Cautionary Tale in BJJ: Beware of This Question Before a Roll

[@wizzle0979]

Yeah learned my lesson from "Lets go light, I have a competition coming up". His idea of going light and my idea weren't the same.

[@ZOIMIBiIE]

@@wizzle0979 I’m old and I usually just ask “gimme a chance to tap, please, don’t just slam into a sub!”

[@mad-k6q]

No it sounds like deliberate deception.

[@widehotep9257]

Here's the flip side of that story: I talked my older sister into trying jiu-jitsu for 6 months to learn basic self defense. In her very first "intro class" the instructor was a huge heavyweight who man-handled her and beat her up pretty badly. She never went back. He should have known to go light with a woman in her first class. There are lots of brutal blockheads in BJJ.

[@wizzle0979]

@@widehotep9257 we had a two strip white belt do that exact thing. Mat enforcers took care of that problem. Haven’t seen him since

[@mad-k6q]

@@widehotep9257 67% of men are sexless so there's that. Unless you feel no one would bear bad feelings about that.

[@jakerowsell8752]

The worst part about “let’s go light” guy is when you genuinely want to go light and ask people they just look at you and laugh.

[@KuroSukotto]

for me I know the people to look for they I can trust rolling with and weary of new faces.

[@BachelorOfMartialArts]

I say “let’s go light” all the time because I genuinely mean it and didn’t know about this trope :P

[@BobbyHall-eu1xv]

I believe I was a three or four stripe white belt when a friend of one of our regular training partners came to visit from Germany, he was a black belt in Japanese Jiu Jitsu, white in BJJ and around the same age as me, and said to me before our roll "Hey go easy" then proceeded to go after me like it was a street fight, I had him in full guard and he slammed me and was driving his fist straight into my throat, all while having a crazed look in his eyes. When I swept to mount then tapped him with an arm triangle it was so satisfying - to this day in over 11 years of Jiu Jitsu I've never had anyone do the 'let's go light' and go as hard as that time.

[@christophgunster254]

I'm German. On behalf of all Germans, I apologize to you. Sorry you had this happen to you. We're not all like that. Sounds like you were sparring with Dwight Schrute. What a douche!🤦‍♂

[@SquidFox9]

What a d bag

[@Vekren]

Good for you putting him in his place. Some people are just bullies wanting to vent on people. I remember this one big guy well built when the bell rang for sparring he went after me like it was a tounament speed. I got in a good few shots that he felt. Was still figuring him out as he had major reach advantage then not even half way through the night he's calling it a night. I said have a good one with a fresh face, I really wanted to say oh so you like going hard and trying to beat on smaller guys but when you get tired you quit early. Pretty cowardly I would say.

[@erikmenendez7491]

Bunch of pvssies like that

[@danielemmanuel6261]

I've been guilty of this. I've been called out for it and I'm glad that I have been called out.

[@LibraryladyjiujitsuMOM]

I was a 44 year old mom, 3 stripe white belt coming off of a thumb surgery when I rolled with a high level brown belt at our gym. He was somewhat newly back after a knee replacement. I explained about my thumb; he pointed out his bum knee and said, “Let’s flow.” What followed was one of the scariest 5 minutes of my life. Within 20 seconds he had me absolutely tied up into a pretzel. He went north/south. He attacked my feet and legs (which we don’t do in our gym until blue belt). He choked me. Arm bar. Neck crank. It was relentless submission after submission. It was a horrifying experience and a complete waste of time because here’s what I learned-he’s a 4 stripe brown belt. I’m a 3 stripe white belt. He’s way better than me. Well, we all knew that before the roll. Honestly, the roll broke my spirit and has probably stunted my growth in Jiu Jitsu. It definitely damaged my confidence, and completely scared me off rolling. I naively thought that those kinds of upper belts were safe. I am much more timid in rolling now and less willing to roll with people that I don’t know well.

[@HoodratHippie]

I’m so sorry you had to experience that. That guy sounds horrible. I’m also a librarian jiu jitsu mom 😊

[@HoodratHippie]

I had a similar experience when training in kung fu. My master would beat the crap out of me while sparring and say “I’m just going to keep doing this until you learn.” I didn’t learn ANYTHING! I hated sparring. The thought gave me anxiety. The only thing I learned was that he was an ego driven a$$hole. My grand master eased me back into sparring and I learned a ton from him. I stopped sparring with my master. I thought I was being a whimp by avoiding him but it’s actually very smart to be selective who you train with.

[@erikmenendez7491]

That guy is a coward

[@iceblue7118]

Go to a knitting class. Its a combat sport.

[@SamiLogest]

Don’t allow someone to scare you of from the sport being a coward and running because someone beat you is pathetic and weak we are meant to overcome being whining about defeat instead of looking at as a learning experience won’t help you prepare when jiu jitsu will be necessary in a real life scenario train with more aggressive and dominant partners so you can get a taste of what competition and real life situations will be like we get beat up in the gym so we don’t get beat up outside the gym

[@englishflorist]

had an experience as the eternal white belt that I am a couple years ago. was new at the gym, end of class open mat time. cool purple belt dude asks if i want to roll, i agree, he mentions that he's recovering from a shoulder injury and indicates which one. we start rolling, guy is a dream to roll with, he's letting me practice the knee slice we worked on during class, he re-guards and we rinse repeat. at some point, i'm on my feet, in his open guard and i'm trying to get some lapel grips in. i snag onto his lapel and find the sleeve and start white-belting around trying to discover a passing solution. i realize, i'm wrassling around on the side he mentioned was injured. i say 'shit, sorry' and refocus to better accommodate his injured side, he says 'no problem' we keep rolling, he taps me out in gentle controlled fashion repeatedly. best 'let's go light' guy ever

[@widehotep9257]

The paradox of jiu-jitsu: We seek BJJ to protect ourselves from brutal psychos who we'll probable never encounter. But in BJJ classes, we encounter more brutal pyschos than we would have ever met outside of BJJ.

[@shihonage]

This is why I'm not sure if i should do BJJ anymore.

[@3nertia]

The problem is systemic - capitalism encourages our worst, most predatory traits such as greed, selfishness, and *aggression* heh

[@Maxmarvelus]

Yeah, there's a lot of nerds here they get a little jiu-jitsu skill and then they start acting like it's a real fight start being disrespectful, but always within the rule set on the mat never in the parking lot.

[@okarowarrior]

@@3nertia well said

[@3nertia]

@@okarowarrior Thank you!

[@terischannel]

I had a platoon Sgt. that was a BJJ instructor. When we had time in the afternoons he would have us roll as a second PT session. We would start with just going slowly through the movement to focus on that day. Without fail one guy would always go 100% during the drill, wear himself out and would get f'ed up for the rest of the grappling session. It didn't matter how many times we told him what was going to happen he just kept doing the same thing every session. Eventually he was kicked out of the military for doing something stupid.

