A TOUGH ROLL ≠ AN UNSAFE ROLL

It's getting injured.

Ask almost any experienced practitioner and you'll hear the same advice:

"If you don't trust someone, don't roll with them."

On the surface, that sounds sensible. In reality, I think it misses the real issue.

The question isn't whether you should avoid a particular training partner.

The question is why that concern exists in the first place.

If students regularly feel they have to avoid certain people because they don't trust them to train safely, that isn't a student problem.

It's an academy problem.

Everything in this article comes from experience. More than a decade of training, competing and coaching has taught me that the best academies aren't the ones that avoid hard training they're the ones that understand the difference between intensity and recklessness.

At Atomic Jiu Jitsu Brisbane, we train hard. 

Very hard.

We expect technical, physical rounds that challenge your conditioning, decision-making and ability to solve difficult problems under pressure.

But there is a world of difference between a tough roll and an unsafe roll.

A tough roll tests your technique.

An unsafe roll makes you wonder whether your training partner cares more about winning a Tuesday night round than your ability to go to work tomorrow morning.

I know that feeling because I've lived it.

There was a period in my own training where I deliberately drove my car instead of riding my motorcycle because I couldn't trust that I'd leave training without an injury that made riding home impossible

.

I don't accept that as a normal part of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

I don't think anyone else should either.

People often confuse safety with softness.

They are not the same thing.

Safe training does not mean easy training.

I have had the privilege of training in some of the toughest rooms in the world - with World Champions, and ADCC World Champions - and the rounds with those champions are the toughest rounds I have ever experienced. But despite the pressure, despite the pace and despite the intensity, not once did I feel like I was going to be injured.

Tough training and dangerous training are not the same thing.

Some of the best training partners you'll ever have are also the toughest. They apply relentless pressure, move with precision and attack constantly, but they remain in complete control.

They don't rip submissions.

They don't rely on explosiveness and recklessness.

They understand that making someone tap is part of training.

Injuring them isn't.

Our philosophy isn't based solely on experience on the mats. Professora Xan is a physiotherapist who treats active people every day. We understand not only how injuries happen, but the impact they have on people's work, families and ability to keep training.

That reinforces something we've believed for years.

A great academy develops better athletes, not unnecessary injuries.

Our job isn't to protect people from hard training.

Our job is to make sure they can come back and do it again tomorrow.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu should test your technique, your fitness and your resolve.

It shouldn't unnecessarily test your private health insurance.

The measure of a great academy isn't how many injuries it can excuse or turn a blind eye to.

It's how seriously it takes preventing the unnecessary ones.

At Atomic, we don't promise easy training.

We promise honest training.

We promise demanding training.

We promise technical training.

We promise a culture where your training partners want to make you better, not broken.

That is the standard we expect of every person who steps onto our mats.

Because a tough roll is not the same as an unsafe roll.