Lessons from Jiu-Jitsu — Lesson # 1

This is the first attempt at compiling lessons learned from my experiences since taking up Jiu-jitsu sometime in March 2017. It is by no means the first lesson I’ve learned, but it is the most recent one. Expect more of these missives.

You can read about Jiu-jitsu, but it’s even better to watch it just to get an idea about it. I decided to pick it up after hearing a lot of people talk about it including on podcasts such as Joe Rogan and Jocko Willink.

It’s amazing, and the way I explain it to people is it’s like chess but fighting. And the stakes are much higher. You’re trying to solve a puzzle with infinite different configurations, scenarios, attacks, defenses, setups, moves, etc. — all while at the same time having your opponent trying to choke you (lol) or bend your arm the other way.

With that brief intro out of the way, here’s the lesson I learned recently.

For about a year, the guys in my class have been pummeling me. I’m stronger than many of them, but in Jiu-jitsu strength means nothing. It’s all about technique. Recently, however, instead of getting pummeled, I controlled my position in something called the mount and also in something called the side control.

Without diving too deeply into this — there is a “positional ladder” of basically 4 positions in descending order of most control to least. One of the top ones, the mount, is where your opponent is lying on their back and you are…