[@chrisj9146]

Many injuries via 12yrs of BJJ. I find it interesting when people ask if you are dealing with any injuries, you tell them, and they immediately target it. I’ve learned to say “I will tap if I need to tap. You may not understand the tap, but please respect it.” If someone starts going 100% and I don’t want to match it, I just tap before the control/isolation phase of a submission. If I’m better than them, but think there is a high risk of injury to me by matching or exceeding their output, I just tap if they pass or sweep. It often creates confusion/questions and i say I’m not interested in going at the level of intensity they are presenting. They typically slow down after that.

[@paul8972]

That's good I like that

[@The_Brew_Dog]

☝️this is how it’s done. Allow them to win in a boring fashion which removes the trophy off the shelf. The way I teach people how to flow roll is I insist they have the mindset where they plan to lose. I’ve even went as far as painting the scenario of “pretend the mob paid you to throw the match, if you win you die. But you also have to make it look somewhat believable that you aren’t throwing the match so play along but be damn sure to lose.”

[@paul8972]

@@The_Brew_Dog I was told about a way of rolling were one attacks for 5 or 10 seconds, can't remember exactly and the other defends , then after the 5 /10 seconds the defender then attacks. It goes like that, never seen it but apparently was good to get fast controlled rolls but really good for fitness and working on attacks and defence

[@ThatHebrew]

Sounds like wisdom to me.

[@lordsneed9418]

"I'm recovering from injuring my x , can we go light?" or "/i've hurt my x , can we go light?" I've been asked something like this a dozen times and only once /i can remember has the person then ended up sparring pretty hard. Every other time we've either had a relaxed or very relaxed round of sp[arring.

[@mclroyjenkins3798]

Agree. I am the "let's go light" guy at times, or rather let's flow roll. I have multiple lumbar spine injuries, and at times I can't roll at all. Humility goes a long way as well...I tap real fast on the days I'm feeling the injuries!

[@shutuvi]

what kind of shitty people are you rolling with ? Or is it a cultural thing where you are that people are that mean

[@willrichtor]

@@shutuvi No, the comment you posted to is the exact opposite of what you're thinking. lordsneed9418 is saying that 9 times out of 10, when someone asks to go light, they're being sincere. It's the clown in the video trying to make money from views who is blowing the issue out of proportion.

[@Logan71098]

@@willrichtor How is he blowing the issue out of proportion? He is just talking about certain people who say "lets roll light" and then go too hard. Which 100% does happen to almost everyone if you've been training long enough.

[@marLamaDeo]

@@shutuvireading comprehension

[@JLewis1979]

My first ever roll was with a 17 year old blue belt. I hadn't even signed up for the MMA gym yet, but was a visitor that signed a waiver. We start on our knees and he immediately gets me knee on belly trying to get mount but I was able to stop him and from then till I ended up on top, but in his guard around 5 mins later we were basically having a deathmatch initiated by me spazzing to stop the mount and it just escalated from there. Keep in mind I was 37 at the time and had a LOT of strength on this kid. I'm lucky to have survived with him. It wasn't till later that I found out that while I was spazzing, he was simply playing defense to keep from getting hurt. That's when I realized that I was THAT guy and I never rolled that way again.

[@3nertia]

Adrenaline is one helluva drug!

[@tommoeller7149]

I've certainly had that experience. On the other hand, when asked to go light or just do some "50" I'm super conscious of my own efforts. This has resulted in me being sought out by other older guys who can count on me to be careful and considerate. The encounter is often some version of, " hey man, can we go light. I'm dealing with a (fill in the blank) injury and I know I can count on you to be careful." High praise indeed.

[@Culvey]

as a mid 30s dude who wrestled for 14 years, everyone assumed my "light" roll was just going to be crushing them like most wrestlers try to do. It only took a couple classes for the older guys, especially the bigger dudes or those with injuries to want to roll with me because I could apply pressure without rolling hard and was hyper aware of avoiding peoples injuries... a skill i learned from coaching wrestling for 3 years and taking care of the wrestlers I was responsible for (sure didn't learn it when i was competing myself.) My first two classes the instructor put me with higher level belts because of the wrestler stereotype, they realized that I was trying to learn technique not just crush people... until i was told to TRY to compete against his brown belt, then I just got punished and pushed to the brink of vomit inducing exhaustion for 3 minutes straight lol.

[@billyreuben123]

When I was at purple belt… open mat…white belt asked if they could “borrow my leg” to practice a straight ankle lock. He was being careful and felt comfortable. Someone else asked me a question and I turned my head and focus. Suddenly the white belt goes for a ballistic heel hook. But by the time I was aware what was happening I rolled late. Tore my ACL off my femur instantly. Needed surgery and was out for a year. I also have MS so my recovery was longer than normal. Just made it to black belt…lesson learned: there is no light rolling or “lending your limb” unless with a very experienced person who you know well and trust. Even then 100% focus the entire time. Everyone else-assume they have bad intentions until proven otherwise.

[@larryblarry]

This is nightmare fuel for me 😬 Glad you made it through the other side and congrats on the black belt!

[@Pridemma02]

This is quite possibly the most insane thing i've ever heard happening in rolling. What makes you think its a good idea to destroy a higher belts leg while they are clearly not paying attention with a move thats usually not even allowed until blue/purple? I hope at a minimum they were held responsible for medical bills or something.

[@davidjohnson4832]

Kick boxing sparring round asked to go light because he forgot his mouth piece. I have a tae Kwan do background so I'm really good at point fighting. He got frustrated within a minute and had crash eyes annnnnd er went to war. They always mean" let's go light as long as I'm winning"

[@PhilthyHorseRacing]

I've had several "light" rolls that my partner went full kill. One I legit stood up and very publicly called him out for it. That individual had a history of doing that shit.

[@SlackerBlue]

Same thing. Psycho older purple belt did this and complained when I matched his pace. He said something like "just trying to have fun man." Never rolled with him again. Now that I think about it, nobody wants to roll with him anymore.

[@jasonjohansen771]

Yes, I had a few " let's go light moment" in BJJ. We had a newer guy in the gym, he was ex army & few years older then me. He asked to roll light due to some injury & I said sure. Well with in a few seconds, he set upon me like a tornado & I found myself in more of a self-defense situation than a casual gym roll, let alone a "light roll." As an older BJJ practitioner & one who works with his hands for a living, i didn't take to kindly to this. Once I was able to finally hit a reverse & come on top, I hit him with a baseball choke, not holding anything back, and he tapped out really quick. Then gave me a tongue lashing for going "hard" on him.... What he meant was, you hold back & let me go hard.... F around, and you will find out.

