Mentality whilst rolling.

[Michael Hewson]

I am going through this phase at the moment where I treat at every roll I have at the gym as if it is a real fight and it is to the death. I used to just chill out and let it happen but I read "The Fighters Heart" by Sam Sheridan and he writes about dog fighting and the trait of gameness that a dog breeder holds higher than any skill or strength a dog may have. He describes gameness as "being willing to continue a fight in the face of death,".

When I was training striking my coach would say "How you train is how you fight."

What is your mentality when you roll?

[Tom Carbone]

You should fight how you train, not train how you fight.

[brianspinaltap]

Keep it playful.

[kevinculp]

You can train hard without being that guy that nobody wants to train with. Don't look to crunch your partner but you can go hard by working your transitions. No one hates the quick guy but everyone hates the smasher! If you have a guy whose cool with a war that's one thing but if you look to kill even the new white belt you are being selfish and not a training PARTNER. If you crush take time to explain where your partner went wrong and help him grow too!

[Mike May]

I play for skill, and to have fun. I spent years in schools that were aggressive and all about dominance. I got into JJ and 10thPJJ in particular for a fun hobby. My days of turning my sports/hobbies into a fight/war are way behind me.

[Slick Rick]

When you're training for ADCC you'll train how you're going to fight, but not all the time. There are drills and techniques that must be repped, and they don't always require this gameness you mention.

When you're starting out and you're training as if your life depended on it, you'll end up getting hurt physically, mentally, and figuratively.

All too often I see a guy come in, pound on the weak, then get wailed on by someone that actually knows technique. At that point they say something like, "This sport is not for me", or "Show me more." First thing I tell em is throw their notion of strength and going balls out, out the window, and slow down. If they are looking in improve they have to stay steady on this journey, and swallow their pride. Rome wasn't built in a day.

[Casey Halstead]

Simply put, don't break your toys. If you go hard all the time either you or your teammates will get hurt. This is a marathon not a sprint. Training is all about balance, you will know this when people start to avoid you or try to hurt you. We have a rule of thumb at 10pcm hit as hard as you want to get hit.

[Tori Applegate]

I used to be more lax. I've been training for a year now and every girl I've ever competed against is bigger and stronger than I am. Everyone in the gym is bigger and at least the same strength or stronger. I've gone through phases after every tournie, training certain techniques vigorously, learning to train harder and be tough, and now to be more aggressive and dominant, grinding even.

We compete every 8 weeks and now we're competing every 4-5..on the nights I'm super tired, I just play defense..don't get submitted, escape, etc. Other nights I'm on top of it and the closer we get the more aggressive I get. BUT I only go hard with the teammates I know I can, and also who are gonna be competing by my side.

That's how I train, as of now, not always though. As far as mentality.......
I'm not gonna let you crush me, I'm not gonna let you have anything. You have to take it, I don't care how big you are, or strong, or what belt...I'm gonna give you a run for your money. Then if you get me, good roll man. :-) But I give %100 and train hard. I train to strengthen my mind, bc that's what will break you at these tournaments..and I got Gracie Worlds 2014 on the brain....And I'm hungry.

[Greg W]

Just remember, you can turn strength out on/ off way easier than you can turn on/ off technique. Everytime during rolling you use strength and speed to replace working on a proper technique you do not get a good technical rep. You can always add the strength and speed back in during times of need. What if, during times of need, your opponent is actually stronger and faster than you? And you haven't put in enough technical under power reps! There has been volumes of posts and high level players advice on this. If you get injured or wear your body out during training you will suffer in the long run. If you wear out or injure your training partners, you will suffer in the long run. I strive to submit your partners using less than 30% power and 100% technique everytime. If I can do that, I can always kick it up a notch when needed. Can you "win" rolling with 100% power and 30% technique, sure, but then can you bump your technique up to 100% on demand when needed. Not likely.

[Drew Ash]

A white belt that treats every roll like its "to the death" is a good way to get yourself injured or worse hurt others. Technique is most important and if youre using muscle and as you said "treating it as if its to the death".. you are neglecting technique.