Grappling Primitives|
If you could tell your white belt self three things...
"Build Yourself" is upstream of everything. It comes before the focus on Kuzushi/disrupting of the other in so many ways.
"Be the training partner you wish you had". Not all training time is equal, great training partners are rare and precioussss. Being a good training partner is itself a trainable skill.
"Concepts over Techniques". Engrave concepts into your brain, collect techniques but understand their underlying principles above all else.
I am organizing decades of notes, including 258 concepts organized in 22 categories in a quad tree map, and interactive essays that represent how I would typically introduce these concepts live to new students. Although so much of what we do is highly kinetic and has a "it-has-to-be-felt" quality that is difficult to convey digitally. Doesn't mean we cannot try.
Start by reading the essays, Build Yourself First and Ideal Training Partner, or take this self-assessment, then explore the map.
LIVE Build Yourself First
INTERACTIVE ESSAY自分を作れ — Organize your body before collecting techniques. The invisible skill that multiplies everything else.
LIVE Ideal Training Partner
INTERACTIVE ESSAYIntensity is a skill. Match it, modulate it, or waste your mat time.
LIVE QuadTree Map
CONCEPT MAP258 concepts, 22 categories. Zoomable 2D map of grappling building blocks.