There’s never anything wrong with a good ole round of full rolling but sometimes it can be fun and beneficial to mix it up a bit. You can focus on your cardio by being bombarded with a constant stream of fresh opponents or zero in on a weak area of your game you want to improve. Below are a list with descriptions of some different ways to mix up the time and structure of live training. You can use these drills during an open mat training session or during a class if you’re the instructor.

King of the mat – Probably the favorites at our gym, the “King of the mat” drill is a great way to get some quality time in a particular area of the game and push the cardio a bit. Start by picking a particular area of focus for the training. For example if the focus is bottom of full guard. Start in full guard and do a pass/defend sweep/submit round. If the top person passes to dominant position or if the bottom person sweeps or submits then the round is over. The winner remains on the mat and the loser goes back to the line. The line will rotate a new opponent in and the previous winner will start on their back with full guard. Then repeat. You can do this with takedowns, escapes, passing, etc. If you stay in for several rounds you’ll definitely start to wear down a bit as you’re faced with a fresh opponent over and over again. It’s always fun to see a less experienced white or blue belt topple a worn down purple or brown belt during this drill. A side benefit is that it gives an instructor a chance to roll with a lot of their students in a relatively short period of time.

2 minute / 10 minute Match – Similar to the king of the mat drill. This one is focused more on the tournament aspect of BJJ and being conscious of points. In this style both players will start on the feet and a regular match will start. After 2 minutes whoever is ahead on points and submissions stays on the mat. With no rest, a new fresh opponent will come in for another 2 minute match. Go for 10 minutes (or whatever time you like) with the aim of trying to stay in the whole time. Towards the later rounds if you’re still in you will most likely be tired. This means you have to play accordingly or learn how to continue playing a hard game while you’re tired. We did this the other day for one of our rolling sessions for 20 minutes and it was pretty brutal.

Situational – If you have a position that you’re weak from then this is perfect for you. Put yourself in the position and do round after round. If you are starting off in a bad position like bottom of mount, try keeping the rounds short to help encourage activity and movement. You can grab a partner and go back and forth. For example, years ago a good friend and I would come in on Sundays during open mat to work on our weak positions. I would take his back and work to submit him since it was my best position and his worst. Then when his round was over we would flip and I would be on the bottom of mount because it was a bad spot for me. It may be frustrating at first but by putting yourself into your weak areas, you don’t have a choice but to improve. You can do this for any position really, but I think it’s always a good idea to improve in our weak areas.

Deficit Rolling – This one is pretty simple. Start the match while being down on points. I really enjoy 1-2 minute rounds while being down on points. This pushes a person to work hard to regain lost points meanwhile making the player roll smart to maintain their point advantage. Of course you can always mix up the time and point spread however you want.

Random Submission Rolling – Another interesting way to mix it up on the mats and get out of your comfort zone is to randomize the submissions and techniques you’re allowed to use. I’ve done this various ways with my students. One time it involved having them roll dice and matching up the number they rolled with a numbered submission on the wall. This can be frustrating if you get something like triangles and you have the shortest legs in class, but it can also push you outside your normal range of techniques and force you to try something else. I know I used this sort of drill and found a way to hit an anaconda choke which before I had written off because of my short arms. Like I always tell my students, if it’s your only option you’re going to find a way to make it work.

Randomized Timed Rolling – Like randomizing the techniques you can use, having varying times can change the dynamic of a roll. Just pick a group of times and randomly decide how long each round will be, keeping in mind the pace should change with the time. For example if the round is 1-2 minutes long then you should be moving at a much faster pace than if the round was 8-10 minutes long because you won’t have as much time to work.

Round Robin – This one is an old favorite from wrestling. Most commonly you’ll pair up in a group of 3 but you can do as many as you like. Assign a letter to each person A, B and C. Set a round timer for your desired time limits and go. The rolls would go AB, BA, BC then repeat. Each person will be in for two rounds and will get 1 round to recover.

These are just some of the drills I like using with my students. They’re fun and they change it up instead of just the same old thing. Try them out with some of your BJJ teammates during an open mat.