InFocus Video Interview with Will Luu

Here's a recent interview that I did with Australias top fight photographer and one of my first MMA students William Luu as part of his InFocus series.

InFocus Interview

My 5 Most Popular Blog Articles

Here are my 5 most popular articles since I began writing my MMA coaching blog in 2012.

How to get ready for your first MMA Fight: January 2012

http://www.dkmmacoaching.com/2012/01/getting-ready-for-your-first-mma-fight.html

Advice for BJJ White belts to get the most out of their training: May 2018

http://www.dkmmacoaching.com/2018/05/getting-better-as-white-belt.html

What I've learned so far as an MMA Coach: July 2018

http://www.dkmmacoaching.com/2018/07/what-ive-learned-as-mma-coach.html

Being a Martial Arts Dad: August 2018

http://www.dkmmacoaching.com/2018/08/being-martial-arts-dad.html

My system for developing fighters: October 2017

http://www.dkmmacoaching.com/2017/10/the-road-to-becoming-fighter.html

Amateur MMA tournament - Saturday 9th November at Australian Combat Sports Academy:

Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/bushido-amateur-mma-competition-tickets-72835722607

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The Four Stages of Learning Martial Arts

This is a very useful concept that doesn't just apply to learning martial arts but to learning any skill.

There are four stages of learning.

Stage 1 - Unconscious incompetence  

This is where you are screwing everything up but you don't yet realize you are screwing it up. For example, Dropping your hands when you punch, trying to bench press your way out of mount.

Often students will stay in this phase much longer than is necessary because of either

A - They are not being given feedback (either verbal feedback - 'Keep your hands up' or Physical Feedback - Getting your teeth knocked out because you didn't have your hands up).

or

B - They are having some success even though they are using terrible technique. For example, Your training partner taps to a submission even though it was incorrectly applied.

Stage 2 - Conscious Incompetence

This is where you start to learn and develop. Its at this stage that you start to be critical of your own technique and begin to figure out exactly what you are doing wrong and what you need to do to improve.

Examples include - 'Why am I getting kicked in the leg so much? Why can I not escape mount position? Maybe I'll pay more attention the next time coach shows us that technique'

Stage 3 - Conscious Competence 

At this stage, you know exactly how to perform the techniques properly and when to do them. You can figure out what you need to do and what to work on. However, you realize that there is also the possibility to lapse back into bad habits if you lose concentration.

Stage 4 - Unconscious Competence

This is the final stage of mastering any skill and this is a common trait with all great champions. They perform the skill perfectly without having to think about it.

Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.

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My MMA Journey - Part 3

After my win in Italy at the end of 2003 I was keen to get back in and have another go as soon as possible. Unfortunately, there weren't as many opportunities to fight or MMA events taking place at that stage. I kept myself busy by competing in BJJ, KSBO amatuer MMA events and also some Jiu Jitsu Kumite events which were mixture of semi contact karate and grappling. I was also pretty busy at this time with work and exams, but as soon as my exams were over I made a big push to get matched up for as many MMA matches as I could get.

