Tap early Tap often or know your limits?

Wondering how you guys feel about in the situation of being submitted.

IE: if a guy has you in a guillotine or rear naked, do you tap when they get good pressure or when you feel you should?


reason asking, is because im not fully sure if im in the wrong for doing it.
Im not big and stocky, but im of an athletic build and have alot of agility and resistance.

for some reason, unsure if its because I dont exactly have a neck or if they arent squeezing hard enough. or maybe its a physical build thing or just my individual resistance.

I posted that I had an awesome training day and held my own against one of our guys thats about to get his blue belt in BJJ and i'm only white 1 stripe. (quick learner)
I about caught him in an oma plata but he quickly hugged the back of my leg and it was hard ot pull it back out. and I also came close to locking a triangle on him but he postured up and reversed out. after a min or two, he got me in a head and arm choke and was squeezing really hard.

(in my opinion, If i can hold out, I'll resist because when the opponent squeezes full force, in theory they can only hold the full squeeze for about 30 or so seconds before they start to let up a little form acid build up and tiredness.)

so while he squeezes, ya i feel the pressure, but its not really anythign thats making me uncomfortable,dizzy, or signs of blood loss to my head. so I crawl to mount and wait.... just as suspected he slowly started losing pressure and I blasted and made my escape.

but my friends dad thinks its more or less, "I have something to prove" and said I should just tap if I get stuck or caught and reset and roll again.

I'm 19 only weigh about 140-145 (soccer does that do you lol) and im one of the lightest guys in our school for the adult class the closes person to me in weight has about 20 lbs on me, every one else is 175+

I have alot of fight and heart to keep going, cardio is well above average, but not once have I ever in my mind thought that I need to prove myself to anyone at the school. JJ/BJJ is a constant never ending road of Progress, every real BJJ/JJ practitioner will tell you that. we've all be white belts at one time, lost alot, got swept and tapped alot, but each of us know our limits and learn everyday.


so it boils down to,
Should I just tap and reset though I dont feel any pressure or danger?
Or is it perfectly fine to hold out and resist given that I know my limits and when I KNOW I need to tap.

How much training value do you get from being stuck in one spot for 2-3 mins?

I think if a choke isnt set, there is no issue with holding out, but dont fool yourself, its not you doing anything special, the guy doing the choke was just doing it wrong, and its more valuable IMO, to be able to change the position (or not ever get stuck there), than go get choked out/not choked out because the guy messed up a choke. You get no further development from staying in one spot holding out. I would say the 2-3 mins is better spent practicing and transitioning than laying in one spot. Just my opinion though.

ya I definately understand and fully agree that the 1 min sitting there could be used more efficiantly, though at the same time, what do you do in a tournament situation if you are unsure of your limits. I've seen some guys that are very good, but the second the guy gets caught and pressure if applied, they panic and tap right away.

when I got caught in the head and arm, I resisted and shrimped my chin in so he didnt have a direct line to my neck. though he kept squeezing I felt no threat or danger so i just held out for about 30seconds and when he let up I took advantage of the opening.

Well to be honest, I dont see where the two things have anything to do with one another. A guy, if he really is good, knows when he is caught. In your case, you simply were not in a choke. That has zero to do with what you were asking. If a guy who knew how to finish better puts you in the same spot, you get tapped. So what is more important, laying under a guy who isnt choking you, or not getting put there in the first place? I would say avoiding the situation. lots of new guys get "fooled" into thinking some things are alot safer than they think they are because of blue belts fooking up submissions. Get with a better guy, and you see avoiding the position was a much better use of time.

Its your time, use it as you will, and it usually takes most guys 2-3 years to use their grappling time the most efficiently anyway.

if I know that I can hold out against the choke I will try to out last him but as soon as I feel the blood leaving and I don't sense him giving up I will tap. Armbars and other submissions like that I will tap as soon as im caught because I dont want to lose a limb. It helps me train not to get caught in those submissions.

chokes, I'll usually tap when I know it's sunk in or feel myself going out. heel hook, or knee attacks I'll usually tap fairly quickly if they have it sunk in. Same thing with armbars, really. Once I feel the pressure and I haven't begun to roll out, or spin out, I'll tap. Not worth getting hurt over. my LCL is bugging me quite a bit and it kills me not to be near 100%.

This reminded me of when I joined a grappling club with all these 200 pound plus dudes, and I'm currently 160. These guys would always pressure me and get the head and arm triangle on me and I'd be resisting and making them work for it forever and then I realized that I wasted a lot of energy and I had another 7 opponents to go against directly after that. So I'd say it's good to just tap, they out classed you and got the submission. Might as well start over. But if you feel you can get out of it, just keep working. I will always work for about 20 seconds in any hold if I can. If I can't break out after that I'll just tap either way. But you should let your partners know their chokes aren't really working to well.

well I mean, in sparring with a team mate, ya tap and reset to train more. but in s tournament I think i'd hold out as long as I can. though arm bars i'll tap quickly because I dont want to injure myself. i'll attemt to roll out of the arm bar but if I dont grab it first try, its pretty much done and I'll tap.

If a guy is stronger than me, then gassing him out is a key part to my strategy. If he is blowing a submission and I can find a safe spot to wait, I'll let him squeeze his brains out until I can find an opening.

I didn't read everyone's response, but i'm the same way as you. Once i started to roll a lot, i learned my limits and i push them for sure. I never tap early even though i know i should, unless its an armbar or something with ankles. I ended up getting choked out from an arm triangle once tho but that wasn't bc i didn't tap right away, but because he was strong as hell and locked it in perfect. As soon as he had it in, i was out. Anyways, im just like you but we should both be a little smarter i think lol