Live Rounds: Knowing When To Increase Intensity in Training
Once you start in Jiu-Jitsu, you may start participating in live rounds, or “rolls.” This means you can finally try using what you learned and drilled in a live scenario to get a submission. Knowing what your intensity and pace should look like can feel like a struggle at first, along with knowing when to increase those levels.
I remember going to my class and I learned a triangle choke and I did not know to let go of the triangle when someone picks you up. My training partner picked me up to slam me on my back and bouncing my head like a basketball. Your first randori (an entire session of live rounds) and seeing people getting arm-barred, triangle-choked, D’Arced and rear-naked choked in real time can look intimidating.
I left that randori thinking, “This is the coolest!” (despite being slammed on my head) and most fun I’ve had in a while. A huge part of my feeling that way had to do with my partners knowing what the intensity should look like when rolling with new students.
Finding Your Pace
It’s natural to feel a sense of chaos when you first start live rounds. Everything feels like it’s moving a hundred miles an hour, and you assume you have to match that pace. Most of us go through that erratic white belt phase — overexerting, tensing up, taking short, rapid breaths, and moving at full intensity nonstop just to avoid getting stuck or submitted. This might work for a little while, but you gas out quickly.
Those initial tendencies, while exhausting, ultimately help us recognize our patterns, correct them and learn quickly what not to do.
Gradually, the more live rounds you do the more you should realize that Jiu-Jitsu is like a chess match. Move too quickly and without giving it much thought, and you’ll get caught in a submission or in an unfavorable position.
Rolling with upper belts is a great way to learn how to conserve your energy and when to increase the pace. The more you roll with upper belts, the faster you realize moving at a high pace isn’t sustainable. Pushing too hard for too long, the quicker you get tired, the quicker technique breaks down, and the more holes open up in your game. Anyone who has been in a shark tank can tell you this is true.
Knowing When To Up The Pace
When you are competing the times do come when we need to use those explosive movements to get out of a bad position or lock in a submission. Knowing when to up the pace comes with experience and time on the mats.
Experienced students often use the first minute or so of a round to feel out their training partner’s pressure and either match that pace or slow it down to better suit my game. If you’re competing, that first minute usually tells you how your opponent’s skill level stacks up against yours. From there, you can decide whether to increase the intensity or play more defensively and wait for your moment to go on the offensive.
If you’re just training in class and you sense your partner’s skill level, resist the urge to crank up the pace. Instead, use it as an opportunity to work your B and C game. In training rounds, you shouldn’t feel like you need to “WIN.” No one enjoys rolling with someone who treats every round like it’s the ADCC finals. In fact, if you are one of these teammates you will begin to lose training partners because they do not want to get injured.
Embracing A Variety of Styles
For the most part, training rounds should be a step or two below competiton pace. But the more you train and the more people you roll with, the more you’ll notice different styles. Some people play a fast, scramble heavy game. Others prefer a calm, flowy roll. Both are beneficial. The calmer rounds help you practice and refine specific movements, while the higher-paced rounds teach you how to stay composed and scramble your way to a dominant position.
If your schedule allows and you’re preparing to compete, attending a competition class is a great way to get higher-intensity rounds in and learn the rules for different competitions. If you can’t make competition class, you can still seek out faster rounds by asking training partners who favor a scramble-heavy pace to roll at the end of class. And no matter what, it’s always a good idea to control your pace — and whether you have any injuries.
Play The Long Game
When you are training it would help you to think long term. If you are getting taken down - is the risk of trying to negate the takedown worth getting injured or is it worth just going down to then work on your defense to get to your closed guard. When being held in a submission that is getting closer to being in the breaking positon – is it worth it letting it go a little bit further to escape or just tap and continue to train. If you are training and preparing for a World Championship in a competition class those things may be valuable but a round at the end of a Fundamentals Class is not the place to take a risk the to the limit.
