BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS »

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Just When You Think You're Safe...

This morning in the Women's Class, we worked on some triangle transitions. One to the key points that Fabio emphasizes is that, when you are going for a triangle, it is important to hip up when you are initially clamping your leg over their back. You get a much tighter triangle from the beginning that way.

After your establish the triangle, people can defend several ways. But as always in BJJ, there is a counter to every defense. For example, when you triangle someone and they over hook the leg on the same side as their triangle arm, you can sit up and kimura them or wristlock them, or you can pry out the arm and do a straight arm or switch to a regular armbar.

While we were going through the steps, Ashley made a funny observation. She said, "Just when you think you're safe and you're defending something, they get you again! There's nowhere safe! There's just the lesser of two evils!"

Here is Ashley being one of the evils! ;)

But what she said has some truth to it. In Jiu-Jitsu, there is always a counter move. And a counter to that counter. And another counter still after that. That is what makes it so exciting! You will never reach a point where you have seen everything because people are always inventing new ways of moving. 

One of our newest girls grappled me today and at first was hesitant to move. I encouraged her by saying, "This is your time to experiment. Don't be afraid. Try whatever you think of. That's how you learn."


I enjoy very much the point when a new girl goes from flailing with all their might to a more calm, rational approach in grappling. You can see that they are starting to think about the concepts, starting to work out the cause and effect of the various movements, grips and positions. They stop wasting so much energy and start seeing the chances to use what they are learning. That's when Jiu-Jitsu really starts to happen. I love to grapple them because they have a fresh approach to moving. They try unconventional things because they haven't learned convention yet. Today, I got a new idea for an escape because of the way one of the new girls moved in my side control. I wouldn't have thought to try what she did. Now I have a new tool to use.


The most important thing when you are grappling in training, in my opinion, is to approach it like you would an experiment in a lab. You think something might work? Try it. If it works, try it again. If it doesn't work, modify it and try it again. If it still doesn't work, maybe go back to the drawing board. The fact that you may fail at first doesn't make you a bad grappler. The fact that you keep trying to work out those problem positions will make you a better grappler--a smarter grappler--in the long run than if you only stick to things that you know will work. 

 These are some of the bear traps when we aren't disgusting and sweaty. ;)




6 comments:

KB said...

I definitely agree with your statement, It's a great thing to embrace the chaos and experiment. You really never know what you're capable of until you try and try and try.

SavageKitsune said...

Hey, I missed your promotion! Late congratulations!!!!!!!

Georgette said...

VERY belated congrats from me... I haven't been reading all my blogs and whatnot lately-- you so deserve this, miss thing!

Love you!

Liam H Wandi said...

Purple belt zhoo zhitsoo!

Keep playing. Keep experimenting!

Ruben E Avila said...

I totally agree with the idea of experimenting. After every tournament I like to take a week (or more depending on my next tournament) to just experiment. I'll willingly put myself in bad positions or I'll express techniques half ways to understand how opponents will react. Sometimes, I just make stuff right on the spot (often to my dismay lol).

JustinBarley said...

Cleaners Hampstead Garden As you can imagine, cleaning after each person is impossible and very inefficient, so another solution should be invented and the good news is, it is already here. The machine can be mounted near the front door in each office and it not only brushes the shoes as the old ones, but removes the dirt and the mud from them too. This is a good way for protecting and maintaining the cleanness in the whole building.