Askren was a guest on the Joe Rogan Podcast where he criticised the training methods of BJJ schools and what he sees as a lack of drilling.
He also talked about the lack of sense of doing 5 minute rounds in BJJ:
“We know, without a shadow of a doubt (that) just saying ‘go for five minutes’ is not the most effective way to train someone,” Askren said.
“If I’m coaching at my academy, and we were drilling the front headlock, we don’t just say ‘OK, now go five-minute goes’ because how many tries are they gonna get at going at the front headlock position?” Askren said. “Maybe one, maybe two, but essentially most people, if you say ‘go for five minutes’, they’re not disciplined enough to make themselves do new skills. They revert to whatever they do best. And then they just do it over and over and over again.”
“If I want a kid to be good at a front headlock – which if you’re gonna wrestle at a high level, you need a good front headlock – I’m gonna put him in there 50 times in that practice,” he added. “He’s gonna get it over and over and over, and maybe the next day, it’s single-legs, and maybe the next day it’s double-legs. And maybe some days, you say ‘hey, go for ten minutes, go wrestle.’”
“But saying ‘go for five minutes’ every single day is very much not the most effective way to do it, and it’s so insanely frustrating for me to have that happen at almost every jiu-jitsu school in the planet.”
Nick Chewy Albin who has a wrestling background recently addressed these issues:
During the interview he criticized Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training where very little focused was placed on deliberate training or situational rolling. And instead Bjj classes often start with just a few slowly practiced techniques. Followed up with rolling from whatever position. The 2nd question was about the necessity of BJJ Belts. Is our belt ranking system necessary? In this video I answer both questions based on my experiences and touch on how I think a lot of gyms don’t practice as best as they could. Meaning, the implementation of various forms of rolling to get more experience from positions or with techniques that are being practiced. I also go over my thoughts on Brazilian Jiujitsu belts and the motivation that comes from them.
Ben Askren, 2x NCAA Champion (4x NCAA finalist) is one of the most recognized wrestlers in the world. Ben is notorious for being extremely technical and an extremely great instructor.
Check out Ben Askren’s instructional series “Ultimate Askren.“. Ben Askren was an NCAA D-1 Wrestler and is notorious for being one of the greatest and most technical wrestlers on the planet
Ben is a well seasoned combat veteran with an excellent system for bringing someone down to the ground.
Ben makes it easy to implement wrestling on anybody, no matter their size, skill, or athletic level.
