What does it mean to "roll like a wrestler"?

[beat...people...up?]

I STG I've heard this from my last four partners in live rounds and I don't know what it means. I didn't ever wrestle but I do follow the sport pretty avidly so maybe I've picked some stuff up, IDK.

I theorize it has something to do with 1. going for a lot of front headlocks and maintaining control of their head and 2. using my arms more than my legs which is tbh mostly because I haven't figured out a good x-guard yet.

So, what does it mean? Is it good or bad?

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Strong and scrambly I guess? I would consider it a compliment if you arent a wrestler. But a lot of people in bjj kind of call you that if you dont play by their meta and maybe compensate some technique for athleticism and strength

 

[Uchi Mata]

It usually means rolling with heavy top pressure, being hard to sweep, not wanting or even being willing to play off your back much at all, coming up on the legs when you are on the bottom, and just generally not conceding anything unless forced to. It's mostly a good thing, though some of it's just a stylistic choice (e.g. it's not inherently better to come up on legs than, say, X guard sweep someone).

 

[beat...people...up?]

Thanks those are great answers. I'm sure some of it is that I am newer so I am, in fact, just using athleticism instead of BJJ techniques. And I do also dislike very much being on the bottom [I even have a panic response to it sometimes, not sure why], and I have heard I'm hard to sweep/have a decent base.

I would like to get better with my legs and more comfortable with fighting from my back. Those are good things to work on to become more of a real BJJer.

 

[EGDM]

There's nothing wrong with using your physical attributes unless it leads to unproductive rolls where no one learns anything (ie, gratuitously smashing girls and small partners or putting you or them at risk for injury). The idea that BJJ should somehow be divorced from athleticism is pernicious and stupid.

"That sweep would never have worked if you hadn't been strong enough to push me over."

Ok?

 

[TheGZA]

0/10

Go troll reddit.

 

[MaxMMA]

Usually when someone says this they are referring to your takedowns and/or your preference to maintain and work from top positions.

 

[Daniel Fox]

In my experience, it Is usually a passive aggressive insult when you are giving a higher belt a difficult time.

 

[Quikz]

I also heard it from guy after roll: are you doing mma or wrestling? you are strong and good wrestling skills. I didn't ever wrestle too

 

[Quebec Nick]

Top control and a tendency to just be happy with shoulder pressure, few submission attempts to make sure to maintain top control and a poor guard. That's the ''wrestling'' style for me.

I've no problem with people that smash me, if they do it to pass my guard or to get to a better position that's my problem to let them do it.

But when they have top control and they stall, they don't attempt any subs and it's just them putting pressure, it gets kind of boring.

 

[Dogstarman]

I've rolled with good wrestlers before. There is one guy I train with that has tremendous pressure. I mean his double leg is on point, then he just smash passes you to side. It's hard to get him on his back. It is not an insult to ask if you ever wrestled. It's a compliment. I mean with jiu jitsu logic everything is an insult.

Telling a guy that they are strong -- considered an insult
Telling a guy that they have awesome flexibilty -- considered an insult
Asking a guy how long they wrestled or ever wrestled -- considered an insult
Asking a guy if they train MMA -- considered an insult
If you use to much pressure -- considered an insult
Front headlock a guy and pass to back -- considered an insult and dick move
knee on chest -- considered an insult and dick move
handshake grip someone -- considered an insult and unsportsmanlike
shoulder of justice in side mount -- considered a dick move and an insult
using berimbolo to get to back -- shitty move that wouldn't work in the street, using it considered an insult
going for ashi garami and ankle locking a guy from guard -- shitty technique because you don't pass guard -- considered an insult

Anyone have anymore?

 

[Daniel Fox]

I've rolled with good wrestlers before. There is one guy I train with that has tremendous pressure. I mean his double leg is on point, then he just smash passes you to side. It's hard to get him on his back. It is not an insult to ask if you ever wrestled. It's a compliment. I mean with jiu jitsu logic everything is an insult.

