Being 'one dimensional' in sparring

[Pan]

Hi everyone,

I've been paying more attention to my training partners recently and particularly to one guy who is something you could probably call a "specialist". He's a 100kg blue belt who always pulls guard and looks for an armbar when rolling gi or straight ankle lock when rolling no gi. There are odd exceptions when he cant get hit these and might sweep but 9 times out of 10 he'll go for them and hit them (when rolling with white/blue/purple belts).
He's crushing in central European tournaments and recently won 4 golds and 2 belts at Grapplers Quest in Amsterdam so it's clearly working. Also, I have to say this guy trains like mad and loves jiu-jitsu. I'm taking nothing away from his work ethic or undermining his game etc.

My question is, what do you guys think about being "one dimensional" (sounds like a negative way of putting it) in sparring? When I roll with him he armbars/ankle locks me ten plus times in 8 minutes and I don't know how much he's getting out of it. I guess it's more reps of the same move, so moving closer to 10k reps and mastery, but would it be better to try out different things when you have the chance?

How do you like to roll? Try out different things or work on your money moves?

Thanks for the input guys.

Oss.

[Ringo Lagrange]

I think it's good to try everything, keep an open mind, but i also think it's good to specialize in something.
That's one difference between white, bleu, purple, brown and black belts.
When you start up, you wanna learn and master everything. In time you will specialize in certain paths and get really good at that.
When people roll with you, they know what you're up to, but aren't able to stop it anyway. David Avellan has the kimura he can hit from any position. Just watch Eddie's twister highlight, those guys knew what was coming.
What's your opinion on this? :
bjj.jpg

[Mike May]

I think having a simple, stream lined, go to game creates a very safe basis from which to branch out and experiment. I have my core game, and I encourage the other people in the club to focus heavily on individual game development, rather than introducing too many techniques.
In reference to the belts to Swiss Army Knives photo: in Arnis Kali we have a similar concept, but in reverse. At black belt one should have simplified the skillset down to a single, overwhelming blade that cuts through all the BS. The saying goes like this: the beginner shouts many things hoping to be heard, the apprentice asks questions hoping to be answered, the journeyman debates to show his knowledge, but the master quiets them all with a single word.

[Greg W]

Have fun!! I roll to make my jits as pretty as possible. Eventually you and the other training partners should get good at defense for these 2 moves. He will then have to move on to adding something new. By that time he will have soooo many reps it will be so solid in his game, and if anyone tries to do those two moves to you, you will laugh and say I have been here so many times this is easy.

[David Rosado]

Everyone's journey is different IMO. If he's finding success , then really it's up to his opponents to stop it. Otherwise, he really has no reason to switch his style. I mean, Paul Sass triangled like 10 dudes in a row. It worked for a while. Now he's gotta revise his approach.

I'm not going to say what he should and shouldn't do. We are all different and have different things we want out of BJJ.

[Ringo Lagrange]

Article from Stephan Kesting related to this:

Early in your BJJ development you should be a generalist. This means developing basic skills in ALL areas of BJJ. (Eventually you'll probably specialize a little bit more, but that comes much later, usually around purple belt).

So for now you need to make sure that you're covering all your bases. You really don't want there to be severely underdeveloped areas of your game!

One way to figure out whether there are major holes in your game is to use a checklist like the one below.



Try ranking these positions in order of how much you know about them:

•Closed guard
•Open guard
•Half guard
•Side mount
•Knee mount
•Full mount
•Rear mount

This ordered list then becomes a handy tool to decide which techniques to practice, and what positions you should start your sparring in.



Remember, usually you make your fastest progress by working your weakest area!




Another, somewhat more analytical approach, is to subdivide these positions even further. Lets split each of the above positions into three technical areas:
1.Submissions from that position.
2.Transitions from the position to an even better position.
3.Escapes/guard passes if you're caught in that position.

When we take consider those three types of skills for each of the major positions, we end up with 24 skill sets:
1.Closed guard submissions
2.Closed guard passes
3.Closed guard sweeps
4.Open guard submissions
5.Open guard passes
6.Open guard sweeps
7.Half guard submissions
8.Half guard passes
9.Half guard sweeps
10.Side mount submissions
11.Side mount transitions
12.Side mount escapes
13.Knee mount submissions
14.Knee mount transitions
15.Knee mount escapes
16.Full mount submissions
17.Full mount transitions
18.Full mount escapes
19.Rear mount submissions
20.Rear mount transitions
21.Rear mount escapes
22.Turtle submissions
23.Turtle transitions
24.Turtle escapes

Now I don't normally assign homework, but I want you to try this. Go down that list again and figure out if you know at least two techniques for each area.



