WHO IS TRAVIS STEVENS
Travis Stevens is a judoka and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner from the United States who competed in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. He competes in the men's half-middleweight (-81 kg) division. On August 9, 2016, Travis became the third American male judoka to win a silver medal in the Olympics. He is training BJJ under the mastermind John Danaher in Renzo Gracie Hq. Travis is not just a really good judo player that translates his judo into BJJ but he is indeed a very skilled BJJ athlete with deep understanding and the ability to combine his knowledge in both sports. In this video he posted on his youtube channel he gives some ideas and concepts for taking down a person usin judo techniques implemented to BJJ
In the first half of the video Travis is talking about a concept of crunching your belly and hunching a little bit your back while performing a take down. More than just and awesome technique to improve your technique it is a vital tip to protect your spine from unwanted backwards pressure as well as preventing your opponent to pull you on your back. Earlier on in my training I used to through the way Travis shows in the beginning of the video with a hip bump but lately i have found out people roll much better when you engage your core making it look like you are a little bit hunched.
First drill your Ukemi then drill your takedowns.