How important do you feel flexibility is when it comes to grappling? Do you feel people don't put enough effort into attaining a certain level of flexibility, and thus their grappling suffers? Personally, I feel its quite an important aspect of grappling which can help in various situations such as submissions and submission escapes, the holding of position; and not to mention those times you find yourself in the most awkward position.
I'm very flexible and I must say, I've found it an advantage. Even when I'm just floundering around, having a bigger range of motion with my legs is an advantage when trying to get the momentum to shake my opponent off. Also, the triangle from rubber guard is one of my favourite techniques in grappling and you need to be pretty flexible to pull that off
I agree that flexability is important and often overlooked...and something else that I find commonly overlooked is breathing. Relaxed, deep breaths to add weight or to constrict while maintaining endurance instead of muscling your way through it...
Flexibility certainly helps with both the setup of the triangle choke, and the holding of it, especially when they try and stack you into an awkward position.
certainly flexibility is a factor in grappling. i mean look at bravo or sakuraba or nogiera. i guess that's why some bjj guys take yoga (like some gracies or so i hear).
Flexibility certainly helps. No matter how much I stretch, I can't really improve the flexibility of my hamstrings, but everything else is pretty flexible. Hip flexibility really helps with the guard and everything you do from it.
I suppose it depends on what your style is, but I'd say its pretty important. Like Yukimushu says, its particularly important in escapes and also when people are trying to stack you. A lot of people who grapple don't realise just how flexible they are until they watch someone who doesn't train try to put their legs in position for a triangle choke. I do yoga and it has helped a lot, both in flexibility and strength, and in terms of controlling your breathing and staying comfortable when you're in a bad position.
Being able to control your breath and relax is very important when it comes to grappling; when caught in a sticky situation, its all to normal to see some people begin to panic and waste valuable energy struggling to get out of a submission or a bad position.
everyone who trains bjj or a similar art should be able to perform the splits and to put his face to his knees when bending at the waist.
Splits? Ouch...That's possibly a little extreme? I take it you don't mean full on splits? Flexibility is important, but I would say relaxation and breathing is more so. I've known plenty of good grapplers that aren't exceptionally flexible, but I've known no good grapplers that can't relax and control their breathing!
lol I can't do the full splits and if I have both legs straight out in front of me, I can't even touch my toes. Oddly, I've never had a problem with my flexibility while grappling. Everyone always tells me how flexible I am.
Front or side? er...why? I only know one person that can do the "full" splits and I can't say it improves his ability above the rest of us normal folk that can't quite get their balls on the floor!! Obviously flexibility is important, but quite often the positions where the flexibility is required don't relate directly to the stretching exercises referred to. eg, bending at the waist to touch your face to your knee (presumably keeping straight legs) is good for back and hamstring flexibility, but if you are in that position in a grapple (eg being stacked) quite often your legs are bent and therefore less flexibility of the hamstrings is required. Same with the splits. If someone passes your guard using a technique where the legs are split apart...it's very rare you would have two completely straight legs when someone is putting the pressure on you. Still think relaxation and control are more important.
I can't do the full splits; but ive had no troubles yet You'll find that most grapplers can't do the full splits - but that doesn't stop them being awesome at what they do.
We do this position in our Yoga class (plough): When you see it done properly, it looks really comfortable, but I find it a horrendously unpleasant posture to work on. We always hold it for several minutes and all the way through I feel like I'm crushing my own ribcage and its very hard to breath. I have to make a conscious effort to control my breathing and relax so that I can hold it. My yoga teacher has said that the more uncomfortable you find the position, the more you should work at it, which makes sense, I suppose. But I've found that practising this posture is particular useful for grappling, as I hardly ever feel quite as bad when I'm being pinned/stacked as I do when I'm doing this, and I can relax more easily when I need to now.
i never said that you will suck if aren't extremely flexible, but great flexibility can help everyone. why not?
Such a position like that is often found when going for the armbar and the opponent stacks you; its quite common Obviously though, the legs aren't stretched out.
Of course it will. That's not the question though. I have flexible hips/groin area otherwise I'm pretty inflexible. Can never be bothered to stretch
Flexibility is important, but I would say relaxation and breathing is more so. I've known plenty of good grapplers that aren't exceptionally flexible, but I've known no good grapplers that can't relax and control their breathing![/QUOTE] I'll second this! Relaxation is vital for you to move and flow properly and, especially when you have someone bigger using strength and mass on you, breathing becomes vital. I've found the ability to stay composed and calm vital.
