Chapter 10 : Isometrics the Secret to the Guard
As we have discussed before, when one has been taken to the ground, by a larger stronger opponent, in most cases we will be on the bottom. From the bottom position there is only one thing to do, there is only one posture that is viable for fighting a larger man, and that is the guard. And also, as we have discussed before when the opponent is in your guard(closed guard), it is imperative that we wrap their head and arm, so that they are unable to get their posture. At this point it is very important that we differentiate between sports jiu-jitsu and street fighting jiu-jitsu. In sports jiu-jitsu, the assumption is that the weight classes will be the same. Therefore the axiom of the best defense is a good offense is correct and appropriate. When someone is in your guard that is your size, to perpetually attack makes sense from several vantage points. When your opponent is defending himself he is not passing your guard. When your opponent is defending himself he is not attacking you. Additionally it is more difficult for your opponent to defend multiple attacks than it is to defend one single attack. As the man on the bottom, when you are perpetually bugging the arm, bugging the arm, and then attacking and bugging the neck, and going from the arm and the neck to the sweep, back to the guillotine, back to the triangle, eventually the strategy of keeping your opponent on defense will pay off and they will trip over something.
On the other hand, when one is in a serious street fight and your opponent in your guard out weighs you by 50 pounds or more there is one tactic and only one tactic to use. The person on the bottom prevents the person on top from getting their posture, by simply hanging on and clinging to them. (This is the only way for David to beat Goliath). What will happen eventually is that the person on top will struggle for several seconds to several minutes and they usually get their posture for a brief second, long enough to throw a few punches at you, then the man on the bottom simply re-grabs and hangs on again. This process of clinging and hanging on, getting hit a few times, pulling the opponent back off posture, and clinging again and then getting hit a few times again, and then clinging and hanging on, this process will repeat itself until eventually the person on top gets tired(much like a rodeo clown on a bull).
The guy on the bottom will notice instantly when the fellow on top is getting tired. There will be an obvious perceptible gasping of wind, and an instant cessation of struggling. This is when David must strike. In Royce Gracie’s case, usually this would take 20 – 25 minutes. And then eventually someone would trip over a lock or a triangle. When the average person, watches Royce’s fights due to the lack of attacking, they call this a boring fight. When a world class street fighter, watches one of Royce’s fights, we all shake our heads in amazement. As I know for a fact, that the aforementioned strategy is the only viable way for David to beat Goliath on the ground. There is still a chance for failure. What I noticed happening to me in my 20s, the first couple of times I fought someone this big was that after about 15 minutes my legs and arms got simply too tired to hang on. Eventually the Bad Guy broke posture, and succeeded in beating me by ground and pound. As they say, a wise man learns from his mistakes, yet a wiser man learns from someone else’s. So before one tries to hold, a strong sweaty Goliath in the guard, David better have a strong Guard !
Solution:
What I am about to give you in my opinion is the most viable and profound Isometric drill available… Jump up on your heavy bag, and wrap your legs around it. Hooking your ankles as if you had someone in your closed guard. Now, let go with your hands, and simply hang on to the bag with the strength of your inner loins only. Your first attempt will have you hanging on to the bag between 2 and 4 minutes. Your goal is 45 minutes ! Good Luck, Luv Voo !
Please check the Table of Contents for links to other chapters of this Online Book.
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