[@Dawood4]

Usually, I'll just straight up ask the person if they mind just letting me work my offense. Upper belts at my gym are really good at this, they will defend subs with some effort and punish me if I make a mistake during a submission but won't attack subs themselves, or if they do, they will give me ample time to defend properly. Next round it's his turn for offense. I find it's a good way to go light and work offense without being a dick and telling ur partner you want to go "light" when you really mean you want to practice subs in a controlled way.

[@WhatsMyNameAgain93]

I'm a 3 stripe white belt heavyweight and had a new guy, maybe 5'5, very early 20s, fairly light but also trains MMA do this. Now I'm inexperienced as it is but he says lets go easy so we're rolling, I'm being conscious of the size, height and weight difference and generally playing seated guard positions. This kid charges at me, too fast for me to catch a butterfly sweep, grabs my arm and cranks an Americana at comp speed. Thankfully by then i knew how to defend it, plus I could muscle out. I tell him to take it easy, I'm deliberately going slow and light like he said so let's relax. We reset and i think he's going for a toreando(sp?) pass and he rips a straight ankle WITH a reap, in the gi. I give him a tap, he looks excited etc. We spend the remaining 2 minutes with him in bottom mount, trying to catch his breath with 94kg on his chest 🤣

[@The_Brew_Dog]

Hug mount punishment 😂 Ya.. I’m a muscly guy so dudes see me as a trophy it seems like sometimes. The way to combat this when you want to go light is allow them to win. Take the trophy off the shelf by allowing them to tap you in a boring fashion. Often this will reset the tempo

[@DonDozone]

As a 41-year-old whitebelt, I have to deal with injuries or similiar regularly. So I also do the "let's go light" often. By now there are several guys and gals at my gym that I know better, so they and I know we are on the same level. Some other I know really like to go hard so skip those on these days. And when I'm really afraid of worsening an injury I don't go to complete strangers and ask for a lighter roll, because maybe also they explode into aggression and hurt me. So there is in my opinion a very valid place for "let's go light" or "let's just flow", you just have to be cautious about with whom to do it. Also in my experience you need time to adjust yourself to each other. Had some amazing flowing-technical "rolls", was almost like a dance.

[@dan448]

It’s open to interpretation. Same as ‘flow rolling’ As someone who trains with a chronic health condition I’m forever asking people to go light, but my interpretation is that we are going to attempt to implement techniques on each other, without putting physical effort behind it to see the technique over the line, it either works or it doesn’t, if it gets countered then I need a follow up counter. The goal is still ultimately to submit. But refraining from using strength if my technique starts to fail.

[@Dawood4]

for me flow rolling means using technique only and never relying on strength or explosiveness for a submission. if it's not like 95% correct i'll just let go and attack the next submission. I agree 100% with your definition.

[@sirpibble]

this overweight middle-aged guy came in for his first class and usually I like to help people on their first day So I was his partner and helped him through the moves that day and then when it came time to roll I said "we're just going to grip up and get used to moving around a little bit" And as soon as the bell went he grabbed me and spiked me on my head and said "BTW I'm a judo black belt" I'm not ashamed to say I tortured him for the rest of the round at 100% 3 minutes in he said "Ok I'm done" And I said "no you're not, there's still 2 minutes left in the round" He never came back 🙂

[@clayton97330]

He shouldn't have brought the heat if he couldn't handle it.

[@philinn4788]

And then everyone clapped

[@daveh0]

Judo black belts don't (deliberately) spike you on your head; there's no score for that! Sounds you got embarrassed then spazzed out.

[@paul8972]

I had similar. I was about 2 months in 48 and this guys is about 25. It was situational attacking turtle and I'm turtled up next thing I'm getting flipped upside down on my head and felt like I was about to get injured. I said what was that as felt weird and not what we had been shown, he just said you shouldn't have resisted and you'd be ok, then said I'm a judo black belt. To this day I still don't know what he did 😂. I don't think he lasted.

[@terrykim2748]

@@daveh0Yeah, this sounds made up. I do judo and wrestling and never have I ever seen anyone deliberately spike someone on their head. We’re interested in pinning your back, not your head… Maybe they did a poor man’s kata guruma / fireman and OP just landed poorly? Sounds fishy

[@bujindork]

Always protect yourself, even against the lets go light guy

[@Vekren]

Absolutely.

[@NollaGirl504]

This has happened to me with 2 different women recently. Both asked me to go light bc of an injury, and both came at me at 100% Very annoying, I feel they just want an advantage.

[@jayluis189]

I'd be hard to roll with you. Edit: 🤦🏽‍♂️ I mean, it'd be hard to roll with you.

[@mxu111]

yeah it's actually pretty common but usually it's beginners who have little control

[@GuthixGriffin]

@@jayluis189 dude wtf, touch grass

[@gayealisir5661]

@@jayluis189 my nigga

[@doublejacketjimmy391]

@@jayluis189 Bruh edit didn't make it better.

[@lordofwarnick1557]

Hello Chewy, love to watch video from you again. Strongly agree, don't trust someone who is unfamiliar with you trying to say he/she will go a light roll. It's a trap.

[@zachdarr7605]

I haven’t had many people say let’s go light, I primarily match the energy of the other person.

[@xyaeiounn]

If you start light and keep it light, a tacit agreement is set up to keep it that way. In that case, the first person to ramp it up to high velocity has abused your trust and taken a victory from doing so. By excluding people who do this, you rob them of chances to train.

[@spaceace41]

I learned long ago that if I’m hurting somewhere I keep my mouth shut. Last time I said to someone my shoulder was hurt, wouldn’t you know it, my partner went for nothing but arm-bars and Americanas on my shoulder that was bad. Next roll I said nothing and that guy wasn’t trying to pull my arm out of my socket. Lesson learned.

[@stover954rr]

Yup. Just protect it yourself and tap early.

[@thomasayele5389]

That person is shit head. That's not normal.

[@charlesa.reidiiiesq.2342]

Bad training partner…

[@thebizness5596]

😂😂 that’s funny but fucked up, next time you gotta rip his shit

[@timhertens8502]

Bad gym mates tbh, for example we had a guy with a knee injury and we all took it as an opportunity to work on upper body submissions.

[@Sol1345l1]

grapling with heavier newbie opponents is a nightmare, broken bones waiting to happen

[@Psichlo1]

It is also framed as "lets just flow roll" and then goes ham as soon as they can. I saw one recently where the guy said that and proceeded to judo toss his opponent and proceeded to crank submission. I always treat the situation as protect myself, and see what happens. There seems to be this attitude that if they tell you that they want to roll light, that you'll take it easy and they can get position on you and then brag that they beat an upper belt. I honestly feel like if that's what you need to make you feel better about yourself, than so be it, but it will only happen once lol. Glad you addressed this.

