feel like i get dominated to much

Way to learn and ENJOY it is to roll light, 40% or so. I love rolling light and you're not afraid to try things that you wouldn't when your opponent is rolling 100%. You'll find your ground game improves dramatically if you enjoy what you're doing!!
 
better getting dominated and walking out of class dragging your feet than subbing everyone in class and not breaking a sweat doing it
 
TS, the same thing used to happen, and to an extent still happens to me. I've developed a stronger bottom game, and have learned to use my hips to escape and try to gain a top position. I also worked on my takedowns. It seems like there's a lot of holes in your game -- just keep working at it. Ask your training partners or your teacher what you're doing wrong, and maybe they can give you advice on how to use your weight a little better. Good luck and don't get discouraged.
 
I'm starting to become a big fan of the philosophy of building around your strengths while trying to eliminate your weaknesses.

What I mean is that you should be trying to build skills and techniques that compliment your strengths while at the same time looking at the biggest weaknesses of your game and getting those weak areas to the point where you are able to move your opponent to having to deal with your strengths.

In your example. You feel that your top game is your strongest asset. Develop a chain of 2-3 related submissions from side control then develop 2-3 transitions to related positions from side control (transition to mount, transition to north-south). Then develop 2-3 submission and 2-3 transitions that are related from each of those top positions. Have a flow drill you work with a partner where you're starting in side control, you apply for submission 1 then 2, then 3, mix up the order. Then transition in to N/S or Mount. Work your subs and transitions from there then repeat the whole drill focus on the movements and maintaining the positions (not getting swept) while moving from sub to sub or sub to transition.

What you will quickly find is that even if you get better at your top attacks it will be irrelevant until you are able to get to those positions on a regular basis. So even though everyone wants to work from a dominant position those skills will NEVER come in to play if you can transition from a bad position to your dominant positions.

Right now you are getting an education. Work your bottom game as far as escapes from side control, escapes from mount and sweeps from guard and half-guard. This is a necessity! You need to do this in order to have any future success in BJJ.

Confidence in BJJ comes from knowing that you can get out of bad situations and put yourself in good situations. If you got mount but was worried about getting reversed you would probably be very passive in terms of trying to finish because you know that if you get reversed your sweep game from guard is not good enough to get you back in to good position. Trust me when I say that you need to look at your current struggles as an opportunity to turn your bottom game in to a strength.

It does you no good to have a strong top game if you can't ever get on top. Your top game is related to your bottom game in that you need a bottom game to get to the top.

I'm 5 foot 10 and 235 lbs - I'm a strong guy and while strength helps a little it's always going to be technique that prevails in BJJ in the long run. Concentrate on acquiring the techniques you need on the bottom to turn things to your favor.
 
Thanks for the advice ill try and post a video up tonight around 11 you guys can give me some pointers
 
Learn the techniques, and if you don't do any strength/conditioning training, start.
 
when someone dominates you (good transition, subs you, whatever it may be) when ur done ask them to show you what they did. this way you'll know to look for it in the future and try it yourself.
 
newdiamonds said:
I'm a a big guy myself and i went through the same thing (and still do sometimes). You just need to keep going to class and eventually you'll get better. You're also probably getting better all the time and just not realizing it. You have to remember all your training partners are progressing along with you. It may feel like your standing still, but your actually moving with the crowd.
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This is a great point. Sometimes it's hard to remember that everyone around you is continually getting better the same as you are. If you train with the same people everyday they are going to learn your game and you're going to learn theirs. That's why going to tournaments has always been so fun for me. They have no idea what my A game is like.

Anyway, point is. You will get better with every minute that you spend on the mat. Maximize your time on the mat and you will get better. I don't think I've heard of anyone that just hasn't gotten better if they are putting in time an effort every week. Keep training bro!
 
tapouttazz9 said:
I'm lucky if I get side control 1 time out of a night of 3 to 4 rolls.
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That's not bad. At my academy, unless you start there (in side control) a white belt probably will not see side control for 6 months... and then not again for another 6 months (whites rarely roll with whites at my place).

tapouttazz9 said:
Bottom line is I'm tiers of getting put into mount and I'm tierd of getting put into side control you can't win there and I feel as if my defense is getting better there but not enuff to wear I'm going to be abl to make any of it turn into offense for me. From the start the other guys I roll with beat me and get me to my back and dominate me
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as has been mentioned, there is no "win" in training. your ego needs a tap, that's fine... we all need a shot of confidence from time to time. Just call a spade a spade- it is not so much that you want to get better as it is that you want to get a tap from your teammate. But the reality here is that you are probably getting way better taking your licks than your would by pinning a guy who weighs 70 pounds less. You should WANT to be on bottom against smaller guys.


