Most of us that are truly psycho about bjj or grappling probably already know most of the cool quotes that get passed around like mini-campfire stories. The ground is my ocean… , I’ve been doing this since BJ was in his father’s nutsack… , on and on right? We’ve got some Dan Gable ones which I really love. If Dan Gable quotes were women, I’d be all over them like white on rice. I wanted to discuss a Saulo Ribeiro quote however. Saulo wrote what I consider to be the bjj handbook, Jiu-Jitsu University, and he has a very cerebral mind. I place him up there with Rickson and Marcelo, and almost at the upper echelon level of Gable as far as awesome quotes go. Have you heard this one?
How deeply have you thought about that kick ace Saulo Ribeiro quote about thinking & being late?
“If you think, you’re late. If you’re late, you muscle. If you muscle, you get tired. If you’re tired, you die. When you die is when you tap.” – Saulo Ribeiro
What do you take that to mean? I had a very specific idea in mind when I sat down to write this. In fact, this idea is why I looked up this quote (I didn’t know who said it, it took me FOR-EVER to find it.) But now I am wondering if this Saulo Ribeiro quote is simply about applying strength in bjj. It might but we are still going to go ahead and discuss my idea:-).
“If you think, you’re late.”
This part right here is the one that means the most to me and is the part I wanted to focus on. If you think, you’re late. I believe this can be split up into two interpretations that are key to growing your bjj. The first is easy, it would be like having a technique be 2nd nature to you. The second isn’t as easy for me to grasp. It’s more about worrying, and this is the one we are going to discuss first, or maybe even only.
Why is he gripping me there?
Stop worrying about what they are doing for the most part. Oh sh*t, his knee is almost out of my half guard and he’s gonna pass! So? You either get guard back or scramble, big deal. My point is this, if you are worrying about their game (Saulo’s quote – thinking,) you are NOT imposing YOUR game. If all you are doing is REACTING to their motions, YOU ARE LATE. That seems so simple right?
And the other part about thinking, I think, is just thinking about it. No Google, I am not trying to keyword stuff the word “think” in here so back off. If you, while competing, rolling, or fighting, consciously tell yourself, okay I’m going to go for this sweep now. Against higher belts and levels, you are already too late. It may work on a white or lowly blue, but like Saulo Ribeiro’s quote, now you will be muscling it to make it work. Argh, this is so hard to get into words. I wish you jokers could just get inside my brain and see what I mean.
Again, you can look at this thinking thing in 2 different ways – thinking about hitting a move and being late, and also worrying about what they are doing so you never get your game off, thus being late to the bjj party.
“If you’re late, you muscle.”
This part is pretty easy to grasp. If you are late, you are going to have to use muscle in order to compensate for the missed timing. And using muscle leads to expending energy which leads us to the rest of the Saulo Ribeiro quote. I think the first 2 parts of it are the most important and meaningful.
Quit thinking in bjj. I sure as hell have to remind myself of it every time I train. I find that in the rolls I don’t think, those are the ones I both learn the most from and have the most fun during. I’m not tired, I feel like I hit the moves with little or no effort. You just feel like that’s what bjj is supposed to be. How about you, have any other Saulo Ribeiro quotes that you find interesting or want to share? Any stupid bjj quotes you’ve ever heard?