A funny thing happened the other day. The heat wave here in Germany meant I had to restructure my wrestling class. Typically the class is sparring based with very little instruction. I run it as a practice, with a very high pace, but the heat forced me to slow things down. I thought this was the perfect time to introduce Funk rolls to the class. As a wrestler growing up, we would use different variations of funk rolls as a means to win the scramble. However I had never seen them taught in a Jiu jitsu class. It seems like a lot of useful wrestling tools are overlooked with Jiu jitsu, something we definitely need to address.

The class had a slow start, the direction of funk rolls is so unfamiliar to Jiu jitsu players. It feels completely wrong. As the class progressed I started seeing more success, but the students still struggled with the desire to play guard half way through. This is something I have been working on a lot in my wrestling classes. Jiu jitsu athletes love to concede the bottom position and opt to play guard. This is obviously not always wrong, but there are many times when getting to a top position is favorable. I think this issue exposes itself often in Jiu Jitsu tournaments. Good grapplers tend to give up a take down or sweep points just because they assume its better to establish a solid guard, only to be pinned for the remainder of the match and ultimately lose.

Once the students got the flow of the funk rolls they were really able to put them to use. I saw several students go from not ever seeing a funk roll to doing them in live rounds only 30 minutes later. This is something very rare in Jiu jitsu. It really highlights something a coach of mine named Darryl Cutler once said “stop escaping politely”. This statement always stuck with me. In Jiu jitsu we often try to plan the perfect escape, a step by step plan to go from losing to winning. A plan that is certainly destined to fail. There are without a doubt times were a well thought out escape is useful, but we also have to accept that sometimes its just time to get out.

What my wrestlers have learned is its very hard to submit someone that is actively escaping. Typically the bad things happen when we start an escape then pause. The same is true with funk rolls. If we start a funk roll, then pit stop to plan what happens next then we will often be countered. So once we start our escape we don’t stop until we are on top. I do want them to see good guard opportunities when they present themselves, but only when all attempts to get on top fail. Even then, the guard should be actively attacking sweeps, back takes or submissions.

I had so many great take aways from these two funk roll classes. The main being; as we are starting to see Jiu jitsu be more of a dynamic sport, with true athletes winning the big events, we have to also open our eyes to new techniques, or new situations that will build upon our Jiu Jitsu skill set. Wrestlers absolutely dominate the scramble. We can’t deny that. This is why high level wrestlers are able to come in a do well against the best black belts, they don’t always win, but they are very hard to hold down and submit.

Don’t forget to explore new movements, learn from everyone and most importantly, stop escaping politely 🙂