September 13, 2008
Balancing Mat Time with Conditioning
Forget the work-life balance! Let's talk about something much more important: the balance between mat time and conditioning.
I bring this up because one of the questions I get asked most frequently is about how to structure one's training and conditioning for maximum benefit, and also how to fit that in with work, family, socializing and the rest of life. In fact today's newsletter is partially a response to a question a BJJ purple belt asked me after I sent out a batch of newsletters dealing with conditioning routines.
Balancing mat time with conditioning time can be a very tricky problem. There are only so many discretionary hours in a week, and doing more of one thing almost always means doing less of something else. If you have, say, 6 free hours a week, and you want to be the best grappler you can be, then the question arises whether you should spend all 6 hours on the mat, or spend at least some of those hours doing conditioning.
The interesting thing is that everyone struggles with this. It's a dilemma for the 25 year old professional fighter who has hours a day to train, as well as for the 45 year old professional accountant who likes to train a few times a week but wonders if he should also be pumping some iron.
Everybody struggles with optimizing their training time, it's just that the constraints are different. The pro fighter worries about overtraining and getting injured, and the accountant worries that his family will forget his name if he disappears for yet another weekday evening, but nobody can do as much as they want.
Be very cautious when you read about the training schedule of a professional fighter or competitor, especially if you are looking for ideas on how to structure your training. Keep in mind that:
So let's say that you've figured out that you have a certain number of training hours per week. For some people this number will be low (3 or 4), for serious amateurs with a lot of extra time on their hands this might be 6 sessions (90 minutes long) per week, and for professionals it might be a lot higher (8 to 15 sessions per week). How do you allocate these sessions?
There are no cut and dried answers for this topic, so here are some thoughts and guidelines you might want to consider while planning your weekly routine.
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I bring this up because one of the questions I get asked most frequently is about how to structure one's training and conditioning for maximum benefit, and also how to fit that in with work, family, socializing and the rest of life. In fact today's newsletter is partially a response to a question a BJJ purple belt asked me after I sent out a batch of newsletters dealing with conditioning routines.
Balancing mat time with conditioning time can be a very tricky problem. There are only so many discretionary hours in a week, and doing more of one thing almost always means doing less of something else. If you have, say, 6 free hours a week, and you want to be the best grappler you can be, then the question arises whether you should spend all 6 hours on the mat, or spend at least some of those hours doing conditioning.
The interesting thing is that everyone struggles with this. It's a dilemma for the 25 year old professional fighter who has hours a day to train, as well as for the 45 year old professional accountant who likes to train a few times a week but wonders if he should also be pumping some iron.
Everybody struggles with optimizing their training time, it's just that the constraints are different. The pro fighter worries about overtraining and getting injured, and the accountant worries that his family will forget his name if he disappears for yet another weekday evening, but nobody can do as much as they want.
Be very cautious when you read about the training schedule of a professional fighter or competitor, especially if you are looking for ideas on how to structure your training. Keep in mind that:
- they often lie about how much they do (to intimidate their opponents)
- there is a major difference between a pre-competition training camp schedule and regular maintenance training. Their maintenance training (when they aren't getting ready for a competition) might be a lot less than they let on.
- a pro competitor in hard training does nothing but eat, train and sleep, a luxury not available to the vast majority of grapplers
- they may well be taking steroids or hormones to improve recovery time
So let's say that you've figured out that you have a certain number of training hours per week. For some people this number will be low (3 or 4), for serious amateurs with a lot of extra time on their hands this might be 6 sessions (90 minutes long) per week, and for professionals it might be a lot higher (8 to 15 sessions per week). How do you allocate these sessions?
There are no cut and dried answers for this topic, so here are some thoughts and guidelines you might want to consider while planning your weekly routine.
- If your goal is primarily the development of skill and technique, then do more grappling and less conditioning. Mat time is usually the best way to improve performance, especially early in your grappling career.
- If you have dual goals of skill development AND improved fitness then allocate anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of your available training time to conditioning and the rest to grappling.
- Consider that many professional fighters have had great success only doing 2 to 3 pure conditioning sessions per week. They do a lot of additional conditioning, but it comes from sports-specific activities like doing drills, hitting pads, wrestling for takedowns, sparring, etc.
- If you're already doing a fair bit of grappling then 3 hard conditioning sessions per week are probably plenty (and you've likely already reaped 80% of the benefits at two hard workouts per week). Also if your grappling sessions are already fairly hard physically (i.e. they have tough warmups or have lots of sparring) then you don't need as many additional conditioning sessions.
- One way to prevent overtraining is to use periodization, in which you vary the quantity and intensity of your training over the course of weeks and months. I have previously discussed this in an article on peaking and tapering for competition.
- If you despise any form of conditioning, running or working out, then relax - it's OK to do more grappling and less conditioning. The acquisition of grappling skill is a long term process, and if you don't enjoy the journey then you might never reach your goal.
- For the 'older' grappler I highly recomend at least one weight training session per week. This session can be as short as 30 minutes, if you use a lot of multi-joint movements like squats, pullups, lunges, presses, etc. What constitutes 'old' is, of course, a matter of debate, but I think it's fair to say that one is generally past one's physical prime by age 35 to 40. Sensible and proper weight training slows the loss of muscle mass and injury-proofs your body, both of which will really help your jiu-jitsu or submission grappling.
- The longer you've been physically active the more you can probably heap on your plate conditioning-wise. Your body will get used to recovering faster, and you'll have more experience to know when you're worn out and need to back off the throttle a bit.
- Finally remember that any conditioning is better than no conditioning. If you hate running, hate weightlifting and hate pushups but love Ashtanga Yoga, then do Ashtanga Yoga. It may or may not be the perfect complement for your BJJ classes, but doing something you enjoy is better than finding excuses not to do the hypothetical perfect conditioning session.
Labels: conditioning, training
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September 09, 2008
Learning BJJ in a Digital Age
I recently did a remote interview with Marshall Carpenter from Lockflow.com on the topic of how the internet has changed the way grappling knowledge is transmitted, learned and modified. You can check out the interview at Lockflow, or in the text below.
Open Source Jiu Jitsu, Session 3 by Marshal Carper
Marshall says: In November of last year, I did two articles on the impact the internet has had on the way grappling knowledge is transmitted, learned, and modified. The first article discussed my humble views on the matter, and the second article was an interview with Björn Friedrich, the owner of Fighter Fitness, a championship grade grappler, and the publisher of multiple YouTube videos that have gained a following in the Jiu Jitsu community.
Just recently, I received an email from Stephan Kesting discussing the issue at length. Kesting owns the widely popular GrappleArts.com and has released some of the best rated instructional grappling DVDs on the market today. Though the articles are nearing a year in age, Kesting’s insights into Open Source Jiu Jitsu are relevant and too useful to keep hidden.
LOCKFLOW: On your site, you have a blog offering weekly grappling tips and you often link to YouTube videos and websites run by other grapplers. While your readers obviously learn a great deal from your posts, how much do you learn from producing these articles and videos?
STEPHAN KESTING: I learn a great deal from writing my articles and producing my DVDs and Youtube videos. Creating these things helps me to organize my knowledge in an organized way, so that it can be efficiently taught and easily learned. Like most skilled grapplers I intuitively do a lot of things without thinking about them. I can DO them but you can't TEACH these things unless you've thought about them. Writing an article or producing a video forces me to take a specific topic and really, really think about it, and I always learn a lot in the process.
LOCKFLOW: How has the internet impacted the way you learn and practice grappling, if at all?
STEPHAN KESTING: The internet has helped my own learning curve in several ways. Occasionally I see a technique, or a counter to a technique that I haven't seen before, and I then take it to the mats and try it out on a non-resisting partner. Usually it turns out that these techniques are either junk or not suited to my body, but a few of them have been keepers and I end up integrating them into my game.
Stuff on the web also helped give me a 'big picture', especially when I was starting out. It helped me place techniques I was learning, and training methods I was experimenting with, into a context. Having a context allows you to figure out what you know, and to identify what you don't yet know.
A lot of my articles and videos are produced with this whole idea of context in mind. I recently had a three part article on the different kinds of guards published in Ultimate Grappling magazine, and now they're online on my site. I wrote these articles to provide a context for learning about the guard position, and if I'd known what was in those articles when I started to grapple I think it might have accelerated my learning curve by about 6 months.
LOCKFLOW: Can you think of a specific example of how your grappling knowledge was impacted by the internet?
STEPHAN KESTING: Sure! I re-learned one of my favorite triangle choke counters from the internet, the first escape on this page.
I'd been shown this triangle escape years before, but then had let it completely slip from my arsenal. When I saw that technique series it reminded me about the escape, and I've since re-incorporated it into my game.
LOCKFLOW: How do you feel the internet has impacted grappling knowledge in general?
STEPHAN KESTING: The internet, combined with the availability of instructional DVDs, has hugely accelerated the learning curve in grappling. The skill levels of both competitive and recreational grapplers is a lot higher than it was 10 years ago. If someone invents a new guard pass and uses it to win the Mundials black belt division then everyone can see it on Youtube the next day and reverse-engineer that same guard pass for themselves. Things don't stay secret for nearly as long, and that drives the evolutionary arms race at speeds that were unthinkable in the past.
LOCKFLOW: Do you see this impact as negative or positive? Why?
STEPHAN KESTING: Almost entirely positive. Some people complain that the proliferation of knowledge draws students away from working on the basics. There is a grain of truth to that argument, however most students eventually figure that out for themselves. In the final analysis, for 99% of grapplers this sport is all about fitness and enjoyment, not necessarily winning their UFC debut or medalling at the World Championships, so they should do whatever it is they enjoy. If that's working on their upside-down guard, or the X guard, or whatever, before they've mastered the basic armbar from closed guard, then who am I to say that that's wrong?
LOCKFLOW: What advice would you offer to students using the internet to supplement their grappling knowledge?
STEPHAN KESTING: Just remember that if you see something on the internet it's only the first step in a 4 step process that some people call TRIG. Here is something I posted on my blog a while back:
STEPHAN KESTING: Yes, I'd like to invite people to come and check my site at www.grapplearts.com. It's getting to be a huge site, with a ton of articles, techniques, videos, blog posts and photos that are exactly the kind of internet references we've been talking about in this interview. When I started Grapplearts in 2002 as a venue to promote my first video I had no idea that it would ever grow to be this large a site and so well reviewed by the grappling community.
