Some of the most important BJJ attributes — hip mobility, base, guard retention, scrambling — can be trained completely on your own. You don't need a partner, a gym, or even much space. A few square feet of floor and ten minutes is enough.
Below are 12 solo drills grouped by what they develop, plus a ready-to-run routine at the end. If you've only got five minutes a day, pair this with the mindset in Building a Five-Minute Daily Drilling Habit.
Hip mobility and movement drills
These are the foundation of almost every guard and escape in jiu-jitsu. If your hips don't move, nothing else works.
1. Shrimping (hip escape)
The single most important solo movement in BJJ. From your back, plant a foot, bridge slightly, and push off to slide your hips away. Alternate sides as you travel down the mat. Detail: turn onto your shoulder — don't stay flat on your back.
2. Reverse shrimping
The same mechanic in reverse, traveling back toward where you started. This trains the hip movement you use to recover guard when someone is passing.
3. Bridging (upa)
Plant both feet, drive your hips to the ceiling off your shoulders and heels, and turn over one shoulder. This is the engine behind your mount and side-control escapes.
4. Technical stand-up
From seated, post one hand and the same-side foot, lift your hips, and stand while keeping a base. This is your safe way back to your feet in a real scramble — and a self-defense staple.
Guard retention and inversion drills
5. Granby roll
From seated, roll over one shoulder (never your neck) and come back to a seated or guard position. Builds the inversion you need to recover guard when an opponent gets to your legs.
6. Leg pummeling / hip switches
Lie on your back and switch your hips side to side, passing an imaginary leg from inside to outside. Trains the framing and hip movement central to guard retention.
7. Solo guard recovery
Combine a shrimp with a leg re-pummel: imagine someone passing toward side control, shrimp to create space, and insert a knee shield to "recover guard." Drilling the sequence solo makes it automatic when it counts.
Base, passing, and pressure drills
8. Sprawls
From standing, shoot your legs back and drop your hips to the floor as if defending a takedown. Builds the reflex and the conditioning to stuff shots.
9. Knee-cut shadow passing
Walk through the steps of a knee-cut pass with no partner — frame, angle, slice the knee through, finish in side control. Grooving the footwork solo cleans up your timing.
10. Bear crawls and forward rolls
Old-school, but unbeatable for body awareness, base, and shoulder safety. Forward and backward rolls also save your neck in live scrambles.
Conditioning and core drills
11. Hollow body holds
Lie on your back, press your lower back into the floor, and lift your shoulders and legs slightly. This is the core tension that powers your guard and resists the can-opener of getting stacked.
12. Wrestler's stand-ups and level changes
Drop your level and stand repeatedly, staying light on your feet. Builds the leg endurance that fades fast in long rounds.
A 10-minute solo routine
Tie it together with this simple circuit. Move slowly and prioritize clean reps over speed.
| Drill | Reps / Time | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Shrimping | 10 each way | Hip escape |
| Reverse shrimping | 10 each way | Guard recovery |
| Bridging | 12 | Escapes |
| Technical stand-up | 8 each side | Base |
| Granby rolls | 6 | Inversion |
| Sprawls | 10 | Takedown defense |
| Hollow body hold | 3 × 20 sec | Core |
Make the reps count
Solo drilling only compounds if you do it consistently and actually track it. It's easy to think you've been training your hip escapes when you've really done them twice this month. Logging each session in DrillBuddy turns "I should drill more" into a visible streak — and shows you which movements you've been neglecting.
Pick three drills from this list, run them tomorrow morning, and let the small reps add up. For why this low-pressure repetition matters so much early on, read Why Drilling Beats Rolling for Beginners.