Close Your Eyes

Posted 2009-08-09
by David Thomas

&quotWow, how’d we get here?" Wonders one of my students aloud as he pulls off his blindfold following fighting a match that took the grapplers, via a circuitous route, clear across the gym floor. "I thought we were still over there. That was disorienting! Cool!"

Disorienting, yes, but only visually so. Blindfolded grappling is a liberating experience. It’s unusual to think of your visual reference as a crutch, but as a primary sense, it necessarily dulls the others from contributing to your responses during a match.

We keep a stack of tee shirts in my gym for these special occasions. When paired with a pair of ear guards, they make great blindfolds. I have yet to discover a blindfolding process that survives more than a half round of grappling, but the tee shirt and ear guards matchup is tight, light-proof, and cheap. At some point in the match, the honor system is invariably brought to bear, since the arrangement invariably loosens a bit. The match starts differently, of course. We have to pair up and kneel close to each other before putting on our blindfolds, or else hilarity will ensue as you seek out your opponent. Imagine the results shooting a single leg only to eat the wall behind them instead.

Despite these limits, blindfolded grappling allows you to tap into your senses for a more creative roll than you’ve enjoyed in a long time. When we roll blindfolded, you hear the usual grunts and umphs that accompany typical matches, but you also hear a lot of laughing and awe-inspired comments about the techniques which spring forth, unleashed by the creative release that seems to come with darkness. A complete lack of vision on the mats reveals more useful information about your surroundings, balance, and partner than you might find with the full use of your eyes. I have personally discovered, utterly surprised, brand new techniques that I wonder where they have been hiding.

Hiding in plain sight, you might say.

Open Your Eyes

Posted 2009-07-05
by David Thomas

We are sitting in a circle, with 2 of my students grappling in the center. "Watch closely. We’ll talk about what happened when they’re done." As the two grapple, the students watch intently. After about a minute of hard work, there is a furious scramble through a twisting maze of positions, and one student suddenly taps. "Good match! Ok, what happened? What did you see?" I ask the group.

After a brief pause, one of the more eager students proclaims, "armbar."

"Ok, start at the beginning. Take us through the match."

Blank stares.

"Umm. They started standing. Then there was a takedown. Then he passed the guard, I think."

"Slow down. What about the details? What did they do when they were standing? How did the takedown get set up?"

This line of questioning continues until there is a clear timeline. With students around the edge of the mats, we have a good set of "camera angles" to replay the events, but their recollections are only as helpful as their perception. We work thorough the details and each transition is covered. We figure out where mistakes were made, how advantage was won and lost, and picked apart the match to my satisfaction. We dissect each moment of the match where an advantage is won or lost.

After several more matches, the students are getting the hang of it. They are doing much more than watching. They are seeing. "Great work! Now, everyone find a partner." People pair up, eager to use their newfound optics and awareness. In every match, there are turning points: moments where a subtle mistake is made, an opportunity taken, and the tide turns in favor of the victor.

Your memory is a good coach, but only if you have a good memory. Win or lose, remember the successes and failures that caused the outcome. The details of these memories can provide you with clues to success next time. Watch and feel the details of your matches. Talk about them with your partners and coaches afterwards. Get a camcorder on a tripod and record your matches. If someone gets a great move on you, ask them to take you through it again so you can burn it into your memory. I record every class at my gym. If there is a particularly interesting match, I’ll load it up and watch it.

Seeing the big moves is easy. An understanding of subtleties, details and nuances separates the good from the great. Open your eyes.

Our System Does Not Coddle the Weak Technique

Posted 2009-04-27
by David Thomas

"Never use the closed guard," I tell my students, "unless you are stalling or waiting to die." As I state this, I wonder about how this position became so fundamental only to be eventually thrown away so unceremoniously. Then I consider the never-ending stream of new techniques, positions, attacks, counter-attacks, and defenses generated in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and submission grappling over time. I think about some amazing technique I learned years ago as a blue belt and how it has been rendered ineffective and obsolete by the withering juggernaut of a thousand athletes pounding from all angles like velociraptors probing the electrical containment fences in Jurassic Park. I recall some fundamental progenitor move, originally defined in utterly simple steps, that have evolved into a broad category of richly varied options (e.g. the Rubber Guard). I reflect on certain positions, once considered inescapable by all but the most advanced, which are now easily thrown off by less experienced fighters. What’s happening here? Is this natural acceleration or the result of a slow evolutionary process? And where are all these great new moves coming from?

