Smaller grappler problems

Tdrev

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@White
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well i did start BJJ last week and while it is interestning i do feel that my height 170cm (5.5) is making problems for me. everyone in my class is much taller than me and i suspect the closed guard for example is horrible against someone alot bigger than you unless im doing it wrong and im to easily tossed off sometimes. any suggestions on good Choice of tecniques/strategies against bigger grapplers? btw nobody there is stronger than me so strenght isnt an issue but i rather depend on tecnique than strenght
 
a dvdset like this looks like exactly waht i need but at $147 dollars i rather not unless its an amazing dvdset
 
Relax, you're a week in. At least get a few months in before you try to start finding your own game. There's no way to know right now what's gonna work for you.

For the record, I'm 6'4, my coach is your height. His closed guard is fine
 
Use your strength. Strength is a skill set as well. Don't fall into the "I'm not going to use strength mindset". You're doing yourself a disservice. I use strength all the time.

There's no one technique or strategy that's going to help you right now besides using your strength, athleticism, and being a good student. Keep showing up consistently and you'll see improvement eventually.
 
thats a point. i am able to "benchpress" my opponents of me and to do sweeps on strenght only but then im drained after 5 minuts and we spar for 45 minuts each session so i try not to. i started course last week but the course started 6 weeks earlier so its kind of a rough ride as my opponents know alot, but im not gonna wait a year for next beginnercourse, so i look for useful knowledge online. suprisingly much useful BJJ on youtube
 
Stick with it ,it gets better . I'm 5ft 5 and 135 lbs and I actually find it much easier to roll with bigger guys than smaller quicker opponents .

At the start none of it makes sense and you will feel undersized and worthless , however soon you realise how to position your body and how to eliminate your opponent a strength . This takes time and commitment ,hence why BJJ is no joke . It may take up to 6 months to a year before you see big changes but it's worth it .
 
There is no rush to buy the dvd set. It will still be available 3 months from now. You have only been doing this a week. Make sure this is something you enjoy and plant to do longer before you invest more money into your new hobby. The other factor is nothing you will try your first week will work. If you are one week in and you are having success with anything I would be concerned about the school you are training at. There is no shortcut and you are probably looking at six months before things make sense. In my first six months I didn't know what was happening to me. I ended most of my rolls by asking "What did you do?"
 
being short gives you a hell of a lot more mobility underneath of people and really opens a variety of techniques for you.

i'm 6'4" and there are so many things that i can't even attempt on most people because of the size discrepancy. things like morote seoi nage and deep half are gonna be a lot more viable for you, and you should be faster in a scramble since there's less of you to move around.
 
Use your strength. Strength is a skill set as well. Don't fall into the "I'm not going to use strength mindset". You're doing yourself a disservice. I use strength all the time.

There's no one technique or strategy that's going to help you right now besides using your strength, athleticism, and being a good student. Keep showing up consistently and you'll see improvement eventually.

This is some horrible advice.

Hes been training for 1 week what the heck is the point of trying to out strength people now?

Strength is important skills, for competition or if you are rolling for real in the gym, at his stage, should be not... There is reason why smaller weaker people get more technical faster, because they are force to use technique, the result of "use all of your strength" to a noob is going to create some dude working for Americanas from side control for ever, and squeezing hthe shit out of things are not there, bunchpressing people out with very little technique to escape, which will work va noobs andthat will get him gym taps vs noobs, but will make his progress very slow, being technically stuck way longer than needed... It haappens all the time.

So ts, relax and work your technique, if you are going to compete use all the attributes you have, and of course strength is a hell of an attribute. Since you are strong, you may look into sweeps that requir explosives over let's say flexibility...
 
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This is some horrible advice.

There is reason why smaller weaker people get more technical faster, because they are force to use technique, the result of "use all of your strength" to a noob is going to create some dude working for Americanas from side control for ever, and squeezing hthe shit out of things are not there, bunchpressing people out with very little technique to escape, which will work va noobs andthat will get him gym taps vs noobs, but will make his progress very slow, being technically stuck way longer than needed...

Well, that's like your opinion....man.

