The Secret to Improving in Jiu-Jitsu, SHHHH

(100% written by a human)

People tend to think improvement in jiu jitsu comes down to having a certain body type, being a certain age, having previous experience, being strong or athletic, learning techniques quickly, or training at a specific place. And all of those things can absolutely influence how quickly you improve and maybe even how high your ceiling can be.

But over my whole life being around Jiu-Jitsu, I’ve seen people with almost every advantage you could possibly have. They were young, athletic, strong, talented, had plenty of time to train, and seemed to learn everything easily. I’ve also seen people who had almost none of those advantages.

In the short term those with the most beneficial traits tend to do better. After 10 or 15 years, the people who become really good at Jiu-Jitsu are almost always the people who stay consistent.

Of course, if you start with youth, athleticism, talent, time, and all these other advantages and you’re consistent, you’re probably going to reach a higher level than somebody who doesn’t have those advantages.

But the common ingredient is still consistency.

And I think one of the biggest things that gets in the way of consistency is that we make it too daunting.

Start With a Goal That Almost Feels Too Easy

Most of us set goals that are too big.

We decide that starting Monday, we’re going to wake up every morning at 5 a.m., run five miles, lift weights, eat perfectly, train Jiu-Jitsu every day, stop eating cookies before bed, drink a gallon of water, and somehow become an entirely different person overnight.

That sounds great in theory.

The problem is that once we start achieving less than 100 percent of that goal, the whole thing starts falling apart.

Instead, I think your short-term goal should almost feel like you’re doing too little.

Imagine that you want to become a good runner. Your short-term goal might simply be to move for five minutes. Jog as much as you can for those five minutes. If you have to walk, walk.

But maybe your long-term goal is that five years from now, you want to be able to run close to a five-minute mile, that’s really fast!

That’s a completely different way of looking at improvement.

Maybe you reach that goal in two years. Great. You can adjust the goal if you want. Maybe it will take five years. Maybe you never quite reach five minutes.

The important thing is that you have given yourself a very long runway.

You don’t have to wake up every morning asking, “Am I better today?”

Think about building a house. If I show you 10 or 15 bricks sitting on the ground, it doesn’t look like much. But if you keep laying bricks every day for five or ten years, eventually you’re not looking at a pile of bricks anymore.

You’re looking at a house.

Jiu-Jitsu works the same way.

You might not notice yourself getting better this week. You might not even notice much improvement this month. But if you consistently put time on the mat for five years, the difference can be tremendous.

If you want to be pretty good at Jiu-Jitsu, give yourself five years.

If you want to be very good, think about ten years.

You might get there earlier. Great. Keep training.

Getting your black belt shouldn’t mean you stop training any more than reaching a certain running time means you have to stop running. Ideally, by then, the habit itself has become part of your life.

Pick One Class You Don’t Miss

As far as Jiu-Jitsu goes, I think one of the easiest ways to start building consistency is to pick one class.

Not five classes.

One.

Find the most convenient class on the schedule for you.

Maybe your favorite instructor teaches it. Maybe your favorite training partners are there. Maybe it’s the level of class you enjoy most. It’s a time that works best for your schedule. 

Personally, I would probably prioritize the time.

Find the class that gives you the fewest possible excuses.

If you hate waking up early, don’t make your non-negotiable class the 6 a.m. class.

Maybe Saturday is perfect because you don’t have work. Maybe there’s an evening class that starts right when you’re driving home, and the academy is already on your way.

Whatever it is, find the class that fits your life so well that it becomes difficult to come up with a good excuse not to go.

Then make an appointment with yourself.

That class is your class.

Every week, you’re there.

Of course, you should try to train more than once a week if you can. Go to two classes. Go to three. Some weeks you feel great and maybe you train four or five times.

But those are additional classes.

Your anchor class is the one you don’t miss.

And that appointment isn’t with me or with the academy. If you miss class, nothing is going to happen from our end.

The appointment is with yourself.

If somebody asks you to do something during that time, instead of immediately giving up your class, ask whether you can do it a little earlier, a little later, or another day.

Obviously, emergencies happen. Life happens.

But give that class a very high priority.

And even if you have to arrive late or leave a little early, come.

Those minutes still count.

Twenty minutes on the mat is more than zero minutes on the mat. Forty minutes is more than zero.

And when you start adding those minutes together over years, they become significant.

Here’s how I've done this in my personal life.

I was having a tough time making weight lifting a consistent part of my week, constantly checking progress, staying a long time at gym etc. and that made it too hard for me. 

Here’s how I changed this to become the most consistent I've ever been for the past 2 years. 

Long term goal: Be pretty strong in 10 years - this removes the checking every other week if I'm stronger or not, it takes a long time. 

Short term: I have to go to the gym 3x a week. That doesn't mean I have to workout really hard, do a certain program, or be really sore. I just have to go, some days I go and do 2 sets of 1 exercise and leave before 5 minutes. Some days I'm there for close to an hour. 

We all look up to those individuals that eat perfectly and workout everyday 3x a day and start at 4am. Truth is most people aren’t like that and that’s ok. 

For jiu jitsu the rule should be ‘be in class 1x a week’ sometimes you might come and just watch class, sometimes you show up late or have to leave early halfway through the class. It’s all fine, the goal is long term, think 5 then 10 years and those short classes add up. 

Again the more you train the better and we want you to train as much as you can, but pick a class to be your non-negotiable and I promise you in a few years you’re going to see massive improvements.