130. Why can't I go 100%?

Are you giving it your all during your jiu-jitsu sparring sessions, but not sure why you're not noticing any improvements? This episode of our podcast might be a game-changer for you. We dive into the question that's been bugging many martial arts enthusiasts - can you really go 100% during training and still learn effectively? We take you through our theory that jiu-jitsu training, much like any form of learning, involves various pillars and categories that require a balance rather than a full-throttle approach. You'll learn about the risks of focusing solely on winning rather than pushing yourself to be vulnerable, to fail, and ultimately grow.

Think of jiu-jitsu as a classroom. Constant testing without new information acquisition leads to lower success rates. We explain why understanding and comprehending new information before testing them is vital. We also delve into the dangers of going all out during training, leading to possible injuries, which are contrary to the philosophy of jiu-jitsu. Hear us out as we discuss why it's essential to leave the mats each day without any physical setbacks, all while having a smile on your face. This episode will surely shift your perspective on training, helping you achieve a balance between learning, discovering, growing, and enjoying the sport of jiu-jitsu. So, tune in and let's start this enlightening conversation!

Ask me questions on IG @rozdzynskibjj, I will personally respond to you and record the episode with an official answer.

Links you need to check out:
www.rolacademy.tv
www.therolradio.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Question from Jimmy why can I go 100%? You know, listen, you can. The question is what is the trade-off? What are we giving up, what are we unable and able to do when we go 100%? And I assume we are referring here to a sparring session. So what's the benefit behind sparring session? Let's just start from there, right?

Speaker 1: 0:32

Sparring session is like a midterm, at least in my mind. We come into a sparring session to test our skills, to test the techniques, to test the concepts, the sequencing, the drilling that we've done, to put it to test in a more realistic, a life-like scenario. And going 100% will do exactly that, but it will not allow us to learn. So why can't we go 100% every single time? Well, we won't be alerting anything, we won't be improving anything, and this is my perspective, right, there are different ways of learning, there are different pillars, different categories in which we can maximize learning, and this is not only pretending to jujitsu only. This is actually all about life, in my opinion. Right, we have a classroom-like study scenario in which we can observe new information, we can analyze, we can take notes, we can comprehend, we can make sense out of things, and then we have drilling sessions. Drilling sessions would be a little bit more of a workshop-like scenario where we can troubleshoot, we can figure things out, we can test things in a slower, a more controlled environment where mistakes are welcome but also adjustments are necessary. Then we have private lessons, where it's very one-focused, one-on-one, targeted education, if you will, and the last, final one would be the midterms. This is where the sparring sessions come in. So if you go 100% across all of those one, you're not going to have training partners because nobody is going to want to train with you. That's number one, but number two you are not going to have any takeaways.

Speaker 1: 2:19

There's a bigger problem behind going 100%. When we go 100%, we resort to things that we do the best, And it's hyper-focused on winning. It's hyper-focused on a specific goal of destroying, smashing, being on top or perhaps even being on the bottom, but in a very aggressive way. The moment we take that approach, we are not vulnerable anymore, we are not putting ourselves in weak positions, we are not putting ourselves in experimentation points, and all those are points where we are growing the most. So in order for one to grow, in order for one to get better, in order for one to continue the education path, we need to put ourselves in a vulnerable spot, somewhere where discovery is welcome, somewhere where failure is fairly high actually, so we can continue exploring and see what works but what doesn't work, and based on those scenarios, we can draw our own conclusions.

Speaker 1: 3:19

So imagine this if every single day in classroom, all you had is test, test, test, test, test, but there was no new information acquisition, your test would be a very slow percentage or very low percentage success. It is where it is, simply because we are not learning anything new On Jiu-Jitsu. Med is not much different. In order for us to test things, we have to discover them first. Before we can discover them, we need to understand. Before I should say before we put them to test. we need to understand and we need to comprehend them As we receive the information. We need to process them in our mind. We need to explore a little bit, we need to experiment, we need to fail a little bit, test a little bit on a slower pace And then, when the timer is right, when we feel confident, that's when we would go, and going in that sparring scenario where we can test this out in a little bit more lifelike scenario, would be very welcome.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Another component behind going 100% is our training partners. Listen if every single time we go 100%, balls out, balls to the wall, we will injuries will be very present, unfortunately, not only for us but also for our partners. This is not what Jiu-Jitsu is all about, at least not in my opinion. Most of us, 99% of us we don't do Jiu-Jitsu for living. We don't do competition for living. We don't do professional Jiu-Jitsu Some of us do, and good for you if you are one of those But most of us have professional jobs, most of us have careers, most of us have lives off the mat and we want to come back on the mat without any injuries. We want to leave those mats intact with a smile on our face, without any serious setbacks, physical setbacks.

Speaker 1: 5:14

So going 100% against puts us in these positions where us or our training partners will be put in the compromised positions, and those are not always necessary, even though we want to test them out, even though we want to put ourselves in compromised positions. Tapping is very welcome at these. At my academy we do explore things, we figure things out, we put ourselves in compromised positions by nobody's walking off the mat hurt, nobody's going 100%. If we are going 100%, those statements are made very clear and everybody is aware of these situations, so there's no surprises. We are not put in a failure position. We are put in a position of success, with the pressures and the compromised experimentation modes, if you will, where it allows us to continue growing, continue discovering, continue failing and drawing conclusions so we can grow better, faster and stronger and just better, better, gigici guys, peace.