[@johnmedige1612]

Wish i could like this twice...thank u chewy!

[@paulerbear]

As a white belt a year and a half in I don’t have much for this but I do have one story. Our affiliate gym runs a 12x12 on New Year’s Eve which is 12, 12 minute rounds so it’s a bit of a marathon. The guy I go with for the first round (warm up round) and says at the start that we should flow roll for the warm up and proceeds to go 100% the whole 12 minutes. I tried my best to slow down the roll and just worked on guard retention. Needless to say he was sitting out resting after only a few rounds I made it all 12 rounds! It was a blast.

[@shoakimoto2517]

12x12 is beast! Sounds kinda like a kumite

[@ConveyApp]

I’m a 44 yr old, 5’5”, 175lb, mid level purple belt. I’m primarily no-gi. My day job is human behavior modification with autistic children. I have 22 yr in that field. My understanding of human behavior and BJJ has merged very well together. I love to instruct and teach. I was at one of our gym’s open mat and I was teaching some concepts and techniques. This one guy was very respectful, he is an evening student which I very rarely go to. He is one of those 3 months on 4-5 months off guy. He said he had been doing that for about 4 years. He is 21 yrs old, 5’9”, 160lbs, Un-ranked. After 1.5 hour of instruction and drilling he wanted to roll. I had had meniscus repair surgery 6 months earlier and was still very iffy on unfamiliar guys. Anyways he had been really respectful and pretty good with the instruction and drill so I agreed. I’m thinking 50-55%, that’s kind of the body language with him as well. This dude goes from 50%-125% spun to a mounted arm bar and hit it quick, I spun around to walk over his head, and leveraged his cup into my elbow and I had to tap. Totally caught me off guard. I thought, “ok, he tap a purple belt so he gets his notch”. I was thinking now he may chill. Boy was I wrong, we reset, this freaking kids goes death match on me. I was prepared this time though, reversed him and north/southed choked the crap out of him with a crank. That pissed him off. He comes at me again and I darced choke the total crap out of him. Again again. We didn’t have a timer running, and now all the other guys have noticed this death match and he was a tad butt hurt now. We rolled for about 7 minutes and I submitted him about 9 times, and not nicely. Lots of pops and cracks came from his body. This kid just wouldn’t get the point. He jumped up huffing a puffing needing water. His mom asked him to move is gym bag and he ran up to it a kicked it. He got his water jumped back in front of me and said he wanted to go again. We did another round of me almost breaking his arms, knees, ankles, shoulders, and some ribs with a solid knee ride. Finally I told him he was done and open mat was over. This kid was raging out to his mom, all the way to the car. Thats my let’s take it easy story. His mom driving a 21 yr old young man to the gym on a Saturday morning should have told me enough after he left. Anyways I hate having to do that but it was on him.

[@daconquest7239]

don’t get those types of people. if you came to an expensive ass bjj gym expecting to wipe the floor with dudes that have been doing it for years, you’re paying for nothing, but ego i guess?

[@psyience3213]

I gotta say after a couple years of that it really ruined bjj for me. That story is all too common. And as a 6'1" 155lb'er i got a lot of the 250lb roided out college wrestler wanting to try and kill a skinny blue/purple belt. It's fun tapping them until one of them tries to stack you on your neck or do some other dumb shit to actually injure you so that they can "win" a roll. It's just not worth it.

[@killercour]

​@psyience3213 I'm pretty much the same build as you and I get the same thing sometimes lol.

[@purschannel1155]

Human behavior modification? That's new lol. Be safe

[@yobebill1234]

Keep at it!!! You get em!!

[@marshalltp1]

Yes and yes. When you said, “with white and blue belts, I almost go into MMA defense mode..” this is gospel. With these spazes, sometimes your options are, “Smother and smash”, or, “playfully teach”.. I prefer the latter. They choose. But if I must do the former and you still don’t learn, I may lose my patience. When that happens, a conversation will happen. If it happens again, we won’t play with you anymore. For your sake. 🙏

[@SpidermAntifa]

I've been the lets go light guy. Including when I'm injured. Ive started adding "if I start escalating, dont be afraid to give me a reminder." Which shouldn't be on them to keep me in check but it helps.

[@The_Brew_Dog]

What will help you with this is in your mind you should plan on losing and not even attempting to go for subs. This is the mind set one should have when “flow rolling”, neither should be going for subs. After a couple rounds you can add in late escapes meaning you or them start setting up the finish, but do so very slowly allowing them to escape…but maybe giving them a hard time about it.

[@philipwhitcomb5358]

Yeah, if you have begun adding, "If I start escalating, don't be afraid to give me a reminder" then you definitely have a personal control problem. 😂 You are the problem if you escalate and don't realize it until someone reminds you, doesn't matter what your rank is. lol

[@HeartlessKnave]

@@philipwhitcomb5358 you don't understand anatomy & physiology or neuroscience & psychology, and more specifically the sympathetic nervous system's part in the hyperarousal/acute stress response, do you? In your perception while in flight or flight mode you can think that you're still going light and calm, it sometimes takes an outside observer to remind you that you're not and to take some deep, long, and slow diaphragmatic breaths to calm down. That's how you BUILD the "personal control" (I think you mean emotional self-regulation) if you don't have it, in this context it's a learned skill and requires physical and mental conditioning to obtain it. You're literally castigating them for trying to build up the thing you're berating them for not already having. They're reacting to the "threat" from their opponent, so while mentally they may want to go light physically, the mind disagrees that what is happening to the body is "light". Whether what the opponent is doing is "light" or not, to the mind it's either a threat and in danger, or it isn't, and then in response the body "escalates" based upon the mind's perceived threat, that's how the human body & mind works, doesn't matter what your rank is. lol Emotion regulation See also: Emotional self-regulation In the context of the fight or flight response, emotional regulation is used proactively to avoid threats of stress or to control the level of emotional arousal.[27][28] Emotional reactivity During the reaction, the intensity of emotion that is brought on by the stimulus will also determine the nature and intensity of the behavioral response.[29] Individuals with higher levels of emotional reactivity (Such as an anxiety disorder) may be prone to anxiety and aggression, which illustrates the implications of appropriate emotional reaction in the fight or flight response.

[@lolineskurukuru]

The mat sniper

[@busbystandup1337]

Ego. There's a dynamic in bars that explains many bait & switch rolls: A band is playing so the crowd talks louder to hear each other, then the band turns up the volume to drown out the crowd, so the crowd talks even louder... this volleys back and forth until everyone is miserable. I feel like many of the students you speak of haven't dissolved ego enough to control themselves from incrementally turning the volume up on each other, just enough to start winning, and if their opponent is doing the same thing its only a matter of time before their speakers are full blast

[@sbboshardt]

When I was a blue belt, I got a roll with a brown belt from Norway. He crossed faced my jaw, and I swallowed 2 teeth. Thanks Chew, I loved the shirt.

