#44 Review of Standing2Ground: Positional Dominance & Scrimmage Wrestling by John Danaher

John Danaher is one of the leading coaches in noGi Jiu Jitsu. He is incredibly motivated to correct some weaknesses in Jiu Jitsu. He is most well known for refining leg locking sequences, which had an enormous impact on the noGi scene.
John has mentioned that you can’t bolt on wrestling and/or Judo to Jiu Jitsu to improve the takedown game. His argument is that you need an entirely different system.
Here, I cover similarities and differences between rule sets and strategies for scoring and positional control in Olympic wrestling (Freestyle and Greco), scholastic wrestling (the predominant style of wrestling in the United States-and what you see in High School and Collegiate), and Jiu Jitsu. I make some references to Judo, but I don’t go into any details, as Danaher’s Instructional isn’t a Judo instructional. Rather, it is essentially a High School level wrestling instructional, that uses existing systems of wrestling for takedowns, takedown defense, control on the mat, and some low level escapes.
Overall, I think this will help your Jiu Jitsu, because scholastic wrestling compliments Jiu Jitsu quite well. Although his technique and mechanics of wrestling are not at a high level, and there are numerous positional errors and details needed for higher skill levels, it is definitely going to help you in your Jiu Jitsu.
You will be able to understand why wrestlers with High School or Collegiate experience are difficult to deal with on the mat, because you will have a basic understanding of their system. They aren’t just tough like people say, they chain together sequences using this system of wrestling. So while I don’t think Danaher has created an entirely new system, he is bringing to the Jiu Jitsu community an existing system of classic wrestling that is tried and true. That most certainly is going to benefit your game

[@thewellbeingreport]

Great video. Always an interesting perspective. I’m going through the instructional at the moment.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you!

[@craigjones8662]

Love your stuff!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you! I love your stuff-if this is, indeed, the Craig Jones! Thanks again. Love your attitude!

[@BjjDrillers]

My friends and I have been drilling the 3 series of STANDING2GROUND for almost 2 months now and our wrestling game has improved astronomically. We are way more defensively sound and are less afraid to work out of bad positions. The Uki Waza and Cowcatcher positions in his new instructional have a good game plan to it that I want to implement into my standing game. Thanks for the insight coach!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Check out video #39 where I show the “cowcatcher” but from the dogfight. I have heard that called the cement mixer too, which is what I call it from that position. I call it the Cowcatcher from the front headlock where you stuff their shot, but it’s really the same in that you have the chin and underhook-and then get inside position with your hip. This wrestling system is thousands of years old. It works really well.

[@BjjDrillers]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 thanks!

[@Pain.3jj]

Bro how have I not found your channel this is awesome

[@BjjDrillers]

@@Pain.3jj mine?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Glad you found it! Lol

[@RepublicDave]

Thanks for the review!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you for supporting the channel!

[@jeroen8890]

So glad to hear your thoughts on this instructional. Because I got it, but I'm so new to wrestling that I have no real way to assess whether I'm taking on bullshit or not. Some things already felt iffy after I tried them out with sparring and now I know that it's not entirely me being a numpty. Appreciate the review!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

He does a good job with explaining why we do certain things and that’s important to take away. His mechanics need a lot of work, but you can refine those from high level wrestlers. For example, he has this habit of having his head way too high on people and that extends his arms and gives the defensive player an easier time of prying away at the elbows and getting the head under his chin. There’s many issues with his single leg defense, and I will probably cover that once my rib heals. But, all in all, a lot of what he is showing will help you to against another hobbyist.

[@jeroen8890]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 For sure. John's standing instructionals have helped me tremendously. Thanks to him, and the lovely videos of certain youtubers hehehe, I have no trouble taking down or defending myself against people with a background in jiu jitsu. And my athletic ability is average at best nowadays. I think it's precisely these details that you're talking about, however, that are getting me picked apart when I spar with experienced wrestlers and judokas. I mean, they totally should not lose to me on the feet. But I feel like I give them certain things for free sometimes. Anyway, your insights have proven valuable once again. Good luck recovering from your rib, bro. Hope it's nothing too serious.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

It’s broken, but it’s healing well. It takes time to develop good position. If you have the opportunity to wrestle with legitimate wrestlers, I would suggest doing that. They will be able to tell you what you are doing. In my stance video, I talk about not reaching for people. Keep your hands low. They can’t shoot through your arms. Let them reach for you, so that you can have easy posts. It will throw them off. Perhaps it is because you reach for them. If you have video of you wrestling, I would be happy to review it for you. I’ve been doing that for a LONG time, and I was still able to coach my students from several states away.

[@jeroen8890]

​@@josephbreza-grappling9459 That's an amazing offer, man. Will definitely try to send you a clip of me getting destroyed in the near future. I wish you a quick recovery!

[@MadshGrappling]

Being European, in a country with no scholastic wrestling and having no athletic background, I found John's instructionals on wrestling to be super helpful to get into the standing position. It's great to hear some constructive criticism on highly praised products, just to add some perspective and remind us that the rabbit hole always goes a lot deeper the more you get into specific skills 🤓

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Yes no doubt. It is an endless rabbit hole. As an expert in this area, I can tell you that he is missing MANY key details that make these things work. He hasn’t wrestled, so the feel of it isn’t there, which is honestly the most important part. Not everything is cerebral-in fact the most important things aren’t cerebral. Overall, it gives you a good base of understanding, but you will need to really work on those positions and watch experts do the same moves, which fortunately is easy, because he ripped off the entire system, lol. Watch John Smith. You will learn a lot about the details that make these moves work

[@MadshGrappling]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Before there was videos on bjj specific wrestling, that weren’t just a bunch of BS 2-on-1 throws, I watched a few John Smith clinics on youtube. I actually picked up some good pointers on how to shake people off and scramble from turtle (Refs position). I do feel a little alienated as an adult watching moves “meant for kids” though 😂

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Do you mind telling me which country you are from? I had a few times in my life when I wrestled international guys-from Spain, Italy, and Ukraine. You can still learn a lot from international styles. Particularly how to control the tie up and how to move people for setting up takedowns, snap downs, etc

[@MadshGrappling]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 I live in Denmark. We have a small Greco scene and freestyle only for women (I don’t know why). There is really not a lot of crossover between the Greco and BJJ scene here. A lot of the good Greco guys seem to go directly to MMA.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@MadshGrappling Greco can be incredibly useful for BJJ!! My collegiate wrestling coach was Andy Seras. Ask the older guys about him. He was head coach of the USA Greco World team and USA Greco Olympic team. The stance in BJJ is more upright, so if you can work with the Greco guys a little, you will learn SO much about him placement, fighting for inside thigh control, head placement, hand fighting, underhooks, etc. You will absolutely dominate anyone who tries to go upper body with you

[@bigmule7200]

This was such a dope review, thank you for taking the time Coach! Also really enjoyed your video on not telegraphing shots/how to shoot. Could you make a video elaborating more on how to shoot with your knee touching the ground while avoiding injury? I started bjj much older and my lead leg that I shoot on is always sore and in pain to the point its hard to kneel anywhere

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you! Sorry to hear about your knee. Does it hurt while it bends or does it hurt from impact (patella). Wrestling mats are softer than BJJ mats. The impact down isn’t such a problem. When I built an office in the basement for my wife, my knees hurt after I put in the floors, because of kneeling on them. Even with pads made for laying floors. So, I wore some wrestling knee pads until the pain was better.

