Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast

So, this has been announced during class now, but different coaches. Something to the effect of folks needing to slow down. Be calm. No need to rush. If you’re racing through it, you’re not learning, you are missing details.

I’ve used quite a bit of Sean Fagan’s videos online to work on some of my striking at home and have had the pleasure of attending one of his seminars. I really like The Muay Thai Guy’s style and philosophy of teaching. He has emphasized on a few occasions, whether it was in a video or at one of his seminars that we should go slow until our reps are perfect. We should apply this to Jiu-Jitsu as well.

Now, I am well aware that much of Jiu-Jitsu happens all at once. A coach might break a technique down into let’s say 5 steps, and even in those 5 steps, it’s really 25 details condense into a 5 point lecture on the move. But once you go to try it, you realize that doing steps 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5 isn’t working out for some reason. Well, it’s because steps 1, 2, and 3 happen simultaneously and step 5 happens while you’re still ⅔ of the way done with step 4, which starts shortly after you start that step 1, 2, and 3 mashup. So it may prove difficult to slow down to a step-by-step methodology, but we can still slow it down.

I remember working with some probies and prospects coming out for the S.W.A.T. team. We were doing some pretty basic room entry and clearing drills. They had watched the team run through an exercise, and while the active team went off to work on something else, a few of us took the newer guys to hone in those fundamental room clearing skills. At first, these guys were bursting through the door, nearly tripping over themselves as they ran towards their corners. I told them to slow it down and try again. They once again came in too hot, and looked like a bag of hot trash. Again, we told them to slow down and go again. This third time was not any better than the last. So another instructor and I stacked up and made entry into the room. Slow and smooth. The newbies tried again. Slower, a bit, but still, they were rushing through it. I asked them why they were rushing, and one of them answered that they were just trying to go as fast as the team had. I explained that team hadn’t gone fast. They were smooth, and they were smooth because they started slow. I told them they needed to slow way down. Painfully slow right now, so they won’t miss a detail. Then, as the get those detail etched into their muscle memory, pick up the pace slowly. I said the sweet spot is where you’ve leveled out your speed and smoothness. Once you break that threshold, and you stop looking or feeling smooth, you know to dial it back a notch and that’s where you want to operate.

Once again, this can be applied to Jiu-Jitsu. I recall working with a newer guy, he asked me how our roll felt. He was worried about feeling spazzy, relying too much on strength and speed. Honestly, it was a good roll. I could feel him try to muscle some of the things, but overall it felt controlled. I told him that with time you’ll be able to hone it in and really start to flow more. That flowing is the sweet spot, in my mind, between speed and smoothness. If you can get a good balance of those, you’ll notice it in your rolls.

Unfortunately, the opposite of this can be perpetuated by the coaches. I remember for a while, one of our coaches was on this “do an exuberant amount of reps of this move is such a little time” kick. Seriously, it was like “you and your partner do 20 back escapes each in 2 minutes.” This is the antithesis of Sean Fagan’s “go slow until our reps are perfect” mentality. It felt like the cross-fit of Jiu-Jitsu; we were sacrificing good technique for reps. I hated those classes and I am grateful that it seems the coaches have moved away from that nonsense.

Another concept I’ve used that is in the same wheelhouse as this is to be fast where you can be fast and slow it down where you need to be precise. I used this in firearms training. Take drawing a weapon from a holster for examples. There’s steps and processes to effectively and consistently have a good pull. And during certain parts of the draw, you can speed up your movements and then there’s parts where you should slow it down, for example, lifting the firearm out of the holster versus punching out while acquiring the sights. In Jiu-Jitsu, there are times to be fast and aggressive, i.e., bridging while under someone’s mount. There’s a time a place for a scramble to your knees. But then, slow it back down and get in control. Get smooth again. The constant throttle up and down will probably help to throw your opponent off too.

I don’t know, maybe give this a try. At whatever level you’re at. You may know this concept, or you may have developed it in years and years of training. Maybe you have never even considered the balance, and you have your Jiu-Jitsu throttle pinned for the entire duration of the class/roll. But next class, try to purposefully slow down and find where that balance of slow and smooth is.

1. Do no harm; Do know harm.
2. Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
3. No expectations, no disappointments (situation based)
4. Developing feeling is good. Developing feelings is bad
5. Find Work
6. Slow is smooth; smooth is fast

Thanks for reading.