Engage

Running away is a primary weapon in self-defense, but when you are rolling in the gym or competition it should be a last resort. Our goal in jiu jitsu is to advance our position continuously. When we retreat, at best we start completely over and oftentimes we end up in a worse position or put ourselves in danger of submission. Ideally, all of our defenses are followed up with somehow progressing forward towards an attack. As we talk about a lot in class I don’t want people to be comfortable in any position, so when I remove the pressure, I’m no longer in control. We are searching for optimal solutions and not necessarily easy ones. That means the failure rate is high, and that success is only going to come through aprticipating in the trial and error process.