I'm a Blue When I roll with someone if I'm going for a submission I go slow and steady so I can perfect my technique and it allows my partner to recognize what I'm doing I feel it keeps my partner safe and I expect the same
I generally weigh between 235-240 lbs. For a high calorie grappler like me, pressure works better than dynamic. I'm worried that if I hit someone at my size trying to do something dynamic physics will do what physics does and injuries can happen. I remember Chewy saying we're not playing patty cake here, and injuries can happen, but I'm definitely not going to do something overly risky. We all have to go to work tomorrow.
On the flip side, when someone locks a sub on me and doesn't crank, I don't try to muscle out of it. I tap and usually say "Thanks for not cranking, I won't take advantage of that"
I appreciated it when the big guys reality checked me. I was always a strong 160ish pound guy and this would keep me grounded if my grappling (or striking if that's what we're doing) would be of any use in self defense with a guy who has size on me where my being stronger than average for my size might not mean anything against a guy over 200.
I think there’s truth to that because your medium pressure could be their strong. Either way, the smaller person has to deal with it and try figure it out imo. It is wrestling in the end
As a smaller matt, I appreciate someone actually thinking about the damage their weight can do. I broke a rib in my first week of training because a big guy slipped and dropped a knee on me.
Treat others the way you wish to be treated is indeed the golden rule, but the golden rule of combat sports? *Herb Dean voice* “ Protect yourself at all times “
I’ve had this same issue and one way I help maintain a competitive but not hurtful sparring/rolling method, is I treat it all like a game, sometimes if I’m tired or whatever I have to force myself into a smile to trigger that game mentality, so then I’m just playing a competitive but friendly game
I’m 250 pounds and my previous sport was strongman. Most of my rolls I try to be more technical and just work on a few things. I competed with another really big guy at my first comp and he was just strong and tried muscling me. The difference in our BJJ was big because I had much cleaner technique
I love training with a wide variety of body types, skill levels, and styles. I always try to find a "game" that I can play with any partner that makes us fairly evenly matched, this way I am always learning, not to mention having fun! For example, when I roll with smaller, un-athletic, white belts, I will often use only my legs to try to sweep and submit. Or if I am rolling with much smaller but skilled partners, often I will focus on guard retention or submission defense, and will only throw up those "sneaky" submissions that don't require strong positional control to accomplish. Of course, there are plenty of skilled, equally sized opponents, and against them I get to bring my "A game" and test myself that way too.
Sounds like Matt has some of the same concerns as I do. He's 4 stripes white and I've only got 2 but sometimes my challenge is I'm still learning how to use and where to place pressure so it's sometimes difficult to change between smaller people and someone my size. Thanks for the tip about pressure for a purpose, I'll definitely use that when I'm rolling (if I can remember all of the good advice in the moment).
I'm pretty much the same. My number one rules are to just show up and no injuries to myself or my training partner. I get passed constantly trying to maintain control and go appropriately safe, often to safe, but occasionally I accidentally catch someone with an elbow or knee, immediately apologize and see if they're cool to continue. Pretty much everyone beats me mainly because most are better but also because I'm trying to be a good partner and let them work as well. I'm just over 200lbs so I'm amongst the heavier people but last night I met a guy easily over 300 and far superior with skill than me. He apologized in advance lol I'd love to roll with that guy again so I can work on defending with my life and learning to breathe while getting crushed. I'm lucky that most people I roll with are pretty good people that care about one another. They're all perfect examples of what I need to be more like. Great video, Chewy 👍
Amazing video. I was always rolling with people who were half or 3/4 my size at most, so I was always letting off the gas just enough to keep it competetive. Unluckily, the gym I was at had some really underhanded purple belts who were afraid to roll with me and were trying to get me in trouble with the old-heads at the gym. One time they coaxed a tiny female purple belt into challenging me to a roll who was probably 1/3rd my size, and I straight up said no. She then tried to make it out like I was afraid of getting beaten by a girl and I relented. I kept it just heavy enough to get the position I wanted and I felt bad, so I gave her some time to readjust and she slipped in a front collar choke on me. I couldn't break her grip, so I decided to let her finish it, and she got mad asking why I wasn't trying to get out. I straight up acknowledged she was good and I didn't know how to break it beyond basic brute force, and she challenged me yet again to do so anyway. At that point I stacked her up on her shoulders, and began to bench press, basically betting on the idea that her grip would break before I would pass out from the ever tightening choke. Sure enough, just before I was going to lose consciousness, she let go; and immediately began to started sobbing. Then a bunch of dudes who were egging her on went to the head black belt and made it sound like I intended on hurting her.
