Stacking the odds in your favor: Jiu jitsu is never easy, any time your engaged against someone your own size and skill level every match will be a tough trial. Nonetheless there are some things you can do to make things a little easier. You can see here that from bottom position I have focused on. First, distance control. I have applied an ashi garami that puts a knee in front of my opponent to prevent him easily moving forward and a knee behind him to prevent him easily moving backwards. In addition I have knocked his hands to the floor. This immediately means he is carrying most of his own weight on his hands. If he is carrying his own weight, then I don't have to. As such my work load has decreased significantly. In addition his lower body becomes lighter as he carried weight on his hands making leg submissions easier to enter into. Perhaps most importantly, if his hands are on the floor then they aren't on me – as such it will be very difficult for an opponent to engage in any guard passing until he has corrected his posture, giving me uncontested attacks until he corrects himself. Thirdly, I have an advantageous angle where I have positioned myself outside his elbows and thus can attack from the side rather than frontally. Seen in this light you can see that attacks that begin with a deliberate attempt to stack the odds in your favor are far more likely to succeed than those where you simply make up your mind to use a certain move and go straight to it. Understanding what undermines an opponents defenses is critical to developing your ability to beat skilled opponents. Just as important as learning moves are the precursors to those moves so that you can create an unfair advantage in your favor before you even attempt them.
