15. FINDING YOUR DIAMOND

Finding a diamond: 

There are a vast number of moves in Jiu jitsu, your job is to first master the fundamentals so that you have a strong foundation and no obvious weaknesses for an opponent to exploit, and then the fun part - selecting a small group of favorite moves that will define your game.

How does this selection process occur?

How do you come to choose what are to be your main weapons? 

There are several main methods. 

The first is exposure through a teaching program. 

I was blessed to have an excellent teacher, Renzo Gracie, who always did an excellent job of exposing us to a wide and interesting variety of moves so that we had a deep set of choices to work from. 

The second is talented mentors or sparring partners. Sometimes a busting athlete will come in with a new perspective or moves you aren’t familiar with but which seem very effective to you and this inspires you to emulate them.

Third is watching great athletes from the past and present and being inspired by something you observe in their game. 

The fourth and most important is personal experimentation on the mat. 

Some days you try a move and find that it just clicks for you. Something about it seems more natural and easier than most moves and you apply it well from the start. When this happens, don’t ignore it. This may well be a sign that you’ve stumbled on to something important. When this happens don’t just be happy with a good application of the move that day and then forget it - take it as a sign to engage in further research and study and see how far you can take that promising start!! 

Understand that sometimes you’ll find that it leads to a dead end - better to try and lead to nothing a few times but occasionally find a diamond that can transform your game than ignore them all and go through your career with no diamonds in your collection. 

Next time you find that you have a natural affinity for a move, don’t just smile and forget about - see just how far you can run with it!







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

21. TOUGH MATCH - MOST TRUSTED MOVES ONLY

Image
  In a tough match against an opponent your own size and skill level you will probably get less than three opportunities to finish - your training must reflect this reality. As much as we like to learn new novelties and tricks, it must be understood that these are generally of use only when matched against easy opponents. In a tough match you will always be forced back to your most trusted weapons. MAKE SURE YOUR BEST WEAPONS ARE YOUR MAJOR FOCUS IN MATCH PREPARATION AND THAT YOU CONSTANTLY LOOK FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE OF THEM AND ADD NEW SET UPS, VARIATIONS AND FOLLOW UPS TO KEEP THEM EVOLVING. You will be judged NOT BY HOW MANY MOVES YOU KNOW, but rather by HOW MANY YOU CAN APPLY ON THE TOUGHEST OPPONENTS, and this number is quite small EVEN FOR THE BEST IN THE WORLD.
Read more

31. PACE AND WORK THAT SUITS YOU THE BEST

Image
  Finding your pace: One of the most important factors in determining the outcome of a grappling match is the least discussed - the PACE of the match.  Beyond all the techniques and tactics lies the overall pace of the two athletes.  The pace will determine their work rate and if the work rate of an athlete exceed what he is physically capable of for an extended period of time, he will lapse into exhaustion. Exhaustion is almost always a precursor of defeat. Work rate is a fascinating concept. You can work in different ways.  Sometimes the work will be isometric , with a demand for static holding strength for time.  Other times the work will be movement, with heavy aerobic demands. Other times it will be explosive speed work. Each is tiring in a different way, and most importantly, different athletes usually excel at one type of work but not others. You can exhaust an athlete with excellent aerobic fitness by making him work hard in isometric situations such as ...
Read more

41. THE WEAKER YOU ARE, THE MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW LEVERS AND FULCRUM

Image
  Lever and fulcrum: Strength plays a big role in the outcome of matches.  Thankfully, however, there is hope for the weak - it’s not how strong you are per se, but how much strength you can APPLY in a specific scenario that counts. Y our APPLIED strength potential is very different from your raw strength.  There are many factors such as position, fatigue level, balance and stance that can make a weak man feel strong and a strong man feel weak - but chief among them is LEVER AND FULCRUM. Just as a weak man can use a long lever to lift a heavy rock that a strong man cannot lift with his arms, so too, a weaker grappler can use his body to create lever and fulcrum to overwhelm a stronger grappler. Again, your raw strength is not nearly as important as your ability to apply the strength that you have - and if you apply it at the end of the lever over a well-placed fulcrum - you will be plenty strong enough to get the job done against even your strongest foes. The weaker you ...
Read more