Stephan's note: Thanks to Marshall Cooper for initiating this conversation!
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Open Source Jiu Jitsu, Session 3 by Marshal Carper
Marshall says: In November of last year, I did two articles on the impact the internet has had on the way grappling knowledge is transmitted, learned, and modified. The first article discussed my humble views on the matter, and the second article was an interview with Björn Friedrich, the owner of Fighter Fitness, a championship grade grappler, and the publisher of multiple YouTube videos that have gained a following in the Jiu Jitsu community.
Just recently, I received an email from Stephan Kesting discussing the issue at length. Kesting owns the widely popular GrappleArts.com and has released some of the best rated instructional grappling DVDs on the market today. Though the articles are nearing a year in age, Kesting’s insights into Open Source Jiu Jitsu are relevant and too useful to keep hidden.
LOCKFLOW: On your site, you have a blog offering weekly grappling tips and you often link to YouTube videos and websites run by other grapplers. While your readers obviously learn a great deal from your posts, how much do you learn from producing these articles and videos?
STEPHAN KESTING: I learn a great deal from writing my articles and producing my DVDs and Youtube videos. Creating these things helps me to organize my knowledge in an organized way, so that it can be efficiently taught and easily learned. Like most skilled grapplers I intuitively do a lot of things without thinking about them. I can DO them but you can't TEACH these things unless you've thought about them. Writing an article or producing a video forces me to take a specific topic and really, really think about it, and I always learn a lot in the process.
LOCKFLOW: How has the internet impacted the way you learn and practice grappling, if at all?
STEPHAN KESTING: The internet has helped my own learning curve in several ways. Occasionally I see a technique, or a counter to a technique that I haven't seen before, and I then take it to the mats and try it out on a non-resisting partner. Usually it turns out that these techniques are either junk or not suited to my body, but a few of them have been keepers and I end up integrating them into my game.
Stuff on the web also helped give me a 'big picture', especially when I was starting out. It helped me place techniques I was learning, and training methods I was experimenting with, into a context. Having a context allows you to figure out what you know, and to identify what you don't yet know.
A lot of my articles and videos are produced with this whole idea of context in mind. I recently had a three part article on the different kinds of guards published in Ultimate Grappling magazine, and now they're online on my site. I wrote these articles to provide a context for learning about the guard position, and if I'd known what was in those articles when I started to grapple I think it might have accelerated my learning curve by about 6 months.
LOCKFLOW: Can you think of a specific example of how your grappling knowledge was impacted by the internet?
STEPHAN KESTING: Sure! I re-learned one of my favorite triangle choke counters from the internet, the first escape on this page.
I'd been shown this triangle escape years before, but then had let it completely slip from my arsenal. When I saw that technique series it reminded me about the escape, and I've since re-incorporated it into my game.
LOCKFLOW: How do you feel the internet has impacted grappling knowledge in general?
STEPHAN KESTING: The internet, combined with the availability of instructional DVDs, has hugely accelerated the learning curve in grappling. The skill levels of both competitive and recreational grapplers is a lot higher than it was 10 years ago. If someone invents a new guard pass and uses it to win the Mundials black belt division then everyone can see it on Youtube the next day and reverse-engineer that same guard pass for themselves. Things don't stay secret for nearly as long, and that drives the evolutionary arms race at speeds that were unthinkable in the past.
LOCKFLOW: Do you see this impact as negative or positive? Why?
STEPHAN KESTING: Almost entirely positive. Some people complain that the proliferation of knowledge draws students away from working on the basics. There is a grain of truth to that argument, however most students eventually figure that out for themselves. In the final analysis, for 99% of grapplers this sport is all about fitness and enjoyment, not necessarily winning their UFC debut or medalling at the World Championships, so they should do whatever it is they enjoy. If that's working on their upside-down guard, or the X guard, or whatever, before they've mastered the basic armbar from closed guard, then who am I to say that that's wrong?
LOCKFLOW: What advice would you offer to students using the internet to supplement their grappling knowledge?
STEPHAN KESTING: Just remember that if you see something on the internet it's only the first step in a 4 step process that some people call TRIG. Here is something I posted on my blog a while back:
- T = Technique. First you have to learn the technique. Where do your arms and legs go? How do you develop power? What do you do if your opponent counters your technique.
- R = Repetition. Now you have to go and repeat the technique until your body understands it as well as your mind does. This can involve doing hundreds of repetitions, so lets get to work.
- I = Isolation. Now you use the technique in isolation. Maybe you are working on escapes to a particular position, so start every sparring session pinned in that position. Another example might be deciding only to use one submission, say the triangle choke, when sparring people of lesser skill than you.
- G = Grappling. Now you can incorporate that technique into your grappling arsenal!
STEPHAN KESTING: Yes, I'd like to invite people to come and check my site at www.grapplearts.com. It's getting to be a huge site, with a ton of articles, techniques, videos, blog posts and photos that are exactly the kind of internet references we've been talking about in this interview. When I started Grapplearts in 2002 as a venue to promote my first video I had no idea that it would ever grow to be this large a site and so well reviewed by the grappling community.
Stephan's note: Thanks to Marshall Cooper for initiating this conversation!
Labels: Grapplearts DVDs, the mental aspect, training
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August 28, 2008
How To Become A Great Training Partner
I've just added a new article on how to become that great training partner that everyone wants to work with (and show all their secret techniques to). This article was written by Jason Scully from Grapplersguide.com.
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Labels: the mental aspect, training
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February 17, 2008
Always Injured, the Feedback
Several tips ago I gave some advice to a reader who had suffered a rather terrible string of orthopedic injuries while training in MMA . I also opened up the conversation to other readers of this newsletter and invited comments on several martial arts forums. Thanks to everyone who wrote in, and here is what they had to say:
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- "I have realized I was getting injured when I was was gassing. With better cardio, I stayed more out of trouble."
- "Nutrition plays a huge role in injury prevention. Bones and ligaments, like muscles, need fuel to regenerate. Fish oil helps for inflammation (I use Carlson's fish oil.)"
- "Being fat is an invitation for an injury. Your body isn't as balanced, and you're carrying around more weight than you should."
- "The biggest thing to prevent injuries and especially reoccuring injuries is to understand what cause them, meaning the ANGLES your body is in, and where the PRESSURE is being applied to you and don't let it get in that position again even if you have to tap for no apparent reason. I have stopped sparring matches on many occasions and my partner was like "what happened?", I just tell them the situation and let them have to closest position with them being in advantage and restart. I have never had someone complain about me doing that."
- "Find a sports medicine doctor not a primary care...makes a world of difference!!!"
- "Warm up properly. Nearly every injury I've received in judo has been from going hard early in the session before I'm warm and loosened up."
- "I find (as a 60 year old fighter) that my injuries come from rolling with guys that weigh 50, 75 100 or more pounds heavier than me.... At my age i would like to work with more guys in my weight class. It would be easier and i would develop quicker if i could just work with someone in my weight class."
- "Sometimes it is important to turn it up a notch and escalate your sparring. Recently I sparred with some MMA guys who outweighed me and all went 110% in their sparring. When I took it easy I found myself in potentially dangerous situations (e.g. stacked on the back of my neck), but when I went all out and got to the top position I was alright for the rest of the match. It's important to be aware of your training partners' tendencies, but it's also really important to know yourself too.
- "There's a big difference between being 25 and being 37 or 40. I am now going to a traditional BJJ class that focuses on technique. That's what I need to do to improve. Rolling with a bunch of testosterone junkies isn't going to make me better. My goals are to (1) not get hurt, (2) have fun, and (3) improve my BJJ. In that order, since they all depend on #1."
Labels: Injuries, overtraining, training
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February 04, 2008
Always Injured
Q: "I'm in my forties and and started MMA training a few years ago. Since then I have had many injuries including a shattered elbow, a torn knee, separations in both shoulders, and many, many more minor injuries. A sane person would stop training MMA, but i just can't give it up. I try to minimize injuries by warming up and stretching and doing some light weight training, but even now, just rolling with other guys, I get injured. Is it possible that my body just isn't cut out for this stuff? What should I do?"
A: It sounds like you have had a very bad string of injuries. There is definitely a problem, but without knowing you personally it is really, really hard to diagnose what is going on. This rate of injury is NOT normal, even for most MMA clubs. In addition to the pain of injury and the consequences for your body down the road, being injured all the time really cuts into your training and prevents you from reaching your full potential.
An obvious possibility is that you are training at a club full of very aggressive people, for whom every sparring session is a battle to the death. An alternative possibility is that it is YOU who is going way too hard in sparring, refusing to tap, etc. Either way, a simple way to diagnose whether you are in a hyperaggressive environment is to think about the other MMA and grappling clubs in your town: if you think that they are all way too mellow and laid back then it could actually be indicating that YOU are in the dysfunctional and counterproductive training environment.
You might be overtrained which could also lead to more injuries. Many people misunderstand overtraining - "but I'm not training that hard" they say. Overtraining isn't just about training too hard, it's also about under-recovering. You can overtrain doing only moderate amounts of training if your diet, sleep or stress management is inadequate. All this becomes even more important as you age - you just can't neglect your recovery the way that the average 20 year old punk can.
Finally consider that you are training in MMA, and that injury rates in MMA tend to be higher than in submission grappling (which in turn are higher than in BJJ). It's not always true, but as a rule MMA tends to attract younger, testosterone-fueled, ego-driven competitive types, and they can often make very dangerous training partners. In addition, MMA is a no-gi sport and that means that you have a faster, more explosive pace in sparring. By contrast, the gi in BJJ slows things down and makes it more of a mental game with strong aerobic and muscular endurance challenges without as strong a focus on explosiveness.
That being said, I'll share some ideas of where to go from here. Not all these suggestions necessarily apply in your case, and only you can figure which are relevant to your situation.
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com
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A: It sounds like you have had a very bad string of injuries. There is definitely a problem, but without knowing you personally it is really, really hard to diagnose what is going on. This rate of injury is NOT normal, even for most MMA clubs. In addition to the pain of injury and the consequences for your body down the road, being injured all the time really cuts into your training and prevents you from reaching your full potential.
