Details

I really like the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu program.

The basic material is called Combatives. All the stuff they expect you to learn before you get a Blue Belt has been organized into 23 lessons.

Schools go through the material one lesson after the other, and then repeat the sequence.

This means that if an instructor likes a particular technique, he will still only cover it on 1/23 of the lessons. If he dislikes another, he will still cover it 1/23 of the time. Nothing gets emphasized or downplayed. It keeps cycling along.

The entire evening's class is spent observing, and then practising the techniques of that lesson.

In the Combatives classes one does not free-roll. Students learn and drill. After doing every class twice the student then starts attending what is called Reflex Development classes in addition to the regular Combatives lessons.

At Reflex Development, there are sometimes unscripted classes. Let's call this free-rolling. By that time the student has some basic technique to use and doesn't just thrash about.

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is known for the attention to detail. Detractors call it controlling or anal. I don't care if it is. I go to class to learn what the experts have spent decades figuring out. I do not go to class to try and figure out what to do on my own.

Teach me, drill me, and then let me roll and apply what I've learned.

Jiu-Jitsu blogs almost universally decry the kind of guy who attends class to dominate with power and pain. Can't say I've run into any such people so far. It wouldn't matter if I had. We'd be learning and drilling. Aggression and strength is useless in that context.

The Gracie secret came to the world's attention starting in 1993. The UFC was brand new. Fighters fought in a tournament format and had to defeat 3 or 4 opponents to win the event.

Royce Gracie participated in the first four UFC tournaments. He won three of them. Even his one failure to win illustrated why Jiu-Jitsu is effective.

He was always by far the smallest competitor in the event, but even so the pure strikers stood no chance. Against grapplers, size and strength is more of a factor. In the first event he faced grappler Ken Shamrock, in the second he went against European Judo player Remco Pardoel, in the fourth it was heavyweight wrestler Dan Severn, and in the third Kimo Leopoldo.

Shamrock outweighed Royce by about 60 pounds and was an experienced submission fighter. He tapped out in 57 seconds.

Remco Pardoel was an experienced Judoka, and bigger, and stronger. Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu share all the same techniques, but with different emphasis and detail. He lasted 73 seconds, defeated in the details.

Dan Severn was 65 pounds bigger than Gracie and an incredibly experienced freestyle wrestler. Royce spent most of the fight being crushed under Severn's weight. Finally, after 15 minutes and 49 seconds, still on his back, Royce applied a triangle choke to win. Details again.

Royce Gracie never panicked, or played a muscle game. He waited, defended, conserved energy, and then struck.

In UFC3 he faced a relatively unskilled opponent in Kimo Leopoldo. Kimo fought like a madman and pressed hard with his bulk and strength. His rampage got Gracie to respond with more effort than his norm. He didn't wait, or defend, or conserve energy. He tried too hard. He managed to submit Kimo in 4 minutes 40 seconds. However, he was so burned out from his effort that he was unable to continue in the tournament and had to withdraw.

Learn from the Gracies. Learn your technique, wait, defend, conserve energy, and then strike.

Don't panic.