Good drills to improve rolling?

GroundthenPound

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Kinda like how strikers hit the bag, speed bag, shadow box, etc..

So far the only drill I know of is, with the heavy bag on the ground you practice mount, going from side to side, moving quick and keeping the intensity hard, and practicing all the positions from side/mount. It has helped my game A LOT i've noticed my cardio while rolling has gotten better, and it's easier to roll around since I practice the movement. But that's all I know, any other kinds of drills or exercises I can do?
 
Well..yeah I do roll with people, but im not able to constantly roll with a person unless im in class. This is more for when im alone working out
 
Tumbling and gymnastics. Seriously. Work on shoulder rolls, cartwheels, round-offs, walking on your hands, handstand push-ups, ring dips, iron crosses, whatever. I've been doing basic tumbling and I've just started to incorporate some work with those gymnastic rings. (Basic stuff; mainly pull-ups, muscle-ups, and ring dips) Your balance, coordination, kinesthetic awareness, and strength will all improve.

Also shrimping, stand-ups, sidemount escapes, neck bridges, bridges, sprawls, penetration steps, and matador guard passes on the heavy bag will all help. Abdominal work will help with your guard game, and no I don't mean a million crunches. Do variations of leg lifts, flutter kicks, etc.

Try getting your heart rate up real high by doing lots of sprawls and penetration steps. When you feel like you're really sucking wind, get in a sprawl position, but rest all your weight through your chest on a heavy bag, so it compresses your lungs. You can also lie on your back and bring your legs over your head. This will get you used to being tired and out of breath and then stuck in uncomfortable positions. Your ability to relax in situations like this makes a big difference in how well you do.

You can make yourself a grappling dummy for pretty cheap, and just practice moves over and over on it. You can't really do much guard/bottom work, but it's great for leglocks and submissions from the top.

Weight training, of course, will make a big difference. Look in the strength and power discussion for tips. You can use weights either to build strength and raw power, or you can do hardcore circuit-type workouts to increase your lactic acid endurance and anaerobic endurance. I suggest a combination of both.

Studying instructionals and fights works big time. I can't tell you how much it's helped me to either watch an instructional video, or constantly rewind parts of a fight to see how someone set up a submission, sweep, KO combination, or whatever. You don't necessarily need to look for instructionals with lots of crazy new moves. If you're an advanced level grappler, start looking at those moves, but if not, just find good instruction on the basics. An example is the basic knee-in-butt guard break. I never used to get this, and people in the gym struggle with it. After watching instructionals, and reading about the move on the internet, I made a mental note of all little parts of the move. Now, when I use this move in the gym, I can break open the guards of the guys on the fight team.

Put all those together and you shouldn't have much trouble figuring out what to do when you're not on the mat. And hey, everyone wants to just roll when they get in the gym. Don't get me wrong, it will make you improve real fast, but you gotta drill, too. Rolling's much more fun, but drilling moves and different areas of the game will make you better. Try to include both in a training session.
 
GroundthenPound said:
Well..yeah I do roll with people, but im not able to constantly roll with a person unless im in class. This is more for when im alone working out

the search button does wonders...reading other threads with the exact same topic as yours just might answer your question
 
sprawls are greeat as well as the penetration steps that were mentioned, that heavybag drill you mentioned is a really great drill. You can also practice monkey rolls, sit outs, switches, granby rolls, pyramids, you can even do armbars of the bag. Hip hops are a great drill as well, because of them I can get out of the mount even good guys are on top.
 
Bas Rutten has a bunch of great rolling drills on his DVD set (most of it is under "Japanese Warmup"). Iceman covered a lot of it, but the DVDs will show you how to do stuff if you don't recognize some of the names.

Lotsa variations of shrimping can be done alone, too. Shrimp down the mat and back again, etc.
 
Ok, I do some sprawling, penetration steps, and bridges, but every time I see these threads I wonder what some of the exercises mentioned are, such as the following:

"monkey rolls, sit outs, switches, granby rolls, pyramids"

Are there any links someone can provide to written or visual instruction on these drills?
 
Iceman has some great posts. He keeps impressing me. Thanks for those suggestions. I've been looking for some different drills to do, especially considering I don't get to roll all that often.
 
Penetrating shots, handfighting before a takedown, rolling/tumbling/cartwheels are all part of my game. I also like drilling armbars from guard, more the fluid spinning motion on the small of your back. Too many guys fight flat on their back and don't work the fluid movement, whichis essential to guard fighting.

- J.
 
triso said:
Ok, I do some sprawling, penetration steps, and bridges, but every time I see these threads I wonder what some of the exercises mentioned are, such as the following:

"monkey rolls, sit outs, switches, granby rolls, pyramids"

Are there any links someone can provide to written or visual instruction on these drills?


SOme of those can be found as Wrestlingsbest.com, monkey rolls are when you roll between your own legs like a rollthrough kneebar. Pyramids are when your are on all fours and pop up on your hind legs, great to get someone off of your back. Hope these descriptions help.
 
Spoonman7 said:
SOme of those can be found as Wrestlingsbest.com, monkey rolls are when you roll between your own legs like a rollthrough kneebar. Pyramids are when your are on all fours and pop up on your hind legs, great to get someone off of your back. Hope these descriptions help.
I always thought monkey rolls were a three-person drill: One person rolls, the next person jumps over and rolls the opposite way, the third person does that from the opposite direction, and so on...

I thought pyramids were a way of drilling: Do 1, then 2, then 3... then 9, then 10, then 9... then 3, then 2, then 1.
 
nah monkey rolls are when for example if some one has your back and youare on all fours you throw your body under you legs in a forward rolling motion and try and grab their knee or leg
 
well where you train and where everyone i train their might be different names for the same technique but the concept is the same
 
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