December 13, 2024 • 11 mins
Welcome to another episode of Daily Dose of the Pod with your host, Dave, on Social BJJ! In this episode, we explore a common question in jiu-jitsu: "Does strength matter?" Dave dives deep into the balance between strength, technique, and speed, and how they all play a role in becoming a well-rounded grappler.
Key Points Discussed:
- Strength and Technique: Strength is often seen as secondary to technique, but Dave argues that it's an essential part of jiu-jitsu. He shares examples of how strong opponents have challenged his technique and emphasizes the importance of developing both.
- Balancing Attributes: The "big three" in jiu-jitsu—strength, speed, and technique—must work together. Without balance, a grappler may struggle against certain opponents.
- Strength in Tournaments: At the highest levels of competition, grapplers often rely on their strength to complement their technique, proving its value in tough matches.
- Training Smarter: While strength is important, using it safely and responsibly is key. Dave advises against being overly aggressive or "spazzy" during training, especially when working on submissions.
- Personal Stories: Shout-outs to Trey and Jay for their incredible strength and determination on the mats. Dave highlights how their physicality pushes him to improve and adapt his game.
Takeaways:
- Build your strength through weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, or any method that works for you. It’ll not only improve your jiu-jitsu but also your overall health.
- Focus on becoming a balanced practitioner by working on all aspects of your game—strength, speed, and technique.
- Respect your training partners and use strength wisely to avoid injuries and foster a positive training environment.
- Listen to your coach, but also embrace your unique style and strengths to develop your personal jiu-jitsu game.
Dave wraps up by encouraging listeners to share their thoughts. Does strength belong in jiu-jitsu? Let him know what you think, and stay tuned for the next episode. Peace!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to another Daily Dose of the Pod with your boy Dave on social BJJ.
(00:07):
I don't know if that should be my intro. Let me know what you think.
So today we're going to be talking about strength. Does it have a place in jujitsu?
You probably heard me talk about this if you saw one of my other podcasts or listened to one of the other episodes.
But you know this is something that I get kind of often.
You'll hear like, oh Dave, his grip strength is strong. Pause. It's so strong.
(00:32):
And I'm just sitting there and I'm like, huh? What do you mean?
They're like, yeah, once you get a grip, once you grab something, you don't let go. Pause.
And I'm just like, yeah, you know, I don't know what to say about that.
Like sometimes I feel like, are you diminishing my jujitsu by saying that I'm strong?
(00:55):
You know, and a lot of people will say, hey, you know, you shouldn't rely on your strength so much.
You should focus on technique more.
And that way you're going to get better at jujitsu because if you just focus on your strength and, you know,
only do things that you're good at, then you're never going to really advance.
I do think there is an advantage to what they're saying.
(01:19):
There's a good point to what they're saying, right?
Because like, especially in jujitsu, like somebody's going to do something that you're not expecting.
Somebody is going to put you out of your comfort zone.
Somebody is going to be as strong as you eventually, right?
Or as fast as you are, as flexible as you are.
There's going to be somebody that's more flexible, more like faster or stronger than you.
So yes, I do understand that. You need to be able to do other things as well.
(01:43):
Now, does strength have a place in jujitsu?
I mean, again, if you listened to my last episode, we talked about tournaments.
When you look at the highest level, like the professionals, the ADCC, the CJIs, right?
The Pan Ams or, you know, the world leagues, if you will.
If you look at the highest levels, you're going to see grapplers that are using strength.
(02:08):
A lot of it. A lot of it.
Sometimes their technique is not that great, you know, but they're so strong and so fast
that they are able to overcome the technique.
And I think instead of looking at it as technique trumps all, it needs, it's just a pillar.
(02:30):
It's just a pie. You know what I mean?
It's an equal partner. Technique without strength is trash, in my opinion.
Because you can get an arm bar, but if somebody is just stronger than you, like really strong,
they're going to curl you. And this has happened to me.
(02:51):
Like I put somebody in the crucifix. Trey, if you're listening to this, he just curled my whole entire body.
There was nothing I can do. I had the technique down. I know what I'm doing.