An obvious possibility is that you are training at a club full of very aggressive people, for whom every sparring session is a battle to the death. An alternative possibility is that it is YOU who is going way too hard in sparring, refusing to tap, etc. Either way, a simple way to diagnose whether you are in a hyperaggressive environment is to think about the other MMA and grappling clubs in your town: if you think that they are all way too mellow and laid back then it could actually be indicating that YOU are in the dysfunctional and counterproductive training environment.
You might be overtrained which could also lead to more injuries. Many people misunderstand overtraining - "but I'm not training that hard" they say. Overtraining isn't just about training too hard, it's also about under-recovering. You can overtrain doing only moderate amounts of training if your diet, sleep or stress management is inadequate. All this becomes even more important as you age - you just can't neglect your recovery the way that the average 20 year old punk can.
Finally consider that you are training in MMA, and that injury rates in MMA tend to be higher than in submission grappling (which in turn are higher than in BJJ). It's not always true, but as a rule MMA tends to attract younger, testosterone-fueled, ego-driven competitive types, and they can often make very dangerous training partners. In addition, MMA is a no-gi sport and that means that you have a faster, more explosive pace in sparring. By contrast, the gi in BJJ slows things down and makes it more of a mental game with strong aerobic and muscular endurance challenges without as strong a focus on explosiveness.
That being said, I'll share some ideas of where to go from here. Not all these suggestions necessarily apply in your case, and only you can figure which are relevant to your situation.
- Make a mental commitment to tap out early and often when caught in bad positions.
- Ask yourself it your training partners are concerned about your physical well being; are they trying to preserve their training partners?
- Visit other clubs and try a class: maybe you've just taken up with a bunch of psychopaths at your current school. I'm not telling you to change schools, but the experience of training at another school (or even just watching a class there) can be quite informative.
- Try BJJ with the gi, rather than MMA. You may find that the challenge of BJJ satisfies the same needs as your current MMA training but that the slower, more technical pace leads to less injuries. There are a lot of old, torn up Judo players in Japan who can't do much standing Judo anymore but still tear things up in newaza (ground grappling).
- Find a sane, laidback training partner and do most of your sparring with him
- Do more technique drilling and less sparring
- Find out about overtraining and try to figure out if your rest and nutrition is providing the recovery you need.
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com
Labels: Injuries, overtraining, training
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January 28, 2008
Jiu-jitsu and Physical Attributes
Physical attributes are things like balance, neck strength, limb length, explosiveness, leg flexibility, and percent body fat. Your physical attributes are the foundation of what you can do with your body, and are influenced by genetics, training, age and injuries
Some instructors teach as if everyone, regardless of age, build and flexibility, can use the same techniques. Well I'm here to tell you it's not true: physical attributes do strongly affect which techniques you'll be able to use against a struggling opponent. How your body is put together is an important factor to consider when you build your game.
The rest of this article will take a look at some concrete examples of how physical attributes aid, or hinder, the performance of specific techniques.
First of all, many attributes can be changed: flexibility, strength, endurance, speed, and balance can all be improved with training and conditioning.
Secondly, you can build your 'A game' around your strong attributes and figure out how to avoid depending on your weaker attributes.
Third, there may be technical answers to your problems. Talk to your instructor, ask your training partners and look on the internet for ideas. For examples of how the internet can help I'll point you towards three threads discussing adaptations to help short legged people develop effective triangle chokes: thread 1, thread 2 and thread 3.
In closing, let me emphasize that you should still spend some time learning and practicing techniques that aren't well suited for your body. Doing this will tighten up your defense: by practicing techniques, even ones that don't fit your body, you sensitize your spider sense to tingle when people are getting ready to try those technique on you. Also keep in mind that you may end up teaching some day, and you want to have techniques to show people who are physically dissimilar from yourself.
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Some instructors teach as if everyone, regardless of age, build and flexibility, can use the same techniques. Well I'm here to tell you it's not true: physical attributes do strongly affect which techniques you'll be able to use against a struggling opponent. How your body is put together is an important factor to consider when you build your game.
The rest of this article will take a look at some concrete examples of how physical attributes aid, or hinder, the performance of specific techniques.
- Explosiveness and endurance are prerequisites for a 'mobility' game. If you don't have these attributes then you're still left with the option of a slow crushing 'positional' game.
- Different throws require different attributes. Great balance is critical for some throws like Uchi Mata, but others like Seionage require explosiveness. Timing is great to have for most throws, but some throws like footsweeps just won't work without it.
- People who regularly apply successful collar chokes tend to have killer grip strength (which can be improved by exercise)
- Standing guard passes require more balance and leg strength than do kneeling guard passes
- Longer legs are great for applying triangle chokes, and short-legged grapplers definitely need to make some adjustments in order to finish this submission
- Leg length is important for some, but not all, footlocks. The most leg-length-dependent footlock is probably the straight ankle lock (but Andre Arlovski proved me wrong by ankle locking giant Tim Sylvia in the Octagon). Leg length is a bit of an asset for heel hooks, but less so than for the ankle lock. On the other hand, leg length doesn't have much to do with successfully executing most kneebars, hip locks and calf cranks
- If you want to master the rubber guard (example shown here) then flexibility is very important; at a minimum you probably need to be able to put one foot behind your head and touch both knees to the ground when doing the 'butterfly' stretch.
- Strong arms can make some submissions more effective, including most guillotines, the Brabo choke, and the Kimura. Arm strength isn't as important for performing the armbar, but it is very helpful when it comes to defending the armbar.
- Leg length amplifies the effectiveness of the spider guard, but is relatively unimportant when it comes to using the half guard and X Guard
First of all, many attributes can be changed: flexibility, strength, endurance, speed, and balance can all be improved with training and conditioning.
Secondly, you can build your 'A game' around your strong attributes and figure out how to avoid depending on your weaker attributes.
Third, there may be technical answers to your problems. Talk to your instructor, ask your training partners and look on the internet for ideas. For examples of how the internet can help I'll point you towards three threads discussing adaptations to help short legged people develop effective triangle chokes: thread 1, thread 2 and thread 3.
In closing, let me emphasize that you should still spend some time learning and practicing techniques that aren't well suited for your body. Doing this will tighten up your defense: by practicing techniques, even ones that don't fit your body, you sensitize your spider sense to tingle when people are getting ready to try those technique on you. Also keep in mind that you may end up teaching some day, and you want to have techniques to show people who are physically dissimilar from yourself.
Labels: conditioning, Injuries, physical attributes, techniques, training
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January 05, 2008
An Alternative To Pulling Guard When Grappling On Your Knees
Many grapplers start their sparring sessions on their knees. From this starting position usually one of two things happen: either the two combatants push and pull each other until one falls over, or someone pulls guard and starts looking for sweeps and submissions.
Well there are alternatives, and one option is to jump into a sweep rather than jump into guard. If things go well, the technique of the sweep combined with the momentum of the jump should bring you to the top position. If things go badly you usually end up in the guard, where you would have been anyhow if you had just pulled guard in the first place.
To help illustrate this concept I have put a short clip onto Youtube for your viewing pleasure. I should stress that the four sweeps used in this video are NOT the only sweeps that will work: your homework assignment is to examine your favorite sweeps and figure out if they might work were you to apply them from your knees (or from your feet). My video can be viewed below or found here:
When you do sweeps in this manner, the line between sweeps and Judo sacrifice throws starts to blur. To illustrate this I'd like to point you towards another Youtube video where you can see a variety of sacrifice throws (and a variety of setups) demonstrated by two skilled Judoka (click here or see below):
Before I sign off I have to give some credit, as this isn't entirely my own idea. I developed this tip after absorbing and fermenting the ideas that Marcio Feitosa, Roy Harris and Walt Bayless have shared on the topic (in seminar and/or on video).
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Well there are alternatives, and one option is to jump into a sweep rather than jump into guard. If things go well, the technique of the sweep combined with the momentum of the jump should bring you to the top position. If things go badly you usually end up in the guard, where you would have been anyhow if you had just pulled guard in the first place.
To help illustrate this concept I have put a short clip onto Youtube for your viewing pleasure. I should stress that the four sweeps used in this video are NOT the only sweeps that will work: your homework assignment is to examine your favorite sweeps and figure out if they might work were you to apply them from your knees (or from your feet). My video can be viewed below or found here:
When you do sweeps in this manner, the line between sweeps and Judo sacrifice throws starts to blur. To illustrate this I'd like to point you towards another Youtube video where you can see a variety of sacrifice throws (and a variety of setups) demonstrated by two skilled Judoka (click here or see below):
Before I sign off I have to give some credit, as this isn't entirely my own idea. I developed this tip after absorbing and fermenting the ideas that Marcio Feitosa, Roy Harris and Walt Bayless have shared on the topic (in seminar and/or on video).
Labels: takedowns, the guard, training
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December 30, 2007
How To Use Instructional BJJ Media
Stephan's note: today we have a guest author, Nicolai Geeza Holt, sharing his thoughts about a topic near and dear to my own heart: learning from instructional material. Nicolai trains with Niko Han and currently has 47 wins by submission in competition. Check out his online video collection on youtube.
The most important point to understand before you build up a big library of BJJ instruction material is this; the books, videos and DVDs you buy will not solve the practical problems you are having on the mat. Your practical problems can only be solved with practice. And you cannot practice in books or in DVDs. Practice happens on the mat.
So what are instruction materials good for?
Instruction materials can give you a big picture general idea of the kinds of things you need to master and understand over your long BJJ learning process. There are four key areas you have to master in BJJ and I will list them in order of how well BJJ instruction materials cover them.
First, techniques; BJJ instruction materials are good databases of both basic and advanced techniques.
Second, fitness; some instruction materials are specifically prepared to help you to prime your body for strength, cardio, flexibility and coordination with exercise routines, while others focus on diet or overall health.
Third, preparing your mind; some of the most insightful and useful BJJ instruction material (once you have trained past the basics), relates to how you manage what is going on in your head before, during and after marshalling on the mats.
Fourth, some BJJ instruction materials cover fight or competition strategy. This last area of knowledge is the least well covered. Strategy is rarely dealt with as the main topic and it seems to crop up as side-points to other points a teacher is making. You have to dig hard for this last kind of wisdom.