Weak techniques will not survive. We know intuitively that techniques are successful only when they help win fights. Winning techniques are constantly studied by students of the sport. We adopt them, tweak them, make them work for their bodies, and transmit them to others. That’s how we spend the bulk of our time on the mats.

A fighting sport evolves by the influences of social interaction and information theory. In his 1979 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Gödel. Escher. Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, author Douglas R. Hofstadter put a human spin on the mathematical concept of recursive enumeration. People come up with new ideas by watching the results of previous work and adapting. Repeat for a few generations, and some cool things start to happen. All of human civilization has developed using this process, gaining new insights from existing concepts. Over time, systems slowly evolve into more complexity and subtlety. Complexity is increased because past information and existing rules are applied to new situations.

On the mats, we take old ideas and challenge them repeatedly. The weak techniques die off or morph into variations that are more successful in different situations. The media, usually blamed for dumbing down the masses, expands our information horizon and accelerates the speed of ideas flowing through what I call the Jiu-Jitsu diaspora. As it flows through, it is interpreted, tuned, adapted, mutated, then reflected slightly improved, back out the global information channel. New ideas are literally created from old information. Like an infinite tapestry, we weave the fabric of Jiu-Jitsu every time we step on the mats.

Being the Smartest Guy in the Room Could Make You Stupid

Posted 2009-03-16
by David Thomas

A long time ago, I was a white belt who had just joined a new BJJ school that had moved to the area. Sitting in a circle after a technique was shared with the class, a student raised his hand and asked "how do you escape that move?" The instructor’s answer: “That’ll cost you $90 and take an hour of my time.” The joke, which wasn’t a joke at all, it turns out, was that the student could only learn that information by paying for a private lesson, and the student group wasn’t worthy of the treasured secrets of this genius. The first time I heard that response, I laughed. But my chuckle was cut short when I realized he was serious. Over time, I saw the same pattern that the other students had already seen. The student would feel like an idiot for asking the question, the private lesson would never happen, and the answer to the question never spoken.

What would you do if you asked the question? Would you be likely to raise your hand next time? Over time, the intended effect unfolded at the gym: people rarely asked questions of the head instructor. Since questions often shape curriculum, an absence of inquiry left the instructor to teach only what he wanted to teach. Students with questions would seek each other out for information. The questions didn’t go away, they were redirected to less qualified, but more helpful people. This was in the age before YouTube and storefulls of DVDs and textbooks on BJJ. This instructor had a stranglehold on information. Hearing him respond to a question with such an absurd evasion reminded me of working with an IT helpdesk guy who acts like his knowing how to install Microsoft Office was a birthright.

In a more recent example, a friend training at another gym had been keeping a nifty online technique notebook. Not a lot of detail, but very helpful perspective intended to feed the hungry Jiu-Jitsu diaspora. Their instructor caught wind of the website and was uncomfortable. The concern was that it might help competitors. The web site no longer discusses Jiu-Jitsu technique. Let’s say the web page was discussing what this student learned about executing a take-down. Can you imagine some morsel of information being divulged that would somehow alter the competitive landscape? Google "double leg take-down." Tell me there could have been something truly original in the web site’s description of this technique that will harm this coach’s business. No, and that wasn’t the point of the website. Learning and communicating is a personal process that takes the student beyond the boundaries of the mats. This student was stuck in a stranglehold of censorship.

These two situtions, separated by a decade of time and completely different instructor lineage, illustrates what is commonplace in this sport. Some instructors treat information like a valuable commodity in a world where it is already free.

Information isn’t power. In the information-connected economy, the kinds of businesses that can get away with treating information as a valuable commodity are rapidly becoming as old as your Dad’s Wall Street Journal curbside dropoff. And don’t get me into an ad revenue argument since it’s so far off the point.

Over the years on the mats, I’ve come up with some really sweet moves. I can find dozens of videos on the Internet of guys who have come up with the same moves on their own. They’ve given them their own silly names like "De-goitering the Goat" or "Feed the baby" but the moves are the same. This is a healthy sign of a exploding system with a spirit of innovation, expansion, and sharing.

