Mental toughness challenged by BJJ?

That's weird. The slam is my go-to escape for the triangle. My last ditch attempt is standing and stomping my training partner's face. Somewhere in the middle there I usually deliver a 4-finger oil check.

I can tell you are being sarcastic, either that or my english isn't as good as I thought it was. (I'm staying in the UK atm but I'm from Russia)

But it seems as if you guys study BJJ for the hobby side of things, which is cool, but the guys I train with are all hoping to make careers out of MMA. When you train with serious people you have to simulate the real thing as close as you can get. I mean, we don't want black eyes and stuff so much obviously, but if you arent strong enough to take a slam in training, then you will get 'laid out' on a promotion for sure.

When you are in the ring your enemy isn't going to stop to make sure you are ok, so why should you do this when you train? I;m sorry if some people disagree, but that's just the way we train and others should be respectful. Especially if I have done nothing to provoke you.

I'm going to leave this here, becuase it seems as if I have angered people for some reason I can't quite understand.

Good luck to the original poster, remember to stay strong and always keep trying. Like I said before, that's true mental toughness and strength. Keep coming back even when you get your ass kicked! :)

EDIT: i just realized, i don't have the 'mental toughness' to stay in this thread, i have failed with my own advice!
 
You know, I can really relate to the way you feel. Submission is, in essence, related to emotions in which we express humility. When we're physically put in a specific position in which we are forced to react in this certain manner, patiently even if it's initially discomforting for us, we learn to accept an outcome that we already regard as unfavorable just because there's not much we can do about it. We accept it, just like we then accept defeat, only that this time it's made physical (through a choke or whatever it is you're locked in), and we are then forced to see the way in which our weaknesses hurt us and our own incompetence can not really save us. This is not a pretty thing to face, especially for the individuals who choose to live based on their own self-made perception of who they want to be instead of through what it is they really are.

Submission wrestling (or BJJ, in your case), tests your mental strength by letting yourself get caught in unfavorable situations because of your own inability to have chosen a better option. Be it because you did not know of any other option or simply because your lack of proper judgement at the time prevented you to choose something better, the outcomes you earn are so directly related to your own judgement that there's really no excuses for us to weasel through and ease our minds when we do happen to make a mistake.

This is the way in which such an art allows reality to slap us right across the face as it shows you what there really is. The mat doesn't lie...and of course, to some, this might be hurtful. If we're easy to accept our mistakes and learn from our errors, we would then find the art beautiful and incredibly self-enhancing. If we've chosen to live based on our self-made ideas of who we would like to be instead of fixing, piece by piece, who we really are in order to achieve that goal, then yeah, we would hate the way in which these submissions corner us against a wall.
 
I can tell you are being sarcastic, either that or my english isn't as good as I thought it was. (I'm staying in the UK atm but I'm from Russia)

But it seems as if you guys study BJJ for the hobby side of things, which is cool, but the guys I train with are all hoping to make careers out of MMA. When you train with serious people you have to simulate the real thing as close as you can get. I mean, we don't want black eyes and stuff so much obviously, but if you arent strong enough to take a slam in training, then you will get 'laid out' on a promotion for sure.

When you are in the ring your enemy isn't going to stop to make sure you are ok, so why should you do this when you train? I;m sorry if some people disagree, but that's just the way we train and others should be respectful. Especially if I have done nothing to provoke you.

I'm going to leave this here, becuase it seems as if I have angered people for some reason I can't quite understand.

Good luck to the original poster, remember to stay strong and always keep trying. Like I said before, that's true mental toughness and strength. Keep coming back even when you get your ass kicked! :)

EDIT: i just realized, i don't have the 'mental toughness' to stay in this thread, i have failed with my own advice!

Hey, man, I'm not angry, I was just joking around. I just disagree with slams in training, especially when the goal is to slip out of the triangle or knock your training partner out (which is what you mentioned before). Your club can do whatever it wants to as far as I'm concerned. Again, not angry, just joking around.
 
Hey, man, I'm not angry, I was just joking around. I just disagree with slams in training, especially when the goal is to slip out of the triangle or knock your training partner out (which is what you mentioned before). Your club can do whatever it wants to as far as I'm concerned. Again, not angry, just joking around.

I apologize.

Jokes are hard to understand online sometimes, it isn't the same as in person!

Sorry friend :)
 
Nope, i never had that trouble, or at least in don't remember.

I got great mental toughness from him, he would not allow people to tap from pinning, only from subs, and he would sometimes do certain things like pushing his chin into the eye sockets or scratch you with his recently shaved beard. But meh, that made someone with no previous grappling background win a state championship and to make it far into the regionals.

He latter softened up and it has not been the same, he just doesn't produces the warrior quality of our generation, of course people are less dedicated and more soft, so if he doesn't softens up, he ends up with no one.
 
Thanks for the advice and encouragement, everyone. I'm sure that my aversion to gi chokes will get a lot better as I progress in my training. For the sake of clarification, I'm totally in agreeance with everyone that says that mental toughness isn't determined by refusing to tap and staying in submissions that are potentially dangerous. I'm not at all above tapping; I get tapped all the time and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I was simply surprised with how much gi chokes challenged me on a mental level. One of the other posters in this thread mentioned that they had no problem with naked chokes, joint locks, etc. They just hated being gi choked. I feel exactly the same way. I'm still really loving BJJ, and I'm very quickly realizing the importance of the gi, both offensively and defensively.
 
simple solution: train your gi choke defense.
 
Thanks for the advice and encouragement, everyone. I'm sure that my aversion to gi chokes will get a lot better as I progress in my training. For the sake of clarification, I'm totally in agreeance with everyone that says that mental toughness isn't determined by refusing to tap and staying in submissions that are potentially dangerous. I'm not at all above tapping; I get tapped all the time and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I was simply surprised with how much gi chokes challenged me on a mental level. One of the other posters in this thread mentioned that they had no problem with naked chokes, joint locks, etc. They just hated being gi choked. I feel exactly the same way. I'm still really loving BJJ, and I'm very quickly realizing the importance of the gi, both offensively and defensively.

Keep training mate. It gets even more enjoyable a bit further down the road.
BJJ For Life!!
 
this is why I get annoyed sometimes when MMA guys say something like this after the fight: "oh yeah he had that choke sunk in pretty tight but I'm tough and I just refused to give up"

you don't "will" yourself out of a choke... If you escaped a really tight choke it's probably because the guy applying the choke fucked up.

being "tough" on the mat in terms of submission holds will eventually result in getting your shit broken. that's not being tough IMO, its being a stupid meathead.

being tough is remaining composed when you're being crushed and suffocated in a bad position, continuing to train when you're exhausted, and continuing to show up and train after getting smashed and demoralized. that's mental toughness.

tapping to a proper submission on the training mat is to be encouraged. suck it up, remember how it happened, and try again

great post. memorize this TS!
 
That always happens when people first start. Cause the people are actually doing chokes right. Not like when you are just messing around with your brother.

Thats why The UFC is billed "as real as it gets"

You are gonna be learning what REALLY works.
 
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