Inside Position: Seizing Over Conceding

Being Intentional from the Start rather than Responding to Pressure

I had a true spiritual awakening of sorts since I started training at Marcelos.

Since I really developed an identity with my open guard as a Blue Belt, I’ve always played on the counter. I’ll concede the first move to my partner, welcoming their offense. I’ve been comfortable timing an entry to a leg entanglement or a wrestle up.

That habit? Punishable by death.

Fast forward— I’m on my first month here. I’m loving life in New York, the crispy pizza, the art deco towers, the opportunity to train at Marcelo fucking Garcias. I start a roll with a blackbelt, maybe my first Marcelo blackbelt, not sure. I sit to my open guard as always. Slap-bump.

Before I can wipe the sweat from my brow, this guys knee is stapled to my chest. I remember thinking “Oh this is no good, let me scoot back and reset—” and he takes a deep underhook. He yanks my torso down to the mat. Before I could even question why I do this JiuJitsu thing, I have a knee drilling into my gut, my arm is jacked up where it shouldn’t be, and my head is firmly wedged between a bony shoulder and the slick mat. My partner then knee cut into side control with the relative ease of taking a toy from a toddler. I was shellshocked.

Next round, it happened again. Hard step inside, vicious underhook, chest to chest, Guard sliced through like microwaved butter.

Remember that scene in The Avengers of Loki laying in a pile of rubble with a thousand yard stare after getting thrashed by the Hulk? Yeah that was me.

The mats taught me a valuable lesson that day: Don’t let opposition inside so easily. unless you like playing catch up.

I got into a bad habit of conceding inside position, and then getting going with my counter. This works on less skilled opponents. But at large? Lazy. Impractical. At this level, a death sentence.

I’m sure I’ve been punished for this over the years, but it’s never been hammered into my head before getting buzz sawed multiple times in a row for this critical error.

Limbs are strong close to the core. The minute your arm is forced away from your chest, that arm’s compromised. If you are wrestling, and you manage to get your head underneath your partners and drive it away from their hips, you have the advantage. If you are in double seated position with your partner, the one who gets their legs inside the others has the stronger, safer, more dangerous attacking options. Butterfly Guard? You already know. Endless applicability.

Being violated by these inside position bandits made me zoom out a bit on life. As above, so below type of deal. It’s always on the subway.

I would have this issue in other parts of life too. Letting shit hit the fan before making a move. Instead of leading with intention—from the jump—and keeping things on the rails in the first place. This could come in the form of a mountain of laundry, a Friday afternoon workload that should have been dispersed over the week…

It’s easy to slip into a habit of responding to pressure, like letting a training partner flatten you out before deciding “ok you’ve awakened the dragon”.

But the mark of a tactical mind is one who chooses intentionality from the jump. In your best Chael voice: “I can’t let you get close.” And from the slap bump, you seize inside position like it’s life or death. You never concede again.

Just remind me to stop giving up underhooks.

Garrett is a lifelong grappler with over 15 years of experience on the mats, including coaching, competing, and teaching privates. He has trained with and under multiple world champions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. Garrett works as a journalist and copywriter in advertising. You can find him training at Marcelo Garcia Academy in Manhattan.