We all would like to be better....no matter how long you've been on the mat, it's likely that you wish you were better than you currently are. Presumably, this is why you continue to show up, day after day, in the never-ending pursuit of improvement. So what are some tangible steps you can take to see a noticeable improvement in your Jiu-jitsu? Here's a list of a few things I think may help. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, but it's a good place to start.
Show Up
This one should be obvious, but above everything else, this is by far THE MOST IMPORTANT thing that you HAVE to do if you want to improve. You have to be in class. Everyone has a life outside of the mat, and yes, things are going to come up sometimes that prevent you from getting in to train. But, if you're serious about getting better at Jiu-jitsu you have to make it a priority to come to class consistently. And, those days where you just don't feel like it are the times that it is even more important to make the effort to show up. You don't need to be on the mat 5 days/week. What is more important is that you make your attendance consistent. If you are a 2 day/week person, make sure that you are there those days. Make it a regular part of your schedule, just like going to work or school. If it is an option or something you will do "if you have time", you won't. Nobody has "free time"....we make time for the things that are important. And, when life gets in the way and there are legitimate reasons you can't make it in to train, don't stress over it. It's not the end of the world if you have to take a week off. Just get back on the mat and get after it.
First On/Last Off
Showing up for class is one thing....but making the most of that time is up to you. If you really want to get better, take responsibility for your own development. Make an effort to be the first one on the mat, and the last one off the mat. Try to squeeze every bit you can out of every training session. This is especially important if you are only able to train a couple times/week. You would be amazed how much you can accomplish in the 10 minutes before class starts, or by staying after to drill the move a few more times, or ask your instructor a question about a position you're having trouble with.
Take Notes
Maintaining a notebook is a great way to keep track of what you're working on in class, and help you to remember the details of techniques. Jiu-jitsu is too big and too complicated, and the magic of Jiu-jitsu is really in the fine details. So, anything you can do to help you recall what you went over in class is a great benefit. Keep your notes organized in a way that makes sense to you, and review them from time to time. Each time you go over a technique, review your notes and see what details you can add that you may have overlooked before. Just the process of writing down the moves you're working on will help to create connections that will help you to better remember the details of the technique.
Set Personal Goals
Train with a purpose. Set realistic, tangible, and achievable goals, and take actionable steps to achieve them. It could be something as simple as improving your cardio conditioning, cleaning up your diet, or really trying to figure out that sweep you've been struggling with. Write your goals down, and hold yourself accountable. Maybe your overall goal is to one day be a black belt in Jiu-jitsu. That's great! However, it's too big. You need to break your bigger goals down into more easily achievable steps, so you can really see the progress you are making. But, you should always be actively working on something. No matter how long you're on the mat, EVERYONE has things that they can improve on.
Work on Your Weak Areas
Your training sessions should be focused on improving, not on "winning". Remember, there really is no "winning" in the academy anyway. It's always fun and easy to do what we already do well. What is more difficult, and more important, is to focus your time and energy on the areas that you don't feel as comfortable with. But, that is the only way to improve on those weak areas. If you're focused on "winning", you're likely only doing positions that you already like, are already confident in, and that are your "go-to" moves. Force yourself into the spots where you are uncomfortable, and really explore the positions that you don't like so much. If you do this consistently, you will likely find that these weak areas will become your strong areas!
Don't Be Afraid to Fail
Nobody has gotten good at Jiu-jitsu without failing....a lot! We learn through failure. So, when a position doesn't work like you anticipate, when you tap, when you end up in a bad spot, recognize the mistake, and take it as a learning opportunity. It simply means that there is something a little off and you have room for improvement. Don't get frustrated, but pay attention to the mistakes, as they are very valuable. Try to pinpoint why the move didn't work or why you got caught, and take the opportunity to fix it! Failure is not a bad thing, as it is ultimately the recipe for success. However, don't be content to make the same mistakes over and over again, without addressing it. If you don't know, ASK!
