Hi, I am a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt training in Bandung, Indonesia. I have been training BJJ 3-4x/week for roughly 1 year. Before I was training BJJ, I was at the lowest point of my life. I was working the night shift for a technology company based in the USA. Due to the night shift, I almost don’t have the energy to do anything during my free time. With the reduced energy my mood became worse, I was easily angered by the slightest inconvenience in my life. All of that has changed since I started being involved in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In short martial arts has made me a better person in a short amount of time.

How To Rapidly Progress in BJJ

As a martial artist more often than not we are accustomed to training in groups. Most martial arts classes usually are consisted of 4+ people on the mats training a specific technique/situations. As a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, this is also what I have experienced from a year of training BJJ consistently. Sadly I felt that just participating in regular classes is not enough if you are looking to progress rapidly in your respective martial arts journey.

On May 2019 I attended a 6 day BJJ seminar in Singapore. The seminar is led by John Danaher, a BJJ black belt from Renzo Gracie Academy in NYC. We all know that RGA is possibly the best BJJ gym in NYC and arguably in the world today Danaher is famous for coaching numerous past, current, and future BJJ and Mixed Martial Arts world champions. He is also notorious for leading a grappling team named Danaher Death Squad that is currently the #1 BJJ team in terms of international championship achievements

Besides the many technical BJJ knowledge that I acquired from attending the seminar, there are also numerous other benefits that I received from attending a seminar hosted by martial arts world champions, here are some of the biggest benefits:

Learn Championship-Proven Techniques

We all know that guy who told everyone that his favorite technique will work against anybody. But chances are that guy has not competed in a world championship level before. Participating in a seminar led by world champions with real-life experience in using many martial arts techniques will give you an assurance that you are only learning techniques that has a high percentage of success in competition. If someone can become a world champion by just mastering 4 different high percentage techniques, then you should replicate that instead of learning 40 techniques but mastering none of it.

Learn How to Train for Championship Matches

There is a clear distinction of how world champions structured their training routines compared those who just train for fun. From this seminar, I have learned that Danaher structured his training program in a very specific way that allows his athletes to train 3-4x per DAY. This is pretty shocking information but the championship achievements of Danaher Death Squad is a clear sign that the program does work. After digging deeper I found out that Danaher varies the training intensity for most training sessions, so there are only 2-3 hard training sessions per week. And that is how his athletes are able to recover better. I am currently applying the same principle in my training and I was able to recover my body faster, especially by adding stretching for back muscles.

Learn the Mindset of World Champions

Besides the technical and physical aspects that make someone a world champion, we have to remember that mindset also plays a big role. From this seminar, I was able to tap into how Danaher’s athletes form their mindset from the start of training camp right until the match is finished. You have to be able to change your mindset to adapt to different situations. For example, you need to have a different mindset if you are training for a match with an existing injury compared to if you’re 100%. Those are just a sample of how mindset can influence the outcome of your martial arts aspirations.

Conclusions

If you are involved in any type of martial arts. You will have the best experience in your life by participating in a seminar/group training led by world champions in your style of martial arts. Besides receiving championship-proven techniques you will also network with other like-minded people. If you have an opportunity to do so then you should not think twice about it.

Author Bio
My name is John Ananto, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt currently living in Indonesia. I work as a freelancer and write articles on Fight Four Health on my free time