The black belt head instructor was rolling with me and proceeded to dominate, as expected. At the end of the roll I said his pressure was amazing. He said it’s all in balance, pressure, and connection. I will try and explain what he said to me.
For example, if you’re in Mount you want to catch your balance first, so they don’t sweep you. Then you want to put pressure on them to make it hard on them to move. Then you want to start making a connection to a limb for a break or their neck for a choke. It seems simple, and it probably is but it’s hard to execute.
The more I think about it, it seems like these concepts of balance, pressure, and connection when added together, equal control.
So how did the rest of my rolls go today?
My ability to dominate white belts continues to impress. My ability to get dominated by higher belts also continues to impress.
What can I say? I’m an impressive blue belt with one stripe.
After rolling with a black belt today at open mat, he said I’ve gotten a lot better. He said that him and another black belt have been watching me from the side of the mat and have noticed I’ve been improving a lot and that my flow is looking really nice.
He also said since I’m a quiet guy, a lot of people are sleeping on me, meaning I’m unsuspecting and they wouldn’t know how good I actually am until they roll with me. I thanked him and said that means a lot coming from him.
Now I’m gonna have a giant smile on my face all day.
After rolling with a back belt (it was more survival than anything), a purple belt called me over. He asked me “do you study Jiu Jitsu?”
I said “I dunno I watch it a lot, I used to wrestle in high school” (I always like to tell people I used to wrestle in high school). He said “you rolled really well with him” as he motioned at the black belt I just sparred with.
What a great compliment!
He then showed me a technique/ submission that I had on the black belt but didn’t realize at the time while rolling that I had it.
For example, I’m in side control on top, both my opponents arms are trapped under me, I then would get a cross-face and then triangle my arms to tighten. It’s like a squeeze submission, very cool.
I thanked him for showing me the technique and then went off to spar with my next partner. A good day on the mats for sure.
Near the end of last year, the head instructor and owner the GB gym I go to, has used me as the Uke (AKA the demonstration dummy that the techniques are shown on in the middle of the mat so everyone can see what they’re learning that class) for almost every class I’ve been in since then. I’ve been wondering why he keeps picking me.
What is an Uke in BJJ?
The technical definition for Uke is…
“When learning new moves, partners will take turns practicing on each other. The “uke” is the student who is allowing a partner to practice a technique on them. It is the uke’s job to be cooperative and not provide too much resistance, so their partner can successfully practice and learn the technique. However, a good uke is not a limp noodle!”
I haven’t got any special powers from being the demonstration dummy. Although I’ve been able to not show how much pain I’m in when my coach is done showing the move. Gotta stay strong in front of those white belts!
When I first started BJJ, as a fresh white belt, I thought it was the highest honor and coolest spot to be in. I admired and looked up to the Ukes. I thought, there must be something special about them, they must know the technique perfectly if they are being used to teach it!
After being the Uke dozens of time now, I can say for certain that that isn’t the case (at least for me). Often times after being smashed by the instructor, I can’t remember what the technique was that I was part of. I wonder if there are any new members who think the same things about me when I’m the demonstration dummy, that I used to think of the Ukes when I first started.
PSA: be nice on your Ukes, they have feelings too!
Here are some of the top replies that people shared about why they pick certain people to be the Uke:
“Same size as me, contrasting gi color, and skilled enough to give correct responses. Unless it’s, like, escapes or something where a bigger person is more compelling.”
“order of importance: -Least wet person -smells of cinnamon and fresh baked bread -makes me look better”
“I’m never picked. Too sweaty”
“It depends. Often it’s the ones that bend the most. I usually go for lighter people so I can explain it in detail without much effort, especially if it’s dynamic.”
“Not necessarily belt level. Sometimes it has to do with body type best to demonstrate the technique. Some people just make better ukes than others though regardless of the belt. They listen, anticipate, and respond correctly for the demonstration.”
“Someone who I know is going to give me realistic/appropriate reactions to the technique I’m demoing. Nothing worse than trying to show how to prevent a common counter and the uke is going ham on shit that no one would ever do ever.”
“I choose someone more or less my size (I’m short) but prefer a higher grade (purple or above) – mainly because they know how to react as I talk through a technique and secondly I do not have to show them the same thing again after demonstrating it.”
“Whoever is my social anxiety blanket at the time…”
“My prof uses the guy least likely to go unconscious.”
“Good, not heavy, someone I like as a person.”
