Speed

[MaverickZ]

You need two things to improve. More drilling and more mat time. Try to drill moves that are pertinent to the situations you find yourself in on the mat. You have trouble taking the back? Drill taking the back from the same position that's giving you a problem now.

Your problem isn't age-related. It's time-spent-on-mat related. I've heard plenty of athletic twenty somethings gripe about the exact same thing. You need to enlarge your "unconscious database" of grappling. Mat time and drilling are some of the fastest ways to get there. Training logs and visualization can help as well.

This is probably the most useful reply in this thread. The issue isn't that you're old, or that your reflexes are too slow, or that your body doesn't respond. The issue is that you are currently RE-active in your movements. Your brain and muscle reflexes are reacting to stimulus that's presented to them in real time.

To get around this you have to spend more time on the mat, and I don't mean more than you do now. I mean, just keep training. The more training time and experience you have the more situations you will see and see more and more of, that is the same situations will start repeating themselves.

At that point you will see where some techniques or positions will lead to, and you can start being PRO-active in your movements. And that's where you want to be, this is what people mean when they say "being two steps ahead".

It's impossible to react to a situation with zero delay time, brains just aren't wired that well to the nervous system. The reason why it seems like some people can respond with zero delay time is because they've spent so much time on the mat that they've seen most of the usual situations and positions and like a sniper leading a target they can see where their opponent is going. That's how they end up in the right position at the right time.

[Goju - Joe]

You need two things to improve. More drilling and more mat time. Try to drill moves that are pertinent to the situations you find yourself in on the mat. You have trouble taking the back? Drill taking the back from the same position that's giving you a problem now.

Your problem isn't age-related. It's time-spent-on-mat related. I've heard plenty of athletic twenty somethings gripe about the exact same thing. You need to enlarge your "unconscious database" of grappling. Mat time and drilling are some of the fastest ways to get there. Training logs and visualization can help as well.

Mat Time! Blech!!!! Sounds like hard work to me :(

I might try a comp in June, lets see if I can drop 10 pounds, and stop sucking enough that I can get at least 2 matches (my goal is to win just one match so I feel I get my money's worth, I am cheap, very very cheap)

[PointyShinyBurn]

It's impossible to react to a situation with zero delay time, brains just aren't wired that well to the nervous system. The reason why it seems like some people can respond with zero delay time is because they've spent so much time on the mat that they've seen most of the usual situations and positions and like a sniper leading a target they can see where their opponent is going. That's how they end up in the right position at the right time.

Can't find a gif of the Nog-Sylvia finish right now, but watch it in slo-mo for an awesome example.

[Poo-Jitsu]

Is it an age issue? conditioning? or a fundamental flaw in strategy?

The answer to almost any issue in learning BJJ is more mat time and more drilling. Don't get frustrated, just be patient and enjoy the challenge.

[Otaku Waffle]

How long have I been training? That's a loaded question. I have been taking BJJ seriously for about 6 months but I have years of crappling behind me.

I am hoping this is just a common elementary phase of grappling and not me just being old and slow.

Echoing what's already been said...Needs more mat time. I'm at the same phase myself right now (in CSW) but it's blatantly obvious to myself that things go wrong when I start actively thinking how I need to move instead of just doing those movements.

[MartialArtN00b]

Something i used to do while drilling a transition was counting the number of steps. Waving my hand would count as a step for example.

And shave off the unecessary so I had an absolute ideal of the number of steps in a transtion.

With those remaining, i gauged the effort in the step body wise. And readjusted my body for the least effort. Then i made a mental note, and itd be my ideal execution of a particular technique.

Do it often enough, and it becomes subconscious.

The reason why some people are slower than others, more often than not, is because by personal observation they move their body in a way in which it weighs them down further (adding on the weight they carry also).

Simple analogy is that a flat footed person may have all the experience in the world, but i still wont expect him to be light on his feet compared to a person who is not flat-footed.

[Angry-Monkey]

I find that for me, when I'm effective in the scramble its because I keep very little distance between myself and my opponent/training partner. If you have to cover a ton of distance in order to take the back chances are it wont happen unless the guy has really bad reaction time.

If you're stuck to the guy and while you're in movement you're actively clearing away obstacles and 'climbing' into the position rather than trying to disengage and run around them you really descrease the time necessary to get from point A to point B.

Also, if you aren't super athletic instead of climbing around to the back, clear the arm, get your over under and then pull him backwards into your backmount. I find that with bigger guys or people with a little less experience with hip movement and mobility this can really help them with taking the back.

edit: and oh yeah, more mat time.