CHILL!
So this afternoon I had the opportunity to roll no-gi with MMA fighters 10 years younger than me who were also bigger and stronger. Why should this matter? Technique overcomes strength afterall. Well what technique does not always overcome is a 60lb weight disparody.
How did it go you might ask. Well what a great experience. My learning curve got a great boost today. What I learned was to chill. Bigger, younger, faster opponents are hard to overcome. It was useless to try and out maneuver them. Directing my energy to defence proved to be a lot better. Greater technical knowledge only helps on the mat when you can execute. Knowing that your arm is going to get taken or knowing you are vulnerable to a sweep and not being able to do anything about it doesn not help.
Instead of meeting head on and trying to be faster or quicker or even trickier with my techniques and sweeps I found it much better to out think my opponents. Think 2, 3 and even 4 steps ahead of them. Block an attack or pass and open up another only to shut it down ultimately gassing them out and leading them where I want them. What a great feeling – this is the true spirit of Jiu Jitsu.
One match my opponent tapped from under the mount – out of gas and out of breath, I didn’t even bother attempting a submission (I was curious if I could hold the mount on an opponent that much bigger, younger and stronger) – What a great feeling.
So, what I took away from this was that the true spirit of Jiu Jitsu will always prevail. Chill, don’t be the aggressor, let your opponent come to you, shut him down and then take control of his will and spirit by leaving openings, closing them to open others, shut those down and so on. The true spirit of Jiu Jitsu is not to charge in and grab a submission. The true spirit is to allow the smaller, weaker opponent to defend against the larger, stronger, more athletic and ultimately end the fight “peacefully”. Tap into this and it is pure magic.
It is easy to get complacent rolling with opponents your size or skill levels. Try rolling with someone who is alot larger, stronger and faster. You will be forced to tap into this spirit and if you “chill” you will see a whole new side of the game.
See you on the mats…..
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Excellent post, Adam. Being of the older sect as well, I am constantly combating not only my opponent but Father Time. I’m gonna make that old bugger tap one of these days! I’m still very young in my martial arts career, but am quickly realizing that strength isn’t everything. Posture, technique, position, set-ups…I’ll take all of that over Herculean strength for the most part. Prof. Saulo Ribero states that you should only use size/strength for finishing submissions – all the rest is 100% technique. Now, I don’t completely agree in a no-gi situation, where explosive size and strength advantages really become apparent…but in yes-gi situations, I’m a firm believer that strength can only take you so far and that superior technique can save you from a beating. You might not be able to win, in the case of points or scoring the submission victory, but you can definitely survive on the bottom with superior technique.
Thanks Sen. With age also comes calm and patience. When you are not concerned with going for the tap right away you chill and start to see so many more openings.