Ask Questions
Most likely, when your instructor finishes explaining a position, or maybe at the end of the class, they will ask if there are any questions. This is usually met with an awkward silence as the students kind of just look around at each other. Asking relevant questions at appropriate times is extremely valuable, not only for you, but also for others in the class. Chances are, someone else has the same question, but they were afraid to ask. It is ok to admit that you don't know or don't understand something. It is way better to risk looking ignorant, than to continue to let the question go unanswered. Remember, being ignorant about a position or detail simply means that you haven't acquired the information yet. It is not a bad thing. Be honest with yourself and if you don't understand something ASK! Now, having said that, please DON'T be the person who asks about endless "what if" scenarios or questions about unrelated positions, or asks a bunch of questions about a position before even trying it. Do it first, to the best of your ability, and you may even answer your own question. It's ok to screw it up, that's how you learn. After you have drilled the position, if you still don't understand, then ask the question. Trust me, your instructor loves questions!
Attention to Detail
As mentioned previously, the real magic of Jiu-jitsu lies in the details! As you are drilling your techniques in class, try to be hyper-vigilant about drilling the move exactly the way your instructor showed it, really trying to soak in all the details of the position. Don't just go through the motions. Really try to pull the position apart, and analyze each part of the movement, trying to make your movement as smooth and clean as possible. Pay attention to your posture, balance, your entry points, and your positioning relative to your opponent. You will find that if you really pay attention to the details, your understanding of the moves, even the ones that you think you know well, will continue to evolve and grow deeper. One of the coolest things in Jiu-jitsu is "re-learning" a technique that you may have done for years, with a little different perspective.
Drill
You've probably heard the expression "drillers make killers". There is a lot of truth to that! You may have also heard "practice makes perfect"....that is ALMOST true. PERFECT practice makes perfect. The only way to develop your technique to develop a conditioned, automatic, reflexive response that you can replicate even under stress or pressure is through repetition. So drilling is very important. But drilling with a high degree of focus and attention to detail is necessary, so as not to build bad habits. The purpose of drilling is not to learn techniques. Rather, it is to engrain the techniques that you already know well to develop an automatic, conditioned response; to develop reflex so that these techniques flow smoothly and seamlessly, without conscious thought. Take one position that you are working on, and just get reps. And, you don't have to devote a huge amount of time to make a difference. You'd be amazed what you can accomplish with 10 minutes of focused effort.
Focus on Fundamentals
Jiu-jitsu is big. There's too much to learn. So you have to break it down into small, manageable parts. Sometimes, the process of learning Jiu-jitsu can be overwhelming, especially in the beginning. There is so much more access to information these days with books, instructional dvd's, Youtube, etc. It is hard to know what to focus on. My advice is, focus on developing solid fundamentals. Everything is build around the basics. You can't understand the more complex positions, without a solid foundation in the fundamentals. The fundamentals are time-tested & proven, and they are what you will fall back on under stress. Learn them, practice them, try to apply them in training. These are the techniques you will work on as long as you are on the mat, so embrace them & really try to pull them apart and understand them at a deeper level.
Look for Concepts
The longer you train, the more you will start to recognize similarities in positions that often, at first, seem like completely divergent ideas. The details of the specific techniques are important. But, the techniques are really only a guide to teach you the concepts. There are only so many ways to move and manipulate the human body. If you strive to understand things at a a more conceptual level, you will start to tie things together and fill in the gaps. The specific techniques teach you the concepts. The concepts apply across the board. And the better you understand the specific details of the techniques, the more you will start to see the bigger picture, and things will start to make more sense.
