Fedor

I saw this recent training footage of Fedor training. Whenever you mention such a high name fighter, you feel like you have to apologize before hand if you were to share any of your thoughts that might be perceived as slights. I have to say he is the man, who am I? I am just a mere mortal who has never fought MMA so forgive me for these observations, etc.

Well just pretend I said all that. Watching this footage I did have some thoughts and noticed some things. First Fedor rarely let his training partner start out with an underhook. Secondly he never hip escaped, instead he constantly belly rolled onto his knees. Thirdly he also started out on his side and didn't let the top guy get good hand positioning on him.

Fedor is the man. But this footage isn't necessarily a good example. What's my expertise? No I don't fight MMA. But I do put my money where my mouth is and bet on MMA. And I am right more often than not.

Elbow And Knee

With such limited space, and the risk of over exposure and being submitted, we often times use our elbow on our opponents hip to frame and create space. We can also do the same with our knee. If we alternate from knee to elbow frame off of your opponent's hip, you will start to look like a ball. Which is the shape every instructor turns themselves into when they are explaining the concept of staying tight, like a ball...

It all starts with elbows and knees.

What My Client Said

One of my training clients told me this recently, "I think Jiu Jitsu is like life. If you stall you'll just get passed. If you move without the fundamentals you'll get swept. If you get submitted learn from that mistake or you're doomed to repeat it."

Enough said.

All About The Hooks

Ultimately the thing that will conserve the most energy and prevent damage or win you the fight is your ability to get hooks. All the kind of hooks. Underhooks, overhooks, butterfly hooks, half butterfly, hooking their ankle, hooking their hips, tucking your hooks in when you get mount, etc.

Why the hip escape or shrimp is so stressed is because they get you those hooks.

Control The Middle

Think of the bottom person's torso as a canvas, both top player and bottom player are trying to control that middle canvas. Not both people's torso, just the bottom person, but for different reasons.

You are both trying to paint different things on this canvas. Maybe the top person wants to post his hand on your chest to stand up or posture. You need to get his hands off your canvas. But maybe you want to armbar him, so you drag his arm across your canvas, or better yet you drag it so well you can take his back.

Bottom guy goes for your collar, your bury your head into his chest. Bottom guy wants to go for a triangle, you bury his head into your chest.

You are trying to pass, you post your hand on his hip. He is trying to pass your guard, you frame so he can't grip anything on your torso.

Because of gravity, it becomes the bottom person's torso that becomes a canvas. You guys are both trying to draw your masterpiece on it. Guard was invented so the bottom guy can actually use his torso as offence from the bottom, as long as he is the one in control of it. Top guy must draw his own masterpiece on it to defeat the bottom person.

BJJ Key Terms

I think there are certain terms that will always come up in BJJ because they are connected to an idea. We use those words but how do we really know if the person listening understands what you mean, or how you mean it?

I think there are some BJJ key terms that people should memorize or even be given a list. Here's just some of those terms.

Parallel
Perpendicular
X - Axis
Limbs - Not just including arms and legs, but trunk and head as well.
Cling
Grip
Over
Under
Sag
Sweep
Reverse
Lever, fulcrum, effort, load
Angle
Center of gravity
Center of mass
Force

You guys can probably think of a lot more. As you get more advanced, it seems there are more terms you use to define certain nuances.

But also as you get more advanced, there are some things just left to feel. As Albert Einstein said:


"It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.”

The School Monitor

If you kept monitoring your opponents hips, he probably wouldn't be able to sneak in a hip escape on you.

Changing Phone Carriers And BJJ

When you switch to a new phone carrier, it's not so much that the other carrier seemed so much more appealing. Though that has something to do with it also. But it's more like, you are just unhappy with your current carrier, and that's why you switch. It's not that this other carrier seemed so good, it's that your current company was not making you happy and not taking care of you.

Sometimes people will do moves, make moves, change their game, change their school, change their teacher, model their game after a different player. Sometimes it's because they get swept up in the hype. But most of the time, just like in business, it's because they aren't happy with what they have. And BJJ is also a business. So people try new schools. Get new DVDs. Get onto a new program. Buy a book of new moves. Take private lessons from someone. It's all to satisfy their need to make make up for whatever is lacking. It's in the incentive to make money to make sure those other options are out there. It's also in the incentive to keep people happy to keep making money.

Happy phone carriers don't switch coverage. Happy couples don't cheat.

And in the opposite end, if whatever you have has always been working for you. Like for instance Roger, who has seen all these techniques, teachers, ideas come down the pipe. If he never had success with his simple approach, he would have switched something. But because it always gave him success, and he's been happy with it, he is now a very happy grappler.

The Guy On Bottom

Has one big thing going for him in his favor. The guy on top will always be off balance because they are on an unstable object. You.

Strength And Conditioning

For a BJJ player I think you should install a pull up bar on your bedroom door.

Every time you walk in or out of your bedroom, you do 2 pull ups.

On top of that do 100 hip escapes a day. I think that probably covers it all outside of, of course training at your academy.

Shifting Your Weight

Just the simple economic and invisible motion of shifting your weight and balance can affect things more than brute force can. You shift all your weight onto your opponent and off of your arms, you are now free to attack with your arms.

Shift all your weight and balance to your knee, you are free to posture up. You can attach your opponent's limb to your body and shift your weight forward, making him break his grip or give up one of his limbs, or just move out of position. 

Shift all your weight to one side from bottom and you may sweep him as all your weight falls onto one side.

