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The Benefits Of Starting A Roll in BJJ From The Knees

The Benefits Of Starting A Roll in BJJ From The Knees

Photo: Leon Sandoval www.heyleon.comInstagram @heyleonmedia and Facebook.com/heyleonmedia

We often hear all about how roll should be started standing and how improper it is to see someone butt scoot.

But in all honesty in bjj academies much too often there’s not enough space or there’s simply some mitigating injury that makes the entire thing harder in practice.

This is why Marcelo Garcia and Keenan Cornelius are just two among the many esteemed competitors who do this.

However what you might not be aware is that this is a practice that stems from traditional japanese martial arts – it’s called suwari waza.

Suwari Waza 座り技 is the generic name for techniques performed in the seated stance in traditional Japanese (Koryū) martial arts. The word “Waza” means technique. In aikido and judo, suwari waza techniques are performed by practitioners seated opposite to each other in the seiza position, the formal style of sitting in Japanese culture. In iaido, a single practitioner starts in many cases from suwari waza, and executes sword techniques from the seated stance, though not necessarily from a static and immobile position.

This sort of thing is meant to reduce mobility and through that ensure that practitioners can’t use the strength of legs meaning they would be more reactive with their core, posture and actual performance.

One clear insight is that this is another technique where by limiting yourself just to certain things you become better at them. It’s hard to argue the benefit of growth you achieve by limiting yourself.

John Danaher even wrote about how when Georges St Pierre and Chris Weidman come to his class – they pull guard:

“Training vs fighting: one of my favorite aspects of UFC champions Georges St-Pierre and Chris Weidman is that when they come to train in my classes they always pull guard at the onset of sparring and work bottom position – this despite the fact they they could easily take down everyone in the room if they chose to. They recognize that the value of training here is in submission grappling, so they expose themselves to that as much as possible in the time they have. They work on their submission grappling skills, even though that will make their work much harder – they will work their takedown training with specialists in that area at another location better suited to that skill. This willingness to come into a room and trade skills with specialists is what keeps them learning and improving over time – and yes – both of them give our submission specialists hell even in our specialized domain! 😉 They recognize the need for an MMA athlete to see the big picture of skill enhancement for their sport overall as far more important than winning anonymous battles in training rooms by avoiding the skills utilized there and stalling away the training time. They come to gain skills rather than to learn to avoid them. Here Georges St-Pierre works bottom position with Robson Gracie during a tough afternoon training session with the squad.”

 

Training vs fighting: one of my favorite aspects of UFC champions Georges St-Pierre and Chris Weidman is that when they come to train in my classes they always pull guard at the onset of sparring and work bottom position – this despite the fact they they could easily take down everyone in the room if they chose to. They recognize that the value of training here is in submission grappling, so they expose themselves to that as much as possible in the time they have. They work on their submission grappling skills, even though that will make their work much harder – they will work their takedown training with specialists in that area at another location better suited to that skill. This willingness to come into a room and trade skills with specialists is what keeps them learning and improving over time – and yes – both of them give our submission specialists hell even in our specialized domain! 😉 They recognize the need for an MMA athlete to see the big picture of skill enhancement for their sport overall as far more important than winning anonymous battles in training rooms by avoiding the skills utilized there and stalling away the training time. They come to gain skills rather than to learn to avoid them. Here Georges St-Pierre works bottom position with Robson Gracie during a tough afternoon training session with the squad.

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