Am I Progressing?
By far, the most common question I’ve received over the years from people of every level is: “Am I progressing?” The answer can be both simple and complicated, and in this post, I’ll do my best to explain it. The short answer is: if you’re training consistently, yes, you are progressing.
The Complexity of Jiu-Jitsu
Jiu-Jitsu is really difficult, complicated, and incredibly complex—that’s what keeps us coming back for more. But it’s also why it can be so frustrating that we feel like pulling our hair out at times. It’s human nature to want to know where we stand in our progress:
- “What do I need to do to get the promotion?”
- “How many more credits do I need for the diploma?”
- “How many more levels until I beat the video game?”
- “How many more miles until the end?”
That’s where attendance data and belt promotions come in, but progress in Jiu-Jitsu isn’t always that simple. Let’s look at an extreme example to help explain this:
Different Journeys: Person A vs. Person B
- Person A: A 22-year-old, incredibly talented and athletic, who can train twice a day, six days a week. His main goal is to become one of the best Jiu-Jitsu fighters in the world.
- Person B: A 70-year-old who has never played a sport in his life and trains twice a week. His main goal is to have fun and get some exercise.
When they meet on the mat, Person A can dominate—passing the guard, controlling positions, and submitting Person B regularly. This happens often in Jiu-Jitsu, where everyone’s journey is unique to their circumstances. The problem comes when Person B evaluates this as a failure and starts to think they aren’t progressing based on comparison with Person A.
While this is an extreme case, it shows how easy it is to get caught up in comparing ourselves to others. Comparing yourself to others, especially in training, can be misleading.
The Fallacy of Comparing Progress
Putting too much weight on how we perform against others is one of the biggest mistakes we can make when evaluating our progress. While comparison is part of the process, it’s not the most reliable measure. Here’s why:
The person who usually dominates you on the mat might have:
- Not felt good that day, so they didn’t tap you when they usually do.
- Been working on a new move, which gave you the chance to pass their guard.
- Not felt like training hard that day.
- Been tired from work or had a poor night’s sleep because of a newborn.
In these situations, does it mean you suddenly became better? No. But it also doesn’t mean you got worse. These same factors could have affected you at some point, too. Measuring ourselves against others is tough because there are too many variables.
There’s some value in comparing progress with training partners over long periods, but even then, it’s not the whole picture. In our earlier example, Person B may never be able to tap Person A, and that’s perfectly fine. Progress is personal.
Progress in Less Extreme Situations
Even when the differences between you and your training partner aren’t as extreme—similar age, weight, and time training—there are still many variables. For example:
- Your partner might have a killer guard, but they struggle to defend once you mount them.
- If you never pass their guard, you might not realize that your mount attack is better than their mount defense.
Progress in Jiu-Jitsu can often be specific to certain areas of your game, and it’s easy to miss improvement if you only focus on one aspect.
So, Who Should I Be Better Than?
The most important question you should ask yourself is: “Who do I need to be better than?”
For me, the answer has always been: “Myself from a year or six months ago.”
If you trained with yourself from a year ago, how would you do? Would you be able to teach your past self some new moves or concepts? If yes, then that’s what improvement is. I measure my progress by asking myself this question, and most of the time, it’s clear that I’d do really well against my past self. That’s how I know I’m improving.
Conclusion
Progress in Jiu-Jitsu is personal, and it’s not always best measured by how we perform against others. The most reliable way to gauge improvement is by comparing yourself to who you were in the past. Ask yourself: “Would I do better against myself from a year ago?” If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track.
In a future post, we’ll talk more about each of our personal goals and why we train Jiu-Jitsu.