I specifically practice pressure, but I usually tell my partner I plan to. I like the reverse as well so I can figure out what works as well as learning to defend it.
It’s also a good habit to talk to people in the gym about what you’re working on and let them know to tell you if it’s making them feel unsafe. "Hey, I’m trying to work on my pressure passing. I know I’m a bigger guy, but I’m not trying to be a dick. Just let me know if I need to switch to playing bottom at any point during the round."
I have the exact same issue, only a bigger guy lol. 6ft 300 lbs. Being very aware of weight makes it difficult to train to your potential because finding training partners is already difficult when you're big. What ends up happening is I get less out of each roll, and roll timidly and not usually very assertive for fear of injuring training partners and making it more difficult than it already is to train consistently. The end result is a back slide that has kept me at blue belt for four years and change. I don't care about belts, I care about performing at the level, and that's hard to do when you can't really train assertively for fear of injuring someone. It then tanks your cardio, because you can't push yourself as much and you start this inevitable backslide in skill, in my opinion. I haven't found the solution yet, so here I sit. Good to at least know that there are other out there.
I can relate! I'm 6' 2" tall and weigh in at a lean 255 (lol)... I'm 60 years old and not in the best of shape, but I'm sooooo worried about hurting someone when rolling. I'm a new white belt too so I know that I 'don't know' a lot!
I usually have this issue. I weight 213lbs, and in the gym I train I am the heaviest by a big margin, there arent a lot of big guys there. I try to be as smooth as possible and use as little strenght as I can. The issue is, I went back home and I trained at the gym I started out, and the people there are very heavy, I am light compared to those guys, and I got used to having to resort to pressure and strenght, and now that I am back at my usual gym after my vacation, I started to notice that I am still using a lot of the strenght I used back home. I am trying to dial it back, but it kinda anoys me that instead of actually telling my how hard I am rolling, a couple smaller guys just started avoiding rolling with me.
I always think of pressure in terms of efficiency. I've I'm rolling with a white belt girl who's a lot smaller than me, I don't need to use a lot of pressure, so I don't use a lot of pressure. With bigger guys and higher belts, I need to use every tool I've got just to survive. There's never any point using more energy than you need to, so drop your intensity to just a little bit above the smaller or less skilled person. Go slower and focus on precise technique. It all pays off when you do have to use all your power later on.
I started this new gym last week, and the culture is good. It's just the focus is really heavily on pressure. I've always been told to never hardcore pressure your teammates. That is until I started rolling here. I feel confused on what to do. I'm 310 pounds and 6'5". I am also acrobatic when it comes to my guard passes. I just dont like pressuring people because I've always been told it's a bad thing to do. What do you think I should do?
I'm 310lbs and 6'2". I try to survive if someone is way smaller than me. But when it's a higher belt over 190? I'm doing heavy snap downs, shoulder cross face, and stacking especially with males. But we have like certain cues. We all know in my gym when the black belts amd coaches yell "you're at an 80 bring it down to 50!" (Percent) Plus I'm there to learn. Right now I'm trying to retain full guard (I can't 😅). So learning to retain and then sweep to top position is my (tricky) homework.🥋
You sound kinda sketchy. You have at least 100 lbs on practically everyone you train with and your coaches are telling you to stop spazzing. I’m a big brown belt and you would have 120lbs on me. If you spazz you better be really good or I am going to make you pay.
@stevenslawson8926 bruv. I think you're reading entirely too much into my initial comment. I don't spaz. You can tell that easily from how I'm just clarifying with you and not resorting to name calling and profanity. Hope this helps. I gotta get back to learning guard retention 🥋
@@stevenslawson8926he’s definitely a heavyweight spazz. Being 310lb and rolling like that against 190lb people?! @johnking-yr7xn has to realise it’s not about the absolute weight, it’s about the relative weight
@@JohnKing-yr7xndude you shouldn’t be rolling like that against someone you have 100+lbs on. It’s about the relative weight, not the absolute weight. You could very easily injure someone who is ~200lbs
It's funny that you think 220 is a big guy lol. Anyway love the content brother and keep up the good work! Also, F@$K Daylight Savings! (I have little ones too)
I’m about 175 and just started (mid 40s) and rolled with a green belt who was around 200. I’m strong but have little technique. This guy is strong and advanced. Dude scissor kicks on top of me and lands right on my chest. He dislodged a rib and now I’m out for weeks. The crappy thing is I know he got nothing out of our roll - didn’t even acknowledge he hurt me. Now I’m watching from the sidelines. I really like the folks at my BJJ studio - all but this delta bravo. He could have used 70% effort and still easily beat me. Just a waste. I’m so discouraged.
