How to grapple tiny people?

Inge T

Inge T

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Well, there is this girl in our class; she's trained for a few years, so she's pretty well versed in JJ, but she's also one of the smallest adults I've ever come across (I guess she weighs somewhere around 40 kg/90 lbs).

So, yesterday we rolled, and I just didn't know what to do to get anything out of it. She attempted some moves, but even though I'm pretty small and unexperienced, I could just "power" out of everything with ease, and I also got sidemount/mount at will without even using much strength. I didn't feel as if I learnt much, though.

I guess I could've played a passive defensive game and just try to keep up with her speed-wise, but it's hard to avoid using strength, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want me to go easy on her. So, how do you grapple the tiny people so that both of you learn anything from it? (On a side note there's also a tiny guy in the class, but he's a Napoleon syndrome ass, so I don't mind bullying him around and I couldn't care less about him.)

(Also, in case anyone's wondering how the sparring went: I passed her guard, got mount, went for a keylock, got bucked off (I could've stayed there, but I'm horrible from mount and she had nice technique, so I let her get me off). She then attempted the Tom Erikson/Homer Simpson choke from inside my guard, so I ankle locked her.)
 
Don't use strength. Of course you could power out of moves. Work on your technique and not even speed. Why would you use strength on a girl? How long have you been training that it's hard for you not to use strength?
 
i just bully people around who are smaller then me while we are grappling... I would look for a choke thought I have had where I was about 50-100lbs heavier then some of the guys who i rolled with and with my size and how small they were I couldnt apply a real good arm bar or such
 
Dominic Kihlstrand said:
Don't use strength. Of course you could power out of moves. Work on your technique and not even speed. Why would you use strength on a girl? How long have you been training that it's hard for you not to use strength?
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I've been training gi MMA twice a week for a few months.

And, well, when someone's as physically weak as her, most everything is too much power. And I was curious as well as to what's considered good code - I don't expect the bigger guys to go easy on me just because I'm small (and they don't), so maybe she'd feel it an insult if I wasn't doing my best.

It would also feel awkward and insulting asking her how hard she wants me to go, seeing as she's trained so much longer than me and that I'm the third smallest person in the group. She also kicked me in the head while sparring kickboxing, so she doesn't mind dishing it out.
 
Inge T said:
...I don't expect the bigger guys to go easy on me just because I'm small (and they don't), so maybe she'd feel it an insult if I wasn't doing my best...
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Perhaps not only an insult, but her success against you won't be fulfilling to her if she knows you're taking it easy on her. Isn't it way more gratifying to pull off a good move against a larger opponent who is trying hard versus the empty feeling you get by pulling off the same move against a guy "giving" it to you?

Also, as she figures out how to work against a guy like you, her technique improves. She's developing techniques against bigger stronger opponents, as she should.

It's a thin line between giving her good resistance and being an asshole though, so be considerate while going hard. It's tough to find the right balance, but you will.

Remember, you don't won't bigger opponents to take it easy on you, and she probably feels the same.
 
LCDforMe said:
Gi MMA? You might want to find a different school.
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Well, I tried what was called combat jiu-jitsu, but that was horrible. There's also a nice shootfighting gym pretty close to me, but my girlfriend's ex-boyfriend trains there, and I guess it'd feel pretty strange to pay money to get slapped around by him. I also train together with my gf, so I don't think she'd be too keen on switching either. Apart from that, there really are no other interesting schools nearby.

And what's so bad with gi MMA? We aren't allowed to hit to the head full power in competition, which I guess might seem stupid to some, but that has nothing to do with the gi.
 
Also, just before you roll you may say: "I'm going to go full power here for a bit, to give you some good resistance against a bigger partner." She may appreaciate the heads up, and it shows that you are considerate enough to aknowledge the size difference. after all, you aren't saying "I'm better than you.", you're just saying that you're bigger. After a while settle things down.
 
Inge T said:
... so I let her get me off).
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lol. Did anyone else find it funny on Bas's big dvds of combat when he was talking about escapes and said ( of his training partner) "now he's going to try as hard as he can to get me off" or am I just extremely immature.

