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Drilling is important for BJJ and Battles (nerdy parallel)

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I think it’s safe to say the deeper you go into BJJ, or anything for that matter, the more it consumes your thoughts, and ultimately the more connections you make with other subjects and ideas. Some similarities are a bit unclear while others are easily connected. With that, anytime I read about historical battles I can’t help but notice the similarities to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Especially conflicts between European powers where the technology was often similar and it came down to skill of the commanders and men as well as the guile of the men fighting the battle. Like a game of chess, opponents possessed the same pieces and what made the difference is how they were used. With this post I am simply combining some historical information and mixing it with Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. If you read through it, the hope will be to reinforce information you already know just in a history nerd sort of way. If this isn’t your thing, no biggie, but if you want to geek out a little then let’s continue.

Before I begin into the drilling idea, let’s draw the first parallel so that the others make sense. An army’s fighting force or manpower, constitutes its ability to fight. Without it, there isn’t an army to fight. While in abundance, morale is strong and the ability to push forward is an option. Once it begins to diminish, that is to lose men, deterioration of morale soon ensues and the will to fight begins to waver. This in my mind is best linked with the cardio/gas tank/ energy (whatever you wish to call it) of a grappler or fighter. Everyone feels great when they are fresh, but as a person tires their ability and often desire to fight is greatly reduced. Just as some nations were known and feared for their potential manpower (an example being Russia which has traditionally been able to take massive losses and still continue to fight), some fighters are characterized by their ability to continue pushing late into a match and beating their opponents, not just with skill or finesse, but with cardio.

So cardio / gas tank = manpower.

 

Drilling makes your techniques efficient and more effective

Armies of the 18th and 19th century would drill formations, maneuvers, and essential movements they would require in battle, just like we as BJJ practitioners drill techniques and fundamental movements we need for our matches. As we practice positioning our body into various area to attack our opponents. Likewise, armies would march and form various positions and formations which on the battlefield would precede an attack. Here is what Carl Von Clausewitz (a Prussian general and military theorist) writes when talking about the importance of marching and drilling an army.

“The first, is the due care of the troops, so that no forces shall be squandered uselessly when they might be usefully employed; the second, is precision in the movements so that they fit exactly.”

 

Using our parallel with manpower (troops) and cardio, draw a parallel with the drilling of an army and drilling your techniques. Drilling your techniques will help you make them more effective and efficient so that you won’t squander your gas tank (troops/manpower) needlessly. In addition, a well drilled technique will inevitably possess a higher rate of success and have a higher chance of finding its mark (fitting exactly) when executed.

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Examples of drilling being used to overcome superior numbers can be seen in British Naval gunnery during the 18th century and the infantry of Prussia under Frederick the Great. In both, men were drilled rigorously. British sailors were said to be able to fire 2-3 broadsides for every 1 of their French or Spanish counterparts. The Prussian army under Frederick the Great would go on to win several wars against numerically superior forces. During the engagements they would execute superior formation maneuverability, that is to put themselves in favorable positions for attack or exploiting weaknesses in their enemies as they presented themselves. In addition, the rate of fire by their musketry was nearly three times as fast as most armies of the time period. Imagine playing chess and getting three moves for every one of your opponents. These were a result of drilling and training.

As I said at the beginning, this was not intended to be ground breaking new information for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Rather, just a reinforcement of what we already know from another subject. We all know drilling is incredibly important. It strengthens our ability to execute our movements. Whether you’re competing, trying to hit your buddy in class with a new sweep or fighting on a battlefield. Drilling is crucial.

 

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Add speed to your drilling

The one idea I will throw into this, and again it’s nothing new, is to incrementally work up the speed of the technique you’re drilling. When you first learn a technique that isn’t familiar to your body, it often has an almost unwieldy quality. It just doesn’t feel right. However, after hundreds and thousands of reps it feels smooth and comfortable. At this point you can probably perform a repetition of the technique while holding a conversation. The mistake I often times see younger students commit, is drilling techniques only at a slow pace and never working up the speed. Drilling slowly is effective to a point, but it’s important to add speed and eventually a little resistance when drilling because you’re going to need to be able to deal with the stress created by both of these things.

Whenever I am attempting to add in a move that isn’t familiar or comfortable I follow this sort of process.

Phase 1: Learning the technique for the first time and drilling it slowly to learn the movement.

Phase 2: Begin to add speed to the technique. Try and execute it faster. It will be no doubt be sloppier at first.

Phase 3: Add a slight amount of resistance to the technique. An example would be, if you were trying to sweep from guard. Have your drilling partner offer a strong base and resist your sweep. Not 100% but maybe 20%. Just enough so that you get a feel for fighting through opposition which will eventually confront your technique during rolling or a competition match.

Phase 4: Situational flow rolling with a partner. Again, keep a minimal amount of resistance going, but now add some movement. For example, if you are working on passing the guard. Have your partner give you a real look just with light resistance. Meaning they will work grips, defend and adjust to your movements as they would during a full roll, just not full speed.

Phase 5: Full speed situational rolling. After you’re reasonably comfortable with a technique. You need quality experience with it under live conditions. This is a good time to grab a partner for open mat and roll from the position you’re trying to better. If you don’t have the option of going to an open mat and doing extra work, then try and put yourself into the positions during free rolling. For instance, if you’re working on mount escapes, let the person mount you so that you have a chance to work your mount escape techniques.

As always, thanks for reading!

Chewy

*Now time to go back to reading since snow has put a damper on our gym’s training today 🙁

You gotta check this out

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I was talking with a couple of my training partners tonight after training and they mentioned BJJ Scout’s videos. I went home and wow! The videos are fantastic. I have done this sort of thing for myself as BJJ homework, but these videos are already done and there for anyone to take advantage of. Just thought I would share!

Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbkKiWIHZvg

This video for instance goes over De La Riva counters and is definitely worth a look if you are encountering a tough de la riva game.

7 methods to drilling and adding new techniques to your BJJ (Part 6)

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I wrote previously about restrictive rolling with a partner of lesser skill. Now let’s look at restrictive rolling with a partner or similar or higher skill. It’s essentially the same thing. . . only better. Again, all this really means is rolling with a definite goal against someone who is as good or better than you by restricting yourself to a select group of techniques and positions you wish to improve upon.

Seems pretty simple right? It is. . . sort of.

In theory, taking techniques that you aren’t incredibly familiar with and trying them out during rolling is simple. Rolling this way is rather easy with people that you out match. You can try and go for a move and if you expose yourself you can simply recover and control the situation again. However, against a person of similar skill, if you make a mistake they may submit or out position you. Combine the competitive nature of BJJ and the competitive nature of most people, and the thought of “losing” can hinder someone from opening up.  But taking risks, getting out of your comfort zone and opening up are all things that you need to do in order to improve your game, so forget about “losing” when rolling this way.  

Now, you don’t have to tell your partner you are working on anything in particular. Just roll with them and try to go after the techniques and positions that you are focusing on. This will be a bit stressful on your body since you will be against an opponent who is better equipped to deal with whatever you’re working on. Often, when using a new set of techniques you will find yourself having to muscle through it, or because of unfamiliarity, you will be more exhausted than usual. This is caused by both your body’s lack of efficiency with the movements and the stress brought on by engaging with a skilled opponent.  Because you cannot consider a move fully implemented until you can perform it under high pressure situations, the sooner you start attempting new moves against higher level guys, the better.   

Rolling this way will also have the side benefit of creating scrambles and at times leaving you in a less desirable position. By doing this you will be forced to become better at scrambling which is important (ever roll with a good wrestler?), and it will push you to work out of bad positions, effectively improving your defensive abilities. Just be sure to figure out the mistakes or weakness of the move that allowed you to end up in those positions and correct them.

Finally, if you should use the techniques against a higher belt level and they successfully defend or counter them. Don’t be afraid to ask them what they did or what you could have done.  Don’t ask them in the middle of the roll or anything, but grab them after class and just ask about what happened during the roll and if there is anything you might be able to improve upon. I have yet to meet a BJJ practitioner / instructor unwilling to share a tip here and there.

