The Engineering Mindset: Adaptation and Flow

Foundational principles and knowing how to apply these basic formulas create more of an opportunity of free-flow jiu jitsu. Like any art form, the best way to evolve is to first understand the mechanics and nature of what you are doing. By taking the time to learn scales and chords in music, it's easier to find the right progression to develop solos. Likewise, understanding why a choke works and how to create space will only help you find new solutions to more advanced problems.

Every roll you experience throughout your journey is just like a snowflake; it may look relatively similar to another, but upon taking a closer look, you find that they are very different. These differences can be large or small based upon who you roll with and how you feel that day in addition to your current training focus and goals. People come in all shapes and sizes, so knowing how to attack or defend against a large opponent with lanky arms will differ slightly from how you perform that function on a stockier opponent of lesser size.

Even though certain moves have a high success rate during a live roll, you must be sure to have a counter for the opponent's counter. Flowing seamlessly from one move to the next takes many hours of mat time, which will lead to discovering common trends in reactions to these different situations. For example, you try to attack your opponent with an arm bar from guard and they pull out their arm, an option could be to flow to the opposite arm and pull it through for an omoplata. From here they posture up hard, and you swivel and throw up a triangle. As your opponent defends your attacks, you already know how to respond based upon their movement.

A lot of the flowing and adapting comes from taking risks and creating new situations to problem solve. The more you put yourself at a disadvantage, your comfort levels will rise because you are familiar with what your opponent needs to do to progress their position. Likewise, the more you attack your opponent with different moves or grips, the more likely you are to predict their defense which will lead to new ways to counter.



The heart of the game lies within creativity and without having an open mind for expanding your game, your skill sets will plateau. Taking the risk of a movement to achieve a new way to become more fluid and chain together techniques is well worth the amount of failures along the way. A buddy of mine once told me that I was too serious about the technicalities of a position and that I needed to try to have more fun with exploring the possibilities. Thanks to him, I have completely altered my game as a whole and enjoy every second of mat time regardless of the amount of times I fail.

Never be afraid to be the artist and the engineer of your jiu jitsu. Take all the moves and concepts you learn from various sources and pick out the pieces that make the most sense to you. You know yourself better than anyone else, so take the time to find what works best for you. By continuing to train and working towards your goals, you will shape yourself into the best possible person you could be. Remember to always be creating, adapting, and evolving.