The best thing about grappling....

[Higher Learning]

I have been doing jiujitsu for a few years now and day in day out I think there are a lot of things I love about the sport but i have really come to realise over the last 6 months that the part I love the most is also the part that helps me learn and progress more than anything else.

I think there are several really important ways to learn and improve in grappling… Listening to your coach and teammates, drilling (always drilling!), rolling with higher belts & lower belts and competing are all really vital tools & are often fun as well.

But the one thing I think drives me the most and also makes me enjoy the sport more than anything else is those gym wars… you know they guys you train with that are so close to your level technically & physically and have trained with you every fkn class for years. They know your game inside out, know all your tricks and favourite positions & you know theirs.

There are a few guys I train with where we will literally roll intensely for 20-30min at a time with no one getting real dominance and constant position changes, passes, escapes, sweeps and nears subs. It makes you bring everything more than any timed, scored comp match ever can… especially when you are very competitive and know each other well enough as training partners to go 100% and stay safe, these are the times when you leave it all on the mat….

Anyone agree with me on this being the best part about grappling?

 

[Jagcorps_esq]

I know what you mean.

I don't really feel that I know a technique until I can pull it off on certain guys in my gym (which sadly means that I "know" very little, by my own definition).

 

[blfdgrappler]

It's so hard to pick the best part about grappling.... I love so much about it! But I agree with you that I feel the best after a night grappling with my buds where we go all out and can barely walk up the stairs to our cars when we are done! In particular, I have a buddy about my same weight class and skill level. We are both very technical. We can roll nonstop for almost forever, and it seems like we work almost every position and every aspect of our games. That is very fulfilling to me. Win or lose, I love those rolls where I get to use tons of techniques (sweeps, passes, escapes, etc.), and the positions seem to change fluidly. I find those days the most gratifying.

 

[dazed863]

i've been grappling seriously for 9 months now and things are starting to really click for me.

but the beautiful part of grappling for me is knowing that i don't stand a chance against someone wearing a purple belt in my gym. it's so amazing to know that there is so much to learn and the art is so intense 10 hard years on the mat day and night can't teach you everything.

 

[Nulhacky]

I know what you mean. Nobody at my gym really. But my brother.(who trains at a different gym)Whenever we get together, we can go forever. I always get him in the end though(because I've got OLD strength) but there's something crazy about when we roll...like the first submission is always going to be escaped. No matter what. Even if you think you have it super deep, the other person always escapes and then the fight continues for another 20 minutes.

 

[platfox]

There are a handful of guys I roll hard with every time we roll. We are approximately the same size and skill level. Also Like HL mentioned, you start to get to know each other's game so it forces you to be sharper if you want to pull off a sweep or sub against someone who's seen it a million times.

We go hard but we don't crank subs.