Scrambling for a topic...

Hello All,

I came to a realization the other day that I have written just about all I know about beginning BJJ. Which is fine with me. I have now decided to transition to concepts we are covering in class and that I am interested in.

Last week at our tournament I noticed that we were losing a lot of points in scrambles. For those of you who are not sure what a scramble entails, it is a situation in grappling where neither competitor has the advantage and incident occurs where there is a jockeying (sometimes very fast) to establish dominance. In wrestling, scrambles are essential to many wrestlers' success (especially at the lower weights). Our head coach and I spoke about ways to improve our scrambling and I decided it would help to break down the components of what goes into a champion scrambler:

Cobrinha and Mendes scrambling in the gi, Gi scrambles are usually slower.

Athleticism

Athleticism can make up for a lot of ills when it comes to grappling. Look at Cobrihan… he was a break dancer before BJJ, he is exceptionally flexible, explosive, and the list goes on and on. Ben Askern’s work as a college wrestler is the type of "funk" a person just watches in awe. Remember, athleticism is not just being able to run fast or deadlift a billion pounds. It is the ability to combine flexibility, speed, strength and functional movements together. Obviously, PA (see below) can make up for a lack of athleticism and athleticism can make up for a lack of PA. But don’t you want both?

Ben Askren everybody. 

                How do we train athleticism?

As someone who has a pretty decent amount of flexibility and middling speed and power, I am probably not the best to ask. But, I will say I have identified that I am slowish and weakish. As a result, I have began a lifting program. I am also trying to make time to train with our kickboxing team to improve my movement. You can always ask someone at your club who is a phenomenal athlete to give you some tips. People love to be the expert, it is a good way to make friends.

Ricky Lundell is an OK athlete...

Positional Awareness (PA):

It is easy to assume that a scramble is a frantic flailing for a dominate position. This assumption is probably true for many white belts and beginning grapplers. However, as a competitor increases in their knowledge of grappling, scrambles become much more about understanding the positions involved in any single scramble, and how to achieve dominance from these positions. Watch a collegiate level wrestler defend a single-leg. They will often go into the splits, somersault, etc. To the un-trained eye, this exchange looks like absolute chaos, but to an experienced grappler the exchange is hundreds of little positional advantages employed to end the scramble. It is beautiful to watch and takes years to master.

Remember how good Ben was at scrambling? Now watch him against Marcelo.,.PA and athleticism at it's finest.

                How do we build positional awareness?

Obviously, the first way to build PA is through learning and drilling moves. It is possible that a naturally gifted grappler might pick up PA from live rolls and no instruction, but that grappler would be few and far between. Situational live drills are phenomenal in building PA. We have recently reinstated guard drills in our club (we got away from them for awhile). When you put to athletes in a scenario where they have one goal (pass guard/sweep) they are able to work on focusing solely on one goal. This often leads to situations where scrambles occur, where people may give up position in a 6 minute go. In this respect, they are forced to scramble when they start to lose the position. It is a great idea to combine teaching specific moves, then using situational live drills to reinforce those positions. For example, teaching finishes from a single leg where the attacker has their knees on the ground. Then, pairing students up and having them work from that position. We do not put a clock on our situational live drills, as I think it gives students more time to work through the position. Though, I think it would be a good idea to utilize a clock closer to competition.

Mentality

I grew up as a wrestler and I often benefit from my time wrestling in my grappling. One of the biggest reasons that wrestling gives a grappler an advantage is the mental toughness it trains. Doug Schwab (head coach of the Northern Iowa wrestling team) has spoken extensively about how big of a role mental toughness plays in winning. When I was a kid, I went to a camp that he coached and my biggest takeaway was the amount of matches you can win almost solely on being more mentally tough than your opponent. This mental toughness plays a large role in scrambling. It is easy to feel good about yourself when you have the dominate position, it is easy to know you need to get out when you are  in an inferior position. But, that uncertainty a competitor feels in a 30, 40, or 50 second scramble starts to play with their mind. It is easy to give up a position because you want to “save a little of the gas tank.” Outstanding scramblers do not give up positions, they take their opponents to uncharted waters of cardio and then drag them under. Watch Tony Ramos’s matches sometime. He has beaten a ridiculous amount of opponents by breaking their will.

Tony Ramos breaking people...

                How do we train mentality?

Really the only way I know to improve mental toughness is to force yourself to push beyond your limits. If you feel like you will barf at sprint 3, run 3 more. When you are rolling with someone and you start to feel tired, don’t pull guard. Push the pace, maybe you will pass out. That would be awesome, you will be a legend in your club for training that hard. It is like that scene from GATTACA.

 Obviously, there is a time and place for this type of intensity. When you are drilling moves, don’t be the guy that is breaking arms because you are putting on moves so hard. But, when you are rolling live, you raise the level of competition for everyone when you roll with intensity. 

Remember that mentality, athleticism and positional awareness work in tandem. When you are in a scramble, maintain intensity, while creating positional advantages. We have a word for people who are incredibly intense with no PA or athleticism, "spazz." If you have ever tried to out athletic a black belt (I tried this once with Jeff Curran, it didn’t work), you know they will get a dominate positions and just crush your will. However, if you are in a scramble with an opponent and you are keeping up intensity and PA, I promise they will eventually break.

Click to see a video of Doug Schwab talking about mental toughness

How do you all train to win scrambles?

Bill