[@arcurnow]

I am so glad Chewy’s gonna pick some of these stories out cuz this is the longest I’ve ever spent in the comments section. 👏🏼

[@DiogoSBastos]

45 years old, brown belt. Going back to JJ (in Brasil we just cal Jiu Jitsu...ahahah) , in a new gym, after 7 years of a halt. I asked a purple to go light.. and I was going light.. then I saw the arm and get the armbar.. On the next day I call him in the corner and ask for fogiveness.. The only time in my hole life I did this.. I was the lets go light guy. But I reconised that it came from a place of insecurity and I told him that and we ended up becoming friends.

[@southtxguitarist]

I'm a former student at your gym Chewy, but this didn't happen there. I didn't start BJJ until I was 53, and joined a gym in another state when I was pushing 60. I was the one who asked to go light, and my partner, who was smaller/lighter but who's a pro MMA fighter in his prime starts trying to ragdoll me. I went entirely into defense mode and was able to keep him from moving me around to set up submissions for the round. A week or two later we're paired up again and I again request that we go light and he gets all pissed off and says "that's what you said the last time and then you went hard!" I was too surprised to say anything, because this guy was an instructor at the gym and a brown belt at the time; I was only a blue belt. I thought it was pretty rude of him to treat me that way, being an instructor. BTW, I'm about 6' and weighed about 165, so not at all intimidating. So apparently the "let's go light" experience can go both ways.

[@jonnekytola5513]

To me “let’s go light” would mean not attacking hard, and matching defence accordingly. But maybe some people expect the defence to be lax too when saying that 🤔

[@wrlk636]

Thanks for the heads up man. I didn't know this was commonplace. I'll be more careful with people who aren't familiar to me.

[@roxndroid]

I have to thank you for your advice on rolling with a white belt. I’m a while belt myself (6 months, judo) and this new white belt was paired with me for a newasa. Right from the start I know something was up: he was forcing in untimely moments, going from quiet to huge movements. Got one punch to the mouth. I instantly recognized it could be dangerous even if he’s less experienced than me and I went full defence to slow down the roll and protect my neck and face. I had your testimony in mind. Ty!

[@mr.dephiant9713]

Love this video, thank you. Yes! had my share of a few....The Fight or Flight mode is real on this guys....just avoid them.

[@darrylwolfe]

Man, on behalf of all the white belts out there I must apologize. I’ve been that guy and have rolled with that guy. As a white belt I suppose it’s harder to control our impulse drive when our adrenaline kicks up a notch. Something I’ve been working on and have noticed an improvement when regulating my breath. My conscientiousness and self awareness seems to fall in line with my ability to control my breath. Is this accurate for others too?

[@nicholaswright807]

"lets just flow" then collar drags me from standing with the force of 1000 suns

[@stevekudrick4271]

My daughter, who's 11 is one of the top kids in the gym for NOGI. this year after we came home from ADCC worlds, open she had a target on her back from all the boys. She is very good about going 50% with all of them, and letting them work. We can all see when she has enough of them going so hard, and it's like a switch is flipped in her, and she starts to match their energy , and puts them in their place.

[@alexrosales9326]

In a about 2 years your daughter will get smashed by the worse kid in class. Boys are stronger than girls. I got a daughter by the way.

[@The_Brew_Dog]

Congrats to your daughter and I’m sure she does!

[@emiliobrucealthaus9683]

I train MMA and every now and then there’s a new guy that asks me to spar light because he doesn’t want to get beat up by a more advance player, so I do, I go light, I just touch them and then all of a sudden they throw a big overhand right and punch me in the face. I use to get mad and toon it as an offense and as then taking advantage of my kindness and beat them up. Now I know that they don’t know how to control their strengths and I’m always careful, I still go light but I don’t let my guard down and if I get caught it’s on me for not being careful enough.

[@sebfox2194]

Yep, it's the same in boxing, Jiu-jitsu, etc, and even soccer. Big, strong but unskilled beginners are always dangerous, because they have the power to cause damage, but not the skill or co-ordination to properly control their movements.

[@bigtnumerum61]

I've learned that i can't flow roll with lower belts. Every time I try, they just keep attacking wildly.

[@FightYourCouch]

We aren't all that clueless, but yeah, it's rough.

[@daniel12402]

Hey i came to your gym last year when I was visiting in Louisville. I went to the mma team practice as I’m a fighter but I had to say your guys were very controlled and pretty professional. They gave me hard rounds and good work but were not tryin to hurt or injure

[@The_Brew_Dog]

Here is a story from the other perspective. Once I WAS the so called “let’s go light guy”, my hand was taped like a spatula with a recent hyperextended thumb so I was genuinely going light, plus I’m an older guy and was a visiting white belt at this gym so I was trepidatious and almost didn’t roll at all. First 2 rolls went fine, I just tried to survive the best I could but they were having their way with me for the most part but it was fun. My 3rd guy whom also agreed to “go light” quickly passed my guard and got to mount from the side I didn’t have a hand to frame with. In no more than 20 seconds from the start of the clock I got arm barred from S mount, my bicep popped before his back even hit the ground. He locked it up and pulled hard before I even knew what was happening, I had no chance to tap, I didn’t think we were going to go for subs for that matter especially since the previous 2 didn’t and they certainly could have and we both knew it. That was over 2 years ago and my arm hasn’t been the same ever since, it was torn at the distal radial insertion so there was nothing that could be done surgically to fix it. What did I learn? Like all contact sport you must protect yourself at all times especially when visiting a new gym like I was that day. I was a white belt then, I’m a 3 stripe blue belt now and I can say for sure it wouldn’t happen today as I would instinctively defend the arm bar. Injured or not. Unfortunately back then I didn’t even know how to defend the arm bar so I’m certain I just laid there flat as a pancake with my arm stretched out. I don’t think he meant to hurt me but he damn sure was t trying not to either. Because of this incident I refuse to roll with anyone I haven’t met before unless they are a purple belt or higher , it’s simply not worth it. This is a hobby for me, I’m 43 years old and work a physical job, I own my business as a one man show so if I get hurt there is no one to pick up the slack…it’s not worth the risk and rolling with someone you don’t know is without any doubt a risk. Wasn’t the scenario you were referring to but it’s a good story for people to hear. I’m a more muscular guy so it seems like people see me as like a trophy. I don’t want to be a trophy so one of the ways I combat against being seen as one, is I regularly allow people to beat me in a boring fashion. Once the trophy is off the shelf and they feel they have checked me off their list I don’t have to worry about it after that and I can roll a little more competitively without the aggression. There are also some higher belts I don’t tap even if I can, some of them go home and lose sleep dwelling over it, then come at me super hard the next time round. Which is psychotic and a stain on their higher belt as far as I’m concerned but I don’t worry about it, I simply don’t engage in the ego race. I genuinely don’t care who beats me and who doesn’t, I like playing the chess game of it.