[@bigmule7200]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Appreciate it ! It hurts from impact when I take the shot and the penetration knee hits the floor. After looking it up it seems to be the patellar tendon/area right below it. Will look into a kneebrace or pad. Is there a go to one in the BJJ/Wrestling scene?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I loved my old “USA wrestling” ones. I wish I never threw them away. They lasted over 20 years. They had a gel inside the knee pad and weren’t big. Cliff Keen are also good options Matman seem to be the closest to what i mad all those years ago

[@bigmule7200]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Awesome, thanks coach! I'll look into those

[@JSMinstantcoaching]

I knew I was going to learn a lot here. I know the impact of John's leglocks instructional oo my own understanding of those including my own game, even the first edition feet to floor was definitely an eye opening for me, since I am now taking some wrestling classes, I was wondering wether yes or no it was worth to invest into that new instructional, my wrestling coach always says your hands are the first line of defense, and I have oearned from John it was my head, so hearing you clarify it is of a great help, thank you for this awesome video.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

From what I have seen, your wrestling coach is pretty legit! John doesn’t do a ton of scholastic top work in this video…let me look at how many minutes of top and bottom position work there is and I can get back to you. I can give you a more specific answer of the time and quality of instruction with that time. I say that, because I know you are getting legit wrestling training across the Atlantic. I would bet that your understanding of takedowns and takedown defense from your coach would be more than sufficient. You all will spend time on hand fighting and set ups. The amount of experience you are getting in that regard is priceless

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

In regards to the hands vs head being first line of defense, there’s definitely a lot of philosophy with that. With a very low stance, you could use your head as the first line of defense, but once I snap your head and get you out of position, now your hands and head our out of the equation. In Freestyle, you don’t necessarily want that, since he can use that front headlock throw you do in practice. You can end the match that way. So, a lot of us who know international wrestling well, don’t drop our head low like that. Too risky. It’s a moot point for John Danaher anyways, since he has people standing upright and therefore their head serves zero defensive purpose

[@JSMinstantcoaching]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 thank you for your priceless content and your coaching

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@JSMinstantcoaching thank you for your support brother

[@user-jn1be8ob9o]

I'm not good at English, but I can easily understand the sentences you summarize in the video. thank you for the good video

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you for watching!

[@CMLew]

I respect this rewview. You are being honest giving the benfits of the videos, while also pointing out the flaws, issues or places where it could improve. You telling people they wont get the same detail as the ground stuff, and pointing out who you think its most useful for is very helpful. Im sure some people will hate you for daring to critcise Danaher, but saying this is a good intro to wrestling but not as good as an actual wrestler teaching you seems very fair.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I thought I might get attacked for it as well, but people have been overwhelmingly supportive. I definitely took a more collegial approach to it, and that’s probably why. I also suspect people can tell the difference between great wrestling and adequate wrestling. And lastly, there is the comparison between his wrestling instruction vs his Jiu Jitsu instruction. Not even on the same wavelength. He has been doing BJJ for so long that his explanations are far greater for his Jiu Jitsu than they are for his wrestling. And it makes sense-you would expect a high level wrestling coach to be able to explain those details and concepts when it comes to wrestling. So while he is definitely outside his wheelhouse for sure-and any good wrestler can see that-it is still going to be useful for the sport. He is going to be the person who popularizes it in BJJ-even if he isn’t the most knowledgeable. Now imagine what happens when schools start to hire former collegiate wrestlers as coaches. And then those guys learn BJJ. Then there will be an avenue for collegiate wrestlers to have a career outside of MMA.

[@CMLew]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 I think you approached it well, would have been very easy to be less nuanced but instead you fairly said what was good and what was less good. You also gave him props for the thing he is clearly an expert at while pointing out that he doesnt seem to have that pedegre here. I think it was a well crafted response. I would also love for there to be more non MMA carrers for wrestlers. Also would love for more of them to come to the UK and teach here.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I keep here this about the UK (not having much wrestling) and that baffles me!! I have several people who message me through instagram and send me their wrestling for coaching. I had no idea that the UK has so little access to wrestling. If I were a rich man, I would literally do whatever it took to come over there and get that started. I went over the UK in 1998 and absolutely loved it. Apparently, my family’s DNA is highly English, despite our genealogy telling us we are Irish (my mother’s side). I don’t know of any ancestors or current family living in the UK, but DNA doesn’t lie. I need to get the test done. My mother’s side looks like primary UK and Ireland whereas my father’s is Eastern Europe. In my ignorance, I just assumed all of Europe and the UK was filled with wrestling. UK definitely needs to fix this issue

[@CMLew]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 we have wrestlers and wrestling classes here but not a great deal of them. But it’s not like the USA. We don’t have a high school / university wrestling culture. If someone here teaches wrestling it’s usually from an MMA gym with wrestling being MMA focused. There is still a legacy of catch wrestling in some parts of the country but it doesn’t seem to be super common.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

If you can get access to Freestyle and/or Greco that would be helpful. Especially Greco. The BJJ stance is similar and Greco is the shit

[@user-xn8to7fe8q]

Thank you for the great content. I am trying desperately to understand it with my poor English though I am not able to hear it perfectly. I am sure this will be a great leap forward for my MMA career in Japan.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I understand. I understand zero Japanese. So I think if you can write this than you are doing quite well

[@fernandoescovare1008]

This is gold. How would you go about learning to wrestle as JJ practitioner who never wrestled? Or how would you organize training from this Danaher video to create some sort of learning progression?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Do you have access to high school wrestling in your area? Do you have any wrestlers at your BJJ academy?

[@fernandoescovare1008]

You’ve inspired me to take action and get a group of my JJ guys and pay to get a weekly group private. Working on finding someone w the bandwidth to teach, but it’s progress. Follow up question: have you seen any wrestling instructionals that you can recommend for a beginner? To add to what some have said, I would buy an instructional if you put one out…even a patreon subscription with weekly drills & lessons to progress step by step (sort of like a curriculum since most dvds seem to be a bunch of moves without explanation of how this builds on previous moves etc.)

