breaking balance: People will tell you all the time about the power of body weight to create pressure from top position. What they often overlook is that you can use the opponents body weight against HIM from BOTTOM just as easily as he can use it against YOU from TOP – if you can break his balance. From the top players perspective his weight is both a blessing and curse. If he can maintain his balance he can use his weight to immobilize, crush and fatigue you. If he can't maintain his balance his weight will make him stumble and extend himself. The whole game then, becomes one of balance. As a bottom player if you regularly make an opponent stumble reach for the floor – half the game is won. The time immediately after a stumble – where an opponent tries desperately to regain his posture and position, is one of the most vulnerable. Attacks that normally seem very difficult suddenly become very easy. The surest sign that an attack on an opponents balance has been successful is his hips or hands involuntarily touching the mat. Practice knocking an opponent down to hips and hands as often as you can. Here, Craig Jones, a young master of off balancing from bottom position, trips an opponent with a variation of a tripod sweep. You can see the immediate defensive reaction of posting a hand to the mat – opening the door for lower body submissions and reversals that are the real goal
