Going with the flow in BJJ

Going with the flow in BJJ

Going with the flow in BJJ is a scientific approach most should adhere to. In Jiu-Jitsu, even with a well-laid plan, your next steps aren’t always predetermined. Furthermore, you see this when you translate your efforts from drilling to sparring, and discover that what seemed certain and stable is much more fluid than it initially appeared. The scientific way of working through this uncertainty isn’t to pretend that you always have the right answer. It’s to engage with the process of getting closer to the right answer. First, you lay out your hypothesis (or someone else’s, which is OK), then you show your work and make a prediction about what’s going to come next. With this approach, you’re not allowed to use magic to explain what happens. Here at Savarese BJJ Academy (www.njbjj.com), the instructor constantly use the phrase “these aren’t magic tricks we are teaching.” You can’t bend the outcome to fit what you’d planned. If you’re wrong, you just start again from the beginning with a new argument, checking your work and making a better prediction. Being wrong and needing to correct your hypothesis is a daily occurrence, as you make new choices and respond to your partner’s actions and reactions. You won’t find the right answers every time, but you will improve when you engage with the process that brings you closer to them.