Steele Strategies
BJJ Strategies
Relaxing will help you win fights:
At a demonstration I fought a much larger individual and discovered a good thing to remember. Don't strain and don't push yourself. I was the one who was struggling and he was just sitting back not even looking at me. I wasted energy and my two fights were over too quick. He ran through eight people one after the other. He was a white belt and bested black belts that were there!
Strength VS. Technique:
Remember, if you are trying to apply a technique( arm lock,choke ), do not use strength. If you find yourself using power to choke you are doing something wrong, and should re-think the situation. Strength may work against a begginer, but an experienced grappler will recognize your energy out put, and will relax and defend untill you are tired out, and will then escape your hold. The best place for strength is in resisting your opponent to pull youre arm( or whatever ) away. If you are about to be choked, do not use strenth to try to power your head/neck out, as this will more than likely help the choking technique rather than hinder it.Instead, use your hands to create space between your neck and your opponent, and thus block the choke.
For release of submission or control:
you find yourself caught in a choke or headlock, you may be able to relieve some of the pressure by reaching back/over and pulling his ear. Get a firm grab on his lobe. The best angle in which to pull is in an upward, diagonal direction from his head (ie; a 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock direction, depending on which ear you grab). The pain can be extreme and either make your opponent release you or at least think about what you are doing.
Submission Strategy :
change your submission every 3 seconds! Try to keep a timeclock in your head and every 3 seconds change to a new submission. Eventually he will be move so much he falls into something!
Mount Strategy:When you mount someone, try putting your shoulder against their nose/mouth to make it harder for them to breath. Watch how frustrated they begin to get, and begin focusing more on breathing than reversing and defending the position.
Guard Strategy :
When you have a guy in your guard, keep switching between armlock and choke. Go for the choke..his arms will come up to block the choke. As soon as they do, go for the armlock...when he resists the armlock by pulling away or coming close to you..release the armlock and go back to the choke. If he starts to catch on to your game, start faking. For example, go choke..choke...armlock..choke..armlock..armlock..choke..etc. Start changing the order around.
Just Relax!:
Many beginners forget these things easily, and they are second nature for many of the more advanced practitioners. The basic idea in many matches that needs to be remembered is to stay calm and not tense any muscle groups that don't need to be; anger and rage are very taxing on the muscles. This will benefit endurance and reduce fatigue greatly. The next tip to remember is to keep elbows and easily manipulated joints (like knees) close to your trunk. By keeping the knees pulled in tight this also helps with preventing the mount.
These are just some important things I keep in mind when grappling, and they can be useful to everyone.
Relieving the Pain!:
When you find yourself caught in a hold, ie:neck crank from the mount, take off some of the pressure by running your thumb nail into the opponents' ribs, this area has little meat and when utilizing this tactic, it will do one of several things: (1) make an extremely inexperienced person let go; (2) make an opponent "think" about what is happening, and in that instance (when the opponent thinks about what is happening) you want to try an escape counter etc..
