When I first started into Judo and Jiu Jitsu a few years ago I was pretty aggressive.  I came from a wrestling background, and was used to shooting fast and hard, and bridging like hell to roll a person over.

The problem that I ran into was: stamina.  Once I was on the ground, I would bridge, and bridge, and bridge.  I have a really solid bridge, and a good chunk of the time I can flip a guy.  But the problem was that if I failed to flip him, I was ready to tap within about 15 seconds because I simply couldn’t breathe.

I had similar problems on my feet.  My arms were rigid… pulling, pushing, attacking.

Those people who were helping to train my kept pounding into my head one simple phrase: RELAX.

Now when I am on the ground, I conserve my energy.  I slowly, deliberately work for better hand and body position.  Then, at just the right time I BURST.  I explode with energy and power, hopefully catching my opponent before they can react.  Then I relax, work for position, control balance, breathe, an then BURST again.

I find this allows me to ground fight much longer than many beginners that I work with.

The same is true on the feet.  Have a solid grip, pay attention to your kazushi, but don’t be rigid.  don’t be stiff.  Be refilling your energy reserves, not draining them.  Then BURST.  Explode into your attack.

I have found that this is a really difficult thing to teach people.  I think much of it is because we all are trained to want to win.  To fight.  To never give up.  Our brain fools us into thinking that relaxing a little means to be passive or submissive.

Let me be clear: being relaxed does not imply being passive nor submissive.  It means running at a controlled energy level.  Your hands and body should still be working for position.  But you should ask yourself: Are my energy reserves refilling right now, or depleting?

If you’re new to Judo or Jiujitsu, just try this.  Relax.  Breathe.  Then BURST into your attack.

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