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A new way of training that I may have never figured out.
6 year(s) ago • 2903 views • 4 replies
JJBlack beltVerified
6 year(s) ago
I have been training the past 6 weeks in my garage with a blue belt friend once a week every weekend.
Each session lasting 2 to 3 hours.
Starting things off slow each of us going over a technique or area that we are working on and then drilling light in those areas and maybe coming up with a few ideas and then positional sparring and finishing with more normal sparring.
The thing I noticed is this extended amount of time allowed us to push the pause button and rewind and fast forward and go back and forward or even around with new creative ideas that you just usually wouldn't have the time or patience to get that in depth with.
Most normal classes at academies be it a curriculum or show a couple techniques then roll the rest of the time, whichever it may be you tend not to have a very long time with a single person or actually take the time to slow things down and push that pause button and brain storm middle of a light spar and problem solve in a different way to that extent. The key thing here being able to go from different levels of resistance with positional and normal sparring with the same person over an extended period of time and then continuing where you left off previously and adding onto the layers each week.
It's something that I have noticed that has greatly helped me get better from just a very few training sessions. I almost feel like I'm getting better at the same rate with just this 1 training session as if I was training all week like normal at least defense wise and creativity wise.
Also I have strangely noticed it seems one week he will have noticeably improved and then the next I will have and back and forth. Last weekend was the weekend where I felt I improved much more and I am sure tomorrow it will feel like he improved much more again and so on. Yes you naturally will get better at countering each other but this feels like it to another level more so then the usual training methods. I feel like it has greatly improved my defense at a much quicker rate and forcing me to be more creative also at a quicker rate and coming up with new ideas to mess around and experiment with and chain all the other things together systematically in an effort against an opponent who already knows what you like to do.
Trying to trick a stranger is easy but getting good at tricking someone who knows everything you want to do already is quite the challenge and I feel like getting good at that challenge is a skill in of itself that can improve how you would do the same exact things against the stranger in a tournament but much more efficiently because of that time spent against the person who knows your every move to such detail.
Usually in class you may have 30 seconds to 2 minutes of a positional drill with any given person, followed by maybe a 5 minute positional spar or maybe you roll for however long with a person then switch. Even in open mat scenarios you normally don't spend more then 10 minutes with a single person.
In the future when I go to my weekly open mats again that last 2 hours I hope to maybe take 1 hour of that 2 hours to find someone to train with for 4 weeks or more in a row and keep using this method of training and see how it helps me improve and then take the other hour to train like I always have in the past with multiple people in normal 5 to 10 minute spars or just have a garage day training session each week with someone.
I know in theory that some of this may seem like common sense...but almost no one ever actually takes the time to do the above.
Anyone else noticed anything like this before? Feels almost like a Matrix moment. lol
Each session lasting 2 to 3 hours.
Starting things off slow each of us going over a technique or area that we are working on and then drilling light in those areas and maybe coming up with a few ideas and then positional sparring and finishing with more normal sparring.
The thing I noticed is this extended amount of time allowed us to push the pause button and rewind and fast forward and go back and forward or even around with new creative ideas that you just usually wouldn't have the time or patience to get that in depth with.
Most normal classes at academies be it a curriculum or show a couple techniques then roll the rest of the time, whichever it may be you tend not to have a very long time with a single person or actually take the time to slow things down and push that pause button and brain storm middle of a light spar and problem solve in a different way to that extent. The key thing here being able to go from different levels of resistance with positional and normal sparring with the same person over an extended period of time and then continuing where you left off previously and adding onto the layers each week.
It's something that I have noticed that has greatly helped me get better from just a very few training sessions. I almost feel like I'm getting better at the same rate with just this 1 training session as if I was training all week like normal at least defense wise and creativity wise.
Also I have strangely noticed it seems one week he will have noticeably improved and then the next I will have and back and forth. Last weekend was the weekend where I felt I improved much more and I am sure tomorrow it will feel like he improved much more again and so on. Yes you naturally will get better at countering each other but this feels like it to another level more so then the usual training methods. I feel like it has greatly improved my defense at a much quicker rate and forcing me to be more creative also at a quicker rate and coming up with new ideas to mess around and experiment with and chain all the other things together systematically in an effort against an opponent who already knows what you like to do.
