I heard the following quote on a youtube (:28-:58 www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gLdqOlBGng) video and went ‘yeeessss:’
“There is hardly ever a sleight, technique, or move that is designed to be used equally well all the time in every situation. A great deal about learning to be a cardman is learning to understand exactly what the ideal purpose is of every technique, idea…etc.”
Pure gold applying equally well to BJJ.
The first thing is do you have a coach?
Most people think ‘yes,’ because they go to class…
Keep in mind that class is designed for instruction on a specific topic.
Coaching on the other hand is personal.
So assuming you are one of the few and proud who have taken the time to actively seek out and develop a relationship with a coach…
How well do you listen?
Listening in a BJJ context means being willing to scrap something you have had some success with in favor of what your coach suggests.
Often this process requires a ton of work in exchange for little success, or more likely initially heading backward.
My friend Garrett mentioned the other day that he heard Royce say that drilling techniques doesn’t work because things don’t ever go down the same way in sparring.
This is where everyone gets lost. The goal when you’re isolating a position is to get the idea behind the move ingrained.
I really don’t even like the idea of posture unless you give an explanation of the body mechanics behind it.
Without such explaining all you’re doing is giving a person something to copy before trying to apply it on a living, breathing, moving opponent.
The result more often than not is forcing something that isn’t there.
No timing, no sensibility, no jiu-jitsu.
The only way your going to pull off a ‘pass’ exactly the way it is shown in class is if you wrestling a grappling dummy.
Strive to understand the thinking behind the move:
What makes it work? How? What are the principles involved? When does it work, when is it not there?
A technique is an isolated example of how you can achieve an objective. Nothing more, nothing less.
Don’t get caught up on the finger…
Reading the ‘The Gracie Way,’ I had no idea that Waldemar Santana (fought Helio for 3 hours 45 minutes) and Carlson fought six times, twice vale tudo and 4 times in a gi. This footage must be from their second vale tudo match:
Carlson quotes from ‘The Gracie Way:’
“Jiu-jitsu is all one thing; it is all the same, however I am a very dedicated and studious person. I am always inventing new positions, evolving old ones. I research positions and with repetition and observation I improve on them. Because everything in the world changes and progresses, so I try to do that with jiu-jitsu.”
On Rolls Gracie:
“He (Rolls) was one of the students that is always looking for the essence, the full knowledge of everything…He wasn’t just satisfied with the basics. He always wanted to understand what made everything work and why.”
The Bat Blog 