Wisdom from Our Professor

During my military career, I moved often—on average, about every three years or so. The impact this had on my Jiu-Jitsu journey was a very slow belt progression and exposure to different approaches and philosophies on how Jiu-Jitsu should be done. In retrospect, I am grateful for both of those outcomes and will discuss that in future writings. When I retired and my military career ended, I returned home to Tennessee. For a brief period, I was a ronin (masterless Samurai), but I knew I needed a stable place to train and a professor to guide me for further progression. Thankfully, my longtime friend Jay introduced me to the Pedro Sauer system.

The Pedro Sauer system comes from the Helio Gracie lineage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which was very familiar to me, having trained and been promoted under two of Helio's sons, Relson (Blue Belt) and Royce (Purple and Brown). Although I spent time learning and training under the Carlos side of the family, most of the time, it was under the Helio side. From a technical perspective, it was a good fit—it closely resembled the Jiu-Jitsu I had practiced for most of my life.

The technical familiarity of the Pedro Sauer system would have been enough, but then I finally got to meet Pedro himself. Master Sauer’s Jiu-Jitsu is truly exceptional, and his ability to articulate and teach it to others is among the best I have encountered in my 30+ years of practice. This alone would have been enough for me to decide to become part of the Pedro Sauer association, but there was more. Master Sauer is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He exudes happiness and has a warm and welcoming personality. I honestly do not think it is possible to be around him and be in a bad mood.

Beyond his masterful Jiu-Jitsu, he is simply a great person. I have personally witnessed him taking the time to encourage and uplift students of all levels, always treating each individual with kindness and respect.

Master Sauer has shared so much with me over the years and has completely transformed how I approach Jiu-Jitsu. He shares with us his lessons learned and the things he had to learn the hard way to make our journey easier. I couldn’t possibly list them all in this one article, but I want to share a few that have been particularly impactful.

Jiu-Jitsu Is Like a Conversation

Master Sauer often emphasizes ways to build longevity while training Jiu-Jitsu. He talks about ways to learn and get better without getting hurt. One of the things he discusses, related to longevity in Jiu-Jitsu, is treating training/sparring with your partner like a conversation. My takeaway from this is to let my partner move and, rather than fight against it with everything I have, adjust and try to flow into something more advantageous—or at least something that keeps me safe.

This helps us learn how to be more efficient and avoid wasting energy. If it works, the “conversation” continues, and we flow from position to position until one of us secures a submission or the training session ends. If I make a mistake and my attempt to flow with my opponent’s offense doesn’t work, resulting in a submission, he stresses that we should tap, smile, and thank our partner.

Improving Your Physical Jiu-Jitsu

I believe using this approach helps tremendously in improving our Jiu-Jitsu. If our response works, it validates what we are doing and, coupled with repetition, helps us improve. If our response doesn’t work, it highlights a deficiency in our technique and provides a learning opportunity that we can address. More often than not, my training partners are happy to explain what they did or tried to do, which provides more insight and another opportunity to learn.

Improving Your Mental Jiu-Jitsu

Another component of this “conversation” concept is that it fosters a friendly and cooperative training environment. The idea is that we are engaging in a friendly exchange that we both enjoy rather than an argument that neither of us may appreciate. This isn’t to suggest that we don’t train hard or push ourselves and our partners, but it’s more about mindset. When we have a friendly conversation with someone, we both share information and walk away feeling happy. When we argue (or fight) with someone, rarely is there an effective exchange of information and knowledge, and rarely does anyone walk away happy.

I have found that this concept enables me to stay more relaxed in training, which leads to fewer injuries and allows me to continue training without extended breaks. It has also helped me avoid becoming too competitive with my partners and losing focus on learning by shifting the focus solely to winning.

Training vs. Fighting/Competing

There is a difference between fighting and training. I think this conversation concept is a great way to distinguish between the two. When we fight—whether for survival or in a competition—we have one primary goal: to win. Winning may look different based on the context, but it remains the goal. In an actual physical conflict, winning centers around staying safe. Safety may mean disengaging without harm or controlling or eliminating the threat. In a competitive environment, winning occurs within the constraints of the agreed-upon rules. In either context, winning is still the goal.

Training, however, is different. In training, my goal isn’t really to win; my goal is to learn and improve. We could define winning in training as learning and improving, but I try not to use the word win in this context. Deep down, I am a competitive person, and if I view training through the lens of winning and losing, I tend to avoid working on new things because I don’t want to lose. There is a tendency to think of a submission as a win and getting submitted as a loss. In competition, that is true, but in training, I have to shift my mindset and step outside my comfort zone.

I have found that when I do this, my training becomes more valuable, and I improve much faster. Where this all ties together is that the better my training is, the better I perform in competition.

Taking it off the Mat

At the end of the day, Jiu-Jitsu is a journey, and doesn’t have an endpoint; there is always more to learn. Being able to fight isn’t as difficult a task as it might seem, but our Jiu-Jitsu is more than just fighting. Beyond fighting our Jiu-Jitsu is about growth, learning, and the relationships we build along the way. Jiu-Jitsu and Master Sauer’s teachings have not only shaped my technique but have also influenced how I approach life—learning from challenges, embracing the process, and staying open to improvement. Whether on the mats or off, I try to carry these lessons with me, and if they help even one other person enjoy their journey a little more, then it’s all worth it.