Kit Dale: “Not Having A Good Gripping Game In BJJ Is Like Trying To Ride A Bike With No Handlebar”

19 Sep, 2022

How good is your gripping game in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? Well, if you want to become better in BJJ, then it’s your gripping game that has to get better first; for, almost all things in Jiu-Jitsu start with dominant grips.
Kit Dale explains why this is so important:

Not having a good gripping game will be like trying to ride a bike with no handlebar! I.e. very difficult to control.

When it comes to Jiu-Jitsu, if you can’t control your opponent… If you can’t pull them in, push them away, move them your way – you’re gonna have a hard time getting anything done! You’ll also have a hard time defending or slowing things down, which will prevent you from gaining time to think or recover when necessary.

For instance, Dale explains the difference between a friction grip and a seatbelt grip:

A friction grip would be you relying on the friction of your opponents’ skin, to hold them. A seatbelt grip would be you wrapping your hands around them, clasping your hands together, in either a Gable or Monkey grip and holding them that way.

He also emphasizes the importance of understanding how to deal with wet or dry opponents:

There’s a huge difference when someone is in a dry or wet no-gi. A dry body will have a lot more grip, whereas a wet body will be more slippery.
If your opponent is wearing a long-sleeve rashguard, it’s good to know that a wet one will have more grip, than a dry long-sleeve rashguard.

And a loose long-sleeve rashguard will be way more slippery than a dry or a wet arm, because of the fact that the material will keep moving!

Also, it’s important to understand gripping in relationship to posture:

You don’t want to overextend; tryign to control areas of the body that will be dangerous for you based on their posture. You will want to understand which grips to make, dictated by their posture.

Kit Dale explains more about gripping on the Instagram post below: