Originally Posted by
Joe Firth
First, a little background on me to pint a better picture of my situation.
I primarily did No-Gi "Submission grappling" at a school for a few years before moving back home where it is now mainly Gi twice a week with BJJ Coach, with a couple of MMA classes with the head coach (Martin Stapleton, Bellator).
So, white belt in my Gi, I'm rolling with a purple belt on Monday who gave me the advice to relax a little while I roll; he said that he can feel how strong I am, but I'm constantly using that pressure, so it's letting him know exactly where I'm going to move all the time.
I took his advice on board because it sounded solid.
When I got home I was thinking it over and I wondered if this is only "Gi applicable"?
Since the squeeze and pressure due to lack of grips and handles in No-Gi is so important, are my No-gi tendencies giving the game away here?
I'm partially thinking that it could just be my inexperience of setting up combinations of submissions.
Any thoughts, my 10P brethren?
I think relaxing is smart in gi or nogi. If a water bed is on top of you, or a heavy stiff door, it's usually easier to move the door. That's a huge generalization, but the idea is pretty true. All the best nogi guys I've rolled with all are incredibly relaxed on top and incredibly heavy. I got to roll with Gui Mendes in the gi and nogi, and in both he was pound for pound the most pressure heavy person I've ever felt, and he wasn't stiff or tense at all.
By relaxing, you force the other person to carry all of your weight. It also makes you more sensitive to feeling the other person's movements so it sets you up to be better prepared for scrambles. Learning how to balance between being light and being heavy is hard and it takes a lot of time, but is important in gi and nogi both. In nogi you're going to have to scramble and move around a bit more, and in the gi there are spots where you can rest a little bit more. But I don't think you have to use your body differently in each one. Good grappling is good grappling. You can grapple in the gi and choose to not use many gi grips, like Marcelo Garcia or Jeff Glover. And in nogi, you can still have a very tight/pressure heavy game. You don't always have to be scrambly.
Hope this made sense.
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