Emp.Ice
White Belt
As I'm watching this video, I got a familiar sensation. It took me a moment, but I finally realized the parallels with a hardcore punk show. There is sweat everywhere, music blasting, and it's nearly impossible to see. In many ways, this feeling is intoxicating, but at a hardcore show, I often wish people would stop throwing punches so we can all just listen to the music and enjoy ourselves. This encapsulates how I feel about (at the very least, this videos depiction of) Garami BJJ. Is this type of training in service to improving a practitioners techniques and knowledge of the sport, or is it in service to the creation of militant, steroid infused pressure junkies who scoff at the definition of Jiu-Jitsu?
There is mention of David Goggins playing in the backround. This figure, while relatively respectable, has made their entire career of off motivating people with his stories about how he motivated himself. Many people hold him in high regard, and use him to motivate themselves. I find this ironic, since the only reason he seems to be so successful is through mental toughness and intrinsic motivation.
I mention Goggins because he is indicative of this phenomenon of amateurs who think athleticism and greatness are defined by one's ability to brute force their way through a problem. The owner of the gym, simply called "Greg" in the video, demands that training partners refrain from being friendly, and that their goal is to get their opponent to quit. Presumably, with enough top pressure and demoralization, you don't even need to work a submission! I suppose BJJ would be much simpler if it was just side control and guard passing, but the issue here is, anyone with any degree of skill, choosing to play their game and not their opponents, is going to blow past all this chest puffing.
As I have previously stated, I don't entirely see any intention from this gym to teach the technique of BJJ, but rather to use it as a tool to create mental toughness, or confidence. As well, this specific brand of "mental toughness" is very fleeting. As soon as one goes past their limit, and lose the ability to ignore their tiredness, they lose all their toughness and reduced to fumes. Most athletes understand that you have to completely aware of what is going on with ones body while they are competing, so they don't bonk, lose technique, or otherwise risk injury. Yet people who have never even eclipsed greatness pretend to have some secret path towards it.
BJJ is flawed martial art, that is designed to teach it's plethora of techniques through some form of techniques, with the intention to submit or incapacitate someone. This particular offshoot of "BJJ" feels more like teenagers ego lifting in a gym. Sure, one might lift a slightly impressive amount of weight, but their future holds a crushing and insurmountable plateau that proper technique, gentleness, and consistency would have helped them avoid.
