How To Prevent Regressing In BJJ While Injured?

07 Jul, 2022

Are you injured right now and afraid of regressing in BJJ while away from the mats? That’s a scary thought for sure – but you do not have to lose on progress.
Kit Dale says it himself:

When you’re injured or unable to train for whatever reason, it’s easy to feel that you not only stagnate; but that you actually regress in your evolution. Which can easily take a big hit on one’s confidence when coming back or perhaps you’re weighed down by other people’s expectations of you. (Or your own expectations for that matter).

But I personally don’t see why you would have to both be injured AND feel like you’re losing everything you’ve worked hard for… There’s no need to waste time, and it would be a crime to regress with all the time and effort you’ve put into Jiu-Jitsu in the first place.

Nevertheless, there are some mistakes that you can make, which will make regressing quite possible. Kit shares what these are:

Buying every regular (technique based) Jiu-Jitsu instructional video since it’s often a waste of time (especially when you can’t use them during “off-time”). The exemption would be if it’s a conceptually focused instructional, so that you keep developing intellectually.
Thinking you can’t learn because you’re off the mat, therefore becoming more of a victim than you need to be.

Here’s what you should do instead, to prevent yourself from regressing while away from the mats:

First off: you should be looking at Jiu-Jitsu matches and break down some of the main position changes/submissions/takedowns/passes. Choose an area to start with! And figure out WHY they worked (rather than how they worked).

Then, take a look at 5-6 different sweeps in different competitions, and try to figure out how that formula applies to all of them. If it doesn’t apply to all of them, then there may be a hole in the formula!
Then, you can do the same thing for submissions, takedowns, passes, etc. Try to find the common denominator between those things so that you can focus on that and then develop much better.

If you can focus on the formula, then you can find many different processes to solve the equation in front of you! Guaranteed.