Getting better in BJJ, at a faster speed, is no rocket science. You just have to give 100% effort (or as close to it as you can on a given day) in several different areas… And possibly change your approach in the areas that you’ve already been going at for quite some time.
Here are 5 simple – but not easy – things that you can do to improve your Jiu-Jitsu at a much faster speed than the majority of your training partners.
TAKE PRIVATE LESSONS
Hands down, the best thing that you could possibly do to accelerate your progress in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is to take private lessons.
It doesn’t matter so much who you take private lessons from. It could be your instructor, a visiting black belt, or even an extremely good purple/brown belt. What matters is that the person is a skilled Jiujiteiro, but – more importantly – that they’re good at explaining things. That they can identify things that you need to work on; and that they’re great at elaborating approaches that you could take to improve.
Even one private lesson per week would go a long way. And if you could invest the time (and the money) for anything between 3 to 5 private lessons per week… That would truly skyrocket your grappling to unfathomable heights.
MORE FLOW ROLLS
Adding more flow rolls to your training routine will truly make you better in Jiu-Jitsu, at a much faster speed than just adding more „regular“ rolls ever could.
The reason? They force you to truly think through the techniques, the transitions, and the overall flow of the roll you’re involved in. They take focus and finesse, that both will translate into the full, 100% intensity rolls and matches you’re so eagerly anticipating.
MORE GOAL SETTING
How on Earth are you going to get „better, faster“ if you don’t know what you’re improving in?
Yeah, it’s easy to say that you want to „improve your Jiu-Jitsu“, but what exactly do you want to improve in.
You need to start setting specific goals that are constrained by time. For example, don’t just wish to get better in choking out your training partners. Instead, make an effort to choke 5 people out with the Rear Naked Choke in each of your next 3 training sessions.
This way, you’ll be able to measure your success rate; and you’ll be much more aware of the details that need improvement.
MORE VISUALIZATION
Visualization has long been proven as a reliable tool for improvement. By visualizing concepts, techniques and transitions; and doing so in such a fashion that you’re trying to bring up as many details to your focus… You’re going to notice your BJJ picking up the pace, acquiring faster progress than most of your training partners are.
It’s best to make it a habit. Perhaps you could visualize the techniques shown in class each evening before you go to bed and each morning after you wake up. Don’t take more than 5 minutes for each visualization session.
MORE ATTENTION = FASTER PROGRESS
And lastly, how are you going to make faster progress if you aren’t focused in training? If you aren’t looking at each technique demonstrated in detail, if you aren’t giving your best shot at drilling each rep with the most amount of perfection possible… How are you going to get better in Jiu-Jitsu, if your attention isn’t fully invested into the task at hand?
Therefore, from this day onward, you must get involved into your training as much as possible. Don’t just go through the motions. Don’t just be present in training, but give your best every single time – in every single thing.
Sloth Jiu-Jitsu: you can be slow and unathletic and still kick butt in Jiu-Jitsu.