The Setup
A jiu jitsu grip matters because of the problem it solves. If the prescribed grip is unavailable, you still have to create the control, balance, or angle that made the technique possible.
You may not need one exact grip, but you do need to solve the problem that grip was solving.
Sometimes I cannot get the grip I should have to do a specific move in jiu jitsu.
When that happens, I occasionally make what seems like a reasonable decision.
“Well, I’ll just try to do the move without it.”
A few seconds later, I am lying on my back in mount while my training partner looks down and asks how I ended up there.
Fair question.
I knew where the grip was supposed to go.
Maybe the problem wasn't that I could not get the grip.
Maybe the problem was that I did not understand what the grip was supposed to do.
Remembering the steps is not the same as understanding them
When we first learn a technique, it can feel like a collection of instructions.
Put this hand here.
Move your foot there.
Turn this direction.
Now pull.
If our training partner gives us the reaction we practiced, we may be able to follow those instructions and make the move work.
For what it’s worth, our training partners tend to have their own plans.
Sometimes they will not let us have the grip we so desperately want.
Sometimes their weight will be in a different place.
Sometimes they will react in a way we have not seen before.
That is when we find out whether we understand the technique or simply remember the steps.
Of course, remembering the steps is part of learning.
A newer student cannot be expected to understand the purpose of every grip, angle, and movement the first time they see a technique.
Sometimes we have to trust that the coach told us to put our hand there for a reason.
Even if that reason is not immediately obvious.
The grip was doing a job
The problem comes when we begin treating every detail as either absolutely necessary or completely optional.
Some details are preferences.
Some make the technique more efficient.
Others are the only thing keeping you from being rolled over and mounted.
Unfortunately, those details do not always immediately introduce themselves.
The grip I could not get may have been controlling my training partner’s posture.
It may have protected my balance while I moved.
It may have prevented them from posting their hand on the mat.
When I decided to continue without it, I did not remove an unnecessary step.
I removed one of the conditions that made the rest of the movement possible.
That does not necessarily mean I needed that exact grip.
Another grip may have done the same job.
A change in angle may have made the grip unnecessary.
There may have been an entirely different move available.
But I still needed to solve the problem that the original grip was solving.
Trying the move without the grip may be exactly how I discover what the grip was doing.
The result gave me a fairly clear answer.
People rarely forget what they discover for themselves.
Especially when the discovery ends with someone sitting on their chest.
Ask a better question
The important part is what I do with that answer.
If I decide the move does not work, I probably learned the wrong lesson.
If I decide I am never allowed to change anything about the technique, I may still have learned the wrong lesson.
A better question might be:
“What job was that grip doing?”
Once I understand the job, I have somewhere useful to look.
Can another grip or change in body position do the same job?
Can I change the angle?
Or has the position changed enough that I should choose another move?
This is where technique starts becoming something more than a set of instructions.
We begin to understand which details can change and which conditions still need to be created.
That understanding often starts with a failed experiment.
You may lose the position or get swept.
But now the detail is no longer just something the coach told you to remember.
It is something you understand.
When strength keeps a bad idea alive
The next time you cannot get the grip you’re supposed to have, you could still try the move without it.
You might even be able to make it work if you pull harder and squeeze tighter.
That does not necessarily mean the grip was unimportant.
Sometimes strength can keep a bad idea alive long enough to make it look like a good one.
Sometimes bad ideas deserve a second chance.
Don’t come crying to me, though, when it doesn’t work a third, fourth, or tenth time.
That’s just stubbornness.
Joshua is the owner and head coach at 608 Jiu Jitsu in Cross Plains, Wisconsin. He writes about learning, problem solving, and becoming a better training partner through jiu jitsu.