Kyle Dake Study -- Embrace the Scramble: Part I

DPS831

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New study series I'm working on. Would be interested in any feedback!

 
Your series is awesome. I show it to the kids I’ve been working with in my neighborhood and a few guys who post here who’s kids wrestle.
 
Your series is awesome. I show it to the kids I’ve been working with in my neighborhood and a few guys who post here who’s kids wrestle.

That's great to hear, thank you!
 
New study series I'm working on. Would be interested in any feedback!


Solid solid video, it’s always interesting to see how non wrestling grapplers interpret what they are seeing. Dake has ungodly natural hips and depends on them and scrambling too much and it’s what catches him against the best, he doesn’t really have a go to attack if he can’t counter or out scramble someone like Burroughs

I actually was in contact with Gambledub about making some similar studies on wrestling but time and my laptop crashed :(

I have pages of film broken down on John Smith, but I’ve been wanting to do one on Burroughs because of how many (not all) people don’t really try to give him the credit he deserves for his actual technique
 
New study series I'm working on. Would be interested in any feedback!



The video is great, and the breakdown is great as well. The thing about scrambling, is it relies on athleticism which can't really be taught. It is something you are born with. When Askren was wrestling he would take a bad shot, cause a scramble, and then proceed to win the point. Ninety-nine out of a hundred wrestlers would probably have given up the point if they took the same shot, but Askren would make it work with his natural ability.

Your ability to put these videos together, and provide a breakdown is a gift, however if you are doing this to help a young wrestler I would recommend you do a breakdown on a wrestler that is known for using more basic technique. With that said, I love, and appreciate your work!
 
The video is great, and the breakdown is great as well. The thing about scrambling, is it relies on athleticism which can't really be taught. It is something you are born with. When Askren was wrestling he would take a bad shot, cause a scramble, and then proceed to win the point. Ninety-nine out of a hundred wrestlers would probably have given up the point if they took the same shot, but Askren would make it work with his natural ability.

Your ability to put these videos together, and provide a breakdown is a gift, however if you are doing this to help a young wrestler I would recommend you do a breakdown on a wrestler that is known for using more basic technique. With that said, I love, and appreciate your work!
I believe you can develop scrambling even if you aren’t “athletic” that being said guys like Dake with those kind of hips will always be the best scramblers
 
I believe you can develop scrambling even if you aren’t “athletic” that being said guys like Dake with those kind of hips will always be the best scramblers

I agree. I think the sentiment that scrambling is innate, and you either "have it or you don't," is mistaken. Sure, some grapplers do have natural scrambling ability due to quickness, athleticism, flexibility, high grappling IQ, etc., but I think scrambling is a skill set that can for sure be improved. The key is talking about it as a concept with specific objectives. That is the admittedly ambitious goal of the series.
 
The video is great, and the breakdown is great as well. The thing about scrambling, is it relies on athleticism which can't really be taught. It is something you are born with. When Askren was wrestling he would take a bad shot, cause a scramble, and then proceed to win the point. Ninety-nine out of a hundred wrestlers would probably have given up the point if they took the same shot, but Askren would make it work with his natural ability.

Your ability to put these videos together, and provide a breakdown is a gift, however if you are doing this to help a young wrestler I would recommend you do a breakdown on a wrestler that is known for using more basic technique. With that said, I love, and appreciate your work!

Thanks for the comments and kind words!
 
I agree. I think the sentiment that scrambling is innate, and you either "have it or you don't," is mistaken. Sure, some grapplers do have natural scrambling ability due to quickness, athleticism, flexibility, high grappling IQ, etc., but I think scrambling is a skill set that can for sure be improved. The key is talking about it as a concept with specific objectives. That is the admittedly ambitious goal of the series.
Yes and no, while their are “guidelines” to scrambling and it can be improved using those guidelines. But a good majority of it is “feel” and “hips” that have nowhere near as much reliance of quickness or “athleticism” in the traditional sense. Length of body and limbs plays a major factor in scrambling ability.

The best way to get better at “scrambling” even before going over ‘objectives’ is to put oneself in the positions and “spar”/play wrestle/flow roll if you will at around 50%_80% intensity and experiment and develop “feel” which is needed to scramble

If I have one actual critique, not in a bad way is that you’re missing “why” Dake is posting and whatnot in the scramble, it’s to gain height or get “higher hips”. While I’m regular techniques “low hips” win. In scrambles/flurries “high hips or high man” wins and that’s what the post is for, it’s a means to an end (the end being height in the scramble) more so than the post is a goal
 
Solid solid video, it’s always interesting to see how non wrestling grapplers interpret what they are seeing. Dake has ungodly natural hips and depends on them and scrambling too much and it’s what catches him against the best, he doesn’t really have a go to attack if he can’t counter or out scramble someone like Burroughs

I actually was in contact with Gambledub about making some similar studies on wrestling but time and my laptop crashed :(

I have pages of film broken down on John Smith, but I’ve been wanting to do one on Burroughs because of how many (not all) people don’t really try to give him the credit he deserves for his actual technique

Black guys rarely get credit for their technique, just like white guys rarely get credit for their athleticism. Boxing seems to be about the only sport where that pattern doesn't hold.
 
Yes and no, while their are “guidelines” to scrambling and it can be improved using those guidelines. But a good majority of it is “feel” and “hips” that have nowhere near as much reliance of quickness or “athleticism” in the traditional sense. Length of body and limbs plays a major factor in scrambling ability.

