × 2 min · alternate standing and seated starts · rotate partners
What to say
- “The first grip decides the exchange — fight hardest in the first three seconds.”
- “Frames buy your grips back: wrist-frame, forehead post, re-climb.”
- “Say the rung you won with after each round — vocabulary makes it stick.”
Easier
Ninety-second rounds; standing only, first clean collar tie wins and resets.
Harder
Winner of each grip exchange may advance — standing to a go-behind, seated to a sweep entry — before the reset.
Slow Down & Stretch the Hands
Setup: Circle up seated, backs tall.
How it works: Forearms and hands get the care tonight: finger spreads, wrist circles, prayer stretch, then shoulders and neck, 20 seconds each. Recap the sentence the whole hour hung on: bones, not cloth — wrist, neck, armpit. Bow out, mats wiped before anyone leaves.
What to say
- “Open and close the fists slowly ten times — give the grips back their evening.”
- “Roll the shoulders down and back — pummelling hunches everyone.”
- “Leave with the ladder in order: wrist, tie, two-on-one, underhook.”
Ask the class: Ask the room: which rung of the ladder did you lose most often, and what did it cost you? Take three answers — most will discover it was the first one.
MatPlans curriculum team
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