I've hit a wall in my training. I need help

[Snolla]

I weigh about 155-160lb, I've been training for 6 years, and am a blue belt. My cardio is very good, my hip escapes and awareness are good because I've been doing bjj for quite a while now regularly. My problem is everyone that comes to open mat outweight me by 40-70lb.

I don't know what it is or why my club is like this, but we are a giant factory. I can survive most rolls with them except a few of the purple belts and above who also outweight me by a huge margin. I know BJJ is the art of dealing with larger opponents, but when that opponent is much larger and also knows BJJ, it's giving me really rough open mat training sessions.

I have to spend my time surviving and getting crushed. My escapes are very good, my defense is now very good, I'm physically tough and able to deal with the claustrophobia that these massive dudes put me through, but I CANNOT attack.

If I isolate an arm, they power out of it. If I isolate the neck, they push through and take me down or sweep, if I isolate the ankle/heel they crush down on me etc...

I can barely wrap my legs around them for guard, and I have the most luck with the scissor sweep from guard. The problem is out of the 9-10 people that are regulars at open mat.... ALL OF THEM OUTWEIGH ME BY AT LEAST 30lb!

I need some tips or resources on how to deal with massive weight differences. Videos of smaller guys dealing with crushing pressure. I've tapped these big guys before, but the majority of the time I'm just trying to survive. Belly down armbars seem to work on some of them, or subs like that were I get a lot of leverage and they can't just power out.

Save me!

 

[closequarters]

Edit: sorry I think I missed the point of your post

 

[thecatinside]

I'm about the same weight you are and there's certainly unnormal distribution of bigger guys at our gym too. When grappling against such Goliaths, I always try to get to 5050-guard. I think that 5050 evens out the size and strength differences.

 

[Snolla]

I'm about the same weight you are and there's certainly unnormal distribution of bigger guys at our gym too. When grappling against such Goliaths, I always try to get to 5050-guard. I think that 5050 evens out the size and strength differences.

I feel like a lot of big guys get into grappling because they think they will be able to use their natural advantages and progress quicker. That's probably me just being negative thinking that way though. I just had a rough day today. Been grappling these big dudes for years and I HATE when they use their power and don't use technique, though the higher belts do have really good technique as well so its hell.

 

[EGDM]

Size matters. BJJ may be the "art of leverage", or whatever, but technique only allows you to beat larger opponents if you possess a skill advantage significant enough to counteract the weight difference. It would seem that you aren't there yet. This is reality, even if you don't like it. Big guys will always feel like they're smashing you. Get used to it.

This seems unsympathetic but is really, really important. My wife is a 115 lbs purple belt. When she accepted the fact that 200 lbs men are dangerous to her no matter their skill level, she became much happier with her training (and her technique improved!).

 

[Snolla]

Size matters. BJJ may be the "art of leverage", or whatever, but technique only allows you to beat larger opponents if you possess a skill advantage significant enough to counteract the weight difference. It would seem that you aren't there yet. This is reality, even if you don't like it. Big guys will always feel like they're smashing you. Get used to it.

This seems unsympathetic but is really, really important. My wife is a 115 lbs purple belt. When she accepted the fact that 200 lbs men are dangerous to her no matter their skill level, she became much happier with her training (and her technique improved!).

I'm just happy if I get out of a 5min roll with a 220lb purple belt without getting tapped. I really can't do shit to them

I do have A LOT more success in Nogi with them though, can slip out of things and don't get owned by their grips on my gi

 

[Russky]

I am 145-150lb and I had just the same problems. I could only catch very few submissions for the first two years despite training 10 hours/week every week. I was lucky to have coach of about the same size.

We went through survival and general defense principles, he taught me how to control breathing and move efficiently. That was first big step. I could not do much about big guys, but they could not do anything to me either, and I did not feel frustrated being on the bottom anymore.

