BJJ White Belt Techniques: 30+ Moves You Need to Know

Let me first address some controversy:

Some moves in BJJ are called ‘white belt moves’ in a derogatory way. People usually mean moves that only work at the white belt level.

And those moves exist. For example, trying to break someone’s closed guard by grinding your elbow into their thigh will only work on other beginners. Any blue belt will just squeeze their guard tighter and wait for you to exhaust your arms.

Those techniques are not really worth learning because they become useless as you advance.

However, there are also techniques that are easy to do at white belt and still useful later. For example, you will almost never finish a higher belt with an americana. But you can threaten the americana from mount to force them to turn and expose their back. Higher belts do that all the time, so the americana is still a valuable tool even at black belt.

In this post I’ll only include ‘white belt moves’ that are still useful for higher belts in some way.

There are two categories of techniques that BJJ white belts should learn:

Easy techniques such as the americana and kimura. These are simple to execute and give you quick wins in sparring (but only if they’re still useful at higher levels too).

Important techniques such as the triangle choke, the knee slide pass, and mount escapes. These form the foundation of your BJJ game from blue belt onward.

The easy techniques are good for white belts because you can immediately use them in sparring, which is rewarding and keeps you motivated.

The important techniques are not always immediately useful. You might drill the triangle choke for weeks before you catch anyone with it. But white belts need to start practicing them anyway, because they’re too fundamental to neglect.

Think of the easy techniques as low hanging fruit, and think of the important techniques as planting seeds for a rich and powerful BJJ game later on. For a full breakdown of the best learning resources, see our guide to the best BJJ instructionals for beginners.

Also read: Top 5 Best BJJ Instructionals for Beginners & White Belts

The most important submissions to learn as a BJJ white belt are:

• The armbar
• The rear naked choke
• The triangle choke
• The kimura
• The americana

These submissions are important for white belts to learn because:

• The armbar, triangle and rear naked choke are among the highest percentage submissions in jiu jitsu and MMA
• The americana and kimura are the easiest submissions to learn for BJJ white belts

A BJJ white belt should be able to finish the rear naked choke from back mount: get your choking arm under the chin (thumb facing your chest), lock your hands behind their head using a palm-to-palm or S-grip, and squeeze your elbows together. The most common white belt mistake is cranking the neck instead of compressing the carotid arteries.

The americana works best from mount or side control. Control their wrist with both hands, pin it to the mat beside their head, then slide your far hand under their elbow to form a figure-four grip. Paint their arm along the mat away from their body. Keep your elbows tight to your own body so they can’t bridge out.

You may find the armbar, triangle and kimura hard to finish against colored belts, and that’s ok. Focus on recognizing the opportunities and getting into the right position. The finishing details come with repetition.

The two essential chokes for BJJ white belts are:

• The rear naked choke
• The triangle choke

The triangle choke is the one submission every white belt should obsess over. From closed guard, control one wrist while pushing the other arm across your centerline. Throw your leg over the back of their neck, lock your legs in a figure-four (ankle behind your knee), and squeeze your knees together while pulling their head down. The key detail: angle your hips 30 degrees to the side of the trapped arm. Most beginners try to finish straight-on and wonder why it doesn’t work.

If you want to learn more chokes, add some gi chokes such as the bow and arrow choke and the Ezekiel choke. If you train no gi, the guillotine choke is a great addition.

There are plenty more chokes to learn in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (such as head and arm chokes and more gi chokes) but you can reserve those for when you become more advanced.

Escapes are arguably the most important skills for a white belt. You’ll spend a lot of time on the bottom, so having reliable escapes keeps you in the round and builds confidence. For a deep dive into escape technique, see our guide to the best submission escape instructionals.

As a white belt you should learn to escape the major pins:

• Mount
• Side control
• Back mount
• North south

To escape mount, learn two escapes: the trap and roll (also called the upa) and the elbow escape (also called the shrimp escape). For the trap and roll, trap one of their arms by hugging it to your chest, hook their same-side foot with yours, and bridge explosively at a 45-degree angle. For the elbow escape, frame against their hip with your forearm, shrimp your hips out, and work your knee inside to recover half guard or full guard. For more detail on mount positions and technique, check our best mount instructional guide.

To escape side control, frame against their neck and hip with your forearms to create space. Bridge to make room, hip escape to get your near-side knee in front of their hip, then push them away to recover guard. The most common white belt mistake here is lying flat and bench-pressing. Frames and hip movement are what matter, not arm strength.

