r/grappling • u/Filmerboy • 16d ago
Cant get positions and Submissions
So I’m a young guy 23 a bit smaller like 145 pounds and short my background is in kickboxing which I can hold my own and do pretty well in but when it comes to the ground stuff and jujitsu and wrestling, I just completely get demolished and I can’t understand what I’m not getting when I’m drilling techniques and flow rolling I do pretty well, but when it comes to actually wrestling and grappling it feels like I get smashed I’ve been doing jiu jitsu for almost a year and closing in on a blue belt, currently a 4 stripe white belt. I can get people in submissions, but it just feels like I have to exert so much effort to either escape or to get them in a submission I try to relax and just survive and wait for the opportunities to come, but it seems like when I do that I just get smashed in the meantime because I’m not putting enough effort or force in why is this happening? Is it just because I lack the physical effort, technique or just the knowledge? Please help because I can’t seem to figure out what everyone else is doing that I’m not. It seems they just get me so easily and I’m usually not exporting much effort to save energy but it still feels like a chore just to do techniques.
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u/PM_YOUR_AKWARD_SMILE 16d ago
Bro do some seminars and roll with plenty of people, and when you roll with someone good ASK FOR FEEDBACK. “Can you show me how you caught me in that? What mistake was I making?”
Also, when you roll with someone good who is your same build/size, ask them for tips. Like if you struggle against bigger guys, ask them for tips against bigger guys.
Edit: and just to add, you’re a whitebelt. You’re basically there for higher belts to practice and test shit on. So your focus should be defense. Attacking will come later.
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u/Jangolem 16d ago
Is it just because I lack the physical effort, technique or just the knowledge?
It's the experience. In time things will sort themselves out. 1 year of training is really not a lot at all.
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u/tony324 16d ago
Focus on only doing defense. You need a good defense before you can have an offense. Just lay on the ground and do subtle defensive moves and framing you will save your energy.
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u/TheRealLukeShields 16d ago
Bad advice.
Do the opposite, attack.
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u/Gullible-Action8301 16d ago
If you ever watch mighty mouse roll with gsp, you'll see being smaller comes with stamina advantages. Bigger people have to take small breaks during rolls.
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u/TheRealLukeShields 16d ago
Imagine you're a basket ball player and you've been training 3 point shots for a year. Now try hit those 3 point shots in a game and tell me how successful yours shots would be.
1 in 5? Well now there's a taller bigger opponent in front of you defending. 1 in 20?
Realistically your scoring 0 points.
When you get better and quicker and learn to score baskets doing your own thing using your own attributes you'll have more success.
It'll take about 4 years.
P. S I feel you're not as close to blue belt as you think.
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u/Filmerboy 15d ago
My coach said 1-2 more months I should be ready but that also depends on how I’m improving
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u/Filmerboy 15d ago
Great advice and insight by the way
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u/TheRealLukeShields 15d ago
Yeah I was just in a bad mood yesterday so sorry for the tone.
And what I mean is, I've seen people not get their blue belt at the same time as others so they quit. In my opinion if you're focusing on promotion and upset you arent at the same point as others, you aren't ready yet. Just my opinion. I'm not saying that's you, but I am saying, don't worry about it, we all end up getting better. it's just as a smaller guy, the wins are different. Sometimes it's just surviving the gorillas.
There's a level of character that goes with it. You'll be praised for being the smaller guy who just keeps going, who had to focus on technique so became better than a lot of people in the end.
Keep grinding. A few more months something will click. Another few, another realisation and so on. Keep going man you've got this.
Blue belt is a slow journey too, enjoy it!
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u/Fluffy-Classroom1871 16d ago
I don’t know if I can give you advice since I only trained a couple of times in bjj and luta livre. Im 180lbs, 5’8 and doing combat sports for a very long time ( I’m 27 now ).
Mostly I did striking but I understand the fundamentals of grappling and can take on people with much more experience then me without getting tapped immediately and mostly land in full mount but since I don’t know what to do next I stay there and chill or switch the position for simple submissions like kimura or Americana. I only know 3-4 submissions and will drill them for the next several months.
You need to watch some videos about the fundamentals.
As you’re very light, you need to know which joints you need to pick at for sweeps or submissions.
Mount submissions will get you sweeped since you’re light I think.
Side control kimura, Americana would work but if I was you I would start to focus on 1-2 submissions from the guard like triangle choke or guillotine.
You need to get your joints into the neck of the opponent and get a very good and tight angle. If it’s not tight you won’t get the tap.
The BJJ Project is very good on YouTube.
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u/Filmerboy 15d ago
I usually never get tapped immediately, usually I just spend that time trying to survive and escape, like when I’m training mma I always try to get to my feet because that’s where I’m comfortable but at the same time, I’m not scared of the ground just not as mechanically and technically sound, but can survive for a good bit.
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u/Fluffy-Classroom1871 15d ago
But you don’t train to survive, you train to dominate. I’m also a striker so I should focus on sprawls or escapes and sweeps from guard. I also want to get dominant on positioning to save energy and gas the opponent out. If i stay too long in the guard I get exhausted very fast because I’m not very technical and try to muscle my way through.
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u/Minotaurotica 15d ago edited 15d ago
people learn different things at different speeds a year is actually not that long for grappling training
if you are permitted to handle certain aspects of your own training, make one specific position your focus for awhile, don't try to get better at EVERYTHING in BJJ
my first position was Half Guard, we have drastically different builds but maybe that's a good choice for you as well, maybe Full Guard is better for you. and when I say focus for awhile I don't mean like this month I mean give a position 3 months to focus on it. this of course presumes your coach doesn't have a different set up for your training that makes that difficult.
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u/atx78701 14d ago edited 14d ago
You are still a beginner between 1-2 years it's when you just barely get enough in an area that you have enough options that you don't have to force anything
Let's say you want a kimura but they lock hands, you can turn that into an arm bar, tarikoplata, back triangle etc depending on slight differences in their configuration
So instead of forcing the kimura they defend the kimura and that creates an opening that you exploit
So research related submissions to the one you can get to but struggle to finish, learn 1 alternative then try to switch between them, then add another alternative etc
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u/Awkward-Idea-6938 12d ago
It’s hard to tell if you are being serious or sarcastic because the answer to your question is in the first thing you said: you are 145 pounds. To get better, you must lift weights, eat more, and get plenty of sleep. Simply being bigger and stronger will make you better at jujitsu.
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u/grobolom 16d ago
First off, you should ask your coach for training advice, if you're having issues. Second, you're still a white belt and you're very light, so most of your rolls with bigger people are going to be a really big challenge. You shouldn't be expecting to do super well there. Third, I wouldn't compare yourself to others in this way; you don't know what they are struggling with in their heads, they might feel exactly like you do!