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I am talking with someone about creating some content for sale. Longer format for real study. Hopefully it works out. John Smith is amazing

[@stassenchr]

Your point at 09:15 about BJJ not teaching the fundamentals of wrestling is spot on. Ive not done much martial arts myself, but my son started very early and loved BJJ. In his first tournament, his coach yelled "double leg double leg". Not to mention that maybe you shouldn't be telling the opponent what's coming, my son proceeded to go for a double how it had been taught, ie go zombie style, hip bent 90 degrees and arms stretched forward, to double leg, got sprawled on and choked out 20 seconds later. I started BJJ some years later (on my son's request) and saw firsthand how poorly stand-up is taught. My 9mths of judo from 30y ago makes me one of the best in stand-up in my BJJ class lol. It made my son believe going for a shot was a losing strategy. He later wanted to wrestle, it took 2y for him to get to a place where he feels confident in shooting. Now he goes for single legs so often, and because ppl in BJJ haven't been taught the defence, it works 90pc of the time even when he's sloppy. Danaher standup videos aren't great. The only thing I took away from his feet to ground was about starting strategy, ie how do you go from neutral into a fight

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I said to someone the other day… How would you respond if I told you that you should go to a wresting practice to learn BJJ? He laughed and was like “that’s ridiculous.” To which I replied, “yet so many within the BJJ community are ok with the notion that the person who is going to solve the wrestling crisis in Jiu Jitsu in high level competition has never wrestled and has ever competed in his life.” The irony of that is hilarious. Yet every BJJ school has an instructor trying to teach takedowns and most suck at it. Yet there are no BJJ takedowns. They are borrowed from wrestling and Judo

[@takethebackjack2746]

Hey Coach, Love your content and have learnt a lot! I was wondering if you have any advice on developing a game for ADCC, based on the same scholastic system, being left-handed? I have realised single legs and 2 on 1s are a lot more available for both players. Do you recommend developing mastery in initial grip fighting to the single/ the back on the left side? I really like snaps but struggle to make them work the same as a right lead player. Furthermore, do you have any videos/ any recommendation to study on the topic? Thanks so much. Keep up the incredible work.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

You have to get good at both sides. This game isn’t about right handed and left handed like a southpaw is in boxing. I trained both sides for so long that I literally never even think about what to do from either side, because it’s the same offense and defense. It all depends on what he is giving you and what you can get from him. Take the idea of right handed and left handed and write it down on a piece of paper. Now throw it away in the trash can where it belongs. Lol! Seriously though, first work on both sides. You have to be sufficiently good at offense and defense on both sides. There’s no way around it. Scholastic wrestling is the best wrestling style for ADCC. No doubt about it. I primarily teach that on this channel, but some things I learned in Greco too when it comes to positioning. I am equally good at the underhook and attacks from both sides. It has to be that way

[@takethebackjack2746]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 thanks so much for such a brilliant and elaborate response! So you would recommend that I develop my right lead leg to replace my left lead leg? My current dominant stance involves left leg lead.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I wouldn’t replace it but develop it so that you have both options. If you watch someone like Nick Suriano, he constantly switches his lead leg and it really messes with people. He can attack off both lead legs. I started off shooting off my left leg and then some coaches forced us to shoot off the right leg so that we could all be in sync for drills. Then I ended up getting great at both sides. So when the opportunity to get either underhook, inside tie, Russian, bodylock, or shot on either side presents itself, there it is without thinking

[@takethebackjack2746]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 best in the game. Thanks coach!!

[@havenkukkee4272]

Could you do reviews on other wrestling instructionals? Kyle fake? J-Den Cox? Etc? Love your content

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I wouldn’t review those guys. They are olympians. They are legit wrestlers. Yes, it is true that sometimes they show things that only their freak of nature bodies can do-like Cary Kolat’s throws from every position-but those are the elite. You will certainly learn something from them. I reviewed Danaher, because it was said online that he was not going to show wrestling but some completely new and better system. He said that you can’t use wrestling or Judo in Jiu Jitsu, because the throws lack control. So I had to see since he has zero wrestling experience, zero competition experience, and I saw some of his stuff on KZbin. Thus, I decided to take a look. Then after I watched it, I was really let down that it is nothing I haven’t seen before in my years of wrestling and Judo. I did Judo 20+ years ago and back then you could grab legs. Standing2ground2 is a scholastic wrestling instructional with some Judo and Olympic style wrestling moves. If the wrestling moves have judo equivalents, then he calls them by their Japanese names, which is ironic. I just felt the need to weigh in on this, because I have actually been wrestling longer than Danaher has been doing Jiu Jitsu. I had some of the best coaches in the world, so I wanted to see if anything in that instructional was original. It was not. When it comes to the Olympic elite, I think you need to ask yourself what you are looking to get out if it. Are they showing scholastic wrestling or international? Because the former most certainly translates to Jiu Jitsu and is the basis of my channel. John certainly understands that too or he wouldn’t have made an instructional that “borrowed” an already existing system that is taught to high school wrestlers. The major difference here is that you will have elite wrestlers teaching you what they did in competition vs a BJJ guy with zero wrestling or competition experience of any kind trying to recapitulate what he has watched those elite do in competition. Definitely watch the elite wrestlers if you have the money. I personally suggest looking at Brandon Reed, John Marsh, and Michael Trasso if you are a BJJ person wanting to improve your wrestling. You will see a lot of overlap between us. That speaks volumes, because it shows what we are teaching are fundamentals that made us successful in competition.

