by Fook
Original article written and posted by Fookie Fook in June of 2010.
I think we all agree that jiu-jitsu is an extremely technical sport and requires a lot of thinking in order to perfect moves. People have different ways of looking at jiu-jitsu in order for it to ‘click’. For instance, you got people like Aki and Hank (purple belt @ AKA Sunnyvale) who understand the anatomy of the body and work with it so much on a daily basis, that they know how to manipulate it to their advantage. Me myself, I hated anatomy, but fortunately one thing that stuck with me from my days in the classroom was physics!
Physics was one of my favorite classes as it always interested me because everything could be applied to your daily life. Things like friction, speed, gravitational force, momentum, collision, etc… Luckily, this stuff applies greatly to the sport we love so much, Arte Suave!
So for those of you that don’t know too much about physics, I’m going to throw in some quick examples of how it applies and maybe it can help you learn a quick thing or two. Below I’ve created a nice Microsoft Paint diagram (lol) of 3 basic physics situations.
Exhibit A: Here you see 2 structures holding a red ball. The structures are identical, except the fact that the one on the right is tilted at an angle like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Which one can hold up the ball the easiest? Answer: The left one. Some of you might have thought that was too easy, which it is, but now apply it to jiu-jitsu. Imagine the red ball is your opponents weight/base and the structure is your legs. It’s going to be a lot easier to lift your opponent up if you can get yourself directly under them, compared to doing it far away.
Exhibit B: Here we have a lever attached to the ground at the black point. The size of the arrows indicates how much force is being applied in order to make the lever move. The closer to the black point you get, the more force you will have to use. Simply turn the lever into an arm and you got an armbar. This is why Mike is always telling you to control high on the wrist and not down at the forearm.
Exhibit C: There are 8 different points of contact on this weird solid star figure, indicated with different colors. Now imagine the colored points are stationary and cannot be moved. If you can only use 2 points, which are the best in order to keep the star figure stationary (not sliding or spinning around)? Go ahead I’ll give you a second. Answer: Blue and Green! If you pick any other two, the star will be able to slide out somehow. The intent for this diagram was to kind of make it like a body, but in jiu-jitsu you can move all you limbs and its 3D, so you can move up and down, but the way to control your opponent is to be efficient with your points of contact!
Hoped that made a little sense.
– Fook
