Guest post by Brandon Hetzler who is a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black bet under Rickson & Kron Gracie, 7 and creator of Jugoshin Ryu JuJutsu.
“Tighten the rope”.
This was often heard when Master Rickson Gracie was teaching class or a seminar. The term was in reference to making a connection with your opponent so that there was no wasted movement.
For example:
You are on bottom of side control and are looking to escape. If you don’t “tighten the rope” there won’t be enough connection between you and your opponent thus greatly diminishing your ability to escape. Master Rickson always said, if you are moving and your opponent is not, all the movement until the opponent moves is wasted. It’s like towing a car with a rope with another car. You first tighten the rope before you give it some gas. Imagine if you just hit the gas with the rope not tightened?
This tightening of the rope can be found everywhere in Master Rickson Gracie’s jiujitsu and it is one of his invisible Jiujitsu principles.
This is just one of many many principles I learned from the legendary master that will be with me for the rest of my martial arts life.
Jugoshin ryu Jujutsu.
In this video, Rickson talks about posture and connection:
