How hard you should roll is a nuanced question and does not have a one word answer. If you are looking for a short answer and want to stop reading, you should really be rolling just as hard as your opponent. By doing this, it is respectful to them and nobody is going to get mad as both parties will get what they expected. In general, going too hard is much more of a problem than going too light. The only time where going too light would be a problem is in a very competitive gym where you would be cheating yourself and training partners from gaining more experience.
Table of Contents
Why shouldn’t I go hard all of the time?
Firstly, you are going to hurt your own body, you may think that because you’re going hard you are less likely to get hurt by your opponent. This may be true as a one-off – although there are some side effects of this that we will address later.
By going hard all of the time you will be making a lot more aggressive and fast movements than you should or need to be doing. BJJ is a dynamic sport with lots of different outcomes and possibilities. If you are to knee slice at full power 100% of the time, there is going to be a situation where your opponent traps your leg awkwardly and then your knee is going to go full power in the wrong direction. This is just one of many situations that can and will happen if you’re going at full speed and full power.
Secondly, going hard every single time will hurt your technique. Especially when you first begin BJJ or are learning a new position or guard, you may think you know what you’re doing, but your body is not well coordinated. It takes a very long time for the body to do exactly what the mind wants.
By rushing things and going as hard as you possibly can, you will not notice the small or large mistakes that you’re making and end up in a loop of the same outcome. If you already have the technique fine tuned then this is OK, but if you’re finding yourself giving up your back from the same position every time and have no idea why this could well be the reason.
To further this point, after sparring or sometimes when you’re lying in bed at night, you may remember back to earlier in the day during a particular roll. If you were too busy trying as hard as you could, you will not remember what happened and will not be able to recognize or learn from your mistakes. This will also hinder your long term development.
People are watching you
This sounds a bit creepy, but if you’re going 100% it will be true. For a start, you will make a lot of noise that you aren’t noticing by slamming into the mat and sweeping your opponent with full force. If you are a lower belt who is unknown in the gym and are hurting others or showing them disregard, higher belts will take notice.
Particularly, this is the case for cowards, sadly I have lost count of the amount of 90kg guys I have seen turn up for a few months and plow through various 60kg white belts, older guys and women who are weaker than them. These guys do not tend to stick around long due to their reputation.
When something like this happens it is noticed by other higher ups and then the offender is targeted by the gym “enforcers”. I certainly would have no moral hang ups about smashing someone who simply wants to crush those smaller than himself by using pure strength and no technique.
Older People & Chronic Injuries
In general, if you are a guy who is 50+ people should respect you by rolling lighter and it should be an unwritten rule. The same should be said for non-competitive women, as they will obviously be weaker than men.
Another similar rule is for people with chronic injuries, however this is a little different as you cannot know in advance what ailments somebody has. In this case, it should be their responsibility to disclose the said injury before sparring. It is no use complaining about something which you didn’t tell your opponent.
Why shouldn’t I go soft all of the time?
There are also two main reasons why you shouldn’t go soft all of the time. The first reason is that you are holding yourself back. If you are against a decent competitor of roughly the same ability and weight, there is no reason to go light 100% of the time, especially if you trust each other.
This does not mean that you will try to kill each other for 6 minutes in a sub-only deathmatch, but you can be a bit more aggressive and use your full weight and pressure on each other. As long as you are still respecting each other’s safety there is really nothing to lose.
If and when you decide to compete, you will be thankful that you had these kinds of rolls, since in a competition people will not care about rolling light at all, the opponent, much like yourself just wants to win at almost any costs. Perhaps they are even willing to go further than what you would consider to be fair to win.
The final point is perhaps the most important. You MUST learn to defend yourself against crazy people and those who have no regard for your safety.
When you are a white belt, you may have a bad experience with a new guy mentioned above, where they are 20kg heavier than you, a lot stronger than you, and intent on trying to hurt you or winning at any cost.
However, one day you will become a blue belt and you cannot shy away from people like this, or there is not much point in learning Jiu-Jitsu. By sparring hard with your friends, you will learn that it may be more unpleasant to roll this way, but you will learn how to combat this style and realise it is not so difficult to defeat.
You may not enjoy this kind of rolling, but over time you will discover that if you are patient, the unskilled guy going super hard will open himself up to various mistakes. You can then counter these mistakes and punish him from the top position.
At this point, most offenders will either quit the gym as they can no longer win, or they will change their ways. By having the experience of sparring hard, you have what was needed for yourself and also protected the lower belts.
