John Danaher recently pushed back on the idea that Jiu-Jitsu is purely a game of technique and finesse…

Making the case for physical intensity as a core, often overlooked part of the sport in a recent Instagram post.

Here is what he wrote:

Jiu Jitsu is a physical sport. People often try to claim it’s exclusively a game of leverage and finesse.

Certainly mechanical and tactical efficiency is the central part of the game – but it’s applied by human beings and the physical side of Jiu Jitsu should not be denied or underplayed.

He laid out the tradeoffs of staying relaxed against an opponent:

There is a lot to commend a more relaxed physicality.
This makes you harder to read, increases your endurance and less vulnerable to fakes and feints.

However, you can’t be so intent on being relaxed that you simply get overwhelmed by your opponent or so relaxed that your techniques lack the base level of physical commitment required for completion.

Danaher also stressed that intensity has to be read off the opponent in real time:

In addition, you have to pay attention to your opponent’s intensity.

If your technique is so much better than your opponent’s that you can maintain relaxation while he goes at maximum intensity, that’s a wonderful thing, as it will probably allow you to exhaust him.

Most of the time however, if an opponent significantly increases intensity you’ll have to increase yours to some degree until he starts to reduce it.

He closed by framing this as a trainable skill:

You can practice intensity calibration every time you spar.

Try to get a sense of what’s the minimum level of physical intensity required to be effective and stay close to that.
Pay attention to your opponent’s level of intensity and calibrate yours with his.

Understand that you can increase and decrease intensity at any time. Don’t lock yourself into one level and stay there regardless.
Awareness of intensity levels and how you can change them in response to circumstances is a big part of success in sparring.

Practice it daily as you would for any other important skill

 

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A post shared by John Danaher (@danaherjohn)

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