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Techniques Are Not Where It Is At

Yes, the title of this post may sound like a complete heresy to some, but it is true. If you invest all you time trying to learn and acquire techniques, then you are basically never going to end up as all that good of a grappler. There is a pretty good reason for this: the secret to displaying skill rests with refining your game and refining the techniques that you know to a high level of skill. This game will combine the basic moves and techniques that must be present in every game (ie spinning armbar, a bridge, headlock escape) with certain techniques that are exclusive to your particular game (ie butterfly guard, having a crushing top game) when you get caught up in trying to learn new techniques all the time you end up caught in the cycle of 'display' teaching. That is, you want to see moves that are on display for your viewing pleasure so to speak. That is, you always want to see a new move. This is a rotten way to train! (Sorry to be so blunt!)

While some may find refining the 'old technequs' they have learned over and over again as a 'boring' way of training, the reality is that thi type of training helps your game improve to the point where you become a lgitimate intermediate level player as opposed to a beginner collecting new techniques all the time. (Techniques, btw, that you really can't actually perform!) If you want to be a decent grappler, then you have to follow a decent training module. eliminating technique collecting is one of the primary places to start.

Small Circle Jiu Jitsu

This is a brief follow up to my prior post. If you do want to read up on standing joint locks, you may wish to chck out Wally Jay's book Small Circle Jiu Jitsu. Let me say this: Jay was a great judo guy and was quite a good "thrower." I am not too familiar with Jay's system, but from I saw in his book...eh...this book is really not all that inspiring. But, if you want to see traditional stand up jiu jitsu, this is a decent book to flip through for historical value alone.

Joint locking - Self Defense (Why I am not a hug fan)

Anyone who has been around martial arts has probably seen a number of standing joint locking xercises designed to deal with aggression. Usually, these drills involve a person grabbing you and then you deal with his grab by performing some form of joint lock.

These techniques have been met with scorn for YEARS by traditionalists and non-traditionalists alike. Honestly, I have to throw in with the critics although I due so with somewhat less contempt than they do.

Here is my opinion: I am not a fan of these techniques when they are employed exclusively. That is, locking at the EXCLUSION of hitting, throwing, running away, etc is foolish because it simply limits your offense. Plus, if the purpose of locking someone is to control them, why bother with small joints that are difficult to grans when using far easier wrestling based clinching/gripping is easier? (Yes, I know there are certain 'secret' applications of traditional locks such as using a finger or wrist lock as a throw, but let's not delve into secrets at this point, shall we) Also, why did you let him gran you? Why didn't you stop him before he grabs. BTW - 99% of the time people grab you is so they can hold you while they hit you. How do you expect to deal with the punches when you are perforning the move? For that matter, how do you expect to deal with ANY of the resistance that is provided to your standing lock?

Seems there are more questions here than answers. Let me provide a simple answer: you can't rely on a stand up joint locking game that revolves exclusively on locking. It is a bad idea.

Teach Yourself Judo - The Book

No, you can;t teach yourself Judo from merely readig a book, but if you are looking for an excellent text on the subject of learning judo, the book TEACH YOURSELF JUDO is one of th top notch books out there. Now, the bulk of the people who read this blog are more intersted in the groundfighting and grappling aspects as found in BJJ and MMA, etc most will not look at judo as it is often characterized as a throwing art. Folks, don't sell judo short. This book has an ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING section of holding people down with pins. Also, there are a number of fine sections on armlocks (straight and bent)that re loaded with important info that provide a ton of fin details so often missing in other texts. Please note: this is not a book loaded with pictures. It is a book loaded with HIGHLY DETAILED text explaining the importance of various principles needed for effective groundwork. I really can't recommend this book enough. BUY IT NOW!


BTW - Another great book is Secrets of Judo. It was originally published in 1964 and is still in print today. Another classic is Vital Judo, but it is out of print and runs for a pretty penny on Ebay.

escaping pins

As mentioned previously, escaping pins and hold downs remain a critical component in terms of being able to escape from the bottom. If you can not escape from a head lock, scarf hold or side mount, then you are never going to improve. You will simply be someone who spends all his time on his back playing a deserate game of trying to survive. That certainly doesn't sound like fun. there are a number of ways to larn how to escape pins, but the best way is simply to try and escape the pin of a judo practitioner or a wrestler. After all, these characters are 'famous' for having developed their pin capabilities to a supr high level. If you are able to escape from the hold down of someone who is that exceptionally talented, then you are going to do significantly better against those who have not developed such a high and solid level of pinning/hold downs.

