Ground Control Strength and Combat
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Ground Control Strength and Combat
3 Weaknesses 97% of Grapplers Have
And How You Can Fix Them to Gain a Competitive Edge
I’m not a Jiu-Jitsu coach.
I’ve never rolled once.
I’m a strength and conditioning coach that helps athletes Improve their physical performance. It’s my job to make sure that the athletes I work with are prepared to dominate their sport of choice. I’ve helped professional, college, and high school athletes go from benchwarmers to starters in almost every sport you can think of.
Most athletes struggle with the same things and so I coach them all in a similar manner with a few key variations from sport to sport.
So…
I crossed paths with ONE OF THE BEST BJJ Coaches I've found
His name’s Phil Daru.
And he’s responsible for the strength training success of some of the best fighters you’ll see on your TV screen, including:
Dustin Poirier (Ranked #3 Lightweight),
Tyron Woodley (Champion Welterweight),
And
Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Ranked #1 Strawweight),
And even more specifically, some top jiu jitsu performers such as:
Antonio Carlos Jr. (World Champion), Gezary Matuda (5 Time World Champ, going for 6th), and Alexey Oleynik.
HE WAS EVEN NOMINATED FOR MMA TRAINER OF THE YEAR.
Recently, we had an enlightening conversation.
He shared with me, the most common weaknesses that almost ALL grapplers have.
He stressed the fact that the ones who fix these weaknesses experience rapid increases in rank, display dominance when rolling in *class and competition, and even perform better off the matts.
But, as Phil emphasized…
If you leave these weaknesses unaccounted for,
They can lead you down a deep, dark, hole of injuries, losses, lack of progression
And honestly, I’ve seen athletes focus purely on skill work giving them decent performance but no where near put together like the top guys you see
And more embarrassment than being put to sleep by an ezekiel choke in front of your girlfriend.
I’m sure none of that sits well with you.
And because I want you to avoid all that, I figured I’d share, not only the 3 weaknesses he filled me in on, but also how he works to fix them with the fighters that set foot into his gym.
1. Lack of Isometric Strength
You probably know jiu jitsu is all about control.
You might not know that without sufficient isometric strength, you won’t be able to control anyone.
If you’re lacking isometric strength...
People will pass your guard, You’ll lose your grips while trying to pass guard, You’ll have trouble getting and controlling dominant positions; and people will escape your attempted submissions.
2. Weak Posterior Chain
Because of the motor patterns of the sport, most grapplers have weak glutes, backs, and hamstrings.
And what most grapplers don’t know is that these muscles are absolutely vital for success in the sport…
Weaknesses in these muscles limit your ability to do the three most important things in jiu jitsu:
Escape submissions,
3. Lack of Mobility
As I sat with Phil, he began getting really worked up,
There was a fire in his belly,
This was clearly something that irked him more than being wrist locked by a white-belt…
“I don’t understand how, in a sport that’s all about control, people don’t take the time to train the one physical attribute that gives you more control…”
He’s talking about strength training of course.
And it seems like most grapplers sit on one end of the spectrum or the other…
Not training at all from fear of overdoing it, or just not seeing the value
Or training too much - and using incorrect methods.
Phil Has Cleared the Air
Shortly after our conversation, Phil presented me with a complete protocol to fix the common grappling weaknesses,
And,
Present the BJJ world with a program that isn’t guess-work, like you’ll find on MMA and BJJ fan sites…
It’s called Ground Control.