[@jonspec62]

Have you seen that Dan Vallimont is training jiujitsu now and is hoping to put out wrestling for bjj instructionals? I never wrestled so when I got into jiujitsu and wanted to learn takedowns I bought one of his fanatics wrestling instructionals, and although I'm not that good at wrestling overall, I was able to start reliably taking people in my school down with single legs. Seeing that he's studying jiujitsu and wants to put out specific wrestling for jiujitsu content got me really excited

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I haven’t seen that. I think it is good for Jiu Jitsu to have a number of former collegiate wrestlers teaching takedown set ups, takedown options, escapes from the bottom, and top control. This way, people will see the same basic fundamentals but with a lot of differences in details that made it work for them. The details are what matter. I see people without wrestling experience teaching takedowns and stand ups. While it might work on hobbyists and people without any wrestling background, it won’t go any further than that. And it’s also incredibly inefficient. You want a system that works when it counts and against people who aren’t total scrubs. There’s a ton of incredibly gifted athletes in Jiu Jitsu. And although you might see them destroying people with takedowns in the room and holding people down or standing up whenever they feel like it, that shit won’t work on a good wrestler. Even a good high school wrestler, who is only 18 and not full of anabolics would shut down 99% of it. So proper training from legitimate wrestlers is going to be what moves wrestling forward in BJJ. And if the rules sets change, where an escape from the bottom man counts and perhaps riding time and/or takedowns count…people better be prepared. I imagine it will change, because it helps improve the sport from the spectator’s point of view

[@hamaadhussain7665]

Hi there, what do you think about henry cejudo's instructional "high level takedowns and mat control for grapplers"?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I haven’t watched it. I haven’t purchased a wrestling instructional since I was like 13 years old. One, they weren’t common in those days, and two, I had literally 4 world champion coaches over the years. My first coach was a world champion. In HS, I trained with an Olympic alternate in the summertime in Freestyle. Then my collegiate coach was a world champion, Olympian, and World and Olympic head coach. I’m sure Cejudo shows good stuff…how couldn’t he? He is an Olympic gold medalist. Also was a frickin scary dude in MMA

[@iaroslavk2764]

@Joseph Breza you finally got a shout out from the B team during their latest simple man podcast. You should seriously consider making your own instructional on wrestling for BJJ. You can use Danaher's structure and add the missing high level details. I would buy it.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Danaher’s structure IS what is taught in wrestling. He stole it from us! I am talking with someone on potentially making an instructional. Not sure whether it will happen, but if it were the case, it would be highly structured and we would talk about how and why you do certain things. That is a big part of what he left out-I am pretty sure he doesn’t understand those details, because you really can’t just watch people wrestle and get it.

[@iaroslavk2764]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 I sure hope you end up doing it. If it's filmed in BJJ fanatics studio, you would get a recognizable style to your brand and access to their already established marketing, but either way I think you would be successful.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you! We will see what happens!

[@rawcorporation]

Can you do a video on mat returns and rear body locks? I know the side body lock is not good positioning, but would love to learn fundamentals of mat returns and what to do when you have a full rear body lock. BTW I cannot German suplex people like Kody Steele 😂

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I only do the traditional mat return, because after decades of coaching people, I have found that everything else is bullshit. I plan on making a video on what happens when you do those bullshit back trips. I show a traditional mat return on Video #28. Dom is 50lbs heavier than me and I can do it without a lot of effort

[@JS-to8do]

Hey Joe - I’m curious to hear your opinion sometime in the future on Andre Galvao’s (2), Firas Zahabi’s (3), and Neil Melanson’s (1) takedown instructionals, respectively; all have students who tend to wrestle well in a submission grappling and/or mma setting. As an added note, I would also like to ask if you think Grappler’s Guide is a good online resource for takedown/standing grappling instruction.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I haven’t watched any of those. I have watched Galvao teach a single leg from the mid level and clearly that man has been coached wrestling by some really great wrestlers. He had all the details about how to lock your hands, head position, etc. I have watched Zahabi wrestle on his channel and wasn’t impressed to be honest. Not being a dick, he just was like at a pretty entry level. I have seen some things from Neil, but not his takedowns

[@JS-to8do]

What is your opinion on the stuff you’ve seen from Neil? And to circle back to my last question, I’d appreciate hearing any input you may have on Grappler’s Guide as a resource for standup grappling instruction.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I really haven’t seen much of Neil, so I am not in a position to respond. I haven’t watched anything from Grappler’s Guide. I think people must think I watch all this stuff…I have pretty limited time with my job as a Neuroscience professor. I did a review of S2G2, because I came across some of what Danaher was saying about needing an entirely new system of takedowns, because you can’t bolt on wrestling or judo. So, I wanted to see if he taught anything different. He did not. It’s entry level scholastic wrestling. So as someone who has spent 33 years doing and teaching this wrestling system, which is longer than he has been grappling (I started in 1990 he started in the late 90s), I decided to tell people what I thought.

[@LindsayAdam447]

I could be way off and just being a Danaher apologist with my bias. But it seems like John and his team emphasize specific mechanics from every position to a much higher degree than most teams in the sport. I wonder if some of the “mid level” application in technique is modified to place a bias/emphasis on efficiency over overt mechanical power/effectiveness since these guys are wrestling in potential 40 min matches where the takedowns don’t actually put points on the the board vs a scholastic match’s length. Just thinking as I type. Really enjoy the content. Thanks!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

John is definitely putting more time into it than most BJJ teams. Galvao, however, has very good single leg technique. I saw a video of him teaching it and it was pretty tight in terms of details and concepts. My comment about Danaher’s wrestling being at a mid level is that the execution of the technique and the details that make those techniques work were at a mid high school level. I have been wrestling for 33 years now and have produced numerous state champions and collegiate athletes. I also was a freestyle state champion, D1 collegiate wrestler, and wrestled international competition. I know good wrestling technique when I see it. Danaher doesn’t know as much as he sounds like he does when it comes to wrestling technique. There are levels to this. This is ok. It is good for what this sport needs right now. I think he did a good job of summarizing some important positions in various wrestling styles; but most of what he borrowed was from the scholastic system. It’s actually inefficient to do technique improperly. For example, although it sounds like maintaining stance would be tiring, having to drastically correct your stance to defend, because your hands, head, and hips were out of position is more tiring. Watch my Nicky Ryan and Jay Rod breakdown. You can see that Nicky’s understanding of stance is what wears him out. Jay Rod was a classically trained wrestler from a high school coach and he just out wrestled Nicky with stance and getting Nicky out of position. It gassed him. The score didn’t reflect the positional control. All of his guys pull their head away from their underhook and this is never an advantageous position. There’s actually several things my guys know to do immediately when they pull their head away. A lot of people talk about the 40min matches, but it seems like there’s a lot less of those and more in the 10-20min range. That is still a long time. I hope that they will change the rules to have more emphasis on takedowns. When I wrestled internationally, a takedown was only 1 point and a back exposure was two. So, it actually made people more defensive. I could literally get two points off of his takedown by chest wrapping or crotch lifting him off his shot and give up 1 point on his takedown. Essentially every one of his efforts cost him a point. If they incentivize takedowns in BJJ, then perhaps people will work harder to get them. And, if they incentivize control, like they do in collegiate wrestling with riding time, then people will be less likely to flow and won’t give up positions. In wrestling, you have to work towards a pin while on top or you get hit for stalling. So, they could implement a rule like that so people have to work towards a submission and not just stall on top.

