Reading your opponent in BJJ competition

Reading your opponent in BJJ competition

Reading your opponent in BJJ competition: Competitive matches are a lot easier to win if you know what your opponent is going to do before he does it. Unfortunately, our opponents don’t tell us what they intend to do prior to doing it. Sometimes they even deceive us by creating an appearance of wanting to do one thing and then actually doing another. One thing I stress is to always watch the matches before yours after the brackets come out, while stretching for your match, take a mental note while preparing yourself for yours. Their body does not lie nearly as much as the mouth – you must learn to read what an opponent really intends to do through observing his STANCE, MOTION and LEVEL among other things. If your opponent holds his body in a certain way, it will tell you some kinds of action and prohibit others. This will immediately give you clues as to what he intends to do. If you fake or set offensive movements you will get a chance to read his responses and get good insight into his counter game. USE THE INTIAL ENCOUNTER AT THE START OF THE MATCH AND EVERY SUBSEQUENT TIME YOU RE-ENGAGE WITH YOUR OPPONENT TO GET INSIGHTS INTO WHAT THEY INTEND TO DO. You’ve spent your entire life learning to read people’s eyes and body to make assessments as to what they’re really thinking in every aspect of your life from business, friendships, dating etc. Now you must learn to do it in Jiu-Jitsu