TFS#76: One Of The Worst Ways To Train

As we know, your results from Jiu-Jitsu sparring varies from day-to-day and round-to-round.

But are you approaching your sparring strategically?

You’re rolling with people of higher level, people of lesser experience, and people of roughly equal rank.

So your expectation should vary from round to round.

Instead of thinking “I should win against x and lose against y,” your approach should be more like “I’m going to try this against x and try this against y.”

You want to be setting realistic expectations and more detailed goals with all your training partners.

One of the worst things you can do is to roll the exact same way with everyone.

That’s because you’ll plateau.

Whether you’re getting bored of the same rolls or just not properly troubleshooting issues.

What makes Jiu-Jitsu so interesting to us is the fact that it’s fun. So you have to keep it fun for yourself, you need to give yourself the opportunity to explore new techniques and moves.

So here are two different approaches you should take:

1. Your A-Game Round

For these rounds, you’ll want to do your best.

Use your most comfortable moves, highest submissions attempts, and use the same strategy you would if you were competing.

Perhaps it might be more “low-risk, high-reward” moves or perhaps you’re looking to stabilize, secure points, and not give up silly points!

This is where you want to roll smart, and be your best. (But it doesn’t mean to muscle your way through!)

You might not necessarily want to be testing new moves in these rounds.

2. Your Experimental Round

Of course, you want to continue to sharpen your A-game…but if you continuously roll using only your A-game you’ll hit plateaus as mentioned earlier.

You’ll become one-dimensional.

And how “good” you are at Jiu-Jitsu is directly related to how well you adapt to various positions.

Reminder: don’t become one-dimensional, build multiple skills.

So you want to experiment with new techniques/ideas as you progress with training so you’ll also need opportunities to attempt these new moves.

Now I’d actually break down your “experimental rolls” down into two subgroups:

a) Lower rank rolls

The first category are rolls that are against those who are of lesser experience than you.

This is where you’ll be more playful.

You’ll allow the other person to work as well as allow yourself to experiment with new moves.

It’s a great place to start since you’re more likely to get to the position you want to attempt the new moves.

b) Equal rank rolls

Once you’ve tested those new moves on the lesser experienced teammates, you’ll want to now test it again.

But this time, against those of your equal rank. Are these people able to defend against it? Do they see it coming? What types of reactions are they giving to your setup?

For competitors, this is an indication of whether or not you’re ready to incorporate the move into your A-game.

But with time, you will become very comfortable with the move.

…And now you’re ready to test them against higher belts.

Example: let’s say you’re a blue belt

Perhaps you’re working on single-leg take downs and the move is relatively new to you.

If you’re attempting this against a seasoned purple belt or brown belt, they’ll likely see your attempt coming.

Perhaps your back gets taken and now you’re fighting to defend your back the entire round…

This is a waste of a round for you. You aren’t learning much this round since your focus is the single-leg take down and not necessarily back defense.

But instead, if you attempt these take downs on a white belt, you’re more likely to pull them off.

Or if you fail, less likely to deal with the major consequences of failing.

And say, even if your back gets taken by a lower belt, you’re more likely to fight out of it.

Hitting these single-leg take downs will build your confidence and confirm that you are capable of executing them.

Now, you’ll repeat the process but this time, play it against people of your level and once you build that confidence, you can add it to your A-game.

You’ll start incorporating that move into your competition rounds.

It’s now a part of your unique craft.

Closing Remarks

It’s the sharpness of the move you’ve been honing that makes you better.

But how you go about it will determine how “successful” you are on the mats.

Be methodical with your training.

Be intentional with your moves.

Be thoughtful of the situation.

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