Anyway, quitting is always an option.
 
So if you rarely ever get the top position, you aren't a top guy.

As its been said before, situational drilling is your friend. Its what I do when I feel like you are. Pick the spot that you had the most trouble getting out of, ask your instructor for an escape/sweep, and when you do open mat, start from that position.

example:

I was having a hard time getting out of kesa gatame. The Judo guys would hold me there and I couldnt do anything. So I asked for two escapes and when we roll in BJJ class the next day I work it with them. Starting from kesa gatame, I try to escape. If I do escape, I get right back on my back, let them take the position and do it again. If I dont escape they let me up after 25 seconds. That way when I do Judo and someone tries to pin me I'm prepared. I'll do that drill ten times, when I started it would be ten pins. A few weeks later it was 5 pins. Thats how I can tell I got better.
 
i think we have all been there...

you know how to escape and sweep but you just can't make it happen when rolling. honestly it seems like the more you train.. the more frustrated you get and the harder and harder you struggle to just survive..

for me it was the point when things were starting to click.. i just didn't have the mat time to make things work. trust me, you've only got a month or two more and you'll start suprising yourself. stick too it, train more, youll be happy you did.
 
mgbyrnc said:
technique man...
learn more techniques
learn more counters to techniques
apply them when you can
it's okay to be purely defensive at this point
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I gotta disagree with this. When I first started out, I had this idea that if I could just learn one move my instructor didn't know, if I just moved faster, or stronger, I'd get him. This isn't about who has the bigger arsenal, not when you get past the blue/purple level. It's about concepts, it's about getting the better leverage, negating your opponent's game. My instructor wasn't falling prey to my "new" stuff, because he's simply better than I was (and still is). He knew that he should keep his elbows close, posture up, etc.

As much as it sucks, it's not magic. You just gotta keep plugging away. You can plug smarter though. Do limited, goal oriented rolling. Start in the better guy's guard and go from there. When he sweeps, ask how he did it, what the key points were, and how you can prevent that. Reset, and start again, keeping your new knowledge in the fore of your mind.

Ask your training partners what they think you should work on. Their insight will be much better than our guesses will be.
 
Eh, getting defeated by guys you have 60 pounds on sounds like a strength related problem to me. To clarify, a distinct lack of it.

I know it's the worst kind of training possible, becuase ultimately it just lulls you into a flase sense of security (for when you end up going up against equally as large/strong fighters). But if you are taking your strength training seriously, then you should just be able to overpower welterweights with relative ease. They definately shouldnt be 'pushing you around'

I'm 6'4 - 247 pounds, so a fellow heavyweight. I always try to train with guys my own size becuase the smaller guys aren't much of a challenge due to the distinct strength difference.

Only you know whether you are strong or simply overweight though. If you have never even lifted a set of weights before but thought it was a good idea to become a martial artist ... then your problem is quite obvious :)

Note: I'm not saying you need to be able to bench 600 pounds before enaging in combat, but I'd be lieing if I said it didn't help. Becuase it most certainly does help to be the stronger fighter.

Hopefully I didn't offend you, I apologize if I did. But it's best to be as honest as possible to find your problem. (becuase it sounds like you have honestly thought long and hard about your technique)
 
tapouttazz9 said:
Thought it was going to help me a lot but better said than done. I picked up good stuff from it I just don't have time to use what I have read
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I don't know if you know but Lloyd Irwin is using your testimonial in his email advertising lol
 
IMO people that get dominated for longer times when starting end up passing others in the long run. You'll become more comfortable in bad situations and once you start tapping people it will seem almost effortless because you've been learning from having the techniques hammered on you for so long. Trust me, one day it's just going to "click" and you're going to be like "fuck, this easy".
 
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