as a big guy, my experience is that people fear us intrinsically, whether we are good or not. It already happened twice that people stopped rolling with me half way while I was playing bottom and only defending, and they said because my body is too big and they were afraid of getting injured. Tbh I am fed up of rolling with light weight people, because I always have to " psych them up" and encourage them "good job, keep going don't give up" etc. and not do anything or they will be afraid next time and sit on the sidelines. Its actually really annoying for me, always have to spar only with the same few people
100%. I am so happy for the brown belt that started training with us recently, 200+ and actually knows what he's doing so I can really work. We only have like 2 guys at my gym that are as big or bigger than me, and I see them maybe once a week. Always have to grab them for a roll first, or they're already tired from rolling with the little guys. lol
The golden rule is flawed. You need to treat people as THEY want to be treated, not yourself. If you roll like this, you're more in tune with what they're giving you, not what you may want to give them as the two could be completely different.
Wish more people were as concerned with safety as this guy
For real
I’m this guy I’m 290 so I think about this with everyone when I roll
Safety is no accident.
I'm a Blue When I roll with someone if I'm going for a submission I go slow and steady so I can perfect my technique and it allows my partner to recognize what I'm doing I feel it keeps my partner safe and I expect the same
This should be a mandatory video for all BJJ practitioners.
I generally weigh between 235-240 lbs. For a high calorie grappler like me, pressure works better than dynamic. I'm worried that if I hit someone at my size trying to do something dynamic physics will do what physics does and injuries can happen. I remember Chewy saying we're not playing patty cake here, and injuries can happen, but I'm definitely not going to do something overly risky. We all have to go to work tomorrow.
Chewy - I love this assessment on raw/rough tactics for discomfort; much different than sloppy/out-of-control speed with no purpose. No good.
On the flip side, when someone locks a sub on me and doesn't crank, I don't try to muscle out of it. I tap and usually say "Thanks for not cranking, I won't take advantage of that"
You’re the man chewy. Been a fan for years and will be for years to come
I needed to hear that. Thanks.
Such great advice Chewy.....sadly, most people won't listen
Yes that is the problem with us big guys, when we go with reserve they move too fast, and when we shift into higher gear they say we use strength.
I appreciated it when the big guys reality checked me. I was always a strong 160ish pound guy and this would keep me grounded if my grappling (or striking if that's what we're doing) would be of any use in self defense with a guy who has size on me where my being stronger than average for my size might not mean anything against a guy over 200.
I feel the same way!
I think there’s truth to that because your medium pressure could be their strong. Either way, the smaller person has to deal with it and try figure it out imo. It is wrestling in the end
Do not train with the big guys, only ones that you trust! TRUST! Hard but possible! Get to know who is in the training room.
@@ayske1no just say no!
As a smaller matt, I appreciate someone actually thinking about the damage their weight can do. I broke a rib in my first week of training because a big guy slipped and dropped a knee on me.
Treat others the way you wish to be treated is indeed the golden rule, but the golden rule of combat sports?
*Herb Dean voice* “ Protect yourself at all times “
Great answer to a burning question for me
Literally the topic i brought up to my coach the other day
I’ve had this same issue and one way I help maintain a competitive but not hurtful sparring/rolling method, is I treat it all like a game, sometimes if I’m tired or whatever I have to force myself into a smile to trigger that game mentality, so then I’m just playing a competitive but friendly game
Everyone leaves in the same condition they came in as.
I’m 250 pounds and my previous sport was strongman. Most of my rolls I try to be more technical and just work on a few things. I competed with another really big guy at my first comp and he was just strong and tried muscling me. The difference in our BJJ was big because I had much cleaner technique
I love training with a wide variety of body types, skill levels, and styles. I always try to find a "game" that I can play with any partner that makes us fairly evenly matched, this way I am always learning, not to mention having fun! For example, when I roll with smaller, un-athletic, white belts, I will often use only my legs to try to sweep and submit. Or if I am rolling with much smaller but skilled partners, often I will focus on guard retention or submission defense, and will only throw up those "sneaky" submissions that don't require strong positional control to accomplish.