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A Way To Developing A Resistance Plan

In a previous post, I mentioned that dealing with resistance is among the most important attributes and tactics to develop in one's submission wrestling/jiu jitsu game. That begs the question, how does one deal with resistance and learn the ability to flow from one move to another? There are a number of techniques and drills one can work in order to learn technical answers such as armbar to triangle to armbar, etc. But, when they are two rehearsed and performed against a non-resisting opponent, they do not translate well in rolling. Additionally, if you try to roll at full blast, it becomes difficult to develop counters to resistance as your response time will not be all that quick when you are attempting to learn an area that you are unfamiliar with.

So, here is one of the best options to learning how to develop the ability to deal with resistance: roll at a slower pace. Instead of goinf 75%, cut the intensity of your rolling down to 40%. This will allow for you to still develop counters to resistance during a larning period when your timing and precision is not all that great. In fact, use this relaxed rolling period as a way to builf up your timing and precision.

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Dealing With Resistance

When students are taught a basic techniue in sport jiu jitsu or submission wrestling, they are often taught from a static position with thir partner offering no resistance. There is a good reason for this: in order to make a technique effective, one needs to make sure that all the various components of the technique are properly performed and coordinated. This is impossible to do if someone is resistings. (Yes, there are morons in class who will resist you anyway....but that is another lament for another time) So, you have to start out learning the technique without having to deal with resistance.

THIS FOLKS IS A STARTING POINT!

The next logical step is actually dealing with resistance because the student is going to need to learn how to adjust the move (or flow into another move) based on the resistance he is given. One of the more common ways to train is to teach the move with no resistance and then move directly into sparring. This is a bad idea folks as it jumps from one extreme to the other with no bridge between the two. What is clearly needed here is a series of resistance drills designed to deal with the various movements and pressures an escape attempt will yield.

If you try an spinning armbar on someone, they may stack you, they may stand up, the may move to the left, they may move to the right, they may fall down.....some resistance will lead to an escape, some resistance might lead to being in a worse position that before...The bottom line, however, is that the student must learn to deal with resistance so as to be able to effectively complete his offensive attack (note: this does not mean fixation on a specific tchnique. Sometimes the counter to resistance is another move altogether. EG - Armbar to triangle to kneebar, etc)In short, if you work resistance training you will eventually become a much better wrestler. Simple as that.

Endurance Sprints

I have advocated endurance sprinting on and off in my other blog (Boxing Visions) and thought I would add a mention of it here. To simplify the issue, I will state this: if you do endurance sprinting, even for a very short amount of time, you will get A WHOLE LOT MORE OUT OF YOUR TRAINING. Plus, you will end up reducing injuries.

Let us explain that injury thing in a little more detail. If your endurance runs out and you tire, you will not perform at peak efficiency. When you are going slow, this is a detriment. When you are going fast, this is DANGEROUS. The faster you go in training or sparring, the chance for injury increases do to the inherent recklessness of moving fast. If your endurance collapses during a 'balls to the wall' session, you have reduced you ability to protect yourself. You might even find yourself so tired that you may even see a diminished capacity for awareness. You might not know where you are at, at a given point in time. Now, imagine if you are caught in a move that can cause serious injury almost immediately such as a toehold or a heel hook. Do you really want to have slow reflexes when it comes to tapping out.

Ok...I know what you are thinking...You just won't go fast. If that is the way you want to train, that makes you a smart student. However, it doesn't mean that some pinhead who you have to wrestle will be on the same page. Sadly, there is always that one person who simply can not or will not tone done his act to a safe degree. As such, you need to be in proper shape and condition at all times for no reason other than to be able to protect yourself.

Do yourself a favor: start sprinting a few days a week to get that cardio up.

