I'm 6'2" and in college I was about 215lbs and a very athletic and physically strong blue belt. I had a unique experience I will never forget rolling with a black belt who was probably in his 50's. I would get on top either in open guard or side mount, whatever, try to smash and it felt like he was "swimming" or was water beneath me. No perceived effort but he had complete control of me. This video cracked that code.
Another way to see this is something that I read in a book by Paulo Guillobel. The point was made by this question (paraphrased): "Would it be more difficult to escape from under a 200 pound wet rug or a 200 pound piece of plywood?"
This is a perfect illustration of the principle of jū (柔, “suppleness” or “yielding strength”), which is the basis of jūjutsu (柔術, jiu-jitsu). I have been training BJJ for almost eighteen years, and I’m still trying to figure out how to really relax. Great video!
My Judo sensei said that the Ju of Judo has been translated to "Gentle Way". I did Jujutsu/JiuJitsu for a couple of years before I did Judo 6 Years later. He said to me Judo is not gentle. He said it should be called the adaptable way. Which is why Judo and Jiujitsu are a reminder to me to learn to adapt in life. And success comes from continuing practice. I do not physically practice anymore. It was 1971 when I first started. I also tried Taekwondo for a couple of years. I love the grappling.
@@MrPhilharmonica1 I agree: Judo is not really "gentle" (and I have permanent injuries to my spine and shoulder to prove it 😄). The character 柔 (jū) literally means "gentle," but I like your sensei's translation as "adaptable," since it's closer to the way we use the term in judo and jiu-jitsu. The Japanese word jū comes from the Chinese róu, which is a key concept in Daoist philosophy, referring to the flexibility shown by green bamboo or water, which naturally bend to adapt to their surroundings.
@@WC-JKD-BJJ nice info on the etymology of ju...i always tell people if they want to understand judo, jiu jitsu, aikido better as far as philosophy, strategy, tactics, and techniques go then go to the root which is taichi and taoist philosophy.
This is exactly the core mechanic of Tai Chi often described as softness, effective Tai Chi is mostly soft grappling and essentially stand up Jiu-Jitsu that incorporates mid and close range strikes, and seizes, and uses what's described here as contact to stifle, contain, and redirect your opponent's explosiveness, becoming in effect mud, the same way JJ employs by grounding them, and is a good stand up supplement for JJ practitioners and vice versa. The two systems merged do a great job of covering each others short comings.
except taijiquan does it in a unrealistic way with dated techniques. Great concepts for fighting that works for any system but horrible techniques(Taijiquan).
@@teovu5557 Agreed, pressure testing, realistic or actual combat implementation, a realistic peripheral fight culture or the lack thereof will make or break any fighting system. But I've witnessed street guys incorporating Tai Chi with both softness and actual martial intent, grappling oriented, and it's crazy effective, and vicious, wasn't anything nice or gentle about it at all, it was dirt ugly. Excels at safely neutralizing explosive opponents while targeting their vital areas and does indeed mirror Jiu Jitsu. Tai Chi I would argue requires a very high fight I.Q. though, and most of the folk I've seen employ it effectively were already very good fighters, and used it to seize and choke, to seize and break/lock, or to seize and strike a vital area, never to trade blows or to just strike or go toe to toe, it seemed to work best as a method of capture and kill. Allegedly derived from observing a snake killing a bird of prey, Tai Chi really seems to shine in 3 second to 5 second long brief counter-engagements as opposed to brawls.
@@lowlowseesee LOL, I meant they share similarities, not exactly the same, and yeah, I totally agree with you, that most don't realistically pressure test. I'd say this for all martial arts but especially Tai Chi, Wing Chun, Aikido, these styles work.........but don't deceive yourself, IF YOUR GOAL IS TO NEUTRALIZE GORILLAS - THEN YOU'VE GOT TO TRAIN AGAINST GORILLAS, - AND ROUTINELY - PERIOD, FULL STOP. Both physically and psychologically, consider cross training with boxers, Thai boxers, wrestlers, ex-convicts, rugby players, bikers etc. places where there's more of a pressure test/conditioning culture to weed out the real from the fake. There's also something to be said about the fact that the people who developed all three of these systems were already very seasoned fighters with very high fight I.Q.s who employed their crafts in life and death circumstances that most of us are gratefully insulated from today. I studied a style of Kung Fu but learned to fight by sparring with a Liberian civil war refugee, a hard karate guy who'd been through some real grizzly stuff, and his Karate was far from theoretical. No, his karate wasn't better, but his understanding of war absolutely was, and I credit his Karate for making my Kung Fu effective.
