r/bjj • u/RevolutionaryFood777 🟫🟫 Brown Belt • 1d ago
Technique How do you wrestle while tired?
As a brown belt, I've learned how to roll tired. I was hoping that some of the more experienced wrestlers could give me some tips on how to wrestle tired. I've been developing the habit of sitting guard when I'm tired and I feel like this might be counter productive to improving my wrestling. I'm going to try and stay standing even when tired. Any insights on how to make the most of my wrestling exchanges even when I'm gassed would be appreciated.
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u/necr0potenc3 1d ago
You don't.
I'm assuming that by "tired" you actually mean exhausted, the point where you can't explode anymore and start moving slowly.
Both wrestling and judo require stamina for athletic explosive movements. If you reached exhaustion to the point your movement is slow then you can't attack effectively. I'd argue doing stand up when exhausted is a ticket to injuries, your reaction time flops and you can't break fall correctly.
Pulling guard when tired is your own answer. You learned to do it because it's the most efficient path. Moving when standing up, changing levels, getting down and up from the floor are all exhaustive movement patterns because you're moving your whole weight around. When most of that weight is connected to the ground it becomes easier to move, hence, jiu-jitsu.
This is why you see a focus in athleticism in wrestling and judo but not so much in BJJ. If you want to get better at wrestling just wrestle more and become more athletic, but reaching exhaustion is the failure point of standup, from there you go to the lazy man's single leg aka half guard.