I'm 6'2" and in college I was about 215lbs and a very athletic and physically strong blue belt. I had a unique experience I will never forget rolling with a black belt who was probably in his 50's. I would get on top either in open guard or side mount, whatever, try to smash and it felt like he was "swimming" or was water beneath me. No perceived effort but he had complete control of me. This video cracked that code.
I've listened an interview of one of Roger Gracie's training partner. He said, Roger feels like a thick blanket. This is what i teach my students now. Be the blanket.
Another way to see this is something that I read in a book by Paulo Guillobel. The point was made by this question (paraphrased): "Would it be more difficult to escape from under a 200 pound wet rug or a 200 pound piece of plywood?"
This is a perfect illustration of the principle of jū (柔, “suppleness” or “yielding strength”), which is the basis of jūjutsu (柔術, jiu-jitsu). I have been training BJJ for almost eighteen years, and I’m still trying to figure out how to really relax. Great video!
My Judo sensei said that the Ju of Judo has been translated to "Gentle Way". I did Jujutsu/JiuJitsu for a couple of years before I did Judo 6 Years later. He said to me Judo is not gentle. He said it should be called the adaptable way. Which is why Judo and Jiujitsu are a reminder to me to learn to adapt in life. And success comes from continuing practice. I do not physically practice anymore. It was 1971 when I first started. I also tried Taekwondo for a couple of years. I love the grappling.
@@MrPhilharmonica1 I agree: Judo is not really "gentle" (and I have permanent injuries to my spine and shoulder to prove it 😄). The character 柔 (jū) literally means "gentle," but I like your sensei's translation as "adaptable," since it's closer to the way we use the term in judo and jiu-jitsu. The Japanese word jū comes from the Chinese róu, which is a key concept in Daoist philosophy, referring to the flexibility shown by green bamboo or water, which naturally bend to adapt to their surroundings.
@@WC-JKD-BJJ nice info on the etymology of ju...i always tell people if they want to understand judo, jiu jitsu, aikido better as far as philosophy, strategy, tactics, and techniques go then go to the root which is taichi and taoist philosophy.
This is exactly the core mechanic of Tai Chi often described as softness, effective Tai Chi is mostly soft grappling and essentially stand up Jiu-Jitsu that incorporates mid and close range strikes, and seizes, and uses what's described here as contact to stifle, contain, and redirect your opponent's explosiveness, becoming in effect mud, the same way JJ employs by grounding them, and is a good stand up supplement for JJ practitioners and vice versa. The two systems merged do a great job of covering each others short comings.
except taijiquan does it in a unrealistic way with dated techniques. Great concepts for fighting that works for any system but horrible techniques(Taijiquan).
@@teovu5557 Agreed, pressure testing, realistic or actual combat implementation, a realistic peripheral fight culture or the lack thereof will make or break any fighting system. But I've witnessed street guys incorporating Tai Chi with both softness and actual martial intent, grappling oriented, and it's crazy effective, and vicious, wasn't anything nice or gentle about it at all, it was dirt ugly. Excels at safely neutralizing explosive opponents while targeting their vital areas and does indeed mirror Jiu Jitsu. Tai Chi I would argue requires a very high fight I.Q. though, and most of the folk I've seen employ it effectively were already very good fighters, and used it to seize and choke, to seize and break/lock, or to seize and strike a vital area, never to trade blows or to just strike or go toe to toe, it seemed to work best as a method of capture and kill. Allegedly derived from observing a snake killing a bird of prey, Tai Chi really seems to shine in 3 second to 5 second long brief counter-engagements as opposed to brawls.
@@lowlowseesee LOL, I meant they share similarities, not exactly the same, and yeah, I totally agree with you, that most don't realistically pressure test. I'd say this for all martial arts but especially Tai Chi, Wing Chun, Aikido, these styles work.........but don't deceive yourself, IF YOUR GOAL IS TO NEUTRALIZE GORILLAS - THEN YOU'VE GOT TO TRAIN AGAINST GORILLAS, - AND ROUTINELY - PERIOD, FULL STOP. Both physically and psychologically, consider cross training with boxers, Thai boxers, wrestlers, ex-convicts, rugby players, bikers etc. places where there's more of a pressure test/conditioning culture to weed out the real from the fake. There's also something to be said about the fact that the people who developed all three of these systems were already very seasoned fighters with very high fight I.Q.s who employed their crafts in life and death circumstances that most of us are gratefully insulated from today. I studied a style of Kung Fu but learned to fight by sparring with a Liberian civil war refugee, a hard karate guy who'd been through some real grizzly stuff, and his Karate was far from theoretical. No, his karate wasn't better, but his understanding of war absolutely was, and I credit his Karate for making my Kung Fu effective.
