Grapple Ninja Blog

Are there moves that are statistically better but are underrepresented in jiu-jitsu due to a cultural stigma? In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Big Man can’t Shoot” episode of the Revisionist History Podcast, he asks this question about basketball. Specifically about shooting free throws underhanded, granny style. In the episode Gladwell interviews Rick Barry who shot underhanded. He asks Barry about the stigma of shooting granny style and asked if that bothered him. Barry repeats what his Dad had told him, “They can’t make fun of you if you’re making them.” They go on to talk about how underhanded free throws are a superior technique and are statistically more accurate, but nobody in the NBA will shoot them because they don’t want to be picked on. This got me thinking. What jiu-jitsu moves are being unfairly stigmatized despite being highly successful?

One of my training partners was recently complaining that he felt slow.

He said that usually he would be faster to avoid getting swept or submitted. He would post faster. Find his base faster. He would be better.

Now this guy is fast.This particular training partners is known to be one of the fastest guys at the gym.  Physically he is very fast. Much faster than me. Let’s call him Gonzales. But the reason Gonzales felt he was being slow wasn’t because his physical speed wasn’t up to snuff...

One of the great things about jiu-jitsu is that different people can enjoy it different ways. I really enjoy playing closed guard. I like the submissions, setting traps, and switching between attacks. When I started working on my guard passing I had to learn to love a different part of jiu-jitsu. The grinding, pressure, and wearing down an opponent to win.

There is no single correct way to enjoy jiu-jitsu and there is no single way to train jiu-jitsu. Can you get better without Grapple.Ninja? Yes. But just like many other activities taking advantage of quantitative data can improve and speed up the process. Who is going to save more money, the person with a budget or the person who just tracks it in their head? Which weightlifter is going to make faster gains, the one who tracks his lifts and notes his progress or the one who just comes in and works hard? Obviously, someone working hard without Grapple.Ninja will beat someone who uses Grapple.Ninja and doesn’t work hard. But, if both people work hard, the person with the extra tools will have an edge.

Grapple.Ninja can help you focus and reflect which will give you the edge on the mats. It will help you start building healthy habits and motivate you to keep pushing as you see tangible results visually! Feel free to discuss in the comments below.

 

He was a guy that hit rock bottom and managed to turn it around in a big way. He chose to chase after his passions and ended up being extremely successful. I think he had a lot of empathy for struggling folks and he’s one of the few celebrities that actually did BJJ by taking group classes as well as competing in real competition. Most famous people take private lessons and stay as disconnected from everything as they were before. He didn’t sugarcoat shit (pun intended?).