You know that advice that’s often given to BJJ athletes? “Just show up and train”, they tell you, “and you’ll get better.”
This is good advice. You absolutely need to invest the mat hours, the drills, and the rolls in order to improve. However, just showing up won’t cut it if you want to reach your full Jiu-Jitsu potential. Just relying on your coach won’t make your progress exponential.

Here’s a better alternative.

A BETTER ALTERNATIVE TO THE “JUST SHOW UP” MENTALITY IN BJJ

Your BJJ instructor, as awesome as he/she is, isn’t there to spoon-feed you. They can show you all of the amazing techniques and principles in the world, but – after some time – it won’t be enough for you to keep moving forward. At least not at the pace you’d enjoy.
Instead, once you reach that point, it will become incredibly important that you start investing additional effort. That you start thinking about the stuff that’s been working for you and that you start working on them to the best of your abilities.

For instance, let’s say that your coach demonstrated Body Lock passing during one or two classes, but then moved on to teach other guard passing techniques. However, you’ve noticed that Body Lock passing, for one reason or another, is sort of natural to you. That you have an easier time setting it up and succeeding in it than it is the case with other passes.
So, instead of waiting for your coach to demonstrate further, you’ll need to do your homework. Watch videos on YouTube, watch instructionals. Find time and space to drill the technique(s). And use them in live rolls.

Nick “Chewy” Albin explains more on the advantages of this mentality and approach, on the video below: