Jiu jitsu is the kind of martial art that is really hard to fake- really hard to be lazy with. However, people still find a way to slack off in class, and not give 100%.
Give 110%, 100% of the time
Regardless of what belt you are, blue, white, purple- no matter your belt level you should always be giving 110%. I see blue belts all the time play around with white belts and make them believe they are better than they are. As their immediate superior, as the blue belt you should be pushing them to their max- playing around and letting them get positions on you isn’t doing you or your training partner any favors.
Don’t be a jerk
The only time I find it acceptable to not continue to push your partner is when there is a significant difference in belt levels. A brown belt should not be trying to tap a white belt in 10 seconds, at that point its like “Yeah no shit you tapped him in 10 seconds you’re almost a black belt rolling with the new guy”. It should only be the immediate superiors, you all push each other to advance in skill as fast as possible. Blue belts should push the whites, purples push the blues, and so on. When its a purple belt stomping a new white belt, then you’re just a jerk.
Eliminate False Confidence
I do not believe in giving people any source of false hope, or false confidence. I grew up doing traditional karate and for years all I got was fake confidence and it made me feel even worse about myself later down the road. I will tell you exactly how your game is and exactly what you did wrong and right. Following the 110% principal ensures that false confidence is removed from the mat.
False confidence can be dangerous- you can think so highly of yourself and your skill and then when it comes time to put it to the test, you aren’t nearly as good as you thought you were. Then, the outcome is even worse than it could have been.
If you go into a tournament as a white belt with a huge sack of false confidence on your back. You think, “I tap almost every blue belt in my gym I got this”. You get matched up with another white belt of the same skill and get absolutely dominated. You don’t even score a single point and get tapped in a matter of seconds. As a white belt, they tend to have fragile egos- they aren’t quite used to the consistent ego destroying that when something this big hits, it can be catastrophic. To a white belt, a loss like this when you felt so good about yourself, can be like a tsunami wiping away all of your work.
Final thoughts
According to letrollbjj.com, approximately 1 in ONE THOUSAND white belts make it to black- one in one thousand. That number proves that jiu jitsu takes a hell of a lot of dedication. I believe this sense of “false confidence” weakens our jiu jitsu community- I believe that if we eliminate false confidence to the best of our ability by following my 110% 100% of the time principal, it will increase that number because it builds a more “powerful” and “beast” like mindset for all the new white belts joining the sport.