Learn to relax - I felt it first time when I started rolling with a solid blue belt who super relaxed when rolling. After a few rolls I started relaxing and breathing normal as well during the rolls!
I'm 6', athletic, muscular but 155lbs. Pretty much every guy in class weighs 20 pounds more than me at least. Half the time I'm rolling with guys 40-50lbs heavier. I'll say that working out is a necessity for strength and proper muscle activation and injury prevention but at the end of the day when a 200lb dude lays on top of me I have a very same struggle as this young lady. You're not alone and it's not just the girls that get "tossed around" Thank you for the video
You truly do not have to work out, just do more jiujitsu. On the first day of class, the first person that I ever rolled with was a white belt who wrestled for five years, he weighs 215lbs, I weighed 190lbs. I could barely stand up in his closed guard, much less break his legs around me, he had me sweating bullets, and I left. Two months later, we were drilling, where I had to break out of his closed guard, and mount him, while he fought to keep me from doing that. I was easily picking him up, his head was off the ground, and then I easily passed his guard. My strength has increased a ton in just two months, and I'm 39 years old.
So i've been training for just over a year now and for the past few months , I've had this suspicious feeling that I might be training in a Mcdojo, after watching this video and learning this concept, it confirms my suspicion. This is such a simple and yet a powerful concept that they have not taught us in my year of being at my gym. I will be leaving the gym come January for a new one.
I can't say whether your gym is or isn't legit but it's fairly common for most gyms to teach multiple techniques, drill them, and then open up the class for open sparring. Only some gyms deal in concepts, as it's challenging to cover concepts across multiple inconsistent waves of training students across multiple training sessions. Seminars (which I believe this is) are usually a better venue for teaching concepts. That and during open mat, discussing training theories with your coach.
@@pixelcultmedia4252, Sounds about right. I attend Gracie Barra, and you could make the assumption of what the main commenter is saying, but it's all about communication, and asking questions, and even drilling.
That was a really good lesson that we already know but we already forgotten about it. Thank you You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
I have been struggling with this as a 64 year old Blue Belt. Told to relax but not one explained what that means. NOW I know. This video almost made me cry. Can't wait to train tonight. Geez.
Thanks for a GREAT video. This has so many metaphorical parallels to the way we approach life. Our life stance is really, actually, a physical thing: how we hold and release our bodies, how we physically balance, angulate, and move with respect to other force vectors and static objects in our environment, is mirrored in our adaptability in the mental and emotional realms. These are generalized adaptive responses: if you want to change your approach to life, change the way you relate to it physically.
My old professor used to say "don't be like a stick, be like a piece of rope, I push one bit of a piece of rope that's all that moves..I push the stick the whole thing can move"
This great demo of application of it. That combined with comment section is gold mine of what relaxing means. I always would dislike when someone would say that but not explain what they mean
Great teaching! This is called waza in judo, bjj develop from judo this is a very good application on the mechanics of jiu-jitsu the how to yield to the movement instead of resist.
I can't wait to get back in it!! BJJ, hapkido, MMA. I was in a toxic school but I'm still putting in the work!! This is a very neat thing to keep in mind.
According to my sensi Roy sunaka. 1 of 3 menko holders said. jugaro kano once visited O'sensei's dojo. He brought some of the senior students and when he watched osensei's (techniques what you see in the first part of this videois aikido too puer) it is a good example. he said that's perfect Judo. And his student said well then what have we been doing all these years. I suppose Master kano just smiled like a Buddha. As it was described to me." when you're walking down the street now the corner eye without being taught anything when you see someone about to bump in you what did you naturally you whip yourself sideways and open the door let them go by as much as you can it's natural it's in all of us why shouldn't we let that be our art. the art be just as simple as that'
I can feel there is more info missing to actually make this concept work. Simply because if your timing is off you will be pushed off. But, I remember people saying Rickson makes adjustments before the move happens; therefore, there is a way to feel your "opponents" intention before anything happens. The next question is how do you feel what your "opponent" will do before they make it happen
I'm 6'2" and in college I was about 215lbs and a very athletic and physically strong blue belt. I had a unique experience I will never forget rolling with a black belt who was probably in his 50's. I would get on top either in open guard or side mount, whatever, try to smash and it felt like he was "swimming" or was water beneath me. No perceived effort but he had complete control of me. This video cracked that code.
