Tips for Female Grapplers: - when a (small) girl meets a (big) boy -

**datdamnmachine** · Posted On: 4/15/2010 11:22am

I received this from good 'ol Stephan Kesting's Beginning BJJ email. As always great information for women (may help convince a female to train or stop them from quitting their training) but also, great information for any smaller players and BJJ/Grapplers in general. Especially good for those of us who forget that BJJ is about principles of technique, leverage, base, off-balancing, etc and not just adding brute force to some techniques and calling it Jiu-Jitsu:

Tips for Female Grapplers

**CoffeeFan** · Posted On: 5/05/2010 4:19pm

My wife found the advice in this article very helpful.

**syberia** · Posted On: 5/05/2010 7:06pm

Don't drive your chest pressure straight down in side control top; drive diagonally in and down at a 45-degree angle -- imagine you're "smearing" their ribcage across the mat from the outside in.

Holy crap it took me forever to figure this out on my own. I remember the training session; we were working holding side control and i tried this and then i was like "hey... that works..."

I do have to disagree with her about the back, though. I pull guard quite a lot, though I am currently trying to pull it only when i have to, and i dont mind closed guards, I hold them pretty well, to be honest. Obviously i keep moving, and agaist opponents with a big difference in weight I try not to.

That was a good article, not just for girls, either, but for smaller, flexible guys. There's a guy in my calss who's just lighter than me and is way more flexible than is really necessary. Thanks.

***jnp*** · Posted On: 5/05/2010 10:16pm

Missing posts moved here: Forum detritus #450 - No BS MMA and Martial Arts

**hungryjoe** · Posted On: 5/06/2010 7:57pm

Thanks for the link. A lot of info in there for us smaller guys too.

Bookmarked for the tiny daughter entering her first nogi competition.

Is the forearm under the bridge of the nose considered cross facing (judo rules) if it's sliding upwards?

**datdamnmachine** · Posted On: 5/12/2010 1:03am

Originally Posted by syberia

Holy crap it took me forever to figure this out on my own. I remember the training session; we were working holding side control and i tried this and then i was like "hey... that works..."

I do have to disagree with her about the back, though. I pull guard quite a lot, though I am currently trying to pull it only when i have to, and i dont mind closed guards, I hold them pretty well, to be honest. Obviously i keep moving, and agaist opponents with a big difference in weight I try not to.

That was a good article, not just for girls, either, but for smaller, flexible guys. There's a guy in my calss who's just lighter than me and is way more flexible than is really necessary. Thanks.

I think what she is referring to is never being flat on your back. One thing I tell myself and others during training is that I'm not fighting off my "back" but the "bottom". It's somewhat unconscious but when you say fighting off your back, some people litterally try to fight off their back...their flat back.

Originally Posted by hungryjoe

Thanks for the link. A lot of info in there for us smaller guys too.

Bookmarked for the tiny daughter entering her first nogi competition.

Is the forearm under the bridge of the nose considered cross facing (judo rules) if it's sliding upwards?

Not sure myself, depends on the rules of the tournament. You won't know until the day of the rules meeting. Best to have multiple options available to lift that chin up!

Glad you all like the article. Even though its not mine, I find that Stephen posts great work and really attempts to address females in grappling. He's also one of the few out there that has no problem admitting that he wouldn't be the best authority on the subject and will defer to someone more experienced.

***jnp*** · Posted On: 5/24/2010 7:17am

Missing posts moved here: Forum detritus #451 - No BS MMA and Martial Arts

**Coach Josh** · Posted On: 6/04/2010 10:17am

Very good article especially given that it comes from the perspective of a small woman grappler. Honestly this is the things that we, Tim and I, stress at our gym, its just good technique.

The stand up notes about gripping are just day 1 Judo as well as most of the control aspects on the ground. Keep in mind that these things need to be said over and over again because people are more interest in doing inverted reverse Dela Riva(sp) guard then learning how to properly smash another human into the earth.

I liked it though and the more people see and hear about this the more it may make sense.