Kit Dale: “One Of The Biggest BJJ Myths Is Progression=Mat Time”

28 Aug, 2022

Mat time… It’s incredibly important in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; because, after all, if you aren’t training – then how can you expect to make progress?
However, what are you supposed to do when “life” pops up? When you can’t train as often as you’d like? Kit Dale understands how that feels like:

Our priorities change through life. And if you’re anything like me, then you’re not 20 anymore and you can’t (or don’t want to) train 7 times a week.
Whether it be because of work, family, kids, your aching body, or other passions that you also want to spend time doing – I 100% understand what it’s like.

Dale earned his BJJ black belt in just 4 years of training. But even back then, he wasn’t training at an unusually high frequency and intensity:

I did not spend 7 days a week training twice a day… BUT the time I did train, I made sure it was to gain the most knowledge as I could.

It’s a myth and a mistake to believe that you need all those hours on the mats. What’s important is HOW you spend the few hours that you do get on there. And most people are not aware of how much time is wasted on inefficient ways of learning Jiu-Jitsu!

In other words: Kit believes that mat time isn’t the most important factor in your BJJ progress:

One of the biggest myths in Jiu-Jitsu is that your progression is based on mat time. That, if you show up, you’re going to get good.

And although showing up is going to put you in a better position than not showing up (obviously), there’s a huge difference that can be made on the mat to help you progress much faster. Especially when life gets in the way of your training.

You’ve got to put the emphasis on understanding Jiu-Jitsu, rather than on drilling techniques mindlessly and on pushing yourself too much:

If you’re gonna train 1-3 times/week and you spend the majority of the time drilling techniques, you won’t get far…

Another mistake is training in a way that makes it hard for you to recover, as you’re getting older and want to make your training sustainable!
It’s so important to learn how to handle your own and other body types, to maximize your leverage while minimizing the effort you put in.