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Oct
14
People complain too much in jiu-jitsu. The art has grown so much that there are factions that have developed based on styles, what techniques should and shouldn’t be used, whether to go for points or submissions. There are all kinds of theories and ideologies when it comes to jiu-jitsu.
The thing that bothers me is when people complain about a technique or stalling or going for points instead of submissions, but they don’t do anything to stop it. Here’s an example. There are two camps when it comes to the closed guard. One camp thinks it’s boring and is a form of stalling and the other thinks it’s a good place to get your composure and tire out your opponent. I tend to lean toward the latter, but it really doesn’t matter what I think. If you don’t want someone to stall by holding you in their guard then you need to practice and perfect moves to escape the guard. Don’t complain about it. Don’t get mad at them because you can’t get out. You need to recognize that you have a hole in your game that needs to be addressed and bitching about it won’t change it.
The same goes for our friend the heel hook. A lot of old school jiu-jitsu guys think it’s cheap. The heel hook is not cheap; it’s effective, and if you don’t like it, you better learn how to defend it. Calling it cheap will not stop you from tapping once it’s on. You need to learn and use the defense—period.
Jiu-jitsu guys need to stop complaining about techniques and strategies that they think are dirty, cheap, or unfair and start learning how to counter and defend those things. Stop complaining and start evolving your game.
Well said. This is a martial art after all. Its for fighting and in a true fight anything goes.
I pinch their nose when I execute a shoulder-arm triangle choke
Is it cheap? Yes, but it brings me a great deal of joy!
And the closed guard has tons of submissions . . . some people do use the position to stall but its not the fault of the position, the fault is with the athlete.