Today in our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class we continued to work the headlock defense where a Stronger opponent has already Broken our posture. The main points of today were understanding the right time to go for the move. By knowing when to apply the technique we can make our movements much more efficient with allows us to use much less energy to get the fight to the ground. The strategy in a self defense position is to use as little energy as possible to apply a technique so that you can defend yourself for longer periods of time. The saying “fatigue makes cowards of us all” is a saying for a reason. Most untrained individuals will be exhausted in a very short time in a street fight. The more tired the attacker gets the weaker he will become making it much easier for us to defend ourselves. Of course this only works if we save as much energy as possible, so that when the attacker has none we can continue to hold him down. s
After we got the fight to the ground we worked a simple technique to go from the side control position to the mount position. We started working the technique with no resistance from our training partner, giving us time to practice the move and become familiar with the steps. Once everybody knew the steps we went on to add one of the most typical responses from the person on the bottom, them attempting to roll you over the top and but you back on the bottom position. The BJJ students at the Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class then drilled the move with their partners giving only this one type of resistance. This specific type of resistance makes it easier to add the crucial details into your arsenal of techniques instead of having to deal with a training partner using any number of methods to escape which can become confusing/ overwhelming when learning new techniques.
After we added one type of resistance we then added another common counter to the mount take, wrapping the legs in half guard. By our training parter testing our techniques by trying to wrap our legs in the half guard we are making sure that we understand how to move our legs in the technique. Jiu-jitsu is about using all of your body against a weaker point on our training partner or our attacker in a self defense situation. When a BJJ Student begins to focus on the pressure and angles they are creating with their legs in all positions their game will begin excel at a rapid rate. Our legs are half of our body and significantly stronger than our arms so knowing how to use them is a huge advantage.
The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class ended with a great workout, practicing the position of the day with resistance. The students in the BJJ program were asked to transition from side control to mount while their training partners attempted to improve their position. One of the reasons BJJ is one of the most effective martial arts for Self Defense in a hand to hand fight is that we learn to defend ourselves and win against somebody who is also trying to win. This teaches you how to deal with somebody is in your personal space in a safe environment with your friends before you ever have to use it against an attacker.