So basically, if I had to guess why my head instructor picks me to be the Uke each time I train, it’s probably because we’re the same height, I’m a blue belt so I can react mostly correctly (although not all the time heh), I weigh less than him so it’s easier to do a technique, and I’m a decent person and not a shit head. All those sound good to me. Or, he picks me because I’m the closest person on the mat to him and it’s just easier. Who knows.
As we were drilling a cool sweep in class recently, I think I heard my head instructor say to a couple of white belts, that sweeping is the fastest way to the mount. It got me thinking, maybe I’m doing this bjj thing wrong (wrong for my age and body type).
I’ll be 39 this year. I’m in decent shape, don’t drink or smoke. And can recover fairly well. But I can’t keep up or out wrestle the younger people at my jiu jitsu gym. Ain’t gonna happen. No matter how much I try and finish a single or double leg takedown. Even a failed attempt at a single leg takedown, and I’m exhausted.
Time for a new approach.
The Lazy Man’s Guide to Grappling
“If you’re going to get beat anyway then realize that this is an opportunity to take it easy”
You know how they say, destroy your ego, well in the case of getting beat in a bjj round, if you’re going to lose a position or get submitted, take the L. Your ego won’t be hurt. Your ego will be so strong it doesn’t even care if your guard gets passed because you’ve survived and didn’t get hurt.
“A grappling school is a learning environment and if you grapple long enough you will be able to hand out more whippings than there will be grapplers to accept them.”
Our time will come, my fellow older blue belt. But that time won’t come if we get injured. And we’ll get injured if we keep rolling like an 18 year old college wrestler.
“Once you have them clamped down then you can begin to rest and start thinking about what you want for dinner after practice. Depending upon experience they will be moving a little or a lot in order to break free, but it will be a lot less than you because you have established position. For them, not only have they not established a favorable position, they are operating from a deficit.”
Position before submission. Don’t rush. Establish control before attacking. I constantly need to remind myself of those. If you go slow you can go fast (that sounds like some old school martial arts wisdom, it’s not mine I definitely heard it somewhere though).
“To throw my grappling buddies off when I am on top, I sometimes act as if I am going after a choke or I will pull their gi out of their belt and pretend I am working on a new type of submission. In reality I am just buying time, as most people will try to defend by trying to remove my hand or keep me from tugging on their gi. I often have no idea what I am doing but I gain precious rest while pretending I possess awesome skills”
There isn’t much time to rest and take it easy while grappling, so why not make time? I also often don’t really know what I want to do from any given position, either on top or bottom. “Fake it ‘til to make it” is a good strategy for the aspiring lazy grappler.
“As a lazy grappler I don’t have the energy or motivation to spend two minutes trying to get you down. I need you down yesterday […]
My mission is to, as quickly as possible, do one of the following: overwrap both of my opponent’s arms (one will suffice too), apply a bear hug or get a Greco Roman grip. Once I lock up an opponent I like to apply an inside or outside leg trip
Bear hug and trip. That sounds low effort and low risk. I like the sound of that!
If you want to last long, save energy, and stay cool calm and collected, while rolling jiu jitsu, I highly recommend becoming a lazy grappler.
I’ve noticed some weird bjj training phenomena that has made my bjj game get better. Becoming a lazy grappler is one of them.
Don’t take it too seriously, have fun, and don’t get injured. Don’t use too much energy, low-effort techniques are your friends, and move slow to prevent yourself from getting hurt.
Now doesn’t that sound like a good plan for BJJ longevity!
Here are some interesting phenomena that I’ve discovered during my time on the mats…
Not going to JiuJitsu makes you better at JiuJitsu
Have you ever noticed that when you take a break from JiuJitsu and then come back, you’re actually better?
That’s happened to me enough times that I think I’ve discovered a new way to get better at jujutsu.
It seems counter intuitive. And I’m not suggesting that not going to class all the time will make you better than if you went to as many classes as you could. But sometimes when I’m away from the mats for a week or two, I’ll come back to an open mat and actually roll really well. I can’t explain it but it happens.
Maybe that has to do with my expectations. Maybe my brain uses that time to digest the technical aspects and catch up to my body. Maybe there’s a bunch of other variables involved like the time of day, how my opponents are feeling etc.
Being “lazy” at JiuJitsu makes you better at JiuJitsu
I use the word “lazy” loosely here. It’s more energy efficient than lazy. But lazy is the way I think about it. Lazy and comfy and relaxed. Not doing too much or more than you need to do.
