We’ve been changing things up this Summer in Jiu Jitsu class.
One, and the most obvious area we alter is our gi. We don’t wear it. The Summer months afford us something very special and that’s hot, sticky weather. To deal with this, we choose to roll no-gi. I really like this because I learned a lot of no-gi technique last Summer and I continue to improve. No-gi rolling is a bit more challenging than gi (for many). Opponents are sweaty and difficult to catch. There are no collars or sleeves to use. Collar choke…nope. Scissor sweep…very difficult. Because of this, we have to reply more on “hooks” and different types of techniques. Techniques that offer similar control to gi Jiu Jitsu, but just not as easy to pull off.
We have also been working a lot on increasing the number of reps we do during our drilling. Instead of doing, say, 10 reps each, we’ll do 50 now. The theory behind this is that high repetitions in practicing a certain move will give us a much closer look at what we are practicing later in the series. Say we are drilling a shoulder lock 50 times. Chances are we’ll discover something new between number 15 and 40. It’s pretty good. Also, by practicing something over and over again, the thinking is that we’ll acquire some muscle memory and be able to apply what we’ve learned much more proficiently.
Lastly, we have been focusing on what we call “Flow Rolling.” This is when two opponents only apply about 25%-50% of effort when compared to full out sparring. It’s beneficial because it gives a chance for us to apply what we learned during class and it also gives us an opportunity to work on anything else we think might need to be worked on without the difficulty of simply fighting someone off to stay alive.
I wanted to show you a good video on flow rolling, so I searched around a bit. The best video I found is posted below. It’s a great demonstration of what we do, or try to do, along with some helpful narration.
BJJ: Rolling Reflections – Pete vs. Ryron Gracie – BJJ Weekly