Even though the area best covered in BJJ instructional material is technique, every submission or escape, or way to improve your position, or way to prevent your opponent improving their position, takes place in a particular situation. In competition or sparring every sequence happens exactly that way only once; kind of like that old saw – you can never step into the same river twice because the river is always changing (of course this is not to say that you will not get stuck at the same old positions with some of your regular training partners). Therefore, no book or DVD that can cover more than a small fraction of the exact sequences that occur in real live situations. Because each specific sequence of moves occurs only once, most BJJ technique material breaks the knowledge down into individual submissions, holds, sweeps and moves. It is rare that more than 3 or 4 techniques are shown in sequence, and generally instructional material focuses on the details of a single technique. But good instructional material will not only outline suggestions of things to do in precise situations, it will also state the general principles that underlie the practical steps suggested.
How do we learn BJJ?
We learn BJJ by imitation. Here is a little neuroscience to explain how we imitate. In the frontal lobe of the brain is a region called the motor cortex. It is involved in the planning, control, and execution of voluntary motor functions. Meanwhile, the pre-motor cortex is an area of the motor cortex responsible for the sensory guidance of movement and especially the core trunk muscles of the body. In the pre-motor cortex there are cells that fire when we move our limbs, shrimp or grip. The pre-motor cortex also has groups of cells called mirror neurons that fire we watch someone else move their limbs, shrimp or grip. Mirror neurons are critical to imitation. The more you watch other people do BJJ, the more your mirror neurons fire. The circuits are automatic and they bypass conscious mediation.
Typically most people can copy complex sequence of actions after they have seen them 3 times ( i.e. fired up their mirror neurons 3 times!). BJJ superstars (or any sports superstar), naturally has extensive networks of mirror neurons. The good news is that anyone can build their mirror neuron networks with practice. The point of all this is that the more visual that the learning materials you use are, the easier it is to fire up your mirror neurons and consequently the easier it is to imitate what you just saw. So just watching others doing BJJ can help your own BJJ.
Which one to choose? - BJJ Books versus DVDs versus YouTube
BJJ Books are good because they give you time to think about what is being taught you, they have visual content in the form of pictures and their written word is carefully thought through, well articulated and edited. The weakness of books is that still pictures are less effective at firing up your mirror neurons and frequently the author has a self-congratulatory tone as opposed to a simple genuine desire to spread knowledge.
DVDs are good because they are highly visual in a way specifically designed to fire up your motor neurons and they present a coherent body of knowledge. The weakness of DVDs is that they are expensive, they are extremely mixed in terms of quality and they often have lots of filler techniques that no-one ever uses.
YouTube is good because it is free, you can search for a specific technique and get a variety of insights from many different teachers, you have easy access to all the info, it is highly visual, and you can get both theory and practical content. (Try searching for rear naked choke in YouTube to see the wealth of knowledge available). The weakness of YouTube as a BJJ learning tool is that it is an incoherent collection of videos, good in some areas and weak in others, and you can easily get side-tracked in your learning process.
Some other bullet points on BJJ instruction material
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The most important point to understand before you build up a big library of BJJ instruction material is this; the books, videos and DVDs you buy will not solve the practical problems you are having on the mat. Your practical problems can only be solved with practice. And you cannot practice in books or in DVDs. Practice happens on the mat.
So what are instruction materials good for?
Instruction materials can give you a big picture general idea of the kinds of things you need to master and understand over your long BJJ learning process. There are four key areas you have to master in BJJ and I will list them in order of how well BJJ instruction materials cover them.
First, techniques; BJJ instruction materials are good databases of both basic and advanced techniques.
Second, fitness; some instruction materials are specifically prepared to help you to prime your body for strength, cardio, flexibility and coordination with exercise routines, while others focus on diet or overall health.
Third, preparing your mind; some of the most insightful and useful BJJ instruction material (once you have trained past the basics), relates to how you manage what is going on in your head before, during and after marshalling on the mats.
Fourth, some BJJ instruction materials cover fight or competition strategy. This last area of knowledge is the least well covered. Strategy is rarely dealt with as the main topic and it seems to crop up as side-points to other points a teacher is making. You have to dig hard for this last kind of wisdom.
Even though the area best covered in BJJ instructional material is technique, every submission or escape, or way to improve your position, or way to prevent your opponent improving their position, takes place in a particular situation. In competition or sparring every sequence happens exactly that way only once; kind of like that old saw – you can never step into the same river twice because the river is always changing (of course this is not to say that you will not get stuck at the same old positions with some of your regular training partners). Therefore, no book or DVD that can cover more than a small fraction of the exact sequences that occur in real live situations. Because each specific sequence of moves occurs only once, most BJJ technique material breaks the knowledge down into individual submissions, holds, sweeps and moves. It is rare that more than 3 or 4 techniques are shown in sequence, and generally instructional material focuses on the details of a single technique. But good instructional material will not only outline suggestions of things to do in precise situations, it will also state the general principles that underlie the practical steps suggested.
How do we learn BJJ?
We learn BJJ by imitation. Here is a little neuroscience to explain how we imitate. In the frontal lobe of the brain is a region called the motor cortex. It is involved in the planning, control, and execution of voluntary motor functions. Meanwhile, the pre-motor cortex is an area of the motor cortex responsible for the sensory guidance of movement and especially the core trunk muscles of the body. In the pre-motor cortex there are cells that fire when we move our limbs, shrimp or grip. The pre-motor cortex also has groups of cells called mirror neurons that fire we watch someone else move their limbs, shrimp or grip. Mirror neurons are critical to imitation. The more you watch other people do BJJ, the more your mirror neurons fire. The circuits are automatic and they bypass conscious mediation.
Typically most people can copy complex sequence of actions after they have seen them 3 times ( i.e. fired up their mirror neurons 3 times!). BJJ superstars (or any sports superstar), naturally has extensive networks of mirror neurons. The good news is that anyone can build their mirror neuron networks with practice. The point of all this is that the more visual that the learning materials you use are, the easier it is to fire up your mirror neurons and consequently the easier it is to imitate what you just saw. So just watching others doing BJJ can help your own BJJ.
Which one to choose? - BJJ Books versus DVDs versus YouTube
BJJ Books are good because they give you time to think about what is being taught you, they have visual content in the form of pictures and their written word is carefully thought through, well articulated and edited. The weakness of books is that still pictures are less effective at firing up your mirror neurons and frequently the author has a self-congratulatory tone as opposed to a simple genuine desire to spread knowledge.
DVDs are good because they are highly visual in a way specifically designed to fire up your motor neurons and they present a coherent body of knowledge. The weakness of DVDs is that they are expensive, they are extremely mixed in terms of quality and they often have lots of filler techniques that no-one ever uses.
YouTube is good because it is free, you can search for a specific technique and get a variety of insights from many different teachers, you have easy access to all the info, it is highly visual, and you can get both theory and practical content. (Try searching for rear naked choke in YouTube to see the wealth of knowledge available). The weakness of YouTube as a BJJ learning tool is that it is an incoherent collection of videos, good in some areas and weak in others, and you can easily get side-tracked in your learning process.
Some other bullet points on BJJ instruction material
- If your own instructor makes a DVD definitely buy it – it will greatly speed your learning process.
- Watch the whole DVD in one sitting first time through to understand the full set of ideas the instructor is proposing.
- It is a business. Being a BJJ teacher is not a well paid profession and therefore the best will try and supplement their income by selling instruction material. What gets a product sold is not always what will help your BJJ.
- It takes a long time to learn BJJ and nothing can beat a good instructor giving you good drills to do with a good training partner.
- BJJ instruction materials can give you new ideas when you are getting stale.
- Think of BJJ instruction material as being analogous to vitamins in your diet – you need all the basic stuff in your diet and vitamins add that something extra for top performance.
- Most BJJ instruction material is weak on counter techniques, so make sure you ask your instructor for the defence each time you learn a technique.
Labels: Grapplearts DVDs, techniques, training
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August 13, 2007
Online Grappling Drill Videos
I think that grappling drills can serve an important function. Not everybody agrees with me about this: some people think that movement repetition outside the context of a resisting opponent is 'dead' training and a waste of time and energy. Sparring, they say, is a far better way to develop the movements and attributes so essential for grappling.
Of course I believe in sparring. Of course I also believe in sparring exercises where your partner/opponent only gives you certain specific sorts of pressure or resistance. Of course I don't think that all your training should be devoted just to grappling drills. Drilling definitely has their place in my world though, because the correct drill introduced at the correct time can have dramatic results. Sometimes isolating a movement in a drill for just a few minutes is all a person needs to make a major breakthrough.
In a sport that is evolving as fast as ours there is no way that anyone can have the last comprehensive word on drills. Even though I have put out a well-reviewed video on the topic other people have developed or collected other useful drills too. Here are some of the better grappling drill video clips I found online:
Gracie Barra BJJ Drills: not much explanation is given (or needed) in this fast paced collection of movement drills.
Punching Bag Drills: How to use a horizontal punching bag to train transitions between different top positions.
Wall Drill: De la Riva is speaking Portugese while explaining how move his hips, but it's easy to understand what he's trying to convey.
Various Exercises from a DVD called 'Grappling Drills' by some guy called Stephan Kesting
Stability Ball Movement Drilling by Renato Tavares
Stability Ball Drilling by Hywel Teague,
Spinning BJJ Drill: using a partner to develop transitions between different open guard positions
Various Drill Videos on the site www.lockflow.com
No-Gi BJJ Drills: two grapplers work on a variety of submission and movement drills without the gi.
Guard Pass Drill: this one develops both standing guard pass and the hip, leg and arm motion required to put your opponent back into the guard.
Andre Galvao discusses how he trains movement and coordination (which looks a lot like Ginastica Natural).
Submission Training Drills from www.subfighter.com
Have fun watching this material and training it too!
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Of course I believe in sparring. Of course I also believe in sparring exercises where your partner/opponent only gives you certain specific sorts of pressure or resistance. Of course I don't think that all your training should be devoted just to grappling drills. Drilling definitely has their place in my world though, because the correct drill introduced at the correct time can have dramatic results. Sometimes isolating a movement in a drill for just a few minutes is all a person needs to make a major breakthrough.
