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Porcupine Strategy

Make it so costly to attack you that nobody has the balls to do it.

Bruce Lee once told us to “be like water.” To this day, that remains one of the most outstanding, eloquent martial arts quotes you'll ever hear.

“Be like water” is amazing advice for martial artists. Not that I'm on Bruce Lee's level, but I have my own, less eloquent, but still helpful, piece of advice to share:

“Be like porcupine, my friend.”

I love porcupines. Cute, big, fat rodents. I'd hug one, except for one problem: they're covered with 30,000 sharp quills.

Porcupines get it. You don't have to be the biggest, strongest, or baddest... as long as you can do one thing:

Make it so costly to attack you that nobody has the balls to do it.

If “be like water” teaches us to be adaptable under pressure...

...then “be like porcupine” teaches us to be annoying as f**k to attack.

This “porcupine strategy” exists in jiu-jitsu, too. And I think you've already experienced it.

Because every gym has that one guy. You know who I'm talking about.

He's lazy, he's not very athletic, and his guard sucks... but he will absolutely buggy choke you from bottom side control if you let him.

He's the guy who's got a submission from everywhere. It doesn't matter how bad the position gets for him; he always has a way to attack.

You can go after him, but he'll make you pay for it.

At some point, you start second-guessing yourself: Is it even worth attacking him? Is this just a trap? Is he letting me pass his guard so he can funnel me into his favorite submission?

Then you hesitate, and your game changes. You're thinking defensively without even being attacked.

You got porcupined. 🦔

Look, I'm not suggesting it's some sort of brilliant strategy to attack from bad positions. But you should always have a threatening attack, from everywhere, just so your opponent has to think about it.

If you can make them hesitant, you've already won a little victory: you made them reduce their own performance, and it cost you nothing.

When building strategies, always be on the lookout for these “something-for-nothing“ trades. They add up.

There are many ways to deploy “porcupine strategy” in jiu-jitsu. There's always the threat of unorthodox submissions, but also: just making your opponent uncomfortable.

If they're going to take top position, don't let them get cozy. Make it difficult (or even painful) for them to put weight on you. Turn your body into a shape that's uncomfortable for them to sit on.

You can't always be bigger than your opponent... but maybe you can be spikier. And that might be enough.

 

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