I came across this quote from Helio Gracie, “Always assume that your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger and faster than you; so that you learn to rely on technique, timing and leverage rather than brute strength.” Reading it, I got to thinking about what he said and what I’ve read up on in regard to the history of Jiu-Jitsu. The beauty of Jiu-Jitsu is that it was designed for the little guy. It was an art the yielded to the strengths of your opponent and exploited their weaknesses.
On the mats, I always assume that my opponent is going to be more skilled than I. With the exception of maybe first year white belts with no prior experience, I always assume that my opponent’s technical skills will be greater than mine. This may not be the best school of thought, but for me, I know that I will have to not only use good technique, but also attempt to mask it and use bait to capitalize on my opponent’s reactions. Let me be clear, I do not go into a roll assuming that my opponent will “beat” me just that they are better than I.
But I don’t think Helio said this in reference to the Americanized Jiu-Jitsu academy/gym model. He was very likely referring to either street fights, vale tudo bouts or the Gracie Challenge. In these scenarios, you seldom had a say in who your opponent was. So, let’s break this down a bit.
Assumption #1: Your opponent will be bigger than you.
This can be extremely frustrating, even when the opponent is untrained. Add a little skill to that size and you are essentially doomed. I recently read somewhere, one of the Gracie’s has this rule of thumb about size and age. It was something like for every 20 pounds your trained opponent has on you, you can add a belt advantage. And I think that makes sense. I frequently roll with a few fellow blue belts who have 20 or 40 pounds on me, and it feels like I’m rolling a higher-level belt. Yes, some may be skill in different aspects of the game, but some has to be chalked up to size. I don’t avoid rolls with heavier class teammates (unless it’s back-to-back, then I’ll try to find some reprieve), but I know and understand that higher minds than my developed weight classes, and for good measure. But back to the untrained. There have been plenty of times that I have been partnered with the new big guy, and no, not every technique works, but there are techniques and leverage points that consistently do. And that’s part of the Jiu-Jitsu game, is knowing what will or won’t work on any given opponent.
Assumption #2: Your opponent will be stronger than you.
This is a relatively easy assumption for me. I have left my heavy lifting days far behind me. I still workout out, but I’m much more focused on bodyweight, or bodyweight plus a plate carrier, rather than power lifting and whatnot. So, I assume anyone who looks the part or I’ve seen frequent the weight room at the academy as stronger than me. If nothing else, I assumed the new guys are going to naturally try to use all the muscle they have in their early stages of Jiu-Jitsu. I was recently showing a friend some techniques in Jiu-Jitsu, kind of a 30,000-foot view of what Jiu-Jitsu is. His remark was that he liked that it didn’t take muscle, but more muscle memory to be successful in many of the techniques. And that’s what I like about Jiu-Jitsu too. After a class, I am seldom sore like I used to be after the gym. I may be beat or exhausted, but more of a prolonged smoke session from my military days rather than no longer being able to use my arms or walk down the stairs sore from my lifting days. Yes, strength is an asset in Jiu-Jitsu, but technique, leverage and timing can beat it out.
Assumption #3: Your opponent will be faster than you.
Going back to that Gracie rule of thumb from Assumption #1, he also said for every 10 years your junior, your opponent gets a hypothetical belt advantage on you. Here’s the thing. If you’ve been around a while, you’ve gotten stuck with a spazzy rolling partner. I typically focus on control and isolation, essentially slowing them down to a near stop. I don’t need to prove myself, I just need to protect myself from potential injury from them jolting about. Now, speed does not always equal spaz. Just the other night I was rolling with a more experienced dude, and he did not stop moving. It took everything I had to find a control point and slow him down. But not once did it feel spazzy. Not once was I worried about him jerking in a dangerous way. It was a great roll, and he was using his speed to his advantage. But to that point, I was able to use a technique to control, sweep and pin him for a moment. Technique did beat speed, and forced him to fight technique with technique.
So how do we overcome these three assumptions? Well, learning the art of Jiu-Jitsu empowers us with three assets according to this quote.
Asset #1: Technique
Technique is going to come with time. And depending on each individual, that time range varies. If you want to develop better technique, you need to drill with purpose. Get extra reps in when you can, and I think most importantly, try out the new moves in a live roll or positional sparring match. Don’t just revert to your same ol’ game.
Asset #2: Timing
Again, timing will come with, well, time. A lot of Jiu-Jitsu is based on feel. Not just feel, like finding their elbow without looking or knowing which ankle is crossed over which when you’re in their guard, but feel of when it’s time to throw a technique, when it’s time to bail, when it is time squeeze out that submission. I would say a lot of the timing is tied up in the feeling of Jiu-Jitsu. There is some technical timing, but most of it is going to rely on developing the feeling of Jiu-Jitsu.
Asset #3: Leverage
You know that friend I was talking about earlier? Leverage was one of the things that blew his mind. I can’t remember the exact technique we were reviewing, but at one point he asked a “what if…” and my response was non-verbal. I remember using my foot to lift his shin off the mat to the point where he had no base and I poked his shoulder and he flopped over onto his back. He just laughed. Now, a shin-lift-shoulder-poke technique would likely not work on the mats or in a real fight, but it was more of the principle that I can find leverage points to use in my favor.
There you have it. Helio says that we should learn to rely on these first three assets, technique, timing and leverage to develop our Jiu-Jitsu game. But he also says to use them over brute strength. I read that as strength is a fourth asset. But it’s last because in Jiu-Jitsu, the first three assets here win over strength. But I’m not delusional in thinking that there isn’t a time nor place for strength. But there’s no need to use it all the time. I was rolling with a newer white belt. He’s been there a while, but hasn’t quite earned his first stripe yet. After the roll I thought to myself, “How was it possible that he was flexing every muscle in his body for the entire 5 minutes, and we still have 3 rounds to go?” I mean, this guy was straining. You could tell he was zoned in on and only using that fourth asset, strength. And it wasn’t strategically applied strength, it was that brute strength Helio references. So right there, in that last sentence – strategically applied strength. That’s it.
Asset #4: Strategically Applied Strength.
See above.
Thanks for reading.
Thinking Through Jiu-Jitsu 