Starting with RAW 163 we have inverted our grappling curriculum meaning that we start with an aggressive defense over a lop-sided offense. Before I get into why we have made this drastic switch at this stage of the game let's look to the great wrestler Lou Thesz and how the legendary George Tragos trained Thesz to be such a fearsome mat-man. [BTW-Tragos gym was referred to as "Tragos' Torture Chamber" you gotta love that.]
"Tragos always started my lessons with me on the bottom, which is where you don't want to be. After a year or two, I finally got up my courage and asked him one day why I couldn't be the one on top for once, or why we couldn't start even. Tragos exploded. 'I am coach!' he yelled in his thick Greek accent. 'Any fool can start on top. If you start on the bottom, you learn to wrestle!' I never complained to him again...and I never ever got to start on top, either. He was absolutely right, though; I learned."
George Tragos and Lou Thesz are simply two of the many who realize the importance of training-inversion where we put smooth, fluid, assured defense ahead of cart-before-the-horse offense. As Tragos stated "Any fool can start on top," but if you can earn your way to the top position, ah, then we have something.
It is with this Tragos/Thesz lesson in mind that we have "bottomed-up" our grappling curriculum. We are choosing to choke-proof, arm-bar proof, shoulder-lock proof, leg-lock proof, and then position-proof the athlete rather than start with "here's a hook" or "Here's a transition" etc.
Many a fine athlete, and let's be frank, many a fine wrestler have been made to look foolish once the top-game has been turned by even a journeyman jiu-jitsu artist. To put a brake on these reversals it is wise not to give short shrift to being an escape artist, a Houdini on the mat as it were.
Build maximum trust in your bottom-up skills and the top-game can flow with even more abandon.
Don't take this inversion to mean that we give up top-game education, not at all.
Let's emphasize one aspect of Mr. Thesz's quote: "Tragos always started my lessons with me on the bottom, which is where you don't want to be."
That word "started" is key. We use our escape/submission-proofing inversion curriculum to gain the top-position where we then tighten it down.
It can make all the difference in the world if you can tie your top-position to arriving there from a bad position as opposed to simply starting there by rote agreement which is not really having earned it all.
