Modern Grappling – Basic Introduction & Moves

Modern grappling uses knowledge from real submission wrestling to develop the most effective moves and holds against any opponent. Often these are based on techniques from existing martial arts. Personally I prefer a mix of catch wrestling (traditional English grappling) and modern jiu-jitsu.

The summary below is based on my experience of works best for kids, especially against a larger opponent. With kids’ training, it is important to keep things fun, and develop techniques that will allow them to achieve positional dominance without anyone getting hurt.

MEANING OF CATCH & JIU-JITSU: Catch means that you can catch hold of your opponent in any way you like – it is short for ‘catch-as-catch-can’. Jitsu means technique (or art). Both catch wrestling and jiu-jitsu are about pivoting your body and focusing strength. You get your opponent off balance, then use multiple arms and legs on just one or two parts of their body. Ideally you will make them waste energy, trick them into doing what you want, and use gravity to help you.

HOW TO WIN: Jiu-jitsu is ultimately about making your opponent tap out (give up). Whereas in catch you can also win by pinning your opponent’s shoulders to the mat for 3 seconds.

CLINCHES: often your first contact with an opponent will involve a clinch. With good clinch positioning you can dominate a fight from the outset, and control whether it goes to the ground.

TAKEDOWNS: these are like rugby tackles but you also try to end up on top of your opponent.

POSITIONS ON THE GROUND: You just need to know a few key positions well, to help control a fight on the ground. For example: back control, side control and mount.

HEADLOCKS: You can lock your opponent’s neck (or neck and arm) with your arms to immobilise them, and make them tap out. You can sometimes use your legs too – this is very effective, as your legs may be stronger than their arms, even if you’re much smaller.

ARMLOCKS: One of the most effective moves against a much bigger person is the armbar. This has a ‘5 on 1’ levering effect on your opponent’s arm, forcing them to tap out. It is 5 on 1 because it focuses both your legs, both your arms and your back muscles against just one of their arms! Their upper body is also trapped because of your legs locking their neck and chest.

COMPARISON TO OTHER MARTIAL ARTS: The great thing about modern grappling is that you can have proper fight practice where you are doing the actual moves hard, and no one will get hurt as long as they tap out. In contrast, with martial arts like karate you are nearly always pretending, as most people don’t want to be hit in the face during training! Also punching hard can injure your hand.

This means that modern grappling is more fun, and also that you would be better prepared for a real fight. As long as you could get quickly to a clinch, lock or pin, a bully wouldn’t be able to do much with their punches and kicks. You could then dominate them without having to hit them, which is probably better all round.