Get in shape- if you don't fatigue you will be able to use technique. Get tired and you will just work on surviving all the time.
Find an equal partner you can train moves with slowly and cooperatively with.
Roll with anybody you can find who is better than you either technically, athletically or in size.
The truth is that a person could cut their training time by a fourth if they could roll with a black belt who gave them tips in every session. If that bb rolled with you until you ran into a snag and then had you do the move by feel and repetition (rather than intellectualizing it first) you would be moving the right way instinctively very quickly. I did this with a training partner I totally dominated at first. After a year he was my equal.
Cut all that BS you just heard about (Cause it is BS in BJJ its your patience and brain that succeeds, not your "diet, training and exercise although that is important)....
POSTION BEFORE SUBMISSION! BJJ is chess, not checkers. I did like the guy who said you should take notes, because you should...IF YOU HAVE an 8th grade education!
BJJ is muscle memory dude. Freakin notes? It's not algebra, it's physics and your body will remember a bad position and if you use your brain and you learn.. Next time, you'll get out of it.
"Don't roll thinking about the 100 submissions you just learned over the last year. Roll realizing that each position presents a different opportunity. And always achieve POSITION BEFORE SUBMISSION!" - Jean Jaques Machado
"BJJ is muscle memory dude. Freakin notes? It's not algebra, it's physics and your body will remember a bad position and if you use your brain and you learn.. Next time, you'll get out of it."
I disagree with this because one of the best ways to practice brazilian jiu jitsu is to visualize it.
When you're taking notes, you're going over the positions in your head - the positions you've just learned. This type of mental practice has been shown in several studies to provide measurable benefit, with visualization being one of the most universally practiced techniques amongst all sports.
The act of taking notes after class is particularly useful because it's almost like writing down a dream after just waking up. You might not remember much at first, but because the experience is fresh you find yourself remembering more as you write it down. This also improves visualization.
Then - the notes themselves are linked to the visual cues you constructed after class and you can now go back over the notes whilst on the bus, during commercials, in school (if there's a boring teacher) - wherever.
Going over these notes also gets you questioning and thinking about the sport critically, and you're better able to ask pertinent questions during class.
"BJJ is muscle memory dude. Freakin notes? It's not algebra, it's physics and your body will remember a bad position and if you use your brain and you learn.. Next time, you'll get out of it."
I have to disagree with this too.
Notes have saved me hundreds of dollars in private lessons that I would have taken, if I hadn't taken notes properly the first time (class, seminar, private, etc).
I think taking notes is useful. Like Robert said it is essentially an extension of visualization. You're not only visualizing what you have learn when taking notes but you are also establishing mental cues in order to better understand and perform the technique.
Bjj, like all physical activities, is truly a mind - body experience as well as connection.
I think the biggest key to improvement is be mentally engaged while training. Most of the scientific literature on sport skill acquisition is based on schema theory. The idea is that we learn motor skills by making mental notes of the data from all our senses on each rep and learning what types of sensations accompany successes and failures.
In other words we learn what a successful technique looks and feels like (before, during, and after). We also learn the same thing about poor techniques. This is why when you pull off a move, you usually know if it is going to work or not before it is even finished.
This means that going through the motions while your mind is somewhere else doesn't help you get much better. It also means that all reps, successful or not, carry information. As long as you get feedback, missed reps help just as much as good ones when it comes to improvement.
So my advice would be:
Think about what you are doing while you are doing it.
Rehearse moves mentally when you aren't on the mat.
Work you weakest positions most often.
Also remember that if you aren't getting tapped out or thrown regularly by those below your skill level then you're probably playing too conservatively during training.
Wow taking notes is only for 8th graders? Wow! I feel like I lost IQ points for just reading that post. Hands down one of the stupidest posts I have ever read on this board and certainly gets the goober of the year award for 2006.
horses for courses, notes work for some people, not for others. I try to take mental notes (run through a technique in my head visualising it). This works for me better than writing it down, if I go back to written notes they don't help me much.
"I try to take mental notes (run through a technique in my head visualising it). This works for me better than writing it down, if I go back to written notes they don't help me much."
This certainly is true for some people, that is, some people are good note takers whereas others are not.
BUT the thing about "written notes" is there are essentially the same as "mental notes" except they are committed to paper. Some people are not very good at putting down on paper what's in their head. BUT ultimately that is what you're doing when you write notes.
Back in May, I took my 2nd (Associate) Level instructor course under my instructor, Roy Harris.
During this course, he gave us a 10 page syllabus for the week, which was in outline form.
I wrote up about 40 pages of notes (in 40 hours of training).
Now I am home, and drilling all this information. Am I glad I took all these notes? Of course I am!!!!!!!!!!
There's NO way I would remember 40 hours worth of instruction, training method discussion, and personal Q&A when I returned home. But because I took so many notes, I am working through the information, drilling a little bit more each week. I have not "lost" much of it at all.