BJJ Question for the Smaller Guys and Girls Out There!!

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Imparanoid

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Ok, so I have had about 5 months of Jits... I'm a 120lbs girl so I have to be very technical when I roll. The classes at my gym are really small, so everyone has to roll with everyone. I've had a lot of difficultly rolling with a (170lbs??) new guy. He uses his size advantage to mount and then, last time, pinned my arms to the mat with his hands. He wasn't trying to work for anything, just sat there resting because his cardio sucks!! Total douchebag move! Anyways, I would love suggestions on what to do when I can't use my arms! (How I usually escape mount is shrimping, digging elbows in, pushing on knee, ect. Or even when I buck up and pull butterfly I am pushing up with my arms as well.)
 
Well, if he's pinning your arms with his hands, you can bridge to force him to base with one or both of his hands. He'll have to let go of your arms to catch himself, and then you're free to start working your escapes. You shouldn't really be getting your arms pinned by his hands anyway; work on handfighting and turning your wrists out of his grips.

Another thing I'd say is that as a beginner, you're going to have the occasional roll which doesn't benefit either you or your partner, and that'll happen regardless of your size. The 170lb new guy will have the same thing happen when he rolls with the 270lb new guy. I wouldn't let it bother you too much.

I'm not super small, I'm 165lb, but I remember being new and rolling with huge guys so I know it's not nice.
 
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Really try concentrating on keeping your arms tight to your chest. When you see him going for an arm, hip hump to break his base and use that opportunity to go into your mount escape. Against bigger guys/most people I think trying to get to half guard and then guard is the safest option.
 
Imparanoid said:
Ok, so I have had about 5 months of Jits... I'm a 120lbs girl so I have to be very technical when I roll. The classes at my gym are really small, so everyone has to roll with everyone. I've had a lot of difficultly rolling with a (170lbs??) new guy. He uses his size advantage to mount and then, last time, pinned my arms to the mat with his hands. He wasn't trying to work for anything, just sat there resting because his cardio sucks!! Total douchebag move! Anyways, I would love suggestions on what to do when I can't use my arms! (How I usually escape mount is shrimping, digging elbows in, pushing on knee, ect. Or even when I buck up and pull butterfly I am pushing up with my arms as well.)
Click to expand...

You can also try to bridge until the pressure on one wrist is lessened. Slide that arm, with his hand still trapping your wrist over his hand on the other side, this acts like an arm trap from a trap and roll. Once you see which side you are going to, trap the leg on that side and roll him. If he lifts his leg to block your leg trap that will open you up to shrimp your leg thru into half guard. Hope this helps.
 
It sucks rolling with people that much bigger and stronger than you, especially when technique wise you are nearly the same.

From bottom mount...always have your arms tucked in so its tougher for them to grab - I am always looking do defend the choke if we are wearing gis. If you can avoid it, when getting mounted, get on your side and use your hands to block their hip so they cannot get high mount. Or if flat, shrimp or bump to get to your side. Then you can start working escapes. Sometimes on big guys I can get the basic bridge/bump sweep from mount but more often than not that is because they are new so i usually have to work my escapes to half guard, deep half, or full guard.

And it will get easier the more you train. After 3.5 years though big guys are still not fun, even when new but now they rarely get those advantageous positions on me.
 
And when I get to roll with the 270lbs new guy... �� hah! And I could definitely start being more pro-active from this position with fighting his grips and stuff and then hopefully not end up in that spot again. Thanks!
 
mixmaster staph said:
Well, if he's pinning your arms with his hands, you can bridge to force him to base with one or both of his hands. He'll have to let go of your arms to catch himself, and then you're free to start working your escapes. You shouldn't really be getting your arms pinned by his hands anyway; work on handfighting and turning your wrists out of his grips.

Another thing I'd say is that as a beginner, you're going to have the occasional roll which doesn't benefit either you or your partner, and that'll happen regardless of your size. The 170lb new guy will have the same thing happen when he rolls with the 270lb new guy. I wouldn't let it bother you too much.

I'm not super small, I'm 165lb, but I remember being new and rolling with huge guys so I know it's not nice.
Click to expand...

