Reaping

​One of the hardest parts of competition Jiu Jitsu for people to grasp is reaping. For me the easiest way to think about it is am I or could I be applying pressure on the outside of the knee towards the inside of the body? If so, I assume I’m reaping. What is difficult is the lack of a unified ruleset and the desire for hobbyist practitioners to do the things professional competitors do. You should learn leg locks, but if you are not seeking elite level adult competition, your time is better served on the multitude of skills you can use before you get to brown belt. Make your guard passing good, make your upper body submissions good, make your escapes good, because at a low level the things you can do to control people when falling back on a leg lock are much more limited than you might want. Make sure how you’re training makes sense, focus your energy in a direction that benefits both your long term and short-term goals. It may not be pretty, but dominant positional control never goes out of style.