Why I Finally Started Jiu-Jitsu: Strength, Technique, and Learning

30 Sep Why I Finally Started Jiu-Jitsu: Strength, Technique, and Learning to Be a Beginner Again

Posted at 16:00h in Brian Carroll, General Fitness, MMA, Sports, UFC by Brian Carroll 0 Comments

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Article Rundown

I’m using jiu-jitsu to challenge myself beyond just being strong and explosive.
Training with Daniel “Smokey” Holmes is helping me sharpen my technique, positioning, and control.
Grappling has exposed my cardio and energy management as major areas I need to improve.
My goal is to stay athletic, become more capable on the mat, and eventually compete.

Why I Finally Started Jiu-Jitsu

I have spent most of my life getting stronger, but strength alone does not make you a fighter.

That is one of the biggest lessons I have been reminded of over the last several months as I have gotten deeper into wrestling, grappling, and jiu-jitsu. I have always been athletic, explosive, strong, and willing to mix it up, but there is a massive difference between being a strong guy who can grapple and being an actual grappler. Right now, I am enjoying finding out exactly where that line is.

My History With Fighting and the UFC

I have been a massive UFC and mixed martial arts fan for years. I have worked with fighters as clients, attended UFC events, and even had the opportunity to work around the Octagon at UFC 261 in Jacksonville.

That was the night Kamaru Usman knocked out Jorge Masvidal in the second round of their welterweight title fight. I was positioned near the Octagon and had a front-row view of the chaos surrounding the cage. After the knockout, Usman came out of the Octagon celebrating, and I remember seeing him up close with all that adrenaline pouring out of him. He looked about ten feet tall. Moments like that gave me an even greater appreciation for what high-level fighters are capable of physically and mentally.

I had messed around with wrestling and grappling before, but nothing was ever truly formal. I wrestled with guys in high school and was always comfortable getting physical with somebody. Still, I knew there was a huge amount I did not understand.

Reconnecting With Daniel “Smokey” Holmes

One of the last people I had really grappled with before taking this more seriously was Daniel “Smokey” Holmes. Daniel has more than three decades of wrestling experience and has also spent many years training jiu-jitsu. We recently reconnected, recorded a couple of podcasts together, and started working with each other again.

It has turned into a great trade. I can help Smokey with his lifting, strength, and physical preparation, while he helps me become a much better wrestler and practitioner.

I always figured I would eventually get into jiu-jitsu, but I wanted to find the right environment and the right person to teach me. I did not want to walk into a random gym and completely abandon the physical qualities I have spent decades developing. I wanted someone who understood how to take my existing strengths and teach me how to apply them correctly.

Smokey has been that guy.

Learning How to Use Strength Instead of Wasting It

For roughly the last four months, I have been grappling once or twice per week, including plenty of one-on-one work with Smokey. We have been working on fundamentals like underhooks, overhooks, controlling positions, escaping from the bottom, trapping limbs, and using pressure correctly.

An underhook, for example, is when you position your arm underneath your opponent’s arm and gain control around their upper body. An overhook works from the opposite position over their arm. They seem like simple details, but knowing how and when to use them can completely change who controls an exchange.

Most people who have never trained have no idea what to do if someone puts them on their back. Their instinct is to panic, flail around, or try to explosively buck the person off. Strength absolutely matters, but strength without position and technique burns a tremendous amount of energy. That has probably been the biggest adjustment for me.

I have spent my athletic life as a hot rod. I am built to produce a lot of force quickly. Jiu-jitsu is teaching me that sometimes I have to slow down, breathe, stay in position, and stop trying to muscle my way through every problem.

The First Roll Told Me Exactly What I Needed to Fix

The first time Smokey and I really locked up, we started standing and hand fighting. I closed the distance quickly, got a body lock, took him down, established mount, and started working toward a head-and-arm choke. For a moment, my explosiveness and strength worked exactly how I wanted them to.

Smokey did what an experienced grappler is supposed to do. He stayed calm. He did not panic underneath me. He protected himself, waited, and started paying attention to my breathing and how much tension I was carrying. As I began getting tired, he created some space, worked his way out, reversed the position, and suddenly the entire situation changed.

That taught me more than throwing around somebody who did not know how to grapple ever could. I can be explosive. I can be strong. I can close distance quickly and create a tremendous amount of pressure. But if I cannot maintain that output intelligently, an experienced opponent can simply survive the storm and wait for me to make a mistake.

Grappling Cardio Is a Different Animal

This has also exposed an area I knew I needed to improve: my endurance.

Anybody who has spent time grappling understands how exhausting a few hard rounds can become. You have another person applying pressure, fighting for position, controlling your breathing, and forcing you to constantly make decisions while your heart rate is through the roof.

My current goal is to build the capacity to handle four or five productive rounds without completely falling apart. That does not mean turning myself into an endurance athlete. It means developing enough conditioning that I can continue using my strength and explosiveness without those qualities disappearing after a couple of minutes.

Just as importantly, I am learning to conserve energy through technique. Sometimes the right answer is not exploding out of a bad position. Sometimes it is staying safe, controlling your breathing, protecting your neck and arms, and waiting for the opportunity to improve your position.

Being a Beginner Again

One of the things I enjoy most about this is that I am not great at it yet. Against the average person, I can grapple. Against legitimate wrestlers and jiu-jitsu fighters, I have a lot to learn. That gap gives me something to chase.

My strengths are obvious. I am strong, explosive, aggressive, and capable of creating a lot of pressure. My weaknesses are becoming obvious too. I need better cardiovascular endurance, better positioning, more technical awareness, and the discipline to stop trying to overpower every situation. That is exactly what makes this fun.

I have never been very good at being satisfied with average. I want to study this, learn the science and art behind jiu-jitsu, stay athletic, become more capable of protecting myself, and eventually test myself in competition. I am not saying I am going to become some world champion grappler. I am saying that if I am going to do something, I want to see how good I can become at it.

Where I Go From Here

I have also continued dropping bodyweight, and my long-term goal is to settle around 235 pounds while staying lean, athletic, strong, and much more capable on the mat. At this point in my life, I am not interested in strength simply for the sake of putting more weight on the bar. I want strength that transfers.

Smokey and I will be talking much more about this in an upcoming podcast, including his assessment of my strengths, weaknesses, and progress so far. I have been able to help him with his lifting, and he has been helping me tremendously with wrestling and jiu-jitsu.

For anyone around Jacksonville who wants to learn, I highly recommend getting some time with Daniel “Smokey” Holmes and the crew at Versus. The individual attention has been incredibly valuable for me. We have even been getting together Wednesday mornings at 5:30 for Bible study followed by rolling. Say your prayers, then hit the mats.