John Danaher has shared another fundamental concept for grapplers looking to improve their efficiency on the mats – learning when to relax and when to apply tension.
In a recent post, the renowned coach explained that understanding how the human body responds to pressure and movement is at the core of high-level Jiu-Jitsu:
If Jiu jitsu is art, then the canvas upon which we paint is the human body.
Danaher emphasized that controlling an opponent requires more than technique alone — it requires mastery over one’s own physical tension:
As a general rule, we want our body to be relaxed when we are engaged in movement and tense when we are trying to inhibit movement.
According to Danaher, many beginners struggle because they don’t yet know how to manage their tension.
Some waste energy by staying rigid throughout a match, burning out before they can implement their strategy…
While others stay too loose and miss crucial moments to secure dominant positions or finishes:
Problems arise when we don’t correlate physical tension with task demand.
Usually beginners will remain tense the entire duration of a match and quickly get exhausted.
Some will react against this by trying to be relaxed the entire match and fail to stop movement at critical moments.
The key, he says, is learning to shift tension intentionally depending on the goal:
Learn to adjust tension based on whether you wish to promote movement or inhibit it — that way you’ll have greater endurance but also be able to lock an opponent in place for those critical moments when a score or submission is imminent.
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