6 tips to fast-track your Jiu-Jitsu evolution starting today!

Photo by Regis Chen/GRACIEMAG

GRACIEMAG.com’s mission is clear: to arm Jiu-Jitsu practitioners with tips, positions and fresh news and points of view so they’ll show up at the academy for training all the wiser and better prepared.

Our goal is to be by your side 24 hours a day to help in your evolution on and off the mat. To forge ahead firmly on our journey, the same one shared by our readers, today we flipped through past issues of GRACIEMAG and dug up the following pointers for speeding up your evolution in training.

Give them a read and share them with your buddies at the academy. And to not miss out on any more tips of use to your Jiu-Jitsu, subscribe to GRACIEMAG. Click here to subscribe with a discount.

1. GET A TRAINING PARTNER WHO CAN BE YOUR BAROMETER

Mentally, pick a decent-level training partner to be a parameter for your evolution. There’s no point in choosing an opponent who’s really weak or really strong. With each training session, see whether you are getting better or worse against him, and start neutralizing his strengths by building solid defenses.

2. WRITE DOWN THE 10 MISTAKES YOU MADE MOST OVER THE WEEK

Create a daily record of where you come up short and whatever of use you learned—each week, attack 10 of these main points. At the start of each week, reread them before going in to training, to refresh your memory.

3. SHOW UP EARLY

The pre-training period is important. Eat something light, water up throughout the day, and don’t skip the warm-up. Your evolution may be getting hampered by your habits—and that isn’t just in Jiu-Jitsu.

4. BE CURIOUS

Don’t be afraid to ask questions of your teacher or more-experienced colleagues. With each query you will discover surprising new escapes and solutions for problems that were confounding you.

5. WATCH MORE TOURNAMENT DVDS

Just sticking to YouTube and perusing techniques and old matches, oftentimes, can confuse beginning Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. Invest in some tournament DVDs, and watch one match at a time. There you’ll find techniques that do indeed work against the best fighters on the planet. You’ll always pick up some detail or another that can make a big difference in your game.

6. HOOK SWEEP

There’s nothing worse for a beginner than getting stuck on bottom and seeing their training partner progressively advance past guard and to mount. Check out this trick for such situations, and send your opponent a-sailing.