Guest post by Henry Akins, the third American to receive a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt from legendary fighter Rickson Gracie. Akins trained under Rickson Gracie for 15 years. Akins became the head instructor or “Professor” at the Rickson Gracie Academy from 2005 to 2008 before resigning due to a back injury.
If you’d like to master the hidden details that give you an unbelievably unfair advantage in Jiu-Jitsu in record time, and make sure you never have to learn the same thing twice (meaning after you watch the video once, the knowledge is yours forever)… then this will be the most important blog you read during this COVID-19 quarantine.
Here’s why: over the last 10 years, there has been an absolute explosion in the science of learning how to learn.
Neuroscientists, psychologists, surgeons, engineers, fighter pilots, musicians, athletes…
So many experts from different arenas have been testing, publishing and modifying techniques for peak performance, that it is now possible to achieve far more than we expected in even less time than we thought, by just making a few simple, structural changes to your learning process.
And… if you follow a system now proven by science, it is possible to never forget anything you learn… IF your system takes into account what Hermann Ebbinghaus calls “The Forgetting Curve”
But before I show you HOW we are going to do this, I want to show you some jaw-dropping examples of what is possible when you have the right tools.
Example 1:Opher Brayer’s piano student, Yaron Hermon, started exploring pattern recognition within simple musical notes and melodies for one minute a day.
One minute of practice at a time.
But as the weeks went by, that one minute turned into 2 minutes, and 2 minutes turned into 3, and before long, Hermon couldn’t help but get lost in the joy of practicing piano for 10 hours at a time.
Within 3 years of his first lesson, Hermon was one of the most famous musicians in the world.
And, if you take this same approach to Jiu-Jitsu with a couple of simple tools for using baby steps to learn, you can…
– Completely avoid being overwhelmed,
– Remember everything you learn, and…
– Even become creative with what you’re doing, in ways you may not have expected.
We’ll go into detail with this in the coming days.
Example 2: David Handell’s insanely successful academic and medical career.
In his own words, retired medical doctor David Handel puts it this way:
“Let me start at the end of the story and then explain how I got to where I am today. I’m a 66-year-old retired physician. I practiced radiology for 30 years and retired from my medical career in 2014. Additionally, I’m a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of aytm.com and iDoRecall.com.
I graduated high school in 1970, finishing within the 50th percentile of my class. From grades K through 12, I struggled with learning. I was given a lot of after-school tutoring by my teachers during grade school. I was not aware of having any learning disabilities. I had above-average ability and always tested high on standardized exams, but I was never a good student, even though I always wanted to do better.
I attended college for a single year following high school but had no interest in my studies. I dropped out as a C+ student and then took a few interesting life detours before going back to college two years later. When I did return to school, I discovered a few tricks that helped me go from zero to hero in my academics.
I finished approximately three and a half years of coursework in the next two and a half years. Along the way to my bachelor’s degree, I received 11 A+s, while the remainder of my grades were straight As. The A+ grades were in courses in which every one of my test scores was perfect. My performance was so superior to that of everyone else doing A work that the professors took the unusual step of giving me recognition with a grade that was higher than that given to the rest of the A students in the course. This had never been done before at my college.
After I received my degree, I matriculated into medical school, where I scored at the very top of my class on every single exam during my four years. I went on to do a residency in radiology at Duke University and was permitted to skip the clinical internship year. This saved a year of training. I was appointed a chief resident in my final year at Duke.
What changed in my approach to learning after I returned to college? How can I explain how I went from being a lifelong struggling student to an academic star? I have reflected on this a lot over the years.”
Example 3:Barbara Oakley, who failed out of math and science in high school, discovered a system for learning that allowed her to completely change her destiny, and is now a PhD leading the world in the science of learning, after graduating with the following honors:
Ph.D. in Systems Engineering at Oakland University.
Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Oakland University, 1995.
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, 1986.
Bachelor of Arts in Slavic Languages and Literature, University of Washington, l977.
United States Army Signal Officer Course, Fort Gordon, Georgia, 1977.
Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California, 1974-1975.
The Most Shocking Thing About All These Stories (And Many More Like Them)
Is How Simple It Is To Follow These Systems!
None of these learning systems are particularly difficult or complex.
They are actually such simple, subtle shifts in how you think and practice, it’s fairly mind-boggling the department of education isn’t demanding we implement these in our schools before starting back up again.
And while we are all on lockdown, I want to practice each of them together so I can create as many masters of Jiu-Jitsu as possible!
For those who want to learn more:
Three Note Symphony: Yaron Herman at TEDxHelvetia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBTJD-4W7SY
How to Unlock the Amazing Power of Your Brain and Become a Top Student: I was a mediocre K–12 student but graduated #1 in my medical school class. Here’s how I did it.
Some of Jiu-Jitsu’s best moves contain hidden details that are hard to teach, Henry Akins teaches the unteachable!
- Blend between multiple attack sequences including the classic armbar, cross-choke, and americana to consistently find submissions from the mount!
- Find complete control over your opponent when you attack with a complete game plan.
