Eleven years ago since I got my black belt and I thought this would be useful advice for anyone who is in the earlier stages of their JiuJitsu training.
Although it’s definitely important to have goals I think it’s also important to realise that goal setting will only get you so far. You have to enjoy the training in order to stick with it and to train consistently.
Most people won’t really enjoy training, they might enjoy it for the first few weeks or months but after that the novelty will wear off.
That’s why all the gradings and coloured belts in martial Arts were invented in the first place. To motivate people into training consistently because they feel they will get some kind of tangible reward at the end.
The bad news is these rewards can be meaningless and don’t really work. If you don’t train consistently you won’t make progress and if you don’t make any progress you won’t enjoy the training.
Even after you reach a major milestone such as a black belt you realise that you still need to keep training to maintain and improve on the progress you have made. The longer you train the smaller increments of progress you will make and the time between these improvements seems longer.
Real Martial arts and combat sports training is tough and it isn’t for everyone. I think most people will figure out within a few weeks of their first sessions whether they want to do this long-term or not.
To me, martial arts is a lifelong pursuit. It’s about gradually improving my skill level, understanding and ability even if it’s only a small amount every year for as long as I possibly can.
An old training partner of mine once jokingly told me that one of his pet peeves about JiuJitsu is that you cannot buy anything to make yourself appear legit. It doesn't matter if you're not very good at other sports, such as cycling, you can buy an expensive bike and gain instant respect and credibility.
BJJ was much tougher. It wasn’t possible to make yourself seem more credible by spending money on JiuJitsu. The mats don’t lie. You can buy an expensive GI or name-drop all the legends you trained but if you are lacking in actual jiujitsu skills you will be found out and exposed as soon as you start rolling. This happened quite a few times at my old gym. A new visitor with a questionable rank would turn up and get destroyed on the mats by the competitive blue belts and purple belts.
Our gym, The Carlson Gracie Boiler Room, was small and basic. Sometimes up to ten people from all over the world from Brazil & Eastern Europe lived and slept there. The training was very intense, and the majority of people who tried a class almost never returned. We just wore cheap judo gis. It didn't matter how you looked - what mattered was how many times you got tapped out on the mats and how you did in the last tournament.
Inevitably, this would change. Any sport that becomes more mainstream will always attract different types of people. In the past, BJJ was only for people who really wanted to fight. Sparring sessions at my old gym were the closest you could get to having a street fight without getting seriously injured or arrested, which is why people turned up night after night.
In some ways, I miss this type of culture in BJJ and MMA. In the past, it was about who could actually fight and about testing yourself rather than fancy gyms, sponsorships, and social media influencers.
Even if you're fighting and competing, you still need to be aware of all these new developments, but I always encourage my fighters not to be distracted by the bright lights and to concentrate on the hard work on the mats.
‘It's tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5 am when you've been sleeping in silk pyjamas’
Marvin Hagler
Come train with us at DKMMA - 324 Darebin Road, Fairfield, Melbourne.
After my last article, I have been asked what I would consider the criteria & benchmarks for progression through the ranks to black belt in BJJ. Obviously as previously discussed there are no standard grading criteria across the board in BJJ. The requirements can vary greatly from school to school. But here are some of the things which I consider most important and useful when deciding if a student is ready for promotion:
Consistent attendance:
I only grade students who train regularly and consistently. Jiu-Jitsu isn't something you do every day for two months and then take six months off. Promoting students who train like this would send the wrong message to the consistent students. Ultimately this would damage everyone's chances of progressing. Regular attendance is important, but the student must also be improving.
However, if they are regularly attending training and still aren't improving, then it implies my coaching is ineffective. Those who come to class regularly will improve, and it has nothing to do with how talented they are or even how good I am at coaching, it has more to do with Jiujitsu being such an effective system that practically anyone can develop the skills with dedicated practice.
Success in Competition:
Competition is one of the easiest and most reliable indicators of your ability. If you win your division in a decent-sized competition. (Ie. you won several matches to get to the final) then in my opinion you deserve to get promoted to your next belt.
I don’t see any point in holding students back so they can keep winning white belt divisions again and again.
Sparring Performance at the gym:
The majority of BJJ students have very little interest in competition. Most just want to learn and develop the skills. Sparring in class is how they gauge their improvement.
