Grappling arts have a specific weapon in their arsenal that other martial arts don’t—body mass. Using the pressure of the fighter’s own body is a tool in its own right, and when fine-tuned, it can become one of most grapplers’ best tools.
Pressure, apart from immobilizing, is also used to cause pain, which makes it common in submission techniques in tournaments. Regular trainers know well how to play with pressure mindfully and purposefully to apply just enough pain to move the opponent out of their place.
Most interesting in this topic, apart from how to learn to use body mass during training, is how to respond to it. There are two thresholds of pressure; passing either completely changes the game because they come with physiological consequences. The first threshold is when regular pressure used to immobilize turns into pain. The other is when pain increases to a level where it becomes a danger factor. These thresholds mark the levels: pressure, pain, and danger.
1. Pressure – the baseline
The first level of impact of body mass is just regular pressure. It doesn’t actually hurt, but the opponent notices the force and will apply some force of their own in response. Fights usually slow down when pressure is applied; however, it’s nothing more than the presence of the opponent, their body weight and their grip.
Pressure makes the opponent work harder, but it still enables both players to learn and practice without risk. In this case, training is still efficient, and the techniques are applicable, which makes it ideal for entry-level students to build up their game.
At tournaments, this has less value, though, as it still allows the opponent to play their game, which is not what we want there.
2. Pain – passing the first threshold
When pressure reaches the threshold where it causes pain, a brand-new game starts. Physical pain triggers stress chemicals that quickly circulate throughout the body. Your state of mind and the condition of the body both change as a result. Pain is a strong signal with evolutionary meaning; it’s not just difficult to ignore due to the bodily changes involved, but also not a good idea to ignore it, as it’s the last barrier before injury.
This threshold is especially important for entry- or improver-level fighters because one of the most significant consequences of this stress response is reduced access to the learning centers of the brain. Emotional charge and survival functions divert resources to other, action-responsive areas to get out of the painful situation.
Accordingly, when an opponent’s pressure passes this first threshold during sparring, you stop listening to your movements; you don’t follow techniques, and you don’t build knowledge. You just try to get rid of the pain, often without technical execution. At entry level, where technical readiness needs to be built, this condition is not suitable for learning, and the partner needs to be asked to dial it down.
When you spar with people who come at you hard or have enough body mass to cause pain simply by being on you, you don’t really learn grappling. What you can learn, though, is emotional governance – as you need to retain some control over your movements to escape the painful position.
At the competition level, emotional control is critical, as discussed in great detail in the Brain and Combat tournament preparation series. For active competitors and/or higher belts, this level of applied pressure can be used mindfully during training. In tournaments, this is the basic level everyone tries to operate on most of the time, as it doesn’t let the opponent think and therefore gives the fighter greater control.
3. Danger – passing the second threshold
When pain reaches a certain intensity and threatens to become a physical injury, it becomes danger. This is a situation that must be acted on immediately and is often acted on instinctively. You will have little to no control over your response; your survival instincts kick in, and you drop all strategy. Nothing else matters anymore, your attention narrows to the task of getting rid of the danger without delay.
This threshold is the most important for regular competitors because this is when instincts override, and they lose control of the game. Even if they manage to escape the situation, the stress response is so strong and costs so much energy, combined with lingering stress chemicals, that they are usually stuck in a self-preservation mental state. They commonly have very little chance of winning after this point.
For training, this condition is useless. Nothing is learned—neither techniques nor emotional resilience. A partner causing this level of pressure during training needs to be openly called out, and if that doesn’t work, you might deny sparring with them for the sake of your progress and physical safety.
Conclusion
It’s every fighter’s own journey to find their way of dialing pressure up and down; choosing the force they apply and picking sparring partners who align with their learning goals or game plan. If you keep getting injured and are in full pain constantly after each class, it’s a clear sign that you need to revise your pressure-dialing skills or be more selective with your sparring partners.
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