Being the aggressor problem

Hi everyone,
Pushing the pace of the match/roll or even just committing to full blown attacks is what makes someone an aggressor or offensive (obviously.) However I find myself usually rolling at probably 50-80% of what I am capable of almost no matter what the stakes, competing or for fun. I try to not force things when I roll, if I have to use strength or even "strongman" or bigger guy techniques I usually abandon to try something I feel is more technical. It has done great for me on most occasions, however when I am going against someone who is tough that learns all my tricks or is better than me technically I find myself losing attacks and getting in situations I probably wouldn't be in if I had 1 or 2 more gears. Anyone have anything like this happen to them?

If you have had this problem how did you fix it? I'm assuming it is one of two things. I am scared to appear like a douche brawler and it is better art in my opinion to not use much strength anyways. The other thing it could be was maybe if I kicked my cardio up? I can roll 10 minute rounds now, but sometimes someone tough will put me in straight survival mode the whole roll where I have to bust ass the whole round and I will be dead at the end usually :) Thank you for any thoughts

you said you go 50-80 percent no matter what? but then "I have to bust ass the whole round and I will be dead at the end usually" personally I dont understand...

yet i do understand not going 100 percent. i used to be that way with no matter who i rolled with. Now i try 100 percent (not with beginners or someone who ways less then me) i remember not crank stuff, yet i dont just give position/submission unless i feel like working from there (even than i make them work for it). everything is earned. i believe everyone i roll with deserves the reps and the hard work to achieve the position/sub. If not im wasting mine and my partners time. just my view on it.

I think you are confusing two ideas: strategy and pace. There are two strategies which are fighting and counter fighting. But outside of those there is the pace of the match. The fighter is in charge of the roll, in a sense, he dictates the first move. While the counter fighter does not care what the first move is he just wants the second move. But how much energy you spend is besides this. The person who makes the first move can use as much energy or as little energy as they want but they are still "ahead" because they moved first. They are depending on being ahead to win whether it's a slow roll or a competition match. A counter fighter can be as slow or as fast as they want also. You see a lot of matches where the counter fighter is being lazy until the right time to strike and then snap into a sweep or submission. But a person who is not counter fighting can do this too, using pressure. Whether it be physical pressure or cardio pressure or mental pressure they can hold a steady amount until the right time and then change the pace to faster or harder and snatch something up. This is my narrow understanding of the game and other more experienced guys can give a better explanation.

I would start looking at ways to sharpen your game technically. You can do this during a roll by going even lighter and relaxing. Just fend off attacks and look for openings. I like what Sam had to say about counter fighting. When I am going against someone who is better than me, this is the exact strategy I employ. I just relax and fend off all attacks until they become frustrated and usually expose something. When this does not work and I get caught, I look at the opening they created or I exposed and attempt to remedy this. Eventually, when I become proficient enough at my game without ever breathing heavy, then my energy in the tank is just an ace up my sleeve that I can pull when I really need it. If I could only go 10 minute rounds, I would think I am exerting myself too much. It is better to be caught and not be too gased to remember what happened for the most part so you can learn from the circumstance. I can understand pushing the pace for competition training and going hard in a competition, but during regular training it has been better for me to just slow roll and be tricky. Put myself in bad positions and find ways out without breathing heavy. Also, when I am in my dead zone finishing positions, I make sure all my details are in order before I go for the finish. You are on the right path trying to be technical if you ask me. Try taking it further, going 30%-50% and use you mind 100% all the time.

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Originally Posted by Arthur_v

you said you go 50-80 percent no matter what? but then "I have to bust ass the whole round and I will be dead at the end usually" personally I dont understand...

yet i do understand not going 100 percent. i used to be that way with no matter who i rolled with. Now i try 100 percent (not with beginners or someone who ways less then me) i remember not crank stuff, yet i dont just give position/submission unless i feel like working from there (even than i make them work for it). everything is earned. i believe everyone i roll with deserves the reps and the hard work to achieve the position/sub. If not im wasting mine and my partners time. just my view on it.

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I mean I have no choice except to go harder just to survive against someone being more aggressive and technical than myself. Sorry if that made no sense.

Thank you Sam, I usually am a counter fighter now that I think about it. Maybe I just need develop a more urgency after I begin my countering. I think I may lay back too passively and when it is actually go time it might be too late to kick the gears up (without spending extra energy since I am quickening my pace after the fact.) I think I am confusing strong-arming techniques with necessary application of explosiveness to execute technique. Like I said, I usually only turn it on 100% in survival mode and it seems like I am scared to be rude or I am just naturally pacing and not realizing it. If I am naturally falling into a counter fighting pace, I could probably explore more aggressive options or be more active to bait counter moves if I didn't automatically slow down due to my passive-like style.

Jon I really like what you said about gas in the tank being an "Ace" up your sleeve and that you personally have a game that's similar sounding to mine (though sounds like you figured out things about your game I have yet to test and discover.)

Thanks everyone for the responses.

One more thing that I think separates the elite guys from the good guys is this: guard retention instead of guard recovery when counter fighting. This is a big hole in my game. I almost never see Rafa or Keenan's guards get passed even though they are on the bottom and counter fighting and seem to be lazy.

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Originally Posted by Sam Davis

One more thing that I think separates the elite guys from the good guys is this: guard retention instead of guard recovery when counter fighting. This is a big hole in my game. I almost never see Rafa or Keenan's guards get passed even though they are on the bottom and counter fighting and seem to be lazy.

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Very true. I like how Marcelo Garcia sits up and re-guards when someone is almost in side control. It is a thing of beauty that I want to work more into my game.

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Originally Posted by Jon Watkins

Very true. I like how Marcelo Garcia sits up and re-guards when someone is almost in side control. It is a thing of beauty that I want to work more into my game.

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Yeah I've been working on that too. Easy back takes from there.

I think one thing that really helped me out is focussing more on submissions than position. Once i started trying to go from submission to submission I noticed everything get better because joint into this is getting the flow between submissions perfect. gogo to omo to sweep to arm triangle to mono to gogo to armbar to triangle etc. I dont think you need to be a roided junkie with retard strength, you can get that flow going and to do that I cange my thinking into a submission mode.

gets me onto something ive been thinking about the position before submission vs submission before position argument. if you can get a submission anywhere then who cares about position, but you canc ontrol any position then subs will come that much easier. I think that you have to look for the middle ground between them and dont push one too far. sounds like youre not pushing submissions enough.

hope it helps. good luck.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the comments and advice! :) I should start hardcore studying Marcelo on that note. I have his body type so his strategies might work well for me. He's a beast though, might not be able to replicate some of his gnarly moves.