What’s a piece of Jiu Jitsu advice you were taught early on that you no longer agree with?
What’s a piece of Jiu Jitsu advice you were taught early on that you no longer agree with?
Could be technical, tactical, training-related or even something about how Jiu Jitsu should be taught.
For me, the interesting bit isn’t just what you disagree with but rather it’s what changed your mind.
Was there a particular coach, technique, ruleset, training experience or just years of getting repeatedly proven wrong?
I think BJJ is catching up with more established sports in terms of thinking about how we train, how we teach, and how we get better efficiently. So I think there will be plenty of entertaining ascertains from the near past that are just flat out wrong.
9 Comments
Hey @Pred500
When I first started out, I had that "show up on the mats every single day" mindset drilled into me. At first, it made sense. More mat time equals faster progress, right? But honestly, I realized it wasn't working for me. Training every day left my body sore and exhausted, and I wasn't even retaining the techniques we were drilling.
Once I started treating it more like lifting weights and actually taking rest days, everything changed. My body finally had time to recover, and taking a day off actually forced me to mentally review and recall what we went over in the previous class.
Given your experience, I’d love to know your thoughts on this! How often do you like to train during the week?
Oss!
@coviedo27 so true!
@coviedo27 This 100%, for me now especially. 3 days a week helps my overall improvement much more than 6 days a week. When I was in my twenties it was 6 days a week with doubles most days. But then eventually as I got older that was causing a decline.
Yeah, I think this is a really good example of where “more” and “better” aren’t always the same thing.
I’m always been on the mats most day, but I definitely don’t treat every session as a hard training session. Some days I’m coaching, some I’m drilling, some I’m doing lighter rounds, and some I’m actually trying to push the pace.
For me, the bigger thing is whether you can keep the quality high. If training every day means you’re permanently sore, mentally flat and just surviving rounds, you’re probably not getting as much out of that extra mat time as you think.
I’d much rather see someone train 3–4 good sessions a week consistently for years than smash themselves 6–7 days a week for a few months and eventually disappear.
Recovery is a big part of training, and often the most neglected.
Going 100% every round. I just can't do that anymore. LIke the above comments, I think going 100 all the time adds to decline eventually. One of the hardest realities that I had to grasp was realizing I couldn't do the things in my 40's that I could in my 20's.
@rfrazier That's honestly why I always talk about and mention my age. It's to remind myself where I'm at in my life compared to my 20's. My mind still thinks I'm 23 😆
@Jason_Scully For me, the older that I got, my mentality changed also. I used to think I wasn't "worthy" if I got submitted or outworked by a lower belt or a more inexperienced grappler. Now, I could care less. If my training partners submit me, I know that I'm doing something right.
"Let the spazzy guy do his thing, he'll calm down when he feels you take it easy" I lost two great training partners because of that advice. They took it easy again and again, talked hours to the spazzy guy after their rounds and got seriously injured so bad they never returned to training. If you feel unsafe with a person, reject the roll. Don't justify yourself and don't feel bad about it. I know saying no is hard sometimes, but you only got one body.
@Christiano Definitely, need to listen to your intuition and whether it feels right or not. Anyone should be able to deny any roll.