Drill to Win: the quickest path to success .
Walk into a typical Jiu Jitsu class and tell me what you see. Students warming up with exercises that may or may not be related to the techniques that day, practicing some techniques that may or may not be related to each other. Finally, everyone’s favorite part of class – live sparring or rolling. Often, the higher the belt rank, the more of a class a practitioner feels he or she can skip. The cliché is the purple belts that skip warm-ups. And by the time some students reach brown belt, they’re skipping techniques all together. Unless an academy has a glut of upper-belts, it’s difficult to reach the threshold where having an advanced class can be sustained, forcing experienced practitioners to get their technical repetitions through sparring alone. If this sounds familiar to you, you probably need to incorporating more drilling in your training. Many schools are moving away from the “move of the day” model described above, and have a more structured curriculum with defined bench marks to gauge student progress. Additionally, a renewed emphasis on drilling has reached the mainstream of Jiu Jitsu practice. Drilling is vital for the development of a Jiu Jitsu athlete. Particularly for the advanced belts, where the difference in the success or failure of a technique is often a minute detail or a fraction of a second in timing. Of course, sparring, technical development, strength training and conditioning all play major roles in an athlete’s success, but drilling is one of the often-overlooked elements of training that anyone can do more of to improve.. The recent surge of interest in drilling likely arose with the success of the Atos team, among others. While drilling has been a key component of many teams tournament preparation few have been as vocal regarding its importance. The Mendes brothers frequently mention how drilling brought them to the heights of the Jiu Jitsu world. Andre Galvao has stated that 80% of his classes are drills, while only 20% is rolling. So it’s no surprise that Galvao has written the best (only?) Jiu Jitsu book dedicated to drilling, entitled, “Drill to Win.” And footage of the Mendes brothers training brings to light the central role that drilling plays in their development. “Since we started to train BJJ we have been drilling positions at every training session. The biggest mistake we can see in the schools is that the students are drilling lazily. Always do your best. If you drill wrong, then you are training to do wrong. If you are training to do wrong then during the fight you will also do the position poorly.” – Mendes brothers The most unusual thing about Jiu Jitsu is that a case for drilling needs to be made at all. Almost every top athlete uses drilling in their preparation regardless of their sport. Our closest combatsport brethren in wrestling and Judo understand drilling an integral aspect of skill development. In Judo drilling only the entry to tachi-waza, or throwing technique, is known as uchikomi. repeating the integral transition into a throw develops speed, timing, precision, and aids the Judo athlete’s development to a greater extent than completing the entire throw, with less impact on the uke as well. Because wrestling and Judo are non-commercial martial arts relative to Jiu Jitsu, there isn’t as much of a need to cater to the comfort and attention spans of the students. Also, since Jiu Jitsu was refined in Brazil, the sometimes-lax training environment there can lead to students who focus on rolling more than any other training tool. What is drilling, then? And how can we apply it to our own development? Drilling can apply to any repetition of technique, although in practice the best drills tend to focus less on the minute technical details and more on repetition, speed and proper movement. I find the most effective drills will not necessarily involve a completed technique, but a truncated pathway to allow one
person to achieve as many repetitions of a key segment of the technique is a defined time frame. Additionally, drilling two techniques together, such as a sweep and a guard pass, or a back-take and a submission, is a great way to reduce the pauses between your techniques that can give your opponent an opportunity to catch their breath or escape. Repeating a movement or technique will create motor memory or “muscle memory” in colloquial terms. Motor memory is thought to involve the creation and consolidation of pathways that encode techniques in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that coordinates smoothness, timing and accuracy to movements. Sounds like the ideal thing for learning Jiu Jitsu. When a technique is frequently performed the control of the series of movements involved becomes increasingly non-conscious. This last point is critical for Jiu Jitsu development. If a technique is performed sub-optimally – sloppy, slow or infrequently – two things can happen. First, the technique will require conscious effort to carry out, wasting precious microseconds as you decide how to grip, how to position your weight, etc. Your opponent that has drilled more than you doesn’t need to use their mental resources focusing on the details of the technique, and is able to free up their attention to planing and implementing their next attack. We’ve all had the sensation of grappling an opponent above our own skill level, where it just doesn’t feel like we can keep up to the adjustments they are making. We cannot see and make decisions fast enough and we are quickly overwhelmed. Drilling can be the difference