To be able to flow and spar and play and feel comfortable on the ground you need to have at least a few good options for each one of the above 24 areas.



This approach also helps you identify areas for improvement.


Hypothetically, let's say that you know 17 different sweeps from the open guard, but you're completely lost when you get stuck in the half guard.



Question for you: if that's the case, should you work on more open guard techniques, or spend some quality time on the half guard?




I bet you just answered the question yourself!
Stephan Kesting
www.beginningBJJ.com
www.grapplearts.com

[ScottRay]

This guy seems like he is bullying in class and that is what's enjoyable to him...winning. Guys like this usually cap out at blue belt...or change. Class rolls are time to develop, not compete. Is he your friend? If so speak with him about this. He is holding himself back by training like this. What does he do against black belts? What about other 100kg+ guys? If he can only do 2 moves against smaller weaker opponents, he isnt doing jiujitsu.

[Pan]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys.

At my current skill level I'm just having fun and getting better at defending things. I couldn't possibly have the same approach because there's so much to left for me to discover. But I wondered about the same thing ScottRay said,

He is holding himself back by training like this.

Is he? Or is he developing a killer competition game? Everyone in class knows what he's going for but he's still killing everyone with it. He plays the same game with all guys, all belts and it's successful because he's drilled it so many times.

It looks a bit boring to me, but his obsession with it makes him very, very effective. I'm gonna continue to be a good white belt and experience everything and see what 'tastes best'.

Anyone else got a specialist in their class?

[Tori Applegate]

Marcelo only does no arm chokes. 5 if I'm not mistaken, but he has numerous set ups for those five chokes from every position. Is he holding himself back? Maybe, but everyone goes to sleep so there's a good strategy there. And he is most def a specialist.

Everyone does JJ differently. That's one thing that makes it so interesting. Everyone plays a different game. Usually this really starts to develop as a blue belt. From blue to purple you are developing a solid game. Your partner has two subs that he's killer at. To you...that's all it seems like he's working on, but he probably is constantly working on new set ups and trying to perfect those. Along with new set ups, he also has to develop movement for when he is in a position where he can't get either one of those subs. So maybe he works on a lot of guard recovery and escapes to keep his movement fluid so he can get to the positions where he dominates. I don't necessarily think that is one dimensional or being a bully.

From your viewpoint, I would want to give him a run for his money. You know it's coming every roll so learn some new defenses and you will never get arm barred or ankle locked outside of your gym ever. It's a plus. Steel sharpens steel. You get better at defense, his go to stuff has to get better or he has to start developing elsewhere in his game.

[Brent Smith]

Hi everyone,

I've been paying more attention to my training partners recently and particularly to one guy who is something you could probably call a "specialist". He's a 100kg blue belt who always pulls guard and looks for an armbar when rolling gi or straight ankle lock when rolling no gi. There are odd exceptions when he cant get hit these and might sweep but 9 times out of 10 he'll go for them and hit them (when rolling with white/blue/purple belts).
He's crushing in central European tournaments and recently won 4 golds and 2 belts at Grapplers Quest in Amsterdam so it's clearly working. Also, I have to say this guy trains like mad and loves jiu-jitsu. I'm taking nothing away from his work ethic or undermining his game etc.

My question is, what do you guys think about being "one dimensional" (sounds like a negative way of putting it) in sparring? When I roll with him he armbars/ankle locks me ten plus times in 8 minutes and I don't know how much he's getting out of it. I guess it's more reps of the same move, so moving closer to 10k reps and mastery, but would it be better to try out different things when you have the chance?

How do you like to roll? Try out different things or work on your money moves?

Thanks for the input guys.

Oss.

I think I would get bored with the mindset of only one sub. It seems like I'll only land triangles but I try a list of other subs before I lock that triangle in. Constantly hunting for that Anaconda but I haven't got enough reps to land it at the consistency I'd like to.
Anyways, I don't think it's bad to be "one dimensional" but I wouldn't be able to do it personally.