One of my favorite lines from the movie Patton is this:
Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
I remembered this bit after reading a recent email from Ryron Gracie, who was pitching his Gracie University 32 Principles program. I haven't bought the program. But I thought this excerpt from Ryron was worth noting - especially as I get closer to Mat Return (TM) next month.
When I was growing up, I remember my grandfather telling me, “I’d rather you make a mistake and get submitted, than roll so hard that you can’t continue.”
What I took from this was that I was to never defeat myself.
No matter how badly I want to submit someone, sometimes I must slow down because if I continue at the pace I am at, I run the greatest risk of all: complete exhaustion.
The reason complete exhaustion is worse than being submitted is because submission is generally due to a simple technical error. However, when you reach complete exhaustion, it is a psychological/mindset error.
We should never reach the level of vulnerability that exists when you are so tired that you are begging your training partner to get off you, unable to continue rolling, or the worst, when you can’t stand up because you’re so exhausted.
It’s okay to train hard, but be very careful not to defeat yourself.
The desire to avoid inferior positions and the desire to submit your training partner may lead you to defeat. Learn how to pace yourself because the ability to outlast your opponent is a great technique in itself.
If you ever had the chance to ask the Grandmaster how he defeated all those giants, he would have said, “I never defeated my opponents, they defeated themselves.”
