Good tips there, especially on having a good base whether kneeling or standing.
What does the professor reckon on tactics when wrestling with body punches under agreed rules, of course?
1) See the opening position as a puzzle to solve. Different things your opponent does will create different circumstances that should be treated, well.... different. If you're both on your knees notice his base, if his knees are close together he's going to be easier to knock over so get your high grips and turn the corner (don't go straight to one side or straight back). If he sits on his butt, don't try to climb on top of him, he's probably going to use his hooks to prevent that and you'll just get swept. Don't try to circle around without any kind of control either, he's able to move faster than you because his butt is the center of the circle. The answer to someone sitting on their butt is to shut down their hook game, control their hips, and treat it like an open guard (if you don't know what that is, look it up).
2) Only extend your arms if you have a reason to. If you're in a 50/50 situation (meaning neither of you have an advantage) it's reasonably safe to extend your arms. If you are on top in mount, it's ok. Likewise for guard, on top in side mount, on top in knee ride, when you're on top in side control. Notice a theme? If you're on the offensive it's generally ok to extend your arms, otherwise keep them glued to your chest, protecting your neck, building a conservative frame, or when you have a specific, well calculated, task that requires your amrs.
3) Both wrestlers start off with a full tank of gas. Often with evenly matched wrestlers the one with more gas in the tank at the end of the match is the one who wins. Pace yourself accordingly.
4) Speed and muscle don't make up for bad technique, they just increase the chances that someone is going to get hurt. Remember #1, see each situation as a puzzle to solve, there is a technical answer, rarely does that answer involve going fast and using muscle.
5) New wrestlers tend to be grabby. The grips game is in a lot of ways the most hard thing about wrestling. Especially in a no gi situation when there is a lot of sweat, hands and wrists are almost impossible to hold (btw, never grab fingers unless you don't give two shits about the safety of your partner), instead go for the back of the neck, the shoulders, elbows, learn to use your feet and legs as hooks and levers. Likewise, if you are under someone in any position besides guard, don't hold them to you. For one, that's how I get most of my Americanas on people. Secondly, You're using a lot of energy (#3) and not facilitating any kind of escape from that position.
6) Wrestle with your legs as much as you do with your arms. The people who advance the quickest learn this early on. Use butterfly and spider-guard, even no gi, learn a scissor sweep, reverse scissor sweep, and hook sweep. These are my most common sweeps.
7) Learn your basic positions. Side control, scarf, north south (calm down pervs :-P), switch base, knee ride (knee on belly), low mount, midrange mount, S mount, side mount, back mount, guard (start with the simple ones), top 4 quarter. Learn how to maintain these positions and make that your goal in your rolls for a while. Screw submissions, just get to these positions and learn to maintain them. Then focus on transitioning to these positions successfully. If someone is starting to escape, sometimes the answer isn't to keep that position but to transition to something which allows you to maintain control.
8) When learning your basic positions pay attention to how you're maintaining them. Most positions rely on pressure (where your single point of pressure is on your opponent), connection (how are you held to them), and how you are rooted in the ground (how are you preventing yourself from getting rolled or swept). Now, deconstruct those positions and ask yourself, how can I get the pressure off of me enough that I can move, how can I weaken my opponent's connection, and how can I unroot my partner from the ground. In most instances you only need to take away one of these elements in order to escape.
9) When you start doing submissions pay attention to technique. No technique requires a lot of muscle, if you're using a lot to finish then you're not executing the technique right. Unlike pro wrestling, you cannot hold a good submission for a long time, you can't crank it on. Submissions are designed to either break your opponent or knock them out. This is why I always establish my position and control and then attack. When I attack it is always slow because I'm confident that my opponent can't get away or defend so I can take my time and finish in a safe, controlled manner.
10) This is my coaches #1 priority for everything: DON'T LOSE! New wrestlers often are so caught up in being strong, grabby, neck cranky, or even so focused on just getting out of a bad situation that they get caught in submissions. Look, if someone has mounted you, your first priority is NOT to escape mount because mount is an attack position. If you're trying to push someone off of you, you are opening yourself up to submissions. Protect against submissions and then focus on their pressure, connection, and how they are rooted into the ground. From there you can start to break down their control and transition to something better. I'm going to take this a little further than my coach does and say that this applies to dominant positions as well. Yeah, the risk of getting submitted is low, but a good wrestler is going to start to pick apart your game and if you're not careful you're going to lose that position you worked so hard to get in the first place. So respect every thing your partner does, especially if they train BJJ because nothing they do will be random, spazzy, uncontrolled, or unplanned.
Tho this is solid advice and very succinct and good for anyone at any level really, it should be heavily stressed that little to no progress will be made without applying these lessons with a trained instructor or in a class setting. Very few people have that natural nack to be able to get something just by reading a list and then trying these concepts out on the next opponent off the internet. But DEFINITELY the best advice I've seen on this site in years!
Maximovillareal (9 )
15/4/2021 01:31This is very helpful advice for me, a beginner wrestler. Thank you.
celtwrestle (46 )
17/5/2020 10:55Good tips there, especially on having a good base whether kneeling or standing.
What does the professor reckon on tactics when wrestling with body punches under agreed rules, of course?
ChrisWrestling (43 )
17/5/2020 19:39(em resposta à...)
I'll do a video on that on my YouTube channel, maybe later today
FreeGrappler (6)
17/5/2020 04:47Extremely helpful points to learn, remember, internalize. Thank you!
ChrisWrestling (43 )
03/4/2020 22:22In case you missed it, I have started a youtube channel, fb group, and telegram chat to create community and share our collective experience.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLNDPZI2PnuDr-lkbmGOu0w/playlists
FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Gaywrestlingcommunity/
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/LAQGexayTdmvHYBWuSbH_g
AZgrappler (116 )
04/4/2020 18:07(em resposta à...)
Thank you Chris for all your information
Takushitsu (10 )
21/9/2019 09:27Thank you sooo much for all these advices! :D I will learn them by heart!
Aussie Titan (0)
20/9/2019 10:51Thank you mate
WrestleForFun NL (11)
20/9/2019 01:05Added to my browser favs :) Thank you!!
befrombigd (7 )
18/9/2019 18:52Thanks for the advice. Very helpful.
doyouevenwrestle (61 )
18/9/2019 13:19this is GREAT advice man! thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience
JOKING (28)
17/9/2019 12:58Thanx for the great Advice!!
ChrisWrestling (43 )
16/9/2019 07:001) See the opening position as a puzzle to solve. Different things your opponent does will create different circumstances that should be treated, well.... different. If you're both on your knees notice his base, if his knees are close together he's going to be easier to knock over so get your high grips and turn the corner (don't go straight to one side or straight back). If he sits on his butt, don't try to climb on top of him, he's probably going to use his hooks to prevent that and you'll just get swept. Don't try to circle around without any kind of control either, he's able to move faster than you because his butt is the center of the circle. The answer to someone sitting on their butt is to shut down their hook game, control their hips, and treat it like an open guard (if you don't know what that is, look it up).
2) Only extend your arms if you have a reason to. If you're in a 50/50 situation (meaning neither of you have an advantage) it's reasonably safe to extend your arms. If you are on top in mount, it's ok. Likewise for guard, on top in side mount, on top in knee ride, when you're on top in side control. Notice a theme? If you're on the offensive it's generally ok to extend your arms, otherwise keep them glued to your chest, protecting your neck, building a conservative frame, or when you have a specific, well calculated, task that requires your amrs.
3) Both wrestlers start off with a full tank of gas. Often with evenly matched wrestlers the one with more gas in the tank at the end of the match is the one who wins. Pace yourself accordingly.
4) Speed and muscle don't make up for bad technique, they just increase the chances that someone is going to get hurt. Remember #1, see each situation as a puzzle to solve, there is a technical answer, rarely does that answer involve going fast and using muscle.
