
Originally Posted by
Chris Herzog
I don't settle for "taking what you can get". That mind set is in direct opposition of one of the primary tenants of Jiu Jitsu "Position before submisison". When it comes to the lower body attacks in BJJ dominate position is often overlooked. "Setting" is the trade off for poor positioning.
The arm bar and and kneer bar example makes my point, if you have the thumb up however your leg positioning sucks (knees open, no downward pressure, or no leg curling your heels to your butt) then the escape is far more efficient. You can have the heel all you want, if your positioning is bad a competent grappler will escape.
We will have to disagree on this point then however. I have finished many kneebars in competition both with my opponent's foot on the top and on the bottom and was able to successfully with the way that I do them and controlling the heel and hugging with my head. And I definitely believe that if I would have try to actually "think" about what side his leg was on then it would not have been as affective or I may have given up space. So I took what I got it was successful.
It's ok to have different methods that work. If you're methods work then that is great. Fortunately for me in advanced competition my methods work for me as well.
As with the kneebar..you need to pay attention to leg position and tightness as well.
So for me it's not "settling" if I am still able to finish just as well with the leg on either side. Nothing to do with being a jiu jitsu guy as well.
That's why I would rather be proficient on both sides rather then just on one side. As you see in the video, I finish the knee be bar with the knee on the top and the bottom.
Thanks for the discussion.
Jason