The best way to get better at “scrambling” even before going over ‘objectives’ is to put oneself in the positions and “spar”/play wrestle/flow roll if you will at around 50%_80% intensity and experiment and develop “feel” which is needed to scramble

If I have one actual critique, not in a bad way is that you’re missing “why” Dake is posting and whatnot in the scramble, it’s to gain height or get “higher hips”. While I’m regular techniques “low hips” win. In scrambles/flurries “high hips or high man” wins and that’s what the post is for, it’s a means to an end (the end being height in the scramble) more so than the post is a goal

How much do you think technical repertoire matters in making a good scrambler? That is, are there certain styles that lend themselves better to scrambling than others? I'm thinking that someone with a game built on flowing around someone's offense rather than just stopping it would make you a better scrambler, e.g. someone like Ben Askren should be able to scramble well since he's used to getting into funk from lots of positions already, building up his base from the bottom, etc. In BJJ I certainly think that's true, if you're someone who specializes in subs like guillotines and kimuras that you can grab from lots of different positions you're generally going to have an advantage in scrambling over someone who specializes in, say, triangles from guard which require a more stable position to set up (as a rule).
 
Yes and no, while their are “guidelines” to scrambling and it can be improved using those guidelines. But a good majority of it is “feel” and “hips” that have nowhere near as much reliance of quickness or “athleticism” in the traditional sense. Length of body and limbs plays a major factor in scrambling ability.

The best way to get better at “scrambling” even before going over ‘objectives’ is to put oneself in the positions and “spar”/play wrestle/flow roll if you will at around 50%_80% intensity and experiment and develop “feel” which is needed to scramble

If I have one actual critique, not in a bad way is that you’re missing “why” Dake is posting and whatnot in the scramble, it’s to gain height or get “higher hips”. While I’m regular techniques “low hips” win. In scrambles/flurries “high hips or high man” wins and that’s what the post is for, it’s a means to an end (the end being height in the scramble) more so than the post is a goal

Thanks for the comments. I always try to make time to watch the NCAA's every year, and one thing I always remember is the commentator (Jim Gibbons, I think?) always emphasizes that height is super important during scrambles. I will likely make that point in the next video. Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the comments. I always try to make time to watch the NCAA's every year, and one thing I always remember is the commentator (Jim Gibbons, I think?) always emphasizes that height is super important during scrambles. I will likely make that point in the next video. Thanks again.
No problem
 
How much do you think technical repertoire matters in making a good scrambler? That is, are there certain styles that lend themselves better to scrambling than others? I'm thinking that someone with a game built on flowing around someone's offense rather than just stopping it would make you a better scrambler, e.g. someone like Ben Askren should be able to scramble well since he's used to getting into funk from lots of positions already, building up his base from the bottom, etc. In BJJ I certainly think that's true, if you're someone who specializes in subs like guillotines and kimuras that you can grab from lots of different positions you're generally going to have an advantage in scrambling over someone who specializes in, say, triangles from guard which require a more stable position to set up (as a rule).
Its a complicated answer I’ll try to get to it when I have time just too busy to do it justice atm
 
Kyle Snyder/Yazdani hand fighting / low singles pls.

Awesome video .
 
The video is great, and the breakdown is great as well. The thing about scrambling, is it relies on athleticism which can't really be taught. It is something you are born with. When Askren was wrestling he would take a bad shot, cause a scramble, and then proceed to win the point. Ninety-nine out of a hundred wrestlers would probably have given up the point if they took the same shot, but Askren would make it work with his natural ability.

Your ability to put these videos together, and provide a breakdown is a gift, however if you are doing this to help a young wrestler I would recommend you do a breakdown on a wrestler that is known for using more basic technique. With that said, I love, and appreciate your work!


Athleticism isn't quite the word i'd use to describe it; Askren could do what he did in his college career (putting himself into furballs and coming out on top) because he had superior prescience, mat sense, and balancing than his opponents; which is to say, only Ben Askren (or other grappling genii) could get away with doing what Ben Askren did; which is to say, im implying that if he took that same talent and put it towards a more 'optimized'/less marginal game-plan he could well have been a four time NCAA champ (and possibly an olympic medalist later) rather than losing to Pendleton twice in the finals.

Sometimes you can get guys that become victims of their own success; able to pull off things other people can't, inadvertently falling into 'ruts' they coast on until they run into someone who is also on their level, but better prepared.
 
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Athleticism isn't quite the word i'd use to describe it; Askren could do what he did (putting himself into furballs and coming out on top) because he had superior prescience, mat sense, and balancing than his opponents; which is to say, only Ben Askren (or other grappling genii) could get away with doing what Ben Askren did; which is to say, im implying that if he took that same talent and put it towards a more 'optimized'/less marginal game-plan he could well have been a four time NCAA champ (and possibly an olympic medalist later) rather than losing to Pendleton twice in the finals.

Sometimes you can get guys that become victims of their own success; able to pull off things other people can't, falling into 'noob traps' they coast on until they run into someone who is also on their level, but better prepared.

I agree 100%, I also think his Funk style did not transfer over well to Freestyle.

Honestly I don't know what to call it, maybe athleticism isn't the correct word. Guys like Dake, and Askren have styles that are very difficult to emulate.
 
I agree 100%, I also think his Funk style did not transfer over well to Freestyle.

Honestly I don't know what to call it, maybe athleticism isn't the correct word. Guys like Dake, and Askren have styles that are very difficult to emulate.
Hips
 
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