One of my students (6' 3", 265 pounds) wrote a good, short article about overcoming limitations as a big guy in BJJ (less about strategy, more about being a great training partner and learning):
That guy has a great attitude! Just make sure he doesn't neglect those areas (e.g., knee on belly) in which his size and strength can and should be used to his advantage! With his mindset he'll inevitably learn how to apply these moves against someone much lighter without hurting them.
aaronlapoi - That guy has a great attitude! Just make sure he doesn't neglect those areas (e.g., knee on belly) in which his size and strength can and should be used to his advantage! With his mindset he'll inevitably learn how to apply these moves against someone much lighter without hurting them.
Trust me, Aaron- Mark knows how to be heavy when he is supposed to. Ouch!
I am 6'4 and 250lbs and pretty well gave up on BJJ, I am going to be getting back into it very soon though.
303 - I am 6'4 and 250lbs and pretty well gave up on BJJ, I am going to be getting back into it very soon though.
Go for it mate! 
303 - I am 6'4 and 250lbs and pretty well gave up on BJJ, I am going to be getting back into it very soon though.
Why did you give up on it?
People often comment how important it is to spar with people much bigger than you, and I would argue that it's just as important to spar with people much smaller than you. Sparring with people you outweigh by a huge margin is an excellent way to develop good control of your body and techniques and a keen sense of your pressure/weight distrubution. For example, I really enjoy sparring with kids I outweigh by 60 or 70 pounds because it really brings out the "gentle art" that's jiu-jitsu.
aaronlapoi - People often comment how important it is to spar with people much bigger than you, and I would argue that it's just as important to spar with people much smaller than you. Sparring with people you outweigh by a huge margin is an excellent way to develop good control of your body and techniques and a keen sense of your pressure/weight distrubution. For example, I really enjoy sparring with kids I outweigh by 60 or 70 pounds because it really brings out the "gentle art" that's jiu-jitsu.
I agree with this wholeheartedly.
I am a bigger guy 6' and 230 lbs so I am bigger than all but three or four guys at my school but I am always the lightest ultra-heavy at tournaments. I wrestled in college (granted 18 years ago) so I had an acceptable standing game. This ended up presenting some unique challenges that ended up being really positive, game-developing opportunities.
For years, I played a slow, methodical game because my size and strength would carry me over and I could dominate from top and frustrate from the bottom. I cut a few pounds to go at 225 in NAGA and went to Super-Heavy for federation.
At some point I recognized that my game was stagnating because of attributes. I rolled with a lot of guys smaller than me, so I decided to never be on top for one full year. Initially I got crushed by the bigger guys and tended to stall against those I could neutralize but as I conciously decided to play the bottom and learned to chain my attacks, my game expanded to the point that I had a few very reliable techniques. A few reliable techniques eventually morphed into a style from bottom and resulted in me throwing a lot more attacks at my opponent as opposed to waiting for openings.
Eventually that philosophy got me back into playing an aggressive, faster-paced stand-up game with those that are bigger and younger than me, allowing me to wear down a bigger adversary even as a forty year old.
I attribute that to the philosophical change to try to be a big guy playing a small guy game. I don't use the small guy techniques i.e. arm drags but rather the small guy strategy i.e. creating openings via effective angles and hip movement rather than waiting for opportunities or errors. It has been effective enough for me that I found I was better in the ultra heavy division than I was at super heavy even with the size disparities. It has really forced me to recognize what "gentle art" really means.
I also remembered reading something by Marcelo Garcia where he talked about rolling with white and blue belts so he could perfect his positions. I took that idea and tried to apply it to people smaller than me and seem to have had some pretty good success with it.
Taking the idea of playing like a small guy rather than a larger bully has made me much more effective.
YMMV.
budwhite -aaronlapoi - People often comment how important it is to spar with people much bigger than you, and I would argue that it's just as important to spar with people much smaller than you. Sparring with people you outweigh by a huge margin is an excellent way to develop good control of your body and techniques and a keen sense of your pressure/weight distrubution. For example, I really enjoy sparring with kids I outweigh by 60 or 70 pounds because it really brings out the "gentle art" that's jiu-jitsu.
I agree with this wholeheartedly.
I am a bigger guy 6' and 230 lbs so I am bigger than all but three or four guys at my school but I am always the lightest ultra-heavy at tournaments. I wrestled in college (granted 18 years ago) so I had an acceptable standing game. This ended up presenting some unique challenges that ended up being really positive, game-developing opportunities.
For years, I played a slow, methodical game because my size and strength would carry me over and I could dominate from top and frustrate from the bottom. I cut a few pounds to go at 225 in NAGA and went to Super-Heavy for federation.
At some point I recognized that my game was stagnating because of attributes. I rolled with a lot of guys smaller than me, so I decided to never be on top for one full year. Initially I got crushed by the bigger guys and tended to stall against those I could neutralize but as I conciously decided to play the bottom and learned to chain my attacks, my game expanded to the point that I had a few very reliable techniques. A few reliable techniques eventually morphed into a style from bottom and resulted in me throwing a lot more attacks at my opponent as opposed to waiting for openings.
Eventually that philosophy got me back into playing an aggressive, faster-paced stand-up game with those that are bigger and younger than me, allowing me to wear down a bigger adversary even as a forty year old.
I attribute that to the philosophical change to try to be a big guy playing a small guy game. I don't use the small guy techniques i.e. arm drags but rather the small guy strategy i.e. creating openings via effective angles and hip movement rather than waiting for opportunities or errors. It has been effective enough for me that I found I was better in the ultra heavy division than I was at super heavy even with the size disparities. It has really forced me to recognize what "gentle art" really means.