[@funzy688]

thanks for sharing your experience. you're a black belt in EQ for sure.

[@The_Brew_Dog]

@@funzy688 not sure what EQ means but thanks?

[@danielcho3270]

@@The_Brew_Dog IQ is Intelligence Quotient while EQ is Emotional Quotient. High EQ is very desirable especially with upper management people. It is a very good compliment.

[@The_Brew_Dog]

@@danielcho3270 thanks for the explanation! I thought it was an acronym for something specifically jiu jitsu related that I wasn’t aware of but now that I know it’s a compliment I like it even more. I like compliments 😁 I supposed it’s easily argued that both EQ and IQ are in fact specific to jiu jitsu which adds some depth to both of your comments. What do you know… I learn something new every 3-4 months. 😉

[@jasonskeel6474]

Great video! I needed a good laugh this morning!

[@sonnywolfblues]

I'm a beginner level white belt just starting to learn the game and when I roll I always tell the other person what level I'm at and that I'm going light. And of course I always maintain that control and never had an issue where things got too rough. At this stage I am not really concerned about winning or losing but rather learning....trial and error stuff. My gym has a lot of high level people so I am not going to be that guy who will disrespectfully get too competitive and rough...not a good idea. But for my own safety I will always ask to go easy in a roll just in case. The vibe at my gym is very respectful and everyone plays safe. I have trained a lot more in striking and when I spar I always maintain the same respect and intensity. If someone starts going too rough then I think it is important to communicate and dial things down when needed....no shame in that and that applies to both people.

[@coloradocombatzone]

Chewy, you are much nicer than me, i need to work on my patience to be more like you. I always return the favor, when training partners bait and switch. Let's go light guy's are so irritating. Funny cuz it's true. Keep it up, Great content!!

[@tannerK102]

It's me, I'm the problem. I am too competitive and struggle to tone down. Good news is: I'm also terrible. So, when recovering from an ACL issue recently, I just kept 'going light' and re-hurting myself.

[@mattshowalter5953]

I always say, tell you what .. I'll match your energy...that way they get what they give, no apologies

[@mason3307]

My knee was destroyed 9 mo ago. I'm planning a comeback. I will be the let's go light guy, but actually plan to go light. 😅

[@scottlee38]

When that knee heals, you need to CLAP the CHEEKS of your ATTACKER!!

[@ZOIMIBiIE]

I’m a white belt and I’ve had a younger blue belt do this to me. I also hate when other white belts will be like “yeah let’s work” and then will _force_ submission incorrectly and just overall wind up close to messing you up. Bro, we’re starting on our knees, diving your forearm into my windpipe in a wonky attempt at an Ezekiel choke.. I’m here to get better, not actually die. I’m to the point I only try to roll with higher belts because they’re more technical, less spazzy, and I feel like I actually learn more with them. (Edit- I feel like it’s worth noting. I’m not necessarily a fresh white belt. I used to wrestle and grapple a lot in the Marine corps, have attended gyms in Japan, California, Florida and Texas for a few years, and am coming off a 8-9 year hiatus. So while I may suck at gi, I do understand a little more of the _culture_ than a fresh new white belt)

[@TrayCaddyyy]

I’m thankful for my coach creating a culture of “keeping it playful”. No targeting injuries, keeping it light when your partner asks to.

[@robbybee70]

is there such a place

[@CarlosAlvarez-hw1je]

I ran into this guy, and it was the owner of a gym I was visiting. I was at an open mat and the black belt asked if I wanted to roll. He let me know that he wanted to take it easy because he had some injuries and also asked if I could let him play top. I was a new blue belt at the time. He proceeded to destroy me and show no mercy. I'm not going to pretend like I ever had a shot against him anyway, but it was a shock. Then later he wanted to show someone his special way to do an Americana, so he asked me if he could show it on me. He cranked it and popped my elbow. Elbow hurt for a couple of months. Never went back there again 😆 Also I should mention I did not do anything to my knowledge to provoke this. I wasn't bullying any of his students or being disrespectful. I was knew some of the guys there and was just having a fun, easy going time.

[@DK-gg7ik]

Thanks for the video In my gym happens sometimes but at least I know where it is coming from

[@michaszpotakowski3075]

The guy came to me almost crying with this line, explaining how injured he is, then 30 seconds later he gave black eye 😀

[@nercopolis99]

I wish Chewy was my BJJ instructor, the depth of his experience combined with the quality of his character seems exceptional. Great speaker, very engaging and authentic. Authentic, that's the word I was looking for. Also I don't train BJJ so this isn't a diss on my non-existent guru.

[@seamusinmusic]

I'll bite. I always go light. I don't generally ask people to go light, but I have before. I am old and have poor cardio vascular fitness and I want to take it easy. A lot of people think just because you are performing techniques that they don't understand means that you are trying to kill them. If I have good control mechanics it's gonna feel like a cast iron furnace on top of you, especially if you don't know what you are doing. I've experienced this in a lot of Martial arts. People think because you are moving efficiently or timing your actions well, that you are moving super fast. They think if they can't free a grip, that you are really strong. They don't have any other way of understanding what's going on. That doesn't mean people are going hard. Going light just means when a move has been defeated, to bail and flow to the next move. Not to battle for it, using athletic attributes to win those battles.

[@RoughHouse71]

FNG here, I’m in my 50’s. I’m so sore, do I need to say let’s go light, if I can’t move. But yeah, hit as hard as you want to get hit. Different sport. Thanks for the videos, the basics video is going to make my second class make way sense.

[@SKRATCH1988]

I was definitely a spazzy white belt that did not know how to control my breathing or manage my energy.... Slowing down and focusing on technique and breathing and energy management. Essentially rolling light regardless of who I'm against or what they're doing, has helped me improve more than almost anything else I've tried to do in Jiu-Jitsu....

[@Fitterminal]

yeah, one time a guy I rarely roll with told me before hand that his left fingers hurt. So, I only attacked towards his right side every time to avoid this injured side and took it slow. Long story short, he did the ankle lock with his left hand, I was bruised too lol.

[@Symporia]

We have a female brown belt (whom I adore) BUT, she always states the disclaimer “let’s go light” because of an injury of some type, or just simply isn’t feeling it. However, the moment we get going she’s hitting my every move to the extreme and gets legit MAD at us when we don’t sink something in on her because she’s injured. She also loves to yell at us when we don’t go light enough 😅 …so there’s literally no middle ground with her and it makes it almost impossible to roll with her, so many of us just choose not to.