Coaches: hide your secrets at your own peril. Students are passionate about this sport and hungry for information. They’ll go get the answers with or without you. Be the leader and coach you are supposed to be and teach them what you know.
By keeping secret techniques, you won’t be forced to learn anything new.
Holding back your techniques makes you stale and dumb, not smarter than the rest of the crowd. Teach your students everything you know so they can challenge you to come up with new ideas.
You were the smarty pants who figured those old secrets out to begin with, right? So, go make up some new ones.

I love witnessing the process in action. Every few months, I drop some new technique on my students that usually starts with all of them tapping and freaking out about "what the hell was that?" We cover it in class, repeatedly. A month later, some of them are starting to figure it out and execute it on their own. After 6 months, the technique is old hat: we’ve figured out 6 variations, mastered a few of them, and know 10 ways to shut it down. Being the only person who knows how to execute the Biggie Slicer is as boring as playing Quake III in God mode. The splatter and spray of guts are fun for a while, but you are left wanting someone who can scare you into getting better.

Every time I get a visiting instructor on my mats, I make it a point to teach something I don’t expect him to know. By "liberating this technique into the wild," I’m sure to have to get much better at executing it, discovering defenses, and variations. That’s how this sport keeps moving, and that’s how the best athletes in the sport keep growing.

The smartest guy in the room is only as smart as the information he’s capable of teaching the group. Prove you’re smart: give it away, now.

Mentor Rolling: Give the Noobs a Chance to Pwn

Posted 2009-01-31
by John Davis

I’ve trained various styles of martial arts for over 24 years now and am currently training BJJ at Austin Jiu Jitsu. BJJ is by far the most effective art I’ve found, but I’ve noticed a “problem” in the BJJ culture. The problem is that BJJ is taught in a sort of “all or nothing” manner. When a new student comes in, they are taught techniques during the instruction part of a workout then thrown on the mat with more advanced students who proceed to dominate them and defeat every attempt made at applying techniques they are just learning. BJJ has a culture of “dominate or be dominated”. The beginning student has to endure lots of discouragement until the day that a newer student comes in and the beginner can finally dominate someone else. This sets up a culture of competition where one can only gain “success” at the expense of another’s discouragement.

There needs to be a middle ground between the instruction part of a workout and the sparring part. Austin Jiu Jitsu has addressed this need by introducing “Mentor Rolling”. During mentor rolling, advanced students are paired with beginners and they enter a live rolling session, only the mentor coaches or guides the beginner as they roll with them. The mentor pushes the beginner and rolls at the level equal to what he/she can handle but doesn’t dominate. The mentor gives opportunities for the beginner to succeed, but may defend many of the attempts at submission if they are sloppy. When the time is right in the session, the mentor provides an opening and the beginner is allowed to secure a submission if the attempt is solid.

What do you think? Comment and let us know.

Women and the Jits

Posted 2009-01-17
by Cuppa Jo

Jits Happens welcomes a guest blogger, CuppaJo, a woman cutting her teeth on the Jits. Here she helps us all understand why BJJ has been relatively unsuccessful building its female ranks, and what we can do to make it better. Take it away, Cuppa!
________________________________________

Hello everyone, I’m CuppaJo, I’m a woman and I love to grapple.

[Hi Cuppa!]

Somehow, David (our beloved host here at Jits Happens) and I got into an email discussion about women and grappling. I found myself on the same soapbox I have been getting on the last few weeks over and over again when explaining my thoughts on why women don’t grapple. David thought I should share them with all of you.

I’m pretty new to grappling. I have only been taking BJJ for the last 4 months so please understand that my perspective is that of a newcomer and not a long term grappler, or even a long-term Martial Artist, even though I did study Tukong Moosul for a bit as a kid. While I know there are many women that practice some form of Martial Art, the fighting arts have remained predominantly male. A friend of mine goes to a women-mostly non-profit Dojo in town (Karate – not BJJ) and I remember being rather surprised that such a thing could continue to exist over the long term. But still, I would never really feel uncomfortable or awkward taking Tae Kwon Do or anything. Lot’s of women do it right? Then I decided to try BJJ, sort of assuming it was like the others, with a smaller, but dedicated group of women at each Dojo. You know, something like a 1 to 10 ratio. I honestly didn’t even consider that I might be the only girl in the place. It turned out to be a rather poor assumption on my part. Though I cannot find documented evidence of this, I would put the ratio at closer to 1 in 25 or more. Why is BJJ even more predominantly male than other Martial Arts?

