If You Compete, Learn Wrestling, It’s Worth It

We know that all of the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu people are “lazy” wrestlers.  Why learn wrestling if you can play or pull guard?  Well this article is dedicated to the few people that compete.  If you compete, you better learn to do some stand up, even if you are a guard puller every time.  There are several reasons you need to do this.

Wrestling can give you those last 2 points that you may need to win a match or it can give you that advantage.  I know because I have been in a match where wrestling would’ve made the difference.  I was a purple belt in the 2016 IBJJF World Championships.  I was going against a very formidable opponent;he had already done the worlds as a purple belt the year prior and managed to place. The match was close.  I was down by 2 points because when I pulled guard he tapped my foot with is and the ref saw it as a takedown.

That being said, I didn’t realize till there was only 1 minute left.  I was up by 4 advantages and believed I was winning when we scrambled out of bounds and the ref reset us I saw I was down by 2.  Only 45 seconds left and I needed 2 points to win.  I wrestled one year in high school but I was programmed to pull guard, at this point, he knew he could not get swept and focused 100% of his energy on that.  Had I relied on my stand up I may have been able to seal the match with a double leg or single leg.

Wrestling Will Improve Your Cardio and Tenacity

Wrestling will not only allow you to become more confident on your feet it may also allow you to become more tenacious and have better cardio.  Wrestling can be the deciding in a factor in a match as you saw above, but it can also be worth training to improve many aspects of you Jiu Jitsu.

Wrestling can help your cardio, tenacity, base, skillset, and awareness.  The benefits of training wrestling go on and on.  This is why it is important to add some wrestling to your bjj.  Bernardo Faria is a 5x Black Belt World Champion who won Double Gold in 2015.  He attributes much of his success that year to implementing a strict wrestling regimen. 

The ADCC just passed a few weeks ago and what we learned from it is that wrestling was the deciding factor between many world class grapplers.  One of the best performances was by Cobrihna and JT Torres both of whom used their wrestling to solidify themselves as the best in the world.  Check out this awesome single leg takedown finish below from a blue belt world champion who only trained 6 months before achieving this title.  He is also a D1 NCAA wrestler.

If you want to learn more secrets from Hudson Taylor, check out his DVD “Wrestling for BJJ.”