Kaze Uta Budo Kai Forum Archive

Long, but good read. I like the drills suggested.

Link: http://www.grapplearts.com/Grappling-BJ ... eq.WxW88kq

Thanks Damon,

I really struggle with this issue while grappling. Perhaps this is why I dont wrastle as much as I should.

When I first started BJJ this was the most challenging of all experiences for me. Being under someone bigger than you who is smothering your ability to breathe while you are having a panic attack if whether you will survive or not is a very intimidating yet very instructional in that it forces you to learn to control your reactions and find a way to survive and possibly escape.Breathing in a state of panic is not the same as breathing with a mind of resourcefullness and problem solving..Great learning experience!!!Great dermabrasion too!!! keeps you looking young!!! :}}

thinking about how the upper belts will dominate them tomorrow, how the big, strong guys who don't know any submission holds will plow through their guards and simply hold them down for the entire length of the session. They might find the courage to go train the next day, but the session will not be one of pleasure and learning for them.

I have to admit...I have encountered it.

This is a great subject to look at, Damon, thanks for bringing it up. It's something I struggle with, too. I'm the kind of guy who naturally just wants to be alone in my studio drawing all day, so getting on the ground and "wrastling" with dudes definitely does not come natural to me (like certain other crazy-legged people I know).

I think the article is right in that it's more common than we think to varying levels, and something that could be addressed a little more. The advice in there is a good place to start. I've been thinking myself about the subject, but don't have any firm ideas yet to share.

What's interesting to me, though, is the more I look at the BJJ mindset (at least from the Gracie's perspective) the more I understand about their mindset of defense first ("play like a rodent, not a lion", etc.) The book "Jiu-jitsu University" that Derek reviewed in another section talks a lot about the fundamental defense ideas they teach beginners first. Personally, I've only heard a couple of defensive ideas in my training (but there may be more that I've missed out on), so I'm curious about these others.

I can share with you one of the discussions we had with Rorion Gracie during the Fiji Jiujitsu trip last summer. He shared many stories about Helio his father as well as his philosophy and training and one thing was surely emphasized was survival. In fact even in his old age he would grapple with younger talented black belts and he would tell them you will not beat me. He never said he would beat them but he was so adept in his defensive tactics that he was able to escape and survive the younger more athletic and stronger attacker until they ran out of steam and once they did he said he conserved his energy and then went to work waiting for them to make a mistake that he could capitalize on...That spirit of survival ,the ability to control ones' emotions and to not break under extreme duress and maintain composure and escaping one attack after another is what the cornerstone of Helio's Jiujitsu is all about.
It is a defensive jiujitsu and not one of aggression and violence which has led me to see that Gracie jiujitsu is aikido on the ground.It gives you the option to control your attacker once they are out of juice to talk out and diffuse the violence and not necessarily destroy your opponent.

The type of training to deal with this pressure comes from positional training which gives both the person executing the technique a practice to perform the technique with a non compliant uke and for uke it gives them the opportunity to practice their survival under duress for that specific technique.For those at Rener Gracie's seminar at Windsong it was first practiced as level one with minimal resistance then level two with resistance without any knowledge of newaza just strength and movement then level three which was resistance with knowledge of the technique and escapes...This will help with the skills development in a safe and limited practice so that it does'nt get out of hand and helps everyone develop their skills...both tori and uke learn and share and help each other out on each level giving each other feedback and practice...This is a lot much more safer than the initial experiences I had in BJJ, not to say it wasn't beneficial but if I had my choice I would rather go with the Gracie training approach....