I've listened an interview of one of Roger Gracie's training partner. He said, Roger feels like a thick blanket.
This is what i teach my students now. Be the blanket.
Another way to see this is something that I read in a book by Paulo Guillobel. The point was made by this question (paraphrased): "Would it be more difficult to escape from under a 200 pound wet rug or a 200 pound piece of plywood?"
rug?
Awesome! Definitely the rug.
Your mom
This is a perfect illustration of the principle of jū (柔, “suppleness” or “yielding strength”), which is the basis of jūjutsu (柔術, jiu-jitsu). I have been training BJJ for almost eighteen years, and I’m still trying to figure out how to really relax. Great video!
My Judo sensei said that the Ju of Judo has been translated to "Gentle Way". I did Jujutsu/JiuJitsu for a couple of years before I did Judo 6 Years later. He said to me Judo is not gentle. He said it should be called the adaptable way. Which is why Judo and Jiujitsu are a reminder to me to learn to adapt in life. And success comes from continuing practice. I do not physically practice anymore. It was 1971 when I first started. I also tried Taekwondo for a couple of years. I love the grappling.
@@MrPhilharmonica1 I agree: Judo is not really "gentle" (and I have permanent injuries to my spine and shoulder to prove it 😄). The character 柔 (jū) literally means "gentle," but I like your sensei's translation as "adaptable," since it's closer to the way we use the term in judo and jiu-jitsu. The Japanese word jū comes from the Chinese róu, which is a key concept in Daoist philosophy, referring to the flexibility shown by green bamboo or water, which naturally bend to adapt to their surroundings.
@@WC-JKD-BJJ Thanks for communicating. I appreciate what you wrote. Merry Xmas. I
@@WC-JKD-BJJ nice info on the etymology of ju...i always tell people if they want to understand judo, jiu jitsu, aikido better as far as philosophy, strategy, tactics, and techniques go then go to the root which is taichi and taoist philosophy.
@Westminster MMA Club Agreed, Judo / Jujutsu is anything but gentle😆. After 37 years of training, My back and shoulders can attest to that🤦♂️
I literally do this all the time and it works literally all the time. This and flexibility will make you a lazy beast.
Great teacher, really like the way he took his time to break it down from first principles and gave practical application.
Yeah very well explained. Takes skill to communicate effectively like that.
Now we have a guy talking like Steve Whittier. smh
"It's very difficult to push water" may be the greatest explanation for this concept I've ever heard. Excellent video!
Bruce Lee = Be Like Water ruclips.net/video/APx2yFA0-B4/видео.html
Every two year old knows this, seems like we forget over time! good stuff, the older I get, the more I like Henry's style
I watch jiu-jitsu clips all day every day, and this is some of the best information I’ve found in a single video. Thank you! 🙌
This is exactly the core mechanic of Tai Chi often described as softness, effective Tai Chi is mostly soft grappling and essentially stand up Jiu-Jitsu that incorporates mid and close range strikes, and seizes, and uses what's described here as contact to stifle, contain, and redirect your opponent's explosiveness, becoming in effect mud, the same way JJ employs by grounding them, and is a good stand up supplement for JJ practitioners and vice versa. The two systems merged do a great job of covering each others short comings.
except taijiquan does it in a unrealistic way with dated techniques. Great concepts for fighting that works for any system but horrible techniques(Taijiquan).
@@teovu5557 Agreed, pressure testing, realistic or actual combat implementation, a realistic peripheral fight culture or the lack thereof will make or break any fighting system. But I've witnessed street guys incorporating Tai Chi with both softness and actual martial intent, grappling oriented, and it's crazy effective, and vicious, wasn't anything nice or gentle about it at all, it was dirt ugly. Excels at safely neutralizing explosive opponents while targeting their vital areas and does indeed mirror Jiu Jitsu. Tai Chi I would argue requires a very high fight I.Q. though, and most of the folk I've seen employ it effectively were already very good fighters, and used it to seize and choke, to seize and break/lock, or to seize and strike a vital area, never to trade blows or to just strike or go toe to toe, it seemed to work best as a method of capture and kill. Allegedly derived from observing a snake killing a bird of prey, Tai Chi really seems to shine in 3 second to 5 second long brief counter-engagements as opposed to brawls.
Tai chi is not stand up JJ lol. It’s not trained with resistance
@@lowlowseesee LOL, I meant they share similarities, not exactly the same, and yeah, I totally agree with you, that most don't realistically pressure test.
