Patience

Today I had a rolling session with two of my BJJ students, Mollie Porter and Caleb Hudson. They are both white belts, but Caleb is literally a week away from his blue. They both just worked out of basic positions and primarily focused on re-gaining the half guard and working to a sweep.

Mollie was under Caleb after regaining half guard from the side mount. She lowered her head in and tucked into his legs while shooting her bottom arm under the legs to grab the hips. When she did this, she worked up some momentum and tried to roll over for the sweep (diaper grab as I call it). When it did not work, although she used the right technique, Mollie became very agitated and said that she cant seem to do something as we are coaching her through it.

This is a very common problem for most everyone who has ever rolled. The key to making a move work, outside of correct technique, is just repitition.

Do you have a particular move that you know would get a sweep, submission, or better control, but when you do it, it doesnt seem to work?

DONT GIVE UP ON THE MOVE!

Caleb had an insightful remark today in which he said, "did you get a Kimura the first time you ever tried it? Probly not, but you didnt just throw it out."

This is a basic philosophy for BJJ that will benefit any practitioner. You need a drill or positional scenario to do that move over and over until it feels comfortable....and then do it about 100 more times!

A good example of this from both top and bottom perspective is:

You are in top side mount position and move to twister side control. You are keeping the hips blocked with your outside arm and keeping a frame on the opponents arm with your elbow in the armpit. With him struggling, slowly sneak in a north/south choke (monson choke) to submit.

If you force this move, you will not only lose the submission, but you have a great potential to get rolled to your back and he will then gain side mount without any resistance.

Bottom man:

Slow steady shrimping movements and protect the outside arm. If it takes fifty small moves to shrimp and sit-up to reverse the position, then so be it.

Dont be afraid to be caught in a bad spot. Work through your position in as much time as you need. If it takes 10 minutes to get out, then next time, try to get out in 9, then 8, and so on.

- Keep on the Path