[@tomdrake9313]

Can you make a video on basic mat returns?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Only one mat return actually works on legitimate competitors. And I show that on video #28. All the rest are bullshit. Trust me. You might get away with it, but when it counts and you have to keep someone from getting away, the traditional one is what you need to rely on. Dom is 50lbs more than me and I can do it on him. AND we are old. The only other one I do is crotch lift if he breaks my grip. I haven’t showed that, but I can.

[@Sjman548]

Nice to see an review from an expert wrestling perspective, thanks ! Question; do you think the fact that BJJ matches are longer with no breaks and harder requirements to win the match i.e. submissions rather than pins, play a dynamic in the relatively low/mid level skills he teaches. For example, how a judoka submssions is relatively low level in comprison to a bjj guy, as there a more efficients ways to win i.e. ippons. Also what do you think about the fact, that bjj guy will tend to stand up right to perserve their energy. Does this change the strategy of a high level wrestler, as he can score numerous takedown only to fatigue at the tenth minute and be triangled from bottom. Is there diminishing returns to learning wrestling for bjj ? At the end of the day takedowns don't win the match but submissions ( A vast skillset in itself which wrestler ignore). Thanks for your time, enjoying your chanel.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Danaher claims that standing upright conserves energy. Many collegiate matches go more than 10 mins with overtime. So Gordon can fight for 45mins, but only because he’s not bending his knees? Lol!! No way. In wrestling and in Judo, the strategy is about relentless offense. So, I don’t want the match to go for the entire time if I can help it. And if I score a lot and get a good lead, then I can hang back. Also, BJJ is WAY less tiring than wrestling. That’s why I don’t wrestle hard anymore at 43. BJJ is way easier on the body, heart, and lungs. My Judo coach’s team kicks everyone’s asses with low level throws and either pins or submissions. I had this before in the video, but I left it out for time. The ippon is not the only way to win in judo. Just like high amplitude throws aren’t the only way to win in Freestyle. Burroughs and the Brands brothers have proved that you can be the best in the world with good position and safe wrestling. This is precisely how I team my students and why so many have won state titles and gone to college for free on wrestling scholarships

[@Sjman548]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Thanks again for your insight. If we have no access to wrestling in my country is it worth doing gi judo to help your no gi bjj stand up or would you stick with more standing training in your no-bjj time ?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I think judo would definitely help you. You’ll learn a lot about how to use your hips to control the inside position, as well as blocks and sweeps from the outside position

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@Sjman548 and for what it’s worth, the guys on my collegiate wrestling team who gave me the most trouble were great wrestlers who were also high level judokas. That combination is deadly

[@Sjman548]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Nice ! I feel like I have a preconcieved notion that the gi throws will take a lot of adpation to be effective no gi, but from your experience I am assuming this is not the case ?

[@channel19549]

One thing I will say about danaher is that he explains things in detail and doesnt assume that you know /have previous knowledge.For example when i was first shown a double leg , I wasn't explained level change.A lot of instructionals are like "this a double leg" and doesnt explain jt step by step which is what I prefer. Like this series: kzbin.info/aero/PLrz0HOGhUScv7OYN7P-O8V43ivOsTmRAf explain everything in detail which a lot of instructionals dont teach and I think assume or they have done it for so long that its natural to them and they forget details. Thats why I like your videos as well.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I think he is a phenomenal instructor. He also improves with time. The difference in his mechanics from the first Standing2Ground and this one is astounding. I honestly can’t hardly watch the first one. It was very low level wrestling compared to this one. Because he is a good instructor, people can now look at high level wrestlers and understand what they are doing and then they can refine their own game-or make sense out of what a high level wrestler is showing them. They will also be able to spot bullshit. There’s a lot of bullshit out there.

[@zaidamien2743]

Theres 2 instructionals by famous American wrestler John Smith on bjj fanatics called championship wrestling fundamentals one for offense and one for defense. What do you think about those for people with no background in wrestling?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Absolutely! I love John Smith! No doubt that you could take away a lot of solid information from those. I haven’t watched them, but I don’t have to know they will be solid. He doesn’t teach flashy bullshit that doesn’t work. It’s all solid fundamentals with details that make these concepts work against the highest level competitors

[@josselinfernandez5668]

Have you seen Craig Jones instructional piece entitled "just stand up"? If so, what did you think?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I get this question a lot and have answered it a lot. I think there’s a shrine of hatred on Reddit somewhere about my response to this-taken out of context of course. I saw some clips that people sent to me. I like Craig and think it is good that he uses his influence to steer the sport into a different direction. However, from the limited amount I have seen, a decent highschool wrestler would shut it all down. Not against Craig, there is such a thing as muscle and maturity that make a difference. But technique wise it needs a lot of work. Not being a dick, it’s just that wrestling has figured all this shit out already and we do things a certain way for a reason. If you stand up against a wrestler like me without sealing off the underhooks and with no hand control or proper posture, then you are getting mat returned and my position gets better. If the ruleset allows for it, then you are getting suplexed. In both cases, I end up in better position. I cover all of this on my instructional

[@szymonstarosta7117]

Hey @JosephBreza. I am a big fan of your body of work. Could you please do a review of Craig Jones' Power Pins instructional? Also, serious question......do you think you could take Danaher down 🙃

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I haven’t watched Craig’s instructional. I will see about that!! Ummm yeah man. The poor guy has reconstructed knees and hips and is like 12 years older than me. BUT, he would kill me on the ground after I got him there. This happens to me against high level blackbelts. While I can get the takedown and even get to good position on the ground, it’s only a matter of time before they will snap something or strangle me to death. I know when to stay in my lane. The ground is John’s territory. I would be stupid to approach his guard if he pulled guard. I would be smarter to just walk away

[@goobtron]

Are there any instructionals that have a better wrestling system you can recommend?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I’m old school, so back in the day we went to camps and seminars. I did J Robinson’s intensive wrestling camp twice. 28 days of pure hell. I did Granby camp, West Virginia (Nate Carr), Joe Seay (OSU coach and Olympic coach), camp of champions with the Russian and Ukrainian national teams etc etc. I also ended up doing a lot of competition with people from overseas in high school and in college. In high school, I bought the Granby system videos. These are highly advanced systems. Video #16, 33, and 41 are directly from their camp that I attended, and I got their videos to follow up on the moves. You cannot go wrong with John Smith. He is a 6x world and Olympic medalist. Probably one of the best who has ever been on a mat. He has a number of things online that are great-like how to recover from a bad shot. My outside single leg details are based off his system and Andy Seras’ system. Steve Mocco is amazing. He has a blackbelt in judo and trained with my collegiate teammate when they were kids. He is a great coach and super cool guy. I would also check out Brandon Reed, John Marsh, and Michael Trasso. These are all collegiate wrestlers who do BJJ.