I'm 140 pounds (I was like 120 when I first started BJJ). My jiu-jitsu got better, because I hit the gym and got strong to smash from the very beginning. You know, come to think about it, I was small and fast when I first started. Good thing I didn't use my speed....

You come off like one of those guys that complains when a new guy comes in and uses too much strength or has good stamina.

Why not use what you got as long as your not hurting people? He'll figure out eventually that he'll gas if he uses 100% power all the time. When my students ask me whether they should use strength or athleticism, I tell them use what they, but to also keep coming to class and using what they've learned.
 
Well, that's like your opinion....man.

I'm 140 pounds (I was like 120 when I first started BJJ). My jiu-jitsu got better, because I hit the gym and got strong to smash from the very beginning. You know, come to think about it, I was small and fast when I first started. Good thing I didn't use my speed....

You come off like one of those guys that complains when a new guy comes in and uses too much strength or has good stamina.

Why not use what you got as long as your not hurting people? He'll figure out eventually that he'll gas if he uses 100% power all the time. When my students ask me whether they should use strength or athleticism, I tell them use what they, but to also keep coming to class and using what they've learned.


simple, because at the begging you are not there to smash people, you are there to learn, at least through white betl, no one gives a fuck about smashing other noobs.
you are giving that advice to a dude with 1 week of training, would he be able to power out an armlock form a white belt with a couple of months of training? yes, would he be able to power out from a blue belt about his size, not so sure. Using "his strength" will only be useful vs noobs, it will give him a false sense of achievement, it will only be detrimental to his progress.

Also, a noob does not know the difference or when to use his explosion strenght, its ok to use strenght to finish a hold or when its required, but a noob does not have the technique down yet, so its all strenght for nothing.
you say he will realize eventually, yeah no shit, but it will be way better to let him get a grasp of techniques before he starts hulking people around, and no I give 2 shits when someone comes and uses strenght or rolls hard, Ive been grappling for quite sometime and I dont care about tough rolls actually I look for them, but I do not like to see my white belts playing a rugby match on the mats while the should be rolling.
 
Stick with it ,it gets better . I'm 5ft 5 and 135 lbs and I actually find it much easier to roll with bigger guys than smaller quicker opponents .
.

I'm similar size and I think the hardest size to deal with are guys in the 160-180 range. These guys generally are fast, in good shape, and strong. Really big guys sometimes have bad gas tanks that you can exploit, or suffer a big enough speed advantage that you can use.

Anyways to TS, try to gas out the bigger guys and also keep trying to take the back. When you are in mount or sidecontrol and are against another newer person just remember that they are likely to try to explode to escape and you just have to wait for that moment, then block it and as they gas out you can go for subs/transition into another position.
 
simple, because at the begging you are not there to smash people, you are there to learn, at least through white betl, no one gives a fuck about smashing other noobs.
you are giving that advice to a dude with 1 week of training, would he be able to power out an armlock form a white belt with a couple of months of training? yes, would he be able to power out from a blue belt about his size, not so sure. Using "his strength" will only be useful vs noobs, it will give him a false sense of achievement, it will only be detrimental to his progress.

Also, a noob does not know the difference or when to use his explosion strenght, its ok to use strenght to finish a hold or when its required, but a noob does not have the technique down yet, so its all strenght for nothing.
you say he will realize eventually, yeah no shit, but it will be way better to let him get a grasp of techniques before he starts hulking people around, and no I give 2 shits when someone comes and uses strenght or rolls hard, Ive been grappling for quite sometime and I dont care about tough rolls actually I look for them, but I do not like to see my white belts playing a rugby match on the mats while the should be rolling.

Sheesh, you're such an exciteable guy. I like you Ragey, but you're going to give yourself a heart attack one of these days.
 
Well, that's like your opinion....man.

I'm 140 pounds (I was like 120 when I first started BJJ). My jiu-jitsu got better, because I hit the gym and got strong to smash from the very beginning. You know, come to think about it, I was small and fast when I first started. Good thing I didn't use my speed....

You come off like one of those guys that complains when a new guy comes in and uses too much strength or has good stamina.

