Just my opinion, but I don't think "chasing" whatever is hot the moment is necessarily the best way. to go --especially for colored belts.--I know OP is not a colored belt. This isn't really aimed at him.
But, BJJ is very fadish. It's like a big school of fish that change direction in unison and everyone is always persuing the same quarry at the same time. People are trying to get an "advantage" over opponents by adopting the exact same tactics as one another.
This is in fact WHY BJJ is so faddish; soon as everyone is trying to do the same stuff, it loses it's magic. So the crowd moves onto the next thing.
Sure, you DO need to learn how to prevent, shut down and/or counter certain things, but playing exactly like everyone else doesn't do much more than keep you firmly in the middle of the pack.
Spending years working on strategies and tactics that work for YOU specificlly is more beneficial than trying to adopt a new guy's game every 6 months.
Ironically, that's exactly what the real BJJ "innovators" do. They're working on their own games and being true to what works for them. A guy spends years working on developing his unique game, puts it on DVD and the entire BJJ consumer crowd all thinks in unison, " Cool, I'm gonna do this now!"
Long term you would probably be better off copying the innovator's work ethic & methodology to improve, rather than his specific game.
I could not agree more with this but I also would add that specifically re: the saddle/cross ashi position and the inside heel hook. I don’t think it’s a fad and I think it’s a position that has changed no gi grappling forever. It’s fairly easy to get into from so many positions (standing, top, bottom) and the inside heel hook itself is so powerful that I don’t see it going away anytime soon in any practice room or competition that allows it.
I say this as guy that was all about armbars and a chokes until maybe 2 years ago. The saddle position is here to stay I think.
Thanks for the replies guys. Lots to think about. I agree with what Shen is saying about chasing the latest fads vs bread and butter basics. Got me thinking though, it’s debatable what techniques and positions fall into each of those categories. Leg attacks have always been around, and they have definitely progressed in the last 5 years or so to the point where I am becoming more and more convinced that the honeyhole/saddle/inside cross ashi/whatever the kids are calling it, is just as controlling, dominant, and therefore legitimate a position as mount, side, or back. This seems to be the case with or without a gi (discounting competition rules,) and with or without strikes. So it’s hard for me to label leg attacks a fad and lump them in with stuff like “worm guard.”
I do find it surprising that Marcelo never became known for attacking the legs. Maybe he just didn’t need to, but his body type and overall game seems perfect for it. His whole thing was getting inside and elevating and taking advantage of the reaction
I think it’s largely because Marcelo came up in a time where IBJJF rules were the standard and heel hooks weren’t as common and were lower percentage except for a when a few people used them. If Marcelo was coming up in the game right now I strongly believe he would have added outside heel hooks and inside heel hooks at least partially to his butterfly/SLX/X guard game.
aboveandbeyond - The best leglock defense I have found from the top is nonstop pressure passing, over/under, Bernardo Faria style. The more I train, the more I realize how genius that guy is. Have all of his stuff. It's all simple, not particularly explosive technique. It's just constant and methodical and works well on anyone.
The new leglock game has completely changed my guard passing style for the better. Made me much less complacent and zeroed in on nonstop pressure and eliminating space.
Same here. And even when standing passing the idea of inside position with your feet even while standing makes a big difference with keeping your legs safe. It’s improved my passing and also made me more mindful of keeping my legs safe when rolling for kimura grips or diving onto guillotines, brabo, or anaconda chokes from standing or kneeling in someone’s open or half guard.
I don't follow the scene, and was wondering if this means more people are passing from their knees now?
There’s definitely kneeling and body lock passing that’s in style right now. Craig Jones (an elite Australian no gi competitor) made an interesting point. He said that passing on the knees makes it more difficult for the guard player to get onto the legs but if they do then they usually will have a deeper bite on them. And that standing passing makes it easier for the guard player to get on the legs but if they do then their bite won’t usually be as high up on the legs.
So there are pros and cons to each approach when trying to pass a good leg locker basically.
aboveandbeyond - The best leglock defense I have found from the top is nonstop pressure passing, over/under, Bernardo Faria style. The more I train, the more I realize how genius that guy is. Have all of his stuff. It's all simple, not particularly explosive technique. It's just constant and methodical and works well on anyone.
The new leglock game has completely changed my guard passing style for the better. Made me much less complacent and zeroed in on nonstop pressure and eliminating space.
Faria is my all time favorite. I also have all of his material and have watched his matches over and over. I pretty much run his z guard single leg and deep half non stop and go right to his pressure passing after the sweep.
I use to do a lot of toreando passing and still do but as I get older into my 30’s I don’t want to just rely on quickness and explosion. I feel like that is going to go away at some point.
Faria ran through Leandro Lo like a hot knife through butter. Hell at his peak he was running through everyone and subbing them as well.
