I can't be the only one that has a lazy game and an A game.
What I've been trying to do is use my A game everytime I roll. This doesn't mean going at 100%. It just means you use better technique when rolling.
For instance this morning I trained with my black belt friend of mine. We rolled for like 40 mins and I use a set path of techniques that lets me and my friend a good fight.
Tonight though I rolled with a ton of white and blues. No way did I use that game. I would let them grab my feet, have them get side control, even armbars. It helps me grow defense. Still, I'm just being lazy.
The reason I want to use my A game more is because of Marcelo Garcia and Rafa Mendes. When they roll in their schools they roll the exactly same way with a blue belt as they do a black belt. Every freaking time.
They're not lazy. So I'm starting to break out of that mold because I feel I need to make my A game, my only game.
I'm a brown belt.
Lazy is my A game :(
It lets me work in cycles so I dont burn out or overexert chronic injuries. I cojcentrate on attacking position, base and use pressure to get to the point where I can go for the kill.
Im not a pro like the examples, marcelo and mendes.......and Im 46y.o. I cant even keep up with the 40y.o. guys anymore :p
When im feelimg frisky Ill positional spar and reset over and over and have partners switch off on me......keeps the pace up for a good workout, but wrecks me for the next couple days.
If youre competing still....yes id say do stretches where its important to hammer with your A game, especially ramping uo training couple mos. before tournies.
Kway - I can't be the only one that has a lazy game and an A game.
What I've been trying to do is use my A game everytime I roll. This doesn't mean going at 100%. It just means you use better technique when rolling.
For instance this morning I trained with my black belt friend of mine. We rolled for like 40 mins and I use a set path of techniques that lets me and my friend a good fight.
Tonight though I rolled with a ton of white and blues. No way did I use that game. I would let them grab my feet, have them get side control, even armbars. It helps me grow defense. Still, I'm just being lazy.
The reason I want to use my A game more is because of Marcelo Garcia and Rafa Mendes. When they roll in their schools they roll the exactly same way with a blue belt as they do a black belt. Every freaking time.
They're not lazy. So I'm starting to break out of that mold because I feel I need to make my A game, my only game.
Good story. Could've used a vampire though.
I'm always fairly lazy, but it's more a matter of what I let happen.
I'm a brown belt and I find when rolling with white belts and bluebelts I let them do tons of stuff. Mostly I let them crawl all over me and just work escapes...occasionally submitting them.
When I roll with purple and up I'm just much more conservative with my grips and what I let them have and give up much less over all.
lack of grip fighting, head on the mat from guard, barely any posture from the top, and i do a really, really crappy, loose berimbolo that always gets me to the top, but in half guard, instead of something cool, when I'm being lazy.
I definitely have a lazy game and an a game. The lazy game never grip fights. Accepts the positions and attacks of my training partner simply because I'm not willing to work hard and have a war. I try to use technical superiority to win the battle even when letting the other person get deep into their attacks.
My A game doesn't let up. Doesn't accept anything and I grip fight until the gym door locks. When I train like this I'm one of the best guys out there. The lazy guy can be a run of of the mill average blue belt to ok brown level. 
You're right. It's the grip fight that's the first thing to go when I'm lazy. Great point.
I most certainly have a lazy game. Against lower belts (white/blue, I am a brown), I usually just defend guard and only take easy sweeps. I do occasionally get passed and have to work to re-guard. About 1 out of 4 sparring days I really push. But mostly I want to win with as little effort as possible. When I roll with a brown or black I can almost always find the energy to up my effort level.
SidRon - Question to higher belts. If you roll lazy do lower belts catch you or can you get away with it?
(im a brown belt) Generally, i get away with it, to the point that most of the lower belts have no idea what my A-game feels like. There would just be no point (non-competitors can even get scared and have a very negative experience if you're fast or aggressive, which isn't fair or good for the academy). That being said, we have one of the best blue belts in the world, he is a little lighter than me, and he can catch me anytime, A-game or not.
Purples and up, we tend to match each other's pace. we don't care to tap one another if we are trying harder than the other guy. Feel a lazy mood; be smooth, be technical, be creative.
SidRon - Question to higher belts. If you roll lazy do lower belts catch you or can you get away with it?
Brown here. They do catch me, but 9/10 times I can escape. Usually that leads to showing how to counter the escape. So its good all around. They don't celebrate when they do catch a higher belt because they know the difference of how we roll with white and blue as opposed to purple and up.
Purple and up I play more conservative when going hard. But you can also flow if you want. One of the great things is at that level you can match your partners pace. If the match starts getting crazy, then you can dial it down and your partner can sense that.
My A game is my lazy game, but I really want to change that. I just think I lack aggressiveness in general and get beat when somebody really takes the fight to me. I think I need to learn to love the scrap a bit more.
In any event, my lazy game is closed guard.I can keep it against almost anybody once I get established. It brings their pace down to mine. I can frustrate and wear them out by just playing the timing; constantly breaking their posture every time they try to get something going. Eventually there is a window and I play a choke/sweep/armbar/wristlock chain. But I don't waste any energy committing to any of them. Ususally I end up hitting the wristlock.
Brown belt.
"I try to use technical superiority to win the battle even when letting the other person get deep into their attacks. "
I do this all the time. I enjoy seeing how deep into shit I can get myself and how I execute the escape. Its actually great practice for submission defense.
billcosbiguez -VU tomorrow for a great reference.Kway - I can't be the only one that has a lazy game and an A game.
What I've been trying to do is use my A game everytime I roll. This doesn't mean going at 100%. It just means you use better technique when rolling.
For instance this morning I trained with my black belt friend of mine. We rolled for like 40 mins and I use a set path of techniques that lets me and my friend a good fight.
Tonight though I rolled with a ton of white and blues. No way did I use that game. I would let them grab my feet, have them get side control, even armbars. It helps me grow defense. Still, I'm just being lazy.
The reason I want to use my A game more is because of Marcelo Garcia and Rafa Mendes. When they roll in their schools they roll the exactly same way with a blue belt as they do a black belt. Every freaking time.
They're not lazy. So I'm starting to break out of that mold because I feel I need to make my A game, my only game.
Good story. Could've used a vampire though.
My lazy game is my A game, but I will make case-by-case decisions about how much energy to expend in battles of grip and of top position.
Sometimes with freakishly strong people I will let them fight for the top and go into attacks because I can wear them down by letting them play. With others, I know that if I make myself utterly dominant in the first 2 minutes, they will become frustrated and no longer fight so hard for the top.
There's a good book out there called "Winning Ugly". It's written about Tennis, but a fencing coach recommended it to me. One of my favorite chapters is about studying not only what *technical* errors each opponent tends to make, but what *emotional* errors.