As for small people I find powerslams work rather nicely. Actually in all seriuosness we have several girls of about that weight at one of my classes so at 170 I have to try very hard to avoid just powering straight past them. One trick I found was to only use a 2 fingered grip as this prevents me from using any real force which along with deliberatley slwonig down my ground game allows me to spar without looking like to much of a bully and lets both of us learn from the experience.
 
SmashiusClay said:
lol. Did anyone else find it funny on Bas's big dvds of combat when he was talking about escapes and said ( of his training partner) "now he's going to try as hard as he can to get me off" or am I just extremely immature.

As for small people I find powerslams work rather nicely. Actually in all seriuosness we have several girls of about that weight at one of my classes so at 170 I have to try very hard to avoid just powering straight past them. One trick I found was to only use a 2 fingered grip as this prevents me from using any real force which along with deliberatley slwonig down my ground game allows me to spar without looking like to much of a bully and lets both of us learn from the experience.
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2 fingered grip sounds like a good idea
the immature part of me wants to say 2 in the pink and 1 in the stink would be better
 
Bubble Boy said:
Perhaps not only an insult, but her success against you won't be fulfilling to her if she knows you're taking it easy on her. Isn't it way more gratifying to pull off a good move against a larger opponent who is trying hard versus the empty feeling you get by pulling off the same move against a guy "giving" it to you?

Also, as she figures out how to work against a guy like you, her technique improves. She's developing techniques against bigger stronger opponents, as she should.

It's a thin line between giving her good resistance and being an asshole though, so be considerate while going hard. It's tough to find the right balance, but you will.

Remember, you don't won't bigger opponents to take it easy on you, and she probably feels the same.
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Yes, I love sparring larger people, even though I sometimes think it's strange that they try so hard to win using power and weight alone and that they must feel stupid not kicking my ass when they're so much larger.

But as far as "a guy like me", that's a bit off. I'm a n00b to grappling, so I'm nowhere near anyone she should be proud of beating. And as far as my size, I'm 5'10, 145-ish lbs, so I'm tiny as well, but a beast compared to her.

I guess I pretty much did the right thing the last thing we rolled, but I felt it was rather for her sake of learning than mine. I think I'll work more defense and sweeps the next time, though. But I don't think I'll tell her whether I'm going full power or not, I'll just go with the flow.

SmashiusClay said:
lol. Did anyone else find it funny on Bas's big dvds of combat when he was talking about escapes and said ( of his training partner) "now he's going to try as hard as he can to get me off" or am I just extremely immature.
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Haha, sorry about that. English is not my first language, so I didn't even think about it. Damn, it's easy to make an ass out of oneself.
 
I'm only 130, so I say from experience, I hate when larger people take it easy. If I want to take pride in my technique, I'll be able to defeat larger people with pure technique and speed. As long as larger people take it easy on people like myself, I'm unable to try such strategies on a resisting opponent, and my strategies against larger opponents doesn't increase.
 
Just powerbomb her and ask your instructor for a larger opponent, maybe someone around 110?
 
infamous mattyd said:
I'm 250lbs so everyone is tiny to me
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I'm not. : )

But Inge T. When rolling with smaller people try using technique only as this will enhance your game as well as theirs. Don't ease up on the pressure though as it is bad to incorporate such habits into your game.
 
I don't care what gender you are. But I only roll with lighter people down to 66% my weight for safety's sake (I would be up to 50% heavier than them). I grappled against people more than 50% greater than my weight before, but I try not to do it a lot again for safety. I rolled with someone twice my weight, but I can only hang since I am so much quicker than him. I also rolled once with someone three times my current weight... It was NOT FUN AT ALL, so I try to stay away from those people. I am about 155 pounds.

Against much larger and smaller opponents, I try to use more technique than strength. Against larger opponents I won't be able to out power them, so it is useless to try. Against smaller opponents, they are quicker so you have to be likewise quicker to compensate. Therefore, I concentrate on technique. Against people my side, I'll go balls-to-the-walls however. ;-)
 
i dont see why you cant just move smooth and fluent without using strength... its called control.

If she gives you submissions take them but only right.. dont force things. If it doesnt work go to something else. It will teach you to flow from one move to another , and get a feel for when you should give up on one sub and go for the next in a full on fight.
 
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