Capitalizing on Drifting Elbows

In my prior post, I mentioned that it is important to keep elbows in so as avoid to running into a number of problems. Of course, the inverse of this is to look for people who have flaring or drifitng elbows. This way, you could easily capitalize on the person's posture mistake and snag the arm.

Probably the most basic of basic ways of capitalizing on a flaring elbow would be when the person is in your guard and you notice the opponent's arms ar "chicken winging." This is a flawless opportunity to go for a bent armlock. Even if you do not finish the move, you can put the opponent on the defensive. This changes his game dramatically as he can no longer pass your guard if he is caught in a serious bent armlock threat.


On a side note...even if you do not use the opportunity to try a bent armlock, you can use control grips ssuch as an underhook to manipulate the torso. This could open up other lines of attack if you are not a fan of the bent armlock.

Elbows In Daddio

I know it is a basic concept, but it is one we all seem to forget. When it comes to being successful in any sportive grappling sparring session, you need to keep your elbows in an tight to the body. Think of all those problems - just for one second - think about all the hassles you get into when your elbows flare or are overextended:
bent armlocks, straight armlocks, scarf holds, arm drags, underhooks, overhooks, the list goes on and on folks.

Granted, keeping your elbows in tight is not exactly and easy thing. It takes quite a bit of clear thinking and deliberate practice. After all, under stress, the elbows will eventually start to drift away from the body. This is why it becomes important to pay attention to where the elbows are at all times.

Of course, you can let your elbows drift so as to sucker people in to attacking you and using their movement as an "attack by draw method", but that is another topic for another day.....

For now, just try and maintain proper and safe posture by keeping your elbows closer to the body. It'll help your game. Trust me.

DVDs That Get You In Trouble

Although I titled this particular entry "DVDs That Get You In Trouble," the true source of the trouble is not just the DVDs, but also a training methodology that is really not a good one. What I am talking about is the constant presentation of techniques.

I was watching a new DVD on leglocks and, quite honestly, the leg submissions presented were pretty solid. However, the presentation of the material was simply moving from one leglock technique to another showcases leglocks from various positions. Ok, fine. There is one problem that is obvious here: what about RESISTANCE? That is, all these locks were presented from a static position. In reality, of course, an opponent will resist. That does mean they will escape. After all, you can counter their resistance and considering they are caught in a leglock, they are resisting from a fairly disadvantaged position.

However, simply moving from on static technique to another is just not a good training methodology. It is tecnique collecting and it is pretty much worthless on a lot of levels.

One step forward - Make them take even more steps backwards

People practice sport jiu jitsu and submission grappling a number of different ways, but one way in which they never train is...backwards. There is a really good reason for this: you can't pin someone down if your weight is headed in the opposite direction of the person's shoulders. Now, while this may be a rotten idea for a way to pin someone, it can be a pretty good method of escaping a pin.

Sure, the way I explained sounds a little easier said than done. Then again, sport jiu jitsu and submission grappling are far, far from easy. Every compenent takes a little bit of work and effort, but if given enough time a committed individual will be able to effectively develop the proper skills ncessary for escaping from the bottom. Again, pushing th person's weight backwards and off of you will greatly aid in the ability to escape a pin attempt.

Getting someone's weight going backwards, however, is not going to work if the person anchors and centers their weight on top of your chest. In order to become effctive in this particular area, you are going to need to push the person's weight back WHILE they are in the tranissional process of pinning you. This, of course, will require a great deal of skill in terms of being able to read body movement and pressure, but once again, given enough time it is a skill than can be effectively developed.

Success measured in small increments

When it comes to measuring successful progress, there is too much emphasis placed on making huge leaps in terms of gains. In other words, a player believes that developing skill in pin escapes means completely escaping. What about a player being able to decrease his vulnerability within the pin? While that is not an escape, it is still a measurable level of progress and, honestly, it is quite significant progress.

Needless to say, it becomes fairly important to measure your progress consistantly and in increments. If you are seeing a steady stream of small gains, then you are doing fine. While huge leaps in skill levels over relatively short periods of time are possible, they are quite rare. Small measurable steps towards increased skill performance is the more likely course.