Threat level: The highest goal of jiu jitsu is submission. The reality however, is that most of your opponents know all the major submission holds and how to defend them. As a result, the majority of submission attempts you ever attempt will fail. Don't worry – that's ok – remember – you only need ONE to succeed and the match is yours. Understand something however – your submissions will only have a decisive effect on the match if your opponent fears the consequences of no tapping to them. If your submissions are MECHANICALLY weak, they will be ignored and even countered by a good opponent. If they are strong, opponents will quickly submit, or over react to the threat and create easy follow up attacks for you. It's important them, that your submissions carry with them the threat of damage if the opponent doesn't tap. Just as there is a massive difference between someone throwing light slaps at you versus something throwing heavy blows with the intention of knocking you out cold, so too there is a massive difference between grappling someone whose submission attempts feel like they would do little damage even if you let them perform it versus a submission specialist who feels like he could tear your limbs apart or strangle you unconscious in seconds. In the latter case, you will want to tap quickly or react so dramatically that you'll open up vulnerabilities just trying to get away from the initial threat. Make sure your submissions have that mechanical strength underlying them so that in a real situation you know they are capable of doing real damage if the situation should demand it. Of course in daily training apply all submissions with care and control so that you don't hurt training partners, but practice your mechanics so you on that day you need the power of real submission, you have that ability. Remember that AN EMPTY THREAT IS NO THREAT AT ALL.
