I have to admit I've been on a hot streak lately. I been doing pretty well at Axis and feeling my mojo, but as any practitioner of BJJ or grappling will tell you, you have your on days and your very much off days. Or off weeks. Yesterday was no exception.
I started rolling with Steve, who was Admiral von Leglocky. Sometimes he comes in and lays on the Sombo pretty thick, and again, yesterday was no exception. I think he sensed my frustration (he must be very sensitive, interpreting the complex signals of me screaming "shit" and "fuck") and stopped doing that crazy Russian bullshit, but to be honest I don't really have an answer for his style of rolling. It's very tight and wrestley. I felt like I held my own, but sometimes it's hard to tell if I'm actually earning the position through technique or whether he's letting me have it so he can play with something.
Notes with Steve:
- Practice "ankle denial" because he can pull ankle locks out of the ether
- Concentrate on establishing position, position, position.
- Play more standup -- yeah he's awesome at it and it hurts a lot but it's well worth it, especially if I ever want to compete in the future..
- Chill. Use technique because he's way stronger than you.
Rolled with Lee next. I need to make better use of my time with Lee and not go for my usual go-to submissions just because I'm mad that Steve nad Henry destroyed me. Things to concentrate on with Lee:
- Work knee on belly more
- Give him the dominant position and practice escapes using good technique
- Hone X-guard skills a bit
- Work more technical sweeps
- Use zero strength
Next was Henry. This was when my day fell apart, because I'd felt pretty good against him the last couple weeks. Last week Henry suggested trapping one leg with an over-under hold when starting out on our knees, and I was doing it at Axis all last week and it was working beautifully. I guess I should have realized that since it's Henry's favorite move, he'd probably know what to do against it, and he repeatedly dumped me and passed to my side. He was playing a tight top game (as usual) and denying any open guard, so I was pretty miserable. Things to concentrate on with Henry:
- Be aware of what I'm doing in half guard -- don't give him a straight arm
- No funny business -- stick to basic escapes and try to establish position, because he knows everything I know
- Force the open guard / x-guard -- This is the only time I can really give myself time and a little breathing room
- Always be moving somewhere, because his transitions are usually immediate, smooth, and they hurt
In General:
- Chill the fuck out and have a good time
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5 comments:
Paul, do you ever roll and concentrate only on position and don't even think about submissions? I find that when my game starts to get stagnant this is a great technique.
I'll concentrate on something like,"Ok today I'm only going to think what I'm doing with my hip motion" etc.
Or I find that when I get into side control and I start thinking about securing my opponents hip and keeping his elbows off the mat then working back and forth around his head I usually end up in submission positions that I never get when I'm looking for those submissions to begin with.
tony-- sometimes (when we remember), we'll say "ok rolling, no subs, no power". this leads to a really smooth, flowy rolling session, and since neither person is really even thinking about subs, there's no spazzing in order to avoid the sub. i think you're totally right tho -- if you roll for position, the subs will show themselves, as opposed to rolling just for subs and possibly sacrificing position. if you have position and blow a sub, at least you still have the position.
hoss-- if your kid is into it, starting at 5 years old is great. and as for starting at 40, as long as you're rolling with a chill group of guys, you should be fine. i wish i'da started when i was 5. :p
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Hoss, when they hold the annual North American Grappling Association tournament here in Chicago, they have a ton of kids Competing. I think six is the earliest they start and they don't allow submissions for the younger kids in competition but the kids seem to freaking love it.
They also have a beginners, Masters division. It's for guys who are 40 who just started learning. They freaking love it too. If you've had some wrestling experience it means you've already got a some mat sense. I think that's the hardest thing to teach someone who is coming in and trying to learn it for the first time so I'm guessing you'll pick it up quickly.
If you roll a couple of hours a week you'll be good enough to really make it fun within 4-6 months. Paul is right though, it all depends on what kind of training partners you have. I find that most people who are interested in Jiu Jitsu tend to make very good, chill training partners. It's the wrestlers and MMA guys who get a little too intense from time to time.
Paul, I've got a question for you to think about. I spar on a regular basis with a close friend of mine named Ian who has kind of a unique style. He's short and thick, doesn't have much of a neck and he's amazingly powerful. He was a good wrestler in highschool and played college football at Stanford. He prides himself on his power and he can't really past the mental block in his head to quit relying on it.
The trouble is that I haven't been able to figure out a good strategy as to what to do with him. He basically sits in my guard and tries to work against my neck to tire me out and he just kind of holds me down. His balance is incredible because of his low center of gravity so all of my guard sweeps are pretty much useless.
I thought it was just me but last year he competed at NAGA and none of the purple belts he was competing with could really sweep him either. Submitting him is pretty much out of the question most of the time too, until he gets really tired that is. He's just got too much power to get caught up in tradition guard submissions and whenever anyone tries one he just stacks them up and uses it as a pass. His stack is very hard to deal with and it what I meant when I said he works against my neck the whole time.
Just wondering if you've ever had to deal with this style of grappling and if you had an answer for it.
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