I had four pro MMA fights in four months from June to September 2004. I won three of those and the fourth was given as a draw however it was one of my most dominant ever fights. I took my opponent down and punched and elbowed him from guard for three straight rounds. In between these fights I also competed in regularly in BJJ and grappling events.
I found all my own matches by contacting promoters and offering to fight anyone they had at a similar weights. Then a group of us would head off on a road trip on Saturday to the other side of the country. Weigh in, have a fight then drive home later that night. Looking back now that probably wasn't the best way to manage a Fight career but I wanted to keep improving and to me that meant testing myself and staying active. I had to fight whoever was offered and keep working to get better between every fight.
Throughout all these fights and during the training camps I was suffering from instability in my knee. I could still and compete but it would pop out every now and again (including during one of my fights) and I needed to keep it heavily taped up when I fought. At the end of 2004 I was booked in to get ACL reconstruction surgery and this put my fight career temporarily on hold.
In Feb 2005 I had a full ACL reconstruction. This can usually take a long time to recover from but I wanted to make sure I was fight ready as soon as possible after the surgery. The first two weeks I was off work stuck at home wearing a huge knee brace and using crutches, as soon as I could walk again I got back to light weight training and also did rehab physio sessions once a week. About a month after the surgery I got back to boxing, however focusing more on punching and not so much footwork. During this time I did most of my boxing training at the Fitzroy Lodge gym in south London.
I also had more exams around May of this year so once my exams were done I wanted to return to full training. Approximately five months after my knee surgery I was ready to get back to grappling training and was able to compete in a grappling tournament again a few weeks later.
Around this time I also got offered a shot to fight on a new MMA promotion which would take place in London in October. I was very keen to get back in and fight to make up for my lost time. In the months leading up to this fight I also went on two training trips, firstly to Amsterdam where I got to train with many legends of Dutch Kickboxing including Ernesto Hoost, and then a few months later I traveled to Brazil where I trained at Brazilian Top Team, which was the leading MMA team in the world at that time.
My first fight back after surgery was against Ciro Gallo in York Hall, Bethnal green. I dropped him with a punch right at the start of the round then got a Judo style Turtle rolling armbar. I was happy with the result of this fight as I had been out of full training and fighting for so long. However as always when I felt a fight was too easy I also had a slight feeling of disappointment that it wasn't enough of a challenge and that I had wasted several months of training and preparation but hadn't really tested myself. However I was never really the type of fighter to pick and choose my opponents or even to bother finding out much about them before i stepped into the ring. I just fought whoever was in front of me. I didn't look as MMA fighting as a career or even a sport. I just looked on it as a realistic way of testing my martial arts skills. If you get attacked on the street you don't get to pick and choose who you get attacked by, you don't ask for someone who is closer to your weight or has a similar record and you certainly don't ask your attacker to come back on another day because you've got a cold or sore elbow.

Learn MMA in Melbourne

Martial Arts Injuries

Injuries are one of the main reasons students quit their martial arts training. Many students quit either directly because of an injury, they take time off to recover and then never return. Alternatively when they return all of their training partners have improved so much that they feel that they'll never catch up so they give up.

You can never completely avoid injuries over the course of your Martial Arts training career. The basis for all types of martial arts is injuring and opponent or attacker. Its unrealistic to expect that you wont pick up some types of injuries. Even in forms of martial arts which are usually seen as relatively safe such as Tai Chi and Aikido, there is still a possibility of injury

Comparison with other sports

Injuries are possible in all forms or sports and physical activities. There are lots of best practice methods to prevent injuries which are exactly the same across all sports. These include warming up thoroughly, making sure you are using proper technique and doing a cool down and stretch at the end of a session.

Martial Arts Specific Injuries

There are several types of injuries which are more likely to occur in Martial Arts. These include joint injuries or loss of consciousness as a result of submission techniques, Cuts and bruises from accidental contact with strikes. Skin infections such as Ringworm or Staph infection commonly seen in grappling styles as a result of poor hygiene, there are also various injuries and illnesses associated with excessive weight cutting.

The most serious in my opinion is Head Trauma and Concussion. This is more common is striking styles but can also happen in grappling as a result of a slam or take-down. Excessive head trauma and concussion have very serious long term effects (memory loss, depression, loss of cognitive function) which are only now being understood. I would advise all Martial Arts students to be aware of these risk factors and choose their training activities wisely. Including choosing your training partners wisely which brings me to the next point.

Risks of Sparring

Something specific to martial arts is the risk involved in sparring or rolling in BJJ. This is one of the most fundamental and productive activities in Martial Arts training but it requires a large degree of trust and responsibility with the participants. You are trusting your training partner with your personal safety. You need to ensure you train with partners you can rely on to not go crazy and do risky or unpredictable techniques,

80/20 rule - 80% of the injuries are caused by 20% of the students.