Rolling in the gym isn’t the same as competing in a tournament. There isn’t the same level of intensity or pressure. Instead of trying to win at all costs, the best competitor in the gym might be working on his weak areas or trying out new strategies. If a non-competitor student can consistently hold their own against students with a higher belt, then it is obvious they should also be promoted to the next belt.
Technical Ability:
Some students can do well in competition at the lower belt levels or do well in sparring at the gym but if they rely more on their strength and athleticism rather than really understanding techniques then in my opinion they aren’t ready to progress to the next belt. Demonstrating and executing JiuJitsu techniques correctly rather than just muscling through them is essential. i
How you Roll:
Being able to roll or spar properly is important for progression in most styles of martial arts but especially in Jiujitsu. There are very few advanced techniques in BJJ. In other martial arts, you don't learn certain advanced techniques until you reach a certain belt or rank. In BJJ you generally learn everything at the same time, but what changes is the way you roll.
Beginners often roll in an uncoordinated way and hurt their training partners with accidental elbows and headbutts. Experienced grapplers roll in a smooth and controlled manner avoiding erratic unpredictable movements and without cranking on submissions. They know how to apply as much or as little pressure and energy as it takes to achieve the objective. They don't try to bully or dominate the lower belts.
Being a good fit for the Gym:
It could be argued that this may be a selfish motive for the coach to promote students, for after all, what difference does it make what the student's attitude is, so long as they are winning medals and can beat everyone at training?
As mentioned previously the majority of BJJ students don’t care about competition. Very few could tell you who the current world champions are let alone the champions from five years ago. In order to learn BJJ, you'll need to surround yourself with a supportive team. Establishing the right team culture is crucial. If one student has the wrong attitude, it can bring the entire team down, so having the right attitude and mentality is more important than talent or medals.
Fitting in with the culture of our school is a very important factor for me. Having students who win competitions is important, but it is not important enough to spend hours every night with people you do not like because of their attitude or because they are competing or training for the wrong reasons. In addition, I've found that these types of people result in the gym losing more members.
Why do some MMA fighters have successful careers while others start off well but then quickly go downhill?
I’ve seen fighters have a lot of success early in their career, then they stagnate, they stop improving and gradually get worse and worse results. How can we explain this deterioration of skill level and results?
There are several factors that can have a bad long term effect on a fighters career.
The Fight Camp Problem:
One common thing I see with many fighters is that once they have a little bit of success they stop attending regular classes and instead just want to do their own fight training, They just want to do their own padwork and sparring rather than attending classes like the regular students,
They see top professionals like Floyd Mayweather training like this so they assume that's what they should be doing too. They also think they’ve become too good to train with the regular students and that all the training should be focused around them and their competition goals,
The reality is that if you are already an elite world champion like mayweather then it makes sense not to do regular classes. There's a point of diminishing returns, time is better spent doing training that is solely focused on you. Also, if you are already a world champion you can afford to pay your trainers and sparring partners a full time salary so they can work around your schedule,
Why do fighters think they don’t have to come to regular classes?
They think that training in the regular classes with non fighters will hold them back. This is not true. I have seen many recreational students who have a much higher skill level in specific areas than the professional fighters. The fighter would actually benefit tremendously from training and sparring with these non fighters.
They believe training should be all just focused around them, This is completely unrealistic, Even if the fighter is paying his trainer 10-20% of the fight purse, it is very unlikely that any decent or suitably qualified trainer will be willing and able to devote all their time over the course of an 8 week training camp.
They think they already know everything that's being taught in class so there's no point wasting time practicing it again. This is usually never the case. There isalways more to learn and more skills to be refined and improved upon.
Disadvantages of only doing fight training: There are several common patterns which I notice from fighters who only do ‘Fight Camps’ rather than regular training. These include stagnation and deterioration of ability.
Fighter is happy in the short term because he gets to train on his own terms. It's all about him, he feels like a professional and builds his ego but it's a disaster long term,
The fighter may be able to maintain their current level of skill, technique and fitness but is not improving and will not be capable of beating the next level of opponent.
The fighters coach who was probably responsible for the initial success doesn't want to work with the athletes who don't attend his classes regularly as this sets a bad example to the other students.
This often leads to the fighter finding other coaches who are willing to work them but usually the replacement coaches are inexperienced and just trying to make a name for themselves which will ultimately do more harm tahn good to the fighters career.
Why should fighters keep training in classes? Its very important to continually keep improving and updating your skills. MMA fighting is a game of levels. If you beat a fighter of one level then you will have to move up to the next level to keep progressing your fight career. The level of skills and ability that was required to beat your previous opponent will not be enough to beat your next opponent.
