They say “you can’t learn jiu jitsu online.” But what do they know?
Yes, while it is true you’d be a fool to think you could learn jiu jitsu by simply devouring YouTube videos and never setting foot on a mat…
… you’d be even more the fool to think that adding a healthy practice of online study to your physical class attendance could, in any way, be — holding you back.
Study is important, and if you want to take your development on the mats into your own hands, blast through those obstacles in your game, and, you know, actually…
… get good at jiu jitsu…
… You have to take the initiative and seek out the answers for yourself.
Yes, you still have to trust in the instructor at your gym and believe they have your best intentions at heart.
But you also have to accept there are 10 to 50 other people in your class whose intentions are also competing for a piece of that heart.
Your instructor will do their best, but you can’t expect them to focus every class on you and solving your problems alone on the mat. It’s just not realistic.
Instead, you have to be proactive in looking for the answers yourself if you ever want to improve in jiu jitsu at an acceptable rate.
And who knows, maybe by being a proactive problem solver, your coach may one day stop looking at you as a student, and start looking at you as a training partner.
In this article, we’re giving you 5 super simple ways to get the most out of your instructional courses, so you can start learning jiu jitsu online the right way and make any investment in your game 100% worth it.
Were you ever given a sweet Lego pirate ship to build when you were a kid?
How did it turn out? Did it look like the pirate ship on the box?
Look, I know what it’s like to get your hands on a new instructional…
You get so excited about scoring some quick wins that you skip through to the “best bits”…
… the bits that really float your boat.
People usually do this right before they go to training, thinking…
“I’ll just watch this one move and hit it on Johnny tonight as I laugh in his face.”
However, this often results in you missing the essential details from previous sections of the instructional…
… details that can be ‘make or break’ for the technique.
And then what happens? You fail to hit the technique properly, because…
… you missed a detail about the grip…
… you tried to attack from the wrong situation…
… you tried to attack after the wrong stimulus…
… and then what happens?
Johnny ends up laughing in your face, instead!
To avoid this, we highly suggest you watch your courses in order from start to finish and work on adding each segment of the system as you go.
After all, if you want to build a killer Lego pirate ship – that looks just like the one on the box – you gotta follow the instructions in order.
Some people think they can build their Lego pirate ships without following the instructions…
… and it shows.
To effectively integrate any system into your game, you need to revisit your course, from start to finish, periodically to reinforce your learning and provide relevant solutions to any problems that may occur.
Sometimes, you forget a key detail in-the-moment, and can’t get the technique to work as well as the instructor did in the course.
Other times, your opponent can do something that totally derails your attack – whether they’re aware of it or not.
This doesn’t mean you should give up on the move.
It means you’ve learned something about the move.
It means you’ve learned that it has a weakness, when one of the components is missing or if one of the concepts goes unapplied.
It means you’ve witnessed a counter to that move, and can now prepare to either shut it down the next time you attempt it, or encourage your opponent’s counter to snare them in a trap of your own.
Remember, learning jiu jitsu online isn’t about collecting techniques to randomly throw at your opponent; it’s about understanding the game and recognizing what works, why it works, what caused it to fail in a given situation, and more importantly, identifying concepts that not only provide benefits in specific scenarios but can transfer those benefits to other positions and broaden your understanding of jiu jitsu as a whole.
One of the best ways to ensure the system is fresh in your mind and accessible, when you need it, is revising the parts you plan to use in class by writing down bullet point notes on what you plan to do in that session.
The action of writing notes before training, in bullet point form, will do wonders for your mental recall and will give your training an agenda and a purpose that day by clarifying what it is you actually have to do.
Also, taking notes after class can provide similar, if not more, powerful benefits. Taking time after class to write down what happened during sparring is a great way to initiate the problem-solving engine in your training…
If you’ve made it your mission to hit the moves and apply the concepts you wrote before training, you’ll notice exactly why you succeeded or, even better, you’ll identify why you failed.
Training with a specific goal turbocharges your focus on the mats and makes it easier to identify why you succeeded or why you failed.
Write down those reasons as soon as you can, while they’re still fresh in your mind, and then revisit the video you watched before training to cross-reference your results. (This is possibly the most powerful trick to improve your Jiu Jitsu)
Nailed a sweep? Good, write it down. What did you do to make it happen, what did your opponent do to help you make it happen?
Failed to hit the sweep? Good, write it down. How were you positioned? Did you get your opponent off balance? What did your opponent do to maintain their balance? How can you turn things around and improve in the next training session?
If you’re someone who feels lost on the mats, writing down notes after class will help you train your brain for pattern recognition. Just like striking arts, pattern recognition is a valuable tool for your game.
We are creatures of habit and tend to focus on what works best for us. Knowing this about your opponent is a great way to “know” them and “learn” their game.
Going into a sparring session, with the intent to remember the events as they happen so you can write them down after class, is a powerful method for ensuring you stay focused, mindful and aware of everything that goes on during the round.
In essence, you go from being someone who bumps fists and hopes for the best, to becoming a true player of the game.
Picture this, your friends drag you out for a night on the town, but you’re just not into it.
You go anyway just to keep them happy.
As you stand there in the nightclub, watching everyone engage in things they’ll regret in the morning, you’re suddenly struck with a brilliant idea…
… why don’t you study and level up your jiu jitsu game to pass the time!
While it isn’t always convenient to carry your laptop around with you, it is ultra-convenient to have a phone, especially when you have the Jiu Jitsu X app.
No matter whether you’re in a nightclub, on your lunch break at work, your brother’s wedding or waiting in line at the DMV, with the Jiu Jitsu X app — you’ll always be on the mat.
I hope these 5 tips have helped you understand how easy it can be to learn jiu jitsu online.
Remember, your training and your development rests on your shoulders and yours alone.
If you want to get better, faster, you need to go beyond collecting techniques and focus your efforts on understanding the game of jiu jitsu as a whole.
You have to study, and you have to study everything that’s relevant to you and the current state of your game.
At Jiu Jitsu X, we have a ton of courses to help you fill in the gaps and provide you with the helping hand you’ve been looking for to either reach that next level or get over any obstacle on the mats.
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