Hey, lets’ face it, even though jiu-jitsu was created to ‘empower the weak against the strong’ its worldwide popularity has brought it to the attention of the strong and they are learning it! And they are good at it! However, often times they are not given credit for their technical prowess. I’ve had discussions in the past with many of my bigger, stronger, younger, more athletic guys and together we created this list of the big three irritants of experienced by a strong guys in BJJ and they are not what you might think.
1. Everyone thinks you tapped them because you are “too strong”
Okay, first off, let’s just set this record straight on this cop out. I would bet my last dollar that Grandmaster Helio Gracie NEVER used an excuse that an opponent was ‘too big”, ‘too strong’ ‘too young’ or ‘too anything’! In fact, to dismiss the fact someone tapped you because they are ‘too strong’ or ‘too young’ is a bit insulting. The truth is either one of two things; (1) their technique was better than your technique in that moment or (2) you haven’t yet learned the timing and leverage necessary to deal with a much larger opponent. There is no such excuse as ‘’too big’.
2. People Avoid Rolling With You
Well, not everyone. There are those who train that wish to learn and challenge themselves every day, however, there is a large population of ‘gym class heroes’ that need to fuel their ego by never being tapped and rolling only with those people who they know they can ‘beat’. This is not only annoying but is down-right insulting. Don’t avoid the young athletic guys because you fear losing. USE them so that you can embrace learning! What will happen if you never train with the strong guys and then suddenly find yourself faced on the streets with 225 pounds of muscled rage that just caught you checking out his girl? If you haven’t gotten use to the intensity of a strong guy in the gym what do you think will happen in the street?
3. Strong Guys Don’t Have A Guard Game
Well, at least in the beginning! In the beginning no one wants to be underneath the strong, athletic guy so they don’t pull guard like they do often times against ‘normal’ people. The result is often a few moments of ‘knee wrestling followed up by the weaker guy being tossed unceremoniously into cross body or mount! This is fine in the beginning but you will come to rue the day when you DO find yourself on bottom and, uh-oh, you don’t have a guard game! So what now?!?
So now having identified some ‘strong guy’ issues let’s fix them! All three issues are intrinsically linked together, therefore if you solve one you solve all three! Now the first two are ‘other people’ problems so you can’t do much about those. However you can develop a guard! After making a conscious decision to develop a ‘suave’ guard you will notice that surprise, surprise, you get one! Then what you notice is when you begin consistently tapping people from the guard, they were unable to whine and moan that I you were ‘too big’ Also the people who wouldn’t roll with you because they were afraid of winding up on bottom and ‘losing’ will want roll with you more because they get to play top game! Trust me, developing a better guard will do wonders for your jiu-jitsu AND make training even more fun!
Don’t wait until AFTER the fight to learn Gracie Jiu Jitsu,be prepared BEFORE the fight with Gracie Jiu Jitsu! Click here to begin your personal transformation at Scranton, Pa’s best Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu learning grounds!
About The Author:
Jeff Reese, Gracie Jiu-jitsu black belt, has had the honor of learning from two generations of Gracie family members including Royce, Royler, Rodrigo, Rolker, Ralek, Rener, and Ryron; he teaches at Gracie NEPA in Scranton, PA.
