Does it bother anyone else?

Today in the gym I was rolling with someone I've never rolled with before. While he wasn't too experienced it was obvious he had training. Now he out weighed me by probably 40-60 pounds, but who doesnt?

My issue is that he was putting his 100% in to this roll like it was the fucking world championship. I go into the gym typically rolling at about 60% even less with white belts, there are only a few guys I'll turn it up with. I like to work on my defense and I really don't want to hurt my teammates. This guy forced me into a position that I don't like to be in having to go a lot harder than I'm comfortable with outside of competition.

Does it bother anyone else when people roll like that?

I roll at or near competition level every time I train, unless there is a discussion not to do so beforehand.

I always thought that was the beauty of grappling, you can train hard fairly often without bad consequences. You also compete how you train.

yeah it really does. I tend to avoid them after they do it a few times. I'll mention it to them but it almost never works. if they keep going mental then i'll skorpion crush them a wee bit and fist choke them. its not nice, but it catches their attention and ill tell them ill keep on doing it unless they calm down a bit. (im not saying i do this alot, but we all know the kind of guy im talking about right)

I feel there is a time and place for it though. When I teach classes, we do the warm ups technique and when we start rolling i start them off at 20-30% and tell them its flow rolling, let them sweep you and if you fall into a sub then dont use much strength. then next roll i say 50% and last roll i say go about 80%. I dont think anyone should train at 100% unless theyre about to go in a tournament

Gray, if I were rolling with you it would be an almost comp style roll because we would be pretty evenly matched and the trust of one another not to crank on something would be there. I dunno, maybe I am just being a bitch about it.

Issac I think you get what I'm trying to say for the most part

Happened to me the other day. I am nursing an injury and said before we rolled that I was going light. The guy kept hammering away. I even mentioned it 3 times during the round that I am going light, I am hurt and please chill. He apologized and kept going hard.

At first I was mad, but then I thought that maybe what I need for a workout is different than someone else's and what I ned to learn with is also different. I wish he had respected my wish a bit more, but next time I'll just pass him over when we select training/rolling partners.

One overwhelming stereotype one encountered about world class grapplers is that they have a tendency to smash everyone. Even when I was a white and blue belt, they pounded me into paste. There's no easy rolls

This happened to me on Thursday. Mind you I just competed last Saturday and I have another competition coming up on Sunday. I am saving my body and training smart. However, this guy must really want a purple belt, cuz he put it on me a million miles an hour. I'm talking knees to the face and kicks to the balls spazzing. All while doing leg locks. With no regard for my safety. I blew someone's knee out today doing leg locks. That's why you go slowww. Save the intensity for the tournament. This guy doesn't compete tho. And that's why he wants to murder me like it's the UFC championship.

Ryan Fortin gave me good advice and said ball up. Stay tight. Relax and take it down even more. It's only your ego that wants to win. Let it go. Make him realize that if he wants to roll like a maniac you're not about it.

I think that's great advice from Ryan. I try to react that way, though sometimes my ego will get the better of me. With a white belt or blue belt that is doing that, I will usually just let them pass and work whatever they had in mind. Once they have sufficiently exhausted themselves, I mount my offense.

Gray, I have started to notice that also about really great competitors. They almost invariably come after me like I stole something. I have grown to like it and I've started doing it more lately. Gotta find that good balance for myself, though.

Whenever we slap hands and fist bump before we roll, this signals to me that I should now begin attempting to submit you with all of the skill and willpower at my disposal. To give you less than 100% is to disrespect you, as if you are undeserving of my full effort. Or, worse, I am making preemptive excuses for myself, legitimizing my future loss to you because it is something that I have accepted as inevitable. If I hold back, the cowardly recesses of my mind will always be able to whisper to me, "pssst, that guy didn't *really* submit you. You could've bested him with that last 20%." The insidious voice of my ego will then pervade my actions, skewing my view of myself and my abilities. Far better to suffer only honesty, and deal with the indignity of loss with the only possible conclusion: that I must improve myself to avoid it. This endless cycle, the confrontation with and honest assessment of my own failure, is what drives me to become the most my potential allows. Every training match IS the world championship; the championship is not won on the day, but in the months, years, and decades beforehand.

With that said, I believe that my mindset was not actually what you are complaining about; I don't think you are annoyed when black belts tool you, for example. You are complaining about the far-too-common spastic white belt who is dangerously flailing his limbs with all his might as if you are threatening the lives of his loved ones. Little skill enters into his combat style. You are likely to get poked in the eye or smashed in the gonads or worse even as you submit him a dozen times in a single match. Now, I am fairly large so I am often able to subdue such an opponent forcibly and in the process gain valuable insight into dealing with the no-technique style of a neophyte. However, I have been faced with larger opponents (300lbs +) who attack with this mindset, so I understand completely. In my opinion, the thing to do is to discreetly speak with the instructor and let him know that Big Jimmy needs to be calmed down. As an instructor, I have spoken with countless novices whom I felt were shortchanging their own learning process by spazzing during every roll. I tell them to calm down, to think about each and every action before doing it, and to only do something if it is a technique they've learned in class. I remind them that tapping out is good, a part of learning, and not to be feared. I tell them that I myself approach every match with 3 to 5 specific techniques that I am attempting to use, and that I will place myself in positions to use them almost exclusively.

You can also send them to roll with an Enforcer (e.g., Adam Sachnov) who can thrash them and then calmly explain all of the above.