Keep Rolling Rolling Rolling

Since starting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu last year at Professor Pedro Sauer's school, I've had to regularly do forward and backward shoulder rolls. Both are part of the KMG curriculum we follow at my Krav Maga school, but we don't practice as often.

I've been trying to improve my backward rolls because they are part of the regular Jiu-Jitsu warmup drills. The instructors and many students can do them slowly, without building momentum. This was my goal, to smoothly roll backward over either shoulder.

Recently I watched a video by Stephan Kesting titled 3 Most Common Backwards Shoulder Roll Mistakes. I paid close attention to his technique and took a series of screen captures. Something clicked when I watched him roll backwards towards the camera.

The breakthrough for me was watching how Stephan twists his whole upper body off the centerline, and then swings his legs along the centerline. For whatever reason, that clicked with me. I tried focusing on those two elements and suddenly I could roll a lot smoother, over either shoulder!

Thank you Stephan for this great video and expert instruction!

How are your backward rolls? Stay informed of new blog posts by following me on Twitter @martialvitality.