Wasted minutes: A minute or two of your time doesn't seem like much – unless you're in a six minute Jiu jitsu match. In matches less than ten minutes a minute or two is a big deal. It's not enough to simply be able to perform moves – you must be able to do so in a timely manner. A good example is sitting inside an opponents closed guard. Time spent inside an opponents closed guard is wasted time. You can score anything there and you can't attack with any high percentage submissions from there – but your opponent certainly can! As such you want to spend as little time as possible inside an opponents closed guard – nothing good happens inside there. I find that the most reliable method is to stand up and open the closed guard. It's not the only way of doing it but it's the best one for smaller and shorter athletes to realistically open a bigger and taller opponents closed guard. It can be done in a short time period and allows you to minimize time spent in a position where you can't score but the other guy can – never where you want to be in this game. next time you're in a closed guard don't just think of getting out, ask yourself how long it took you to do so.
