my Arte Suave

Getting better faster: Coming full circle?

In jiu-jitsu in my opinion to be great or one of the best in the world, and you can check out any past world champion and look at them and see that they are a well rounded Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter. I am sure you can find one or two who exclusively played guard, one being Pe de Pano who he himself said all he did was pull guard and win championships like that, but thats another post. What I am getting at is, the more i train the more I realize that you have to come full circle as soon as possible. I dont mean in the sense that you have to be great fast but that you have to have an idea from everywhere I believe. Meaning that, if you are under 3 years of bjj experience, then you should try and be good on top, good on bottom, and just basically have a good understanding of everything. A lot of times people just want to be on top or on bottom. 

Look at the greats! They had top games and bottom games. Ryan Hall said something to this effect in an interview in the past, where he was discussing how he was just a bottom guy in the beginning when he was triangling everyone it seemed, and how that completely messed up his ascension to the top of the mountain in jiu-jitsu. 

Me personally I believe I have taking gigantic strides in this aspect, where the first 12-15 months I was predominantly a bottom guy. During the last 7 months or so, I have become pretty good at passing. Honestly I pass pretty well, but I know i have a tremendous ways to go in improving my passing ability. I pass so well in fact that coupled with my improved conditioning, I feel more comfortable on top these days.

My school is predominantly top driven, so I have been getting remarkable help and instruction from Tim Burrill, he is the master of passing. I will be great at it as well!