And he still curled me. I couldn't finish. Right? Pause.
And there's just ways that, you know, you go about it.
(03:15):
And so there has to be a discussion, an honest discussion, an open discussion talking about this, right?
Strength is as important as technique.
You can be strong and not have technique and you're not going to get that far.
You're going to be squeezing somebody's head. Pause. And then you're just going to get out.
Head locks don't work to somebody who's technical and know what they're doing.
But if you're super strong, then maybe it might work. Right?
(03:38):
If you're like crazy, crazy strong, but honestly, you're probably not going to,
if you have no technique whatsoever, you're probably not going to get that person in that position, to be honest with you. Right?
If somebody's technical and fast.
And the other thing we've got to talk about is speed. Speed.
That's another attribute that is just as equal as strength and technique.
(04:01):
Those three, you have to have all three of those.
If you don't have all three, if they're not balanced, you're an imbalance, you know, BJJ, a partitioner.
You're an imbalance fighter. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's perfectly fine. Right?
You can stick to what you're strong at, work on your weaknesses. Absolutely. Right?
We can talk about cardio. We can talk about all of all of these things.
But for some reason, everybody like focuses on strength as if it's a bad thing.
(04:24):
Like, no, you should be strong. You should weight lift.
You should, if you don't want to do weights, use your body, do calisthenics, do whatever you got to do, push-ups, pull-ups, you know, go out.
It's just going to make you a healthier human being overall.
And a healthier human being mentally, physically is going to be a better BJJ partitioner.
You're going to be better at jujitsu just because you're stronger, just because you're faster, just because you have a better cardio.
(04:48):
Yes, you will be better at jujitsu just because of all of those things.
So does it have a place in jujitsu? Absolutely. Absolutely.
Now, this is where like strength should not, in my opinion, should not be a factor or it should not be used with somebody who's super spazzy, super spazzy.
(05:12):
And there are some people like this. Maybe they're coming from judo.
Maybe they're coming from wrestling. They're a little bit explosive, right?
And then they're learning something. So they're strong because of, you know, their background.
And it's very explosive. Now you add submissions to that. You just need to guide them.
They got to know that, hey, you can't crank a submission. You can't go, go like for me.
(05:35):
I like to go zero to 10, 10 to 20, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, 50 to 55, 60, 65, 75, 80.
And then I'm looking at the person like, dude, you sure you good? Are you OK?
(05:56):
And then usually I let it go. I never go 100. Never, never, never, never, never.
This is a choke and I know it's a clean, it's going to be a clean joke, but you never need to go that far.
You never need to go that far. If you need to go that far, your opponent is doing something wrong.
You need to talk to your opponent. Right. So. Moral of the story.
(06:20):
Get stronger. Get faster. There's a there's a white belt.
Awesome. Awesome, dude. I think pretty soon he's probably going to be a blue belt.
Jay, shout out names, your first names, Jay, if you're listening, shout out to you.
Jay is so strong. He is so strong.
(06:45):
And maybe his technique is not the best, but he's just learning. Right.
He's just learning jujitsu. So like compared to somebody who's been training for 10 years.
Yeah, of course. Like, you know, there's no comparison. But Jay is so like good at learning things.
He learned so quickly. Plus the strength. So the technique that he learns, plus the strength that he learns when he grabs me and so I'm screwed.
(07:11):
Like it doesn't my experience doesn't matter. My technique, like, you know, like I could try to wiggle out.
I'm not saying I'm weak. I'm pretty strong. But Jay works out. He lives. He does. Like he does this. He's about that life. Right.
And because of that, I have a hard time. I have a hard time. If he didn't work out, I probably wouldn't have a hard time.
(07:34):
I probably would not have a hard time. So my my thing is, am I knocking Jay for this? No, I'm saying, man, keep doing it.
I love that. Right. I love that you come in. You're you're you've been training for a year or two years and you're giving people who've been on the mass for 10 years a hard time.
That's excellent. Keep doing what you're doing and then add in more to it.
(07:55):
Don't let people come in and detract from you and be like, oh, don't don't use a strength. No, use that. Use that. But use it in a safe way.
