The Engineering Mindset: Foundational

The jiu jitsu journey is a life-long quest to create your game, adapt to any situation that you may come across, and evolve into the best practitioner that you can be. Constructing a solid foundation by working on fundamental movements and techniques is a good way to start, but what happens in a situation where you don't have all the ingredients for your recipe? Do you immediately panic and cause yourself to thrash an make a mistake, or do you begin to look outside the box at the larger picture? By applying concepts of what you need to solve the equation at hand, you create many new opportunities.






First off, let's start by taking a look at some foundational principles:

1. Space - The ability to execute a movement, whether it be a sweep, attack, escape, or defense, are all dependent on the amount of space you have created. By controlling the amount of space between you and your opponent, you can keep the roll in your own favor. Pressure Passing, Stiff Arm Escape, and keeping an Active Closed Guard are a few examples of space management. The easy thing to think of is that the more space you have, the greater the chance of escape and tightening the space will create a higher level of control.
2. Leverage - The key to a great attack and defense is having the biggest output for the least amount of input. With this being the idea of jiu jitsu as a whole, we are specifically looking for leverage. Leverage is the reason why an arm breaks during an arm bar and the reason why a sweep works better at a particular angle. How do we mange to harness the power of leverage you might ask? In order to do so we must ask ourselves how a lever works, but depending on your frame of reference it can differ. A lever is a device that moves a load at a pivot point on an angular plane by a force applied to both ends. In relation to jiu jitsu, the device is the arm/leg with the fulcrum being where the knees are pinched. By isolating the free side of this lever and applying force towards an end of it, the torque against the elbow becomes tremendous. Likewise, during a scissor sweep the pivot point is the person doing the sweeping and the opponent is the lever. By closing the space by combining the masses of you and your opponent and using your shin as the pivot point, the momentum of rocking backwards and using your legs as a pendulum will pull the opponent cutting out their base (example shown above)
3. Base/Posture - A solid base and posture are absolutely necessary for the use of defensive tactics. This means that your center of gravity is lower, making it more difficult to be swept or forced out of position and your posture is upright and unwavering. A solid base can be as simple as having your legs far apart with your hips sunk down low (active hips). Similarly, when attacking your opponent the focus should be disrupting your opponent's base. This can be done by breaking their posture or making them move from discomfort (applying a submission).
4. Weight Distribution - Where and how you apply your weight is different for each scenario. Keeping an opponent pinned in side control is different from maintaining position in mount and sweeping an opponent when they are standing is very different than knee slicing through someone's open guard. Directly linked to base and posture, weight distribution is the reason why an opponent can be off-balanced or smothered into the mat with no way out. Knowing where to apply the force of your body depends on where your center of gravity is in relation to your opponent. This idea can be applied in the opposite manner by reversing someone who is too far over that imaginary line. Gravity is a take no prisoners kind of force and not afraid to drag you down when the timing is right. Be cautious of where you post because a table only stand because of equal weight distribution.
5. Isolation - Before attacking your opponent, it is important to have complete control over them. By isolating the area of attack, the opponent is left with little options to defend and left virtually helpless. In a defensive standpoint, isolation is the first thing to break in order to survive and escape. An important idea to remember is what your opponent needs in order to successfully attack or defend. By reacting to the options quicker than your opponent, you are more likely to achieve success in executing your technique.
   
6. Momentum - Movement as whole is touched upon in a previous article, but it's still important to keep this in the forefront of every roll. Momentum is the spark that you need to sweep your opponent. It is the reason a throw is so effective and why an escape is possible in the midst of movement. By flowing with the direction of movement, one can operate with minimum effort and maximum efficiency.

Although these are only several of the many principles in their summarized forms, it is important to understand why these things apply to your jiu jitsu. With a solid comprehension of the basics, a jiu jitsu practitioner can use these as tools to build a bigger arsenal. Innovation is the beauty of the art, and understanding what you have in front of you can open many new doors. Stay posted for part two of The Engineering Mindset series.