What does tapping mean, and when should I tap?
Tapping is how you say stop. Two clear slaps on your partner, and everything ends. Tap early, tap often, and nobody thinks less of you.
Two firm slaps on your partner, anywhere they can feel it. Their arm, their back, the mat. They let go immediately. That is the deal and it is not up for discussion.
If your hands are trapped, say “tap” out loud. Say anything. Stamp a foot on the mat. I am right there and I will usually see it before you say it, but learn all three anyway.
Tap early. Not when it hurts, when you know the position is gone. A joint lock gives you a couple of seconds of warning. A choke gives you less than that. Waiting to find out whether you can tough it out is how people get hurt, and it proves nothing to anybody.
The part new people take a while to believe: tapping is not losing. It is how you get to train again tomorrow. You might tap ten times in an hour, and every one of them is information. That grip was loose. Your hip was flat. You looked away. Guys with twenty years on the mat tap in the gym every week.
It is also why the holds themselves are safe rather than dangerous, because the whole system runs on both people taking it seriously. See whether chokes and armlocks are safe. You will use it most once live training starts, which is not day one: what rolling is and when you start.
Anything still hurting the next day gets looked at by a doctor, not by a search engine.
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