Will / Machado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Australasia

With some new blue belts just coming up into our advanced class, i have to start giving them some advice about how to begin developing their personal game. That is, they have the besics down well - but now it’s time for them to start putting their personal stamp on how they fight.

The way I like to begin this process is by having the new blue belt determine what their IA is for most of the common situations that occur whilst wrestling. IA is military-speak for Immiediate Action - in other words, it describes an immiediate response to a given situation. (eg: the handgun jams or won’t fire under combat conditions - a typical trained IA is to Drop - tap, tap and rack) - this gives you the the optimal chance to fix the problem whilst under extreme stress.

Anyways, obviously when things go pear-shaped, it is important to have an IA that has been hardwired in, to prevent mental log jam when you need to be acting - instead of freezing.

How this relates to grappling is that in order to build the foundation of a Game, you need to have developed a set of IA’s that will afford you immiediate and positive responses to the most common things that occur. You will build on this over the years, replace old IA’s with new ones, and build more of them.

We react the same way enough times to a given situation - that is, the nuerons fire in the same sequence each time to the same stimuls (situation) then we start to build automatic reactions - IA’s. Neurons that fire together - wire together.

JBW

For those who are bored with my endless titade of analogies - tough - here’s yet another one.This time regarding ‘defence’ …
One way to look at the problem of defence can go like this:You build some big strong castle walls to keep those pesky saracens out (this is a purely historical reference by the way - not a personal viewpoint) and pin all you hopes on the strength of those walls to stop the battle when it really counts - at that eleventh hour.
BJJ - he is passing my guard and I put up the strongest possible defence so he cannot do so. (castle wall)
This is one way to go - and it has both positive and negative consequences. The biggest negative, in my opinion, is that when the enemy finally scales those castle walls and gets inside - you are in a bad way. All your hopes pinned on one big wall, that lets you down at the last minute - not much recourse left!
Or there is the other approach - the tactics as used by the viet cong in the Vietnam war. Guerilla warfare - attack, retreat as the enemy attacks - attack again, etc,.
Back to BJJ: he is passing my guard - before he gets all the way passed (when I make the determination that he is probably going to pass) then we give up trying to stop him and say, go to our knees - giving him side-back control. Okay he is still on top of us - but we are on our knees.
The question now becomes - are you more confident at escaping side-back control than you are at escaping side control (cross-side)? because if you are, then perhaps this guerilla warfare-like tactic of retreating to a better defensible position might be a way to go for you.
Sometimes the grapple requires that we build those castle walls - and sometimes we are better off retreating into the jungle.
Before you give this strategy a good go - I strongly suggest that you really develop some confidence and a good gameplan for when you are underneath side-back control (turtle position - with opponent on your side). Become great at escaping form this position and you may be more willing to go there as an oponent is about to pass.
Castle walls - or guerilla retreat - this thinking has the potential to radically change your game.
Gotta head to the remote Kimberleys for some rejuvenation in the wilds. If the crocs don’t eat me and the chopper pilot remembers the GPS co-ordinates for the pick-up - I shall get in just over a week and jump backback online
JBW

Imagine these two extremes - offence at one end of the spectrum - and defence at the other. When people have limited to moderate amounts of experience, they inhabit these polarised territories and are usually, quite definiteively, either working offence or defence. ie: they are attacking or defending. this differs from the very experienced, who don’t act as if these two states are polarised and worls apart. ie: the experienced can be defending but can come out of that mode and attack when an opportunity presents itself - and similarly, the experienced can be attacking , whilst being midful to defend instantly, as the occasion demans. So now the picture changes - instead of attack and defence being two highly polarised extremes, one at each end of th spectrum,they instead, con-inhabit the space. This is an important concept to grasp - attackers be ready to defend - defenders be ready to attack.
Sorry - this has to be short. gotta run. will be absent for at least a week.

best wishes all.

