What To Practice
Most people who’ve been training for more than a few weeks understand that focusing on a certain position or technique leads to faster improvement. More importantly, though, a student shouldn’t begin a practice without a firm grasp of the fundamental concept that the purpose of attending a Jiu-Jitsu class is to learn Jiu-Jitsu, an art of leverage and strategy.
A practitioner’s capacity as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu “artist” is completely independent from his or her physical attributes. Jiu-Jitsu represents one method of defeating an adversary, but it is not the only method. Just as you can win a fight with an technically set up and executed armbar, you can also win with stamina, words, biting, your ability to run or even a non-technical armbar, for example. Each approach varies in its effectiveness, and most approaches do not exclude the others. So, it’s possible to be effective using a combination of strategies, say, punching, and running away. Because of this gray area — i.e. there aren’t really pre-existing limits on which combinations one may use in a real confrontation or in training — it’s up to every individual to exercise discipline in his or her own training and exclude things that are not appropriate for practice in a Jiu-Jitsu class. In other words, participants in a Jiu-Jitsu class should no sooner practice muscling techniques than biting, because neither requires the practitioner to apply leverage in a technical manner.
Most well-adjusted human beings understand that biting a training partner is inappropriate, but fewer people understand that raking a forearm across a partner’s face is rude and disrespectful and very few people know that using strength and athleticism to force Jiu-Jitsu techniques is not really Jiu-Jitsu at all. Too many people spend their Jiu-Jitsu training sessions learning how to be stronger, faster, explosive and inconsiderate training partners than actually learning the art that they’re supposedly practicing.
The common misconception is that attempting a technique that is part of the body of Jiu-Jitsu techniques is equivalent to attempting Jiu-Jitsu. But, the techniques themselves are ancillary: what really determines whether you’re doing Jiu-Jitsu (and your skill at doing it) is the method of application of the body of techniques. Proficiency in practicing the art, however, does not always equate to the individual’s maximum capacity for effectiveness. A fully armed soldier with a rifle and no Jiu-Jitsu knowledge is generally more lethal than a Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Similarly, a Jiu-Jitsu black belt that weighs 100lbs may not be as effective as a Jiu-Jitsu purple belt that’s 300lbs of solid muscle. But, neither of these comparisons reflect negatively on the black belt’s skill at Jiu-Jitsu — his overall effectiveness is not determined solely by his Jiu-Jitsu ability, but also by his circumstances and physical limitations.
Of course, no one is practicing when going to a tournament or getting into a fight, so the goal in these situations is to achieve maximum effectiveness within the context of the rules. When attending a class and participating in a training session, however, the goal is always to improve at the given subject matter (Jiu-Jitsu).
By Will