To escape back mount, fight their choking hand first (the hand closest to your neck). Work to get to the “weak side” (the side where they don’t have an underhook), get your shoulders flat on the mat, and walk your hips out to escape between their legs into their half guard.

North-south is one of the hardest positions to escape in BJJ. As a white belt, focus on not ending up there in the first place by framing early during side control escapes.

As a BJJ white belt you should learn some basic takedowns:

• Double leg takedown – Change level, drive your shoulder into their hips, clasp your hands behind their thighs, and drive forward at an angle. Keep your head on the outside (ear against their ribs) to avoid guillotines.
• Single leg takedown – Grab one leg, pull it tight to your chest, and use a trip or a run-the-pipe finish to get them down. Keep your posture upright so they can’t sprawl and snap you down.
• Double underhook takedown (body lock style) – Get both underhooks, clasp your hands on their lower back, and use an inside trip or lift to take them down.
• Leg trip from the clinch – From an over-under clinch, step your foot behind theirs and drive them backward over your leg.

You don’t need to be able to hit these takedowns against experienced grapplers yet. But you should be able to perform them technically in drilling and hit them against untrained opponents.

A BJJ white belt should know a few basic sweeps from closed guard:

• Scissor sweep – From closed guard, get a cross-collar grip and a sleeve grip. Open your guard, put your shin across their stomach, and kick their far knee out while pulling them forward with your grips. Timing matters here: sweep when they’re leaning forward into you.
• Flower sweep (or pendulum sweep) – Grab their same-side sleeve and an ankle or pants grip. Swing your leg high like a pendulum to generate momentum, and use that momentum to roll them over your body.
• Butterfly sweep – From butterfly guard (feet hooked inside their thighs), get an underhook on one side. Elevate them with your hook on the underhook side while falling to the opposite side. The most common mistake is trying to sweep them sideways instead of diagonally.

A white belt should also be able to sweep someone that’s leaning far too much in one direction by just bridging them over. If they post their hands, that gives you space to hip escape and reguard. For more on closed guard techniques including sweeps, see our best closed guard instructional guide.

A white belt should know the following basic guard passes:

• Toreando pass – Grip both of their pants at the knees (or control their shins in no gi). Push their legs to one side, then step around to side control on the opposite side. Speed beats strength here.
• Knee slide pass – Get a cross-face grip and slide your knee across their thigh, flattening them as you drive through to side control. Keep heavy chest pressure so they can’t re-guard.
• Double under pass – Get both arms under their legs, stack their hips up by driving forward, and walk around to side control. Clasp your hands so they can’t separate your arms.
• Tripod pass from half guard – Free your trapped leg by getting to a tripod position (both hands and your free foot on the mat), apply shoulder pressure, and work your knee free.

A white belt should not necessarily be able to hit these guard passes against colored belts. Guard passing gets exponentially harder at higher belts because their guard retention improves dramatically. At white belt, it’s more about building awareness of your options and learning the basic mechanics. For a deeper breakdown, see our guide to the best guard passing instructionals.

A white belt in BJJ should become proficient in the following guards:

• Closed guard – Your legs locked around their waist. This is your home base as a white belt. Focus on breaking their posture (pull them down using your legs and a collar or head grip) before attacking submissions or sweeps.
• Half guard – One of their legs trapped between yours. Learn to get on your side (not flat on your back), get an underhook, and either sweep or take the back. Flat half guard is a losing position.
• Butterfly guard – Sitting up with your feet hooked inside their thighs. Good for sweeps and for transitioning to other guards. Focus on keeping your posture upright and using your hooks actively.

The white belt should also be able to recognize and name the open guard positions:

• De la riva guard
• Reverse de la riva guard
• Spider guard
• Collar sleeve guard
• Single x guard
• X guard

Ideally, a white belt has also started playing one or two open guards, but you don’t need to be good at all of them yet. Pick one that feels natural and drill it consistently.

BJJ is a martial art, which means everyone’s game will look different. Even at the white belt level, you’ll naturally gravitate toward positions and techniques that suit your body type and personality.

Think of this list of fundamental white belt techniques as a cheat sheet for plugging holes in your game, or as a loose curriculum to plan your training around.

If you work through these basics, you’ll have enough tools as a white belt to start building your own game as a colored belt. And if you want structured video instruction to accelerate that process, check out our picks for the best BJJ instructionals for beginners.