Again, what I am writing about isn’t some sort of secret way to get better. The idea is simple and effective, but implementation can be difficult because you will be forced out of your comfort zone. That being said, the sooner you lose the fear and experiment, the sooner your game will grow.

 

Benefits of Restrictive Rolling with people of similar skill

  • Helps improve your defensive techniques and scrambling ability since you may lose positioning while trying to perform the newer techniques.
  • Gives you more exposure on the techniques you’re perfecting in a live setting.
  • Helps you find new ways to get the same techniques or positions.
  • If you are going against someone of a higher level they may be able to give you helpful tips on what you’re working on.
  • Breaks training plateaus by giving you clear goals to achieve
  • Hitting a newly added move on a person who’s game you respect is a huge confidence booster.

7 methods to drilling and adding new techniques to your BJJ (Part 5)

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One of the more “nerdy” things I do for my BJJ is keep a regular training journal.  I know plenty of people who keep a journal for seminars and special training sessions but I know very few who keep one consistently. I believe though, that keeping a training journal on at least a semi regular basis is an excellent way to add focus to training, resolve problems I’m having, track progress, and getting the most out of my competition experiences.

I’m sure people have lots of different methods for keeping a training journal, so I’ll explain how I use a my bjj journal.

 

Tracking the amount of reps I am performing of a particular move

I suppose I am possibly a little obsessive with record keeping in regards to BJJ, but I like keeping track of how many reps of a move I perform leading up to a tournament or when I am developing a technique. When looking back at some of my older journals I can see a clear correlation with a lack of repping out moves and being frustrated with my lack of timing in a tournament or during training. Knowing this, tracking the reps helps keep me on track.

 

Reflections on tournaments

Every tournament has its ups and down and I like to keep track of those. Right after my last match of a tournament I typically sit down with my phone or notebook and write down notes about what went well or what went wrong.  Then when I get home I can sift through the notes and figure out how I can improve. I also do this with my students when they compete.

 

Documenting problems I’m having

When I run into a common problem during training or tournament I write it down so that I can look at it later and figure out how to fix it.

 

Writing down new techniques I learn

When I learn something new I don’t want to forget it! Think about how many times your instructor has shown a cool move that you forget by the next week or even next class! I write down new techniques so that I can remind myself how to do them later.

 

Setting goals for myself

My goals vary. They can be anything from “hit move X five times during rolling” to “drill move X one hundred times” to “do 1 hour of actual rolling today”. You get the idea.  Giving myself goals helps keep me focused, and holds me accountable and it feels good accomplishing something that I set out to do.

 

When using a BJJ journal keep it short and sweet. There is no need to keep track of every little detail about training. Also, you don’t want to get too “Dear Journal” with it and ramble on about random thoughts and emotions concerning your life. Keep it focused on and geared towards certain aspects of your training so that it doesn’t become too cumbersome and difficult to keep up with.

Also, one fun thing (at least I think its fun) about doing this is that you can look back years later and see what sort of problems you faced. I personally have different BJJ journals going all the way to my days as a white belt in 2003 and. . . wow. . . it’s interesting to read. Maybe I should post some of my 2003 white belt journal entries on here?

Anyways, I know keeping a BJJ journal isn’t for everyone, but it can be a great tool should you decide to use it.   

Thanks for reading!

(A pic of an old training journal of mine from 2008. Certainly not the oldest but it does have some nice water stains to it.)

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7 methods to drilling and adding new techniques to your BJJ (Part 2)

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So I personally categorize drilling into two different types, active and passive. I consider practicing any sort of drilling where my partner offers no resistance as passive style drilling.  In my last post I talked about performing repetitions of a new move to get introduced to them. Now, let’s move on to our first method of active drilling which will help make new moves usable against resisting opponents.

Fear   

It can be hard to break a new move out into a full rolling session. Sometimes you don’t get into the proper positions to use it and sometimes personal fear can prevent you from using it. For example, if you are too worried about being trapped under a tough guy’s side mount after a pass, then using a new guard technique can be difficult mentally. You’ll be too worried about using the new technique for fear of having your guard passed and being squashed under the person’s top pressure.

