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Quick question for all the grapplers reading this. What exercises or drills that you can do on your own transfer over the best to improve your BJJ game? Shrimping drills, Olympic lifts, etc... anything else?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Whiting (Post 3957)

Thinking about grappling - seriously.

You're so cool, you always answer all of my fighting questions. :) Plus now you've given me the best excuse ever to pull out all of the fight videos my friend left on my doorstep before he left town. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Whiting (Post 3957)

Thinking about grappling - seriously.

For shizzle. Loads of studies on rehersing things mentally having nearly as good benefit as doing them for real.

Learn to relax, try to use as little attributes as possible.

Yael, I responded with a whole lot of stuff over on Crossfit in regards to the exercises I have put together.

I definitely have been watching a lot of video and I also have been reading several different books. I am focusing on getting very comfortable with the basics.

The hardest thing still for me is not trying to muscle through the moves. After Josh's response to me last time that has been my main focus on the mat.

I actually convinced my wife to become my drill partner once a week. She doesn't want to attend any classes but she is willing to roll with me at home so I can work on different drills. I think that is really cool and I obviously will make sure not to put her in any position that she is uncomfortable with.

Not to hijack Yaels's thread but does anyone have any particular videos or books that they would reccomend?

Hijack away!

One of the guys at SBGi told me he puts the big guys on a special program if they muscle through moves. They slow roll while everyone else goes full speed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek Simonds (Post 3967)

I think that is really cool and I obviously will make sure not to put her in any position that she is uncomfortable with.

Heh. That's the opposite of what I do. I ask my training partners to keep trying to put me in the positions I feel most uncomfortable with.

Derek, I'm gonna quote your CF post here just for fun. I've asked this question in a lot of places and I'm going to compile all the responses and see if I can find a way to work it into my program... It'll be the cardio element of my program (throwing in some boxing and Thai kicks too) so I'm going to try to come up with 4 or 5 different circuits to switch between which incorporate the majority of the suggestions. (I still can't do PU's or HSPU's so my jumping pu's are more like skill work with long rests in between, so what I come up with will be a "beginner" version, but maybe I'll post it anyway.)

For now just working shrimping and working circles with my legs/hips to practice getting around in open guard...

Quote:

Yael,

I have really been focusing on exactly what you are asking. You might have read my two threads on PM about building strength and not gassing.

Here are the things that I have put together in the last couple of months.

I bought Stephan Kesting's Grappling Drills video. http://www.grapplearts.com/Grappling...-Info.php?sid= Work and Family Safe. There is a lot of really great drills on this video. I travel a lot so I usually am on the mat only 2 or 3 times a week. I bought this video so that I could work some of the solo drills while I am traveling.

I also have put together several exercises that I think have direct carryover to BJJ. Here are the exercises and any thoughts I have about the carryover.

Kipping P/U's. I am working really hard on this and I think that the hip movement has direct carryover to the upa escape.

Weighted P/U's with alternating grips and weighted dips. I do these to build my limit strength. In class last week a guy I was rolling with said that I have the strongest grip in class, not my hands but when I have my arms wrapped around him. He wanted to know what I did for a living to have that tight of a grip and I laughed and told him I sit in front of a computer. I did tell him that I think it is from the P/U's.

I have altered up some of the traditional crossfit workouts. Here are the variations that I am currently working

"Elizabeth"

21-15-9 reps of:
Clean and Press 75 pounds
Ring dips
Adding in the press really changes this exercise for me.

"Diane"

21-15-9 reps of:
185 pound Snatch Grip Deadlift on a 5 inch box (courtesy of the infamous Chico thread)
Handstand push-ups
This works the entire body in ways I wouldn't have imagined. After doing this my entire back and shoulder area is on fire.

"Fight Gone Bad!"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)
Warrior Pushups (Reps)
The idea here is I wanted 6 minute rounds since that is how long we grapple for. You could add in any exercise at the end that you like.

For time:
Row 1000 meters
Body weight Bench press, 30 reps
Row 1000 meters
Body weight Bench squat, 30 reps
Row 1000 meters
Body weight deadlift, 30 reps
I like this one because it takes me right at 4 minutes to row 1000 meters and about 2 - 3 minutes for each of the lifting exercises. I look at each variation as a round and try to get as close to 6 minutes as I can. On the deadlift I can get under 6 minutes but not on the others yet.

Interval rowing. I row 6 minute rounds at the highest intensity I can maintain for 6 minutes at a time with a 1 minute break. My goal each time is at least 1500 meters and I score myself by how many meters over 1500 I get each time.

I have been working several different variations on situps. One I have been doing is I wrap my legs around a muay thai bag so that it is like I have someone in my closed guard and I explode up, twist and plant one of my hands on the ground behind me like I am going to attempt a sweep. I lay back down and repeat to the other side. I really work on doing this explosively.

Sorry for the long reply but I have been thinking about this a lot lately.

"Not to hijack Yaels's thread but does anyone have any particular videos or books that they would reccomend?"

...what skill level are you looking for, regarding the material on the videos?

Brad beginner to intermediate. I don't want to get in the technique of the month phase I see some guys doing.

I am trying to figure out what my game is and I am working on having my 3 go to's for throws, sweeps, guard passes and submissions. I am a big fan of repetition and when I learn something I know that I have it down.

Yael, I probably should have said painful instead of uncomfortable.

I can't wait to see the compilation you are going to put together, I am assuming another article.

For beginner may I suggest Roy Harris BJJ 101 Volumes 1-2 (escapes, hold downs). Not many submissions, if any at all, but plenty of good information.

For intermediate, Roy Harris BJJ 101 Volume-3, Arm Locks Volume 1 and 2 (leg locks, straight arm locks, bent arm locks).

If you like, send me and e-mail and I will let you borrow my copies. If you like them you can buy some of your own.

Brad

Yael, my $0.02... (with apologies to people with more open-ended learning styles)

Practice what you need to practice. For me that means picking 1-2 things I need to work on and mixing them into some kind of shadow play, and trying to use them every time I roll. I'll stick to a few things for a month or 2.

If your club has a syllabus, make sure you can at least take a decent shot at the techniques expected of you under a bit of pressure (not that you'll necessarily be submitting the purple belts or whoever, but hopefully the technique won't fall to bits). If you don't have a clear syallabus and you don't honestly know what you need to improve you could ask your training mates or instructor.

Some people can pick up techniques just by watching fights, or by downloading heaps of techniques off net, or buying heaps of DVDs or whatever, but unless they are natural athletes they can leave basics behind... "fortuanately" for me I am such a slow learner I have to force myself to pick 1 or 2 things at a time.

I'd be curious what you decide to incorporate and how it works out for you.