Come to the Light Side

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It’s not what you say that matters…

… but it’s what you do that matters.

The same goes for a certain BJJ expression we’ve all heard before.

“Let’s roll light.”

You thought it really was going to be a light roll…

… until the other person started “losing” and then going harder.
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So I get it that people tend to be skeptical of light rolling (or people who say we’re going to roll light).

And then some people take pride in never rolling light. (But wait until they start skipping rounds… another discrepancy between words and deeds!)

The thing is, if you and your partner can roll light with the right intention, light/flow rolling can be one of the best ways to improve your skills.

When you roll light, you can and should focus on how you move your body.

You don’t have to worry about winning or losing in this case, and you and your training partner can simply explore what’s possible.

What’s excellent about BJJ is that you could improve your skills just by understanding what’s possible and how to make these possible moves happen.

You already have enough strength to do these moves.

In short:

You can discover how you could move in different or effective ways through light rolling.

And these discoveries will upgrade your understanding of how you could move.

When you know what’s possible and how to do it, your BJJ skills will improve accordingly.

Of course, you may need to keep refining these new moves, but that’s what regular sparring is for.

I hope you have trustworthy training partners who can indeed roll light.