Don't hurt people with it, but use it. If you're going to hold somebody down, hold them down is there for it.
I say this to all strong people that I know like Tray and Jay, they're both strong.
(08:17):
I tell both of them, like, look, there's no reason why I should be able to get up if you're on top.
If you're holding me down. Right. And side control. If you're if you're in a positional advantage on me,
there should be no way for me to get up. Right. Because like if you're focusing on holding me down, then that's it.
(08:40):
I have to escape when you go for a submission or you go for a transition.
That has to be the case. It should not be the case where you're holding me down and then I'm able to get out because you're you're stronger than me and you have gravity in your advantage.
Use that strength. Maybe you're not going to like technically put your hands in the right spots or whatever to like use wedges to keep me in place.
(09:02):
Sure. Whatever. Who cares? Eventually you're going to learn that stuff. But for now, use what you have.
Don't just lighten up and not use strength and let me get up. No, that's not fair to me. That's not fair to you.
Right. If I'm this wizard of jujitsu and I'm so good at jujitsu, whatever the case may be, because usually it's the people who are saying this that are supposed to be really good at jujitsu,
(09:23):
not to use your strength. That's the case. If you're using your strength, I should be able to out technique you.
But the reason why they say, you know, stop using your strength because they want to use their technique and your strength is stopping their technique.
And I don't want to get stronger. I want to just keep doing what I'm doing.
No matter what, I'm going to get stronger, too. I'm going to match your strength plus my technique and I'm going to overcome you.
(09:44):
And that's the best way. And for me, it's like, what can I do to be better than, you know, the person who's stopping me?
That you put a barrier up. How can I overcome that barrier? You have a wall up. Either I'm going to go over the wall, under the wall, through the wall, around the wall.
I got to figure out a way. Right. If the wall is impenetrable, I hope I hopefully as a different if I can't go through the wall, well, I got to figure out another way.
(10:11):
I can't go over. I got to figure out another way. Right. Maybe maybe I'm never going to be as strong as Trey.
I don't think that's going to be the case because he doesn't even work out. He just started working out.
He was already struggling to work out. And so, you know, I'm not going to be as strong, but maybe I can do some some things to be strong enough.
(10:37):
And focus on my speed because I'm going to be a little bit quicker because when you're strong, you got these big muscles, you're going to move a little bit slower.
So you got to be able to analyze the game. And if somebody's telling you, hey, you're focusing too much on this or focusing too much on that or you're using too much of this or using too much of that, just know you could do whatever the heck you want.
You just lose your game. You play it the way that you want to play. But at the same time, if that person is your coach and they're in charge of promoting you and you really care about the belts and you really care about their promotions,
(11:08):
opposed to just having a good time and enjoying your experience and growing, then you should probably listen to your coach. Well, do whatever you want.
Let me know what you guys think about this. See you guys. Peace.
Welcome back to another Daily Dose of the Pod with your boy Dave on social BJJ.
(00:07):
I don't know if that should be my intro. Let me know what you think.
So today we're going to be talking about strength. Does it have a place in jujitsu?
You probably heard me talk about this if you saw one of my other podcasts or listened to one of the other episodes.
But you know this is something that I get kind of often.
You'll hear like, oh Dave, his grip strength is strong. Pause. It's so strong.
(00:32):
And I'm just sitting there and I'm like, huh? What do you mean?
They're like, yeah, once you get a grip, once you grab something, you don't let go. Pause.
And I'm just like, yeah, you know, I don't know what to say about that.
Like sometimes I feel like, are you diminishing my jujitsu by saying that I'm strong?
(00:55):
You know, and a lot of people will say, hey, you know, you shouldn't rely on your strength so much.
You should focus on technique more.
And that way you're going to get better at jujitsu because if you just focus on your strength and, you know,
only do things that you're good at, then you're never going to really advance.
I do think there is an advantage to what they're saying.
(01:19):
There's a good point to what they're saying, right?
Because like, especially in jujitsu, like somebody's going to do something that you're not expecting.
Somebody is going to put you out of your comfort zone.
