Roger Gracie’s success has often been attributed to flawless technique and a methodical approach to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

But in a conversation with John Danaher, the ten-time world champion revealed that he is not a fan of drilling.

He shared why, comparing BJJ to Judo when it comes to drilling:

Once you learn the mechanics, there’s no reason to drill anymore, because it’s not like it’s different.

You know, in judo, you get a lot of things from drilling on standing up.

In the ground game you don’t get anything from drilling, because (yes) you need to practice the move; but the moment the other person is moving…

You need to put resistance to be able to really implement the technique.

In other words, Roger Gracie believes that the ground game has too much variation, too many shifting pressures and reactions, to justify drilling without resistance.

Instead, he proposes a method of specific sparring:

When you do this specific sparring, it’s the repetition that tells you what’s what you’re doing wrong – even what you’re doing right – because when you go over the same movement over and over again with sparring, then you see.

Let’s say specific from, you know, side control – and every time I’m attempting to escape I’m failing.
So I am in what is the same situation.

So I’m constantly trying different ways, and the moment that I find something that works, that’s the direction that you start going towards.

He clarified that drilling has its place, but only at the beginning:

You need to, you know, learn…

But once you have them (the understanding of the techniques), you practice them in specific sparring, no doubt.

He argues that the same principle explains why full live rolling can also fail to produce targeted improvement.

In full sparring, the pace and flow prevent repeated exposure to a single position long enough for true problem solving to occur:

You know, you don’t really learn much, because you don’t spend much time in each position.
You spend little time in many situations.

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