Perfect(ing) Jiu Jitsu

The boys talk about perfect Jiu-Jitsu and if it’s really even possible (or worth it) to strive for.

When you are learning a new technique you want to do it as perfectly as possible so you don’t train in bad habits. When you roll, however, a bunch of things happen and that perfection can be seen as just thrown out the window.

So, what kind of perfect should we strive for in both drilling and live rolling? When is it “good enough”?

Should we let perfect become the enemy of good and stop trying? Do we need to roll a certain way for at least our attempt to be perfect or can we just see where things go and catch what we can?

Here’s an excerpt from the show:

In the real world, we have to sometimes give up a bit of control in order to advance our goals. For example, we can immobilize someone fairly completely, but if we want to attack, we often have to release some control in order to move at all. This is where the tactical elements of timing and speed and other things come into play.

Now the heuristic that takes into consideration the perfect goals and the real-world implementation can be laid out. If I am making progress towards my goal, and my goal is achievable on the trajectory I'm on, then I continue. If the trajectory is making progress but is likely to lose control before I can achieve my objective, then I have to make on the fly decisions regarding returning to pure control vs transitioning to another chained technique so that I avoid hitting a brick wall.

Once I have successfully navigated the above and achieved a desirable goal, then the scenario needs a post-mortem to decide if I am sufficiently approaching perfect jiu-jitsu. Was my energy expenditure as little as possible? Was my timing correct? Were my technique inflection points anticipated and accurately hit and flowed through? Was I accounting for different opponent types (skill, size, strength, speed, etc?)

Paul Elliot has a ton of great tips throughout this episode. It’s was a great answer to a great listener question.