ATTN: Eddie and Moon Instructors. Share your wisdom.

A new guy just signed up at our gym. He was recently a state champion wrestler and he is a heavyweight. Has an 8-1 ammy MMA record, but has never trained outside of his wrestling background. He wants to pursue MMA seriously now. He's very eager and willing to learn and has a good attitude. If I do my job right, he can make some noise.

Where do you start with a guy like this? He will likely hold his own (at least) with most of our guys from day 1, so how do I teach him the principles of jiu jitsu (leverage and energy efficiency) without taking away from his strongest qualities as a grappler and fighter?

A little help from my mentors and brothers is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Put him with the fattest guy

Passing, mount and back techs and from the bottom start him with lockdown half and deep half, but focus most on passing :)

^ + sweeps! Good wrestlers usually hold their own, but they have two big issues normally. They don't like to play on their back, and they're way to open (too much space) in their game. Work on those issues and you can watch him improve by leaps and bounds ;)

when i started Herzog had me work a lot on my top game. drilling passing, move from position to position and stayin tight. I would also have him drill takedowns with guard passes too.

Make sure that you don't make him roll with me, please sir.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joe Friday

Make sure that you don't make him roll with me, please sir.

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don't worry, old friend; you'd have to be in a class to roll with him, so i think you're safe :)

1) Ignore Corky, and any advice he offers on anything, I lifted his ban, and within one day I all ready regret it.

2)Technical advices has all ready been given: Top Game, Passes, 1/2 guard, transitional flow. The only thing I would add is submission escapes/counters.

2) Also work with him on his economy of motion and conservation of energy. Most wrestlers have a nose to the grind stone pace, which is fine if they have the cardio to back it up. He'll need your guidance in knowing when to relax, and when to pressure and push the pace and explode. IMHO this is the hardest to teach, be patient yet persistent when working with him on this. It will take his output to new levels as he learns to relax while beating the hell outta someone.

How big?

Got the same here with Toby. We worked a lot on guard passes/ bottom game since once he's got top control he's a real pain in the ass to shake off lol. Like the Zog said make sure he develops a good understanding of subs/ counters. He will get tapped a lot by silly things at the start but once he switch his brain over to subs that's when you've got a killing machine on the ground. Then make sure to keep him on his toes with new techniques, chances are he will crush most of your guys so last thing you want is for him to get stuck in a routine and gets bored

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chris Herzog

1) Ignore Corky, and any advice he offers on anything, I lifted his ban, and within one day I all ready regret it.

2)Technical advices has all ready been given: Top Game, Passes, 1/2 guard, transitional flow. The only thing I would add is submission escapes/counters.

2) Also work with him on his economy of motion and conservation of energy. Most wrestlers have a nose to the grind stone pace, which is fine if they have the cardio to back it up. He'll need your guidance in knowing when to relax, and when to pressure and push the pace and explode. IMHO this is the hardest to teach, be patient yet persistent when working with him on this. It will take his output to new levels as he learns to relax while beating the hell outta someone.

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Dude if u wanna slide the ban hammer my way for about ten seconds ill hit Corky with it so hard he will never come back... Hey Corky...Fuck you!

Also as far as the thread topic goes, do you think having knowledge of many types of submissions is important if not for any reason but the haver a fat defense against them (kinda along the lines of what Zog said). I say that cuz all i can picture is Brock Lesnar handing Frank Mir that kneebar.

just my 2 cents:
Wrestlers can sometimes be vulnerable to getting triangled when they pass to side control. They like to put the arm in the middle of the opponents legs(maintain position), but if they aren't careful, their head can be pushed down thereby capturing what's needed for the triangle(arm and head). Have him change his bottom arm position to either behind his close thigh, or elbow in front of his far hip.

The guard: Wrestlers are taught never to have their shoulders on the ground(on their back = pin). Being comfortable on the back is paramount in jiu jitsu. Have em start on their back until they get over freaking out being on their back.

Strength: Wrestlers love to muscle out of instances, whereas in jiu jitsu there is a slow technical escape to almost everything(if not everything). Teach him the technical escape for a submission that you see he is powering out of. There is a time to power out of positions, but usually a slow, methodical way of escaping is good to perform. Then he'll have guys saying, "Damn, he's a beast and he's technical!"

Rick