[@goobtron]

​@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Thanks!

[@TheElThomaso]

I'm at 10:40 and while I agree with most things so far, this is the usual (more common) way it can be seen taught: Head as the first line of defense. I think it's plausible as well, in many instances, although watching international freestyle, a lot of hand first approaches can be seen as well. Searching for "lines of defense in wrestling" will show how often this is taught, even by high level prominent wrestling coaches, so it can't be all wrong ;) I watch a ton of wrestling instructionals (and matches) and noticed that some people teach head first and some hands first. I think both can be viable, as long as we're aware of the pros and cons and build our style around it.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

This is what I was taught directly from multiple Olympians and World Team members throughout my youth. It’s the classic approach and makes the most intuitive sense. Your head is connected to your body and cannot move without moving your torso. So, that’s why we attack the head to control the torso while we attack the hands/elbows to get part of the defense. Your hands and arms have a lot of mobility. Your torso does not. If your head is your first line of defense, you will get out of position. If you have T-rex arms, you aren’t protecting yourself. Look at videos #1 and 25 and you will see some of that system. Sort of a moot point anyways if you stand upright with T-Rex arms, because you neither have defense with your head or hands. It’s wide open to the hips.

[@TheElThomaso]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 I don't doubt your experience and there's lots of value in it. Nonetheless, what I said above stands, lots of times (more often than not, in my experience) it's taught "head first". A few short examples: - John Smith teaches it. You can find it in his "Cowboy Defense" course on Fanaticwrestling, at the start of the last DVD/part. He actually lists "1. Head 2. Hands 3. Forearms 4. Hips" - Kyle Dake in "Defense wins Championships" mentions "making contact head first" several times, esp. throughout DVD 1. Also several quotes like: "the lines of defense: Head, hands, hips... then you go crazy" in there. John Smith is a legend, Kyle Dake is one of the best defensive freestyle wrestlers out there. Those are just some quick examples, there are plenty more. I'm sure that John Smith also mentions it in one of the free OSU clinics on KZbin, I just couldn't find it right away. I agree with most everything you say in the video. Danaher often teaches good stuff, on occasion even unique/revolutionary material. He definitely has his strengths and weaknesses, like everyone else though. I also despise the marketing methods and lack of giving credit to everyone he learned from (if it's not Renzo or one of the few close ones within his circle). Also makes mistakes and teaches suboptimal details sometimes. But in this case, he can't be faulted, as this is almost universally how it's taught. I do remember one or two wrestling instructionals that taught "hands first", but I couldn't find them quickly, as they are definitely in the minority. As I said in the previous post, my personal belief is that either can work in the right context.

[@TheElThomaso]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Here's a free resource I could find quickly, from the official USA wrestling channel nonetheless: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5jOZqdrgNaWbtk And here's Cary Kolat teaching it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWLKi3-Vat9sfpo

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I would imagine that John Smith says that the head is a line of defense, but not the first line of defense. That is what I meant. His stance was also incredibly low, so that changes things. If you’re standing upright like Greco, that definitely changes things too, and then definitely your head is not the first line. Let me know if you find that video from John. He was my inspiration growing up. If he says that, then I bet he has exact examples for why he says it. But I gather he is just saying those are lines of defense, but not in order of first, second, third. Either way, stance does matter here, and in BJJ, the stance is too upright for your head to be first. Thank you for your responses! Yeah, actually that was one of my major motivations for making this tbh. His uke placido came on my page, watched and commented on video #2, then recorded him doing the exact technique with my same phrases in the exact order I said them. I called him out but he ignored me. I give credit to everyone. It takes seconds and actually increases the credibility of the move

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Ok, the guy in the first video definitely says that in order. That’s probably why John is saying that, and since he takes things from everyone else, but never gives anyone credit, you’ll never know, lol When you teach kids, you teach them hands first, because otherwise they tuck their elbows in to their sides when they bend over. Then people can shoot right through them or when they snap them down, it’s easier to spin behind. Also, if you lead too much with your head, then a snapdown gets past his head and hands. That’s why I model my stance (#20) after Andy Seras. Not so bent over at the waist. I first learned the hands, head, hips as a kid. I showed that on video #1, 20, and 25. The philosophy is that when someone level changes and their head drops below yours, your hands will be the first line of defense, because they got past your hands. Then you start to drop your head so that when you slow them down and keep space with your arms, your head makes contact with their shoulders and that is to prevent him from getting to your legs. I use that drill from Kolat as well. That’s to teach kids to keep the person in front of you. I teach to keep your hands out front, like Metcalf and Brands Again, John advocates for a greco stance and it’s definitely not the case that your head has any real defense when your standing up straight like a shlong

[@Mattchew2232]

Do you recommend a different instructional instead of this one for the beginner wrestler? It's in the daily deal today, so I can get Danaher's for about $45-50. Thanks for your video.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I think you will benefit from it. And then after awhile, check out John Smith to refine your technique

[@Mattchew2232]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Thanks so much! Any starting place you recommend for content by John Smith?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

He actually has some great youtube content. Look up his technique on how to recover from a bad shot. A lot of my techniques on #2 and 39 are based on what I learned from him about 28 years ago. Back in the day, we used to go to camps for a week or weeks at a time. I attended J Robinson’s intensive camp 2x. The long camp is 28 days of hell. You learn so much. So, I didn’t really have many tapes of instructionals back then. Instead I just attended camps.

[@Mattchew2232]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Really appreciate it!

[@blakethebirdmeister5336]

Are there any instructionals you reccomened?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I think it really depends on what you want to know. John Smith’s teachings changed my outside single. I didn’t learn it from his instructionals, but I have seen what he shows in some of those and be is absolutely unbelievable

[@StayCool302]

Should check out Craig jones power ride instructional, takes a lot of techniques from folk style, would like to hear your opinion on how he implements it

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I might have to take a break from watching nonwrestlers teach wrestling, LMAO I haven’t seen it, but I have seen some clips. I honestly will probably just show what I know on my channel, as there’s a mixed reaction from showing other people’s stuff. And then the “internet wrestlers,” who’ve never wrestled, come to tell me I am wrong. 99% of the time, they don’t know what they don’t know. But they have the strongest opinions, because some freak of nature they saw can do non traditional moves and therefore set that as the gold standard. I will teach traditional wrestling for Jiu Jitsu, and if people find that useful in practice and in competition then I have done my job

[@StayCool302]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 definitely understandable 😂 I have seen a big jump in my stand up game just from watching your videos so I appreciate the info you put out!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I have another one that works well and isn’t nearly as technical as this one. It’s good to have both because it depends on what your opponent is giving you

