You may have had the unfortunate luck to meet someone guilty of these things but don’t BE that person!
10. Do not take care of your personal hygiene.
Basic, first and foremost or being prepared to do a full and close contact martial art is cleanliness. Hair kempt, pulled back or up, body washed, fresh breath, nails clean and trimmed, and gi laundered. All these things mean avoiding something as small as a torn off nail, or a nail scratch or as bad as MRSA, the form of staph infection that is resistant to antibiotics and comes from dirty environments!
9. Ignore your rolling environment.
Need to roll to get the back or that submission? Don’t do it into the wall or into those training beside you at your partner’s expense.
8. Make excuses for why you tapped.
Maybe the submission was forced, maybe it was on your face and not actually choking. You tapped and there is no shame in that in training- move on to your next roll.
7. Roll only with people of a lower rank or size than you.
And you will never improve against odds or circumstances set differently against you! Your training partners will catch on that you’re a big bully.
6. Begin rolling before your partner is ready.
False start! Try again beginning fairly for the grips you want.
5. Either provide too much resistance or none at all.
A good training partner is an active training partner. To correctly train any technique for execution live your training partner and you both need to be engaged in what you are doing. Try to remain focused and relaxed. No resistance is like trying to practice moves on a dead body. Too much and you won’t be able to figure out how or why a new technique works.
4. Pull off high level techniques on lower level partners that have never been taught them.
Calf slicer and foot locks with gusto? That’s hardly fair or productive. Shouldn’t you use this opportunity to work on your awesome positional control and super-slick transitions?
3. Teach and comment all the time.
As students of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu we all want to learn. But some people also take it upon themselves to help teach class. Every time you or your partner interrupts repetitions in training it is less time that you have to work out the technique for yourselves by direct experience- the best way to learn. As a student, learn more than you teach, listen more than you talk.
2. Always roll full tilt and spazz out.
Spazzing out is rolling with lots of energy and no purpose. When you don’t know what you’re doing doing it hard and fast is a recipe for disaster.
1. Do not let go or do not let go completely when someone taps out.
You may really want that submission, want to keep your comfy position, or don’t understand why your partner is tapping out. It doesn’t matter! They are tapping for a reason whether you know it or not! It could be that you aren’t sure your partner is tapping out because they didn’t do it with conviction or waited between each tap. The point is- you just don’t know everything that is going in their body and mind. Is that position or submission really worth potentially hurting your training partner over? Respect the tap is respecting your partner.