 

Remove the fear with Situational Rolling

This is where we will get into Situational Rolling. Now I am sure you have done this before in class with your team mates, but I’ll explain my idea of it so that there isn’t any confusion.

I consider situational rolling to be where you put yourself into a position that you are working on and having clear ideas of what you plan to accomplish. Then roll somewhere between 50-100% and actively attempting to achieve your goal in the position. For instance if you are trying to add a new half guard sweep, then start in half guard. From there do pass/defend and sweep/submit. Meaning if you sweep from half guard then you restart back in the same position. Meanwhile your partner will try to defend against your attacks and try to pass your guard. If they pass, restart back into the half guard.

I know it has personally helped me a lot over the years. One example is that I used to be very susceptible to triangle chokes. To fix this I would passively drill triangle escapes and I would also drill prevention techniques to stop the triangle before it starts.  After the drilling I would do situational rolling. Starting in a loose triangle I would try to escape using the techniques I had been drilling and my partner would try to lock it up and finish me. If I escaped the triangle we would restart back in the same position. If my partner finished me then we would restart again.  This was brutal but it really paid off. Within a few weeks of doing this I was able to relax a bit in the bad situation of being caught in a triangle and I became much better at escaping the submission.

 Tip: When doing situational drilling, make the rounds short. Shorter rounds will make you and your partner push the pace and go after the techniques you are practicing.

So give it a try. The next time you are at an open mat or have some free mat time with a partner. Try and do some rounds of situational rolling from a position you are working on. Again the idea that I am trying to get you to think about in these posts is not just training hard, but training with focus and purpose, and situational rolling is a fantastic way of doing this.

I hope this post proves helpful to you. To recap I put a list of benefits below.

Thanks for reading!

 

Benefits of situational rolling

  • Will remove some of the mental anxiety from rolling in new and uncomfortable positions.
  • Helps build the sensitivity necessary for proper control of the position.
  • Works as a great continuation of your repetition drilling.
  • Can help build up weak areas of your game.

7 methods to drilling and adding new techniques to your BJJ (Part 1)

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So you are a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu practitioner and you are looking for some ways to nail down different techniques and movements. Well there is no secret to improving in BJJ, its hard work. However there are different methods of training deliberately and with a purpose, which can yield results more efficiently.  Now I am not saying that these are the only effective techniques to drilling and incorporating new moves into your arsenal but they are some that have helped me.

So lets get started!

Method 1 : Doing Reps

This is the most common form of adding a new technique to your repertoire and this is pretty much always the starting point for a new technique. Your teacher shows you something or you see a video and start performing reps of the new technique. Doing reps is a corner stone to training that cannot be ignored but keep in mind you need to perform massive amounts of reps before the technique is effective. So 20-30 during a class typically doesn’t cut it. Unless you’re very adept at the position already the move will be a bit shaky

During my private lessons when students want to implement a new game plan I track down the amount of reps we perform during our lessons and then I have them report back to me if they are executing the techniques successfully during rolling.  100-350 reps of a move will make that movement comfortable for drilling while 700-1000 seems to increase mat effectiveness during rolling and tournaments. Anything above that is only going to continue to build the speed and timing of the movement.  Don’t perform all these reps in one sitting. Instead do them in spurts over time, meanwhile attempting them during rolling sessions

  • Tips when adding techniques to your game.
  1. Drill new moves slowly so that you hit every important detail and don’t slop up the technique. Speed will come over time but every time you perform a sloppy rep your body is building bad muscle memory.
  2. Drill the new techniques in segments broken up over weeks. Squeeze out 40 reps after class or come to an open mat and warm up with a 100 reps with a partner before rolling.  Doing the techniques over a longer period of time will give the moves time to “simmer” and be absorbed by your body.
  3. Try to execute the new techniques during your rolls. This will only further enhance the learning process of the techniques.
  4. Always consult your instructor!