Telling a guy that they are strong -- considered an insult
Telling a guy that they have awesome flexibilty -- considered an insult
Asking a guy how long they wrestled or ever wrestled -- considered an insult
Asking a guy if they train MMA -- considered an insult
If you use to much pressure -- considered an insult
Front headlock a guy and pass to back -- considered an insult and dick move
knee on chest -- considered an insult and dick move
handshake grip someone -- considered an insult and unsportsmanlike
shoulder of justice in side mount -- considered a dick move and an insult
using berimbolo to get to back -- shitty move that wouldn't work in the street, using it considered an insult
going for ashi garami and ankle locking a guy from guard -- shitty technique because you don't pass guard -- considered an insult

Anyone have anymore?

Dogstarman-You seem like a decent guy who is a straight shooter, so when you tell someone that they roll like a wrestler you probably are sincere, but trust me there are some very passive aggressive, insecure individuals who do use those remarks as insults. I have been actually told that I wrestle to much for Jiu Jitsu, I have been told that I should wrestle less, and do more Jiu Jitsu, which is pretty impossible because wrestling is in my muscle memory. In no way was I slighting the whole Jiu Jitsu community, rather a small percentage of individuals who are genuine assholes. I would be willing to bet that other wrestlers have had this same experience.

 

[Dogstarman]

Dogstarman-You seem like a decent guy who is a straight shooter, so when you tell someone that they roll like a wrestler you probably are sincere, but trust me there are some very passive aggressive, insecure individuals who do use those remarks as insults. I have been actually told that I wrestle to much for Jiu Jitsu, I have been told that I should wrestle less, and do more Jiu Jitsu, which is pretty impossible because wrestling is in my muscle memory. In no way was I slighting the whole Jiu Jitsu community, rather a small percentage of individuals who are genuine assholes. I would be willing to bet that other wrestlers have had this same experience.

Yeah. I know what you are talking about but having good wrestling, and I’m not talking just about take downs. Wrestling has some solid techniques that roll over into jiu jitsu. For example, front headlocks, and whizzers, leg and arm are excellent control techniques. Good wrestling techniques work well with jiu jitsu. That is the beauty of jiu jitsu. The rule sets are so open and loose. Use everything you can to better your jiu jitsu.

 

[mataleaos]

I have been actually told that I wrestle to much for Jiu Jitsu, I have been told that I should wrestle less, and do more Jiu Jitsu, which is pretty impossible because wrestling is in my muscle memory.

That's crazy. If anything jiu-jitsu guys should incorporate more wrestling techniques. Not just on the feet too. There's a plethora of awesome and underutilized wrestling techniques on the floor that significantly improve people's games when they choose to put the time in. As one example Genki Sudo was doing a lot of shit in 2001 in bjj and sub grappling that is still ahead of its in 2018. There's so much stuff he was doing back then due to his wrestling background that still isn't mainstream in the bjj community yet.

 

[mataleaos]

I mean with jiu jitsu logic everything is an insult.

.............

Anyone have anymore?

For a while any sub you could get without fully passing someone's guard was considered cheap. Kimura or figure-four armlock on some in their half guard? Cheap. There were threads on this forum here when the darce hit the scene about how it was fucking up the positional hierarchy because suddenly there was a high percentage sub that didn't require a clean pass first. Same goes for guillotines from inside the half guard. Leg locks of course. I think the one that gets people the most worked up are ezekiel chokes or keylocks inside someone's closed guard. Keylocks inside of someone's guard don't work very well but someone just the other weekend at Quintet got subbed with an ezekiel inside their closed guard.

 

[TheGZA]

As one example Genki Sudo was doing a lot of shit in 2001 in bjj and sub grappling that is still ahead of its in 2018. There's so much stuff he was doing back then due to his wrestling background that still isn't mainstream in the bjj community yet.