The Right Move At The Wrong Time Is The Wrong Move

Name: I cannot speak highly enough about how incredible this school is. All of the instructors are extremely skillful and masters of their craft, diligent and meticulous in caring for each and every student of any level, and welcoming and kind! My wife and I joined as complete beginners and have grown to love martial arts, and the students and teachers at Elite!
Item: Elite Training Center
Rating: 5
Author: Andrew Balogh

As I finish up a private lesson in jiu-jitsu with one my students, there were many principles and concepts that were expressed and learned during that hour. One moment during the position training, the student was trying to perform a mount escape where I was sitting on top of him and he was attempting to roll me over. He was doing the right technical holds and body mechanics, but the escape just wasn’t working for him. In these moments, I often start to laugh, giggle and say, “Good move Tony!” It is to point out in a fun way that the student is experiencing the struggle and trying to win. The student is use a lot of strength and forcing the position. Finally the student breaks and says, “Why isn’t it working for me!” And I tell him, “The Right Move At The Wrong Time Is The Wrong Move!” We both laugh and he is now in one the secret and knows why I was giggling!

When I start cleaning the mats with my student, I ask him to come over here and work with me on cleaning the mats together. I say, “I am over here and your are over there. Come meet me in the middle.” Before that he was mopping the mats with no direction. We finish the lesson together. As I walked over of the room and into the main hallway, another student asked me about his own struggle he had the other day. Michael told me that he once again was mounted and tried to escape with the same technique as my private student. Michael said the first time it worked well, but the second time he started to panic and was helpless. I listen to his war story moving my head up and down.

Then Michael said, “What did I do wrong?” I told him he was trying to win during the struggle. This made him tired, weak, exhausted and helpless. Once again Michael in this example was doing the right move at the wrong time. I related that there are other things that happened before the main struggle and that is important to factor in and correct, but the right principle is that he needs to be total comfortable in all parts of the “Struggle!” With this in mind we can’t find the struggle because once understood and applied we can change the game being play. The joke is now on the opponent. Michael from the bottom position as view by the everyone around him is losing and in these real moments he is the one that starts to giggle. Michael’s internal voices is confident and saying good move..good move. The opponent on top loses focus often and it is he that starts trying to win. Michael can feel this now and I promised him that when the guy on the top tries to win…it is that moment he can not go wrong….just do the right move…the magic is in the timing!

My best,

Prof. Tony Pacenski
2nd Degree Black Belt
BJJ Revolution Team

Elite Training Center
1628 South Pacific Coast Highway,
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 543-1600
www.elitetrainingcenter.net
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