I wish he still competed but after Erberth Santos beat him twice he retired (not saying that was the reason I have no idea).
Leglocks are not a « trend » and it’s not something you can ignore or chose. It‘ s a whole new game of control, a whole new hierarchy of positions. You don’t lose position with leglocks, you gain better and better control until the sub. You can’t also just study « defense », You won’t understand anything by that.
forget bodycomb, delgado, etc... the danaher way is the way to go, his guys have changed the bjj world by the kind of control they can apply, and the system between the core positions.
you can’t also just deny the elevation game because you have even better and easier entries from the top (back step, legdrag, etc)
the modern leglock game is becoming a fundamental bjj knowledge and I’m happy the ibjjf can’t do anything about it
This.
I think there are as many top entries as bottom entries so just flattening people out on top and not letting them elevate you isn’t the only solution.
Honestly they are here to stay. Especially the saddle position. It’s probably the most dominant position for no gi outside of the back in terms of the control it offers, and the cross heel hook is right there.
It’s a new fundamental. The darce forced everyone to play bottom half, bottom side, and bottom turtle position differently. The modern positional control hierarchy style of leg locking is forcing everyone to play top and bottom differently. Keenan just said that the berimbolo is mostly dead, but it still forced people to play different in the gi.
I think it’s ultimately a good thing and will push everyone’s game forward.
Heel hooks are not a fad though. Especially the cross heel hook. When it’s legal it’s usually the #2 submission behind the RNC if not the #1 submission sometimes. The saddle just offers too much control and the cross heel hook is so powerful.
Just my opinion, but I don't think "chasing" whatever is hot the moment is necessarily the best way. to go --especially for colored belts.--I know OP is not a colored belt. This isn't really aimed at him.
But, BJJ is very fadish. It's like a big school of fish that change direction in unison and everyone is always persuing the same quarry at the same time. People are trying to get an "advantage" over opponents by adopting the exact same tactics as one another.
This is in fact WHY BJJ is so faddish; soon as everyone is trying to do the same stuff, it loses it's magic. So the crowd moves onto the next thing.
Sure, you DO need to learn how to prevent, shut down and/or counter certain things, but playing exactly like everyone else doesn't do much more than keep you firmly in the middle of the pack.
Spending years working on strategies and tactics that work for YOU specificlly is more beneficial than trying to adopt a new guy's game every 6 months.
Ironically, that's exactly what the real BJJ "innovators" do. They're working on their own games and being true to what works for them. A guy spends years working on developing his unique game, puts it on DVD and the entire BJJ consumer crowd all thinks in unison, " Cool, I'm gonna do this now!"
Long term you would probably be better off copying the innovator's work ethic & methodology to improve, rather than his specific game.
Excellent point!
Bjj, in my opinion, is essentially self-development and self expression in a physical sense.
I watched that cross ankle leg lock escape video, drilled and tried it a bit. I wasn't able to really get away when the opponent tried to squeeze my foot tight with their arm. Is this a no gi only escape? Should I just stick to the usual escape of staying close to them by using the gi?
I watched that cross ankle leg lock escape video, drilled and tried it a bit. I wasn't able to really get away when the opponent tried to squeeze my foot tight with their arm. Is this a no gi only escape? Should I just stick to the usual escape of staying close to them by using the gi?
I tried it too but no gi only. Key was to start the escape early ... Very early.
I trained with a girl from Marcelo's a couple weeks ago that had only trained for 7 months and was quite fluid with both x and slx sweeps. X guard isn't considered fancy new fangled BJJ anymore.
That's the debate, what are you using jujitsu for. X guard not really the go to in a street fight/self defense perspective. But hey, you gonna get good at whatever it is you train. At Marcelo 's I would think that X guard is taught as a regular curriculum move like closed guard is for Relson schools.
I cross train occasionally with a school that exposes beginners to advanced stuff like x guard and DLR right away and I have to say, their students get really good really fast. Tough as hell. Not saying it’s the right way to do it, just an interesting observation
I cross train occasionally with a school that exposes beginners to advanced stuff like x guard and DLR right away and I have to say, their students get really good really fast. Tough as hell. Not saying it’s the right way to do it, just an interesting observation
"...really good, really.fast."
Sure...you gonna get good on 5hings you focus on. Is that the foundation to be laid for beginners? My nephew knows no standup at all. When will he develpp that?...later? IMHO, doubtful, because fucking about in guard a d bottom becomes engrained habit/default IME.
For example, my instructor told me a out attending a seminar and t5here was anothe black belt there whose only option for bent over flailing arm crappy double. One of my trainin ng parttner, brown belt and far more skilled than me, had very little clinch and gripping, etc skill, until we started training despite over 20yrs of traininning. Hees going through LE recruit trainin ng, one of his classmates is a black b3lt.....he likewise was similar. So what does 5his say a out training method and defaults. What doe this say for jiujitsu?
