Are you a slippery water jammer? Or do you bulldoze like an earth jammer?

Those are the questions my teammates started asking each other after a jamming clinic with Miss Tea Maven earlier this year where she summarized a theory, Elemental Jamming. Earth jammers are strong and push through, Air doesn’t want to be touched and will quickly whirl around the outside, fire has the intensity to hit hit hit, and water uses opponents to glide through cracks in walls.

I followed up with Maven who let me know Elemental Jamming is the brainchild of Optimus Grime, a skater for Manchester Roller Derby and Team Scotland. He was nice enough to break it all down for us:

Earth

• Earth is immovable, physically and emotionally. They decide a path and are immovable from it.
• Keeps shoulders and hips square, drives with legs and puts pressure on all points of contact. Requires core strength.
• Stubborn as hell. Resilient and enduring.
• Strength:The middle and constant contact
• Weakness: Speed
• Example you may know: Freight Train, Short Stop

Air

• Fast, airborne and jumping. Uses expressive body posturing, like a dancer.

• Fearless, playful, fun and free

• The original/classic style of jamming: skate hard, go fast, be quicker than other people

• Strength: Speed and efficiency

• Weakness: Risky and cardio-intensive

• Example you may know: Rollomite, Mutch Mayhem circa 2015 (she’s becoming more earthly)

Water:

• Water jammers use rotation movements to flow past opponents using their body and momentum. They uses deception and absorption of force.

• They are balanced, patient, ever-changing, unpredictable

• They use opponents and teammates to roll through. They absorb force and use it to their advantage.

• Mindset: Balanced, placid

• Strength: Unpredictable and adaptable

• Weakness: Relies on space

• An example you may know: Lady Trample, Miss Tea Maven

Fire

• Fire jammers are explosively driven and refuse to allow anything to stand in the way

• They use oblique twists, a stance that’s loaded to one side, aggressive pressure and explosive movement

• Desire and unbreakable will

• Strength: Strong mental game and physical tenacity

• Weakness: Can burn out of control or become too aggressive.

• Examples you may know: Missile America (retired, Rat City), Scald Eagle

“People quickly identify which they are and what they’re good at naturally, and they can identify what they’re not good at. Most people are a mix of two, the most common is air/water combined (bubble),” said Grime, who identifies as a fire jammer.

Once someone knows what they are and what they aren’t, they can focus on building up their weaker styles. It gives a common language to chunks of skills, but without a hierarchy. It’s not better to naturally be an earth than a fire. For some people, that helps them open up to their strengths and weaknesses without judgement.

“I like this as a coaching tool,” he said. “Because blockers outnumber jammers usually 80 percent of training is geared toward blockers. Jammers are generally told, ‘just do your thing’ with limited coaching. This concept gives people a simple structure of who they are, what they do naturally and identifies what they could work on. It carries on so even if you achieve avatar status, you can still think about developing your different styles. It gives an appealing structure quickly.”

Grime came up with this framework after he and his teammates Tea Virus, Phoenix and Hugs n Kisses started comparing jamming to the tribes and characters in the cartoon show Avatar: The Last Airbender. He built it up from there. The ideal is to become an “avatar” who can harness the strengths of all the jamming elements.

“In my head the overall goal is become an avatar,” Grime said. “If someone is only jukey, they’re easy to predict. If they’re only pushy they’re easy to predict. If they can juke and hit and spin they’re difficult to deal with.”

“It’s about jumping between style as you jump between moves. It’s about coming in placid and switching to what you need during gameplay. It opens up a spectrum of ideas and body shapes and even computer-style combos. Like try earth move then air move then fire move — it’s endless like a martial arts sequence is endless, so long as you have the ability. Unless you’re athletically inclined it’s difficult to be able to do all four because some aren’t achievable without some athletic ability,” he said.

Many people are a combination of two styles.

Bubble jammer: air, water
Fire earth: lava
Dust/sand: earth and air
Steam: water, air, fire   … etc.

“It’s fun just thinking about these ideas,” Grime said.

It is.

Some people’s cross-training informs their style.

“You’ll see patterns,” Grime said. “Powerlifters seem to be earth jammers: they’re not afraid of slow grinding muscle movements like a slow grinding deadlift and being stubborn, it’s a powerlifter mentally. I’ve seen boxers and rugby players with that fire mindset – that mindset is important to fire jamming. Air is used to keeping a set pace like runners, having that agile ability. Stef ainey was a water jammer and they used to do some sort of aggressive tai chi.”

Once you identify your natural element, you’ll want to work on a not-as-natural one. Grime suggests working only on that element, to the detriment, for at least one month before moving on.

“You won’t be successful at first and it takes control of your brain to say ‘I’m only doing this style of movements even if I don’t get lead and don’t get anywhere,’” he said.

He suggests “sparring,” going through the motions without trying to hit people down, just drilling the actual motions repeatedly and plotting out next moves.

So you want to work on it? Here are some of his tips:

Tips for earth jamming:

• Never apply all force into one attack. It’s about steady, even forward force

• Take on obstacles head-on, without hesitation

• Adopt a neutral mindset: I am going forward. Whatever you do doesn’t phase me

• Exploit your opponents stance weaknesses. Once they’re reeling, deliver the final blow

• Watch one of Grime’s earth jamming drills on how to avoid “the death push.” 

Tips for air jamming:

• Have faith or hope for being successful

• Approach pack at high speed

• Surrender your body to a task, even if it is risky

• Mindset: I’m am free. I am brave!

• Watch one of Grime’s air move drills.

Tips for water jamming:

• Lead with your hips; try a seated shape

• Practice using the force of an opponent’s hit to shape your next move

• Work on 180 and 360 transitions

• Mindset: go with the flow

• Be patient for opportunities

• Watch Grime’s demo of a water drill

Tips for fire jamming:

• Fire jammers often use shoulders or whole body, rather than leading with hips

• Crosstrain oblique twists and explosive movements (plyometrics)

• Mindset: Get out of my f****** way

• Watch one of Grime’s fire drills.

Having a hard time picturing it? Grime has this video demo of some moves different styles do. This short one is good for visual learners too.

Drop how you identify in the comments.

Optimus Grime is a jammer for Team Scotland and Manchester Roller Derby. He is a coach and will be leading a small US west-coast tour after RollerCon (where he’s teaching Elemental Jamming). Grime also used to be a circus performer, acting as an acrobatic base and a unicycler. Find more of his clinics and more information on his Facebook page facebook.com/optimusgrime10