Somebody is going to be as strong as you eventually, right?
Or as fast as you are, as flexible as you are.
There's going to be somebody that's more flexible, more like faster or stronger than you.
So yes, I do understand that. You need to be able to do other things as well.
(01:43):
Now, does strength have a place in jujitsu?
I mean, again, if you listened to my last episode, we talked about tournaments.
When you look at the highest level, like the professionals, the ADCC, the CJIs, right?
The Pan Ams or, you know, the world leagues, if you will.
If you look at the highest levels, you're going to see grapplers that are using strength.
(02:08):
A lot of it. A lot of it.
Sometimes their technique is not that great, you know, but they're so strong and so fast
that they are able to overcome the technique.
And I think instead of looking at it as technique trumps all, it needs, it's just a pillar.
(02:30):
It's just a pie. You know what I mean?
It's an equal partner. Technique without strength is trash, in my opinion.
Because you can get an arm bar, but if somebody is just stronger than you, like really strong,
they're going to curl you. And this has happened to me.
(02:51):
Like I put somebody in the crucifix. Trey, if you're listening to this, he just curled my whole entire body.
There was nothing I can do. I had the technique down. I know what I'm doing.
And he still curled me. I couldn't finish. Right? Pause.
And there's just ways that, you know, you go about it.
(03:15):
And so there has to be a discussion, an honest discussion, an open discussion talking about this, right?
Strength is as important as technique.
You can be strong and not have technique and you're not going to get that far.
You're going to be squeezing somebody's head. Pause. And then you're just going to get out.
Head locks don't work to somebody who's technical and know what they're doing.
But if you're super strong, then maybe it might work. Right?
(03:38):
If you're like crazy, crazy strong, but honestly, you're probably not going to,
if you have no technique whatsoever, you're probably not going to get that person in that position, to be honest with you. Right?
If somebody's technical and fast.
And the other thing we've got to talk about is speed. Speed.
That's another attribute that is just as equal as strength and technique.
(04:01):
Those three, you have to have all three of those.
If you don't have all three, if they're not balanced, you're an imbalance, you know, BJJ, a partitioner.
You're an imbalance fighter. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's perfectly fine. Right?
You can stick to what you're strong at, work on your weaknesses. Absolutely. Right?
We can talk about cardio. We can talk about all of all of these things.
But for some reason, everybody like focuses on strength as if it's a bad thing.
(04:24):
Like, no, you should be strong. You should weight lift.
You should, if you don't want to do weights, use your body, do calisthenics, do whatever you got to do, push-ups, pull-ups, you know, go out.
It's just going to make you a healthier human being overall.
And a healthier human being mentally, physically is going to be a better BJJ partitioner.
You're going to be better at jujitsu just because you're stronger, just because you're faster, just because you have a better cardio.
(04:48):
Yes, you will be better at jujitsu just because of all of those things.
So does it have a place in jujitsu? Absolutely. Absolutely.
Now, this is where like strength should not, in my opinion, should not be a factor or it should not be used with somebody who's super spazzy, super spazzy.
(05:12):
And there are some people like this. Maybe they're coming from judo.
Maybe they're coming from wrestling. They're a little bit explosive, right?
And then they're learning something. So they're strong because of, you know, their background.
And it's very explosive. Now you add submissions to that. You just need to guide them.
They got to know that, hey, you can't crank a submission. You can't go, go like for me.
(05:35):
I like to go zero to 10, 10 to 20, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, 50 to 55, 60, 65, 75, 80.
And then I'm looking at the person like, dude, you sure you good? Are you OK?
(05:56):
And then usually I let it go. I never go 100. Never, never, never, never, never.
This is a choke and I know it's a clean, it's going to be a clean joke, but you never need to go that far.
You never need to go that far. If you need to go that far, your opponent is doing something wrong.
You need to talk to your opponent. Right. So. Moral of the story.
(06:20):
Get stronger. Get faster. There's a there's a white belt.
Awesome. Awesome, dude. I think pretty soon he's probably going to be a blue belt.