Of course, there are plenty of skilled, equally sized opponents, and against them I get to bring my "A game" and test myself that way too.
Man this video hits home. I’m just now back to normal after knee surgery from one of our brown belts working it over.
Sounds like Matt has some of the same concerns as I do. He's 4 stripes white and I've only got 2 but sometimes my challenge is I'm still learning how to use and where to place pressure so it's sometimes difficult to change between smaller people and someone my size. Thanks for the tip about pressure for a purpose, I'll definitely use that when I'm rolling (if I can remember all of the good advice in the moment).
I'm pretty much the same. My number one rules are to just show up and no injuries to myself or my training partner. I get passed constantly trying to maintain control and go appropriately safe, often to safe, but occasionally I accidentally catch someone with an elbow or knee, immediately apologize and see if they're cool to continue. Pretty much everyone beats me mainly because most are better but also because I'm trying to be a good partner and let them work as well. I'm just over 200lbs so I'm amongst the heavier people but last night I met a guy easily over 300 and far superior with skill than me. He apologized in advance lol I'd love to roll with that guy again so I can work on defending with my life and learning to breathe while getting crushed. I'm lucky that most people I roll with are pretty good people that care about one another. They're all perfect examples of what I need to be more like.
Great video, Chewy 👍
“You’re pretty smooth..”
“Ugh yeah I’m the sensei here?”
😂😂
Amazing video. I was always rolling with people who were half or 3/4 my size at most, so I was always letting off the gas just enough to keep it competetive. Unluckily, the gym I was at had some really underhanded purple belts who were afraid to roll with me and were trying to get me in trouble with the old-heads at the gym.
One time they coaxed a tiny female purple belt into challenging me to a roll who was probably 1/3rd my size, and I straight up said no. She then tried to make it out like I was afraid of getting beaten by a girl and I relented. I kept it just heavy enough to get the position I wanted and I felt bad, so I gave her some time to readjust and she slipped in a front collar choke on me. I couldn't break her grip, so I decided to let her finish it, and she got mad asking why I wasn't trying to get out. I straight up acknowledged she was good and I didn't know how to break it beyond basic brute force, and she challenged me yet again to do so anyway. At that point I stacked her up on her shoulders, and began to bench press, basically betting on the idea that her grip would break before I would pass out from the ever tightening choke. Sure enough, just before I was going to lose consciousness, she let go; and immediately began to started sobbing. Then a bunch of dudes who were egging her on went to the head black belt and made it sound like I intended on hurting her.
You need to keep using the “ideas to Chew on”
I specifically practice pressure, but I usually tell my partner I plan to. I like the reverse as well so I can figure out what works as well as learning to defend it.
It’s also a good habit to talk to people in the gym about what you’re working on and let them know to tell you if it’s making them feel unsafe. "Hey, I’m trying to work on my pressure passing. I know I’m a bigger guy, but I’m not trying to be a dick. Just let me know if I need to switch to playing bottom at any point during the round."
Do you know what else is golden? This channel, that's what.
I have the exact same issue, only a bigger guy lol. 6ft 300 lbs. Being very aware of weight makes it difficult to train to your potential because finding training partners is already difficult when you're big. What ends up happening is I get less out of each roll, and roll timidly and not usually very assertive for fear of injuring training partners and making it more difficult than it already is to train consistently. The end result is a back slide that has kept me at blue belt for four years and change. I don't care about belts, I care about performing at the level, and that's hard to do when you can't really train assertively for fear of injuring someone. It then tanks your cardio, because you can't push yourself as much and you start this inevitable backslide in skill, in my opinion. I haven't found the solution yet, so here I sit. Good to at least know that there are other out there.
I can relate! I'm 6' 2" tall and weigh in at a lean 255 (lol)... I'm 60 years old and not in the best of shape, but I'm sooooo worried about hurting someone when rolling. I'm a new white belt too so I know that I 'don't know' a lot!
Thanks for the video. Refocus sparring to winning a technique rather than a match.
Amen brother.
Damn I am a purple belt and he was basically describing me...except I'm in the 250s 😅
I'm only 185 and I have this same problem haha. Great video.
