Being a Good Training Partner Part 1: Training with Smaller People

Being an effective Brazilian jiu jitsu training partner is essential for keeping yourself and your teammates safe, as well as for your growth and development in the sport. There are many facets to being a good training partner, one of which is being able to train productively with smaller partners. While BJJ is a weight class sport when it comes to competition, students often practice with people of all sizes and body types in the training room. If you’re larger and stronger than many of your partners, use the following tips to ensure that you have productive rounds with your smaller partners.

Focus on using your jiu jitsu technique. Instead of relying on your power, try to execute perfect technique when rolling with a smaller person. For example, don’t bench press your partner out of mount, even if you could do so successfully. Be patient and focus on your elbow escapes or kipping escapes. If your smaller partner is skilled and you're stuck on bottom for a while, that’s perfectly fine.

Work on your defensive skills. Don’t just smash your smaller partner or sit on them in the same pin for an entire round. Working with smaller people is a great opportunity to refine your pin escapes and submission escapes. Let them pass your guard and put you in some compromised positions or even a submission and try to work out of the situation in a technical way. Even if you can’t get out, it’s just the practice room and your jiu jitsu will ultimately benefit more from trying to be as technical as possible in these situations.

Refrain from giving your partner zero resistance. On the other hand, the round will be unproductive and awkward if you go completely limp. Instead, try to use the same BJJ techniques and movements that you would use against someone your size, but with less force and explosivity, and focus on executing those techniques flawlessly.

Try to benefit from differences in BJJ styles. Smaller grapplers often have a very different jiu jitsu game compared to grapplers in the heavier weight classes. Some of your smaller team mates may have more dynamic passing or more intricate guard play, or just a faster game with a lot of movement. If you’re accustomed to dealing with pressure passing, for example, it could be beneficial to roll with a smaller student that tends to do faster outside passing so that you could practice your high-legging and other guard retention skills that you don’t often employ.

Don’t take it personally if smaller people don’t want to roll with you. Some smaller students just prefer to train exclusively with similarly sized students.

Continued in part 2, located here.

-OGA Staff

Oregon Grappling Arts offers adult and kids’ jiu jitsu classes six days a week in Portland, OR. All classes are led by black belt head instructors Hannah Sharp and Eddie Jamrog. If you or your child is interested in checking out Brazilian jiu jitsu, feel free to reach out to us. All prospective students receive a three-day free trial.

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