between getting lost in these scenarios and holding one’s own. Second, and more insidious, is that repetitions that are not perfect can lean to the consolidation of bad motor memory. This happens a lot when people only practice during sparing, and don’t work to do the technique in the most correct fashion, but settle for the one that they can force to achieve their goal. Once this technique is consolidated in motor memory it takes even more effort to re-learn the correct way. Whoever first said, “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast” knew their stuff. Originally a military term referring to shooting drills, the idea that in Jiu Jitsu it is ideal to master the gross movements of a technique through deliberate technical practice, then to fully integrate the technique into motor memory through fast, non-conscious drilling. In addition to building motor memory, drilling can also have benefits for cardiovascular and mental attributes. Five minutes doesn’t seem like a long time, but when your legs and lungs are burning and you’re only half-way through a set of guard pass drills, it becomes clear how highintensity drilling can be the difference-maker in your tournament preparation. What duration or number of repetitions is optimal for motor learning? There’s no way to know for sure, due to the lack of research on the subject. I would suggest, “as much as possible without ignoring other important aspects of your development” as a reasonable guide. Some within the Jiu Jitsu community have latched onto ideas expressed by the popular New Yorker columnist Malcolm Gladwell that indicate ten-thousand hours of mindful practice is necessary for success. This value has also been discussed in Jiu Jitsu circles as tenthousand repetitions. While an admirable goal, there is little actual research to support this claim. In fact, some of the researchers with whose research Gladwell supported his claims have published angry rebuttals. More repetitions can actually be harmful if, as stated above, they are performed sub-optimally. It’s better to quit while the movements are performed with speed and precision than slog through a few dozen extra faulty reps because of a misunderstanding. .. Drilling has two main uses. For the beginner Jiu Jitsu student, an instructor can design a drilling program to familiarize his or her students with the fundamental movements of the art. Advanced practitioners can use this time to drill techniques specific to their game, that wouldn’t be as useful to a student that’s just starting out. Many instructors are incorporating drills into their Jiu Jitsu programs already, but one of the biggest benefits of drilling is their use in self-directed development. To apply drills in a self-directed program, students may take advantage of their
school’s open mat or find some time in their gym’s schedule when the mats are not in use and gather some like-minded teammates to work with. Make sure to speak with your instructor first, both to get critical direction as well as prevent any tension that could arise. If you’re still not sure of how to proceed in your own development, it will be of value to watch Lloyd Irvin describe Lloyd Irvin’s Micro-Transitional Drilling System. Basically, after Irvin had the foresight to bring the Mendes brothers to his academy to teach, the Atos competitors described their drilling strategy. This evolved into the idea of drilling submission entries during common positional transitions. Irvin gives the example of setting up the clock-choke early in the transition between the double-under guard pass and the opponent’s turtle position. It is easy to apply this idea to the common positions and submissions that we use every day. . Another great resource for drilling is the plethora of online instruction that is currently clogging up the web tubes. Two of the better options for online instruction include MGinAction.com by Josh Waitzkin and Marcelo Garcia, and MB Online by the Mendes brothers. For free video instruction, it is difficult, both in quantity and quality, to top the drills described by Jason Scully on his youtube channel and on his website. Additionally, Lex Fridman has an excellent series of articles on drilling. And of course, Galvao’s “Drill to Win” is the gold standard for drilling resources. Over the last two months my friend Cedric and I have instituted an informal daily drilling session at our academy. It has allowed us to drill techniques that apply to our specific games. Cedric has an amazing open guard. When he leads the group, we focus on techniques that may not be appropriate for beginner students, like the dozens of berimbolo variations that exist. When I lead the group I tend to focus on a mix of guard passing drills and transitions. Our instructor has been very supportive of our efforts, and they have been paying off in terms of linking together our techniques and improving our timing. For example, although I’ve been playing spider guard since white belt, I’m presently investing time in improving my technique, speed and combinations through drilling this position. The omoplata is a solid option from spider guard when your opponent circles under your hook in an attempt to pass the guard. To drill this technique, my partner grabs the pants allowing me to pull their arm into an omoplata. I first learned this technique from watching Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles compete and have been working it into my game with some success. This is just one of the many drills that I’ve been incorporating into my self-directed Jiu Jitsu training.