Jay, shout out names, your first names, Jay, if you're listening, shout out to you.
Jay is so strong. He is so strong.
(06:45):
And maybe his technique is not the best, but he's just learning. Right.
He's just learning jujitsu. So like compared to somebody who's been training for 10 years.
Yeah, of course. Like, you know, there's no comparison. But Jay is so like good at learning things.
He learned so quickly. Plus the strength. So the technique that he learns, plus the strength that he learns when he grabs me and so I'm screwed.
(07:11):
Like it doesn't my experience doesn't matter. My technique, like, you know, like I could try to wiggle out.
I'm not saying I'm weak. I'm pretty strong. But Jay works out. He lives. He does. Like he does this. He's about that life. Right.
And because of that, I have a hard time. I have a hard time. If he didn't work out, I probably wouldn't have a hard time.
(07:34):
I probably would not have a hard time. So my my thing is, am I knocking Jay for this? No, I'm saying, man, keep doing it.
I love that. Right. I love that you come in. You're you're you've been training for a year or two years and you're giving people who've been on the mass for 10 years a hard time.
That's excellent. Keep doing what you're doing and then add in more to it.
(07:55):
Don't let people come in and detract from you and be like, oh, don't don't use a strength. No, use that. Use that. But use it in a safe way.
Don't hurt people with it, but use it. If you're going to hold somebody down, hold them down is there for it.
I say this to all strong people that I know like Tray and Jay, they're both strong.
(08:17):
I tell both of them, like, look, there's no reason why I should be able to get up if you're on top.
If you're holding me down. Right. And side control. If you're if you're in a positional advantage on me,
there should be no way for me to get up. Right. Because like if you're focusing on holding me down, then that's it.
(08:40):
I have to escape when you go for a submission or you go for a transition.
That has to be the case. It should not be the case where you're holding me down and then I'm able to get out because you're you're stronger than me and you have gravity in your advantage.
Use that strength. Maybe you're not going to like technically put your hands in the right spots or whatever to like use wedges to keep me in place.
(09:02):
Sure. Whatever. Who cares? Eventually you're going to learn that stuff. But for now, use what you have.
Don't just lighten up and not use strength and let me get up. No, that's not fair to me. That's not fair to you.
Right. If I'm this wizard of jujitsu and I'm so good at jujitsu, whatever the case may be, because usually it's the people who are saying this that are supposed to be really good at jujitsu,
(09:23):
not to use your strength. That's the case. If you're using your strength, I should be able to out technique you.
But the reason why they say, you know, stop using your strength because they want to use their technique and your strength is stopping their technique.
And I don't want to get stronger. I want to just keep doing what I'm doing.
No matter what, I'm going to get stronger, too. I'm going to match your strength plus my technique and I'm going to overcome you.
(09:44):
And that's the best way. And for me, it's like, what can I do to be better than, you know, the person who's stopping me?
That you put a barrier up. How can I overcome that barrier? You have a wall up. Either I'm going to go over the wall, under the wall, through the wall, around the wall.
I got to figure out a way. Right. If the wall is impenetrable, I hope I hopefully as a different if I can't go through the wall, well, I got to figure out another way.
(10:11):
I can't go over. I got to figure out another way. Right. Maybe maybe I'm never going to be as strong as Trey.
I don't think that's going to be the case because he doesn't even work out. He just started working out.
He was already struggling to work out. And so, you know, I'm not going to be as strong, but maybe I can do some some things to be strong enough.
(10:37):
And focus on my speed because I'm going to be a little bit quicker because when you're strong, you got these big muscles, you're going to move a little bit slower.
So you got to be able to analyze the game. And if somebody's telling you, hey, you're focusing too much on this or focusing too much on that or you're using too much of this or using too much of that, just know you could do whatever the heck you want.
You just lose your game. You play it the way that you want to play. But at the same time, if that person is your coach and they're in charge of promoting you and you really care about the belts and you really care about their promotions,
(11:08):
opposed to just having a good time and enjoying your experience and growing, then you should probably listen to your coach. Well, do whatever you want.
Let me know what you guys think about this. See you guys. Peace.
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