Obvious Epiphanies

[kimura92]

I've had a few epiphanies that really helped me out with my BJJ game. First and biggest being:

1) IT'S OK TO CAUSE YOUR OPPONENT TO HAVE PHYSICAL DISCOMFORT. Maybe I'm just a bleeding heart, or maybe I'm in that "Do unto others" mentality, but then I realized that everyone at the gym is there of their own choice fully expecting to receive bruises and minor injuries. It was really compacted when I was rolling with a marine guy named Nate. He was discussing with me momentarily distracting your opponent with pain as putting your elbow on his stomach and pressing down when you were caught in guard. He said "It ain't gunna do anything submission-wise, but it's annoying as ****, and it forces you to deal with the problem at hand, so that you can take advantage of that opening " Then it all clicked.

[CarlosJesena]

It's not the technique that sucks. It's me. Gotta shut up and drill.

(obvious exceptions are obvious)

[gzk]

"Position before submission" doesn't only mean "control the position before attempting the submission", it means controlling the position until the moment of submission, including the set-up and execution of the hold, eg: shutting down the armbar escapes before fully committing to the armbar and losing the mount.

[Water]

You don't have to be a 'southpaw' or a 'jiujitsuka' or an 'infighter', you can combine them with an orthodox stance, unconventional graplling and outboxing respectively. It's not a video game, you're not stuck with a single specialization.

[Donkey_Fizzle]

Um.... when figured out I wasn't in all that much trouble to begin with. As in not panicing when a guy passes my guard. Not panicing when a guy has side mount on my. Not panicing when a guy mounts me.

When I figured out drilling sweep chains actually pays off.

Numero uno is when I figured out tha the gym isn't the place to play macho. My career is over because I didn't tap to a kneebar.

Oh, and hips basically set it all up.

[Ciderbone]

Sometimes when I'm in the juji gatame endgame, with my opponent stalling it out, it can be useful to cross my legs for certain purposes... but wait this relieves the pressure on my victim's head.... wait what if I make sure the leg over the head is the bottom leg... then I keep up the pressure on his head!

[v1y]

I have a good left tai otoshi but can't do it from an 'orthodox' grip.

then it hit me: your weight needs to be on the non tripping foot.. holy crap. when i do it left i pivot on my non-tripping foot, and so i keep the weight on it as i pivot. but when i do it right, my pivot foot is usually the tripping foot, so that means i have to transfer the weight to the other leg after i pivot and plant!

[jnp]

Missing post moved here: Common sense doesn't count as an epiphany - No BS MMA and Martial Arts

[henno]

I'm finding that teaching/demonstrating a position or technique to others often makes me look at it in a new way. The process of articulating it seems to reveal more detail and tighten my technique.

I don't think that this applies in the early days, but once you've been training a while I think a lot of people would get a benefit from this.

[judoka_uk]

I have a good left tai otoshi but can't do it from an 'orthodox' grip.

then it hit me: your weight needs to be on the non tripping foot.. holy crap. when i do it left i pivot on my non-tripping foot, and so i keep the weight on it as i pivot. but when i do it right, my pivot foot is usually the tripping foot, so that means i have to transfer the weight to the other leg after i pivot and plant!

If by non tripping foot you mean the leg that's not outstretched, you shouldn't trip in Tai otoshi anyway as its a tewaza. Then I'm afraid your epiphany though it maybe a revelation is an incorrect one.

At an absolute minimum your weight should be evenly distributed between your two legs:



And ideally the majority of your weight should be on the outstretched leg: