4 Months in and I Still Lose Every Match

Discussion in 'Brazilian Jiu Jitsu' started by richardd, Mar 25, 2017.

  1. richardd

    richardd New Member

    Hi,

    I've been doing Jiu Jitsu for 4 months now 2 times a week and I've noticed that I'm not progressing as well as the others. This is fine and all, but last week I was paired with a boy who was 11 years old, probably about 4'10 and 80 pounds and I ended up getting tapped out 4 times in 15 minutes to a scissors from mount, a bodyscissor, a triangle and an arm bar. Can I please have some defenses for these moves because obviously the ones I'm being taught are not working for me.

    What's worse is that I learn he's only been training for a month. It isn't just with the kid either, I've lost every match I have fought except on 3 occasions against new white belt women.

    Is it just like a language where it's easier for kids to learn or something? I probably outweighed him by 70 pounds! It's hard to keep up the motivation to carry on training when I've got nothing to show for my progress.
     
  2. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    In every activity there will always be people who learn faster than you unless you are the most natural athlete in the world within your chosen discipline.

    When I teach groundwork I typically tell my students to go for a strong position every time. Ultimately your training in early stages shouldn't be focused on counters to specific techniques, but on looking for opportunities to improve your position instead.

    For example, it sounds like you're being mounted a lot - is that from guard, and if not can you aim for guard more often than you do now? If your opponents are mounting you from guard, you need to practice your sweeps more, as sweeping your opponent to improve your own position is a great defence from the opposite happening to you.

    Learn how to solidify your base and give yourself some time to think about where you want to go next. Stop your opponent from improving their position while looking for opportunities to improve your own.

    Finally remember that every fight has two people both trying to win. If your skills are both increasing at similar rates, it may be really difficult to spot your own improvement. Keep at it and the skill will come over time whether you notice it or not.
     
  3. richardd

    richardd New Member

    No, I don't usually get in guard and when I do they usually pass it. Will have to pay more attention to it then, I guess. Thanks.
     
  4. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    Using leverage to overcome a weight disadvantage is one of the fundamental principles of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. So is humility. Looks like your younger, lighter training partner gave you a lesson in both. Learn from it and move on.
     
  5. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    A whole 4 months?

    Im still barely surviving a blue belt's guard pass..
     
  6. richardd

    richardd New Member

    But surely the extra pounds count for something? The kid was small and skinny, even for his age but he still managed to have me in a full mount for the majority of the match. Shouldn't I just be able to shake him off, leverage or not?

    I think that's just you being modest or trying to make me feel better, you've been here for 13 years, you're an expert!
     
  7. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Take away your preconceptions about fighting for now. Smaller guys pick up jujuitsu way quicker because they have to.

    Also, this is the big thing. Stop comparing yourself to other people. The only question you need to ask is "can I beat my old self from four months ago".


    I'm 5 years into training BJJ. Sometimes for o
    Months at a time you will feel static. That's just the way it is. You will improve over time. If you want to improve faster, study more. Read books and watch instructionals.


    Good luck man.
     
  8. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Rolling isnt a match, its for learning with.

    have you analysed your rolls?
    how do you start out?
    How do you pull guard?
    How do you pass guard?

    when your mounted how do you try to escape? Bridge and roll, bridge and shrimp, bridge and leg drag/lift?
     
  9. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    He knows something you dont, thats why BJJ works, efficiency!

    how was he holding mount? what did you do to try and remove that problem? Why do you think it didnt work?
     
  10. richardd

    richardd New Member

    There's no real structure or plan when I'm rolling, I try to vary my game a lot of the time. I've just been researching how to effectively pull guard and will try to implement that, it's definitely an area I struggle with.

    He passed my guard, was sitting on my neck and was squeezing the sides of my head with his legs. I was in this position for most of the fight and didn't really know the proper defense against it. I tried bridging but I think he was too high up the mount for it to work. What is the proper way to escape this?

    Also, the kid was trying to cup my mouth and nose with his hands, so a lot of my time and energy was used up just trying to remove his hands instead of escaping. Is this even a legal move? I thought it was a little tactless at best, especially for non-competitive sparring.
     
  11. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    if there in high mount you have 2 main options

    1) try to drive your elbows down to your ribs whilst walking your shoulders upwards and pushing with at least 1 leg so that you move upwards accross the mats. and the Top guy moves from high mount to just middle mount.
    2) if your flexable, and 1) is blocked, roll up, get a foot into each of their armpits and push them off.
     
  12. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Learn how to keep guard, then learn how to defend side control, and normal mount.

    if you solve to problem at its route youll get much better, much faster.

    how did he pass your guard? what guard did you use?
     
  13. richardd

    richardd New Member

    There's being flexible and then there's being Spiderman. As you can probably tell from my post, I'm not Spiderman. I think I'll stick to number 1 for now.

    I used your standard closed guard which gets passed 75% of the time. I don't really pay attention to how people pass it, although I guess I probably should. I just know that they do pass it a lot.
     
  14. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    This.

    Learn how your guard is being passed and you'll learn two things - how to pass guard better and how to maintain guard better.
     
  15. Latikos

    Latikos Valued Member

    Unfortunately I don't do BJJ, so I just pick out this part: When we roll and I somehow manage to get into Kesa Gatame, even people with 35+ kg more than me struggle to get out of it and often don't manage.
    That and Tate-Shiho-Gatame pretty much are the holds I can do best so far and where I learned how to keep them, through moving properly.
     
  16. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    when they open your closed guard, quickly put both your feet onto the hips and hey presto, now you have an open guard they have to pass.

    they can only pass 3 different ways

    1) through
    2) around
    3) under

    pay attention to which ones they use, and work from there!
     
  17. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Okay, so here are some specifics to help you keep your guard closed for longer.

    Grips

    You should be gripping them before they grip you. To stop someone from advancing, first you need to stop them from gripping. When they grab your lapel, two hands on that one hand and strip their grip. You can then move that hand wherever you want. Look up "Gripping in closed guard" on YouTube for more info.

    Posture/Position

    If an opponent does not have good posture they cannot pass (unless you let them). Stripping their grips prevents them from getting good posture. The next part I'd to break their posture. The simplest way to do this is to pull them towards you with your legs and hopefully they end up chest to chest with you. From there you can wrap an arm around their head and pull UP above you, rather than pulling their head tears you. Difficult to explain and easier to implicate than you think.
     
  18. kandi

    kandi Valued Member

    Can you ask your sensei or sparring partner (or whatever the equivalent titles are in BJJ) for some comments on how you went and how you can improve? Most people are pretty good with sharing that stuff.
     
  19. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    That's an excellent point.if you go with someone who is way more experienced than you, you can ask them about what you need yo improve on.
     
  20. richardd

    richardd New Member

    I think he was just bypassing the guard mostly before I had an opportunity to put it up. Or about half way through, he had tired me out and was able to dominate the fight pretty easily. So he would just break up the guard, go around it and then work on further tiring me with the high mount and mouth cupping.
     

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