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How To Survive Being Smashed Repeatedly In Training

How To Survive Being Smashed Repeatedly In Training

 

 

Helio Gracie is one of the most important figures in history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His lineage and legacy are undisputed and unparalleled. He is the person most responsible for popularizing and spreading bjj all over the globe. Helio believed superior technique could overcome all other disadvantages.

Still, great technique doesn’t prevent your legs looking like a polka dot dress – just check out this snap by Emilia Tuukkanen:

Signs of a well-spent weekend #bjjproblems

A photo posted by Emilia Tuukkanen (@emiliatuukkanen) on


Tuukkanen is a Finish born bjj brown belt. In a recent posting she urged others to do what makes them happy but this may come at a steep price if you’re of smaller stature or female!

So what are some things Emilia would recommend to survive being smashed?

She recently told bjjstyle:

“Being smashed in BJJ is something I can bet almost every girl and smaller guy has experienced. It can be annoying, humiliating and anti-motivating – as well as dangerous. Being beat up by someone using only force and muscle without any technique is very discouraging and not at all what BJJ is about.”

 

And it’s no secret she hates smashing because it hinders the development:

One reason I hate getting smashed so much is that is it such a waste of my precious training time. The only thing it helps develop is my ability to breath with horrible amounts of weight and pressure on me and my ability to hold back tears after feeling humiliated. Neither one of us is getting better at jiu jitsu with that kind of sparring, and smashing is a huge risk to my health, since the smaller one gets easily injured (broken ribs, toes, fingers, or any injury from over-powered submissions).

So how can we turn it into a good thing?

One good rule of thumb is that if after sparring you are totally out of breath and exhausted, while your smaller partner seems fresh and unwinded, even though you dominated the whole round, you most likely used a lot of force and your partner just focused on surviving uninjured. It should be exactly the other way around, the small one using their everything while the bigger one concentrates on using just technique. The big one should not be the one dying after rolling with small guy.

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