Teaching transition from the very beginning

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Practice.

This also answers the question of how you get good at transition from standing to mat work. I say this all of the time and I am saying it again. Practice. From the very beginning. In all types of settings.

I have shown white belts on this blog practicing throws on the crash pad doing o goshi or o soto makikomi landing in a pin. Here is the little mini-me Navida practicing transition from standing to mat work.

 

Three take-aways from this:

1. You're never too early to start practicing effective transition.
2. You can practice transition with any partner, even one much bigger than you.
3. You should practice transition from every throw.