Pulling The Trigger In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Posted by Corey Kuropas on
Have you ever heard the term, pulling the trigger? If you have been around combative sporting martial arts, it is probably something that you’ve heard at least once. Usually you will hear it in Muay Thai or Kickboxing. All it means is to not be so tentative. It means to go for your attacks when they present themselves. Pulling the trigger in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is important. If you never do, all you will ever be able to do is defend attacks. While learning to defend is essential, you have to have an offensive, and aggressive side to your Jiu Jitsu. If you’re having a hard time pulling the trigger, and going for the attack on the mats, here are some things you can do to change that.
The first line of advice that I can give you, is that you need to relax. I cannot tell you how many times, I see people just defending their training partner’s attacks while doing nothing but death gripping onto gi’s and limbs, hoping and waiting for the time to run out. You have to realize that you need to calm yourself down. Take some controlled, deep breaths and know that you are just training. Who cares if you get tapped in training? There are no prizes for tapping your training partners. If you can relax yourself, you can regulate your emotions, whether that be fear, worry or whatever else you are feeling, and you can focus on the task at hand. And that task is actually attacking.
For another line of advice, you have to have some kind of confidence in your Jiu Jitsu. Too many people actually have some pretty good techniques in their arsenal, but fail to use them because they lack the confidence to use them. For example, let’s say that you have some good guard attacks, such as armbars and triangle chokes. Then you need to be attacking with those techniques. Just having someone sit inside your guard is worthless if you are not using that guard to its full potential. Throw out those techniques and see what happens. You could get those submissions successful nine times out of ten. But you won’t know if you don’t try. Those successful submissions will also help build the confidence that you need.
The only other advice I can give to you, is to tap into your own controlled aggression. Being overly aggressive is failure. It will lead you to miss the basics, and most likely get caught in something that you should not have. But if you can tap into that aggressive side of your Jiu Jitsu, and control it, you will be able to not fear the person you are rolling with. In fact, it could put some fear into that person, while you go through your game. This goes along with confidence. All three of these ideas for pulling the trigger involve controlling yourself.
You should never be afraid to use what you’ve learned in sparring or in tournaments. That’s the point of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. You are learning techniques that can make another human being become broken. If you are just stalling, and waiting you are not using Jiu Jitsu correctly. Be like the great Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters of the past and present. Go for the gusto and have the heart of a lion.
If you need any inspiration for pulling the trigger, then take a look at Claudio Calasans, Giant Killing DVD set. He shows the techniques he uses to beat anyone that they put in front of him.
Giant Killing by Claudio Calasans for $77.
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