if i wrestled high school would it make a difference to my bjj?
Not at all. Seriously dude, forget all that hard conditioning, kinesthetic awareness, strength, agility, grips, and instinctive positional dominance. Wrestling is useless. Especially during the standup portion of bjj.
Definitely, especially with takedowns and top control teckniques. Not so much with submisssions - armbars/chokes and fighting on your back/defending the guard attack from top position. Learning to fight with the gi and liking it could be a challenge. Hope this helps.
thanks, a lot of great grapplers wrestle so im trying to think of what it is in it that makes them so good
Just as I was starting to get good at frustrating the blue belts in class (with escapes, mainly) along comes a wrestler and, he completly stifles my game. Wrestlers tend to move much faster and, more aggressivly that the BJJ guys from my class. They don't have the submission knowledge, but I was constantly being taken down and, had little to answer. It will be an interesting challenge to roll with the new guy.
HS wrestling = free MA training...
My thirteen year old just got promoted in BJJ. Has not touched a gi in three months. He has wrestled for the last few months. The instructor could not believe the improvement in his BJJ.
(caution: this is only one instance and not a full study of the question . . . ;)
Hi BJJxJattVR12,
While wrestling is a definite asset for BJJ in the long run, I would recommend initially ignoring what you know in wrestling, and what you will instinctively tend to fall back on, and immerse yourself first in the BJJ way of grappling. You will learn faster.
Then, when you get some exerience and "get it" as to the BJJ game, which takes some time, then weave your wrestling into it. I see too many wrestlers who do BJJ "the wrestling way" as they begin to try to learn and I think that slows their initial progress down as they are frequently falling back to more rigid defensive and/or pinning type tactics and not sweeping and submission tactics, particularly with regard to learning to feel comfortable on your back which is no small adjustment for a wrestler.
That being said, I wish I knew BJJ while I was wrestling because it )BJJ) has taught me a whole new way of thinking about getting off my back with sweeps and with some modifications some sweeps are very effective pinning defenses.
Rich
Rich just made a damn fine post!
Wrestling gives an excellent start and base to be excellent sub grapplers.
The essence of BJJ IS fighting from the bottom, and in particular, the GAURD. I have been told by a couple of very distingushed BJJ'ers that BJJ IS the gaurd.
You watch a very high level of BJJ matches, it's playing and passing for the most part.
From my limited experience watching wrestlers come train, while they are monsters on the mat for the most part, they do in fact hinder themselves by playing in the wrestlers mentality instead of learning and playing in the BJJ mentality.
When a person that has a good wrestling backround immerses themselves in the BJJ mentality they VERY quickly move up the scale.
"The essence of BJJ IS fighting from your back"
-WTF???