[@DaOverman00]

And why do you adore her? She sounds insufferable, emotionally unstable and volatile, not to mention a complete hypocrite.

[@vicn1349]

There’s a brown belt at my gym who has been doing this for years. Now he just claims to be really injured and rarely rolls… he walks around pretending he’s a black belt during class.

[@Young.Supernovas]

I sometimes let people know that I broke my neck, and that my neck is not as strong as it used to be and I need to take care of it. I say just go easy on neck submissions, I will tap when you get there no need to crank it. And I do. No apologies for that, I gotta take care of myself. I broke my neck doing jiu jitsu, if that happens again I could end up paralyzed or dead.

[@adamshahirkayoom]

Love your videos mate!!!

[@elysian_gaming_6081]

I had a 'let's go light' encounter with a guy who'd injured a shoulder and it was valiant, flowing throughout and it was great, in my gym we have a great group of guys who care for one another and make sure no-one gets injured as much as possible, it's not everyone that has those bamboozle moments and does the exact opposite lol, stay safe and keep one another safe, stay rolling ❤

[@reflex6907]

I have had this a few time over the years but I've also been dealing with injuries this year and the skill of flow rolling is super important if you're injured and you're doing this crap you're begging to hurt yourself even more.

[@marklangdon9638]

I’ve been on both ends of this. Coming back off injuries, and not wanting to waste anyone’s time, but also wanting to get in some work. Realize I’m fighting for my life, or tapping as fast as I can to avoid break. I always tell people there is no metals after training. That being said I love hard rounds when both players are ready to go hard

[@whitebeltworld]

Great take! Worst guy I've ever rolled with is this person!

[@jaydub79]

I like the lets START slow, see how things feel. Match the energy

[@CoachKussenVuist]

We use the term lets go slow, it generally helps expectation since "light"is open to interpertation (and sportsmanship) slow is always slow. Hope it helps others.

[@neuezeal8510]

I had two good "lets roll light" kinda rolls. I knew both guys however and both of us were consistantly saying to ourselves "easy easy easy" like the whole time. It was fantastically productive but it is a strug. It reminded me of talking to an audience and keeping my mind saying "slow it down, not so fast". I did get a toe hold though. Slowest thing ever and we both were like "ahhhhh oooookkkkaaaayyyyy" then let go and kept going.

[@TrayCaddyyy]

The owner of the gym I train at has built a great culture where people actually keep it light and don’t target injured body parts. Very thankful to have cool training partners who aren’t all ego

[@Jamoni1]

I've got some bad rib problems, so I used to do this. The problem is I don't WANT to roll light, but I felt like I had to try. I've changed my tactic, so now I explain "Hey, I've got some rib problems, don't let it change how we roll, but if I tap for no reason, that's why."

[@haydonwalls5832]

I love rolling with a bit of intensity and I have to admit that if someone looks stronger than me or much more experienced I like to give it a crack. That said if I'm more experienced or stronger I have no desire to go hard. Nice to hear I'm not the only spazy blue belt out there 👍

[@RunYourLuck]

The guy that got me finally to stay Jiu Jitsu is a “let’s go light” guy. Just pure explosive movements

[@Seegie16]

My old gym had a D3 semifinalist with a few years of legit catch wrestling under his belt. He still under 30 and in solid shape. The only way he gets rolls is by saying im going to go light today. The rolls are never light. 3 quarter nelson to knee parking on my face where my favorite part of the rolls.

[@Patrick-sheen]

Word of warning to competitors: I had a referee in a final tell me and my opponent to relax and enjoy, that Jiu Jitsu is to be enjoyed before we went at it. Completely disarmed me and while my opponent did great and deserved to win, I did realise the friendship the referee had with his trainer subsequently. An element of dark arts.

[@The_Brew_Dog]

😂 That’s hilarious. Although it is definitely true if you can learn to relax it’s better. Like Rickson says you must be water flowing over a rock, eventually breaking it down with flow and properly positioned pressure.

[@iamdamo]

haha that inside game plan. Good hustle to be fair.

[@Vekren]

Politics exist in competitions and professional sports sometimes unfortunately.

[@hyattmooreiv441]

On the flip side, we have a "let's flow" option, which has the caveat that, if you submit the other person, you lose. Essentially the goal is to hit as many positions as you can; normal speed but 25%-50% strength. You get a person to a dominant or tapping position, and then hold it (lightly), and they can work out. There is a ying and yang I suppose where you are going back and forth offensively and defensively, and the more you and your partner roll this way, the better you get at the dance. It can be surprisingly tiring as well because you hit so many more positions than you would normally. It's somewhere between drilling and rollining. It can take a few times to explain the concept, but definitely worthwhile. It may or may not help you with the quintessential "let's go-light" guy that Chewy is talking about, but it is a way to tone things down and cover a lot positions. Otherwise, I just laugh when people ask to go light, and say, "sure, just until my ego is in trouble"; In cases of injury, I just warn the other person I may tap sooner in some positions or I am more judicious is who I will spar with until I have recovered.

[@SifuJeff81]

I've been doing freestyle Jiu Jitsu for quite a few years, and I had thought about really getting into it and going to a school to really learn and went to a few open mats at different school to see which one would be a good fit for me. When I was at one of the schools I rolled with a "Let's Go Light" guy who before hand knew I had been learning jiu jitsu from videos and books and was there to see how I would like going to his school I as at for the open mat to possibly train at, and when we started rolling he was a bully the whole session. Just cranking in every lock he put me in while saying let's go light, then afterwards he told me that I needed to join this school he goes to. After that I left because me body was in so much pain I wasn't able to roll with anyone else, The owner apologized to me for how his student behaved and said he would have a talk with him. I thanked him and shacked his hand and told him to have a good day, I found a school I plan to go to but before I do I have to take care of a few things so I can be healthy enough to train.

[@mikejohnstonbob935]

It's nice to get a history of how often they get injured. If they get injured a lot, they're either Mr. Glass or the let's go light guy. They probably got injured because they don't know how to turn it down

[@a2ztacticalacademy]

Yep yep yep that has happened to me. I'm still a white belt with a couple of Stripes but I've had guys come to open mat from white to purple that I've asked for a technical roll so i can learn and "see" whats coming and boom! All of a sudden, it's going full-on. However, there are guys who are very good at reading my intensity and quickly adjusting.

[@BananaBrah]

Yea also had a Rib injury guy (white belt) wanting to go light. When he proceeded to go for a pretty uncontrolled heel hook, the "light" went out of the window for me pretty quick.