I've found that the majority of students can be trusted to roll or spar safely without any problems and without causing injuries. I've also noticed over the years that most of the injuries in sparring usually come form 20 percent of the students. If you're the coach I think it's a good idea to monitor the sparring and look out for those 20% of students who are constantly going too hard, being too competitive or using too many risky or unorthodox techniques. Take them aside and encourage them to tone it down or join up at the new gym down the road instead. You’ll be amazed how the injury rate goes down once you get rid of the ten ‘win at all costs’ students. Then the rest of your students can train in a safe and productive environment.

If you're a student have a look around at who is sparring sensibly and who is going crazy and try to avoid them as much as possible.

Check out my BJJ Sparring article here:

Guide to BJJ Sparring

Other tips for minimizing injuries for Students and Coaches

Make sure all beginner students complete a Pre-Training evaluation / Functional Movement Screening. This will make sure any existing injuries or conditions are known to the coaches so the activity can be modified where necessary.

All sessions begin with a sport specific warm up. Use functional movements which will be similar to types of movement actually used in the session. Gradually increase intensity rather than going too hard too soon.

Training starts off at an easy technical pace for new students for at least the first two months - don't rush into sparring or high intensity training too soon. Even though the student may enjoy it their body will not yet be ready which leads to injury and quitting.

All students focus on training with good technique, not taking shortcuts. One of the common reasons for technique breaking down is due to exhaustion so make sure everyone trains at a pace they can maintain. Injuries are also just more likely to occur when a student is exhausted so adequate rest and recovery is essential.

Make sure all students have appropriate level of good quality, clean training equipment. This includes gloves, head gear, shin guards, mouth guard, clean clothing suitable for the activity (such as rash guard for grappling).

Additional strength training twice a week can also go a long way to prevent injuries in Martial Arts. It's important to avoid any kind of exercises which could cause additional injury risks and focus on good form and technique.

Recovery training such as Foam Rolling, Stretching or massages are also important for injury prevention and a good way to prolong your Martial Arts training career.

Adequate Supervision

As mentioned above Martial Arts and Combat Sports are dangerous. Make sure all training is supervised by an experienced coach - This is one of the biggest risk factors I see in Martial Arts training. The 20% of students mentioned above get together to bang it out or roll on their own schedule because they are too busy to make it to the regular classes. Inevitably this leads to the students getting injured and quitting Martial Arts within three years.

This is also a big danger of open mat sessions in BJJ. Students may be doing reckless, injury causing techniques on each other without supervision. There needs to be firm rules in place about what is acceptable.

All sessions need to be run by a qualified and experienced coach. There is a big risk from a business point of view of sessions run by inexperienced coaches who have inadequate training on how to coach safely and effectively and how to minimize and prevent injuries.

Finally, its important to refer to a sports medicine specialist or sports physiotherapist if there is a serious injury or problem.

Check out my article about building the right Gym culture here:

My Gym Culture

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White Belt Advice

White belt is the make or break stage in your Martial Arts journey. BJJ has a very high drop off rate and the majority of people who begin training don't make it past the three month mark. There are a variety of reasons for this but quite commonly students quit because they feel they are not making any progress.

There are several common problems that I see with most beginner students and in this article I will offer possible solutions that will help you improve and make progress in your martial arts journey.

Some Beginners will never suffer from these problems, particularly so if they are athletic or have a background in other combat sports. They may not get exhausted or stuck in bad positions when rolling with other beginners, however, I think its actually beneficial for students to go through this frustrating process and to get used to it. This is something you will have to experience again and again throughout your training career. The sooner you can get comfortable with being uncomfortable the more benefits you will get in the long term.

Gassing Out... 

The first problem for many beginners is lack of fitness leading to exhaustion during sparring. Don't base your entire BJJ game around fitness and outworking your opponent at the expense of proper technique, however, it will always help to improve your fitness if you feel you are struggling during sparring rounds. 