In a sport that is evolving as fast as ours there is no way that anyone can have the last comprehensive word on drills. Even though I have put out a well-reviewed video on the topic other people have developed or collected other useful drills too. Here are some of the better grappling drill video clips I found online:
Gracie Barra BJJ Drills: not much explanation is given (or needed) in this fast paced collection of movement drills.
Punching Bag Drills: How to use a horizontal punching bag to train transitions between different top positions.
Wall Drill: De la Riva is speaking Portugese while explaining how move his hips, but it's easy to understand what he's trying to convey.
Various Exercises from a DVD called 'Grappling Drills' by some guy called Stephan Kesting
Stability Ball Movement Drilling by Renato Tavares
Stability Ball Drilling by Hywel Teague,
Spinning BJJ Drill: using a partner to develop transitions between different open guard positions
Various Drill Videos on the site www.lockflow.com
No-Gi BJJ Drills: two grapplers work on a variety of submission and movement drills without the gi.
Guard Pass Drill: this one develops both standing guard pass and the hip, leg and arm motion required to put your opponent back into the guard.
Andre Galvao discusses how he trains movement and coordination (which looks a lot like Ginastica Natural).
Submission Training Drills from www.subfighter.com
Have fun watching this material and training it too!
Labels: training
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April 29, 2007
The Berserker
There's one at almost every club. The guy who can't lose. The guy who always goes 100%. The guy who applies every submission with speed and power. The guy who fights as if his life depends on it. One sure indicator that someone is a grappling berserker is that he is always injuring his training partners and/or himself.
A favorite trick of a berserker is to say something like "I'm feeling tired (or sick, or injured) today, let's just go 50% and flow". Usually it takes less than 10 seconds of sparring for them to go into turbocharged berserker mode. Now you've got to make a decision to get crushed or to play his game and match his intensity.
There's nothing wrong with hard-fought, high intensity rolling, especially if you have competitive aspirations. Making EVERY sparring match a battle to the death, however, is suboptimal for several reasons:
First of all, the chances of injury increase, both for you and your opponents.
Secondly, since everything is tense, tight and explosive it limits the development of that elusive attribute 'flow'.
Thirdly, it limits your pool of training partners. People will start avoiding you on the mats, either because they don't want to get injured or simply because they aren't in the mood for an all-out dogfight.
Finally, it can stop you from becoming well rounded, because if winning every sparring match is the only thing that counts then you probably won't willingly put yourself into bad situations or positions you need to improve at.
If you have a berserker at your club I'm not saying that you shouldn't spar with him; in fact they can be very useful training partners depending on what aspect of your game you are working on. The main thing is that you have to know what you are getting into and be prepared for a battle every single time. Don't get sucked into starting out light and easy and then, without warning, having the intensity escalated on you.
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A favorite trick of a berserker is to say something like "I'm feeling tired (or sick, or injured) today, let's just go 50% and flow". Usually it takes less than 10 seconds of sparring for them to go into turbocharged berserker mode. Now you've got to make a decision to get crushed or to play his game and match his intensity.
There's nothing wrong with hard-fought, high intensity rolling, especially if you have competitive aspirations. Making EVERY sparring match a battle to the death, however, is suboptimal for several reasons:
First of all, the chances of injury increase, both for you and your opponents.
Secondly, since everything is tense, tight and explosive it limits the development of that elusive attribute 'flow'.
Thirdly, it limits your pool of training partners. People will start avoiding you on the mats, either because they don't want to get injured or simply because they aren't in the mood for an all-out dogfight.
Finally, it can stop you from becoming well rounded, because if winning every sparring match is the only thing that counts then you probably won't willingly put yourself into bad situations or positions you need to improve at.
If you have a berserker at your club I'm not saying that you shouldn't spar with him; in fact they can be very useful training partners depending on what aspect of your game you are working on. The main thing is that you have to know what you are getting into and be prepared for a battle every single time. Don't get sucked into starting out light and easy and then, without warning, having the intensity escalated on you.
Labels: Injuries, the mental aspect, training
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February 04, 2007
Training with an Injured Wing
Q: How can I still train if I have an injured hand, wrist, arm or shoulder?
A: One great drill to do (whether you are injured or not) is the 'Two Legs, One Arm Drill". Start with a partner. Both you and your partner grab your own belts (or waistband of your shorts) with one hand, effectively taking one arm out of play. Now you start with one person in the open guard trying to pass: he can stand or kneel as he wishes. The other person defends using one arm, both legs and hip movement; if he can pull off a sweep, so much the better! If one person passes the guard both people stop, go back into the guard, and start again.
I have used this drill while injured on a number of occasions, and every time the leg agility and open guard defense have improved noticeably. The hard part is not letting go of your belt while scrambling, but this is critical to the drill.
In addition to this drill, I would suggest that you do whatever you can on the conditioning front. Can you still run? Go on the stairmaster? Weight train your legs and core? It will all pay off when your injury heals and you are ready to go 100% on the mats again.
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A: One great drill to do (whether you are injured or not) is the 'Two Legs, One Arm Drill". Start with a partner. Both you and your partner grab your own belts (or waistband of your shorts) with one hand, effectively taking one arm out of play. Now you start with one person in the open guard trying to pass: he can stand or kneel as he wishes. The other person defends using one arm, both legs and hip movement; if he can pull off a sweep, so much the better! If one person passes the guard both people stop, go back into the guard, and start again.
I have used this drill while injured on a number of occasions, and every time the leg agility and open guard defense have improved noticeably. The hard part is not letting go of your belt while scrambling, but this is critical to the drill.
In addition to this drill, I would suggest that you do whatever you can on the conditioning front. Can you still run? Go on the stairmaster? Weight train your legs and core? It will all pay off when your injury heals and you are ready to go 100% on the mats again.
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January 09, 2007
Integrating Striking, Wrestling & Grappling
Q: You say that there are 3 main components to MMA: is it important to train these 3 components together or train them separately? For example should you add strikes to the clinch or just wrestle? Should you always train grappling with striking? How can I combine these areas if there isn't an MMA school near me?
A: If MMA or self defense are your focus then you should train each of these three areas separately AND train them together: this is what almost all the top fighters do.
The reason you want to train each area separately (at least some of the time) is so that you can develop skills in that area, without relying on your strengths in the other areas. If you always blend standup and ground, grappling and striking, then your weaknesses in one area might remain hidden for a long time.
The reason you want to combine striking, wrestling and grappling in your training (at least some of the time) is to simulate a real fight as closely as possible and also to find out if you have developed any bad habits in your training. For example, if your wrestling stance is extremely low with your hands on your knees, or if you use your closed guard without breaking your opponent's posture posture or controlling his head and arms, then a brief MMA sparring session will definitely be an eye-opening experience for you.
If there isn't an MMA school near you then combining strikes with your wrestling with your grappling is going to be difficult. The boxers you train with will only want to box, the wrestlers will only want to wrestle.... So you may need to train these areas independently until you can either find an MMA school or some training partners who are willing to to cross train. Even if you are training them separately you are still laying solid foundations for later, so this is NOT wasted effort.
Another useful tip if you are training with pure grapplers is to put them in your guard with gloves on and encourage them to try to punch you: you're not allowed to punch back, only defend, sweep, submit, etc. Often-times training partners don't like to get hit, but they don't have a problem with hitting you, so you can still do this drill.
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A: If MMA or self defense are your focus then you should train each of these three areas separately AND train them together: this is what almost all the top fighters do.
The reason you want to train each area separately (at least some of the time) is so that you can develop skills in that area, without relying on your strengths in the other areas. If you always blend standup and ground, grappling and striking, then your weaknesses in one area might remain hidden for a long time.
The reason you want to combine striking, wrestling and grappling in your training (at least some of the time) is to simulate a real fight as closely as possible and also to find out if you have developed any bad habits in your training. For example, if your wrestling stance is extremely low with your hands on your knees, or if you use your closed guard without breaking your opponent's posture posture or controlling his head and arms, then a brief MMA sparring session will definitely be an eye-opening experience for you.
If there isn't an MMA school near you then combining strikes with your wrestling with your grappling is going to be difficult. The boxers you train with will only want to box, the wrestlers will only want to wrestle.... So you may need to train these areas independently until you can either find an MMA school or some training partners who are willing to to cross train. Even if you are training them separately you are still laying solid foundations for later, so this is NOT wasted effort.
Another useful tip if you are training with pure grapplers is to put them in your guard with gloves on and encourage them to try to punch you: you're not allowed to punch back, only defend, sweep, submit, etc. Often-times training partners don't like to get hit, but they don't have a problem with hitting you, so you can still do this drill.
Labels: training
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October 21, 2006
Training with Injury
Injuries suck. They hurt, they take a long time to heal, and most importantly, they prevent you from training. Knowing how to train around injuries is an important part of getting better at any sport, and this is especially true in grappling.
In the past I have often used tape, braces and other gear to protect minor injuries and stop them from turning into major ones (as discussed here, for example).
Major injuries are more tricky, because your number one priority should be not to make that injury worse. However, often there is still some limited training you can do. For hand, arm and shoulder injuries, for example, you can tuck that arm into your belt (or grab your waistband) and work your open guard using just your legs and one arm. If your opponent passes your guard then STOP, let your opponent go back into your guard, and then start again. I have done this exercise safely with a cast on a fractured arm, and when that cast came off I found that I had really improved my open guard game.
As you may know, I recently injured my neck. A pinched nerve root at the base of the cervical spine has resulted in weakness and numbness down my left arm. A neurologist tells me that these injuries typically take 3 to 6 months to heal. Furthermore I'm not supposed to do any grappling nor lift any heavy weights until it heals.
Now being stubborn and foolish I'm going to partially ignore my doctors. I intend to continue grappling until this heals, albeit with several important caveats:
When I heal up I'll still be in the grappling mindset, have great cardio, and be ready to go!
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In the past I have often used tape, braces and other gear to protect minor injuries and stop them from turning into major ones (as discussed here, for example).
