Right at the start of my grappling career, I stumbled across this flow chart of Rickson Gracie’s on the web:
This gives a pretty good insight into the way Rickson thinks. As you can see, his whole game is based around the mount position.
Over the years, I have used flow diagrams a lot. These flow charts are a very effective training tool because they instantly let you see where there are gaps in your technical knowledge. Also, just the act of sitting down and making the chart consolidates all your knowledge and reminds you of moves and techniques you may have forgotten.
Types of Flow Diagrams
Because jiu-jitsu was created around positional strategy, I personally like to create my flow charts around certain positions, i.e. mount, or closed guard. But there’s nothing to stop you for creating more specific diagrams around particular sweeps, submissions or whatever.
Below I have included a very basic closed-guard flow diagram. I usually do my flow charts freehand, but this time I digitized one of them so it’s easier for you guys to read. Unfortunately, It came out a little small – click on the image to enlarge it.
So you can see that when I’m fighting from my closed guard, my main strategy is to try to break my opponent’s posture.
How Specific?
If you have a large enough piece of paper, there is no limit to how specific (or broad) you can be with your flow diagrams. As you become more skilled and your depth of technical knowledge increases, the natural progression will be an increase in the complexity of your flow diagrams.
In my opinion, creating flow diagrams is a much more effective method than regular note taking. If I were any good at drawing, I’d even add in little sketches to each of steps in flow diagram.
Let me know if this has helped you, and if you have any tips of your own for making flow diagrams.
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