Why do a takedown when you can pull guard? I’ve noticed all the black belts at my gym rarely do takedowns. Most of them are older than me, so maybe that’s just a way they are mitigating injuries. But I believe it’s also because: using the least amount of energy in bjj is a black belt level skill that you and I should try.
Not caring about JiuJitsu makes you better at JiuJitsu
So what if your opponent taps you in class? You get to restart.
So what if you lose a match at a competition? You can always sign up for another one.
I don’t mind giving up positions as long as I’m safe. But I don’t care if I give them up. When I won a match at the last comp I went to, my mindset was, “I don’t care if I win but it would be nice.” It helped calm my nerves a bit. I didn’t put a ton of pressure on myself so I had a clearer mind going into the match. It worked out for me.
So basically, if you take anything from this post it should be:
⁃ don’t go to class too much
⁃ if you do, be lazy
⁃ and don’t care how you do when you’re there
But seriously, sometimes these work! It’s okay if you need to take time off training, you’re not going to lose all your knowledge. And you don’t have to go ham every class and go all out, you can chill and relax. And don’t put too much pressure on yourself and instead focus on having fun.
That’s why we joined in the first place, right?
I do these sometimes and it actually makes me better.
How about you, have you noticed this in your BJJ training?
I did in fact get off work early and made it to GB1 Fundamentals and then the GB3 class.
We learned K guard tonight. Then k guard to the matrix back take. Now that is some advanced leg entanglements.
And as I said, I got smashed. Thought I pulled a muscle in my hand. But when I got home and showed my soon-to-be-nurse wife, she said it’s just a bruise. I’m lucky then.
The head instructor and gym owner said I was ready for the GB 3 class. He told me that after I rolled with him. He got me in a sweet arm bar and then somehow took my back with this technique called K guard.
You know what, I think I’m ready for that class too. It will be filled with a bunch of big purple, brown, and black belts but I’m ready for the challenge.
During my first year of doing JiuJitsu as a white belt I tried doing the GB 3 classes a few times, they were rough. Not only was the warm-up challenging, but the techniques they showed, usually involving the legs, are what I considered advanced and way over my head.
If I get off work in time maybe I’ll go tonight.
I expect to get absolutely smashed. Poor little blue belt.
Been watching a bunch of Judo highlight clips, amazing martial art. It got me thinking, could there be No Gi Judo?
Turns out there is. I did a but of digging (google search) and found these: – “Why isn’t there any no-gi Judo?” from Reddit – Freestyle Judo “Freestyle Judo uses a numerical point scoring system for both throwing and ground fighting.”
And of course, people chimed in on Twitter/X:
“yes but its pretty comparable to greco roman & freestyle wrestling”
“there are a couple gyms like that in SoCal and a couple in austin texas. John Danaher does this with New Wave Jujitsu and the B-Team copied this and opened their own gym. Justin Flores does this at Keenan Cornelius’ gym in San Diego.”
“Karo Parisyan had some beautiful MMA judo.”
“Greco-Roman with submissions would be pretty cool“
“Yes. It’s called wrestling”
“I was thinking this the other day but the more I was going over rules it turned into BJJ with no pulling guard and less submissions lol”
“They need mixed grappling arts, man.”
I would say, Greco Roman Wrestling is quite similar, due to the no leg attacks rule. But it would be cool to see a Judo rules No Gi (meaning rash guards) match with Ippons. I’d watch that.
A few weeks ago, I got third place out of three competitors at a Grappling Industries round robin tournament in Toronto, Canada. There was supposed to be seven of us, but the other dropped out, didn’t show up, or got injured earlier in the day.
The two other competitors and myself, each won one match and lost one match. But I think the medals were determined by how each of us won and lost. I think. I didn’t look into it.
I was happy with how my matches went. I didn’t get injured so that’s a win in and of itself. My main goal was to win one match, and I achieved it. Anything that happened after was okay with me. I one my first match by refs decision and I lost my second match by guillotine. The video of my matches is below if you want to see me get submitted (the match I lost was only 25 seconds haha).
With all its nuttiness and organized chaos, it’s my favorite competition to go to. You get a good bang for your buck – $90 for at least 4 matches and up to 8 matches, good deal.
Okay, that’s enough chatter. Below is a video of my two matches. First the loss, then the win.
There and Back 