Benefits of a system based approach to learning martial arts: most of you know that one of the foundations of my approach to coaching jiu jitsu is that of a systems based method rather than the classical move-based approach. The idea is to create sub systems within the classic BJJ system that give a comprehensive and coherent guide to action in specific scenarios that can be learned very quickly and confer a considerable knowledge/skill advantage over an opponent who might otherwise have a considerable OVERALL experience advantage and yet a DOMAIN SPECIFIC experience/knowledge disadvantage in these specialized scenarios. We are all familiar with the idea that someone can have vast knowledge in one area, but be completely lacking in another. Essentially we try to create this situation in jiu jitsu. It begins with a solid positional/fundamentals game – you can never skip that step – and then we get into specific scenarios and build detailed systems and training programs around them. Since there is so much focus on these, experience and proficiency can be accrued relatively quickly in these domains and garner exceptional results in a short time frame. Seventeen year Nicky Ryan showed the results of this kind of training over the weekend. He took on Japanese MMA Hideo Tokoro, who has over sixty MMA fights with wins over grappling icons such as Masakazu Imanari. Yet Mr Ryan was able to secure the back and finish in classic squad style using our method of arm trapping that makes even very experienced opponents vulnerable to strangles. You can clearly see the extent to which his opponent's defensive arms are pinned down leaving nothing to defend the following stranglehold. Remember – THERE IS MUCH MORE TO THE MOVES THEMSELVES THAT DETERMINE SUCCESS OT FAILURE IN JIU-JITSU. Very often it is THE INFRASTRUCTURE AROUND THE MOVES that determines their value.