Since I have been doing this long enough now to really spend some time thinking about why BJJ doesn’t have as high of a attraction or retention rate with women, I keep coming back to:

1. You almost need to break a magic threshold number to make a class where it is either women-only or there are enough women that you have at least two women show up every class. The reason I believe this is key is because…
2. Women don’t wrestle around with other people as a natural part of their socialization. Little girls are discouraged from roughhousing types of behavior from a small age – even those that are encouraged to participate in sport. Boys are likewise schooled not to roughhouse with girls. When you add that to the general uncomfortable-ness of rolling around on the floor in close contact with members of the opposite sex who are little more than strangers I think most women just sort of drop out over time.
3. You also have to admit the sport can make you look like your spouse beats you – especially if you bruise easily.

I also want to throw in a note here about how hard BJJ can be for new practitioners. When you start you don’t really know what you are doing, you don’t know what everyone else is doing, and BJJ is not that intuitive. BJJ tends to be a much more ‘relaxed’ martial art when it comes to curriculum, traditions, and belt-testing. This leaves beginners with a vague idea of where they are going and how to get there, while fighting to just breathe — much less win. Now imagine you are smaller and weaker than everyone else. It means you are probably going to spend the first year or so of your Jits life getting your rear kicked. I’m sure a lot of women just think “why am I paying for this?”

Martial Arts of most types are pretty boyzone – but the ones who do the best in attracting and retaining women tend to be pushing the self-defense angle pretty hard.

I also think that BJJs choke-out moves are really useful in self-defense situations. I may not want to arm-bar a guy attacking me because a broken arm may not incapacitate him – but choking someone out allows you to escape from the situation. Further, when most people are attacked they are so freaked out they are being attacked they can’t actually do anything about it. All the rolling in BJJ gets you used to having someone trying to hurt you and helps teach you to remain calm and fight back.

BJJ could probably do more to attract women by doing self-defense seminars tailored to women and focusing more on defensive moves that incapacitate your attacker and get you out of danger — rather than focusing on the sport of BJJ where we concentrate on point systems and the 101 ways to arm-bar in a weight-leveled competition. It would also be good to focus the techniques on negating strength and size differences. I think BJJ pays a lot of lip service to being good for women and for negating size and strength advantages, but I haven’t seen very much in the way of technique modification to compensate for those differences or any real self-defense-focused curriculum.

The Fight Works Podcast has a great show on this topic (find it here) where Valerie Worthington (her blog is here) discusses it from her purple belt perspective. She talks about reasons she has been given when some guys refuse to roll with her, how to try and deal with those situations, body differences and “forgetting gender.”

So help a sister out! If you are a woman and have been thinking about trying BJJ – do it! Call your local BJJ studio and ask how many women they have attending. If you are a woman studying BJJ, recruit a friend! BJJ is a great workout and tons of fun and I feel pretty confident more and more women will come roll with us and bring their friends once they have an ally on the mats.

The Father of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Texas

Posted 2009-01-04
by David Thomas

When I started in Submission Grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1995, the nearest ranked instructor in BJJ was Carlos Machado, who was over 200 miles away in Dallas, Texas. Carlos was busy traveling around the state helping build interest in the sport by running seminars. I remember seeing a flyer for a seminar he held in Austin in 1996. There was a quote on the flyer that left an impression on me as a newbie in the sport.

While this quote has been attributed variously to Rickson Gracie or Carlos’ brother Jean-Jacques, its impact on marketing the sport can’t be questioned. Carlos opened the door to an inconceivable level of skill for Texans willing to commit to training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

I took a pilgrimage up to his gym for the first time around 1997. It was a small room on the set of the TV show Walker, Texas Ranger. It was a surreal walk through a darkened set (bar, living room, police station), meandering down a side hall, finally finding a small room full of guys sweating through one of Carlos’ legendary training sessions. To provide some context, I had recently gotten my second black belt in Karate after a 9 years in a sport characterized by overly formal (to the Westernized audience) or drill sergeant-like Karate instructors. Like a breath of fresh air, Carlos walked up to me, introduced himself, shook my hand, and was very welcoming and helpful.

Today, 13 years later, the Austin metropolitan area has at least 5 BJJ black belts about 1000 students of various rank. Many of us owe a debt of gratitude to Carlos for his continued commitment, good nature, and talent. We can all continue to learn from his example.

Read more about Carlos here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Machado.