I'd say this for all martial arts but especially Tai Chi, Wing Chun, Aikido, these styles work.........but don't deceive yourself, IF YOUR GOAL IS TO NEUTRALIZE GORILLAS - THEN YOU'VE GOT TO TRAIN AGAINST GORILLAS, - AND ROUTINELY - PERIOD, FULL STOP. Both physically and psychologically, consider cross training with boxers, Thai boxers, wrestlers, ex-convicts, rugby players, bikers etc. places where there's more of a pressure test/conditioning culture to weed out the real from the fake.
There's also something to be said about the fact that the people who developed all three of these systems were already very seasoned fighters with very high fight I.Q.s who employed their crafts in life and death circumstances that most of us are gratefully insulated from today.
I studied a style of Kung Fu but learned to fight by sparring with a Liberian civil war refugee, a hard karate guy who'd been through some real grizzly stuff, and his Karate was far from theoretical. No, his karate wasn't better, but his understanding of war absolutely was, and I credit his Karate for making my Kung Fu effective.
Stop
That was a 10 minute seminar - Thank you !
Man this was so cool to watch. Made me realise how tense I am when rolling. Thanks for posting!
very clean instruction technique, no vague language or anything and good illustrations. you are a good teacher!
Learn to relax - I felt it first time when I started rolling with a solid blue belt who super relaxed when rolling. After a few rolls I started relaxing and breathing normal as well during the rolls!
that's one of the greatest bjj lessons I ever seen on YT
I love that laugh at 4:33 when people start understanding new concepts. awesome stuff
one of the best descriptions of instruction
I'm 6', athletic, muscular but 155lbs. Pretty much every guy in class weighs 20 pounds more than me at least. Half the time I'm rolling with guys 40-50lbs heavier. I'll say that working out is a necessity for strength and proper muscle activation and injury prevention but at the end of the day when a 200lb dude lays on top of me I have a very same struggle as this young lady. You're not alone and it's not just the girls that get "tossed around" Thank you for the video
You truly do not have to work out, just do more jiujitsu. On the first day of class, the first person that I ever rolled with was a white belt who wrestled for five years, he weighs 215lbs, I weighed 190lbs. I could barely stand up in his closed guard, much less break his legs around me, he had me sweating bullets, and I left. Two months later, we were drilling, where I had to break out of his closed guard, and mount him, while he fought to keep me from doing that. I was easily picking him up, his head was off the ground, and then I easily passed his guard. My strength has increased a ton in just two months, and I'm 39 years old.
Can't get enough details from you, Henry. Always amazing. 🙏🏽 Thank you, sir.
Such clear and through explanations!!!! Henry ROCKS!!!
wow thats a very important details that other jujitsu instructors on youtube failed to explain clearly
Yeah
Best explanation on this subject I have ever seen. Henry is an amazing practitioner and an even more amazing teacher.
So i've been training for just over a year now and for the past few months , I've had this suspicious feeling that I might be training in a Mcdojo, after watching this video and learning this concept, it confirms my suspicion. This is such a simple and yet a powerful concept that they have not taught us in my year of being at my gym. I will be leaving the gym come January for a new one.
I can't say whether your gym is or isn't legit but it's fairly common for most gyms to teach multiple techniques, drill them, and then open up the class for open sparring. Only some gyms deal in concepts, as it's challenging to cover concepts across multiple inconsistent waves of training students across multiple training sessions. Seminars (which I believe this is) are usually a better venue for teaching concepts. That and during open mat, discussing training theories with your coach.
@@pixelcultmedia4252, Sounds about right. I attend Gracie Barra, and you could make the assumption of what the main commenter is saying, but it's all about communication, and asking questions, and even drilling.
This is a common principle in internal martial arts.
You can be great at Jiu Jitsu, but not be a good teacher.
Henry is great at both.
One of the best.
Dude, this is freakin amazing. You're an amazing teacher, Henry. GREAT STUFF!
Wow this was amazing. Guys in my gym love the stiff arm from bottom side control.
I may not know him personally, but the love of his craft and those he instructs stands out in this video. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Bruce Lee wasn't joking when he said 'be like watta'.
This is gold!!!
That was a really good lesson that we already know but we already forgotten about it.
Thank you
You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.
I have been struggling with this as a 64 year old Blue Belt. Told to relax but not one explained what that means. NOW I know. This video almost made me cry. Can't wait to train tonight. Geez.
How was it?
Thanks for a GREAT video.
This has so many metaphorical parallels to the way we approach life. Our life stance is really, actually, a physical thing: how we hold and release our bodies, how we physically balance, angulate, and move with respect to other force vectors and static objects in our environment, is mirrored in our adaptability in the mental and emotional realms. These are generalized adaptive responses: if you want to change your approach to life, change the way you relate to it physically.