I usually have this issue. I weight 213lbs, and in the gym I train I am the heaviest by a big margin, there arent a lot of big guys there. I try to be as smooth as possible and use as little strenght as I can. The issue is, I went back home and I trained at the gym I started out, and the people there are very heavy, I am light compared to those guys, and I got used to having to resort to pressure and strenght, and now that I am back at my usual gym after my vacation, I started to notice that I am still using a lot of the strenght I used back home. I am trying to dial it back, but it kinda anoys me that instead of actually telling my how hard I am rolling, a couple smaller guys just started avoiding rolling with me.
I always think of pressure in terms of efficiency. I've I'm rolling with a white belt girl who's a lot smaller than me, I don't need to use a lot of pressure, so I don't use a lot of pressure. With bigger guys and higher belts, I need to use every tool I've got just to survive. There's never any point using more energy than you need to, so drop your intensity to just a little bit above the smaller or less skilled person. Go slower and focus on precise technique. It all pays off when you do have to use all your power later on.
I started this new gym last week, and the culture is good. It's just the focus is really heavily on pressure. I've always been told to never hardcore pressure your teammates. That is until I started rolling here. I feel confused on what to do. I'm 310 pounds and 6'5". I am also acrobatic when it comes to my guard passes. I just dont like pressuring people because I've always been told it's a bad thing to do. What do you think I should do?
"Rolling with one of my women... One of my students... " 😂. Great vid chewie ❤
I'm 310lbs and 6'2". I try to survive if someone is way smaller than me. But when it's a higher belt over 190? I'm doing heavy snap downs, shoulder cross face, and stacking especially with males. But we have like certain cues. We all know in my gym when the black belts amd coaches yell "you're at an 80 bring it down to 50!" (Percent) Plus I'm there to learn. Right now I'm trying to retain full guard (I can't 😅). So learning to retain and then sweep to top position is my (tricky) homework.🥋
You sound kinda sketchy. You have at least 100 lbs on practically everyone you train with and your coaches are telling you to stop spazzing. I’m a big brown belt and you would have 120lbs on me. If you spazz you better be really good or I am going to make you pay.
@stevenslawson8926 bruv. I think you're reading entirely too much into my initial comment. I don't spaz. You can tell that easily from how I'm just clarifying with you and not resorting to name calling and profanity. Hope this helps.
I gotta get back to learning guard retention 🥋
@@stevenslawson8926he’s definitely a heavyweight spazz. Being 310lb and rolling like that against 190lb people?! @johnking-yr7xn has to realise it’s not about the absolute weight, it’s about the relative weight
@@JohnKing-yr7xndude you shouldn’t be rolling like that against someone you have 100+lbs on. It’s about the relative weight, not the absolute weight. You could very easily injure someone who is ~200lbs
@@Unknownpractitioner123 did you miss the part of what it is I do when I roll?
This!!
It's funny that you think 220 is a big guy lol.
Anyway love the content brother and keep up the good work!
Also, F@$K Daylight Savings! (I have little ones too)
Haha. Glad to see a fellow warrior against the disaster of DST.
I’m about 175 and just started (mid 40s) and rolled with a green belt who was around 200. I’m strong but have little technique. This guy is strong and advanced. Dude scissor kicks on top of me and lands right on my chest. He dislodged a rib and now I’m out for weeks. The crappy thing is I know he got nothing out of our roll - didn’t even acknowledge he hurt me. Now I’m watching from the sidelines. I really like the folks at my BJJ studio - all but this delta bravo. He could have used 70% effort and still easily beat me. Just a waste. I’m so discouraged.
what is growing in it's eyebrow?
I am 70 kgs, everyone is bigger than me and big guys often go as I was big too, hehe.
Lets goooo here early this time
as a big guy, my experience is that people fear us intrinsically, whether we are good or not.
It already happened twice that people stopped rolling with me half way while I was playing bottom and only defending, and they said because my body is too big and they were afraid of getting injured.
Tbh I am fed up of rolling with light weight people, because I always have to " psych them up" and encourage them "good job, keep going don't give up" etc. and not do anything or they will be afraid next time and sit on the sidelines. Its actually really annoying for me, always have to spar only with the same few people
100%. I am so happy for the brown belt that started training with us recently, 200+ and actually knows what he's doing so I can really work. We only have like 2 guys at my gym that are as big or bigger than me, and I see them maybe once a week. Always have to grab them for a roll first, or they're already tired from rolling with the little guys. lol
The golden rule is flawed. You need to treat people as THEY want to be treated, not yourself. If you roll like this, you're more in tune with what they're giving you, not what you may want to give them as the two could be completely different.
You can only do that if they are following the "golden rule", and... guess what? They can only follow your advice if you are.