Integrated systems: Earlier in the week I discussed a central theme of my approach to jiu jitsu – that we constantly seek to select isolated, high-value areas of the sport and build complex systems around them so that our athletes can have a significant knowledge advantage in that domain. If the athlete can maintain that domain and dominate the action within it – HE OR SHE WOULD BE SUCCESSFULLY CHANGING THE GAME FROM one WHERE PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES, WILL, YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ETC ETC DETERMINE THE OUTCOME; TO A SITUATION WHERE DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE DETERMINES THE OUTCOME. If the system itself is sound and the students application of it is better than his opponent's ability to interfere with it – success will follow. Unfortunately the tremendous success that my students had with certain systems created the impression that all we did was invent some fancy systems in a few areas – legs and back – and that was the limit of their skills. This lead to many accusations of them being “one trick ponies” incapable of beating top level competitors with well rounded games. This year my students did a fine job of showing what our actual approach is, rather than the public perception. ALWAYS THE INTENT WAS TO CREATE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS THAT COVERED THE WHOLE BODY, NOT JUST SUBMISSIONS BUT POSITIONAL ATTACKS ALSO – AND THAT THESE SYSTEMS SHOULD BE INTEGRATED WITH EACH OTHER SO THAT FAILURE IN THE APPLICATION OF ONE WOULD LEAD TO OPPORTUNITIES TO EMPLOY ANOTHER UNTIL A COMPLETE BREAKTHROUGH WAS ACHIEVED. This use of INTEGRATED SYSTEMS is the real goal of all my students and the direction of my work in jiu jitsu. Here, Gordon Ryan uses the interface between our Kimura system and back attack system to work his attacks against the great Xande Ribeiro in a very tightly contested match in ADCC. Mr Ribeiro is doing a fine job of blocking two dangerous attacks at the same time. This kind of sustained multi directional pressure is what you must try to build towards in your training. Photo by @banejitsu