Tips for a good drilling session:
1. Find the right partner. Someone that is equally committed to working hard. Many students want to drill a technique two or three times then stop to chat or hypothesize about alternative techniques. 2. Can’t find a partner? There are a number of single-person drills to improve your movement for Jiu Jitsu. I love using these as a sport-specific warm-up. 3. Have a plan. To get the most out of your drilling time make sure to have two or three drills in mind before you start. Link together the drills you do each day so they coalesce into a wellrounded Jiu Jitsu game. 4. Use a notebook. Keep track of the drills you’ve completed and notes about what drills you
would like to do. This will help you remember what you’ve already done and streamline the planning stage. 5. Do your research. A great thing about living in the internet age is the access to the training regimes of the best Jiu Jitsu practitioners in the world. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, it helps to see how the top athletes drill and incorporate their routines. 6. “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” It bears repeating – drilling isn’t the time for learning a technique for the first time. Traditional technical repetitions (often with partners taking turns) is a great way to understand the technique and make it smooth. To dial in the technique, that smooth practice can be translated to effective action through rapid drilling. 7. Fundamental techniques over fancy ones. During self-directed training the urge is strong to try that one cool flying submission you saw on the last UFC or the trendy inverted sweep everyone is doing these days. Be realistic about your drilling time. Refer to the Pareto principle (aka 80/20 rule) if you’re having trouble deciding on which techniques to focus. 8. What makes a good drill? Something that doesn’t require a lot of repositioning between repetitions. Guard passing entries make naturally good drills, as do guard attacks that can be applied to each side. 9. Set a timer. The best drilling environment is one where you can perform the movement over and over. If you have to stop to switch partners it’s easy to loose the feeling of the technique. Instead set a timer for three minutes and work up to five minutes per drill. 10. For more tips on getting the most out of your self-directed Jiu Jitsu study, check out the article, “Turn Your Open Mat into a BJJ Laboratory” by Aesopian. . Article can be found at: http://thejiujitsulab.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/built-to-drill-thefastest-way-to-success-in-jiu-jitsu-and-in-our-new-contest/
A Framework for Drilling
Introduction Drilling is important. Your success in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu directly relates to the time you spend performing quality drills. The learning curve in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is steep and many new students quit before they develop a basic understanding of the how to learn the art. The adage of “learning how to learn” is critical to your success. New students get hooked on the adrenaline of the “free” roll. Eventually, the adrenaline is replaced with the frustration of being tapped repeatedly, and the student quits or sets off on the never ending journey of finding the latest and greatest technique promised to turn the tide of frustration. They key to unlocking the mystery of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is drilling. In this article, we present a framework for drilling to help the student survive the learning curve and develop an understanding of the techniques and skills required to “learn how to learn.”
The Nature of Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu may be the hardest thing you’ll ever do in life. There are no overnight successes. It takes years of dedication to fully grasp and appreciate the depth, complexity, and organization of the art. To simplify the complexity of learning the art, there are three key characteristics that must be explicitly understood.
1) Open Environment
The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu environment is an open environment. An open environment is one in which the participant cannot predict with a high level of certainty the external forces acting upon him. A simple example of an open environment is driving on the freeway. You have no control over vehicles entering and exiting the freeway or driving in your vicinity. You can only act and react based on the observed movement and perceived intent of the vehicle drivers. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu environment is much the same in that your opponent is free to act in any fashion within the rules and you must act react accordingly. The ability to predict opposing movements does not come by magical osmosis but through the intimacy gained by drilling the technique. Just as you predict a drivers intent to change lanes by reading their signals, you can predict the movement patterns of your opponent by reading his signals. The best way to develop the ability to predict these movements is through drilling.
