When NOT to leave the ego at the door?

[mcbadboy170]

I've been told by a good friend of mine from Rio that I need to quit being so "respectful" when we roll. He says its great to go hard, as long as both parties agree. My instructor agreed w/him 100%

 

[Aesopian]

I give 110% no matter who I'm rolling with. I'm training to be the best I can be and I want all my training partners and instructer to be the best they can be. My feeling don't get hurt if I tap. If I make someone else tap I assume they just work/train/think harder to make me tap the next time.

I assume if I'm to "gung ho" people will just avoid grappling with me in class.

Rolling 110% is good and everything, but don't overlook the gains you can get from going lighter, such as it giving you a chance to work on new techniques and skills before they make it into your 110% game.

 

[Oktavius**]

I am still trying to learn how to roll light without hurting my game too much. I find it very difficult to roll light and use good technique and strategy. But when i roll at normal 60-90% for class i do fine and see myself learning a lot more. The % i roll at depends on how much better/determined the partner is and this seems to be working well.

When rolling against easier partners i get to practise new techniques and difficult techniques, but against better poeple i might stick more to bread and butter moves depending on if i want to try and win or not.

Im kind of lucky to be in a 'middle ground' of skill level at my club at the moment, so there are plenty of ppl to learn from and plenty of poeple to practise on . I guess its more difficult when you are at one end of the spectrum.

When someone catches me square and i cant wriggle out without spazzing i will tap no worries and say " well done mate" and i dont have a problem with that.

Still cant get the hang of the light rolling thing, i think it can hurt my game more than help it.

Just remember to keep trying the techniques you need to work on while rolling, and dont be afraid of the belt colour of your partner or show him too much respect. If it works great, if it doesnt try and see where you went wrong.

 

[Aardvark]

I'm still a bjj newbie (a little under a year), but my own position is that I tend to roll at ~70%. The exact number is of course meaningless, but I basically roll relaxed, make a definate effort to sweep/pass/sub but will let go and move to something else if I sense something isn't working. I.e. I won't spend minutes trying to break a grip or in a pin or whatnot. If someone passes my guard or taps me, it's cool. Try to figure out why it happened and if neccissary, ask upper belts later on to help me with problem areas. However, about once a week or two, I'll come in with the intention of rolling at 100%, basically to make sure I'm still able to get to a mental state where I feel "on" and see where I stand in relation to other folks.

I honestly think the vast majority of my learning happens during the days when I'm conciously rolling lighter. It's not so much a question of ego as one of delayed gratification. I'm kind of at the point where I almost like it when someone taps me repeatedly with a particular technique/set of techniques as it gives me a clear area that I need to improve. Of course it's always better to come back and make them your bitch, but it's equally important to have a clear sense of where your danger positions are. These are the things you get a chance to work on in training.

All that said, a huge part of competition is imposing your own strong points on your opponent, which is almost the exact opposite. Like anything else, you won't get better at that unless you practice it.

So, in other words, your "ego" is a key part of actually putting bjj to use on someone who has other ideas, but make sure you have plenty of "play" time.

 

[Headache]

Rolling 110% is good and everything, but don't overlook the gains you can get from going lighter, such as it giving you a chance to work on new techniques and skills before they make it into your 110% game.

Thanks for the advise, I agree with that.

 

[fozzit]

the only time my ego comes out is if i feel someone who is inferior to me has caught me in a bad position.. other than that i like to roll real slow and work on technique with everybody and only turn on the fire if someone trains like a dickhead...

 

[iclimb513]

How to roll with much lower intensity and much more technique in one easy step:

BOTH of you train with your eyes closed.

 

[Gavin LeFever]

you shouldnt be thinking about ego at all when rolling. just for the point that it's a distraction from what you're doing.

when rolling, i've gotten some guys in a sub and i have the option of a quick thrust for the tap because (some newer guys dont know to tap unless they feel an amount of pain) or let go and possibly fall into a dominant potion on me. i've never jacked a sub for the tap, even if i felt the hold was good. i'll either lay there staring at them or move on. if you're thinking about your ego, maybe you force the tap, maybe you hurt them, but you nor he learns.

if you miss the sub, you learn to flow into something else with a higher success rate or you improve your hold or you get better at recovering control and regaining your dominant position. the mark of a higher belt is the willingness to go for subs such as an armbar, and may you miss, your skill allows you regain your dominant position. that's where we all want to be. this is how you learn to attain that skill.

on the other side of the spectrum. last tuesday i had my buddy in an armbar from guard, i felt it was good, but i got stacked. at this point i felt i could shoot my hips up for a quick tap and possibly hurt him a little or be stacked and get passed. well, he passed to side contorl. i pulled half, then full guard and got another armbar. in the end the 2nd armbar sucked and he passed (i felt he expected the armbar and i telegraphed) and eventually tapped me a few mins later or something like that.

could i have gotten the tap the first time? yes, but i feel that even though i got tapped, it's progress in some form and shows me i need to get my mastery of these moves to a point where i dont feel i have to explode for a tap. jiu jitsu is all about control.

 

[Commissar]

the only time my ego comes out is if i feel someone who is inferior to me has caught me in a bad position.. other than that i like to roll real slow and work on technique with everybody and only turn on the fire if someone trains like a dickhead...

haha I'm probably the slowest grappler in the world. I'm rather small, but I'm always the one slowing the match down to a crawl. Recently, though, I've decided not to close my guard much.

When I spar, I don't care whether I win or I lose. I try moves that don't work for me. That way, eventually they start working, and if they don't, I get to practice escaping a shitty position.

Because of this, I'm pretty much impossible to keep rear mount on for any length of time, and near impossible to tap from there. Based on my amazing back defense that I made from accidently giving it for months.

 

[Ybot]

Ego and intensity are different things. Are your feelings hurt when you get tapped by someone who is less experienced than you? That's ego. The point is it doesn't help your game, and instead of trying to figure out why you lost now your trying to proove it was a fluk, or take revenge, and someone now is more likely to be hurt.

Intensity is another thing. Nobody learns much rolling with a rag doll. You need to keep your intensty up at a level where you are going for the win. This depends on the partner your rolling with, the amount of time you are rolling for, and what it is you want to work on.

Don't just roll to survive (against better opponents it becomes that, but don't go in with that intention). I believe that you should always roll to win. The ego thing is your not rolling to win at any cost (like an injury to your partner or yourself).

 

[Richard Emling]

when fighting/competing

 

[Crooks]

i totally agree with aardvark, rolling lightly allows you to concentrate on techniques and get comfortable with them. i myslef never roll 100% with people newer than me, i was told once before (and it makes perfect sense) that rolling with people newer than yourself is how you improve. it gives you a chance to try your techniques and really get them working, feeling familiar and flowing smoothly, something you wouldn't be able to do with guys better than yourself.

i personally never let anyone tap me, that i can help, but that doesn't mean i go 100%, stay calm and relaxed, see your opponents attacks comming and get comfortable with reading them and reacting.

but that said, imo you should NEVER "let" anyone tap you. if you know they are close, use it as a chance to practice your escapes, asuming you can help it.

 

[OpethDrums]

ego is interesting in boxing gyms too. the nice guys dont look nice. the mean guys dont look nice. nobody is really open about it if they are nice.