November 23, 2009
I Only Got Tapped Out Twice!!
A few weeks ago I went to a training session with the goal of working on and experimenting with the so-called "Sao Paulo" guard pass. My plan for sparring this day was to start in my partner's closed guard, and then only use this one guard pass.
I spent the session training with one guy: a competitive brown belt who was about 15 lbs lighter than me. I'm heavier, stronger and more experienced. Should've been an easy sparring session, right?
Ummm, not so much...
That sparring session could be accurately described as long periods of deadlock, interrupted only by brief periods of him severely kicking my butt. After forty-five minutes he'd submitted me twice from his guard, swept me several times, and I HADN'T passed his guard once.
On my way home, though, I had a great big smile on my face. As far as I was concerned, the training session had been a great success!
You see, the previous time I'd worked with this same guard pass I'd had a hell of time surviving in the guard of a blue belt. 'Only' getting submitted two times this day by a brown belt was actually an improvement.
Furthermore, the fact that there were now long periods of stalemate meant that I was doing some things right. And my sparring partner told me that I'd actually been close to passing several times.
By the end of the sparring session I'd identified several sticking points in that guard pass - situations for which I had no good answers. These are times when the best thing you can do is go home, brainstorm for potential solutions and then test those solutions in sparring on another day.
So don't freak out about tapping out. Cut yourself some slack, especially if you're experimenting with a new technique, or tactic or strategy. If I can consider a training session successful despite getting tapped out multiple times by a lighter and lower-ranked grappler, then what are you worried about?
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I spent the session training with one guy: a competitive brown belt who was about 15 lbs lighter than me. I'm heavier, stronger and more experienced. Should've been an easy sparring session, right?
Ummm, not so much...
That sparring session could be accurately described as long periods of deadlock, interrupted only by brief periods of him severely kicking my butt. After forty-five minutes he'd submitted me twice from his guard, swept me several times, and I HADN'T passed his guard once.
On my way home, though, I had a great big smile on my face. As far as I was concerned, the training session had been a great success!
You see, the previous time I'd worked with this same guard pass I'd had a hell of time surviving in the guard of a blue belt. 'Only' getting submitted two times this day by a brown belt was actually an improvement.
Furthermore, the fact that there were now long periods of stalemate meant that I was doing some things right. And my sparring partner told me that I'd actually been close to passing several times.
By the end of the sparring session I'd identified several sticking points in that guard pass - situations for which I had no good answers. These are times when the best thing you can do is go home, brainstorm for potential solutions and then test those solutions in sparring on another day.
So don't freak out about tapping out. Cut yourself some slack, especially if you're experimenting with a new technique, or tactic or strategy. If I can consider a training session successful despite getting tapped out multiple times by a lighter and lower-ranked grappler, then what are you worried about?
Labels: ChimChim, guard passes, training
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October 09, 2009
The Chimpass, aka the Sao Paulo, Tozi, or Wilson Reis Pass
There's a relatively new, somewhat unorthodox guard pass that's become popular in the last year or so. Depending on who you talk to, it's called the "Sao Paulo Pass", the "Wilson Reis Pass", or the "Roberto Tozi pass".
The bad news is that I'm NOT an expert at this guard pass (yet). This means that I'm not the best person to break it down for you.
Heres's part 1 of the Chimpass (www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMfKdjf0A2g)
and here's part 2 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQxCVjyVjlQ)
The funny thing is that I actually came across a complaint on the internet about the two videos I recommended above. Specifically, the person was complaining that it took Justin 17 and a half minutes to explain a single technique.
I hope that the complainant is a beginner, because that'd be a pretty silly statement if he or she had more than a couple of months of actual training...
To master a technique you have to rip it apart. You've got to understand all the little steps, adjustments and details that makes the technique work. Then you have to be able to verbalize and articulate what you do and why you do it.
From that perspective, taking 17 and a half minutes to teach a single technique is a GREAT thing. I wish that every technique I learned was shown to me with that level of detail.
P.S. If you want a different perspective on the same guard pass, check out this post on the dutchassasinbjj blog.
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The bad news is that I'm NOT an expert at this guard pass (yet). This means that I'm not the best person to break it down for you.
The good news is that there's a great explanation of this pass online by Justin 'ChimChim' Garcia. With tongue firmly planted in cheek he calls it the "ChimPass," but it's the exact same pass, with a few of his own adjustments:
Heres's part 1 of the Chimpass (www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMfKdjf0A2g)
and here's part 2 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQxCVjyVjlQ)
The funny thing is that I actually came across a complaint on the internet about the two videos I recommended above. Specifically, the person was complaining that it took Justin 17 and a half minutes to explain a single technique.
I hope that the complainant is a beginner, because that'd be a pretty silly statement if he or she had more than a couple of months of actual training...
To master a technique you have to rip it apart. You've got to understand all the little steps, adjustments and details that makes the technique work. Then you have to be able to verbalize and articulate what you do and why you do it.
From that perspective, taking 17 and a half minutes to teach a single technique is a GREAT thing. I wish that every technique I learned was shown to me with that level of detail.
P.S. If you want a different perspective on the same guard pass, check out this post on the dutchassasinbjj blog.
Labels: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, ChimChim, guard passes, Sao Paulo guard pass, submission grappling
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