2) Externally Paced
Jiu-Jitsu is externally paced. An externally paced environment is one in which the timing of the performance is not completely controlled by the performer. Building on the driving example, you have no control over the speed of vehicles on the freeway. The speed of other vehicles dictates the speed of your vehicle such as when in a traffic jam. Your vehicle speed also influences the speed of other vehicles as well. In Jiu-Jitsu, neither opponent has complete control over the pacing of the techniques performed. Each opponent must work to influence the pace or react to the pace appropriately.
3) Interactive
Jiu-Jitsu is highly interactive. Both participants act and react to each other for the entire length of the match. It’s important to note that the
interaction occurs at the physical and mental levels with each participant attempting to assert and maintain physical and mental control over one another. Interactivity is often referred to as resistance in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The takeaway is that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu occurs in an unpredictable environment at varied speeds with full resistance.
The Drilling Framework The Drilling Framework addresses the preceding three characteristics in a manner that allows you to focus on the technique at hand outside of the highly dynamic nature of the live Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu environment. By controlling the variables, you can focus on the important aspects of the technique without the distraction of the environment. The Drilling Framework is intended to provide the practitioner with a self-sufficient and scientific approach to learning new skills. The framework does not focus on specific techniques. An understandable, repeatable, and executable framework is more valuable than any one particular technique. As you progress, your body changes. Age and injury change your ability to perform techniques. The sporting rules regarding legal techniques change as well. Except basic modifications, the Drilling Framework should remain the same. It is a conceptual guide that provides the user with a structure for achieving an explicit goal and producing a tangible skill in a self sufficient manner. The Drilling Framework is designed to minimize the variables in the learning environment with the intent of producing successful results in a consistent manner. If you’re not seeing consistent results, resist the urge to cast the technique aside in search of a better one. Instead, check your variables. Adjust one variable and try again. Continue to troubleshoot the technique in this manner until you’re satisfied with the results. This approach allows you to better measure your success, adjust your drilling environment accordingly, and add consistency and familiarity to your learning environment.
Framework Variables The Drilling Framework is built on the following variables. Keep the variables constant when starting. The design is for each drill to start in a tightly controlled environment. Once you develop mastery of the technique in the controlled environment, the variables can be adjusted with the goal of executing the technique during live full resistance training. (Drilling Party = person performing the drill)
(Drilling Partner = person opposing the drill)
1) Closed Environment
The initial learning environment should be closed. The Drilling Partner should react in a predictable pattern every time with minimal variations. This allows the Drilling Party to focus on the essential movements of the technique without having to predict the movements of the Drilling Partner. This environment can slowly open up over time and become less predictable as the Drilling Party becomes proficient with the skill.
2) Low Reactivity
The Drilling Partner should offer low reactivity. This means the Drilling Partner should offer only the necessary resistance required for the Drilling Party to execute the technique. The resistance level should start and remain very low until the Drilling Party masters the essential aspects of the skill. Only then should the Drilling Partner add resistance.
3) Internal Pacing
The Drilling Party should control the movement speed of the drill. As the skill level increases, the Drilling Partner can modify the pacing of the drill by adding resistance and opportunity windows for the Drilling Party to execute the technique. This helps the Drilling Party develop the timing and recognition ability necessary to execute the technique. This becomes more important the closer the Drilling Party gets to executing the skill in a live environment. Other considerations specific to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Practice the drills in multiple sessions. It will be easier to learn the new technique over several sessions than one long session. Don’t confuse the Open/Closed Environment Continuum with the High/Low Reactivity Continuum. The Open/Closed Continuum deals with the predicability of the environment and the High/Low reactivity addresses the resistance level offered by the parter.
Framework Elements 1. Pick Your Goal The first component of the drilling framework is your goal. A goal can be simple or complex. A simple goal represents one movement. An example of a simple goal is “learn the inverted armbar. A complex goal is conceptual. An example of a complex goal is “learn how to escape side control.” A goal should address one of the following.
