“…he had begun to understand the great principle that moved the universe, at least that part of the universe which had to do with careers and success: you found the crazy guy who was running around inside of you, fucking up your life. You chased him into a corner and grabbed him. But you didn’t kill him. Oh no. Killing was too good for the likes of THAT little bastard. You put a harness over his head and then started plowing. The crazy guy worked like demon once you had him in the traces. –Stephen King
Sunday BJJ in Seattle.
It's been great to do BJJ four days in a row, at 3 different Gracie Barra pods. I'm tired now.
I don't usually get to go to Sunday class any more, but I had today off for a change because I'm working the holiday tomorrow.
It's usually a bunch of guys 180-and-up in there on Sundays, but today there was a woman white belt, a small-side male blue belt, and Ben, aside from the usual selection of behemoths.
KOTH from various positions. I was getting really muscled around by a big white belt and a couple of the blue belts. I finally told the white belt that he should try to use technique on me, because he could "strength" me into doing whatever he wanted, but he wan't learning anything from that. One of the blue belts seemed to figure it out for himself, after we struggled for a while and then he got frustrated and finished me by Hulking a sweep through. I said nothing, but he immediately made a disparaging comment about using poor technique. The next time we got matched up, he was much less Hulky and seemed to be putting forth some effort to do something technical.
One roll with the woman (Emma). She is pretty good. Great side control, weight, positioning. Gave her some pointers for her back mount attempts, during which she attempts to fall backward before getting tight enough.
Ankle- some twangs, and it continues a general low-level ache, but nothing major.
Came home and watched a rafter die at the river access point across the street. The Skykomish is both lovely and occasionally merciless.
I'm one of those big guys with poor techniques. I'm also an ex-wrestler who was taught to explode through movements and go hard. I'm always told to go nice and slow in BJJ and conserve energy but as a former wrestler I was able to go hard in every match of a tournament. That said, by "going hard" I don't mean cranking submissions to the breaking point, I just mean pushing my cardio to the limit pretty much at all times.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I lack is transitions, and I'm willing to bet some of the bigger heavier stronger people also lack that as well. Smaller more flexible people transition more easily than big dawgs, not many of us are lithe.
That said, when I outweigh someone by any significant margin I ALWAYS give them a top position. Riding and controlling me is a big challenge but if you can ride a bull you can certainly break a pony.
Anyway, as that big guy with poor technique, they probably just don't know the transitions. We maintain control and dominance through muscle and weight. We welcome any teaching moments how we could let go of an arm and change a position, but we seldom get that instruction because to the guy on bottom, they seem to think we know exactly what we're doing because we're so hard to get out from under.
I'm sure I'm speaking for a lot of guys who outweigh their training partners when I write this.
As the "guy on the bottom", I can say that usually I can tell if the big guy on top actually knows what he's doing or if he's just being a gorilla. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll say anything. Many of us women let the "teaching moments" go by, because a large percentage of the men don't seem to react well to being "coached" by a woman, even if she is a higher belt and he just walked in the door. Some of them, I get the impression that they figure since they are able to pin me down and muscle me into a keylock, working with me (much less listening to any advice I might have) is a waste of time. I usually just keep my mouth shut unless 1)I know him well, 2)he's asking me questions, which is a good indication that he doesn't have an attitude, or 3)I'm getting smashed to the point that I either get really frustrated or/and start to worry that I'm going to end up on the injured bench. If you're open to teaching moments, ask a question- that will help cue the smaller guy/girl on the bottom that it's worth the breath. :)
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