Mastering the Basics is Key

Lately, I’ve been busy with schoolwork and finishing up the book I’ve been writing and just haven’t been able to hit the mats as much as I would have liked.  Im almost dreading getting back on the mats because I know my mental and physical response times will be a little off and rolling will somewhat test my ego on dealing with a struggle of a slightly decreased fitness level.

So to deal with some of the issues of having to take time off of Jiu Jitsu because of injuries,  family commitments or just life’s general issues, I always try to perform some solo Jiu Jitsu drills on my floor each night just so that common movements like shrimping stay fresh on the tip of my mind’s neurons. But what really helps me to stay “ready” is that I try to watch grappling matches everyday to keep my mind sharp and reacting to various movements.  I go to local weekend tournaments or just YouTube a good jiu Jitsu matchup when I have the chance.

So, you know how you watch a scary movie and jump when the monster pops out, although you know it isn’t real… or seen the person that watches a sports contest and they mirror the upper body movements of the active player as they watch the game from their chair?  It’s the same thing for me when I look at various Jiu Jitsu matches. I find myself twitching and squirming in my chair with every move of the fighters.  And to my mind…I’m in and reacting to the fight.

I don’t have one fighter I like more than another so I just try to watch the masters play the game.  But I don’t just watch the black belt’s matches. I watch the greats when they were at lower belts.  I like to check out through their progression over the years and addition of certain techniques to their “game” as well as their proficiency at using the basics we are all taught in roughly our first year of traveling the bjj journey.  This always reminds me of what my first professor taught me.

At my first BJJ World championship in 2013, my professor pressed me to watch the black belt competitions carefully.  When I returned home, he asked me what did I think of seeing the world’s best compete.  I remember telling him that the lower belts were more exciting because of the unpredictability of their “style” and the crazy techniques attempted.  However, the black belt matches were good but there were very few “Hollywood” techniques.  I say ‘Hollywood” to reference the flying armbars and cartwheels and such that you would see in a martial arts movie.  In fact, what I saw was a lot of the basics being performed by the black belts just at a higher level of proficiency and accuracy than the lower belts…to which my professor responded, “exactly!”

The moves don’t change throughout the journey of Jiu Jitsu.  We place people in a guard, they try to escape, we try to apply a submission, we try to get better angles, we escape guard, get into half guard, protect the neck, try to make side control…if you play the game, then you know it’s the same movements repeatedly.  There are some different moves and submission traps here and there but all in all, it the basics that build into something that looks like it’s a long way from where we started as white belts.

The basics of the fight game don’t change because human reactions to fighting haven’t changed. The fighter that becomes proficient in predicting those reactions of the other fighter will find themselves in a good position against almost any other opponent on the mat.  I believe this proficiency comes from regular expression of repetitive movements, also known as practice, coupled with the continuous observation of those predictions and reactions made in every match.  With time, the full guard control becomes a little tighter, the elbows stay closer to the body and the 100 kilos side control a little heavier, but it’s still the same basics I learned my first year…just done correctly.

Nothing’s wrong with learning and practicing the “Hollywood” techniques but its proficiency at the basics that I usually see at the top of the podium after these matches.