To achieve this I recommend simple solutions such as getting up half an hour earlier and going for a run, bike ride or swim twice a week. Yes there are more scientific and technical ways of maximizing your fitness but as a White Belt you aren't trying to win the Olympics just attempting to build your gas tank so you can roll at a sensible pace without feeling completely exhausted and having to sit out rounds.

Another tip to avoid gassing out is to make sure you roll at a pace that is suitable for your fitness level. If you find you are breathing heavily and exhausted within 30 seconds you need to slow down and concentrate on what you are doing. Don't waste energy relentlessly squeezing your opponents head when you should be figuring out how to move your hips and legs to escape.

Getting Stuck in Bad Positions...

This is one of the most common questions I get asked by beginners. They get stuck under side control or Mount for every round of sparring and never get a chance to use any of the techniques they have learnt. 

My first piece of advice is to learn and drill the escapes from these positions then practice them in isolation sparring. This involves rounds of starting from side control and once you achieve an escape or reversal resetting and doing it again. This method will improve your escapes 100%.

Another useful idea is to occasionally just ask your training partners to reset once you've been stuck under side control or mount.  Getting better at escaping especially against heavier and more skilled opponents is a time consuming process and you can't expect results overnight. For this reason I would advise new students to just ask their training partners to reset in a different position and work from there rather than wasting valuable training time.

At a slightly higher level the biggest key to avoiding getting stuck in bad positions is to avoid ending up there in the first place. The key to this is Guard Recovery and Guard Pass Prevention. The better you get at preventing getting your guard passed the less time you will be spending in bad positions. As mentioned previously this is a long term process but the earlier in your grappling career you get started on it the better results you'll get.

I discuss the difference between training and competition in this Article

Can't get any Submissions...

Another problem is that the typical BJJ student learns or is at least exposed to dozens of submissions in their first few months of training but when they try to apply these techniques in live sparring they never work. This is because all the other students have also been taught the same techniques during the same period and so they are aware of them and are ready to shut them down. This often leads to the less than ideal 'Youtube Arms-Race' scenario where ambitious White-belts will scour the internet for secret techniques to catch their training partners unawares rather than just focusing on learning how to do the fundamental techniques properly. 

I advise beginners to follow the BJJ maxim - 'Position before Submission'. Focus on building your game, at least in the early stages, of getting to solid control positions such as Side Control, Mount and Back Control and then the opportunities for submissions will begin to present themselves. I also encourage building your game around submissions where you will not lose position if it doesn't get the tap. For example if you cant finish the Rear Naked Choke you are still in Back Control so you get to try it again and again until the end of the round.

Can't remember their techniques when Sparring...

As previously mentioned during your first few months of training you will be exposed to what seems like an endless amount of techniques. It is usually too difficult to remember everything you learn and it will be almost impossible to recall and use it effectively when needed in live sparring.

The first stage in the solution to this problem is to try to retain as much information as possible. Make notes on everything you learn as soon as possible after learning it. Drill the technique as much as possible after your Instructor shows it then try to drill it again a few times later in the class e.g. before each sparring round or a few reps at the end of class. This will help keep it fresh in your memory. Its also a great idea if you get to class early to grab a partner and do a few reps of the techniques you learnt in the previous class.

The key to being able to use the techniques in sparring is to find a way to speed up the decision making process. You need to write out a game-plan of exactly what you will do in each position and in each scenario. For example, when on top in Side Control rather than attempting to remember and choosing between twenty different submissions you will have one designated attack to go for. If the opponent defends this you will then transition to your secondary attack. As you progress and get more experience you will gradually expand and adapt your game-plan but you need to start somewhere or you will waste years sparring ineffectively.

Not sure what they should be doing during Rolling....

When watching beginners rolling its clear that their only objective is to win the round by any means necessary and this is something which will usually be detrimental to their long term progress.

