It isn’t difficult to get discouraged in Jiu-Jitsu – there are plenty of reasons and opportunities to do so. And one of them is the problem of “not being able to remember” all of techniques that are out there.
Nick “Chewy” Albin understands it all too well:
Information retention with techniques is a big deal in the beginning. Because, when you guys come in, it’s like drinking water from a firehose. You’re learning all these techniques, positions…
There’s just so much stuff to try and remember and it’s really tough to do so. So, how do you remember it all?
The point is, actually, in not trying to remember stuff. Here’s why:
Well, you don’t even try [to remember it all]. Because you’re not going to use all those techniques, and you’re not going to remember them anyway.
Most of us – we jokingly say it’s the black belts – we’ll say it about a really good black belt: “He has forgotten more Jiu-Jitsu than I know.” And it’s probably honestly true, he’s probably forgotten all these techniques!
He gives an example of Roger Gracie; Roger said that, although there are many techniques he knows, he can count the techniques he mastered on the fingers of his two hands.
Chewy continues:
So, you can solve this information retention problem by not trying to remember everything. You find the stuff that works and you hang on to that stuff – and you let it expand over time. And when something comes along, you try to retain it the best that you can.
But you don’t get fixated on if you forget about it. Because you’re going to forget a lot of stuff and it’s okay.
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