What AI video analysis does
AI video analysis is software that watches BJJ footage you upload, such as a training roll or a competition match, and returns a written account of it. It labels the positions and transitions it detects, notes submission attempts and suggests what to work on.
Grappling footage is difficult for software to read, and the analysis can misread a roll in ways an experienced grappler would notice.
AI analysis and a black belt, point by point
The human side here is a black belt who reviews your footage remotely, which is how Grappling Breakdown works. Use the filter to see where each side is stronger.
6 of 6 points shown
Turnaround
AI analysis is strongerAI analysisReturns its analysis soon after the upload finishes. The speed helps only if its reading of the roll is correct.
Black belt reviewMost breakdowns come back within 48 hours.
Reading the position
Black belt is strongerAI analysisCan misread a position when two bodies are tangled together, and may confuse positions that look alike on video, such as single leg X and outside ashi garami, or hooks and a body triangle on the back.
Black belt reviewReads a position from the details that define it, such as where each foot is placed, where the knee line sits and how the legs are locked.
Grips and weight out of view
Black belt is strongerAI analysisA grip behind your partner’s back, or weight shifted on the side away from the camera, may not register.
Black belt reviewHas felt these positions from top and bottom, so can often tell a hidden grip or a shift of weight from the way the other grappler’s posture and hips respond.
The reason behind a choice
Black belt is strongerAI analysisMay mark a deliberate trade as a mistake, such as leaving an arm out to bait an attack you had planned to counter.
Black belt reviewKnows the trades grapplers make on purpose, and can usually tell a planned one from an error by what happens in the next exchanges.
Legal techniques at your belt
Black belt is strongerAI analysisMay suggest a technique that is not allowed at your belt under the ruleset you compete in.
Black belt reviewKnows that many rulesets restrict techniques by belt and age division, and keeps suggestions to what you are allowed to use.
Choosing what to work on
Black belt is strongerAI analysisMay list every problem it detects with equal emphasis, leaving you to decide which one matters most.
Black belt reviewWeighs the problems against the level your rolls show, sets homework drills for the ones that cost you most, and may leave a smaller mistake for later.
What a misread costs you
If an analysis says you lost your guard to a toreando pass and the video shows a leg drag, the defense it recommends is for a pass you did not face.
Drilling that defense uses up training time and leaves the real problem in your game. When a fix you have drilled for weeks is not changing your rolls, the reading behind it may have been wrong from the start.
Checking an AI analysis before you act on it
Watch each moment the analysis describes before you drill anything it suggests, and check that the positions it names match what the video shows.
Take extra care with suggestions involving heel hooks, other twisting leg locks or neck cranks. These can injure a training partner before there is time to tap, so drill them slowly and with control before you try them in a roll.
Before uploading, read how the app stores video and whether it uses uploads to train its software, since your training partner appears in every frame.
A second reading from a black belt
On Grappling Breakdown, every coach who reviews paid footage is a verified black belt, and no AI is used. You can send a training roll or a competition match, gi or no-gi, from your phone or by YouTube link. The BJJ roll review article explains what the coach looks for in your footage.
If an analysis has already told you what went wrong in a roll, send the same footage. You can then compare its reading with a black belt’s before you build your drilling around it.