Whether you train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) two days a week or six, there should be a purpose to each training session. For the average student who trains three days a week, each training session could be geared towards improving a specific area or skill. Here are some examples:
- Focus entirely on defense. Whether your training partners earn the dominant positions or you intentionally concede positions, being in bad positions and difficult scenarios allows you to practice and develop your defense and escapes.
If you are one of the more advanced students in your academy, you must be aside your ego and be willing to get tapped. In fact, you should welcome it because it is a valuable tool for learning. - Take a completely different approach. If you typically like to go for takedowns and work from on top, you should regularly devote some training sessions working from your guard. You could even separate sweeps from submissions, sometimes working only sweeps and other times just submissions.
- Focus on a specific move. This is difficult if you’re on the bottom of the totem poll (a white belt or new blue belt), but if you’re an advanced blue belt or higher you’re likely able to put yourself in positions to attempt a specific move repeatedly over the course of a training session or, if need be, for an entire week.
Limiting yourself to one single move will guarantee that you learn a ton of important details about set-up and execution. - Try to beat everyone. This is typically a competitor’s mindset, but it’s useful for even the recreational student because it gives you the truest sense of where your skill-set lies and where you need work.
Ultimately you should go into a training session already knowing what your goal is. Sometimes this will result in a frustrating training session, where you force the move and feel like you’re getting nowhere.
But if you pay attention to what’s happening, you will learn. Learning equals progress, so as long as you’re learning you’re getting closer and closer to becoming a black belt.