There are many lessons you will learn through experience as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, especially when you are just starting out.
However, it just might be better to learn as many lessons as you can from the mistakes of others, rather than by yourself.
For example, John Danaher – one of the best acclaimed BJJ instructors in the world – recently shared an incident he experienced early in his career.
An incident, that his coach Renzo Gracie was attentive enough to point out to him:
I tied a smaller opponent up in a pretzel with a poor rendition of a cradle and squeezed as hard as could on the smaller fellow white belt.
He tapped presumably out of discomfort. I was happy to win.To my surprise, my teacher Renzo Gracie rebuked me and said quite correctly that it was a poorly conceived move that only worked because of my size advantage and the inexperience of my partner.
Danaher learned a lesson that not every victory is with merit:
Only victories that can be replicated and would work against someone your own size and skill level are worthy of merit.
It’s not just winning but winning in a way that sets up more future wins against increasingly capable opponents that should interest us.
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