Humans move in four postures: sitting, standing, kneeling, and lying—no more, no less. 

Consider how most people spend their day: they’re generally upright—standing, walking, or running—or they’re sitting and not moving much. Few people develop skills for moving and controlling their bodies while sitting, kneeling, and lying down. Grapplers exploit this unfamiliarity by luring opponents into postures where they have less skill or comfort.

In their book, The Human Equation, Eric McLuhan and Wayne Constantu outline four foundational ways humans can move their bodies:
1.Contracting muscles
2.Displacing in space (moving your body around)
3.Assuming a posture
4.Articulating joints (bending or twisting joints)

In Jiu Jitsu, these fundamental ways of moving map onto—or “translate/transpose to”—grip, frame, hang, and technique:

•Grip – How you hold or control something (e.g., gripping fabric or limbs).
•Frame – How you position your body or arms/legs to create structure and leverage.
•Hang – Using body weight and leverage to create tension (e.g., combining grips and frames to stretch out your opponent or move around them.
•Technique – The specific maneuvers (submissions, go-behinds tip-overs, guard passes) that incorporate grip, frame, and hang in a cohesive way.

A Jiu Jitsu artist effortlessly attacks by luring the opponent into less-practiced postures like kneeling or lying. In those postures, they employ the four fundamental modes of action (grip, frame, hang, technique) to carry out core attack options: going behind, tipping over, passing the legs, and submitting.

Throughout this process, sensory feedback guides the grappler—each grip or frame offers information about the opponent’s balance and tension, indicating whether to proceed with a tip-over, go behind, pass, or submission.

During a roll, the Jiu Jitsu artist constantly combines these actions in response to the opponent’s reactions. Each grip or frame not only controls the opponent’s limbs and posture but also provides feedback:
•Where is their balance?
•How are they resisting?
•Are they following?
This sensory information informs the next move, whether transitioning to another posture, re-gripping for a tip-over, or securing a submission. It becomes a fluid cycle of push, pull, and adjust, aimed at navigating the four fundamental attack categories.

Mastering this perception can open up a vast library of techniques and fluency. The next time you watch a grappling match, look for these subtle cues at play. You’ll begin to see the “invisible” chess match beneath the surface—how each grip, frame, and angle of the body sets the stage for success or failure.

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