A Small Milestone on a Long Path

Posted 2008-12-24
by David Thomas

Like most long-term endeavors, there are few significant milestones. In a sport like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where the journey from white to black belt only has 3 intermediate steps, the milestones are literally "few and far between." In my case, with 13 years in the making of my recent black belt promotion, simple math will tell you just how far those milestones were set apart.

Much of our time working though intense athletic effort is filled with small challenges, victories, incremental growth, and setbacks. Even if you train 4 times per week, go to every seminar and open mat available, and compete regularly, you will find long periods of time where getting over the smallest obstacle will challenge your resolve to continue the journey ahead. The harder you train, the more likely you will get injured. The more you cross-train with others, the more likely you will find someone who will kick your butt so regularly and with such domination, that you will likely wonder if you can ever get past them. I remember being a white belt, completely sore and beaten up from my previous training day, afraid to face the mats again, wondering if I should return for another brutal work-out. Of course, I returned, but was faced with this constant question for months. The sport is insanely challenging. Everyone you meet on the mats sees you as fresh meat. The target is on your back every single day. As your rank progresses, this target gets bigger.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu rewards people who can get past these big obstacles. The rewards are not just rank, but a knowledge base of skills that are broad and deep.

I remember a karate sensei of mine 20 years ago, in a moment of self-absorption, was boasting about how at his skill level, he could simply toy with his opponents "like a cat playing with a mouse." I was simultaneously disappointed that he shared this with his students and intrigued that a level of skill that advanced was attainable.

Rather than boast that I’m the biggest cat in the jungle, this promotion is a time to remember how many phenomenally talented athletes are in this amazing sport; many of them commanding a skill level that I can only hope to attain in my lifetime. I also hope that I have the ability to translate this wonderful sport into words capable of inspiring my students to stay on the long road. Don’t focus on the milestones. Focus on the gifts that come from the hard work, every day you are on the mats: friendship, fitness, and the skills of a cat just a little bit bigger than it was yesterday.

Ready for Battle

Posted 2008-11-30
by David Thomas

The team is getting ready to head to NAGA next weekend. Here are some thoughts to help everyone get ready for battle.

1. Stay hydrated. Keep taking small drinks all day. You’ll need to use the restroom continually, but it will keep your body ready to go. Avoid soda and caffeine.
2. Food. Eat a good meal the night before. Carb load, but don’t eat a huge breakfast. Starting with breakfast on the day of the competition you should be having very small snack-sized meals. Once I get to the competition, I won’t put more than a bite of a protein bar or half a banana in my belly every 2 hours. Before breakfast starts wearing off, start eating small, healthy snacks. I like dried fruit, yogurt, trail mix, and nibbles of protein bars. Power Gel is one of the best ways of getting quick replacement without putting “pukables” in your belly. If you eat or drink too much, you will puke.
3. Prepare to wait. The waiting puts a huge strain on your brain and your body during a competition. Bring a good chair and entertainment. The bleachers are the pits. Not every venue will have space for you to set up a cozy folding chair, but bring them just in case. iPods, games, books, cards, …
4. Watch your competition. This is a crucial intelligence gathering opportunity. Where are they strongest? Weakest? What is their coach telling them?
5. Warm up. Don’t fight with cold muscles. You will tire much faster, be much weaker, less flexible, and less in the “fighting mindset” if you don’t warm up. Warm up and get psyched for your match. The first match is always the hardest. Trust me on this. You’ll be very tired after your first match and you’ll think “I can’t do that again.” But you can. As your body gets into “battle mode” it becomes easier to fight later matches. Flow rolling is great for warming up.
6. Know the rules. We’ve discussed them in class. If you have any questions, ask. There will be a rules review before the competition. You can ask questions of the head referee then.
7. Kids: stay close. It may seem like fun running around a big venue space on a weekend, but don’t roam far, and don’t get in the way of the other competitors or officials. Always tell a parent where you are going if you leave the mat area.
8. Fight intelligently:
   Tips to managing your match intelligently

