This week, Jocko Willink was asked a question by a white belt on his podcast. The white belt said they were being told they were using too much strength to dominate rolls. This practitioner had trained no gi for four years and the gi for 12 months. They claimed they tried to hold back with their strength, but asked where the balance was, especially if the their opponent goes 100% when they, themselves hold back.
Jocko responded by saying to use ‘less’ strength, rather than ‘zero’ strength. He also claimed there was nothing wrong with using strength if it was needed. “I’m going to use just enough skill and strength to stay ahead of them. Just enough, I’m not trying to crush them. If someones way lighter than me with equivalent skill then I’m going to try and limit my strength as much as I can so it’s Jiu Jitsu vs Jiu Jitsu”
He also went on to say that sometimes he’d use strength to protect his ego as he didn’t like getting tapped. The other reason was to avoid giving your training partners a false sense of security if they tap you and think you were trying. These are interesting points raised by Willink who like usual, was pretty honest about it all.
His co-host Echo Charles added “So it should be competitive, but if people complain you’re going too hard – you’re going straight up every roll like ADCC, life or death. Yeah, maybe less of that.”
In brief, this is a question often asked by stronger practitioners and there’s no real right or wrong answer. Having said this, Jocko definitely makes a point that you should always have strength in your arsenal and not be ashamed to use it at times.