I've listened an interview of one of Roger Gracie's training partner. He said, Roger feels like a thick blanket. This is what i teach my students now. Be the blanket.
Learn to relax - I felt it first time when I started rolling with a solid blue belt who super relaxed when rolling. After a few rolls I started relaxing and breathing normal as well during the rolls!
I'm 6', athletic, muscular but 155lbs. Pretty much every guy in class weighs 20 pounds more than me at least. Half the time I'm rolling with guys 40-50lbs heavier. I'll say that working out is a necessity for strength and proper muscle activation and injury prevention but at the end of the day when a 200lb dude lays on top of me I have a very same struggle as this young lady. You're not alone and it's not just the girls that get "tossed around" Thank you for the video
You truly do not have to work out, just do more jiujitsu. On the first day of class, the first person that I ever rolled with was a white belt who wrestled for five years, he weighs 215lbs, I weighed 190lbs. I could barely stand up in his closed guard, much less break his legs around me, he had me sweating bullets, and I left. Two months later, we were drilling, where I had to break out of his closed guard, and mount him, while he fought to keep me from doing that. I was easily picking him up, his head was off the ground, and then I easily passed his guard. My strength has increased a ton in just two months, and I'm 39 years old.
So i've been training for just over a year now and for the past few months , I've had this suspicious feeling that I might be training in a Mcdojo, after watching this video and learning this concept, it confirms my suspicion. This is such a simple and yet a powerful concept that they have not taught us in my year of being at my gym. I will be leaving the gym come January for a new one.
I can't say whether your gym is or isn't legit but it's fairly common for most gyms to teach multiple techniques, drill them, and then open up the class for open sparring. Only some gyms deal in concepts, as it's challenging to cover concepts across multiple inconsistent waves of training students across multiple training sessions. Seminars (which I believe this is) are usually a better venue for teaching concepts. That and during open mat, discussing training theories with your coach.
@@pixelcultmedia4252, Sounds about right. I attend Gracie Barra, and you could make the assumption of what the main commenter is saying, but it's all about communication, and asking questions, and even drilling.
My old professor used to say "don't be like a stick, be like a piece of rope, I push one bit of a piece of rope that's all that moves..I push the stick the whole thing can move"
That was a really good lesson that we already know but we already forgotten about it. Thank you You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
Thanks for a GREAT video. This has so many metaphorical parallels to the way we approach life. Our life stance is really, actually, a physical thing: how we hold and release our bodies, how we physically balance, angulate, and move with respect to other force vectors and static objects in our environment, is mirrored in our adaptability in the mental and emotional realms. These are generalized adaptive responses: if you want to change your approach to life, change the way you relate to it physically.
I have been struggling with this as a 64 year old Blue Belt. Told to relax but not one explained what that means. NOW I know. This video almost made me cry. Can't wait to train tonight. Geez.
This great demo of application of it. That combined with comment section is gold mine of what relaxing means. I always would dislike when someone would say that but not explain what they mean
Great teaching! This is called waza in judo, bjj develop from judo this is a very good application on the mechanics of jiu-jitsu the how to yield to the movement instead of resist.
I can't wait to get back in it!! BJJ, hapkido, MMA. I was in a toxic school but I'm still putting in the work!! This is a very neat thing to keep in mind.
According to my sensi Roy sunaka. 1 of 3 menko holders said. jugaro kano once visited O'sensei's dojo. He brought some of the senior students and when he watched osensei's (techniques what you see in the first part of this videois aikido too puer) it is a good example. he said that's perfect Judo. And his student said well then what have we been doing all these years. I suppose Master kano just smiled like a Buddha. As it was described to me." when you're walking down the street now the corner eye without being taught anything when you see someone about to bump in you what did you naturally you whip yourself sideways and open the door let them go by as much as you can it's natural it's in all of us why shouldn't we let that be our art. the art be just as simple as that'
I can feel there is more info missing to actually make this concept work. Simply because if your timing is off you will be pushed off. But, I remember people saying Rickson makes adjustments before the move happens; therefore, there is a way to feel your "opponents" intention before anything happens. The next question is how do you feel what your "opponent" will do before they make it happen
