Bigger training partners

[Keith Kavanagh]

What's crackin?! I know this is a thread that's likely to have been posted before but I think as the system grows, a more updated answer might help a bit better. I'm just under the 70kg mark and I can submit bigger opponents but it just takes a lot longer if a 100kg dude can get on top of me. I try avoid even having them in my guard, I'll use butterfly guard and z guard to make space but other than that, if I don't have his back, side or mount, abort mission, get the fuck out of there. It's also hard enough locking up triangles but definitely possible but some of the bigger guys who sweat more can sometimes slip right out (although my sexy new 10th planet tights helped prevent that a bit last night)

I was just wondering what kind of positions and techniques some of the smaller guys like myself like to use to keep the bigger guys under control?

[Joachim Hoff]

Good well thought out counters to escapes from top position, tire them out..
And really good sweeps, reversals, and escapes of your own.

They have to carry their own weight as well, and if not extremely athletic, they are prone to tiring out from bottom, exposing subs. Also; Fast aggressive leglocks and good framing to keep them down worked for me a couple of times.

The guys I sparred around 12 years ago that were heavy were 120 and 135 kg's, I weighed 65.
...... Mostly I would just get smashed, lol..! :') They were world class strongmen btw. That's cool day one, every day that passes and every technique they pick up after that makes it less cool to be a 65 kg man, hahaha!

That Marcelo Garcia guy seems to own big guys, not that I have the technical expertise to explain to you why.

there's some technique that fakes a butterfly sweep but transitions into leglocks that is supposed to be good against big guys, but I never drilled it, can't remember what's it called.

Mind you, I'm not even training right now and I haven't won a single submission match, but there's competent people that will chime in and that knows exactly how to deal with big opponents. All I know is that playing rodeo with good top control, good escapes, and leglocks sometimes worked for me.

[Paul Hughes]

This question came up at Denny's London seminar. If my memory serves me correctly I think he said he plays open guard and butterfly against big dudes.

I like to go lockdown and stretch the big guys out. Maybe it's just the guys I'm training with but they seem to feel less comfortable in the lockdown than when I roll with smaller guys. But yeah, I like to pull quarter, get the lockdown and immediately get perfect double unders. Also, I like butterfly. My open guard is really poor.

That said, I still get smashed regularly by higher level big guys, so take what I say with a pinch of salt.

[Fraser Taylor]

Well, from the other side of things: as a bigger guy I find a good butterfly and open guard player most difficult to deal with. Things like Lockdown etc, generally don't phase me anymore than they would anyone else, I would much rather someone played a lockdown game rather than butterflys.

I'm happy when people pull guard or want to play a closed guard game as I can smash and slice through quite happily.

[Kurzy]

I am a small guy and always roll bigger guys. I find I have the best percentages if I play bottom half lockdown to electric series, then start attacking their neck from top. I find if I stay in the same orientation as them, they can muscle me around and sweep me over, but if I attack from side (Darces) or go FHL position and stay there to attack the turtle with anaconda's, JNT/PNT,guillotines, etc, I have an easier time keeping their posture down because they are always busy having to defend their neck with hands so they can't base as well to burst up and out.
Just my own experience.
The big guys that have experience just simply surpass my technique with theirs and also have the advantage of brute strength, so what I am talking about are bigger guys that are around my level of skill.

[Keith Kavanagh]

I havnt tried open guard yet, my head coach is a sambo master so open guard can be dangerous to play but I'll try find a few good techniques that suit me! Thanks for all the help! Straight leg locks are one of my favourite type of subs but I'm having some problems with my forearms at the moment and it's fairly painful to lock in them leg locks (using the technique dean lister uses which I found works best for me). I've only recently started using guillotines, marcelotines, PNTs and such so it'll take some time to get grips and positioning down but I've had a lot of success with the pretzel grip guillotine so I'll keep drilling. I've a few videos to be uploaded of some rolling soon too (including the battle with the big guy last night when I eventually caught him in a sneaky belly down armbar)

[Kurzy]

Yeah I need to try that pretzel grip. My arm-in guillotine percentages are very low.

[Chad Clark]

Top crucifex from judo side control a'la Zog's series from TWIR, but only if I can't hit the truck/back. Marcelotines and n/s if they present themselves.

Also, something that I was working on was not conceding top position with bigger and more experienced guys. If I'm on my back, create space and get to my knees to try a reversal or just stand up to either wrestle or work some standing guard passes or rolling kimuras.

[David Rosado]

I'm a big guy and more often than not, my training partners are smaller than me. What the best guys use to keep me "under control" is not to keep me under control. It's more about surfing. Maintain your balance. Ride the wave. Wait for them to move. And you move constantly. Big guys tire faster at fast paces. So a guy like Josh Santana from 10th planet Roc would give me fits because he would move constantly. If you try to control, you'll get out muscled. You want to move a bunch and look for openings and mistakes.

Knee on belly.

Twister Side.

As far as guards, it's smartest to use guards that constantly threaten their base.

Various deep half guards are money.

X guard and single leg X.


Bigger guys tend to be top heavy so recovering balance is not as easy for us as it is for a 155'er. It's wise to play guards that use your whole body versus one leg. Usually a small guy's whole body strenght is stronger than a big guy's one leg strength. Threaten balance and you should be able to sweep, reverse, or escape bottom.

[Elisha J Baker]

I run around 250. When I lose to lighter guys, it's usually because they have a great butterfly, great escapes, they keep moving, and they get tired a long time after I do.