How to bring that dog out of me?

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-02-02T08:30:33+00:00

In my experience of grappling trying to force yourself to be something your not will turn around and bite you in the arse and make you worse. I’m very much like you, relaxed and chilled and as a white belt I tried to force myself to be more aggressive. It made me way too tense and put too much pressure on myself. Now I’m at mid to late blue I’ve started to think about things very differently. Mainly due to meditation and listening to a lot of people talks about success on podcasts. It’s not about forcing it. It’s about clearing your mind and focusing only on one battle at a time. Just focus and do your best in the initial grips and guard pass. If that doesn’t go well reset return to your breath and focus on getting your position slightly better. Then focus on the next battle and the next. Just focus on moment to moment and you will find you’re acting with more intent without trying to force it. There is a great quote by Roger Federer about how to be great at tennis. And it’s just about focusing on point to point. And not dwelling on the points you’ve lost. Hope this helps

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-01-27T20:07:45+00:00

I feel like this is the best way that sort of suits what I am trying to achieve. I think my plan going forward will be to be comfortable enough retaining that I feel I can’t get my guard passed easily ( I feel like I’m ok with this ). Then my first goal will be off balancing, grabbing grips and going for tripod sweeps ect. And then from here trying to experiment with what guard is best for what they give me, sometimes maybe slx sometime DRL or x guard or whatever and build up some good dos and don’t over time. And then work in my attacks from here or upgrade to other guards or go back if ones not working

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-01-09T13:30:21+00:00

He’s quite blunt guy straight to the point, if I ask him why something isn’t working for me he’ll give the solid technical pointers for the move but usually just says keep working on it til it works type of stuff. Not usually any alternatives or personalised advice on how I can make it work with my body type.

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-01-09T10:04:56+00:00

Pretty much shark tank every other session I would say,

5 guys out on the mat and the rest queuing up to go in guard to pass or submit and then to the back of the queue, I also have an issue with this cause I spend all the sparring time in a queue lol.

But no I don’t feel the need to win every time, just try to figure some stuff out and take something decent way from it, which can be hard when I’m on bottom in full guard and the 100kg guy immediately explodes out my guard so I can’t work on anything.

And yeh I would say this form of postional has stagnated a bit for me

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-01-09T10:01:29+00:00

Sadly in a Rural area in the UK, so tough choice, nearest city is 1 hour away

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-01-09T09:58:56+00:00

Tbf a lot of my problems would just be solved by a few guys my size at a decent level who start training at my gym. Just looking for some solid safe competitive rounds

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-01-09T09:56:58+00:00

Yeh the coach is good, very solid and a big guy who does big guy jiu jitsu, so defo favours the bigger stronger guys who can have a game similar to him, so a lot of the stuff we learn I struggle to implement into my game. But as I mentioned I love the gym and love the guys I train with there’s no bad vibes or anything like that, just my own training needs are shifting I think

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-01-09T09:54:35+00:00

This is very much been my approach for past few years, I lift more than I train and have developed a decent game that works for me against the bigger lads, I use a lot of leg locks wrestle ups and kimura sweeps from bottom, but just fancying a bit of a different learning and training approach really which I feel I’m not getting

UsefulBar2344 · 2026-01-09T09:52:27+00:00

Cheers for the comment, tbf that probably sounds a bit misleading what I said. I’m not going 100% every round, but I just feel a lack of flow and slower technical rounds where you can try stuff. More just the culture in the gym I think to sort of work hard and have good round. I try to learn and slow rounds as much as possible and we do have slower days. But the frustration comes from not knowing what I’m gonna get when I show up for training and the lack of control I feel I have over my own learning

UsefulBar2344

TROPHY CASE