If your're unsure about what you should be doing when rolling then try to spend some time watching the higher belts at your academy. Don't look out for spectacular techniques or trick moves but rather how do they do the basic moves, how do they move and react when they are defending a guard pass or any other common situation that you are likely to find yourself in, what sort of pace and tempo they are working at?

If possible try to video yourself rolling so you can get a clearer view of what you are actually doing in sparring compared to what you think you're doing.

Finally, try to have some objectives for each round of sparring or training session. For example, I want to use my Double Under Guard Pass or my Scissor Sweep. The afterwards go back and if possible analyse your video and see if you achieved your objectives and how you can improve upon your performance for next time.

My most important piece of advice for beginners who feel that they are not making progress is that they should not become too demoralized. All combat sports take a long time to get good at and you will go through periods where your progress plateaus and you don't feel you are making improvement. 

Over the last 20+ years of grappling training I've seen many people who looked very impressive after a few months of training but usually these same people were the ones who quit after a year or so because they stop improving at the same rate they initially did. 

Its not about who is best after six months, but who's best (and who's left) after ten years.

Please comment below if you have any other White Belt Problems not covered here that you'd like me to discuss in a future article and also please check out my other article on how to improve your BJJ Training here


How to improve your BJJ training

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BJJ Sparring

The Purpose of Sparring and Rolling

The purpose of BJJ Sparring is to safely try out your techniques against resistance. This is not the same as fighting and I’ve found that people who are overly competitive in sparring usually make very limited progress in their training. Sparring rounds need to provide realistic resistance without being too competitive. One factor which makes BJJ so effective is that students can spar relatively safely and can try out the techniques in a realistic manner not long after learning them. This gives the student feedback about whether they were practicing the techniques correctly,

Safety

As with any activity related to training, there's no point in doing it if it can't be done safely. All techniques need to be executed in a controlled manner. As a student you should use only techniques that you know and understand. Also, focus on techniques that your partner also knows and understands. Don't try to catch your training partners with ’Trick’ moves that they haven’t seen before and which haven’t been taught in class. Training partners may not recognise the danger and might not tap or may react unpredictably.

Safety Rules

Apply all joint locks in a slow and controlled manner rather than jerking them on quickly. Make sure you give your training partner enough time to tap out even if that means they might have time to escape the submission attempt.

For all choke techniques make sure that pressure is actually being applied in an even manner to the neck rather than just cranking on the neck or jaw.

Move in a controlled manner rather than jumping around or swinging your hands, elbows, knees, feet and head into your training partners.

If you are heavier than your training partner avoid driving your weight into your partner or using your strength or weight advantage to muscle your way in or out of positions.

Avoid sparring in an overly competitive or intense manner

Make sure both your training partner and yourself understand the techniques which will be allowed

How to Start the Round

Its important to avoid wasting time in your training. One of the biggest wastes of time in BJJ training is to spend too long wrestling from your knees in an unrealistic situation. There are two options to get around this, first both partners can start off from standing position (however this is usually not suitable for injury prone beginners), The second option is to just start on the ground in a more realistic position, for example, one partner on bottom closed guard or open guard and then go live from there.

Have a Purpose

Have a few techniques and strategies in mind to work on during the round. For example, this could be one submission or sweep from guard or certain type of guard pass. I’ve found that its usually counter productive to tell your partner what you intend to work on as they will often feel obliged to let you do your technique which defeats the purpose or even worse they may try to block your attempts completely. It's also a good idea to have a few options for what you want to work on just in case you can't get to the position you need to get to to work on your chosen techniques.

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Beginners BJJ Classes

In my previous article I discussed how I run my Intermediate BJJ Classes

https://deniskellymmacoaching.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/my-bjj-class-format.html

This time I'm going to cover how we run our beginner BJJ Program.

For Beginners Classes I follow an eight week program covering a different topic each week. I try to give the beginner students a good introduction to the most important positions and situations and then they can go into much more detail on each position when they graduate to the intermediate classes.

