Learn to Love Bad Positions

There is a natural attraction to the beautiful side of the art: the smooth sweep, the elegant submission, the moment where everything aligns. But true growth is rarely found in those moments. It is discovered in the shadows of discomfort, in the spaces where control has been taken from you, where the weight feels unbearable, where your first instinct is to panic.

These positions are the forge where confidence is built. The place where panic is slowly replaced by calm. When you are flattened under side control, when your back is taken, when mount feels like quicksand—you are being given a gift. These are the conditions that strip away the ego and reveal what remains when comfort is gone.

Presence is everything in these moments. The ability to breathe deeply, to accept what is, to not waste energy in blind resistance. This is the first step in transforming fear into clarity. You learn that you don’t need to win every moment—you only need to stay composed.

Remembering that defense is not a passive act, and that survival is not about holding on and hoping—it is about technique. It is about the discipline to place your frames with precision, to create angles patiently, to move when the time is right. Each escape, when executed correctly, is a small masterpiece of timing and leverage. These are not wasted moments. They are the foundation of your entire game.

It is in these so-called “bad” positions that you begin to understand more than just the exchange of moves. You understand the dialogue between pressure and space, between chaos and calm. You learn that no position is final, and no situation is without opportunity.

With time, your relationship to these moments changes. What once felt like suffocation becomes a thoughtful space. Instead of fearing the mount, you welcome it. Instead of dreading the back take, you study it. The discomfort becomes data. And each successful escape plants a quiet confidence within you: if you can survive here, you can survive anywhere.

So when you find yourself in those difficult positions—trapped, pressured, controlled—don’t curse them. Welcome them. Breathe. Frame. Move with intelligence. Learn to love bad positions, for they are the unseen allies shaping your resilience.

In time, you will find that they do not hold you down. They set you free.