10 Things Every Grappler Should Know; Part 5

5) How to change strategies according to your opponent:
All opponents you will be grappling or fighting against will have different strengths and weaknesses.
Developing the ability to read these strengths and weaknesses will allow you to develop superior strategy when going up against different opponents. This will help you understand which strategies to use against a faster or slower, stronger or weaker, more technical, more explosive, or more athletic opponent.

Differences in height, limb length and flexibility also need to be taken into account.
Double leg takedowns tend to work easier on taller individuals than on shorter ones.
It's also easier to armlock a longer arm than it is a shorter one.

These of course are generalizations and depend on your opponent's skills as well, but having the ability to change strategies depending on your opponents strengths is critical if one is to develop advanced skills in BJJ.

10 Things Every Grappler Should Know; Part 4

4) A critical aspect of grappling is knowing how to escape a Position:
Being able to escape positions requires two main factors.
One is being able to execute at least two but preferably three different escapes per position and being able to combine the two or three escapes to set up your opponent and escape.
This should be a priority in your training.
Set up a list of 3 escapes per position and master them as well as switching between them.
Incorporate them into isolation drills and master the timing involved while sparring.
I can't stress this enought to those who are just beginning BJJ and even as a reminder to those who have been training for a while.
You should focus a major part of your training on escaping positions.
Remember, If your opponent can't keep you in a bad position they will have a very hard time submitting you.

Happy holidays.

The 10 Things Every Grappler Should Know; Part 3

3) How to counter a submission:
Familiarizing yourself with all the fine details involved in a submission will also give you clues as to how to best counter those submissions and recognize the critical moments to counter.
It's important to have at least two counters to each submission mastered if you are to be able to counter effectively. You'll also want to have developed proper technical skill in the positions that will prevent your opponent from mounting an offense and submitting you.
The best time to counter your opponent's offense is by maintaining superior defense when in bad positions.
There are too many grapplers who focus their training on offense and forget that if they get caught in a bad position they'll need to have solid skills and timing to counter their opponents offense.
It's important to make a list of the bad positions you can find yourself in, like bottom side mount, bottom mount, turtle, bottom knee on stomach, etc,... and list the options you have for escaping or countering your opponents.
Then work to perfect your counters while isolating the techniques, have your opponent start from that position or let yourself get into that position while rolling.
This is the way you'll develop rock solid counters and become very difficult to submit.

10 Things Every Grappler Should Know, Continued...

2) How to train to develop timing; Without this aspect in your training all the technical skill is worthless. The best way to develop timing is to train with a resisting opponent. The two best ways to implement this are through isolation drills, where you isolate a simple move or position like say the mount escape in BJJ and use all the techniques to escape the position with full resistance from your opponent, and through sparring with a fully resisting opponent.

Timing is easily one of the most important factors in being capable of using the techniques you know while sparring this way.

The two crucial elements involved in timing are;
the proper speed you execute the techniques with and developing a feel for the proper time to act so you don't telegraph what you are doing so your opponent is caught off guard. You'll want to train to execute the technique without overthinking it.

Pay close attention to these two elements while sparring and you'll start to see a huge difference in your ability to execute techniques.

I'll be back next week with some more...

10 Things Every Grappler Should Know...

All grappling arts and combat sports require more than just technique alone.
They require elements that enable the grappler to be truly functional and effective. If you're dedicated to practicing your grappling art, whether it's BJJ, Judo, or Wrestling, it's important to practice efficiently and effectively to get the most out of your training.

Over the next few weeks I'll be covering 10 critical elements that need to be understood and included in your training to get the most out of your grappling skills.

If you're relatively new to BJJ or Grappling, then you'll want to take notes on these next 10 posts, they will form a strong basis of your skills and help create a better understanding of your training.
They are not in particular order of importance as they all play a critical role in the development of your game.

1) This week let's discuss How to rely more on technique than on physical strength: Because relying on physical strength, will tire us out faster than if we rely on technique to maximize the use of leverage and momentum. The technical skills involved in grappling are designed around these two principles. It's important to always keep these two aspects in mind when learning and developing your technique.

So from now on develop the habit of paying close attention to how leverage and momentum play a vital role in your technical skills while training.

Next week I'll reveal some more...