One of the final mental tweaks we have to make to ensure our jiu-jitsu is completely prepared for realistic self-defense is to understand what we mean when we talk about “submissions”.

Quite simply, there is no such thing as a submission. Every single finishing move we do is exactly that – a FINISHING move. It may be a choke that renders the other person unconscious within 2-5 seconds, or it may be an arm attack that snaps the elbow or dislocates the shoulder, or a leg attack that destroys the knee and leaves the opponent writhing in immense agony. It may very well be a slam to the earth that acts as the strongest strike possible, or a throw that does as much damage as a joint attack. The underlying principle is that we are able to do so much injury to the opponent that he will end his violent actions against us.

So what then are we doing in training? Obviously, we cannot do these things to our training partners, or we will be out of partners within the first session. What we do, in order to practice finishing techniques over and over so that we instill the automaticity we need to pull them off when we are in the middle of a chaotic criminal assault, is to do the move right up to the point of no return and no further. That point is signaled to us by our partner by “tapping out” – i.e. he taps our body or the mat at least three times quickly and loudly. At that moment, we can release the hold and discontinue our further forward movement. And then, both of you can go right back to it and try again.

The tap is nothing more than an admission by our partner that he can do nothing else, and if the training continues, he will be severely injured or go unconscious. We are not doing a move to get a tap! We are trying to do something overwhelming to the other guy and he lets us know that he concedes he is helpless and we CHOOSE to stop. This is a simple concept that anyone who has done jiu-jitsu for even a short period in a legitimate academy knows. It is instilled in you quickly since you are responsible for both the safety of your partner as well as yourself.

So why do I write this and take extra note of it? This is not for the BJJ practitioner, but rather for the guy who is about to start. And truthfully, it is a gentle way to let the interwebz combat and self-defense experts know that they are being as ignorant as children when they try to push the pathetic trope that somehow, if you do “sport” jiu-jitsu, that when you do it for real, the bad guy will tap and you will unconsciously release your hold only to find yourself at the criminal’s continued attack because he fooled you. There has never been one documented instance of that every happening anywhere. The self-defense gurus love to talk about such-and-such situation where someone did it, but they never seem to be able to produce video, police documentation, or even names. There is also the Krav Mage types who love the fake video of the guy doing an armbar in a parking garage and while he is holding the arm, the other guy pulls a knife and starts stabbing. Their “proof” it happens is a fake video! The actual version is this video will be the screaming of the bottom guy as his elbow is destroyed a soon as the top guy’s back hits the floor – about 1 second. Not only will he not have time to get a knife out and start stabbing, he won’t have time to make a move towards it, and even if he had started to draw before the break, he will do nothing but thrash around in abject pain as his whole world now revolves around the shattered bone and tendons.

Quite simply, it won’t happen with someone authentically training under the eye of a knowledgeable BJJ instructor. Every single attack in jiu-jitsu is taught from the beginning as a finish, and not a “hold”. Even in competition, both participants before a match are reminded that they should not release a lock until the referee tells them to, regardless of the other person tapping. It is in the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Federation) rulebook that you specifically DO NOT release just because you feel a tap. It is for the referee to decide.

So for the person contemplating a step in to the wonderful world of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu – Just keep in mind that we don’t look for submissions; we look for finishes.