Composure: When one looks at the best jiu jitsu players in competition, it is clear that the majority of them exhibit a very impressive degree of composure as they compete – even when they are under tremendous physical pressure. This stands in contrast to an average beginner class where most of the students grunt and grimace their way through the session, even when under very little pressure. This transition from grunting beginner to composed expert is critical to your long term success. Only when you are in a relatively composed and mentally relaxed state can you work methodically through the many small details required to make the moves work and make second by second adaptations to your opponents resistance. Remember this: it is not enough to merely defeat your opponent in training. You must be able to understand HOW and WHY you defeated him, so that you can replicate and eventually improve upon that performance next time. If every muscle fiber in your body is in maximal tension and your lungs are on fire, you will assuredly not be able to recall what you did during the match to win and thus you will not remember the details that brought you victory and employ them upon subsequent opponents – thus ensuring poor rates of progress in training. Learn to keep your physical intensity levels at a level where you can think and remember the reasons for success and failure in each sparring session so that each lesson builds upon the other in a way that generates progress over time, rather than a collections of exhausting brawls that furnish no lessons for the future and guarantee performance plateaus. Here Olivier Taza shows admirable composure as he locks in a heel hook to finish another opponent. Note that he is literally observing his own actions as he performs them to ensure the various details are in order. There is no unnecessary tension, just enough to get the job done. He is in full control of his mental faculties as he performs the move. Whether the move succeeds or fails he will be able to tell you why and how. Thus will he be able to either replicate its success or correct its failure the next time he uses it.