My Eight week program consists of:

Week 1 - Mount Position

Week 2 - Back Control

Week 3 - Side Control

Week 4 - Closed Guard Submissions

Week 5 - Closed Guard Sweeps

Week 6 - Open Guard

Week 7 - Guard Passing

Week 8 - Escapes from Positions and Submissions

Warm Up

Warm Ups for beginners classes consist of a light jog, joint rotations and then some basic JiuJitsu related movements such as hip escapes. Intense warm ups which are usually not a good idea in these sessions as beginners will be too exhausted to focus on learning techniques properly.

Standing Techniques

Each Class starts off with drilling one basic standing technique such as an escape from a grips, basic throws and takedowns. I always make these techniques relevant for self defence situations as this is the primary reason that most students are learning martial arts. An example of a technique in this section of the class might be to clinch against opponent throwing punches, get body-lock takedown, secure mount position.

I will break each technique down into five steps and give a 'Cue' word for each step. I find that any more than five steps tends to be too much to remember for  new students. If necessary I will give each student additional information or technical feedback about the technique as I'm walking around the class.

Ground Techniques

Next we move on to techniques based around whatever theme we are covering this week. I stick to just the highest percentage techniques from each position to expose the students to what I feel are the most important movements. These are the moves that I feel they need to learn and understand first before moving onto more complicated techniques. For example in Mount week I teach the students how to maintain Mount position and how to counter the most common escapes then we will work on Americana from Mount, Arm-lock from Mount, Cross Collar Choke from Mount and Transitioning from Mount to Back Control. 

Where possible I will stay away from Techniques which are too Sports BJJ specific and stick to fundamentals which work with or without the Gi and whether or not the opponent is trying to punch you. There will be plenty of time in the Students training career to practice Sports specific techniques but I feel its important to get the basics right first.

Positional Sparring

In some Beginners Classes I will also include positional sparring. This helps beginners get an idea of what the techniques should feel like against resistance in a safer environment. I don't believe its a good idea to let beginners Spar right from the beginning. Beginner students will not to be able to apply any actual Jiujitsu techniques and will instead just spend five minutes trying to headlock each other. There is also a higher risk of injury and it will probably be off-putting for the majority of new students. 

Fight Simulation Drill

At the end of the class we try to link all the techniques learnt that day into a Fight Simulation Drill. This is a good way to revise the techniques and also linking techniques together based on a specific response from the opponent. An example of this could be:

• Close distance and Clinch against Partner Throwing Punches
• Get Body-Lock Takedown to Mount Position 
• Maintain Mount for ten seconds as Partner tries to escape with 50% resistance
• Execute Americana or Arm-Lock Submission based on Arm Position of your Partner
• Get up and Switch Roles

I have found that drills such as this are a great way to bridge the gap between learning techniques and then applying the techniques in sparring.

Learn BJJ in Melbourne

My BJJ Class Format

Heres a brief description of how I run my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Classes. Since I began teaching full time eight years ago I've been experimenting with various methods of running classes and tweaking the formats to see what works best. 

I have trained at a lot of different BJJ academies across the world and I have tried to implement the best ideas I've come across when running my own classes.

This is the format for my Intermediate classes which are an hour and half, I will cover my Beginners program in another article.

Weekly Schedule

One of the first things I did when I started teaching was to create a weekly schedule focusing on a different theme every week. I think this is much more efficient than just having an instructor turn up and teach whatever ever he feels like that day as it ensures all the important areas of BJJ are covered.

I've changed around my weekly schedule many times since I began Teaching but my current system is as follows.

Week 1 - Guard Passing 1 - Passing Closed Guard and Half Guard

Week 2 - Guard Passing 2 - Passing Open Guards

Week 3 - Closed Guard 1 - Revision of Submissions, Sweeps & Transitions from Closed Guard

Week 4 - Closed Guard 2 - Using Combinations of Submissions, Sweeps and Transitions

Week 5 - Half Guard Bottom - Submissions, Sweeps & Transitions from Bottom Half Guard.