Idea Of Time And Pacing

A drill I do with some of my students/clients is; I will tell them we are going to do a ten minute round. Once they begin I stop them at three minutes. This is especially good for round robins.

What happens is, they go at a ten minute pace, without realizing it's just really a three minute round. If I tell them it's a three minute round, they will go at that pace.

I explain this idea to them and have them go again, now knowing it's a three minute round. They start to control their breathing, and control the pace and tempo.

Fighting For Control

When you are on top and your opponent from bottom is swimming for an underhook grip, it becomes a game of who is better at pummeling if you try to repummel and get your underhook. Just use shoulder pressure to prevent the underhook. You have the ability to press them against a flat surface. They do not have that luxury.

The Gun Holster

If you wore a gun holster, where would it be? On your hip. When you train BJJ, what should you do? Protect your gun holster, because it is your great equalizer. If you allow someone to put their hand on your hip, they can flatten your hip down and pin you on your back.

From the bottom you must frame and protect the hip. From the top, when you are passing. Try to get to their hip. It's like going for your opponent's gun, once you control it, they don't have much power. This will help you attain your goal.

What is your goal? Well anyone who wants to beat up someone, hold someone down, et.c will want to get pass their opponents legs. Why? Because they want to get chest to chest on them. That's what you would naturally want, that's what anyone kid would want. It's just that someone naturally doesn't always think to get pass the legs to get chest to chest, they just want to get to that chest to chest position somehow. The best way to be that close to someone though is by passing their legs. That's what passing is, it's a set of techniques to get to your natural goal of chest to chest. What happens when you get there? You can put all your weight on them and make your opponent, friend, younger brother miserable. You see kids, they naturally hold each other down chest to chest, and get perpendicular. It's also how they do it in pro wrestling. Kids are natural pro wrestlers.

What else would you naturally do? Sit on their chest. Why? So you could hit them, pin their arms down, or dangle a loogie over their face. So the mount is also a natural thing. We have to demystify these positions to what they really are, a form of our natural tendencies and wants.

We want to naturally protect our hip, its where we would hold our guns. We want to control our opponents hips. This will get us to the chest to chest AKA pass, or to sit on their chest AKA mount. Cultivate those instincts, they are not wrong.

Overly Cautious

The other point I wanted to make off of my previous post was that of being overly cautious. If you don't act when you are supposed to, capitalize on their mistakes, or you wait too long, it can also be detrimental. Waiting too long is like playing chess against time. The longer you wait, time will just take all your pieces and leave you with no options except whatever is left.

Wait too long with your opponent and all your opportunities can be taken away. Then you have made the greatest error and they win in the long run and beat you in the short game of attrition.

The Game Of Attrition

Sometimes the best strategy when you seemingly are over matched, is to use the other person's poor sense of value against them. Meaning people will naturally over value some traits or skills or even in the stock market a certain company, or in a sport, the ability to dunk. The other side is to undervalue certain skills, traits, stocks, or the ability to pass the ball. What we really are about is success, not things that look great on paper but does it actually equal success?

So people will make natural errors. We have to count on this. In BJJ or any game, you can turn it into a game of attrition. Don't worry so much about what they are doing, more about what you are doing. Control what you can control, and do everything correct. Don't try to win, just try not to lose. You stay in the game, the market, the fight long enough, your opponent/opposition will start to accumulate errors, make mistakes. They may have more strengths, but in the long run, if you accumulate less errors than they do, you can beat them.

It's like in a race, maybe someone runs faster than you but takes a lot of wrong turns, if the race is long enough, you can win. Someone can invest in a lot of risky stocks and beat you initially, but in a long enough time frame, if you stay consistent with your returns, you can also beat them.

If in a boxing match, you make your opponent miss for long enough, you will be the one landing a higher percentage. Attrition isn't just about making your opponent tired, but that happens too. You want them to lose. Do this not by you making a sweep, allow them to give up a sweep, give up a position, stay in the game and do everything you can do right, and you may not get the most slam dunks, but you may get enough assists in a game to win it by the final quarter.

Weakness

When you are physically weak, you do the move right, or you can't do the move at all. A blessing and a curse.

Memory

Memory is like water in your hands that you are trying to dump into a bucket. It leaks and leaks quickly. So you must quickly dump it into the bucket to preserve as much water content.

So when you are being shown a move, if the instructor spends ten minutes explaining and going over details, by the time you go to practice it, you won't even remember where to start. You will just remember how smart the explanation was and how well worded it was.

Just like water, you must see it demonstrated, then quickly move to practice it. Then as you get to practicing it, ask questions, have it corrected. Come back, be shown another detail. Quickly go apply it.

When the instructor says, should I see it again, people think they are doing themselves a service by watching it again. Actually that's that much longer you must wait to apply it. Instead of ten minutes, how about a 2 minute explanation. The go practice. Then another 2 minute explanation. Practice. Until it adds up to ten minutes...

Defending Vs. Attacking

Attacking in all martial arts is easier than defending. It's easy to punch someone. Kicking someone. Trying to squeeze the crap out of someone. Defending your arm, evading punches, blocking kicks, that's hard. So more time should be spent on the hard things, this will even you out as a complete balance of offense and defense. And as your defense gets better, you can capitalize on the game of attrition. Meaning capitalize on all the mistakes your opponent will make over his series of attacks. Make him make the mistake, make him lose because of his error. Make it less about what you are doing right, and more about what he's doing wrong.