Esther Tang sums it up - Insist!

I was reading Esther Tang's BJJ blog "Postura" and came across this nugget of wisdom:

"My blue belt was defined by the word 'insist'. One of the most important things I learnt as a blue belt was that I had to always insist on positions, believe in them and execute them with a 'full heart'. If I'm going for a pass, keep pressuring until I've established it; if I'm going for a choke keep holding until my opponent taps. Never stop until the position has been conquered."


A perfect quote to sum up my latest aim of staying on top and maintaining the attack.
I don't know Esther, and I hope she doesn't mind my borrowing of her words, but she has eloquently condensed my current vein of BJJ thinking into a single inspirational word. Thanks!

The rest of Esther's blog entry discusses her own approach to applying this in training. Read it!
http://esthertangbjj.blogspot.com/2009/07/insist.html

Stay on top!

I've recently had my eyes opened (through training at Factory) as to what type of Jiu Jitsu player I am.
And it turns out I'm a counter-fighter - usually letting any opponent/sparring partner dictate the positional outcome of any roll - albeit subconsciously - and reacting to their choices rather than insisting on a dominant position.
I had never really thought about my game at this level before - I was just happy to roll, see what my partner did, and look for opportunities.

But having been comprehensively tooled twice in the past fortnight by James Nardone and his trapped-under-the-wheels-of-a-transit-van pressure game, I'm realising that I need to act rather than react and limit people's options.

I play a defensive game on the whole, because in the past I've always been outweighed in training and largely out-muscled, so rather than burn-out in an uneven fight for top position, I've been guilty of being conservative and playing a waiting game from my back.

This has left little room for any real development of my top game, and combined with any opponent whose top game outweighs my defence, I'm left with little in the way of advantage.

After sparring with James, he put it simply: "Your defence is great, but you need to be more pro-active - I didn't feel threatened at all. You need to put the pressure on me and shut my game down."

I suppose its a case of the age-old theory of removing yourself from your comfort zone to progress, but from now on I'll be aiming to stay on top and attack like a B-movie zombie on e-numbers.

For inspiration, I'll be applying the words of Chris Haueter at a recent seminar - "If I find myself on the bottom, it's usually 'cause I've screwed something up."