This is especially the case in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts where the overall skill level rapidly increases from year to year. The level of skill required to win a state or national title even a few years ago would likely not be enough now.
Firstly we have UFC legend Jake Shields on Thursday 12th September at 6pm. This seminar will focus on Shields unique style of 'American Jiu-jitsu' blending BJJ with Wrestling specifically for Nogi Grappling competition and MMA.
Then on Sunday 22nd September, we have Japanese MMA and Grappling Legend Masakazu Imanari.
This seminar will focus on Imanaris unique style of Leglocks.
Since the beginning of our fight team we have consistently followed a long-term development program for our fighters. The Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Program is commonly found in elite level sports but is often ignored in the world of Fight Sports.
Stages in Fighter Development
The first stage in our system is to make sure the students have a solid foundation in the fundamental skills before progressing onto sparring in the gym. If they train consistently they can then progress to local inter-club/novice sparring events. After that they can move on to amateur fights and then finally onto Professional fights.
Why do we follow this structure?
We want to produce world-class competitors not just fighters who can win at local level events. Some coaches don't believe its necessary to follow a long term system like this. They believe their fighters are already good enough to go straight to Professional fights. In my opinion taking short-cuts in this area may seem like a good idea in the short term but can seriously damage the long term prospects and growth of a fighter.
Learning about your fighters
One of the reasons we follow this Fighter Development Program is because we learn just as much from the novice level events as the fighters do. Coaches can learn the strengths and weaknesses of their fighter, how they perform under pressure, how they respond to coaching and instructions during the fight and what areas they need to work on and improve upon as a team before the next event.
Improving your coaching
Becoming an effective coach takes constant learning, practice and evolution. Novice fights are a great opportunity for the coach learn how to best warm up the fighters, what instructions to give before and during the fight, how to adjust strategy during the fight and learning about how the fighter copes with and responds to the stress and pressure of competition.
Development of the Fighter
Becoming a great fighter is a long process. Novice fighters need to make mistakes and learn from them. They need to try new things in an arena where there is less risk if it goes wrong. Mistakes in Novice fights are no big deal. They are actually beneficial because they highlight areas of you game that will need improvement before you step up to professional fighting.
The Cost of Making Mistakes
If you make those same mistakes in professional fights there is usually an additional risk of serious injury as you will be up against much better opponents. There's also a risk to your career as a professional fighter of losing your fight contract, losing your motivation and confidence and ultimately derailing your career before its even started.
Taking time to develop as a fighter
Novices are not ready to jump into Professional fights straightaway. Not everyone is cut out to be a fighter. Novices need the opportunity to figure out if the sport is actually for them. They need to gradually experience the fear, stress and adrenaline dump in a safer environment. The fighter can then begin to figure out how to deal with the pressure of competing, managing the stress, fatigue and fear and learn to not let these factors affect his performance in the fight.
Better for the sport
I believe it's detrimental to combat sports to have first timers fighting on professional events. The public shouldn't have to pay to watch fighters who haven't yet mastered the basics skills of the sport. Seeing first timers with no amateur experience fighting on professional fight shows makes fighting sports look amateurish. Fighters should have a minimum of 10 matches away from the public eye before stepping into the ring in front of paying spectators.
No shortcuts
I believe taking short-cuts may seem like a good idea to some young up and coming fighters who want to make a name for themselves but will ultimately cost them a lot in terms of their long term development and future prospects in the sport.
‘You sink to the level of your training, you don’t rise to the occasion’
A big factor which holds people back in their training is putting too much emphasis on what they can do in training and performance in the gym with their training partners. They mistakenly believe that how they perform in this comfortable setting with their friends and training partners is a good reflection of how they will do in competition.
Training Vs Fighting
Winning in training is easy. You turn up at the familiar environment of your own gym every night at the same time and train and spar with partners who’s games you’ve already figured out. You know which positions they are good from and which submissions or attacks they are likely to attempt. You are also certain that you won’t get injured or hurt during training.
Fighting is much different. You turn up at a venue which you’ve probably never been to before and take on opponents who its likely you don’t know much about. You don’t know their strengths or weaknesses and will usually have to quickly figure them out on the spot. Even if you had the opportunity to research and study your opponent before hand there is no guarantee that their game hasn’t changed significantly since then.