[@jvklarich]

I asked yesterday for a "hey go easy on me. I'm out of shape and older than I look." Because I have a career and can't get injured. I just moved into town, I hadn't trained in a month because of life, and I wanted to start getting back into the groove of things. This guy proceeded to not only not go easy on me but injury me in the process. I was in turtle and running man the whole time trying to survive the onslaught that followed my request.

[@bbutterworth100]

Good stuff here. I have said "let's go light" many times. But I do in fact go light. If during the roll I feeling better I will verbalize that I'm ready to ramp it up. I think a better thing for me to say now is "hey my shoulder is a little sore. Can you just match my energy (or effort)". I think that would also be a good response for someone being asked to go light as well. - Hey can you go light with me?? How about I just match your energy instead?

[@fmnelson3]

I'm a 3 stripe white belt and this happened 3 weeks ago. It was the last round at the end of a training night. I got paired with a wrestling background guy on his second trial class. I'm still pretty green on mat code words and our gym has a very team oriented culture, so, "don't freak out the trial class folks". This means when he says "I'm pretty tired, let's take it easy", the gym culture and my newbiness motivates me to honor the request. Well, I paid for it! We shake hands and while I'm standing upright, he shoots for a double leg like an NFL LB. Fifteen seconds later, I'm staring at the ceiling and my right wrist as a tap to the cross face choke he had just learned that night during drills. We reset, I catch my attitude, shake hands and Super Spazz goes for it AGAIN! I tap his shoulders and get a right forearm under his chin, with full guard I didn't lock it in, but I kept him with his forehead on the mat until he gassed himself out. Yeah, I stalled because I really didn't feel like getting hurt by somebody trying to Jean-Claude their Van Damme

[@richwoodcutterbro8581]

There’s a guy at my gym who is brown belt now but he still is doing this and has done so since white belt. He doesn’t say “let’s go light” but he just complains about being so tired all the time. When you partner up with him, he looks utterly dejected and deflated and he’ll say “I’m so tied man” you fist bump and still keep the act up so you think I need to go easy on him or else I might injure him. As soon as you get grips, he miraculously finds boundless energy from somewhere and he’s all guns blazing. That funny thing is, if he’s in a dominant position and you reverse him, he’ll either act up being so tieed again, or he’ll say stop for some reason (like there another couple rolling fairly close) move and sneakily be in a situation where he can escape more easily (like changing the position of his arm so it’s easy to get the under hook when you reset). He’ll also grind your face with his forearm and crank on subs. So many people hate rolling with him now

[@mastermindmartialarts]

"let's go light" is almost a surefire way to guarantee that the next roll will be rough. It's happened to me a lot. Being 6'6 and 260lbs, people always ask me to go light then proceed to fight me with every ounce of their humanity to get the tap, to slay the giant. And the guys that have got the tap on me from those situations immediately cheered once they got the tap. From that point, the rolls deteriorate into damn near brawls. So now if someone is injured or doesn't wanna go hard, we work very specific things ( positions, passes, escapes, etc) to avoid any possible conflict.

[@drcksl8583]

I’ve recently come back from 8+ months off with a pinched nerve in my neck. Back for a little over a month and doing ok, mostly avoiding rolling with newer white belts or “aggro” purples. Get paired with a one stripe white belt who does the “my shoulders are hurting, so let’s go easy”. I’m like “cool, I’m just coming back, we’ll go light, all good”. Starts off decent and calm. I sweep and mostly trying to keep him from smacking me. Then after about 2 mins, I hear the breathing amping up, a little grunting here and there, and I can feel him building up. So I go into “keep him off my head/neck” mode. He’s grabbing everything, yanking on my lapels, gripping down, etc. Thankfully he was gassing out near the end of the round and ended pretty uneventful. He’s done the “my shoulder is hurting” again after that, but I just roll with him more normal, not attacking Americanas or stuff like that, but I may have mother’s milked him.

[@Martial-TPL]

My strategy when I am dealing with a let's roll Light Guy or someone who is genuily injured or wish to bring the energy down is to offer them to do some kind of theme sparring where we only battle it out in a particular position. If the guy is hurt that can be a roll centered around bottom side control/mount for me and all attacks for him.

[@diegofernandez3230]

I admit I say that “let’s go light” line a lot, but I think I’m a man of my word. I’m a white belt and higher belts congratulate me on actually flow rolling with them. In that sense, if anything I would say I have a harder time going hard because I’m not a person able to show much aggression, even less towards the people I train with. I’m a healthcare practitioner and I would feel terrible if I caused any injury to my friends

[@jylpah]

I often say let’s go light at the first round to warm up properly. That means I don’t try to win, I if I get dominant position with little effort, I keep just a light control and let the “opponent” to reset. It works great with people who understand the concept same way. But it requires that both parties are OK to let the other one progress and then reset. I once got bit scolded by an higher belt when I requested “going light” but he thought I went hard. But I did it only after the higher belt was clearly taking it as a sparring match seeking submissions leaving little options for me than just try to defend what I could. We are cool and have rolled since in good faith.

[@igitur]

I'm a whitebelt so my first "lets go light guy" taught me sooo much in terms of "always be ready to defend yourself" and "tap early af". Dude said his shoulder was injured so he wanted to flow roll, but then proceeds to attempt to rip my head off. My second "lets go light guy" was a brownbelt visiting my gym. And unless i fundamentally misunderstand what "go light" means, this dude had no chill at all. And worst of all, he had this goofy smirk on his face the whole time he was trying to break all the bones in my body.

[@garyoakv8965]

Amen It bugs me sparing after cuz either Jujitsu, or boxing they act like this and i have to hold back . I understand you brother

[@Badmofojay]

Like in your example with the guy who cranked your neck with bad technique, I am encountering a lot of folks who are using poor technique when cranking necks on chokes. As a white belt, I don't exactly have the skill level to always escape and certainly not be able to coach them on how they are doing it wrong. So, I am working on the counters to those situations for myself, but unfortunately, it means they are still using that poor technique on other partners. Is the best course of action just to let them know their technique is incorrect in a polite way?

[@ProphetZae]

I had something similar. I just started doing jiu jitsu and on one of my trial days I rolled with a blue belt that was hyper aggressive, throwing me around and putting his fist in my neck to try and choke me. I figured he was just trying to test me and see if i was going to make it through the trial period. Well fast forward about a month I see him in one of the classes. He is looking for someone to roll with during the "match" portion of the class, so i go up and say hello and he asks "so you signed the waiver, right?" Im a little off balance from the question but I say yeah and we slap and bump. He immediately "arm drags" me as hard as he could directly into his knee, my full bodyweight on my fully extended arm, my elbow and shoulder both get a little crunchy. I yelp in pain and just lie there in pain for a second and he just says "why dont you get off the matt bro". I still dont really understand why he did that to me, but I know better than to roll with him ever again. He's the only person in my gym that really seems to want to hurt me when we roll.