The Art of Excess: Overkill

Precision is a virtue, but precision without margin is fragile. The principle of overkill asks you to build extra distance into your intentions — to aim beyond the target so that, after you meet resistance, you still arrive where you need to be.

This isn’t brute force. It’s calibrated excess that creates slack for error and turns imperfect motions into predictable outcomes.

In Submissions

With the rear naked choke, there’s a precise geometry you want: the choking arm sits under the jaw, the elbow tucked in, the head controlled. Against live resistance, any intention to drop in perfectly is too conservative. The arm meets shoulder, forearm stalls on jawline, and the choke never locks.

Instead, intend to go further. When you shoot the choking arm home, don’t aim for the theoretical perfect slot — aim a few inches more, slightly past it. That extra distance compensates for the opponent’s resistance, head tucks, and last-second shifts.

In Sweeps

The scissor sweep’s goal is simple: disrupt base and rotate your opponent onto their back so you land on top. But if the finish is in your head, your force application will decelerate as you arrive. Against a resisting opponent, that slowdown is fatal, leaving you stalled just shy of what you need to complete the sweep and secure position.

Overkill here means committing to the full rotation from the outset. Drive with more hip momentum, connect definitively with the scissor leg, and pull the collar or sleeve with the anticipation of their bracing.

Think of the motion as aiming to flip them completely; when they brace or post, the surplus you’ve built in pushes through barriers and delivers you exactly where you intended to land — chest to chest, in mount or knee-on-belly, instead of stalling halfway and losing position.

Intention

Train with deliberate overreach: aim a little past the target, use a touch more rotation, add an extra inch or two of travel. Then test it against resistance and note how often that extra margin is the deciding factor. Over time, you’ll learn the minimal overkill needed for a given technique: not blind force, but a precise, predictable overshoot.