Make the Most of Training Time
Most of us don't have the luxury of being on the mat every single day. As much as we may want to, we all have other responsibilities off the mat. So, if you're only able to train a couple times a week, it is vitally important that you make the most of those precious hours you have on the mat. Jiu-jitsu is a great way to escape from the stresses of everyday life. So, try not to bring those things into the academy. Come through the door ready to focus on learning Jiu-jitsu for that hour or two that you are there. Pay attention in class; really listen. Try to pick up on every detail that your instructor is explaining. And utilize the time you have to get as many quality reps of whatever you are working on. Don't stand around idly waiting for your instructor to show the next move. Don't do the move until you get it right; Do it until you can't get it wrong! Don't waste time with unnecessary talking. Of course, the social aspect of training is very important, and you should be having fun when you train. You can socialize after class. But, when it's time to train, train with a purpose. Just being physically present isn't enough. If you want to see real progress, it is on you to make the most of every moment on the mat.
Spar
Live training is one of the MOST important aspects of learning Jiu-jitsu. It is where you really start to understand the timing, sensitivity, and feel for the techniques. Training with a live partner under resistance is one of the primary things that makes Jiu-jitsu such an effective self defense art. There is no way around it. If you're not sparring, you're not really learning Jiu-jitsu. If you're new, start slow. Once you're able to start sparring, work with the more experienced students who can guide you and give you just the right amount of resistance in the beginning. Sparring doesn't mean you have to be going at 100% all out effort. In fact, this should not be the case most of the time. But you need to get the feel of live movement with some level of resistance. The pace and resistance can be adjusted as you have more experience. Be okay with "losing" in training (because really it's just learning), tap early and often, and try not to over exert yourself. Breathe, relax, and try to focus on making every movement matter. Efficiency is the key! Most of all, have fun! Often new students are very reluctant when it comes to live training. You can focus on simple, specific positional sparring at first until you feel more comfortable. You will likely find, after some time on the mat, that sparring is one of the most fun parts of training!
One More Round
An important part of training Jiu-jitsu is learning to push past your comfort zone, and to be able to relax, and be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Physical conditioning is an important aspect of being able to effectively defend yourself, and one of the best ways to improve your conditioning is through sparring. Everyone reaches the point eventually where they feel completely exhausted, and they're just done. When you get to that point, try to do one more round. You don't have to go fast, or hard, just try to survive. You get the most benefit, from a conditioning standpoint, when you're pushing past your perceived limit, and you're also conditioning yourself mentally to not give up when you're tired. It's a good idea to train when you're physically tired also, because it forces you to use better technique, because you don't have the physical capactiy to use brute force to get the job done. Just try to make yourself do one more round. You will find soon that you're able to relax more under pressure, and you will be able to do multiple rounds without exhausting so quickly. Remember, if you can't fight when you're tired, then you can't fight!
Trust
Trust in the process of learning Jiu-jitsu. It's not easy. It takes a long time to get "good". You will struggle. You will get frustrated. Just keep going. The only way you can fail is if you quit. All of the upper belts that you look up to were once beginners who were just as incompetent and confused as you may feel that you are. Just keep showing up. It does get easier and it does make more sense. Trust in your instructor. You may not understand the "why" of what they are telling you right now, but if you stick with it, it will make more sense later. They have your best interest at heart. So, especially in the beginning, you don't need to understand why. Just trust. Also, trust in yourself. Have the confidence to try, be willing to take the chance to fail, and learn from it. You're not as bad as you may think you are. Do you have room for improvement? Yes, absolutely, we all do, no matter how long you do this. But just trust in yourself, your teammates, your instructor, and trust in Jiu-jitsu!
Don't Be Satisfied
There is no finish line in Jiu-jitsu. You can always get better. Just as I said you're not as bad as you think, you're also not as good as you think either! There is someone out there who is better, and no matter how long you do this, there is likely someone who can make you feel like a complete beginner on the mat. Stay engaged, always be working towards your next goal, and stay hungry to improve. Don't become complacent and assume you're "good enough". Try to become a better version of yourself every single day, and the long term rewards will be immense. Train for you, and keep pushing forward!
