We all know that all fights and competition matches start on the feet, right?

And yet, people often neglect putting any focus on the takedowns or standing options, and most of the time BJJ coaches don't make it any better! They don't train takedowns themselves and don't pass them down to their students. 

And this leads people to start believing a LIE. . . 

Many BJJ practitioners believe the lie that because they didn't start in a sport like Wrestling or Judo that in BJJ they're predestined to be a Guard Pulling Butt Scooter! Now there is nothing wrong with pulling guard. But it's not true! I promise. 

Keep reading and I'll help you identify some strategies on how to improve your takedowns. 

When it comes to learning takedowns in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu there are 2 big issues that keep most BJJ practitioners sitting guard and feel downright afraid of takedowns. 

Most gyms rarely practice takedowns and rarely start rolls on the feet. Even worse, sometimes they start on the knees which leads to learning how to roll from a position you'll literally never be in during a competition or a fight! 

When it comes to building confidence in grappling it all starts with getting reps in, getting live work in position, trying to use techniques and failing and then making adjustments. 

Time in position is key! There's just no way to develop confidence as a grappler without actually doing live work in those positions. 

Imagine going into your gym on the 1st day and telling someone you wanted to become a confident and proficient grappler without actually rolling or doing live drills. You'd get laughed out the door so fast your rash guard would spin! 

And early on we're going to fail a lot! And we need to be able to fail while not getting injured!

And this leads us to the 2nd reason why BJJ training practices ruin people's takedown abilities. 

Reading this sounds blasphemous, doesn't it? How dare Chewy say imply techniques isn't the most important thing. But we all know it's true! Size matters. . . it matters a lot! 

Yes, technique is still king! But if you start trying to do takedowns with someone much larger, then you'll struggle to actually finish an actual takedown (best case) and you'll probably get injured (worst case). 

I mean compare training methodologies of BJJ to Judo and Wrestling which are superior takedown focused martial arts!

If you talk with any wrestler or Judoka most would tell you that,

I know some high-level wrestlers and judoka and they would tell you that during their training they would always be paired up with someone who was close to the same weight when it came to live practice. 

Sure, they may drill with someone who was smaller or bigger. But when it's time to go after each other, they keep the people close to the same weight. Why are they so specific about keeping the weights similar? 

Because doing live takedowns with big weight differences can be dangerous! 

On any given day, in just about any BJJ gym, it's common to see people of vastly different weights rolling hard against each other. A 150lbs person with a 250lbs person isn't uncommon. 

And if you're the smaller grappler even if you don't get injured, you'll never develop the confidence to become skilled with takedowns since you'll never finish the takedown. Even if you have a good entry for a takedown you'll get countered and thrown around because when it comes down to it,

The ground can neutralize this a little, but there's a reason weight classes exist in Wrestling and Judo and why they don't do Open Weight Class divisions. 

Instead of getting smashed you'll be developing a false sense of security. 

Sure, throwing around someone that's 80lbs lighter than you is easy! But what happens when the person is just as big and strong as you are? You'll be in for a rude awakening my friend. 

That said, I'm going to share some details on my Wrestling for BJJ series, but keep this important idea in mind. . .

You should only practice takedowns live with someone who's within 10-20(max) of your weight. Especially early on when you're learning and the risk of injury is at it's highest. 

If you have training partners who are skilled and can roll smooth that's one thing. But if you're close to the same skill you'll never develop your takedown abilities against much larger or smaller training partners. 

I know this goes against the normal training norms of BJJ, but it's for the best when it comes to takedowns. Now if you're a Black Belt you can make your own decisions. And if it's on the ground, again, it's a different situation.