[@dannyy8619]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 I understand how you feel. But I think you should give Craig Jones "Power Ride" and specifically "Just Stand Up" a chance and I have a feeling you'll nod in agreement to a lot of the philosophy. I say this as someone who didn't grow up wrestling, but I'm pretty much 100% all in on wrestling for BJJ now. I follow this channel now too. But what you and Craig say, at least in terms of using wrestling for BJJ from both top and bottom, are very much aligned with each other.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I might give it a look at some point. Generally, I don’t have the time or money to look at all these instructionals. I am a university professor, have a wife and kids, and train 6 days a week. I kinda don’t want to be the guy who reviews instructionals, but provide my own system of wrestling that was heavily influenced by my coach, who was head coach of the Olympic team. Maybe at some point, but I probably won’t be doing instructional reviews any time soon. I will make some “do’s and do nots” of some techniques from standing2ground2, as some are just outright terrible and are just going to get people taken down. That I can’t let slide. Probably will never do a review of Craig. I like him too much and like B team too much. Some of those guys personally communicate with me and are open to learning.

[@raf889]

You should sell a DVD on wrestling for jiu jitsu. I’d buy it.

[@raf889]

Or do one with Lachlan on his platform! He is really good at producing instructionals. Lachlan if you read this!!!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

That would be awesome!

[@counterhit121]

Jozef: love your videos, your wrestling insight is great. One suggestion pls tho is to pls consider toning down your additional text notes. Some of them are tight and to the point. But others are longer and less focused, which can detract from the more important point you're making while speaking. A couple of times at least I think you could benefit a lot from just making bullet points in the text-over. For example, when you mentioned why Danaher misspoke about how easy it is to take someone down from a leg shot, you overlaid a paragraph of text of why he was wrong, in addition to talking about it. Broke my 🧠, I couldn't read all that and digest what you were saying. That whole section whiffed on me. I think you can use bullet points there instead, and if you have a lot, overlay one or two at a time to let your viewers digest. Anyways i don't mean to be a Debbie downer, thx for the vids and look forward to more content!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Some people like them, because they like to study it. I honestly would rather not have any text, but it’s hard to get in everything I want to say. I would have to reshoot video over and over to get it right. The words are what I wished I had said but didn’t say it on the fly. This is a total hobby for me. It isn’t my first time job. And my uke is a volunteer, so when I record video with him, I can’t keep for hours on end. He has a family too. I hear you and hear others. It seems like people like it, hate it, or don’t seem to mind at all

[@NiekMagnel]

What are some 'scholastic wrestling system' resources you can recommend us to watch? I am specifically interested in something like an instructional

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Hi Niek, See my response to “goobtron”

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I have a bunch of wrestling content on my channel. The purpose of my channel is to bring classic wrestling to Jiu Jitsu.

[@NiekMagnel]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Thanks for the quick response! That will most certainly help. I will be checking out your videos for sure too! I have one more question which I would like to ask you. How would you go about starting to study wrestling (for bjj) without the guidance of a highly knowledgeable stand-up coach? Wrestling is such a broad topic so I am not quite sure how to 'systematize' it or in what order to learn what topics. I thought of it like this: 1. basics (stance, handfighting, motion etc.); 2. moves (double, single, throw by etc.); 3. rides/pins/breakdowns; 4. defensive wrestling (defense to moves, counters, stand up etc.). Am I heading in a good direction here? I hope I am not making myself seem stupid here haha. Have been working on guard for ages and now finally taking the time to really learn some standup

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Stance is absolutely critical. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4uqnGqJiZKVnsk Start with simple concepts like controlling inside position and feeling the push. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3WVan6QdsSUkKs Elbow control is what gets you to the legs. I have several videos on easy set ups and controlling elbows.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Concepts about defense are covered alongside some of my offensive videos, but start with #1, 11, and 35 The head shrug #41 and stand up #28 are staples

[@gonzalorocha]

Will we be getting a Standing2Ground Pt. 3 analysis? 👀🙏

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Hell no…my collegiate wrestling coach was head coach of the US Greco World and Greco Olympic teams. He was Rulon Gardener’s coach who beat Alexandre Karelin. You don’t want to know what I think of Danaher’s upper body wrestling. For my own psychological wellbeing, and for the sake of the channel, I just have to leave this one alone.

[@gonzalorocha]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 LMFAO love this reply🤣 I'll make sure to pick up the Matt Lindland Greco-Roman instructional instead. The content & its quality + your personality truly make this channel one of my favorites. Do you have this channel on any other platforms (e.g., instagram)? Hope all is well, and look forward to future videos👍 maybe one on Vito's insane performances against Fix & RBY

[@josephruiz4163]

Satoshi ishi's new wave judo is a good alternative to Johns instructional.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I have not watched that, but that dude is world class. He is certainly highly skilled in the area he is teaching

[@MK-ev6ov]

Hey my son wanted to train wrestling to get ready for high school so we found a local club. The coach said I’m welcome To train with the high schoolers and I’m interested. There is the opinion that an untrained adult with high schoolers is an injury waiting to happen and too big of a risk. What are your thoughts?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

That is awesome! Injuries usually come from ego. The kids are full of ego. So don’t feed into it and take it slow. Watch my video on stance and at first just try to stuff every shot. Don’t worry about trying too hard to take shots yourself. Drill the moves a lot. You want it to smooth before you try to do it yourself. Work on your short offense. It’s effective and less risky on your body

[@Torymorgan9]

This idea that wrestlers struggle in jiu jitsu is ridiculous…. Guys who really know how to wrestle often crush me as a blue belt. Sure, I catch them here and there. But they mainly take me down and control me. And they learn jiu jitsu quick.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@Torymorgan9 I agree. When I came in as a whitebelt, I didn’t understand guard passing yet, but when they got to an underhook position or tried to sweep me with collar sleeve for example, it just ended up in familiar wrestling positions. That entire underhook system where you end up in the dogfight favors those with wrestling experience. I do think there are people who say they wrestled and really weren’t legit…like maybe JV. And then they get beat up as they should. A good highschool wrestler is tough on the mat. Whenever we did positional sparing from Kesa getame, I knew I was in for it when my friend David got on top. I was D1, but he was just a good highschool wrestler. Well I suffered inside his kesa man. He knows exactly how to keep me flat and then I can’t do shit. Same goes the other way. It’s why we strive for positional advantages because it has powerful consequences

[@MK-ev6ov]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 I started training in 2005 and in my first white belt no gi competition I went against a jacked wrestler who looked like he had at least 10 pounds on me. The way training was then we didn’t train stand up at all. In preparation for the competition we had been drilling singles and doubles for approximately 2-3 weeks. I naively thought “check out this double I’ve been working on for 3 weeks!!” And I was sprawled on extremely hard… as in my nose hit the floor and hurt. But…. I was able to retain guard and several seconds later locked up a triangle and finished him. It was ALL the stereotypes about wrestling vs jiu jitsu perfectly demonstrated in one match… Good times….

