Well Stacked

I've rolled with some crazy people lately.

First, let me explain the two ways of rolling.

The first is the fun way where it isn't considered as a life-or-death exchange. If you get caught, you tap, they release and you keep going. If you go for something and don't get it, you don't keep trying to bull through, hoping to do with strength what you couldn't with technique. In this mode, stuff happens fast.

The other kind is where nobody gives an inch. If somebody goes for a submission, and it is defended, they hang on anyhow like they are clinging to the edge of a cliff. Usually, nothing much happens, and the two bodies get locked in stalemate, immobile.

Type one is fun and educational. Type two is dull, boring, exhausting, and hurts.

I've run into quite a few type-two guys lately.

I can understand it somewhat. You really want to win, and so you go like a lunatic for every submission or advancement. Of course, if you're doing that, you'll also go full out in defence and refuse to tap until there is no hope left.

Maybe you like it that way.

The reason I call these guys nuts can best be illustrated with an example.

I'm with this big strong guy with two stripes on his Blue Belt. He's pushing hard, but I'm playing soft. Rather than take it easy, he goes even harder. The longer we go, the weaker he is. I'm relaxed and resting while he's tense and grunting with exertion.

I end up in his guard. At our rank, this gives him a slight advantage, but I don't mind. He shoots for a triangle, and I let him get it without defending. This is a chance to see if I can get out of a lockup by a guy I have no experience with. He locks it up.

I move to defend by stacking him up a little. This means that with his legs all wrapped up around my neck, I stand up and lift his hips up over his shoulders, and then apply my weight and his onto said shoulders. He maintains the triangle setup with his legs, while his arms switch to try for an armbar. Not a bad move, but my defense is to stack him higher and heavier.

My arm is in no danger, nor is my neck. From the position he is in, it is impossible to finish either submission. Not merely difficult; impossible. He doesn't release his grip.

If I let my defensive stack go, my arm is in danger. Real danger, if my opponent wrenches it in desperation. No way I'm letting go with a partner so determined to get the armbar at any cost.

His situation is inverted, both literally and figuratively. I was slowly increasing the stack, causing an increased pressure on his neck. He was in danger of injury, permanent injury. If he would release his grip, I could release my stack, or he could slide out of it, but he just wouldn't let go.

We reached a point where the pressure on his neck must have been quite unpleasant. He could gain nothing by hanging on, except an increasingly dangerous situation.

Wouldn't let go. I stopped increasing the stack as I didn't want to injure the guy. He still didn't release. We became a two-man statue for a while; him unwilling to give up an impossible attempt, and me unwilling to squish him like a bug to force him his release.

The instructor called, “time's up,” and we disentangled.

The stupid thing is there is no prize at stake. There is no winning. It's just practice.

Just as there's no winning, there is also no losing. What would it have cost my partner to have released his hopeless armlock? Even if I'd wanted to continue the pressure on his neck at that point, I couldn't. The moment his grip would release, he would have been able to slip his hips down and away. Likely, I'd have ended up on top, but so what?

Even if he somehow managed to submit me, would it have felt even like a victory? He's at least 20 years younger than me, and maybe 30 pounds heavier?

The entire idea of learning Jiu-Jitsu is to prepare to fight bigger, stronger guys. What happens if you train for a few years, and spend the entire time forcing through bad technique, and then you get into a fight with somebody stronger and larger than yourself? You'll try and fight the way you always have, and it just won't work.

Not only that, but using strength rather than technique doesn't even work well against a weaker, smaller person if they can use superior technique rather than strength. I run into people smaller than myself that can dominate me easily with their skill. I use these events as chances to try and keep up, rather than to try and lock them down.

Lock somebody down, and you practice not moving. Let it go, and you get to exchange submissions, defences, escapes, and much more in the same amount of time.

Good sparring is too rare to waste on stalemate.