PicoBlog

The most influential figure in my BJJ lately has been Greg Souders.

Like many of you, I’ve been trying to implement ecological dynamics into my training. Unfortunately, I don’t own a gym, so I haven’t been able to eliminate conventional teaching and go full in into ecology as my only way of training to test and contrast and get to conclusions on my own.

Apart from implementing the actual “games” and ED approach, Greg Souders has made a huge impact (whether it was his intention or not) in something that has been a game changer in the past months. And what triggered this transformational journey was only something he keeps saying in between conversations.

He keeps returning to his definition of grappling every time someone starts abstracting grappling and its objectives with specific techniques.

And his definition of grappling has given me a map to navigate every grappling situation.

It might sound stupid coming from a person that has trained for 10+ years, but I sometimes get too immersed in trying to get a specific technique to work. Mostly techniques that have requirements and steps and lose the direction on what the true objective is in every part of the exchange.

"We attack the periphery—the arms, legs, and head—to gain access to Center Mass. Once we gain access to Center Mass, we immobilize it, so we can isolate and re-attack the periphery. That's everything that has ever happened, any move you've ever seen—that's all that's ever happening."

The part that has been most impactful for me is the “attack the periphery” part and the fact that we forget that THIS IS THE FIRST STEP! and Greg can speak in ways that are hard to understand sometimes (he’s freaking smart!), but what this basically means in all cases is that the initial set-up is fundamental to every exchange. You need to first and foremost focus on grip fighting the periphery (aka. limbs and head of your opponent) with the goal of enabling access to center mass (hips, torso, shoulders)

What used to happen to me was that I would do every part of the exchange in a siloed way that wasn’t transferable from technique to technique. I was following a recipe instead of really understanding how to cook.

Now, I'm seeing how most of the techniques or exchanges I win fundamentally follow this concept of BJJ. And in contrast, most of the time I get stuck and cannot make a move work, is because I am not following this framework: I am NOT controlling the periphery, and I am jumping to trying to control center mass without controlling the periphery, or I am trying to break the periphery without controlling center mass.

The most wonderful thing that has happened to my game after this realization is that it has given me so much more freedom on what I can try since I am not trying a specific technique; I am letting my body do whatever it feels like a good idea to get to my desired outcome. Keep in mind that I do have sound principles and very good movement patterns drilled into my core, so I am not trying stupid shit that gets me in danger (most of the time LOL).

I’ve been training for many years with a lot of success, and for the first time, I realized sometimes I wasn’t doing jiujitsu but was trying a step-by-step process without any creativity… sometimes. In the areas of BJJ that I felt most adept, I felt creative and understood everything from first principles, but in the areas where I felt not as great, I felt constrained and felt like the cause of my failure was the fact that I didn't have enough top-to-bottom information.

The perfect analogy for me is chess. (I am a hobbyist, so don’t be offended if you’re a grandmaster and I am saying something stupid), some people play in a mechanical way that consists of memorizing sequences and how to respond to certain moves or situations. Other people play more freely, adapting and finding solutions to every situation, basing these principles on intuition, creativity, and sound principles… Greg’s definition has made me fight more like the second chess player who plays chess instead of just trying to find the solution to every situation.

Thanks, coach Greg!

That’s it for this week 👊!

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