Being Greedy on the Mats

My first BJJ professor would always yell at me to not be greedy while rolling by reaching for submission attempts without first finishing the original order of moves/techniques as he had instructed me.    I would always go for the submission as soon as I saw an opportunity.  Most of the time I realized that the opportunities I thought I saw to submit someone were simply my opponent setting me up.  It was as if they were told that if this guy’s sees a donut he will surely reach his hand out and BAM, you can cut his arm off at that moment.  Today, I’m constantly reminding my students not to be greedy during sparring sessions as they try to submit me before they are in a “safe” position to do so.

I think it’s natural though to want to get things done as quickly as possible especially when a person is in a position of discomfort but in jiu Jitsu its vital to secure your positions and not be overly consumed with submitting one’s opponent.  Of course, the name of the game is to win or why else would we be in the competition, but one must think before they leap.

I was recently, in an international Jiu Jitsu tournament in New York for the first time in some time without my coach…what do you think I did?…yup, I got greedy.  I saw an opening that I’m fairly sure was not purposely placed there because my opponent was equally as surprised that I went for his dangling arm.  We fought for a couple of minutes and I knew that I was overpowering him and putting a lot of pressure on him.  I remember saying to myself to “ease back or you’re going to burn out” but then I had an image of ending this fight early, grabbing “my” gold medal and hitting the delicatessen I passed on my way to the arena. Yeah, I had a vision of a pastrami sandwich while fighting…what can I say, I like pastrami so I kept on going for the submission until I felt his grip tighten and the idea of tapping rolled from my mind to my fingertips.  My being greedy for the submission (and the pastrami on rye with mustard) got me off the mat early just as I had intended but lower on the awards podium than I had hoped.  In all fairness, I had a little concern of making weight for my division and hadn’t eaten in almost 20 hours so more than not going through the proper paces of a BJJ fight, that damn sandwich was heavy on my mind.  The gentle art requires something that an empty stomach of a heavyweight fighter doesn’t have and that’s patience.  The more patience and comfort with uncomfortable situations, whether fighting humans or hunger, the better the performance in the fight and the sweeter the meal afterwards.

Note: The pastrami sandwich was awesome and although I wouldn’t rush my fight again for a sandwich…I will be rushing back to Katz Deli on Houston St. for another meal.