JBW

In winter, amongst other things, I really like to work defence - building defence is the best way to build confidence. Defence prepares you for the worst case scenario - working attacks only prepares you for the best case scenario. That’s kind of obvious - but here’s what is less obvious:

Great attackers - aggressive fighters - have great defence. In fact, it may even be argued that reason they attack so much is based on them having an excellent defence.
I’ll explain why …

Why is it they people don’t attack more often?
For example - why not go for ten armbars a night instead of only five?
The most common reason is that we are afraid of the consequence of a ‘failed armbar’ - that is, we are worried about losing our good position if it all goes wrong.
Now imagine, that you are the worlds best escape artist from underneath side control - suddenly, you wouldn’t worry about blowing your armbar If it doesn’t work and your opponent gets on top of you - so what - you will be out of there in a moment anyways - and giving something else a go. So the better your ability to escape - the more likely you are to go for more attacks - because you will not hesitate and start worryig about the downside.

Want to attack more agressively - simple - become better at defence and escapes. You will then be more confident to attack.

On a slighly tangental note - most people feel the pressure when they have everything to lose. Or worse - more to lose than what they actually have.
Case in point:
The great golfer Lee travino - was once asked by a reporter how he coped withthe pressure of a $500,000 putt - he replied that a $500,000 putt was not preesure - real pressure, he explained, was back when he would make a ten dollar bet with his friends, knowing that he only had five dollars in his pocket.
In other words, real pressure is experienced when we put up more than we can afford to lose.

So finally, here’s my point: provided that you are confident of escaping side control - then you are not betting more than you can afford to lose and so you will be more relaxed, and more likely, to attack more often.

Being confident in defence is an important part of the elite grapplers mindset - so don’t avoid working on escapes and defence. I know it’s not sexy - but it will pay great dividends.
best wishes,
JBW

It is one thing to be creative whilst sitting by the window with a cup of tea - it’s another thing entirely to be creative when under stress. However, if you want your game to jump up a notch, then this is exactly what you need to do.
Creative thinking whilst grappling develops new solutions, novel outcomes and can really put some ‘dazzle’ into your game - but how do we cultivate such an approach?
Basically, we are a collection of ‘programs’ - I have talked about this before, but perhaps not often enough. There are neural pathways in our brain, that are responsible for bringing about the same reponse to a given situation, each and every time - a good way to think of them is like this:

Imagine rainwater hitting the top of a mountain (a virgin, unmarked mountain) - as it trickles down the side of that mountain it leaves little furrows in the ground - the next time it rains, the rainwater will again follow some of those furrows down the exact same path, making them a little deeper - and so on - until the furrows become creeks - the creeks eventually become rivers. Every time the rainwater hits the mountain it is now forced to follow the same course down to the sea. Well, in the physiology of our brain, those furrows, creeks and rivers are called engrams. When we are faced with a situation, they fire off in the same way and order they have before and we have what is commonly known as a conditioned response. That’s a clumsy way to put it - but you get the picture.

The point is - that to some degree, we become a slave to those responses. The more we respond to a given situation in a certain way - the more likely it becomes that we will respod to it the same way in the future.

Truly creative people are always trying to re-write new engramic pathways. They are testing out new responses and making new furrows, creeks and rivers. In my classes, i try to encourage creative thinking and behaviour whilst grappling. Of course, there is a down side - sometimes there is a bad outcome - but provided the correct culture is in place on the mat - then what’s the big deal - what’s the price we pay for a bad outcome - we TAP! This is no price at all, apart form a bit of ego-bruising - if that!

Try this next time you get on the mat and roll - be totally creative and differnt. it starts by not caring about whether you are winning and losing - it starts by ENJOYING every moment and aspect of the grapple - whether you are winning, losing, on top, underneath, attacking, defending - enjoy it all! Move left wehn you have always moved right - have some FUN!

This will really help -
let me know how you go with it!
best wishes
JBW