- Why would a lever be used in Jiu Jitsu? Well, the point of Jiu Jitsu is to out maneuver your opponent and subdue them to keep them from kicking, wrestling or tackling you. The main point is to suppress any opportunities for them to overpower you. A lever is something that you use to push up or down on the opposite side of a force. To define lever, it is something that is capable of rotating on a point on itself. It would be useful even if you are against a larger opponent because weight is not as important then if you know where to strike/take a hold of in order to unbalance your opponent
- Why does Jiu Jitsu follow this progression? What is the background? Jiu Jitsu is mainly focused on unbalancing your opponent based on force and the laws of phsyics. In Jiu Jitsu, the main things you want to do are get your opponent to the ground, get past obstacles such as their legs or arms, control their shoulders and hips in order to stop them from resisting and moving, and make them submit or tap out.
- Why does Jiu Jitsu want to get control? Basically once you get control and maintain it, you’ve won. If your opponent does not have range of motion in their hips, shoulders, legs, or arms, they essentially can do nothing to get back at you, besides squirming on the ground in an attempt to throw you off. If you control their movements, there will be virtually nothing that they can do to harm you or cause you pain in an attempt to regain control. Jiu Jitsu is all about gaining control and maintaining it in order to be victorious.
The reason you want to get your opponent on the ground is that once they are on the ground, it can be hard for them to get back onto their feet if you have the dominant position or if you have control of their body to prevent them from doing so. If you get past their limbs, because legs and arms can hold a lot of power in the muscles, that power can be used to strike you down if you are not completely focused on evading their counters. As for the shoulders and hips, even if you get past their legs, ensuring they cannot move their hips or shoulders is essential if you want to maintain the control that you have. You may have the upper hand after getting past their limbs, but if they can still move their shoulders they can easily place you into a vulnerable position or a choke, and if they are able to move their hips, they can wrap their legs around you and attempt to flip you over. Once you have gained control, the last thing you want them to do is to submit or tap. This means that they realize you have won and they have accepted that they were not successful in defeating you.
Below there are 3 different kinds of positions that are labelled with a lever, fulcrum, load and force.
The Class 1 Lever which is in all the examples I chose is when the fulcrum is located between the input and the output force.
This below is a Class 1 lever. The official name for this is called the Arm Bar. In this technique, Ryan’s arm is grabbed with Sean’s arm and Ryan’s forearm is placed onto Sean’s chest. To lock the arm, all Sean would have to do is to lean back and then arch his hips.This puts a lot of pressure on the elbow joint, which is not very flexible when hyperextended compared to when it is normally extended, and it would cause Ryan to tap out.
This again is a Class 1 lever. The name for this is called the Knee Bar. The way this works is that the force is applied to Mr. Brown’s knee joint and cause it to be forced in the opposite way of its actual form. If you think about it, your knee has way less flexibility and dexterity when it is forced to bend the opposite way of how the bones are aligned. The pressure is again put on such a vulnerable part of the body that it would be painful to not tap out. In theory, a bar could be used against any chosen limb, as all you need to do is to use the force of your body against an isolated limb of your opponents.
This below is yet again another Class 1 lever, which is called the Straight Arm Lock. The Straight Arm Lock again, has the aim to place an extreme amount of pressure behind the opponents elbow. The direction the force is applied needs to be the opposite way of how the elbow naturally bends. The main source of pressure in this is the hands behind the ulnar process of the elbow. There is a small pocket behind that you can perfectly place your hands palm-to-palm in order to maintain a proper, tight grip.. Now, Sean has trapped Mr. Brown’s wrist with his hand. Being kept in this position for an increased amount of time with an increasing amount of pressure is unbearable, and ultimately the pressure of such a fragile muscle/ligament on such an odd angle makes the fight very vulnerable.