Don't leave your best fights in the Gym
Some people look really good and perform well in training but can’t put it together in competitions and fights. Others do not look great in training but perform well in fights. The reality is that the guys who don’t look good in training are usually just holding back, working on their weaknesses and developing their overall skills rather than just trying to win every round.
People who win matches and fights know how to train. They know that winning in training is not important and is meaningless. They use training to work on their weak areas and to keep improving.
Why do the others not improve? Due to going too hard they eventually run out of people to train with. The other students in the gym either get injured or eventually just avoid them or refuse to train with them. People who go hard in training are usually also the same ones who are first to complain and quit when training partners turn it up on them.
People who want to win in the gym often avoid training or start skipping rounds as soon as their training partners start matching their intensity. Due to their desire to always win in training they tend to stick exclusively to their good techniques and avoid having to work on their weak areas. This leads to their game stagnating over the years while other students keep developing and eventually overtake them.
Don't Try to Win in Training
The number one principle of Training Vs Competition is this: Training is just training. What you can do in training is a poor indication of what you can do in a real match. In training you are relaxed, there are no nerves, no fear, no risk of injury, no stress about embarrassing yourself, no fatigue from cutting weight the previous day,
To get the most out of each training session:
Figure out what you are good at
Figure out what you are not good at
Force yourself to work on your weak areas
Help your training partners to figure out ways to shut down your strengths. This will force you to develop & expand your arsenal & skills.
Realise that how you perform in training is not a good indication of how you would perform in a real fight. Pick your best ever day in training & you can expect your fight performance to be 50% or less of that.
Here are some of the most common ways in which fighters sabotage their potential success in the sport of MMA. 1. Training with coaches who don't understand the sport of MMA. The coach may be skilled in individual areas such as striking or BJJ but lack the ability and experience to prepare fighters properly for MMA.
2. Failing to fix the holes in your game and being too reliant on one skill set. An MMA fighter needs to be skilled in the areas of striking, takedowns and groundwork and be able to combine them. Focusing on only one area at the expense of other skills will leave holes in your game which will be easily exploited by opponents.
3. Jumping into professional level fights too soon without adequate amateur experience. Amateur fights are necessary to develop and build up your skills and experience. Its very important not to fight above your level too soon as a bad loss may be very demoralizing and affect your future training and performance in fights.
4. Failing to get experience in individual combat sports such as kickboxing and BJJ before fighting in MMA. Competing in other combat sports is a good safe way to gain valuable experience and develop your skills so that you are more well rounded and more of a threat when you fight in MMA.
5. Too much Sparring - Focusing exclusively on sparring rather than taking the time to develop your skills in each range. Making an effort to develop your BJJ, Wrestling or Muay Thai skills individually will give you more weapons to use in when you fight.
6. Avoiding MMA sparring - MMA sparring is necessary to simulate what will happen in the fight. Grappling and Kickboxing sparring will only get you so far. MMA sparring is necessary to bridge the gap between ranges and teach you how combine your skills.
7. Too much conditioning training at the expense of skill development training. It won't matter how good your strength or cardio is if you are making basic mistakes which could lead to losing a fight and which could be corrected with proper technical training.
8. Neglecting your conditioning and hoping that you'll be able to get by on skills alone. The fighter needs to prepare for the worst case scenario. This means being prepared to push the pace throughout the duration of the fight without being afraid of getting tired.
9. Not getting enough information about their opponent. Fighters need to find out as much information as possible about their upcoming opponent such as their strengths and weaknesses or how they have won or lost their previous fights. This information can give the fighter a huge advantage over the opponent.
10. Inadequate mental preparation - ignoring the nerves and pressure of the upcoming fight until its too late rather than mentally preparing for the fight so that you are ready to deal with the stress before the fight and calm and focused when the fight starts.
'One thing I have learned as a competitor is that there are clear distinctions between what it takes to be decent, what it takes to be good, what it takes to be great, and what it takes to be among the best. If your goal is to be mediocre, then you have a considerable margin for error... If you hurt your toe , you can take six weeks watching TV and eating potato chips, most people think of injuries as setbacks, something they have to recover from or deal with... every time I tweak my body well intentioned people suggest that I take a few weeks off training. What they don't realize is that If I were to stop training whenever something hurt, I would spend my whole year on the couch. Almost without exception I am back on the mats the next day figuring out how to use my new situation to heighten elements of my game. If I want to be the best I have to take risks that others would avoid, always optimizing the learning potential of the moment and turning adversity to my advantage.'
