In a sport dominated by double and even triple training sessions, Paul Ardila is redefining what it means to be an elite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor.

The ADCC veteran and recent Craig Jones Invitational Europe team member has achieved high-level success while training just once per day – balancing his grappling with a full-time career as a personal injury attorney:

I’m already not training multiple times a day. So if I take one off, it’s going to be really hard for me to catch up to my opponents.

His weekly routine is carefully structured: he wakes at 7 AM, works until 6 PM, trains in the evening, returns home around 9 PM, and finishes his night by responding to emails or resting.
Weekend mornings are reserved for training, while his extra hours are spent catching up on legal work.

The key to making this demanding schedule work is intentionality:

My trainings have to be very intentional in the sense of like I can’t just come in and be like: “All right, man. What are we working on today?”
I should already have things prepared.

He has developed a system that helps him make the most of every session.
By categorizing his training partners and choosing specific techniques to drill with each of them, Ardila ensures maximum output from his limited mat time:

I just have the room broken up into people who I’m going to work certain moves with.

Over the past decade, Ardila has narrowed his focus to guard work, despite his wrestling background:

Every time I go practice I’m only playing guard.
When my game is more likely to be successful, it’s going to be my guard.

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