Relax and Breathe

The two most common words a beginner in grappling will hear and then duly ignore as they try to rip their partners head off! Relax and Breathe. Grappling is hard work, thats for sure, learning to manage your breathing helps you keep energy in reserve, stay calm and relaxed and recover both mentally and physically ultimately making you a more efficient grappler . This applies whether your positioned the on top or on the bottom. The close physical nature of grappling doesnt allow for a chance for a breather whenever you choose as in many other stand up fighting styles. The only thing that you can do on the ground is conciously relax and breathe. So next time your on the mat be aware of you and your training partners breathing and make sure your breathing is under control. We never drive a car in top gear all the time with the foot to the floor, there's four or five gears that you use depending on the circumstances. Grappling tempo and breathing are the same and need to vary according to circumstances. All the greats look relaxed when they roll so lets try and emulate them.