Trying to trick a stranger is easy but getting good at tricking someone who knows everything you want to do already is quite the challenge and I feel like getting good at that challenge is a skill in of itself that can improve how you would do the same exact things against the stranger in a tournament but much more efficiently because of that time spent against the person who knows your every move to such detail.
Usually in class you may have 30 seconds to 2 minutes of a positional drill with any given person, followed by maybe a 5 minute positional spar or maybe you roll for however long with a person then switch. Even in open mat scenarios you normally don't spend more then 10 minutes with a single person.
In the future when I go to my weekly open mats again that last 2 hours I hope to maybe take 1 hour of that 2 hours to find someone to train with for 4 weeks or more in a row and keep using this method of training and see how it helps me improve and then take the other hour to train like I always have in the past with multiple people in normal 5 to 10 minute spars or just have a garage day training session each week with someone.
I know in theory that some of this may seem like common sense...but almost no one ever actually takes the time to do the above.
Anyone else noticed anything like this before? Feels almost like a Matrix moment. lol
Edited 6 year(s) ago
GFBlack beltVerified
6 year(s) ago
This is pretty much how we train at home with my son.
It is a recurring theme on Beltchecker that typical class structures are not optimal, and you experienced it first hand ^^
People learn at different speeds, and more advanced movements and techniques make no sense if the foundations haven't been developed.
one-on-one gives so much more room to explore, and hit pause and reward as you mentioned.
caveat could be to be careful not drilling bad habits, and also keeping each other honest with the right amount of stress-testing.
With my son we do explore-exploit 20/80
20% try new stuff from instructionals (damn BJJ Fanatics is good at taking my money!)
80% review older stuff and spar
keep it up!
It is a recurring theme on Beltchecker that typical class structures are not optimal, and you experienced it first hand ^^
People learn at different speeds, and more advanced movements and techniques make no sense if the foundations haven't been developed.
one-on-one gives so much more room to explore, and hit pause and reward as you mentioned.
caveat could be to be careful not drilling bad habits, and also keeping each other honest with the right amount of stress-testing.
With my son we do explore-exploit 20/80
20% try new stuff from instructionals (damn BJJ Fanatics is good at taking my money!)
80% review older stuff and spar
keep it up!
AKPurple beltVerified
6 year(s) ago
I'm no stranger to longer sessions, in normal times there is a 2-2.5 hour session each week. Unfortunately i'm having the opposite experience you are with the setup. We both know our strengths and weaknesses and that allows us to basically have rest / stalling positions! In the last 6 hours of rolling, only 2 positions have produced a submission for either of us. I really miss having the variety of partners so i work the full spectrum of what i know without having to worry about giving up position. I also miss having unfamiliar training partners that keep me on my toes throughout the entire roll because I don't know what they are good or bad at.
JMBlack belt 2nd degreeVerified
6 year(s) ago
It's a good format. Open mats should be used like that and then you can also get the benefit of multiple inputs if you like.
JJBlack beltVerified
6 year(s) ago
I'm no stranger to longer sessions, in normal times there is a 2-2.5 hour session each week. Unfortunately i'm having the opposite experience you are with the setup. We both know our strengths and weaknesses and that allows us to basically have rest / stalling positions! In the last 6 hours of rolling, only 2 positions have produced a submission for either of us. I really miss having the variety of partners so i work the full spectrum of what i know without having to worry about giving up position. I also miss having unfamiliar training partners that keep me on my toes throughout the entire roll because I don't know what they are good or bad at.
I feel like the long sparring with one person over multiple weeks really helps my defense and building muscle memory. Then when quick sparring with other people my defensive reactions just feel much sharper and your thinking less and less about what to do in bad positions and just doing them out of instinct and allows me to just focus on chaining together submission attempts in a much more flowy feel.
