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It hurts to grapple, I don’t know why that surprises people, but it does. We play a giant game of mercy after all. You may want it to be different, but the reality of combat is doing harm to someone else. It is only the gentle art because it’s weaponless. It is still meant to incapacitate and hurt if not kill, I know we all want a Jiu Jitsu for everyone, but being comfortable and being effective don’t really coexist in what we do.
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There is a saying that “when the student is ready, the master will appear”. I’m no master, for the love of God don’t call me that, but it is true that no knowledge will come if you are not ready to learn. I say pretty much the same things and give out the same information all day every day, but it will only click when you are ready to absorb the information. I have become known for my scissor sweep, but I only started being reasonably good at it six or seven years into training. I only really started having success with the north south choke three or four years ago. I feel like I’ve figured out more post black belt than I did in the 14 years before. No matter how much wisdom your coaches impart on you, if you’re not ready for it, it’s not going to do anything.
Nothing about this looks good for him or the people involved. If there’s any place where someone should expect backlash for not meeting a standard, it’s in the Jiu Jitsu community. I hope he does “know more than most black belts” he certainly paid to. The issue is it doesn’t show up in video. Anyone can make it look like they know what they’re doing on video if they’re actually a black belt regardless of whatever limitations they have. That’s not the case here, any video of him drilling doesn’t look like he understands what he’s doing at all Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt level and in my room, I would debate he is at a blue belt from what I’ve seen. Now he rage quits grappling days after receiving his belt? None of it looks good. Hopefully, this sparks a larger conversation about whether commercialization to the masses is what we seek for what we do.
The modern guard pull is dynamic. You must beat your opposition to the pull and statistically you need to be first to have the best chance at winning. If pulling guard is what you choose in the modern grappling game, then a grip and sit or jump are the best current options. There is no room for timidity or delay of action unfortunately. Whatever your neutral strategy is, be first and be decisive.
https://www.youtube.com/live/U7vk8fz-Oao?si=mXVFs_8QyaUQbFYt
https://youtu.be/b3R0K34hxaE?si=R6iomAk6FW14LFai 1a. Inside position- maintain leg control
1b. Free legs 1c. Double outside- straight ankle lock 1d. Free legs 2a. Standing 50/50- straight ankle lock 2b. Free legs 2c. Single leg x- straight ankle lock 2d. Free legs 3a. X- straight ankle lock 3b. Free legs 3c. Shin on shin- straight ankle lock 3d. Free legs 4a. Up- straight ankle lock 4b. Down- sweep or sub 4c. Down- straight ankle lock 4d. Up- pass to finish 5a. Football grip 5b. 5c. Torture rack 5d. 6a. Mid-duck 6b. 6c. Ankle grip 6d. 7a. Tripod 7b. 7c. TCL 7d. 8a. Short x 8b. 8c. Long x 8d. I’m on the periphery. Even among Jiu Jitsu coaches, the list of people who are running 20 classes a week solo is small. If you ever wonder why you don’t see consistent morning classes, it’s because one person can’t and shouldn’t do everything, but nobody cares as much as the person running the ship. Most coaches want to have lives and running a gym isn’t always conducive to that. Even if you have help, you won’t always have someone to cover classes. That means you’ll need to step up. Pallaton has multiple black belts and when Sal goes away for military duty, it’s still hard to find coverage sometimes. If you think you want to run a school, shadow your coaches, yes plural. Even if it’s just for the classes, be there when they’re there, and then realize that those 20 hours a week don’t include anything else they do to keep things running. Where you see a cushy part time job, they’re putting in 40-60-80 hours a week. Be kind.
There’s a lot of Jiu Jitsu that’s not part of my game. It may not be something that works for my body style, something I just haven’t figured out, or something I just don’t like, but there are plenty of things that work well at a high level that I don’t do. It is still my job to expose you to those things and work on them with you. If you know how to attack with something you can also defend it and vice versa. You won’t like everything you have to do; you won’t play everything we work on, but more knowledge is usually better than less.
You already know how to do Jiu Jitsu before you ever step on the mat. You know how limbs bend and you know why people fall over, once you figure out how to obstruct the carotid arteries, that’s all the things we do. So really it’s just refinement of skills you already have. People say Michelangelo just exposed the statue that was already in the marble and didn’t force a statue out of it. The statue is already within you, you already have the base skills, now you just need to bring them back out clean them up.
You should be able to figure out grappling. It is a far simpler task than most sports and there is a wealth of free information at your disposal. There is no reason that if you are training for an extended period of time that you can’t use the tools at your disposal to get better. I started Jiu Jitsu before the iPhone existed, the internet was not pushing out the grappling library it is now, I taught myself x-guard from a Marcelo Garcia book. You can figure out so many things in your time away from the gym, so the only reason you don’t is that it’s a choice you make. What if you watched one YouTube video a day on a Jiu Jitsu topic you are interested in? I bet it would improve your game. What if you said I want games developed around this concept? More improvements, I’m sure. As a curmudgeonly pre-ultimate fighter practitioner, I urge you not to squander the gift that is our modern grappling world.
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AuthorThis is the blog page of Chuva BJJ. It's where you will find information that seems pertinent to the academy. Archives
July 2025
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