Pinching Pennies

One of the most common things you’ll hear in jiu jitsu is, “Don’t use strength.”

I’ve even said it.

Honestly, good technique should be enough, right?

If you’ve been training for a while, you’ve probably had this thought after a round with a bigger, stronger white belt.

"If he wasn’t so strong, I would’ve had him."

But the more I think about it, the more I think we’re asking the wrong question.

We don’t tell flexible people to be less flexible.

We don’t tell athletic people to be less athletic.

We don’t tell fast people to slow down. Well, sometimes I do, but usually because they’re white belts and they’re going to hurt someone.

So why do we tell strong people not to use their strength?

I don’t think strength is the problem.

I think the problem is forgetting that strength is a limited resource, especially when strength has worked for you before.

Flexibility doesn’t get used up during a round.

Timing doesn’t get used up.

Balance doesn’t get used up.

Knowledge doesn’t get used up.

Strength does.

Energy does.

Grip endurance does.

Every hard squeeze, every explosive bridge, every frantic scramble, every time you try to muscle your way through a position, you’re spending something that you can’t get back until the round is over.

If you've rolled with me long enough, you've probably noticed I'm perfectly happy to let you spend your strength before I spend mine.

I know that if I can make you carry my weight long enough, eventually, two things happen.

First, your strength starts to disappear.

Second, you’re forced to rely on your technique because your strength is no longer solving all your problems.

As an added bonus, at that point, I don’t have to solve the problem of your strength anymore.

You’ve already solved it for me.

So was the blue belt right?

Maybe.

If you could take away your opponent’s strength, maybe you would have won your sparring round.

But then we’d also have to ask what happens if we took away your timing.

Or your flexibility.

Or your speed.

Or your balance.

At some point, we’re no longer talking about the same two people.

Your attributes are part of your jiu jitsu.

Theirs are too.

And to answer the question from the beginning...

No.

Good technique isn’t always enough.

Anyone who tells you otherwise has probably never tried to armbar someone who was forty pounds heavier and actively disagreed with the idea.

So maybe the advice shouldn’t be, “Don’t use strength.”

Maybe it should be:

Don’t spend strength when technique will do.

Because strength isn’t something to avoid.

It’s something to spend wisely.

And maybe “Is technique enough?” wasn’t the right question to begin with.

See you on the mats.