7 Best BJJ Submissions for Beginners to Learn

The best BJJ submissions for beginners are not the flashiest techniques on social media. They are the finishes that teach you how to control another person, recognize a real opening, and apply pressure without relying on strength or panic. A clean submission starts long before the tap. It starts with position, posture, patience, and the discipline to let the technique work.

For a new student, that matters more than collecting moves. You may be training for fitness, confidence, self-defense, competition, or a tougher version of yourself. In every case, a small set of reliable submissions gives you a practical foundation while helping you understand the larger game of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

What Makes a Submission Beginner-Friendly?

A good beginner submission has a clear control position, understandable mechanics, and a safe learning curve. You should be able to practice it at a measured pace with a cooperative partner, then gradually learn to apply it during live rounds.

The highest-percentage options also reinforce habits that transfer everywhere: keeping your elbows tight, controlling posture, isolating a limb, and staying balanced. If a submission only works when your training partner makes a major mistake, it is not yet a reliable tool. If it teaches control even when you do not get the tap, it is worth your time.

There is a trade-off. Some simple submissions are easier to recognize but harder to finish against experienced training partners. That is normal. Your job as a beginner is not to force them. Your job is to build the positions that make them increasingly difficult to defend.

7 Best BJJ Submissions for Beginners

1. Rear Naked Choke

The rear naked choke is one of the most effective submissions in BJJ, MMA, and real self-defense situations because it attacks from a dominant position behind your opponent. You are not trying to overpower someone from the front. You are controlling their movement while staying relatively safe from strikes and escapes.

The basic concept is simple: secure back control, get your choking arm under the chin, connect your hands, and use controlled pressure while keeping your chest connected to their back. The finish works by compressing the sides of the neck, not by crushing the windpipe.

Beginners should spend as much time learning to hold the back as they do learning the choke. Use your hooks, stay tight, and avoid reaching recklessly. A rear naked choke is usually earned through control, not rushed into through effort.

2. Armbar From Mount

The armbar from mount is a classic for a reason. Mount gives you a strong top position, limits your opponent’s mobility, and creates opportunities when they extend an arm to push you away. It is also an excellent lesson in moving your body around the arm instead of trying to pull the arm toward you.

To apply it well, isolate one arm, maintain pressure with your knees, step your leg high across the head, and keep your opponent’s thumb pointed upward as you extend your hips. The details matter. Loose knees, poor posture, or failing to control the elbow can give your partner room to escape.

Do not rush this technique just because you see the arm. Beginners often lose mount chasing an armbar too early. First make your opponent carry your weight. When they become uncomfortable and expose an arm, the submission becomes much easier.

3. Straight Armbar From Guard

Closed guard is one of the first positions many students learn, and the straight armbar is one of its most valuable attacks. It teaches hip movement, angle creation, posture control, and the importance of breaking your opponent’s alignment.

A strong armbar from guard does not come from lying flat on your back and pulling. Control the wrist, break posture, climb your legs high, cut an angle, and keep the elbow tight to your hips. Your legs are doing much of the controlling work, while your hips create the finishing pressure.

This move may feel difficult at first, especially against a partner who is taller or stronger. That is exactly why it is useful. It teaches you that good positioning can reduce the strength advantage before the submission is ever applied.

4. Kimura From Side Control

The kimura is a shoulder lock that appears from many positions, but side control is a productive place for beginners to understand it. When an opponent frames against your body or reaches across your torso, the kimura grip can give you a powerful connection to their arm and shoulder.

The grip is recognizable: one hand controls their wrist while the other reaches underneath their arm to grab your own wrist. But the grip alone is not the technique. Keep their elbow close, use your chest and body position to pin the shoulder, and rotate their arm only within a safe range.

The kimura is valuable because it can lead to more than a tap. If your opponent defends by straightening their arm, you may transition to an armbar. If they turn away, you may take the back. Beginners should see it as a control system, not a one-move answer.

5. Americana From Mount or Side Control

The Americana is another shoulder lock that helps new students learn how to isolate an arm from a dominant top position. It often becomes available when an opponent places their hand on the mat or pushes against your chest.

Control the wrist, slide your other arm under theirs, and connect your hands. Keep their elbow bent and their arm close to the mat as you carefully rotate it. The finishing movement is small. If you are making a large, forceful motion, your control is probably not secure enough.

This is a useful early submission because it rewards pressure and positional awareness. Still, it is not guaranteed against a trained opponent. Many experienced grapplers keep their elbows tight and recognize the setup quickly. Treat the Americana as a lesson in finding openings, then use the defense to improve your position.

6. Guillotine Choke

The guillotine choke is common in both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA because people often expose their neck while shooting takedowns, scrambling, or trying to rise from the ground. For beginners, the safest path is learning it first with a clear front headlock position and close coaching.

Your chest connection and hip position matter more than squeezing as hard as possible. Secure the head, keep your elbow position disciplined, and avoid cranking backward on the neck. A properly applied guillotine uses posture, angle, and controlled compression.

This submission deserves respect because it can become uncomfortable quickly. Train it slowly, release immediately when your partner taps, and never use it to prove toughness. In a serious academy, technical control is part of being a dependable training partner.

7. Cross-Collar Choke From Closed Guard

The cross-collar choke is a traditional gi submission that teaches precision. From closed guard, you establish deep collar grips, bring your elbows into position, and use your legs and core to keep your opponent’s posture broken as you apply the choke.

It can feel awkward when you are new because the grips may seem obvious. Yet when the grips are deep and the angle is right, the technique is remarkably effective. More importantly, it teaches you how to use the gi as a control tool rather than simply grabbing fabric.

No-gi students should still understand the concept. You will not have collars to grip, but the lessons of posture control, head-and-arm connection, and patient setup carry into other chokes.

Build Positions Before You Chase Taps

A beginner who learns seven submissions but cannot escape mount, retain guard, or hold side control will struggle to use those submissions when resistance increases. That is why strong BJJ instruction teaches offense and defense together. You need to know what a dominant position feels like from both sides.

Start with a simple rule: position before submission. From mount, make your partner defend the mount. From back control, keep your hooks and chest connection. From guard, control posture before attacking an arm or neck. The submission should feel like the natural result of your control, not a desperate reach.

This approach also makes training safer. When you slow down and build structure, you are less likely to yank on a limb, collide during a scramble, or miss a tap. BJJ is demanding, but it should be demanding because the technique is honest, not because training partners are reckless.

How Beginners Should Train Submissions Safely

Tap early, tap clearly, and release immediately. Those three habits protect your training partners and protect the culture of the room. A tap is not failure. It is communication, and it allows everyone to train again tomorrow.

During drilling, focus on the sequence before the finish: where your hands go, how you control the hips, when you move your angle, and what common defenses look like. During live rolling, choose one submission to look for rather than trying every move you remember. You will learn faster when your training has a clear purpose.

At Parabellum Jiu Jitsu MMA Academy, beginners are taught to build skill through structure, not ego. Whether you are walking into your first class in Asheville or returning to martial arts after years away, the goal is the same: develop composure under pressure and earn progress one round at a time.

The next time you train, pick one position and one submission from this list. Learn how to reach it, learn what stops it, and stay patient enough to try again. That is how a beginner’s move becomes a dependable part of your game.