Rules and scoring primer

How a jiu-jitsu match is scored in broad strokes, what the positions in the atlas are worth, and why the solo studies are organised the way they are.

What a match rewards

Most competition rule sets in this sport reward the same thing: getting past a person's legs, holding a dominant position long enough to prove control, and finishing with a submission. Points exist to describe progress toward a finish. A takedown, a sweep, a guard pass, a knee on the belly, mount and the back are all rewarded because each one is a step closer to ending the match, and the higher the number, the harder the position usually is to arrive in and to keep.

The exact numbers differ between federations and change from year to year. A typical points rule set awards two for a takedown or a sweep, three for a guard pass, and four for mount or back control with the hooks in, with advantages for near misses and penalties for stalling or for illegal grips. Submission-only rule sets ignore points entirely and decide by a finish or by a referee's judgement of who was closer to one. Read the rules of the specific event you are entering, and ask your coach which details matter for you. This page is a primer, not a rulebook, and it is not written by a referee.

Why position comes first

The position atlas on the home page is arranged around the same idea the scoring is: standing, guard, side control, mount and the back are the places a match passes through, and each one is a question about what to do next. The reason this app spends its solo studies on hip escapes, bridges, frames and stand-ups rather than on submissions is that those movements are what let you change position at all. A submission from a position you cannot hold is a gift to the other person.

Control time matters. In most rule sets a position only scores once it has been held for a count of about three seconds, which is why the stand-up, the base recovery and the sit-out in the base recovery and sit-out studies finish in a base rather than in a scramble. The finish is the part that stops the count.

What the studies can and cannot teach about scoring

A solo movement study can show you where your hips have to go to escape a position, how a bridge drives through the heels, and where a hand posts on the way up. It cannot show a guard pass, because a pass is defined by the legs you are passing, and it cannot show a takedown, a sweep or a submission, because each of those is defined by the other person's weight, grips and reactions. The page on what this app is not says this at length.

Illegal techniques vary by rule set and by age and belt division. Heel hooks, knee reaping, certain neck cranks and slams are legal in some events and forbidden in others. Nothing in this app demonstrates any of them, and no note here should be read as permission to try one. Ask a coach, and read the rule set.

Using the atlas before an event

Open the atlas, pick the position you most often lose points from, and read its question. Write your coach's answer into the mat journal. Then take the solo study attached to that position into a session. That is the whole loop this app is built around: a position, a question, a movement you can rehearse alone, and a note you keep.