When it comes to “shooting” for takedowns – changing levels and using a penetration step to attack your opponent’s body or legs – there is no way around it…
No matter how technical you are and how good your timing may be, there is a significant amount of athleticism required to cover that arms-length or more distance before your opponent can counter.
And it stands to reason, right?
After all, you don’t see many wrestling schools out there like you do Jiu-Jitsu academies…
Wrestling really only exists as a competitive sport here in the U.S.
So now here’s the question: why do so many BJJ schools teach students to shoot like competitive wrestlers do, when most of the students in the room simply won’t possess that level of athleticism?
This again, is why the clinch is so important… It’s not that non-wrestlers or older grapplers can’t be effective at “wrestling shots” – but if you want to develop a truly effective, non-physical attribute based skill set, first learn how to shoot from the clinch!
Before you just start shooting for an opponent’s legs, here’s a preliminary, super simple version of “shot” that only requires you to make a very slight level change.
For more, see the The Pillars: Clinch & Takedowns.