I also remembered reading something by Marcelo Garcia where he talked about rolling with white and blue belts so he could perfect his positions. I took that idea and tried to apply it to people smaller than me and seem to have had some pretty good success with it.
Taking the idea of playing like a small guy rather than a larger bully has made me much more effective.
YMMV.
Awesome post! I bet you don't have a sweet picture of you having teatime with your kid, though. :)
judogoat -budwhite -aaronlapoi - People often comment how important it is to spar with people much bigger than you, and I would argue that it's just as important to spar with people much smaller than you. Sparring with people you outweigh by a huge margin is an excellent way to develop good control of your body and techniques and a keen sense of your pressure/weight distrubution. For example, I really enjoy sparring with kids I outweigh by 60 or 70 pounds because it really brings out the "gentle art" that's jiu-jitsu.
I agree with this wholeheartedly.
I am a bigger guy 6' and 230 lbs so I am bigger than all but three or four guys at my school but I am always the lightest ultra-heavy at tournaments. I wrestled in college (granted 18 years ago) so I had an acceptable standing game. This ended up presenting some unique challenges that ended up being really positive, game-developing opportunities.
For years, I played a slow, methodical game because my size and strength would carry me over and I could dominate from top and frustrate from the bottom. I cut a few pounds to go at 225 in NAGA and went to Super-Heavy for federation.
At some point I recognized that my game was stagnating because of attributes. I rolled with a lot of guys smaller than me, so I decided to never be on top for one full year. Initially I got crushed by the bigger guys and tended to stall against those I could neutralize but as I conciously decided to play the bottom and learned to chain my attacks, my game expanded to the point that I had a few very reliable techniques. A few reliable techniques eventually morphed into a style from bottom and resulted in me throwing a lot more attacks at my opponent as opposed to waiting for openings.
Eventually that philosophy got me back into playing an aggressive, faster-paced stand-up game with those that are bigger and younger than me, allowing me to wear down a bigger adversary even as a forty year old.
I attribute that to the philosophical change to try to be a big guy playing a small guy game. I don't use the small guy techniques i.e. arm drags but rather the small guy strategy i.e. creating openings via effective angles and hip movement rather than waiting for opportunities or errors. It has been effective enough for me that I found I was better in the ultra heavy division than I was at super heavy even with the size disparities. It has really forced me to recognize what "gentle art" really means.
I also remembered reading something by Marcelo Garcia where he talked about rolling with white and blue belts so he could perfect his positions. I took that idea and tried to apply it to people smaller than me and seem to have had some pretty good success with it.
Taking the idea of playing like a small guy rather than a larger bully has made me much more effective.
YMMV.
Awesome post! I bet you don't have a sweet picture of you having teatime with your kid, though. :)
No teatime pic but my eight year old daughter has three times as many 1st Place medals as I do and I have some great pics of dad's eyes watering as she slaps an Americana on a boy in the Naga finals. :)
My eighteen month old is unfortuantely already a guard-puller. :(
Ha! Kids between 1 and 2 get pretty good with guard.
ttt
Well, I guess I am a big guy (6'3" & 315lbs). For the first few years, I was very content of focusing on my top game. Even though my coach (Professor Jorge Gurgel) has avery active style from the bottom,...like many bigger guy, I was frustrated with not having success with techniques or movements that should work from the bottom. I think I was a solid Blue before I would even work for any submission from my back that forced me to open my guard in a dynamic fashion (more then just putting feet on hips or going to half)....sad, I know :-(
It was not until I moved away from my first school, and started teaching to I truly begin to realize my full potentila. This was largely do to having to start over with my own understanding of jiu-jitsu, as many of my new students had little expirence with BJJ...and were much smaller than me. For the next few years, I basicly started every training match from my back...no matter the size of my partner. Now, I was not ashamed if I swept them or was able to use a submission attempt to get to the top...but I made it a point to focus on my technique.
Long story short..(as I could write alot more, been training since Sept. 1998)...I never belive big guys that say "this does not work for me"...I just tell them that "the varation may not, but that is why Jiu-Jitsu is beutiful. You just have to learn & drill the angle that will work for you"
gzbull - Well, I guess I am a big guy (6'3" & 315lbs). For the first few years, I was very content of focusing on my top game. Even though my coach (Professor Jorge Gurgel) has avery active style from the bottom,...like many bigger guy, I was frustrated with not having success with techniques or movements that should work from the bottom. I think I was a solid Blue before I would even work for any submission from my back that forced me to open my guard in a dynamic fashion (more then just putting feet on hips or going to half)....sad, I know :-(
It was not until I moved away from my first school, and started teaching to I truly begin to realize my full potentila. This was largely do to having to start over with my own understanding of jiu-jitsu, as many of my new students had little expirence with BJJ...and were much smaller than me. For the next few years, I basicly started every training match from my back...no matter the size of my partner. Now, I was not ashamed if I swept them or was able to use a submission attempt to get to the top...but I made it a point to focus on my technique.
Long story short..(as I could write alot more, been training since Sept. 1998)...I never belive big guys that say "this does not work for me"...I just tell them that "the varation may not, but that is why Jiu-Jitsu is beutiful. You just have to learn & drill the angle that will work for you"
haha... you guess you're a big guy?
:)
Great story, though. I love reading about guys who have been in the game a while, how they got started. A lot of people don't understand me when I tell them it was a different time back then for jiu jitsu.