This is part IV, the last of a four part article.
Limitations and Constraints
Unlimited freedom paralyses creativity. You need somewhere to go. You need a problem to solve.
I was rebuked as a black belt by a highly ranked instructor for not being able to immediately think of a problem I was having with my game when he asked me. He was right – my game has no shortage of holes, same as just about everyone.
Freedom of Choice – not always a good thing
Ricardo de la Riva developed his famous and eponymous guard being one of the smaller guys on the Carlson Gracie Team, in a gym full of tough competitors on whom he could not impose a top game, and who were some of the best guard passers in the world. He developed his outside hook guard as a way to keep his opponents off balance; his training partners called it the “guarda pudim”, Pudding Guard (a nice metaphor), because of the way it made their base unstable and “wobbly”. Accounts vary, but he fought Royler Gracie, then undefeated as a black belt, around 1986, and depending on the account, beat him, or lost a tied match due to a referee’s decision.
Half guard was seen as the last line of defense before your guard was passed, prior to Gordo Correa being forced to work from it pretty much exclusively due to a knee injury, which limited the positions form which he could roll. He pretty much turned it form the last line of defense into a position from which many attacks can now be launched, and in which many competitors now specialize.
Many people have seen their guard game improve dramatically after a hand or arm injury which forced them to train one handed. They were forced to make greater use of their legs, and use them in ways that they may not have learned to unless forced to by the injury. I believe Dave Meyer was some such person.
You do not need to wait for injury to strike to take such steps. Put yourself in the positions you hate, deliberately, so you are forced to problem solve. Try wrestling with one or both arms tucked in your belt, or without using one or both legs. Ban yourself from your favorite passes or passing on your favorite side. Ban yourself from certain guards or positions. Come up with your own limitations and see what new pathways emerge.
Positional rolling is a form of limitation which can deliver good outcomes.
In the video below, Jack White of the White Stripes discusses the benefits of limitations and time limits on his own considerable creative output.
Away from the Gym and off the Mat
We’ve all seen the videos of guys training the berimbolo with chairs and wheelbarrows. If your time in the gym is limited, find other ways to train.
This guy trains Jiu Jitsu in water.
Personally, I came up with quite a few ways to drill techniques with a small heavy bag. What you can do from top positions is pretty obvious, but with a little imagination I worked out how to drill the Hip Bump Sweep, Wing Sweep / Reverse Basic Sweep, Catapult Sweep, and Shaolin Sweep, among others, along with some takedowns.
I found a foam roller makes a pretty good prop for drilling the lockdown and some butterfly and X guard transitions. I’ve heard of guys using pieces of wood to drill Ezekiel chokes and become very effective with them in the gym as a result – you can use the foam roller for that too.
I made a grappling dummy from a coathanger wire skeleton, and a hoodie inside an old full length wetsuit stuffed with rags, and a head made from about a thousand plastic bags. It could benefit from a neck made from pool noodles, as it has an annoying habit of headbutting me if I try to work triangles. It’s not great for guardwork but is pretty good for drilling top techniques and leglock transitions.
Nothing beats a partner to drill with, but the right inanimate objects can be useful, because they never get sore throats from getting choked too much, or sore knees, elbows or wrists. Plus they never get tired or make other arrangements when you want to train.
The best training tool … IMAGINATION.
The Creative Environment
Environment triumphs will
– Chris Haueter
To really be an innovator and creator in martial arts, your environment need to support you. You need:
- Time to experiment and think
- Support from your training partners
- The ability to take risks and maybe fail without getting injured
- Freedom to come up with weird and nonsensical ideas without judgement
- Dynamism and energy
- Humor and a sense of play to keep things light and interesting
- Challenge, resistance and debate, but at a level that extends and doesn’t crush the participants. argument, not conflict
- Trust in your training buds
- Openness to ideas, whatever the source
Do your best to work in and develop such environments, especially when you are the teacher.
If you want to improve incrementally, compete, if you want to improve exponentially, co-operate!
Phil Grapsas
Go for it!
There’s a new sweep out there, just waiting for you to create it. Name it after yourself and become a Jiu Jitsu immortal! Develop the Covfefe choke! Get crazy, get creative! Do it now!
Happy trails!