Then we spent long time working on escapes until I started moving well on the bottom. Then we continued into guard passes, control and submissions.

We worked a lot on submissions from inferior positions and chaining submissions. For example, I could not rely on guard posture, and we worked on combination of Tozi pass and Ezekiel from inside guard. Or, if I catch one arm from the guard, I am preparing for Kimura or omoplata on the other, because they will pull that first arm anyway. If I am in the top mount and getting ready for an armbar I know that I wont be able to break their arms if they hold them together. I attack other arm and neck first until they start defending and forget about armbar threat.

The biggest breakthrough was when I finally got enough techniques and confidence and stopped "fighting" big guys. For example, if I got guy in the guard, but his posture is good I know that he will pass my guard no matter how much I try. I get ready and switch into half guard as soon as he start passing. If I cannot catch Kimura or choke immediately, I am getting ready to sweep or switch into butterfly once he try advancing into side mount. If sweep does not go through, I am preparing "sucker pass" or just disengage. Always trying to be half step ahead of him.

General rules I learned from my coach:
- If two guys roll with no submissions caught the one who spends less energy wins.
- Do not use strength while rolling.
- Set the guy up for the next move.

This does not mean that I can submit every big guy whenever I want, but at least I can survive and exhaust them. Once they exhausted I can submit them. Unfortunately, some big guys are still more technical, faster and smarter than I am.

 

[Snolla]

I am 145-150lb and I had just the same problems. I could only catch very few submissions for the first two years despite training 10 hours/week every week. I was lucky to have coach of about the same size.

We went through survival and general defense principles, he taught me how to control breathing and move efficiently. That was first big step. I could not do much about big guys, but they could not do anything to me either, and I did not feel frustrated being on the bottom anymore.

Then we spent long time working on escapes until I started moving well on the bottom. Then we continued into guard passes, control and submissions.

We worked a lot on submissions from inferior positions and chaining submissions. For example, I could not rely on guard posture, and we worked on combination of Tozi pass and Ezekiel from inside guard. Or, if I catch one arm from the guard, I am preparing for Kimura or omoplata on the other, because they will pull that first arm anyway. If I am in the top mount and getting ready for an armbar I know that I wont be able to break their arms if they hold them together. I attack other arm and neck first until they start defending and forget about armbar threat.

The biggest breakthrough was when I finally got enough techniques and confidence and stopped "fighting" big guys. For example, if I got guy in the guard, but his posture is good I know that he will pass my guard no matter how much I try. I get ready and switch into half guard as soon as he start passing. If I cannot catch Kimura or choke immediately, I am getting ready to sweep or switch into butterfly once he try advancing into side mount. If sweep does not go through, I am preparing "sucker pass" or just disengage. Always trying to be half step ahead of him.

General rules I learned from my coach:
- If two guys roll with no submissions caught the one who spends less energy wins.
- Do not use strength while rolling.
- Set the guy up for the next move.

This does not mean that I can submit every big guy whenever I want, but at least I can survive and exhaust them. Once they exhausted I can submit them. Unfortunately, some big guys are still more technical, faster and smarter than I am.

Awesome advice. Thank you

 

[dimmyfinster]

I'm about your weight and probably older.

1. You can still pass. Speed passes are actually more effective against big guys, some of whom are slightly out of shape and most of whom are slower than their small counterparts.

1a. Some pressure pass in my opinion become harder against big people but knee slide is still effective. Experiment with it in open mat to see which ones work against big guys and which lose in translation.

2. If it's a normal gym, many will go lighter, which evens out things a lot. They still have mass but won't be using strength. If this isn't true, every, something is wrong either with gym culture or with you

3. From your description, youre trying to used closed guard. Closed guard is about grip fighting and is tiring against big guys. You can't triangle a huge guy reliably either. Learn an open guard meant for little guys - collar sleeve, DLR, 1lx, or x. Not dhg or half. Use them to sweep not to submit. Everything is easier on top.