Bakari Akil II - The Lazy Mans Guide to Grappling--(Brazilian jiu-jitsu, BJJ, Wrestling, etc.)

The Lazy Mans guide toGrappling

Bakari Akil II,Ph.D.

Copyright 2010 by BakariAkil II, Ph.D.

SmashwordsEdition

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No partof this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any formwhatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval systemwithout express written, dated and signed permission from theauthor.

Manufactured in the UnitedStates of America

Dedication

To my beautiful wife,Wilanda.

Bakari Akil II, Ph.D. hasbeen practicing no-gi Brazilian Jiu-jitsu since 2004 and BJJ with agi since 2008. He has a Blue belt in BJJ and a Green Belt in Judo.Akil has also written about grappling for Black Belt Magazine andhis blog, Jiujitsu365 , has beennominated twice for Best BJJ Blog by the Fightworks Podcast in2008 and 2009.

Akil holds a Ph.D. in MassCommunication from Florida State University. He is currently anAssistant Professor and teaches mass media, journalism andcommunication courses. He has taught and counseled hundreds ofpeople over the years in areas related to graduate education, massmedia and how to be more effective communicators.

He also writes for Psychology Today and hisblog, Communication Central . Click these links to see what Bakari is up to on Twitter !

Other books by Bakari AkilII, Ph.D.

Grappling for Newbies: What Every BJJ andSubmission Grappler Should Know!

A V ampire on theMat

M.U.S.C.L.E. The Cheatin SecurityGuard

Pop Psychology: The psychology of pop culture andeveryday life!

Super You! 101 Ways to Maximize yourPotential!

Table of Contents

When new guys come to a grappling school andwrestle for the first time one thing a veteran grappler can counton is the new guy gassing out. By gassing out I mean not being ableto bring in enough oxygen to feed muscle output. I have grappledagainst many new guys who physically couldnt continue after twominutes, some in less than one. I now understand what the ladieshave been saying all of these years.

Joe Rogan, while announcing for the UFC,often says that getting tired makes, mice of men. Well if youhave no air you wont turn into a mouse youll become a 'meese.' Amouse can still move. Ive had guys who gassed who couldnt evensignal they were done. I was tap dancing on them before I realizedthey were in trouble.

With new grapplers their adrenalin ispumping and fear clouds their decision-making ability. Usingstrength becomes the preferred method to get out of trouble. Thisis a problem for some veteran grapplers as well. I have rolledagainst quite a few who tapped only because they gassed. As a lazygrappler I dont have this problem. I conserve energy at allcosts.

I was lucky. In my very first grapplingclass my instructor, David (pronounced Dah-veed) Fermin, told me tocontrol my breathing. He told me to relax and breathe easy. Soon Ibegan to relax even in the middle of trauma filled grapplingsessions.

I learned to think of it this way. If yourenew, youre going to get pawned by a veteran grappler. If thatwerent the case there wouldnt be so many people grappling. (Forexample, Caleb and Dan of the FightWorksPodcast have over 600,000 grapplers that listen to their show everyweek.)

If youre going to get beat anyway thenrealize that this is an opportunity to take it easy. There is noneed to be anxious or worry about being vanquished. You can savethe fight or flight hormone for when youre facing some random punkon the street or your local bar. A grappling school is a learningenvironment and if you grapple long enough you will be able to handout more whippings than there will be grapplers to accept them. Butin the beginning your percentage of handing out beat-downs will below.

If you accept this then you can calm downand will be able to pick and choose when you need to ratchet youreffort up and when you should reel it in. Your body wont send outall of its resources so you can gorilla it out for two minutes andthen desert you and make you into a defenseless puppy.

By picking and choosing my battles I largelycontrol how tired I get. For instance, if someone gets me in asolid side control there is no need for me to start pitching andbucking trying to shake them off. Instead I use the techniques Iknow to defend, wait for a subtle shift in movement and then go forthe sweep or reverse. I bide my time and when they give me a littlespace I explode and use techniques or a couple of other tricks Iwill discuss later.

If I cant think of a counter then I followthe principle of not letting my opponents do whatever they want todo. And I mean anything. If they try to grab my collar I blockthem. If they try to slide a knee across my belly I block them. Ifthey try to wipe the sweat off their brow I block that too.

But the main idea is no wasted movement.Bridging up and down six times, expecting it will magicallydislodge my opponent is not an effective game plan. If they are notmoving then I can rest too. Squirming and panicky movement not onlymakes me tired it helps them in their search for submissions.

I take it easy, breathe and wait for achance to move.

I do not like to be rushed and I prefer totake my sweet, precious time when doing things. I feel the same wayabout grappling. As a lazy grappler I get flustered by the 200miles an hour grapplers, therefore I have to control them from thebeginning. The best way for me to achieve this is by establishing adominant position.

I have to be on top. Whether it is sidecontrol, north-south, full mount or sprawling on someones turtleguard I have to be the man of our grappling relationship. Inevery grapple someone has to be in charge and it might as well beme. I have to feel that if this were a wrestling bout in a prisonshower room then at the end I will be doing the poking.

The easiest way to achieve a dominantposition is by simply asking them. Hey, I wanted to work on myside control today. Do you mind if we take turns switching fromthat position? After you convince your mark, I mean rolling buddy,make sure you start in the top position first and then dominateyour partner for the entire five minutes until the buzzer rings.This keeps you from having to start on the bottom. Once the fiveminutes is up, switch partners and repeat.

But most people will probably catch onquickly to your little game so you will have to learn how tolegitimately take them down and establish dominance. Well talkabout lazy man takedowns later, but for now lets just assume youalready know how to get to the top positions. The question thatarises after establishing dominance is, Now what? The answer is,relax!

But before we can relax, of course, thereare a few extras that must be remembered. The first is positionbefore submission. It is not enough to just be in side control orachieve the full mount. In the full mount you have to be sure thatyou have your knees under the armpits and that you stay loose sothat you can flow with your partners bucking and shucking fromside to side. In side control you have to make sure that your chestis flush with your partners chest and that your head is notleaning too far over his torso which makes it possible for him topower roll you (my favorite move by the way). In the north-southposition you have to make sure that you post your legs properly anddig your elbows into your partners armpits and hold his torsotightly so he cant slip your grip.

In other words, paying attention to theparticulars allows you to buckle them down and get your neededrest. Its like the seatbelt in a car or airplane. Have you evertried to get out of a seat but forgot to take off the seatbelt? Itprobably snatched you back quicker than when you sat down. Thatswhat the extras allow you to do.