Major injuries are more tricky, because your number one priority should be not to make that injury worse. However, often there is still some limited training you can do. For hand, arm and shoulder injuries, for example, you can tuck that arm into your belt (or grab your waistband) and work your open guard using just your legs and one arm. If your opponent passes your guard then STOP, let your opponent go back into your guard, and then start again. I have done this exercise safely with a cast on a fractured arm, and when that cast came off I found that I had really improved my open guard game.
As you may know, I recently injured my neck. A pinched nerve root at the base of the cervical spine has resulted in weakness and numbness down my left arm. A neurologist tells me that these injuries typically take 3 to 6 months to heal. Furthermore I'm not supposed to do any grappling nor lift any heavy weights until it heals.
Now being stubborn and foolish I'm going to partially ignore my doctors. I intend to continue grappling until this heals, albeit with several important caveats:
- I'm only going to do light rolling
- I'm only going to roll with people who have good physical (and emotional) control.
- I'm going to avoid any and all positions or techniques that put strain on my neck
- It's going to be ridiculously easy to tap me out: just grab my head or neck and I'm going to tap right away
When I heal up I'll still be in the grappling mindset, have great cardio, and be ready to go!
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September 14, 2006
Teacherless Training
Q: "I would like to hear you address grappling with no formal teacher or school. What are the benefits/downsides to this? What should we be careful to avoid? This is the situation I am in now, I get to practice with some good guys but have actually never had formal training. "
A: Let's start my answer with a story:
Back in the late 1980's I was training in Emperado-method Kajukenbo Karate under Philip Gelinas. At this time BJJ was still incredibly rare, but I came across the old Gracie in Action videos. By watching the fights on these videos three things immediately became clear:
I give this early training a lot of credit, because we were still trying to control opponents who didn't want to be controlled, and trying to submit training partners who were trying to submit us in return. I am forever grateful to Philip Gelinas for permitting, nurturing and encouraging these rough and tumble sessions.
A few years later I started studying grappling more formally, under a variety of instructors (Marcus Soares, Pshemek Drabchinsky, Erik Paulson, Walter Lanz and Joe McCarthy). I think that the informal training I had done earlier had laid a good foundation, and I quickly soaked up knowledge like a sponge. So YES, I believe that most people can make good progress in grappling without frequent access to a 'proper' instructor.
Even though instructor-less progress is possible, I think that most people will benefit from having access to a formal coach, even if they only see him once or twice a year. This becomes more important as the person tries to move from being a beginner to an intermediate or advanced level grappler, because a coach-type figure might be able to see holes in your game that your sparring partners cannot.
If you can't actually go and train under a formal coach then at least get some sparring time with formally trained people once in a while. Even if this only happens every 3 or 4 months it will help you to gauge the effectiveness of your training and prevent you from living in a dreamworld with regard to your skill level.
Related tips: I have previously written about learning techniques from the internet and people starting their own training groups.
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A: Let's start my answer with a story:
Back in the late 1980's I was training in Emperado-method Kajukenbo Karate under Philip Gelinas. At this time BJJ was still incredibly rare, but I came across the old Gracie in Action videos. By watching the fights on these videos three things immediately became clear:
- That sitting on top of someone was a good place to be (i.e. the mount)
- If you were on the bottom you wanted to wrap your legs around your opponent's torso (i.e the guard)
- That twisting or hyperextending someone's arms, legs or neck could force them to give up (i.e. jointlocks and chokes).
I give this early training a lot of credit, because we were still trying to control opponents who didn't want to be controlled, and trying to submit training partners who were trying to submit us in return. I am forever grateful to Philip Gelinas for permitting, nurturing and encouraging these rough and tumble sessions.
A few years later I started studying grappling more formally, under a variety of instructors (Marcus Soares, Pshemek Drabchinsky, Erik Paulson, Walter Lanz and Joe McCarthy). I think that the informal training I had done earlier had laid a good foundation, and I quickly soaked up knowledge like a sponge. So YES, I believe that most people can make good progress in grappling without frequent access to a 'proper' instructor.
Even though instructor-less progress is possible, I think that most people will benefit from having access to a formal coach, even if they only see him once or twice a year. This becomes more important as the person tries to move from being a beginner to an intermediate or advanced level grappler, because a coach-type figure might be able to see holes in your game that your sparring partners cannot.
If you can't actually go and train under a formal coach then at least get some sparring time with formally trained people once in a while. Even if this only happens every 3 or 4 months it will help you to gauge the effectiveness of your training and prevent you from living in a dreamworld with regard to your skill level.
Related tips: I have previously written about learning techniques from the internet and people starting their own training groups.
Labels: training
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August 12, 2006
How to Safely Practice Dangerous Leglocks
Q: Given that leglocks are dangerous, how do you train them safely and still have confidence that they will work in a 'live' setting.
A: Although ANY submission is potentially dangerous, cranking someone with a heel hook or toehold can not only end the match, it can end your opponent's athletic career. Go here if you don't know what a heel hook is. . If you don't know what a toehold is, check out the second-last photo in this article about the kneebar.
These two leglocks are dangerous because they are twisting submissions and can severely damage ligaments in the knee and foot. Furthermore, for most submissions the pain starts well before there is any damage to the joint. With twisting leglocks, however, you often don't feel much initial pain: as someone is applying it to you might not feel anything at all, then you might feel a bit of discomfort, and then BANG, you feel a lot of pain because something has popped or torn.
So how do you train these dangerous locks so that you can trust in their effectiveness? My answer has 3 parts:
1 - Master the straight anklelock and the kneebar
When applying 95% of leglocks you end up either facing your opponents head, or facing his feet. The mechanics of controlling your opponent in these two positions are relatively similar whether you are doing a 'safe' straight lock or a 'dangerous' twisting lock.
The straight anklelock teaches you how to control your opponent's legs, body and bodyweight when you are facing his head. The mechanics and techniques to control your opponent in this position translate well to controlling your opponent when attacking with a heel hook (and some variations of the toehold). The kneebar is the cornerstone leglock for learning how to control your opponent when you are facing his feet: once you master the kneebar you will have a lot more confidence maintaining positions where you are facing your opponent's feet while attacking with other techniques (the toehold, for example).
I should emphasize that just because straight anklelocks and kneebars are fairly safe submissions this DOESN'T give you permission to apply them ballistically. At full power and full speed these 'safe' submissions can still screw up someone's joints pretty badly (just like any other jointlock). Apply them with control, and remember it is far better to have someone counter your submission because you were applying it too slowly, rather than injuring them and losing a training partner.
Here are a few resources to help you understand and improve your straight anklelock and kneebar:
Most sensible people who want to include toeholds and heelhooks in their grappling practice catch-and-release sparring when it comes to these two submissions. They fight hard to get to the right body position, then hunt for the correct hand position, and then hold the submission loosely (or apply it very slowly and very gently). At this point BOTH PARTNERS STOP MOVING and acknowledge that the submission probably would probably have worked if it had been applied hard and fast.
All that is lacking in this type of sparring is the final explosion into the submission. If you understand how to control your opponent with your legs (by practicing the ankelock and kneebar), and you know how to get to the correct hand position for the heel hook and toehold (by practicing catch-and-release sparring) then you can be fairly certain that your techniques will work in a live situation.
3 - Pick your sparring partners carefully.
Obviously catch-and-release sparring doesn't work if either party is a) too caught up in their ego to stop contesting a lock once it is on, or b) too inexperienced to know that they, or their partner, are in danger. Don't do these leglocks with a newbie, or the class spaz, or the guy who won't tap out unless he hears something pop, or the guy who needs to submit everyone hard and fast.
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A: Although ANY submission is potentially dangerous, cranking someone with a heel hook or toehold can not only end the match, it can end your opponent's athletic career. Go here if you don't know what a heel hook is. . If you don't know what a toehold is, check out the second-last photo in this article about the kneebar.
These two leglocks are dangerous because they are twisting submissions and can severely damage ligaments in the knee and foot. Furthermore, for most submissions the pain starts well before there is any damage to the joint. With twisting leglocks, however, you often don't feel much initial pain: as someone is applying it to you might not feel anything at all, then you might feel a bit of discomfort, and then BANG, you feel a lot of pain because something has popped or torn.
So how do you train these dangerous locks so that you can trust in their effectiveness? My answer has 3 parts:
1 - Master the straight anklelock and the kneebar
When applying 95% of leglocks you end up either facing your opponents head, or facing his feet. The mechanics of controlling your opponent in these two positions are relatively similar whether you are doing a 'safe' straight lock or a 'dangerous' twisting lock.
The straight anklelock teaches you how to control your opponent's legs, body and bodyweight when you are facing his head. The mechanics and techniques to control your opponent in this position translate well to controlling your opponent when attacking with a heel hook (and some variations of the toehold). The kneebar is the cornerstone leglock for learning how to control your opponent when you are facing his feet: once you master the kneebar you will have a lot more confidence maintaining positions where you are facing your opponent's feet while attacking with other techniques (the toehold, for example).
I should emphasize that just because straight anklelocks and kneebars are fairly safe submissions this DOESN'T give you permission to apply them ballistically. At full power and full speed these 'safe' submissions can still screw up someone's joints pretty badly (just like any other jointlock). Apply them with control, and remember it is far better to have someone counter your submission because you were applying it too slowly, rather than injuring them and losing a training partner.
Here are a few resources to help you understand and improve your straight anklelock and kneebar:
- www.grapplearts.com/Ankle-Lock-Breakdown.htm
- www.grapplearts.com/Kneebar-Mastery.htm
- www.grapplearts.com/Kneebar-Q&A.htm
Most sensible people who want to include toeholds and heelhooks in their grappling practice catch-and-release sparring when it comes to these two submissions. They fight hard to get to the right body position, then hunt for the correct hand position, and then hold the submission loosely (or apply it very slowly and very gently). At this point BOTH PARTNERS STOP MOVING and acknowledge that the submission probably would probably have worked if it had been applied hard and fast.
All that is lacking in this type of sparring is the final explosion into the submission. If you understand how to control your opponent with your legs (by practicing the ankelock and kneebar), and you know how to get to the correct hand position for the heel hook and toehold (by practicing catch-and-release sparring) then you can be fairly certain that your techniques will work in a live situation.
3 - Pick your sparring partners carefully.
