I saw that I was tagged on Facebook and this was the context of the post…
My friend over in the UK is an extremely smart BJJ black belt for whom I have tremendous respect. One of his students had posted about a “lightbulb moment” he experienced in class that morning:
What hit me this session, was that (for me anyway) in the first half there were few submissions won or conceded, then in the 2nd half, once tiredness had set in for me and some of my training partners, more were won or conceded.
Tiredness led to mistakes and mistakes led to taps.
This really reinforces what [his instructor / my friend] coaches.
Control breathing, use proper mechanics and weight distribution so you conserve energy while your opponent fatigues.
My friend, his coach, made this comment on the post (this is where he tagged me):
I remember that roll. I’ll unpack it a bit…
The purple belt was a very good, younger, slightly bigger, and very athletic competitor.
I started off laying on my back as he worked to pass. Early on he left an opening trying to get past my knee shield and I was able to secure a submission. As soon as that happened, his energy changed from a roll to a full on competition match.
As my friend pointed out, we simply had different objectives for that roll.
The purple belt’s primary focus was to submit me.
And there’s nothing wrong with that in itself, of course; after all, Jiu-Jitsu is about using technique to survive, then control, and then ultimately get the submission, right?
No argument there.
But that’s not the full story, is it?
Because unless we’re talking about a fight or a competition, where the raw outcome IS the primary objective (i.e., winning), Jiu-Jitsu is every bit as much about how you arrive at a particular outcome as it is about the outcome itself.
In other words, it’s not just about effectiveness, but about effectiveness relative to efficiency.
And in the case of this particular roll at that camp, my primary focus was to make it as productive as possible from an efficiency standpoint.
I remember that it was hot, it had been a long day, and if I had attempted to match his energy I knew it would have meant being sore and worn out for the rest of the weekend.
So, in the words of Bruce Lee (borrowing from Taoism): when you expand, I contract; when you contract, I expand.
My training partner had very much “expanded,” so I “contracted’ by just conceding mount bottom.
Make no mistake, he wasn’t a spazz. He was technical. But nevertheless it was very aggressive, an absolute onslaught.
The difference in our objectives was this: whereas he wanted to use technical Jiu-Jitsu plus physicality to submit me (which again, I’m all for when it comes to competition), I wanted to use technical Jiu-Jitsu with as little physicality as possible in order to make my Jiu-Jitsu more efficient.
If that means just surviving the onslaught, great. If it means eventually sweeping, getting to a dominant position, and getting the submission, great.
There’s an important distinction here that many tend to miss, but my friend saw it.
And this really has nothing to do with patting myself on the back because he used me as his example –– instead, think of that roll as simply a metaphor for illustrating something that will be huge for your long term development as a grappler:
Even many excellent Jiu-Jitsu practitioners mistakenly believe that being technical using a combination of good technique and their physical attributes is the same thing as being technical using good technique with the minimum of physical attributes.
(When I say physical attributes, that could be strength, explosiveness, flexibility, speed and high paced cardio, etc.)
But these are not the same thing, and herein lies the fundamental confusion.
The fact is, there is an inverse relationship between mechanical efficiency and the output of physical energy.
Here’s the moral of the story on a bumper sticker:
Never assume that you’re playing the same game as someone else just because you’re on the same field.
Because there are finite games (the short term outcome of this particular roll) and there are infinite games (skill development for long term development and sustainability), aren’t there?
And once more, I want to make absolutely clear that context is important here. Because obviously the context changes when preparing for competition, competing, and for sure in an actual self defense situation. In those contexts, the finite outcomes IS the main thing, so use whatever you’ve got because you must assume your opponent will.
But in the context of regular practice and learning to be as efficient and effective as possible with your Jiu-Jitsu, that “going hard” and using whatever you’ve got is going to impede your development.
This doesn’t mean goofy “flow rolling” where you’re creating bad habits, or training in slow motion or anything like that. It just means that you’re always trying to earn the outcome with optimal efficiency, even if that means deferring the outcome (the win)…
Again, in some contexts how you arrive at the outcome is every bit as important as the outcome itself. Assertive is not the same as aggressive, early is not the same thing as explosive, etc.
And in many cases, this distinction will be completely invisible to those who are focused on the finite game vs the infinite game.
Because one partner will be getting off the mat after a roll like this thinking “I just worked over that upper belt for 25 minutes and they only got position on me at the end” when in reality a whole other game was taking place that he didn’t see because of the paradigm and mental model that he was operating within.
Now here’s the real trick when it comes to playing the infinite game:
It’s one thing for you to understand it and be willing to do it. It’s another thing altogether to do it when you know full well that your training partners (especially if they’re lower belts, students, etc) don’t see it and they’re keeping score.
That’s when your ego will kick in and you’ll be tempted to either match their intensity and physicality, or you’ll feel the need to constantly justify yourself.
My advice? Don’t worry about that. All that matters is the game that YOU are optimizing for, and being clear on that in your own mind is enough.
