Being a step ahead
–fresh from f00k
Like Roger Gracie once said, “Jiu-Jitsu is like chess. If you don’t think when you fight, forget about it. It’s like playing chess without using your head. You’ll lose.”
I’m not a big chess fan, but I know it’s all about strategy. You got to be able to outsmart your opponent and checkmate their King, while still protecting yours. This is much like Jiu-Jitsu in a sense that you’re trying to tap our opponent, while making sure they don’t tap you. And just like Chess you will need a strategy.
One of the best strategies I can think of is using combinations. Combinations can be used in a bunch of different ways. You can do the same move and switch from side to side: i.e. using the Toreando pass, but instead of just holding the legs and going to one side, fake one way and go the other. “It’s Shake N Bake, and I helped!”
Another combo is the basic cross choke to armbar (or reverse). You get your opponent reacting to you, much like push and pull, and then you take what they give you. If they don’t defend, try to finish the first attack and if they finally start to defend, switch to the second. The more mat time you put in, the more combinations you will see open up. Also, you will see the different types of reactions to different attacks. Eventually, you will be able to bait those reactions into something else and catch them totally off gward!
It’s said that “every move has a counter.” Your job is to “counter the counter,” until your opponent has run out of defenses and then its … Checkmate!
