Thursday, January 11, 2007

Efficiency and Rest

As you progress in BJJ/Grappling, you will find that what you are learning is more about details. You will learn to become more efficient with your movements. You will expend less energy in accomplishing the same thing or even more. You become more efficient in your movements. You will learn to rest for very brief moments to help you recover. You will learn when to explode and when to rest...and not get gassd out. Why do some guys roll hard for 2 minutes and then they are done? Why can't they make it through even one round of sparring? How does someone roll for one or two hours straight? Is it conditioning? Is it technique? Are they super athletes? Part of it is learning how to rest. It's relaxing while you're fighting. Now, a new guy coming into a BJJ academy may find that upon first hearing this, it sounds rather crazy. Uh...it's fighting, right? So, how do you fight and rest or relax? That makes no sense! But slowly you will learn to relax. It takes time, but it comes. Sometimes guys with a background in standup fighting get especially tight and anxious being on the ground. I'll tell them to think about when they are fighting in their comfort zone of the standup world and how they have learned to relax and fight. Then they understand that it's the same thing. Learn to relax. It's about efficiency and rest.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

So true :)

Sometimes when I roll with guys, they are zapped after 5 minutes.

They ask me why I am not dying with exhaustion like they are.

I reply "because I didn't hold my breath for the last 5 minutes".

:)

Sometimes breathing can make the world of difference.

Unknown said...

If you're not tired, you're not trying hard enough, imo.