Obviously catch-and-release sparring doesn't work if either party is a) too caught up in their ego to stop contesting a lock once it is on, or b) too inexperienced to know that they, or their partner, are in danger. Don't do these leglocks with a newbie, or the class spaz, or the guy who won't tap out unless he hears something pop, or the guy who needs to submit everyone hard and fast.
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January 29, 2006
A Terrible Thing
Oleg Taktarov once told me, more or less in these words, that "it is a terrible thing to be the best grappler at your school". What he was getting at was that if you are always the king of the jungle in your sparring sessions then it is really hard to get better.
Now this might not be an issue if you are training at a large jiu-jitsu academy where there are many black belts and brown belts on the mat every training session, but unfortunately not everyone has access to those sorts of clubs. For every student at a large academy there are probably 5 or 10 grapplers training at a small club, in a friend's garage, or in a rec center.
So what can you do if you are the best grappler among your group of sparring partners - how do you improve your skills? The answer lies in limiting your game. For example try going for one week (or one month) only trying to get to, maintain, and finish from, rear mount. Then spend the same period of time always starting from underneath your opponents' mount. Then move on to only finishing with the armbar from the guard. I am sure you get the picture by now and can come up with many other ways of limiting your game.
What you are doing here is educating your opponents to give you a hard time. If you think it's easy to apply an armlock to someone just wait until they figure out that you're ONLY attacking with armlocks - they will start getting better at all the counters, forcing you to become better at the setups and recounters. Everybody wins, and perhaps someday you will have created sparring partners who are at your level.
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Now this might not be an issue if you are training at a large jiu-jitsu academy where there are many black belts and brown belts on the mat every training session, but unfortunately not everyone has access to those sorts of clubs. For every student at a large academy there are probably 5 or 10 grapplers training at a small club, in a friend's garage, or in a rec center.
So what can you do if you are the best grappler among your group of sparring partners - how do you improve your skills? The answer lies in limiting your game. For example try going for one week (or one month) only trying to get to, maintain, and finish from, rear mount. Then spend the same period of time always starting from underneath your opponents' mount. Then move on to only finishing with the armbar from the guard. I am sure you get the picture by now and can come up with many other ways of limiting your game.
What you are doing here is educating your opponents to give you a hard time. If you think it's easy to apply an armlock to someone just wait until they figure out that you're ONLY attacking with armlocks - they will start getting better at all the counters, forcing you to become better at the setups and recounters. Everybody wins, and perhaps someday you will have created sparring partners who are at your level.
Labels: training
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January 16, 2006
Pump Up the Volume
Recently my game has taken off. My guard passing has gotten a lot better, my escapes are more reliable, and I've been having success with some new submissions (and rediscovering some old ones). I'm pretty sure I know exactly why this has happened - increased training volume!
Up until a couple of months ago I was at a very busy time in my life, trying to find the balance between work and play, family and business, training and resting. There were times when all I could do to train once a week; a good week was getting on the mat twice. The only saving grace was that my conditioning didn't suffer too much, because I was still running, lifting weights, and doing circuit training.
Then a couple of months ago I managed to streamline my life a little bit, and started hitting the mats 3 times, and sometimes even 4 times, a week, while still doing most of my conditioning. It was a rough go at first - all that happened initially was that I was getting my ass kicked more times a week. Eventually, though, persistence paid off, something 'clicked' and my game jumped a notch or two.
Now the takehome message is NOT that you should all train 4 times a week - that would be great, but not everybody is at a life stage where that is possible. My point is that sometimes life demands that you put your art on the back burner for a while, where you will try to keep it simmering away. Of course some extra conditioning during your hiatus from the mats will only help. Then, when circumstances change (or you change the circumstances), you can ramp up the training again and not be too far behind where you left off. Who knows, you might even be able to have some exciting breakthroughs!
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Up until a couple of months ago I was at a very busy time in my life, trying to find the balance between work and play, family and business, training and resting. There were times when all I could do to train once a week; a good week was getting on the mat twice. The only saving grace was that my conditioning didn't suffer too much, because I was still running, lifting weights, and doing circuit training.
Then a couple of months ago I managed to streamline my life a little bit, and started hitting the mats 3 times, and sometimes even 4 times, a week, while still doing most of my conditioning. It was a rough go at first - all that happened initially was that I was getting my ass kicked more times a week. Eventually, though, persistence paid off, something 'clicked' and my game jumped a notch or two.
Now the takehome message is NOT that you should all train 4 times a week - that would be great, but not everybody is at a life stage where that is possible. My point is that sometimes life demands that you put your art on the back burner for a while, where you will try to keep it simmering away. Of course some extra conditioning during your hiatus from the mats will only help. Then, when circumstances change (or you change the circumstances), you can ramp up the training again and not be too far behind where you left off. Who knows, you might even be able to have some exciting breakthroughs!
Labels: training
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July 24, 2005
Eat, Sleep, Train
First I’d like to congratulate friend and former training partner Denis Kang on his recent victory in Pride Bushido 8 in Japan. He out-punched and out-grappled UFC veteran Andrei Semov to earn a unanimous decision. Even more impressive is the fact that he broke his right hand 4 minutes into the fight, and continued to give the tough Russian hell for the next 11 minutes! Go Denis: I'm sure that we'll be seeing a lot more of you in the big MMA shows!
Denis’s recent victory in Pride got me thinking about the world of difference between professional and recreational grapplers. Denis and I started Brazilian jiu-jitsu at about the same time, and for a long time following we were neck-and-neck skill wise. Even after he started pursuing his MMA career I could still usually keep up to him on the grappling mat.
Things changed when he quit his job and dedicated himself to full-time training. He got wrestling coaches, boxing coaches and conditioning coaches. He saw dieticians, chiropractors and naturopaths. In addition to jiu-jitsu he started sparring with professional kickboxers and elite-level wrestlers. He started doing two workouts a day, usually taking a nap in between to recover. Basically all he did was eat, sleep, train and recover. He lived and breathed MMA fighting.
Hours and hours of additional training, combined with his superb athletic gifts, paid off. He started catching me in submissions and bad positions much more often than I caught him, and eventually I stopped being able to catch him at all. He had reached an entirely different level than your humble narrator.
There is a danger when a recreational grappler (and that is 99% of people who roll around on a mat) hears about a professional fighter’s training regimen and tries to imitate it. Unless you are already in killer shape, have good genetics, are able to get 10 or more hours of sleep a night, and have few other concerns in your life you simply won’t be able to train at this intensity and duration for very long. You will either get injured or burned out very quickly.
It is important to keep things in perspective: only very few people who train in grappling have the athletic gifts, the determination and luck to make a living by fighting professionally. If fighting professionally is your goal then I salute you, but also encourage you to develop some skills you can use when your fighting career is over. If, like most people, you have a job, family and other obligations you can still reach a high level of skill, but it will take longer.
Look to professionals for inspiration. Listen to them when they talk about technique or share their fight strategy - they've worked hard to acquire this knowledge and most are eager to share it. Just keep things in perspective, that’s all.
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Denis’s recent victory in Pride got me thinking about the world of difference between professional and recreational grapplers. Denis and I started Brazilian jiu-jitsu at about the same time, and for a long time following we were neck-and-neck skill wise. Even after he started pursuing his MMA career I could still usually keep up to him on the grappling mat.
Things changed when he quit his job and dedicated himself to full-time training. He got wrestling coaches, boxing coaches and conditioning coaches. He saw dieticians, chiropractors and naturopaths. In addition to jiu-jitsu he started sparring with professional kickboxers and elite-level wrestlers. He started doing two workouts a day, usually taking a nap in between to recover. Basically all he did was eat, sleep, train and recover. He lived and breathed MMA fighting.
Hours and hours of additional training, combined with his superb athletic gifts, paid off. He started catching me in submissions and bad positions much more often than I caught him, and eventually I stopped being able to catch him at all. He had reached an entirely different level than your humble narrator.
There is a danger when a recreational grappler (and that is 99% of people who roll around on a mat) hears about a professional fighter’s training regimen and tries to imitate it. Unless you are already in killer shape, have good genetics, are able to get 10 or more hours of sleep a night, and have few other concerns in your life you simply won’t be able to train at this intensity and duration for very long. You will either get injured or burned out very quickly.
It is important to keep things in perspective: only very few people who train in grappling have the athletic gifts, the determination and luck to make a living by fighting professionally. If fighting professionally is your goal then I salute you, but also encourage you to develop some skills you can use when your fighting career is over. If, like most people, you have a job, family and other obligations you can still reach a high level of skill, but it will take longer.
Look to professionals for inspiration. Listen to them when they talk about technique or share their fight strategy - they've worked hard to acquire this knowledge and most are eager to share it. Just keep things in perspective, that’s all.
Labels: training
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May 09, 2005
Training Around
My head is spinning. I just got back from 7 days in Los Angeles, attending an Indonesian Silat training camp taugh by no other than Dan Inosanto. I also got to train with Erik Paulson and Vladimir Matsushenko and learned lots of great material, both on the ground and standing. As if this wasn't enough, tonight I attended a 4 hour Carlson Gracie seminar. Talk about information overload!
The reason I bring this up is to make a point: take advantage of training oportunities when you have the chance. If you are travelling and end up near a jiu-jitsu academy pay the drop-in fee and see how they do things.
I'm not in Los Angeles very often, so when I do get there I try to make the most of it
This all ties in
Some instructors will take offense at you doing this, but it is really a shame
Contact information for the 3 places I trained at is as follows:
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The reason I bring this up is to make a point: take advantage of training oportunities when you have the chance. If you are travelling and end up near a jiu-jitsu academy pay the drop-in fee and see how they do things.
I'm not in Los Angeles very often, so when I do get there I try to make the most of it
This all ties in
Some instructors will take offense at you doing this, but it is really a shame
Contact information for the 3 places I trained at is as follows:
Labels: training
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March 25, 2005
Training: How Often
Probably the most common question I get asked is "how many times a week should I train to make progress?" As with most questions the answer is "it depends".
Once a week: If you are just starting grappling you can definately pick up a few things training even once a week, particularly if you already practice another martial art. Additionally there are lots books, videos and/or internet information that can learn from on days that you aren't training.
