In jiujitsu people practice flow rolling as a type of exercise to warm up, training, or warm down. Flow rolling is the idea of free flowing from move to move with a partner. The exploration of transitions.  The ability to move from one move from one position to another without feeling interrupted or disjointed in movement. This is difficult. Flowing requires people to understand timing and execute the right movement at the right time. Doing this in a non match situation requires you and your partner to give and take. BUT when one is not sure if it’s their turn to give or take things can become problematic and even very disjointed. There are other ways to practice your flow than just loosely rolling around on the mat.

Resisted drilling: Resisted drilling is a type of drilling where you put yourself in the same position and have your partner give you some resistance. This resistance, the push pull, the left and right, up and down of weight shifting is a good way to study the position and figure out how to flow the movements. FLOWING COMES WITH TIMING AND KNOWING HOW PEOPLE WILL REACT. When you do resisted drilling you bring yourself back in the same position every time the situation changes and as a result are able to try the technique over and over to confirm the accuracy of your timing and transitions. I always ask my partner for more or less resistance depending on my mastery and understanding of the technique. As an example let’s take a look at the single leg takedown. Your partner could react in several different ways. 1. turn away and jump out 2. hug around the body 3. sprawl near hip down 4. sprawl far hip down 5. leg slip. Based on these different reactions your partner can use or transition between, you can work your single leg finishes.  This is the beginning of chaining, or micro chaining.

The flip side to micro chaining is macro chaining. This is done by chaining moves together with bigger transitions in mind. This looks much more like a jiujitsu demo or a match. It require you and your partner to work out a 5,10, or 15 move sequence of distinct techniques, combined in the form of a chain. For example. 1. pull guard 2. scissor sweep 3. mount 4. americana 5. escape americana 6. pass the guard to side 7. knee on belly 8. choke Chaining is beneficial because the student can think of a progression of attacks and counter attacks. This chaining is essentially a mind map to work towards in a match. Once the chain is set students and drill the chain to practice their flow. In this way there is no interruption to decide whose turn it is to attack or move. The move is set and the focus can be on flowing. A SET CHAIN OF MOVES ALLOWS THE STUDENT TO PRACTICE FLOW.

It’s ironic that a flow roll is better practiced from a regimented and planned series of chains instead of a random selection of movements decided in the moment. Structured practice gives reason and intent to helping the body learn and understand flow. Structured chaining gives the body the chance to learn the macro transitions necessary feeling and anticipating the partner to move in certain ways. Flow rolling is definitely a great exercise that forces the body to think in the moment, but chaining is also a method to help the body understand timing and transitions.