Near misses: We all want to succeed with every submission hold we attempt – but always understand that no matter how good you get, if you are grappling someone your own level THE MAJORITY OF YOUR SUBMISSION ATTEMPTS WILL BE UNSUCCESSFUL. This is not said to discourage you – it is simply being realistic. Just as no boxer expects to hit with every punch he throws against a skilled opponent, so too, we should not expect to break through with every submission attempt he make. The question is – how will we react to this observation? Should we hold back next time we make an attempt at a submission hold so as to save some energy knowing that it is statistically more likely that our attempt will fail than it is to succeed? Absolutely not. That is the pathway to guaranteed failure for ALL of your attempts rather than most of them. What it means is that WE MUST HAVE A PLAN OF OPERATIONS SET IN PLACE AHEAD OF TIME SO THAT WE CAN move CONSTRUCTIVELY FORWARD AFTER A FAILED ATTEMPT. So give everything you have into your attempts until you feel that it is destined to fail – and then switch all your effort into the follow up. It is very important that you have your follow ups well rehearsed – whether it be another submission hold, a positional move or a pull away to neutral. Never take a negative mindset to submission failure – don't see it as failure, but rather an opportunity to attack in a different way, for every defensive action on the part of your opponent to an initial move will always render him vulnerable to a follow up move.
