[Private Lesson Concept] Upper Vs. Lower Body Dominance
“Why ignore 50% of the human body?”
So goes the legendary question that got Danaher started on a great leg-locking journey.
The context of this quote is from a conversation Dean Lister was having with John Danaher about the significance of leg attacks and more importantly, how attacking below the waist is an excellent way to open up the whole body instead of sticking to the limbs of the upper body.
This article will follow the same idea but from a totally different context.
Now, last week I wrote a Jiujitsu Made Simple article on Off-Balancing and Destabilization. If you missed it, I highly suggest you check it out here before continuing so you can get better context.
In that video, I talked about the importance of destabilizing your opponent and a LOT of it had to do with how you use your legs.
My opinion is that the legs are much more important for a LOT of jiu-jitsu than your arms because of the fact that they are much more powerful when combined with your hips. The legs and hips are how you develop most of your mechanical advantages over your opponents.
Now, with this in mind, one of the biggest challenges for beginners is the idea that the lower body should be used more and the upper body should be used less. It’s a challenge because throughout our daily lives, we think more about our hands and arms than we do our feet and legs. As I type this now, I’m focused almost 100% on the coordination of my fingers on a keyboard and my mind is intent on crafting this article while typing efficiently. Up until this point, I had no idea that my legs were planted on the ground.
So it goes in your daily life. You pay such little attention to what your legs are doing and much more on what your arms are doing. And this is problematic in jiu-jitsu where your arms are much weaker than your legs.
Today I’ll be talking about Lower Body Dominance.
After the paywall, there will be a few videos on why the legs are much more important, especially for destabilization and off-balancing and further, HOW to start using your legs more effectively.
By the end of it, you will have a clear understanding of why you should be using your legs and I’ll show you how to use them for some of your escapes including side control, mount and back. If you can learn how to use your legs, I guarantee your escapes will be much better and you’ll be a much better jiu-jitsu practitioner overall.
This will be a good one…
Alright, let’s dive in!
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