Amazing, it is one rare sport you can practice laid down and a key to be good is learning to relax
Insightful and concise video. 🤙🏼❤️
this is GOLD, thank you Henry.
Golden nuggets, excellent ! Henry is my favorite coach.
That was great, the statue vs water was a very helpful analogy. 👍👌 Thanks!
What an amazing concept!!!
My old professor used to say "don't be like a stick, be like a piece of rope, I push one bit of a piece of rope that's all that moves..I push the stick the whole thing can move"
This great demo of application of it. That combined with comment section is gold mine of what relaxing means. I always would dislike when someone would say that but not explain what they mean
Very helpful, very clear
Thank you from. Canada !! OSS
great explanation on an often overlooked concept. Thank you!
omg!!!! what a great instructor!!!
Yes. That was outstanding. Those are some lucky students.
Great illustration of the "wet blanket" concept. 🔥
The statue analogy was spot on
Just like my renzo professor. I love it
Great Professor
Great video, as a great man once said, be like water my friend!
yep bro. Bruce Lee
Taiji principles applies in BJJ! ❤
Great teaching! This is called waza in judo, bjj develop from judo this is a very good application on the mechanics of jiu-jitsu the how to yield to the movement instead of resist.
I can't wait to get back in it!! BJJ, hapkido, MMA. I was in a toxic school but I'm still putting in the work!! This is a very neat thing to keep in mind.
surprised that a thunderous criminal would describe a school as toxic
Amazing video to explain a complex concept. Tx!
GOLD !!!!! Thank you, Henry!
According to my sensi Roy sunaka. 1 of 3 menko holders said. jugaro kano once visited O'sensei's dojo. He brought some of the senior students and when he watched osensei's (techniques what you see in the first part of this videois aikido too puer) it is a good example. he said that's perfect Judo. And his student said well then what have we been doing all these years. I suppose Master kano just smiled like a Buddha. As it was described to me." when you're walking down the street now the corner eye without being taught anything when you see someone about to bump in you what did you naturally you whip yourself sideways and open the door let them go by as much as you can it's natural it's in all of us why shouldn't we let that be our art. the art be just as simple as that'
this is a basic and essential aspect of tai chi. relax and turn. also called rolling ball body practice...
good stuff...
Concepts over techniques!
thanks for sharing this important knowledge
I used to train w/you at Risksons, when you were a brown belt! Glad to see you have your own studio now.
Lol i LOVE this! This is good stuff. sadly too few understand this and it is hidden & too subtle for them to grasp
:)
Thank you henry!
@@danielcalvo4635 what?
Sorry can't be bother explaining...I even prefer to delete my comment that having to discuss or read your posts...
Don't worry bye
Great video.
Im so glad this was in my subscription box!
Big Shout out to Henry Akins for coming to Chandler this weekend. HE showed just that, to be relaxed and waterish.
This is awesome! Thank uou
I hope you will come to Thailand in a while, would love to take part in your seminar!
the old Ragdoll technique.... excellent...
Awesome teaching. Great class. Happy New Year!
Amazing
Very old but often forgotten principle in martial arts.
Valueable Thing!! Thank you very Much!
Hah. Amazing. Can’t wait to try this!
This is golden. Thanks for sharing man.
Good lesson. It still won't change the fact that a bigger person is going to toss her.
Wow this was very informal I'll be watching more
Gold.
Amazing class thanks for sharing.
Unbelievable!!!!
Always look forward to an upload, thanks!
Center of gravity 👌
This is hilarious 😂. Lesson learned
Such tiny but important details that r not readily visible. Great instruction.
This is excellent.
This is great, thank you.
„Be water, my friend“
Bruce Lee
Nice 👍🏼
Excelente, osssu!!!
Love to see several black belts in attendance.
I like it, Bruce Lee stuff, be like water my friend
This is great stuff especially for me being new to this art. Thank you!
Brilliant.
Gold
I can feel there is more info missing to actually make this concept work. Simply because if your timing is off you will be pushed off. But, I remember people saying Rickson makes adjustments before the move happens; therefore, there is a way to feel your "opponents" intention before anything happens. The next question is how do you feel what your "opponent" will do before they make it happen
Great tips
Great concepts that tend to get lost in 'modern' BJJ. Hey, did Morales remodel his school?
Be water my friend - Bruce Lee
Oh I didn’t see it that way in jiujitsu, I love ground controls but dang this was an interesting demonstration.
This is platinum…
Brilliant
thank you