What is going through Marcelo Garcia's mind as he goes for the 1,000th armdrag, the 500th mata leao? What is Roger thinking as he sets up his 8th finish by collar choke from the mount in a single event?I always thought that the secret of success in anything was finding something that worked for you and then maximizing it, going both deep (extreme proficiency) and wide (extreme applicability). That's what Marcelo Garcia did for years with his armdrag-take the back-choke jiu jitsu. It's what Roger has been doing of late. It is almost word for word what Rodrigo was telling me as I was flailing around in what I can only call "Fog of War" guard where I'm alternately pushing on the hip here, pulling on the collar there, but with little regard for strategy beyond those (ultimately) defensive tactics: go with what works for you.
The last big surge in my development on the mat came when I started focusing on the toe grab sweep from the half guard. When I was able to combine it with the twist back sweep, increasingly becoming patient enough to wait for the opponent's shift in momentum before making the transition, my guard game was born. There is nothing in jiu jitsu that I do better than that toe grab/twist back combo from the half guard.
Part of what I'm struggling with is whether to devote more time to reaching that black belt level with my best technique, or more time to broadening my game, even if just broadening my half guard game to include the other seven sweeps from the half guard that I've had success with.
A basic rule I set out for myself was what I was calling "the White Belt Rule." That rule said that when I was rolling with white belts, I could - and should - work on broadening my half guard game. But when rolling with anyone who is blue belt or higher, I must focus on refining my "A" stuff which, from the half guard, means the toe grab/twist back combo.
At least once I'm inside of four weeks of competition. Outside of that I can dial it back a bit. But in order to be able to react properly under the pressure of competition, I need to be only doing those techniques that I'm going to relying on when points are being counted. From the bottom, that means getting to half guard and the tackle/twist combo. From the top, to be blunt, it means the Zeke.
I'm not sure what it means in terms of passing the guard - which is not good. Actually, it might be worse than "not good." The glow is wearing off of the Flat pass a bit, and the 101 still seems too intimidating (I tried to stand inside Clint's guard Tuesday night and got hit with a vertigo moment that would have made Hitchcock proud.)
That leaves the Saulo - and maybe the combat base wedge as its alternate.
In any event, the point is that I've got to focus on the small things, the effective things, and attack with them shamelessly and relentlessly. Get to the familiar place, and welcome all comers to my world.