If you are a seasoned grappler who has become too busy to hit the mats as often as before you too may be reduced to training once week. Let me reassure you that training once a week is much, much, much better than not training at all. You will maintain at least some of your timing and conditioning, and will be much further ahead when you can return to your previous level of training. Of course if you can augment your weekly training session with some cardio or strength training so much the better.
Twice a week: Twice a week is enough for most recreational grapplers to maintain their skill level. You can even make some improvements training only twice a week, especially if your training is focused and you are able to do some conditioning on your days off. There have been times in my life when hitting the mats twice a week was about all I could pull off; by focusing my training I still managed to make improvements in some areas.
Three times a week: If you can train 3 times a week consistently you will make good progress. Once again, any studying, conditioning or cross-training you do on your days off will likely accelerate your learning so long as you avoid overtraining.
Four or more times a week: Now we are getting into the territory of the serious practitioner, competitor and/or professional fighter. Training this intensely may include conditioning sessions, sparring sessions, cross-disciplinary training and two-a-day sessions. At this intensity quality and quantity of rest/recovery becomes important because overtraining is a constant danger. For more information on this see my article on overtraining at www.grapplearts.com/Overtraining-Article.htm
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Once a week: If you are just starting grappling you can definately pick up a few things training even once a week, particularly if you already practice another martial art. Additionally there are lots books, videos and/or internet information that can learn from on days that you aren't training.
If you are a seasoned grappler who has become too busy to hit the mats as often as before you too may be reduced to training once week. Let me reassure you that training once a week is much, much, much better than not training at all. You will maintain at least some of your timing and conditioning, and will be much further ahead when you can return to your previous level of training. Of course if you can augment your weekly training session with some cardio or strength training so much the better.
Twice a week: Twice a week is enough for most recreational grapplers to maintain their skill level. You can even make some improvements training only twice a week, especially if your training is focused and you are able to do some conditioning on your days off. There have been times in my life when hitting the mats twice a week was about all I could pull off; by focusing my training I still managed to make improvements in some areas.
Three times a week: If you can train 3 times a week consistently you will make good progress. Once again, any studying, conditioning or cross-training you do on your days off will likely accelerate your learning so long as you avoid overtraining.
Four or more times a week: Now we are getting into the territory of the serious practitioner, competitor and/or professional fighter. Training this intensely may include conditioning sessions, sparring sessions, cross-disciplinary training and two-a-day sessions. At this intensity quality and quantity of rest/recovery becomes important because overtraining is a constant danger. For more information on this see my article on overtraining at www.grapplearts.com/Overtraining-Article.htm
Labels: training
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February 06, 2005
Competitive 2 Person Drilling
The last two weeks I have talked about solo drills and partner drills. There is a final category of drills I'd like to talk about: competitive 2 person drills.
When you do this type of drilling you are training a specific aspect of your game against a resisting opponent. Essentially you are severely limiting the options available to you and your partner, and from this limitation comes refinement of existing techniques and innovation of new techniques.
The aspect that you are working on could be very general (e.g. passing the open guard) or very specific (e.g. getting a certain grip or maintaining a certain kind of posture). The level of resistance that you opponent/partner gives you can vary from about 10% to full out 100% sparring.
This definition of drilling leads to a truly staggering number of possible drills. The best thing for you to do is to try to develop various drills that will develop your game. Consider the process of taking someone's back and submitting him. If this was an area that you wanted to develop, then here are some of drills you might want to experiment with. Depending on what your strengths, weaknesses and strategies are you may end up retaining some of these drills for a while, in order to hone your ability to attack the back. All these drills start with your partner in the turtle and you on top of him - your goals, however, vary from drill to drill.
This sort of drilling is very similar to what I call 'targeted sparring'. For more information on targeted sparring check out these other tips of the week':
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When you do this type of drilling you are training a specific aspect of your game against a resisting opponent. Essentially you are severely limiting the options available to you and your partner, and from this limitation comes refinement of existing techniques and innovation of new techniques.
The aspect that you are working on could be very general (e.g. passing the open guard) or very specific (e.g. getting a certain grip or maintaining a certain kind of posture). The level of resistance that you opponent/partner gives you can vary from about 10% to full out 100% sparring.
This definition of drilling leads to a truly staggering number of possible drills. The best thing for you to do is to try to develop various drills that will develop your game. Consider the process of taking someone's back and submitting him. If this was an area that you wanted to develop, then here are some of drills you might want to experiment with. Depending on what your strengths, weaknesses and strategies are you may end up retaining some of these drills for a while, in order to hone your ability to attack the back. All these drills start with your partner in the turtle and you on top of him - your goals, however, vary from drill to drill.
- He tries to put you in the guard, you try to keep him turtled using your bodyweight and moving around him
- Your goal is to obtain your favorite grip, be it linked hands under-over, double lapel grips through his armpits, or whatever your favorite control grip is. You restart in the same position if you get your grip, or if he puts you in the guard, or if he stands up, or if he rolls you.
- Your goal is to get both hooks in - restart if you succeed or if he escapes to a safe position.
- Start with one hook in: your goal is to insert the second hook. His goal is to remove your hook and to prevent the second hook. Go for a defined time period (e.g. 2 minutes) and then switch positions.
- Your goal is to keep the back and submit him: restart if you submit him from rearmount, or if he escapes, or even if you end up pinning him in any other position than with your chest on his back.
- etc.
- etc.
- etc.
This sort of drilling is very similar to what I call 'targeted sparring'. For more information on targeted sparring check out these other tips of the week':
- Targeted Sparring: Mobility
- Targeted sparring: Position
- Targeted Sparring: Limited Technique
- Targeted Sparring: Bad Positions
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February 01, 2005
Two-Person Drills
Two-person drills are important training methods to develop skills on the mat. They can be used to warm up at the beginning of your training session, as part of your conditioning program, or as a finishing exercise. You can do these drills to improve your bridging power, refine your hip movement on the bottom, speed up your submissions, or to develop many other skills and attributes.
Today I will give you two examples of two-person drills. Keep in mind that not every drill is useful for every skill level or body type, so there is an onus on every grappler to choose appropriate drills. My ultimate goal is that you will use these examples to develop new drills, specific to your body, your game, and your grappling goals.
In the "kneemount spin armbar drill" (click here to download a QT preview) you are doing repetitions of the 180 degree armbar. This is a fundamental attack in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling, but requires lots of repetition to make it smooth and fast. This drill is one way to get lots of repetitions, in a fairly painless manner.
In the final drill, "turtle flips" (click here to download a QT preview) you are developing the back arch, spatial awareness and athleticism. Turtle flips are easier to do if your partner is wearing a gi, but I first saw this exercise in a Shooto class, so it is possible to do them without the gi. This is obviously a fairly advanced drill, and requires that you have put in your time with more basic back arch/bridging drills.
Have fun with these drills.
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Today I will give you two examples of two-person drills. Keep in mind that not every drill is useful for every skill level or body type, so there is an onus on every grappler to choose appropriate drills. My ultimate goal is that you will use these examples to develop new drills, specific to your body, your game, and your grappling goals.
In the "kneemount spin armbar drill" (click here to download a QT preview) you are doing repetitions of the 180 degree armbar. This is a fundamental attack in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling, but requires lots of repetition to make it smooth and fast. This drill is one way to get lots of repetitions, in a fairly painless manner.
In the final drill, "turtle flips" (click here to download a QT preview) you are developing the back arch, spatial awareness and athleticism. Turtle flips are easier to do if your partner is wearing a gi, but I first saw this exercise in a Shooto class, so it is possible to do them without the gi. This is obviously a fairly advanced drill, and requires that you have put in your time with more basic back arch/bridging drills.
Have fun with these drills.
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January 24, 2005
Some Examples of Solo Drills
When solo grappling drills are used properly they can improve a grappler’s coordination, endurance, strength and speed. They can be used as part of a warmup session or to specifically improve aspects of your grappling game.
To start, let’s concentrate on one of the most fundamental solo exercises: backwards shrimping (click here to view the basic backwards shrimping drill in Quicktime video). This is a drill that should be in every grappler’s repertoire.
How many times have you heard the advice “move your hips”, whether you were escaping from a pin or trying to apply a submission? Lateral, or side-to-side, hip movement is critical to a grappler’s game, especially when playing the guard game or escaping from bad positions.
Practicing backwards shrimping (or “ebi” in Japanese) is an effective shortcut to developing efficient side-to-side hip movement. Once mastered, there are many more challenging variations of shrimping to further improve hip mobility on the ground.
An example of a more specialized solo drill is half wall spins (click here to view the half wall spin drill in Quicktime video). Intermediate and advanced guard players often end up spinning and rotating in their guard, both to prevent guard passing and to set up their own attacks. Becoming comfortable with this sort of body position and movement via a drill like half wall spins can improve mobility in the guard when it comes to sparring time.
Now spinning upside down and replacing the guard might not be part of your game – fair enough. But I guarantee that there are other solo drills you can come up with that will help you develop some aspect of your game, no matter what your game is.
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To start, let’s concentrate on one of the most fundamental solo exercises: backwards shrimping (click here to view the basic backwards shrimping drill in Quicktime video). This is a drill that should be in every grappler’s repertoire.
How many times have you heard the advice “move your hips”, whether you were escaping from a pin or trying to apply a submission? Lateral, or side-to-side, hip movement is critical to a grappler’s game, especially when playing the guard game or escaping from bad positions.
Practicing backwards shrimping (or “ebi” in Japanese) is an effective shortcut to developing efficient side-to-side hip movement. Once mastered, there are many more challenging variations of shrimping to further improve hip mobility on the ground.
An example of a more specialized solo drill is half wall spins (click here to view the half wall spin drill in Quicktime video). Intermediate and advanced guard players often end up spinning and rotating in their guard, both to prevent guard passing and to set up their own attacks. Becoming comfortable with this sort of body position and movement via a drill like half wall spins can improve mobility in the guard when it comes to sparring time.
Now spinning upside down and replacing the guard might not be part of your game – fair enough. But I guarantee that there are other solo drills you can come up with that will help you develop some aspect of your game, no matter what your game is.
Labels: training
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January 17, 2005
Three Types of Drills
As some of you might know, I have been editing a new video/DVD on drills for submission grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (subtle marketting alert!). This has led to some interesting online and offline conversations wit