[@BeepBoop2221]

Me who has done judo before. "Wrestling and Judo has no control" Uh....huh I must of imagined all the kesa pins John.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Lol!

[@SkepticalAaron]

Pretty fair review. I'm sure someone will still get butt hurt though.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

😂😂😂 Oh I am sure. They won’t hear how many times I complimented him or that I literally said to buy the instructional. Thith ithin’t wethewing ith Jiu Jitthu! That’s the response anytime someone corrects shitty wrestling technique.

[@carterfisk9571]

I've heard the scholastic/folkstyle argument made as to why US based wrestlers have had more success in mma than freestyle wrestlers who didn't start with the folkstyle base.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

It’s an exhausting style of wrestling. It really helps you to learn how to shut down a scramble. Best way to so that is control the person’s legs. Then they can’t move well. Come up to the waist off a shot and you will get owned. My judoka teammates on my collegiate wrestling team made me believers of that. It completely changed the way I wrestled. I would wrap up the legs off the takedown and climb up to side control, mount, or the back. It translates like crazy to Jiu Jitsu and is the basis of my channel for that reason. When I first started doing Jiu Jitsu, I was pleased with the similarities, but intrigued with the differences. My first practice, I got triangled like 5x before I started paying attention to how they were setting me up. I was hooked at the end of that practice, because ai could identify that it was ME who was getting myself triangled, because I was falling into their trap. They had deception I wasn’t aware of and I thought that was awesome. My coach made me play guard for 2 years, because he wanted to develop that part of my game, since the wrestling will always be there. And wrestling is FAR more than takedowns. Scholastic wrestling is a lot of mat work, and why they are tough when they make the transition. I definitely don’t like getting kicked in the face, so the MMA thing was a short lived dream of mine in the early 2000s, lol

[@carterfisk9571]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 I have a buddy who wrestled at Wisconsin when Barry Davis was the coach. He and I are the same size and age. I can't do anything to him unless he lets me. And I've been a black belt for almost 14 years. Wrestling is just tougher.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

No doubt! Well, you have to fight for your spot on the team basically every day, so you’re constantly competing. It builds character and solid fundamentals. I’m surprised I can still go with guys half my age who wrestled in college. The difference is they want to go again the next day, and I need time to recover, lol

[@carterfisk9571]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 At some point I'd really be interested to get your take on some of the Dagastani sambo/mma guys (Khabib, Islam, etc).

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I need to see some specifics. My recollection of Khabib was that he used great greco positioning from the bodylock. He stepped to the inside and pulled people to their back off the cage literally identical to what I show with the greco bodylock starting with Video #6

[@elliottphillips1074]

Would love to see a reaction to some of Andrew Wiltse's wrestling videos. Some examples: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHzdkKKnjLuEqNU kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmmaompur7ibh6c kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZ_Uh4xnp7p2p6M He doesn't have any traditional wrestling experience, but he has a brown belt in judo and is a BJJ world and pans gi and nogi champ at almost every belt.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I’ve watched him. He is very very explosive and athletic. He is a coaches dream. In the videos I have seen, he doesn’t really have any competition, so people just fall down. So he doesn’t need any set ups and can just shoot without getting the hands out of the way. He does have a great single to running the pipe. With good coaching, he could really be super high level. It’s hard to teach that kind of mental tenacity and explosiveness. I will take a look at the videos you’ve posted. Thank you for that.

[@justamurse5646]

Yea all us wrestlers are just gonna shit our pants when we take someone down are told we have to get them on their back 😯. Lol Not like we don’t spend half our time learning and trying to scramble and get people to their back/get off our back which is special to folkstyle over freestyle d/t the rules.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Yeah, ADCC rules say you have to take a man down to his back and keep one shoulder on the mat. Wrestlers are fucked, because we are used to controlling a man so that both shoulders have to touch the mat, LOL. “But wait, buy my instructional and I’ll show you a wrestling system used for thousands of years to do this exact thing, but use Japanese to confuse you into thinking it’s something new.” Lol

[@froggy3496]

It baffles me how people claim to create "systems" or even moves in grappling. The sport has like 5000 years. Most likely, someone did it before you

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Exactly. Grappling styles are more similar than different and all are standing on the giants who came before us. Taking a humble and scholarly approach puts that into perspective

[@froggy3496]

@@Black-Circle that's not what I'm referring to

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@Black-Circle he shows a bunch of moves from wrestling and really doesn’t chain them together. So he hasn’t provided another system at all

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@Black-Circle yes I have. I think this one is WAY better in terms of mechanics. He has learned a lot since the first one.

[@Tonyklick]

Why don't you want us to see what your house look like?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

LOL!! This is my office. You don’t want to see neural pathways and transduction on my whiteboard, lol

[@MK-ev6ov]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 if this is your background, it would be interesting to see a video on something like the requirements for skill acquisition if that’s in your wheelhouse… something like explaining why you get better/faster at something the more you do it and how to optimize. I studied for a CSCS (before somewhat giving up) and it’s lightly touched on in the text.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I am an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist who specializes is sensory systems, salt/fluid homeostasis, and neuroendocrine systems. Personally, I subscribe to the old idea that deliberate practice trumps all things. It’s when you feel like you want to be done that you should push yourself in training. One thing we did was REALLY a game changer was to drill a match of takedowns and escapes after practice. The concept that Seras (and Steve Martin) had was this: everyone has great technique when they are fresh. But great technique matters most when you’re exhausted and you need to score to win at the end of a match. So, we did this relentless drill of alternating takedowns and escapes with no breaks for the length of a match - after practice!! You will learn quickly why I don’t like the side bodylock, taking the back and having to mat return, coming up to the waist off a shot, etc, etc after you do this. You want technique that works when you’re barely conscious. If you rely on athleticism that late in a match, you’re toast

[@froggy3496]

Oh no. Redditors will be pissed 😂

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

They are already pissed and just need someone to blame, lol! As a psychologist, that’s my professional opinion

[@edgyedge7590]

Love the content dude! If you want to continue reviewing BJJ instructionals, PM me and I can let you know how to watch them for free (this isn't a scam lol).

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Sweet

[@drebaz]

hey man, where can i talk to you?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@drebaz go find me on instragram. Same name. Drop me a DM