Bridging

What is bridging (upa, in BJJ terms)? While there are many variations of bridges, at it's simplest, bridging is a technique used while grappling to improve one's position when one finds oneself supine (on one's back) against an opponent, who is in some stage of securing a dominant position, such as a pin or mount. It is not ever desirable to be flat on one's back with an opponent on top, so bridging is a movement intended to help physically cast-off one's adversary, to disrupt his balance, to escape from pins, or to set up other escapes or sweeps, for example.

For the sake of understanding the basic position and mechanics of bridging, lie flat on your back, and bend your knees so to allow your feet to be flat on the ground. Then, lift your pelvis up off the floor. You will find that you can achieve a more powerful and effective bridge the closer you bring the heels of your feet to your buttocks (hips). Additionally, you can add force to a bridge by concertedly driving up with your heels, hamstrings and gluteal muscles in unison. When this basic movement is mastered, bridging should be diagonal in its directionality to be most effective. That is, by the end of the basic bridge, you'll want to be positioned with your weight distributed over both feet and on one of either shoulder (and your hips turned slightly in that same direction). Using the bridge, you can toss your opponent back over your head, or off to either side. To see a demonstration of what I am trying rather inelegantly to describe, watch Gilson Oliveira's video for Expert Village. He begins with a basic drill then shows how to transition to knees from bridge. Worth a watch. If you prefer, some guy named Jeff Chan gives his own step-by-step of using the upa (bridge) to escape mount, in addition to a knee escape from mount.

Depending on the context, when used against an opponent, bridging can help one create space and allow one to move forearms, elbows, and hands into position against him. Also, the effective application of bridging can actually throw your opponent up and off you, thus enabling you to quickly transition out of bottom, possibly into top position. It is important to realize that any escape on its own becomes considerably more difficult the longer one waits, e.g. when your opponent's position has been stabilized and you are pinned, or the more advance one's opponent is. So, think fast and act decisively. Bridging can be used in conjunction with other escape techniques, such as hipping-out (aka, 'shrimping') and getting onto one's knees (aka, turtling, which gives up one's back), or can be used repeatedly on its own.

Stephan Kesting of Grapple Arts offers some sound advice on bridging. He says, Set your escapes up early by fighting for posture before your opponent has stabilized his position: you won't be sorry you did. If you are already pinned then try to imagine yourself as a ratchet: every time your create space, or are given space by your opponent, your limbs move into better posture and never give up the ground you've gained.


For the sake of simplicity, Kesting characterizes bridging, shrimping, and turtling in terms of 'hips', the key to BJJ:

Bridging (lifting your hips up and/or into your opponent)

Shrimping (moving your hips away from your opponent)

Turning (moving your hips so they face the mat)

Here's a kinda-no-so-smooth-but-you-get-the-point upa drill for partners (video), by Travis Gutknecht.

Just as a little extra, here's a somewhat related, entirely self-explanitory video entitled, Neck Bridge Workout - Neck Exercise. "Protect yo' neck!"