1. Improve a strength
2. Improve a weakness
3. Learn a new technique, skill, or movement Having an explicit goal will guide you in your selection of drills.
2. Choose Your Success Measurement Determine how you’ll measure the success of your drilling efforts. Your success measurement should be explicit and measurable. An example of an explicit success measurement follows. “To be able to execute the armbar from guard against at least one opponent at the next local tournament.”
3. Pick Your Drills This section is not intended to point out specific drills but instead focuses on how to select appropriate drills based on your goal. The key to drill selection is specificity. The drills you select to should be directly related to your goal. If you’re unclear of how a drill relates to your goal, the drill should not be selected. Start with simple movements and progress to more complex movements. Select
movements that are discrete (have a distinct start and finish), simple (requires little attention span), and a low element of organization (few moving parts). Once the initial movements are mastered, move on to more advanced movements. It is imperative the you execute the movements in the proper manner each time. Poorly executed drills develop poor skills and the realization of your goal will be deferred. In other words, don’t waste your time. Perform the technique correctly each time. Ask your instructor to show you how to execute the technique properly if you’re unsure. If the goal is to learn a complex technique, break the technique into smaller discrete movements and drill the movements separately. Once the individual movements are mastered, the practitioner can put the movements together and drill the unit as a whole.
4. Execute Your Drills The proper starting environment for a new drill is closed (highly predictable movements from the Drilling Partner), low reactivity (low resistance), and internally paced (Drilling Party sets the pace). As the Drilling Party develops the ability to execute the technique, the environment variables can be modified. The environment should become more open (less predictable pattern of movements from drilling opponent) with higher reactivity (more resistance) and externally paced (drilling opponent attempts to dictate the pace). As discussed previously, the Jiu-Jitsu environment is highly open and externally paced, with high levels of reactivity. The live Jiu-Jitsu environment is not conducive to improving strengths and weaknesses or learning new techniques. Controlling the environment variables allows you to focus on the most important aspects of the technique at each stage. In the beginning stage, the focus should be on learning the essential body movements of the techniques. As you master the basic movements of the techniques, the focus shifts to being able to execute the technique in an open environment against higher levels of resistance. Stage 1 – Learn the Basic Movements of the Technique.
Drill the technique with predictable movements and no resistance from your partner. Stage 2 – Learn to Execute the Technique with Resistance
Drill the technique with predictable movements and slowly add resistance. Have your partner gradually add resistance until he can no longer add resistance without becoming unpredictable in his movements. The focus here is to understand the leverage and force necessary to execute the technique against a resisting opponent. Stage 3 – Learn to Recognize the Windows of Predictability
Drill the technique with unpredictable movements from your partner. Your partner should not have to offer high levels of resistance when beginning this stage. The focus is on developing the ability recognize the windows of opportunity to execute this technique. Your partner should offer slow pacing first and gradually increase the
speed until it is similar to a live environment. Drilling in this manner helps you develop the ability to predict movements in slices of time 1-5 seconds in an otherwise unpredictable environment. This is where you develop the ability to be 2-3 movements ahead of your opponent. Stage 4 – Execute the Technique in a Live Jiu-Jitsu Environment
This is the final stage where you focus on executing the technique against a fully resistant opponent. This can be done in open mat or as part of a drilling session. Put winning and losing out of your mind when you’re working in this stage. The important thing is to make attempts to execute the technique. Use the prior knowledge you’ve gained with the technique in the previous stages to help you recognize the opportunity, pacing, and interactivity levels necessary to execute the technique. Modality
Drills can be performed in whole or part. The nature of the drill in question should dictate the modality. Simple movements can be executed in whole from beginning to end. Complex movements may require you to break the movements into smaller parts that can be executed and reassembled. Session
The type of session can be broken down into massed or distributed sessions. Your level of conditioning and experience dictates the type of session. Massed sessions occur without break and continue until the you master the skill. Distributed sessions have several breaks and the skill is learned over several sessions. Rep Unit
Typically, the drill is repeated for a number of repetitions or a set time. Article can be found at: http://www.insidebjj.com/2011/03/08/a-framework-fordrilling/
