All or nothing: An interesting element of jiu jitsu and of submission holds in particular, is their all or nothing character. They either work 100% and end the match, or they don't work at all. If you show me a man who knows 95% of what is required to complete a juji gatame arm lock, I will show you a man who has never submitted anyone with that move. As such, there is, perhaps to a greater degree than any other aspect of our sport, a need for exactitude and precision. There is nothing more heartbreaking than getting very close to a submission and then losing it in the last stage. Not only is it psychologically damaging, it is usually physically exhausting, as most submission holds require considerable amounts of isometric strength in execution. students have to learn through experience to walk a fine line between working hard to successfully finish a submission versus abandoning one to save energy and switch to another option. We are engaged in a sport where a failed submission has no more worth than a punch that missed. As such our execution must be perfect down to the smallest details or, if not, it must be followed by another movement that justifies the energy expenditure of the first submission attempt. Nowhere else in our sport is greater knowledge and precision required in the placement of fulcrum and lever – small mistakes can have deep consequences here. At the ADCC world champions, Garry Tonon took the attack to his much larger rival, Vinny Margalhaes, an extremely talented ADCC champion, in the open weight division. The expression on Mr Magalhaes face shows that he is close, but despite several determined attempts, was ultimately unsuccessful. It takes great self belief to choose the path of submission – failure almost guarantees losing in points based tournaments – but success brings the deepest feelings of satisfaction our sport offers. Photo by Tiago Molinos