Week 6 - Open Guard 1 - Focusing on Basic Open Guard, Butterfly Guard & Sitting Guard

Week 7 - Open Guard 2 - More Advanced Open Guards such as De La Riva & X Guard

Week 8 - Top Control Positions - Side Control, Kesa Gatame, Knee on Belly 

Week 9 - Mount - Control, Submissions & Transitions from Mount Position

Week 10 - Back Control - Taking the Back from various positions & Submissions from Back Control

Week 11 - Turtle Position - Submissions, Turnovers and Transitions from Turtle & Front Headlock

Week 12 - Leg-locks - Entries, Setups, Controls and finishes for Leg-lock Submissions

Week 13 - Escapes 1 - Positional Escapes

Week 14 - Escapes 2 - Escapes from Submissions

Class Format

My Intermediate classes follow the following format:

• Warm-Up
• Takedown Technique
• Ground Techniques
• Specific/Positional Sparring
• Free Sparring

Warm Up

I've experimented with a few different options for Warm Ups over the last couple of years from high intensity cardio warm up to completely skipping the Warm up altogether and just getting straight into drilling techniques. At the minute we are doing some functional warm up exercises and a sequence of BJJ specific movements such as Technical Stand ups, Oma Plata Stretch and Sit outs. I have found these work really well as they get the students warm but also get them doing moving the right way which transfers well into the skills training.

Take-down Technique

I teach one takedown technique at the beginning of every class. We work Judo throws on the Gi training nights and Wrestling Take-downs on NoGi nights. I feel its important that all students have at least some basic level of Takedown ability in order to progress in BJJ. Although BJJ is primarily a Ground-Fighting art, its very important to learn how to take an opponent to ground in order to use your techniques.

Ground Techniques

Next we move on Techniques on the ground based on the theme we are covering that week. I encourage my students to drill as many reps as possible and try to make each rep as perfect as possible. I've seen many differing opinions on the value or effectiveness of drilling techniques throughout the last 25 years that I've been training in martial arts. Some people believe that drilling techniques is a waste of time and that students should just roll. Although I think this method may work for the exceptionally talented athlete I've found that the average student paying to learn JiuJitsu just will not make much improvement unless they put in the time drilling the techniques over and over to build muscle memory. 

Specific/Positional Sparring

This is where we take the techniques that we've drilled and try to apply them against resistance. I use a wide variety specific sparring drills that I use in this portion of the class. I have different Drills that I use depending on what we are working on that week. For example, during Side Control week we might just spar with one person starting on top in side control and also building up the objectives for each round. Round One might be Top person just pinning / holding while the bottom player tries to recover guard. Round Two we might move on to Top Player also trying to get to Mount or Back Control.

Heres another article with more detail on the benefits of Positional or Isolation Sparring Drills:

http://deniskellymmacoaching.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/isolation-sparring.html

Free Sparring

In the last section of the class we put it altogether in Free Sparring. We usually do 5 x 5 Minute rounds with 30 second rest between rounds. We encourage everyone to do every round of sparring unless there is uneven numbers in the class. If a student feels that their cardio isn't good enough to roll every round I'll just tell them to roll at a pace they can sustain for the rest of the class rather than going crazy for one round then having to sit out for the next 25 minutes. We also have a zero tolerance policy for dangerous sparring in class. All techniques must be performed in a safe and controlled partner. If you hurt your training partner and he cant roll the next round that means you have to sit out the next rounds too.

As previously mentioned I am continually tweaking and adjusting my class formats and adding new techniques and drills based on what I learn in my own training but I've found that I've seen really good results with my students using this format.

Check out this article about the Gym Culture we have tried to create at our Team

My Gym Culture

Learn BJJ in Melbourne