Paul Deviglio, a Combat Sport & Fitness brown belt and a friend of mine for over ten years, trained with me on Wednesday. It had been at least a year or two since our last marathon roll. Many events and changes have transpired since then. We sparred for about an hour without rest, embodying the spirit of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s (BJJ) originators, who would engage in prolonged battles. Our training sessions aim to train both the mind and body to use energy wisely and avoid exhaustion.
“Even when you roll during training, you should minimize your natural talents. By limiting yourself, you may find yourself in a much worse situation, but you are forced to think your way out using techniques you would not have otherwise used. When you start doing this, you begin to understand what is really wrong in a certain situation and what actually needs to be done in a technical way to improve the situation. You then begin to develop real, deep progress, understanding the mechanics of any situation.”
— Rickson Gracie
In this context, focused continuous sparring with a consistent partner like Paul has revealed patterns in my approach to BJJ. I’ve become more aware of the vulnerabilities and advantages in my game. This self-awareness, coupled with pattern recognition, helps me improve by identifying where I tend to make mistakes and where I can capitalize on opportunities. For example, Paul’s strong side control has taught me how various escapes put me in better or worse positions. If I become impatient while stuck in Paul’s side control, I might escape to my back. Exposing my back to escape is definitely a last-ditch attempt and usually involves creating a scramble. Scrambling requires athletic ability and typically tires me out, and as Rickson Gracie mentioned, exhaustion is not recommended. Ultimately, these moments teach me that facing up to a difficult side control is less risky than turning away. This might seem obvious to a higher-level practitioner, but even at the highest levels of the sport, athletes turn away in a last-ditch attempt to escape.
My responses also help Paul improve and escalate his attacks and traps when working out of his back control. Often, in the process of escaping back control and defending strangle attacks, I find myself defending arm triangle chokes and arm bars. For both of us, this forces an escalation of our skills.
Long rolls with one person create an opportunity to enhance skills, sharpen adaptability, refine techniques, and recognize patterns in real-time. The deeper and more philosophical message is that loving BJJ and staying on the mats requires adapting and refining my ego’s response to the passage of time and its effects on my body. Self-acceptance is essential if I want to be on the mats today, tomorrow, and next week. Observing an older black belt standing up and walking away from the ground or from a long time sitting in a chair, you immediately see the years. We make it work because we love this thing.