And when I get to roll with the 270lbs new guy... :eek: hah! And I could definitely start being more pro-active from this position with fighting his grips and stuff and then hopefully not end up in that spot again. Thanks!
 
stile0 said:
Really try concentrating on keeping your arms tight to your chest. When you see him going for an arm, hip hump to break his base and use that opportunity to go into your mount escape. Against bigger guys/most people I think trying to get to half guard and then guard is the safest option.
Click to expand...

hmm good point about how to time it!! Thanks!!
 
LogicalError said:
You can also try to bridge until the pressure on one wrist is lessened. Slide that arm, with his hand still trapping your wrist over his hand on the other side, this acts like an arm trap from a trap and roll. Once you see which side you are going to, trap the leg on that side and roll him. If he lifts his leg to block your leg trap that will open you up to shrimp your leg thru into half guard. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Niceee! Even if I have to end up pulling half, I like it! Cheers!
 
soda_popinski said:
It sucks rolling with people that much bigger and stronger than you, especially when technique wise you are nearly the same.

From bottom mount...always have your arms tucked in so its tougher for them to grab - I am always looking do defend the choke if we are wearing gis. If you can avoid it, when getting mounted, get on your side and use your hands to block their hip so they cannot get high mount. Or if flat, shrimp or bump to get to your side. Then you can start working escapes. Sometimes on big guys I can get the basic bridge/bump sweep from mount but more often than not that is because they are new so i usually have to work my escapes to half guard, deep half, or full guard.

And it will get easier the more you train. After 3.5 years though big guys are still not fun, even when new but now they rarely get those advantageous positions on me.
Click to expand...

Thats good to hear--I'll hold out for a couple years down the road. :wink: hah, I'm by far the smallest at my gym, so I'm hoping having to learn to deal with these giants will pay off in competition!! Cheers!
 
might be able to work the foot drag mount escape even if your hands are pinned. something like:

 
Imparanoid said:
Ok, so I have had about 5 months of Jits... I'm a 120lbs girl so I have to be very technical when I roll. The classes at my gym are really small, so everyone has to roll with everyone. I've had a lot of difficultly rolling with a (170lbs??) new guy. He uses his size advantage to mount and then, last time, pinned my arms to the mat with his hands. He wasn't trying to work for anything, just sat there resting because his cardio sucks!! Total douchebag move! Anyways, I would love suggestions on what to do when I can't use my arms! (How I usually escape mount is shrimping, digging elbows in, pushing on knee, ect. Or even when I buck up and pull butterfly I am pushing up with my arms as well.)
Click to expand...

You are my weight and I, too, am a lady. I'd love to train with a female who is my weight, but I have always had male training partners. Don't be discouraged, you will benefit from training with those big guys so much more!

Ice 9 Cobra is telling you what you need to know about breaking the grip, but it can be difficult to understand by reading text.... You can look for some videos on youtube about how to break the grip or if you like my husband and I would be willing to shoot you a quick tutorial vid showing how a female your size and weight could implement the technique effectively.

Your right, that guy is a douche for using his weight and strength advantage against you and for resting on top of you. Hopefully he learns a more respectful way of rolling with smaller opponents which is to use only technique.
 
Yeah, circling towards the thumb is simplistically complicated. Once you get it, it's cake.

And it is pretty odd a dude would just pin your arms from mount and chill, if I saw that I would feel awkward.
 
Being small, you're going to have to get used to less experienced people being able to muscle things on you. It sucks but it's part of the game. It will happen less the better you get, but try not to let it rub your ego too hard. It's easy to strain stuff when fighting tooth and nail to not give something up to someone much bigger. I remember reading a post from Hilary a while back (female blackbelt with an impressive competitive record), where she said she wished she hadn't done that early in her training because her joints were paying for it now. I've taken the mentality in the past few months where my first priority is ALWAYS staying relaxed and keeping myself safe. My joints and spine have been incredibly grateful. Combing that with intense focus on my breathing and I can also outlast just about anyone despite my shitty cardio.
 
Him maintaining mount with your arms pinned is less of a concern than the fact he has both your arms pinned.

He should be trying to submit you via Americana or something similar,

Basically you should be working on not letting him get both your arms pinned and if he does unsettle his base and work on getting your arms free.
 
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