Question

[Andy]

Ari, lately I've been just sort of grappling with a friend of mine for fun, but he's about 50-60 lbs heavier than me, and a lot stronger. I know that in things like jiu-jitsu that you're suppose to rely more on leverage than fighting strength with strength, but I'm kind of having trouble with that. I just can't seem to keep him down at all to get him into any kind of hold. I usually end up with him in my guard, and from there I'm pretty much pinned. If I try going for one of his arms he usually just sits back and breaks my guard, or we start struggling, and I start scrambling to get him locked down again. He's not the type that really goes for a submission though he will only if it's wide open, but other than that, he just goes down heavy on me and I can't seem to do much. I try to shrimp out but he just stays right on top of me. I can't seem to control him at all, he's stronger, bigger, and heavier than me. What can I do to avoid having to use strength vs strength with him, and what's a better method to which I could control him with? I can't sweep out from underneath him because as soon as I post my feet on his hips he pushes them off and moves up with me, and I can hardly control his body, I've also tried doing different types of sweeps as well, but no luck. I was just wondering if I could get advice on dealing with this, on how to deal with him from guard most likely, and how to avoid using strength vs strength.

Thanks,
Andy

[Ari Bolden]

Andy:

The simple answer is: Do mad reps on a couple of sweeps with the guy. There isn't a magic bullet in JJ. Mat time equals tap time. Spening hundreds of hours on the mat get's you better. You start to understand your body and how other people move. You begin to add weapons to your JJ vault.

Remember, all things being equal, the heavier and stronger guy will usually win. But, putting in crazy hours on the mat teaches you technique to EQUALIZE and then over take the heavier guy.

Is he bigger and thus slower? Can you ge his back? Can you start faking a move and go for something else? Have you tried a half guard game? Rubber guard stuff? Have you tried to chain your attacks one after the other? Can you start to anticipate his next move?

I tell my students " the mark of a good martial artist is someone who can TRANSITION between moves quickly and not fixate on just one. Remember, it's a chess match and you have to see the board and 4 moves ahead. Start building a game plan."

cheers
Ari

[Hadaka Jime]

going off of what ari said, a huge thing is transitioning from technique to technique...

If you watch Frank Shamrock in his win by heel hook over Dan Henderson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUanusYxDhE) you see he throws 3 submissions in a row and ends up landing 1 and winning the match over a great wrestler, making it look easy

another thing is, sometimes you must be stubborn trying to get a technique, and sometimes no when you lost the hold and move to the next technique

EXAMPLE: when i go for a kimura from my guard, and am stopped, i roll and push and go into an omoplata or allmost an inverted kimura similar to what royce gracie did in his win over akebono (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4754358887413654428&q=royce+gracie+vs+akebono&total=13&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0)
you can see he tries for the original kimura and shows it but inverts and goes with a different angle using the legs to lock in first then finish with the arms

I started doing jiu jitsu with my brother, when i was around 14... and i was 140 (strong/athletic) and he was 205 (strong/slower) so i was able to get his back standing and i have very strong legs and my main takedowns are slams that usually land me with the back position, so bam...

i'd go right for the RNC when i hit the ground and worked on getting strong arms and working on choking power... similar to eddie bravos lesson on the practicing chokes on your knee etc... if you can, while standing go for the back get a slam and fall hard ontop of your oppenents back, RNC hooks in sink it deep and put them to sleep

Hopefully something up there helped, and good luck

-Hadaka Jime-