#44 Review of Standing2Ground: Positional Dominance & Scrimmage Wrestling by John Danaher

John Danaher is one of the leading coaches in noGi Jiu Jitsu. He is incredibly motivated to correct some weaknesses in Jiu Jitsu. He is most well known for refining leg locking sequences, which had an enormous impact on the noGi scene.
John has mentioned that you can’t bolt on wrestling and/or Judo to Jiu Jitsu to improve the takedown game. His argument is that you need an entirely different system.
Here, I cover similarities and differences between rule sets and strategies for scoring and positional control in Olympic wrestling (Freestyle and Greco), scholastic wrestling (the predominant style of wrestling in the United States—and what you see in High School and Collegiate), and Jiu Jitsu. I make some references to Judo, but I don’t go into any details, as Danaher’s Instructional isn’t a Judo instructional. Rather, it is essentially a High School level wrestling instructional, that uses existing systems of wrestling for takedowns, takedown defense, control on the mat, and some low level escapes.

Overall, I think this will help your Jiu Jitsu, because scholastic wrestling compliments Jiu Jitsu quite well. Although his technique and mechanics of wrestling are not at a high level, and there are numerous positional errors and details needed for higher skill levels, it is definitely going to help you in your Jiu Jitsu.

You will be able to understand why wrestlers with High School or Collegiate experience are difficult to deal with on the mat, because you will have a basic understanding of their system. They aren’t just tough like people say, they chain together sequences using this system of wrestling. So while I don’t think Danaher has created an entirely new system, he is bringing to the Jiu Jitsu community an existing system of classic wrestling that is tried and true. That most certainly is going to benefit your game