Punishment Performance

I have been looking for ways to challenge myself.  Not because I believe my skill set so superior that I'm bored, but because as I get older, with more real life on my plate and a greater history of injuries, I find myself rolling or sparring not to improve myself and become competitive but to not to lose.  I have enough athletic talent and skill to "weather" almost any storm, but surviving is not a pathway to improvement it is a slow descent into mediocrity.  It is treading water rather than swimming toward a destination.  It is a lack of goals.

I have therefore proposed a scheme for myself when grappling with others.  I will approach each partner as a challenge, based on their relative ranking.  For each partner I will attempt to submit or score points equal to an a priori total.  I will, of course, use strategy and technique coupled with but hopefully not dependent on athleticism.  Failure to meet a goal after a round, results in push-ups, say a set of 20 regardless of how many points I was short.

My goal is not to steamroll my training partners but to break my habit of a stalling.  To attack with intent not only to win but of improving game.  To look for points and find ways of earning them.  Not every round or every day of training needs to be this way, certainly days spent isolating a position or submission set are just as valuable but do not change behavior.  This way I am pushed by the clock, and hopefully will start making my game more dynamic.

Belt Rank	Submissions/Points
White (Rank - 4)	4 Submissions, 3 Submissions and 4 Points, 2 Submissions and 8 Points, 1 Submission and 12 Points, or 16 Points
Blue (Rank - 3)	3 Submissions, 2 Submissions and 4 Points, 1 Submission and 8 Points, or 12 Points
Purple (Rank - 2)	2 Submissions, 1 Submission and 4 Points, or 8 Points
Brown (Rank - 1)	1 Submission or 4 Points