One thing I’ve noticed is that big white belts can get extremely competitive in rolling with blue belts. Especially if they are 4 stripes. My theory is they want to test themselves against the blue; beat the blue and prove that they deserve a blue belt.
This is one of the main reasons I don’t roll with large strong white belts close to their Blue Belt. They muscle moves instead of finesse them; each roll feels like an ADCC match. The end result is an unhappy roll with injuries. I’ve incurred 2 injuries in the same number of weeks due to this; bruised ribs and a hyper extended elbow. All caused by overly “eager” white belts with a point to prove.
If you are a big white belt – then please don’t act like every roll with a blue belt is life or death. Relax and treat your training partner as a training partner and not an opponent!
Ok, end of rant.
So to combat this I’m following a plan to improve my defences; the plan helps me have focus and conserves my energy. I allow the white belt to attack, get good positions and I work on my survival and escapes. I’ve changed the focus of my rolls from wanting to tap someone, to trying to be efficiently unbeatable for that roll.
I was quite surprised to see John Will blog on this very topic recently. He made a point that having a defensive mindset for rolling is a very empowering experience. In fact a lot of high level black belts always repeat this exact thing.
- Keith Owen on tapping 10000 times to blackbelt
- Saulo Ribeiro jiu-Jitsu University, The first two chapters are all about about survival and escapes.
Personally, I enjoy the defensive aspect – the more you do it the more you become relaxed and still feel like you are in control.. I don’t feel I’m struggling and gassing out at all. In fact I can keep this up for 8+ rounds – which is a record for me!
Initially I thought my focus would be on Side Control for just a week or two. I’ve realised however that most people in my gym prefer side control to any other attacking position which means I need to spend more time working escapes. It also means that if I want to practice mount and back defence I specifically have to ask my opponent to start from those positions.
So my average roll atm looks like this: Survive, Survive, Survive, Escape, Survive, Escape, Pass, Reversed, Survive, Escape Pass, Pass, Submit (optional).
Much better than: Stall, Stall, Pass, Attack, Attack, Attack, Stall, Stall, Attack, Exhaustion.
Dan
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