Why not use what you got as long as your not hurting people? He'll figure out eventually that he'll gas if he uses 100% power all the time. When my students ask me whether they should use strength or athleticism, I tell them use what they, but to also keep coming to class and using what they've learned.
LOL. I like your straight-forward, no-bullshit advice dude. When I was starting in my 4th month, I grappled with a 3-stripe blue belt lady who I outweigh by 20 kgs, she was trying to get her americana in but wasn't able to and she was surprised she can't submit me, she had no idea I was strength-lifting. :)
 
Its meaningless to tell a total greenhorn beginner things like 'be more technical', because they won't be able to even tell the difference in the first place; they have no concept or frame of reference for the matter, their sense and perception is wholly undeveloped. Only time and experience changes that.
 
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Kimura is love, kimura is life.

You need to be strong doe.

Kimura is all you need.
 
its slightly harder to play guard with short limbs so i would spend a lot of time passing guard / getting and staying on top or taking the back.

on the bottom, a butterfly-guard-based game will be good for you. learn the arm drag/collar drag and the hook sweep to start. later you can start incorporating other guards like 1-leg/ x- guard.
 
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simple, because at the begging you are not there to smash people, you are there to learn, at least through white betl, no one gives a fuck about smashing other noobs.
you are giving that advice to a dude with 1 week of training, would he be able to power out an armlock form a white belt with a couple of months of training? yes, would he be able to power out from a blue belt about his size, not so sure. Using "his strength" will only be useful vs noobs, it will give him a false sense of achievement, it will only be detrimental to his progress.

Also, a noob does not know the difference or when to use his explosion strenght, its ok to use strenght to finish a hold or when its required, but a noob does not have the technique down yet, so its all strenght for nothing.
you say he will realize eventually, yeah no shit, but it will be way better to let him get a grasp of techniques before he starts hulking people around, and no I give 2 shits when someone comes and uses strenght or rolls hard, Ive been grappling for quite sometime and I dont care about tough rolls actually I look for them, but I do not like to see my white belts playing a rugby match on the mats while the should be rolling.
Calm down

Like rmongler said, he neither has the coordination, body awareness, or technique to just "relax" and only learn at first, and the way you incentive learning is early success. If he's at a good gym he'll quickly learn through negative reinforcement not to do use strength incorrectly

What noobs need to be told/taught is "be more efficient" or "do it better or with better technique" or 'control your breathing or don't be constantly tense". All telling them 'don't use strength' does is mislead them and confuse them and promote a unrealistic way of looking at training, it also feeds a very passive aggressive vibe and excuse making for people when they train
 
I'm pretty much the same size as you (5 ft 4, 140 lbs) and have been at this for a while now - about 12 years. A few things you may find helpful in the long run.

1. On top, become good at transitioning between control positions. Practice things like the around the world drill where you go from side control > scarf hold > north south > reverse scarf > mount > knee on belly > back to side. Because you are smaller, it can be challenging to hold down larger opponents. Surfing on their escape attempts is money, and will often set up a submission.

2. Work a lot of guard retention and escapes. Some advice that I received early on that was frustrating but spot on, was that the best time to escape is before you are in that position. Once they settle into a dominant position, escapes are a bitch. You want to avoid getting flattened and squashed at all costs. If you can frame, hip escape and get your knee in right away, you will frustrate your opponents, and again set up attacks and sweeps much of the time.

Hope this is helpful!
 
Its meaningless to tell a total greenhorn beginner things like 'be more technical', because they won't be able to even tell the difference in the first place; they have no concept or frame of reference for the matter, their sense and perception is wholly undeveloped. Only time and experience changes that.

Agree, And it's hard enough to bring their adrenaline down, it's why I try to keep (try can't always do) and eye and them while they roll. Coaching doesn't really do a whole bunch, but in some situations help... For example if they are stuck in bottom side control, and I see them desperately push off trying to bench press his opponent, I may sit there and talk him to try to do a hip escape,many times I even stop the toll (I know this pisses the other guy off) and tell him what he was doing wrong, this type of cases are only in really really basic mistakes, something he can actually retain, logical moves... Lest say knee slide without and undertook leading to him passing with a school yard headlock, he'll get his back taken, so I stop and make him think what's going to happen next... Things like this.
 
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