Mar 3 • Long Game Grapplers Talk
What did your FIRST legit submission FEEL like?
A few months ago I talked a friend of mine into starting jiu-jitsu. Brand new white belt. Good attitude. Some kickboxing experience, zero but scooting knowledge lol
Whenever we rolled, I made a deliberate choice about how I approached those rounds with him.
I didn’t try to “win the round.”
I lost most scrambles because of how deliberate I was moving.
(Basically how I tell all coaches to roll with new people)
Instead, I rolled slowly and methodically.
I’d work my way through the positions step by step.
I would usually let him get to a dominant position and begin to attack... the id would
Escape.
Reverse or sweep.
Pass the guard.
Stabilise.
Climb to mount.
And then eventually finish with either a rear naked choke or (but my main priority) a head-and-arm triangle from mount.
AKA; how jiu jitsu should look when rolling with and untrained person.
Not because it’s the only thing I can do, but because when you’re rolling with someone new, consistency teaches far more than variety. I recorded a one of our rounds and did a voiceover here https://youtu.be/5dcaXQUH9uM (no subs in this because submissions are to distracting for people in the first stages of JJ learning)
Recently he messaged me from another country. He had his first roll at a new academy. He told me he hit his first submission in a live round, you guessed it, a clean head-and-arm triangle.
He was absolutely buzzing but not as much as i was, if you have tried to teach a head arm triangle to somebody for the first time you will know what I mean.
For him it wasn’t just a submission.
It was proof that the training was working.
Proof that he was working towards his goals.
A lot of the most important things in jiu-jitsu can’t be fully explained in a class. You can show a technique 10 times and make sure they know EXACTLY what you mean... even have them drilling it to perfection... But the small details ...
the pressure
the timing
the patience
the way your weight moves through the position, those things are felt, not just taught. (one of the benefits of CLA games but i digress)
When a higher belt rolls slowly and methodically with someone less experienced, we’re giving them a chance to experience those details so they can really feel;
1 - how control actually works
2 - how pressure builds over time
3 - how positions connect
4 - how submissions are only a small part of the game, as is a KO punch to a boxer.
That kind of learning is incredibly powerful.
BUT
Unfortunately, a lot of people do the opposite.
They roll too hard with people who are much newer.
They scramble.
They snap on submissions.
They treat every round like a competition.
And what that often does is train newer students to move in a way that’s sporadic, panicked, and chaotic.
That might feel intense in the moment, but it’s not how good jiu-jitsu develops over the long run.
Good grapplers are built through control, patience, and repetition. METHODICAL PROGRESS TOWARDS GOALS!
Slow rolling.
Clear positional progress.
Punishing obvious mistakes with clean submissions.
Demonstrating safe effective Jiu-Jitsu especially takedowns and submissions.
And it’s also where they get those early wins that make the journey fun.
The best thing we can do as training partners and coaches isn’t to show everything we know, but DEMONSTRATE them.
That first submission feels pretty special to them, but it feels AWESOME to me - I live for those success stories.
Whats yours?
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What did your FIRST legit submission FEEL like?
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