5) New wrestlers tend to be grabby. The grips game is in a lot of ways the most hard thing about wrestling. Especially in a no gi situation when there is a lot of sweat, hands and wrists are almost impossible to hold (btw, never grab fingers unless you don't give two shits about the safety of your partner), instead go for the back of the neck, the shoulders, elbows, learn to use your feet and legs as hooks and levers. Likewise, if you are under someone in any position besides guard, don't hold them to you. For one, that's how I get most of my Americanas on people. Secondly, You're using a lot of energy (#3) and not facilitating any kind of escape from that position.
6) Wrestle with your legs as much as you do with your arms. The people who advance the quickest learn this early on. Use butterfly and spider-guard, even no gi, learn a scissor sweep, reverse scissor sweep, and hook sweep. These are my most common sweeps.
7) Learn your basic positions. Side control, scarf, north south (calm down pervs :-P), switch base, knee ride (knee on belly), low mount, midrange mount, S mount, side mount, back mount, guard (start with the simple ones), top 4 quarter. Learn how to maintain these positions and make that your goal in your rolls for a while. Screw submissions, just get to these positions and learn to maintain them. Then focus on transitioning to these positions successfully. If someone is starting to escape, sometimes the answer isn't to keep that position but to transition to something which allows you to maintain control.
8) When learning your basic positions pay attention to how you're maintaining them. Most positions rely on pressure (where your single point of pressure is on your opponent), connection (how are you held to them), and how you are rooted in the ground (how are you preventing yourself from getting rolled or swept). Now, deconstruct those positions and ask yourself, how can I get the pressure off of me enough that I can move, how can I weaken my opponent's connection, and how can I unroot my partner from the ground. In most instances you only need to take away one of these elements in order to escape.
9) When you start doing submissions pay attention to technique. No technique requires a lot of muscle, if you're using a lot to finish then you're not executing the technique right. Unlike pro wrestling, you cannot hold a good submission for a long time, you can't crank it on. Submissions are designed to either break your opponent or knock them out. This is why I always establish my position and control and then attack. When I attack it is always slow because I'm confident that my opponent can't get away or defend so I can take my time and finish in a safe, controlled manner.
10) This is my coaches #1 priority for everything: DON'T LOSE! New wrestlers often are so caught up in being strong, grabby, neck cranky, or even so focused on just getting out of a bad situation that they get caught in submissions. Look, if someone has mounted you, your first priority is NOT to escape mount because mount is an attack position. If you're trying to push someone off of you, you are opening yourself up to submissions. Protect against submissions and then focus on their pressure, connection, and how they are rooted into the ground. From there you can start to break down their control and transition to something better. I'm going to take this a little further than my coach does and say that this applies to dominant positions as well. Yeah, the risk of getting submitted is low, but a good wrestler is going to start to pick apart your game and if you're not careful you're going to lose that position you worked so hard to get in the first place. So respect every thing your partner does, especially if they train BJJ because nothing they do will be random, spazzy, uncontrolled, or unplanned.
wanna Wrestle (0)
09/1/2021 19:55(em resposta à...)
Wow...the ultimate tutorial for beginners. Really appreciated.
greekwrestler (75)
31/3/2020 08:44(em resposta à...)
This is so tight and helpful
Rare to find well trained guys inhere
I hopethat after the virus is over that we cross paths
Armybob (52)
29/3/2020 12:26(em resposta à...)
Thanks a lot for these clear and effective instrutions!
Yngrasslr00 (137)
22/9/2019 14:41(em resposta à...)
Tho this is solid advice and very succinct and good for anyone at any level really, it should be heavily stressed that little to no progress will be made without applying these lessons with a trained instructor or in a class setting. Very few people have that natural nack to be able to get something just by reading a list and then trying these concepts out on the next opponent off the internet. But DEFINITELY the best advice I've seen on this site in years!
f4leglock (10)
17/9/2019 13:03(em resposta à...)
Great post man!
BJJWrestlerLasVegas (14)
17/9/2019 06:27(em resposta à...)
Very, very, well said and good advice even for those who have been training for years.