Not using strength!

Steve3730

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Anyone ever get annoyed when after rolling with people they tell you "you are just to strong" and kind of use that as an excuse to why you beat them in sparring? none of the other bluebelts at our school say it but I hear it from whitebelts all the time. After a while it gets annoying to me.
 
Nope, doesn't bother me... just tell'em "yea it must suck being weak, can't imagine what that would be like".
 
i get that almost everytime i roll... "your strong, stronger than you look" ect... doesnt bother me tho.

why would it? thats a good thing..... just say thanks
 
I've come to a turning point in my BJJ game now. I used to never use my strength for moves and only work moves that didn't require much. Because of some philosophical reasoning(probably because Jui Jitsu means gentle art).

Just lost my first fight two weeks ago and I really was disappointed because I didn't push for submissions I just tried to wait for him to make a mistake. Well fight ended and his hand was raised.

It's time to crush now. I am going to be using strength at maximum when it comes to submissions now. Sure it will improve my cardio a lot also. Doesn't mean I am going to injure my training partners though, but I am going to be putting the heat on people for now on.
 
Yh when people say you dont need strength its annoying, obv JUST strength is useless but when ya got technique it helps alot.
Unfortunatly even tho i may be slightly strong in my own weight i dont see many in my class so i kinda see were strength can be useful.
 
I've come to a turning point in my BJJ game now. I used to never use my strength for moves and only work moves that didn't require much. Because of some philosophical reasoning(probably because Jui Jitsu means gentle art).

Just lost my first fight two weeks ago and I really was disappointed because I didn't push for submissions I just tried to wait for him to make a mistake. Well fight ended and his hand was raised.

It's time to crush now. I am going to be using strength at maximum when it comes to submissions now. Sure it will improve my cardio a lot also. Doesn't mean I am going to injure my training partners though, but I am going to be putting the heat on people for now on.

Fighting tenaciously and using strength are not the same thing.

I agree that always going with the flow can lead to a wait-and-see attitude which can be detrimental.

But you should be focusing on imposing your GAME not on imposing your physical STRENGTH.

The reason why the mantra "don't use force" holds true in my opinion is because there is so much to learn in jiu jitsu and it is the little details that make a BIG difference.
By focusing on the technical aspects you gain a lot over time.
If you always focus on executing a technique better, with less effort and more precisely you will become really good at jiu jitsu. If you just focus on doing the same technique harder, faster, more explosively, you gain a little but you don't make your jiu jitsu better.
 
from the small guy's point of view it's just their way of venting out frustration. i've never really said someone was strong and used that as a reason for beating me. maybe you're just really strong in base or something like that. if you're worried about people saying you use too much strength, then just don't use strength. but i'm sure you're 50% is my 70% in terms of strength.
 
I love it when people who are actualy stronger than me use teh "you are stronger" argument. Bc that means i hez better techniqe
 
Since I'm a lightweight people tend not to use that one on me. Instead I get the usual lightweight excuses instead:

I am too fast
I am too "slippery"
I am too flexible
I have too much cardio
 
Also, sparring in the gym should not (always) be about winning and losing.

If I fight a blue belt that is much stronger and heavier than me, he might beat me, or i might not be able to tap him. Especially when he is fighting like it is the Mundials.

Did he beat me because of strength? Maybe, but the realitiy is that I didn't find a way to beat him with my jiu jitsu. So he beat me fair and square.

The REAL question is, what did we both learn from the roll?
More often than not, it is not as much as we both could have taken away from it.
Maybe I had to fight like a bat out of hell myself, just to not get mauled or injured, so my technique went out the window.

Maybe he swept me from sidemount by hulking me over, now thinking it is a great technique. But if he tries the same on someone his size, he will fail. He could have used our roll to work on finding a better answer to escaping sidemount.

More often than not, variations of the above scenario apply.
 
Fighting tenaciously and using strength are not the same thing.

I agree that always going with the flow can lead to a wait-and-see attitude which can be detrimental.

But you should be focusing on imposing your GAME not on imposing your physical STRENGTH.

I dunno I have this weird deep down satisfaction that is dependant on how I accomplish something. From the beginning of BJJ, a move that required skill and technique made me more happy when finished than something anyone could do( I suffer now because simple things like guillotines I am horrible at!) I am changing my philosophy in hopes to bring out some different side of my BJJ game now that I can apply to my MMA career.
 
As much as people say it's not important strength is very important. There is a whitebelt I train with who very strong, he's built like a tank. All he uses is strength. But when his technique catches up he's gonna be a beast.
 
I'm the lightest whitebelt and probably lightest person where I practice so I do believe that I lose sometimes due to strength and size of the other guy (especially against other whitebelts). But it is obvious when I am simply outclassed and when I get outmuscled. I never say anything about being the smaller guy right after we roll. I sometimes mention that I just couldn't get them off of me because of their strong top control which in many cases is because of the weight advantage (I don't mention the weight part). Since I am a whitebelt I have trouble dealing with people who are much stronger even if they are the same rank as I am. It is a much different feeling getting schooled by a higher ranked person compared to getting outmuscled by a fellow whitebelt.
 
people always comment on how strong i am, but actually im really not all that strong. 90% of the people in my weight class for bjj and/or wrestling bench press and squat and all that much more than me, but i learned good positioning to make up for my lack of athleticism which makes me feel strong even though im really not.

it does feel nice to have a guy who benches 300 something tell me im strong...:icon_chee
 
I get the small guy opposite. Squirmy, Wiry, and crazy. People should play to their strengths but not rely on them. Size and strength absolutely make a difference.
 
once you put leverage + strengh together = worried look and response from white belts.
 
As much as people say it's not important strength is very important. There is a whitebelt I train with who very strong, he's built like a tank. All he uses is strength. But when his technique catches up he's gonna be a beast.

the problem with newbie using strength to compensate wich is normal since they don't have much technique can sometime make their progress slower because they can beat other white belt by imposing the 1 or 2 moves they know.

Anyway using strength or any other attribute isn't a problem when its used at the right time and it obviously help. Match will never be decided 100% on pure bjj technique.

In short ppl that are strong should still try to use timing, momentum, opportunity, etc to become better at bjj but using their strength at the right time is fine.

PS: only in BJJ someone can tell you wow you are so strong and he mean it as an insult :p
 
Umm if I'm giving up 50+ lbs and the guy just literally muscles shit I can say he is strong. I agree it's probably overused but still sometimes it's not an excuse but a statement of fact.
 
I don't really get that comment much because I rarely use brute strength outside of maintaining my grip. The problem I face right now is finding the right level of strength to use while sparring in order to get the best results in applying technique. I've either overdone it and gassed myself out trying to force things or I've turned the dial back too far and end up spending the entire round playing defense.

Thinking about it, though, I realize that I only have this problem rolling with other white belts. When I roll with any of our blue belts I'm able to find an appropriate strength level 9 times out of 10.

*shrug* :icon_conf
 
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