   • Take the time to get your points on your way through the match.
   • Remember the 3 second rule: stay in position for 3 seconds to get your points.
   • If you are down on points, you must work hard to overcome this. If your opponent is winning, you may notice he starts to stall (he stops working and holds his position). It is crucial that you do your best to turn up the heat on a staller. Even though it is officially against the rules, most refs don’t take action against stalling (unfortunately).
   • Remember the knee on belly position. It is the easiest 2 points to get that most people never take advantage of.
   • Always defend yourself aggressively when you are in a bad spot. Kids: If your opponent puts a submission move on you (like starts an armbar), you must show the referee that you are working to escape it or he will stop the match even before you tap. This is especially the case for chokes. I’m glad refs do this, since it is the best way to be safe with kids on the mat.
   • Be technical, not sloppy. Set up a submission as technically as you know how to. Pass the guard the way your coach taught you. People tend to go a little too fast in competition; often this speed outstrips their technical ability.
9. The mind game. It is absolutely true that 80% of your fight is mental. It doesn’t matter how tough your opponent looks. They all tap if you put the right moves on them. Trust your training and believe in yourself. Never let your opponent know you are nervous or tired. If the ref stops the match to restart you, jump up and show the opponent and his coach that you have enough juice left for 1000 fights (especially if you are just about out of gas!). It is especially fun if you stand up first and offer your opponent a hand standing up. It sends 2 great messages: you are a great sport, and you have more juice left than your opponent. Never groan or yell during the match. It may end the match immediately (a yell is a tap to most referees).
10. Bring cameras. There is nothing more valuable than getting your matches on video.
11. Cheer on your team. If you aren’t on deck for a match, you should be at mat side when a team mate is competing. Give them words of encouragement, but don’t disrupt my coaching. If your coach is saying something, keep your cheers in check for a moment. We are a team in a sport of individual competitors. One of the only ways you have to show team unity is being there for your teammate’s matches.
12. Keep your coach in the loop. If you are going to compete in the next 10 minutes or so, get word to your coach. If your coach is busy with another match when yours is called, tell the table officials (each mat has a separate table) that your coach is busy elsewhere. They will almost always delay a match (they’ll bring the next match on) to allow for the coach to get there. Don’t stress out about it.
13. Be a good sport. Shake your opponent’s hand before and after the match. Also shake the hand of your opponent’s coach after the match. Even if you’re upset about a loss or exhausted, crawl over and shake their hand and tell them “good match.”
14. Show up clean. Make sure your nails are cut and your gi is clean. A good ref won’t let you compete otherwise.
15. Be on time, but don’t be surprised if they don’t start on time. They never start on time, but you should be ready anyway.
16. Don’t worry about winning. Of course you want to win, but if this is your first competition, you will learn valuable lessons regardless if you win or lose. Enjoy yourself and try your best. You will make mistakes but you’ll get them corrected over time. Tap if it hurts. No biggie.
17. Pre-register. Don’t ever register the day of the competition. The reason these things never start on time is that too many people procrastinate getting themselves registered. This creates impossible problems for bracketing.
18. Train hard and get ready. Cross train for better cardio and strength.

Read more at http://austinjiujitsu.com/ajj/articles/competition-preparation.html.

Let the Bodies Hit the Flow

Posted 2008-11-21
by David Thomas

Flow rolling is to a grappler what improvisation is to a jazz musician. It’s a fun, creative experience that develops your skills and helps you connect with your partner.

Every grappling gym has its own way to get grapplers warmed up and ready for maximum athletic performance and the rigors of the full intensity of ground fighting. I prefer what I call "flow rolling": a series of grappling rounds at low intensity with no submissions allowed and an emphasis on constant motion, cooperation, and resilience over static resistance and competitiveness. Since most grappling matches demand explosiveness, strength, and competiveness, flow rolling puts many students off their game, but the benefits can be substantial.

Here’s my pitch for why you should flow roll every time you warm up:

• Maximize athletic performance. New studies of athletic performance have demonstrated that athletes who warmed up for 20 minutes just before intense athletic activity are actually stronger and have improved muscle flexibility.
• Expanded creativity due to lack of competitive pressure. When you aren’t fighting off submission attempts or stuck inside a tight guard, your mind has more time to work though new moves, alternate routes, and unconventional ideas. You can improve your mindset and patience about working through disadvantaged positions. Creativity is limited when you are under pressure. Relax your mind and let the ideas flow.
• Improved mat dexterity and coordination. Watching 2 experienced flow rollers is really impressive. You can develop improved mat dexterity with consistent flow rolling.
• It’s fun and develops teamwork. It’s a nice change to roll around with your mat partners when you aren’t trying to submit them. Put a smile on your face and enjoy the interactive dance. I tell the youngsters in my kids class "play like monkeys!"

So go ahead, improv like a jazz musician. Play like a monkey. Flow roll.