Go Big or Go Home!

Most of the guys I know who train in BJJ spend time at the studio on a regular basis, we warm up, work technique and spar. Some nights our instructor John Munoz (www.teamusabjj.com) has us train tournament style. We line the walls of our mat room and he randomly calls out students to square off at center mat. We fight for five to six minutes and he keeps score just like any gi tournament you would compete in. It's a great time to work your plan. You start standing so take downs are available and you have the entire mat to use as your playground. It's on!!!

Last week he unexpectedly told the class we were doing tournament style that night at end of class. This is all well and good but that night just before class I told John I wanted to spar with none other than 250 lbs Neil "Chaos" Cooke, one of our undefeated cage fighters (King of The Cage) who trains in gi and no gi with us weekly, he also trains with me on my mit workouts (he loves to see me tank). To my delight and horror John decided to make Neil my second match of the night. BTW: I walk around at 178 lbs around, a middle weight at best. Neil is a slim heavy weight with tons of talent, he's won the Pan Ams and rolled plenty of opponents on the mat and now in the cage.

So there I stood at center mat praying I'd make it out alive. Thank the Lord this wasn't MMA night or I'd be in the pounding of a life time. I've sparred in MMA class with Neil in the past and one of his gentle taps can feel like a cement encased baseball bat upside your head gear. He always says he takes it easy on me and thankfully I know he tells the truth. But his hands are more like bear paws than digits and even a gentle blow can send you back a few steps. He's a big dude as I say.

So what did the BJJ geni tell me to do once the clock started last week during our tournament match? Yep, you guessed it a flying arm bar from the get go. I don't know how, why or where the thought came from but as soon as the word go sounded I was grasping Neil's right wrist, reaching for his elbow and throwing my left leg up over and across his face. I left the mat and was air born in a "Flash" (my latest nickname given to me by John, but not for my speed in competition). The best part was Neil was surprised to have a little monkey now attached aggressively to his arm. I had surprised him, good for me. But bad for me, Neil yanked and smashed and just as quickly as the arm bar was inflicted on him he was wadding me up like so much old chewing gum in a spent foil wrapper.

The goal at that point became get out, get back to a neutral position and work for a sweep from guard or half guard; don't get passed and don't give up a submission. I thought this was a realistic goal for a one stripe blue belt fighting a competitor that out weighs me by 70 lbs.

In the end I got a sweep and defended chokes, arm bar attempts and a knee bar. I think Neil gave me the sweep but he'll never tell. Overall though my movement was good, or so Neil stated as we shook hands after our round. He took the match on points and I took a few new ideas away from our encounter.

So why blog about such a topic... Well one of tenants as taught to us by John is once you have solid technique size matters less in competition, you should look to challenge yourself by training with the largest opponents you can. This idea has seeped into my pyshcy and weekly I take on bigger, stronger, faster competitors every chance I get. And for this I have found my techniques come easier against competitors closer to my size. I have also found my sweeps are much more precise, my grips more secure, my legs stronger and my submissions tighter.

Like any confrontation size does matter but solid technique and a little surprise can go a long way in the BJJ game.

So I would share that as you feel your game plateauing you should look to mix up your challenges by adding in training sessions with larger opponents to give you a different feel for your techniques and setups. Challenge yourself in training and it will pay off in gold come competition time.

Happy Training,

KK