I would really urge you to take the time to go through this because almost everyone (including some grappling greats) get this wrong.
I’ll explain:
Fairly often in online discussions, including my own 40 Plus BJJ group, you’ll see some version of this very common topic:
“How much strength should I use in Jiu-Jitsu?”
This isn’t just one of the most frequently recycled subjects in the art – it’s one of the most frequently misunderstood, even by experienced and knowledgeable grapplers.
I’ve done quite a few other posts and videos on the subject, but I continued to see the same kinds of responses over and over again, where the logic was flawed and/or there was important context missing.
The problem is, these opinions that everyone seems so certain about are rooted in logical fallacies of one type or another. For example:
Reasoning by analogy: “Strength matters! If it didn’t there wouldn’t be weight classes” or “look at all the high level competitors, they’re all jacked!”
Reasoning by analogy: “Just use the attributes you have. The flexible guys use flexibility and fast guys use speed, so you should use your strength.”
Reasoning by analogy: “It’s about efficient use of strength. As long as you don’t get tired it doesn’t matter if you use it, just don’t rely on it.”
Reasoning from authority: “Famous competitor (or instructor) XX said a huge part of his success was his strength and flexibility.”
Do any of these sound like your own opinion?
A while back I decided to go straight to the comments from some posts on this topic in the 40 Plus BJJ group and do a video breaking down each commenter’s specific argument using first principles deductive reasoning and answer this question in more depth, with the proper context.
It’s an in depth video at 47 minutes in length.
Now here’s what’s interesting…
I posted the video in the group and wrote this:
One rule: only comment or ask a question on this post if you’ve watched the full video (i.e., not cherry picked one thing I said).
Anyone who just reads the title of this post and writes:
‘Strength matters blah blah’ is the one most in need of watching it. I’ve done other videos on this topic but this one is more extensive and I go right to the comments of today’s threads about using strength in training.
This is long form but I think it’s important to address as many contexts and nuances of this topic as possible because frankly, it comes up time and time again.
So what happened was, I had some incredible feedback on the content, but there were also a handful of detractors in the comments who were adamant that I was wrong.
Now here’s the thing. In every single case, the people insisting I was incorrect didn’t do the one thing I asked, which was to watch the video first!
(In some cases they said they did but after pressing them it turned out they only watched a few minutes of it, or they simply weren’t being honest because it was clear that if the had watched it, they would have realized they were arguing against something I didn’t say).
When it was very clear that they were just regurgitating points that I addressed in detail in the video (which they didn’t watch), I’d just refer them back to the video, at which point a few of them did the usual move of turning ad hominem (personal attack, another logical fallacy) and saying I was too boring to listen to for 47 minutes.
And that’s fine. My presentation style may be great for some tastes, not great for others. But I would say this:
If there’s a topic of direct relevance and concern to me in an activity that is meaningful to me where I invest a great deal of time and energy (Jiu-Jitsu), and it just might be that I’m getting something wrong in my approach to that activity that could negatively effect my development, I would want to listen carefully regardless of whether the speaker is to my preferred taste or not.
In most cases, I suspect that isn’t really the real issue at all, but instead just a way to save face and surrender to intellectual laziness, i.e. I don’t want to have to take three quarters of an hour to think and question my opinions.
But if you are interested in getting more clear on the different contexts in which strength factors into Jiu-Jitsu training and how much you should be using it, here’s the video below. Enjoy!
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