Sparring with stronger people

I'm a little bigger than you (5' 7", 155-160), but I'm still among the smaller guys at my academy.

My guard is 90% half-guard, which I like using against bigger, stronger guys because I can get small and attack their hips with half guard sweeps a lot easier.

One big difference is that I use a lot more butterfly hooks against bigger guys. I want to keep their weight off of me. So closed guards and rubber guards aren't the sort of thing I go for when I'm up against a sparring partner who is much heavier than me.
 
boxerz said:
I'm only 5'6" 145lbs and cutting so I'm generally smaller than most of the people I roll with. I end up rolling with guys a lot bigger and stronger and a lot of the times I feel like a rag doll not able to get anywhere. Some guys go light but still they won't let you get anywhere so I feel like I'm not able to use any of the techniques I learn.

Well anyway, people keep saying to me, if you roll with stronger guys, you get better. I find this statement so wrong. It's like you are able to bench 225lbs max but they set 250lbs on the bar and it's not possible to gain any strength when you can't even get the bar off your chest.

I believe as for strength/endurance progression, you have to fight someone on your level or slightly above your level. That way you have a chance of a struggle going both ways. I rolled against a weaker guy but he is far more technical and experienced. I was able to use the half guard pass technique that we learned that day. I managed to pass his half guard and get into sidemount and finished with an arm triangle. I was able to use something I learned because I wasn't dominated by someone so much stronger than me. Does anyone else feel this way?
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I understand how you feel. I'm 5'6'' and 120lb on a good day, plus I'm the only female at my gym.
People say your only as good as your training partners, but it's been the better part of a year and i no longer have problems tapping out guys that out weigh me and rank lower than i do.
On the up side when i do compete against other girls close to my size and skill level i do very well. it'll pay off if your dedicated enough to get your ass kicked every time you show up to the gym and keep going back.
 
as a smaller guy myself (5'8", 140)...if you disregard the advice to stay on top, you're being foolish. You HAVE to learn to use across side and north south. what will likely help someone of your stature the most is to learn to play a half guard/butterfly guard game from bottom. short limbs on the bottom are a bitch to try and submit someone with. You should be playing side with you head side arm OVER (as if going for a kimura) and your hip side arm blocking the near hip. This let's you walk freely between across side (on both sides) and north south. You should also have you're legs extended with your knees OFF the ground so that you can apply what little weight you have (145 can feel like a lot of you do it right). Hope that helps?
 
I train with 2 guys that are brothers. One is a pretty dominant big strong wrestler. The other will triangle people all day. The brother that's a wrestler will tell you that he has been putting his bro on his back for so many years that he is now mad dangerous from his back as he is so used to a bigger stronger guy being in his guard and not being able to muscle through his sweeps and escapes.
 
It's a mistake to train with people so much bigger or better than you all the time, particularly if you're a white or blue belt. You risk a lot more injuries, you don't get to work on many aspects if you're always just trying to hang on from the bottom, and it's not that much fun to train that way.
 
It's not much fun, but to say you don't learn anything is 100% wrong. I'm really lanky and also about 140lbs, and I got tooled by big guys (200lbs+) at my gym for a LONG time. They still tool me if they are fairly skilled, but they have made me get really good at some things. My side control and mount escapes are probably the single best part of my game. My guard is really good too. I learn more from rolling with them than they learn from me, I think. I'm certainly improving faster than most of them are.
 
I agree somewhat with the OP, but from the opposite perspective - I feel like I can match most guys even SHW in strength, and a lot of the time in rolling I don't care about falling into triangles or even armbars against a lot of guys because I can use more force than they can handle in making things uncomfortable for them or stack them on their neck, or roll out / arm muscle out.
 
ChopSteak said:
I agree somewhat with the OP, but from the opposite perspective - I feel like I can match most guys even SHW in strength, and a lot of the time in rolling I don't care about falling into triangles or even armbars against a lot of guys because I can use more force than they can handle in making things uncomfortable for them or stack them on their neck, or roll out / arm muscle out.
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You are awful.
 
Czyivn said:
It's not much fun, but to say you don't learn anything is 100% wrong. I'm really lanky and also about 140lbs, and I got tooled by big guys (200lbs+) at my gym for a LONG time. They still tool me if they are fairly skilled, but they have made me get really good at some things. My side control and mount escapes are probably the single best part of my game. My guard is really good too. I learn more from rolling with them than they learn from me, I think. I'm certainly improving faster than most of them are.
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Who ever said "you don't learn anything"?
Anyway, you sound like kind of a BJJ prodigy -- the one in a million exception. Not everyone's guard is really good and not everyone improves as fast as you. So you shouldn't expect your experience to translate to mere mortals.
 
Coming from the perspective of a heavier guy, you don't want to be on the bottom. Most guys I roll with gas pretty quick from having to move with my weight on them all the time. I've experienced rolling with guys my size and I gas faster that way too. If you can stay on top the big guy will gas first and you will probably still have mucho energy.

Just my 2 centavos
 
Saith said:
Coming from the perspective of a heavier guy, you don't want to be on the bottom. Most guys I roll with gas pretty quick from having to move with my weight on them all the time. I've experienced rolling with guys my size and I gas faster that way too. If you can stay on top the big guy will gas first and you will probably still have mucho energy.

Just my 2 centavos
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Sorry no way I can agree with this, open guard is the least tiring vs larger opponents. Assuming you aren't a closed guard moron that has no open guard that is.
 
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