Overcoming Plateaus and Goal Setting

 

At some point of our jiu jitsu journeys, we will experience our games start to plateau. This is common due to many different factors such as: improving sparring partners, inconsistency training, or mental blocks. Overcoming these obstacles are a challenge, but the benefits of doing so are very fruitful. Beating the deadly flat-lining of our games to prevent veering off the path of jiu jitsu can be simply resolved with goal setting. It may sound a little too simple to fix what feels like an everlasting decay, but it is very possible. Let's take a deeper look into how and why goal setting could be the cure to the blues of lack of progression.


First and foremost, remember that as you train and progress, so do your sparring partners. It is important to know that your game is developing with your partner's game and will eventually become predictable. By realizing you are growing both individually and together, you will begin to understand why you may feel as though you are running in place. When you take a step back from the details and look at the larger picture, you can begin to see why certain plateaus may exist.


Along with progressing with your training partners, inconsistency can also lead to lack of progression. The number one factor of why you are not getting better is the lack of time put in on the mat. Now everyone has different schedules, priorities, and limitations, but it's not necessarily the total amount of time you spend on the mats, but how you focus your energy during the time you do have to train. This means that you are training for a specific purpose with an end goal in mind. When you change your focus toward goal-oriented training, you'll end up speeding up you progress in the long run.


Now the hardest problems to deal with are the many mental blocks that keep your jiu jitsu progression virtually stagnant. They say that: 'You are your only opponent' and that the main goal is to 'Be better today than you were yesterday,' but what does that really mean? Basically, this means that you are learning from your mistakes and experiences to become a more well-rounded individual, on and off the mats. Now it may take awhile to understand how to do a move or be comfortable enough to perform a specific movement, but it's important to see why each detail is necessary to complete the function. Indulging yourself in conceptual understanding of why certain moves work can help you as you adapt to any situation while you roll. The mechanics of why an arm bar will help you find the right time to attempt the submission and the way an opponent normally reacts to a hip bump sweep can give you the necessary response time to switch to a guillotine or triangle choke. The more you understand the why, the easier it is to answer the when, why, and how.

Since these main issues have been addressed, you can now start to set goals to advance your game. Depending on your rank, what you deem to be important will more than likely change. At white belt and blue belt, you may be more focused on getting submissions and learn every technique you possibly can. As a brown or black belt you may find more interest in taking a specific move and refining it for months. Writing what you plan to do, why you plan to do it, and how you plan to go about doing it will help lay the building blocks of setting your mindset for the allotted time chosen to complete your goals. A good practice for entry keeping is using a jiu jitsu journal to list all your techniques, concepts, movements, goals, rants, and/or achievements. Bringing this journal with you wherever you go can help remind you of overflow information and what you are trying to work on to ensure you don't stray too far off the path. A journal doesn't have to be a fancy leather bound book or one that is jiu jitsu 'certified.' The main idea is to keep written notes to look back on, so whether it's logged into your cell phone or written on a napkin in your pocket, having your notes with you is very important.


Since you now have an idea of where to put your goals and thoughts, we will talk about some examples of setting a goal within a reasonable time frame. Start off by analyzing your current game and honing in on where it is lacking. Let's say for example you work really well in mount but you always seems to be on your back playing guard. It may be obvious that you need to work on your takedowns to start in a more dominant position or to work on your sweeps to reverse the disadvantage. For the beginner, the solution should be broad and more concise for a more experienced player. Simply put, a beginner should focus on working takedowns and sweeps as a whole, whereas a more experienced practitioner could be focusing on a specific takedown/sweep with all the variables that could pop up within a sparring session. Picking a time frame on how long you should work on this goal is important as well. If you don't spend enough time, you could miss out on the benefits of move specific training. For starters, try to set this type of training for at least a couple week if not a month minimum because it will give you a better chance to get in some solid repetitions.


Another example of setting a goal could be more on the long-term spectrum of wanting to eventually get your black belt. If you give yourself a reasonably realistic end date and ask yourself how you are going to arrive at that destination, the goal is feasible. Putting in the time on the mats is the main factor but whether you are competing hardcore, traveling for seminars/camps/open mats, or simply attending all the classes you can at your home gym, the mat time will speak for itself. Long-term goals take short-term goals and persistence. Without hitting these checkpoints along the way, it will become a little less obvious that you are making forward progress.


Ensuring that you are training with an active mind is crucial for jiu jitsu growth. By setting goals and staying persistent, plateaus will be broken and progress will be made. Organizing your short and long term goals into a jiu jitsu journal helps to keep you on track to achieve successful results. Remember that everyone experiences these roadblocks along their jiu jitsu journeys but they don't have to be the reason you give up. Pushing through the tough times will create the most beautiful opportunities in the long run. Thinking back to when we first started jiu jitsu and were getting smothered/tapped left and right, the last thing on your mind was to give up. You took the lessons and took the time to understand why the situations were happening to you and little by little you would add new movements to survive and defend. Eventually this led to escaping or preventing a scenario from occurring and the opportunities to reverse roles started to become more apparent.

Water and Electricity are both similar in the sense that they both take the path of least resistance. If there is something in their path, they don't expend the energy to smash through the blockage. They choose to flow around and continue the journey down the stream or through the circuit. Apply this concept to your own jiu jitsu and life, when something is keeping you from moving forward, flow around the block. Set a destination but let the current guide you on your journey. Jiu jitsu is a complicated art form but the benefits are well worth the struggle. As my favorite quote from Dean Lister goes: "It's simple, but not easy."

The Engineering Mindset: Applying The Basics

The foundational concepts of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are absolutely essential to start your tool collection, but the real fun comes when you began to see the opportunities to use them. Realizing you are in a problem and knowing how to apply the solution eventually becomes second nature. In the meantime, piecing together how you should approach the situation for the highest success rate can take many hours of mat time. Struggling to do so is absolutely necessary to further your growth, so embrace the hard times of missed opportunities and bad timing for it will only make you a better practitioner in the long run.

One of the immediate things to keep in mind is that not every move works one hundred percent of the time. It's going to take a lot of practice to nail a move and be able to replicate the results regularly. By starting off with static drilling, an opponent showing no resistance, and working up to live rolling, you can be assured the repetitions will speak for themselves. Taking into consideration the nature of the art, no roll will ever be the same. By taking the opportunity to train with everyone you come across, you will vastly increase your knowledge base of what is possible and how to deal with the situation given. This a great reason to compete because your demeanor alone is enough to give yourself a deep look inside your game and where it's lacking under pressure.

If you don't train in an area that allows you to have a multitude of training partners, there are some other ways to help improve your progress on the mats. Drilling with variables can create the quick reactions that you need in a live roll, but in a more controlled environment. For example, say you are working on triangles from guard, your opponent can try different options for counters/escapes each time. Seeing where they releases their grips, how they transfer their weight, where they choose to post, how they stall for time, etc. can give you a better understanding of what you might see and several options to consider if you need to abandon the submission and transition to something more effective. Your opponent is one of your best teachers because they have an amazing ability to make you think. Nothing is more real than being forced to react to a split second.

Dealing with the lows of training can be difficult to overcome. Plateaus come at every belt level, multiple times, and in short or long durations alike. It should be noted that as you get better, so do your training partners. If you began to have a predictable game plan, your training partners will be the first ones to shine light on that. Practicing different positions is extremely important to evolve your game, even if you dislike playing from there and prefer another one. This creates some comfort to know how to defend the position because you began to realize what the person needs in order to pass or initiate an attack. The idea of reverse engineering only works because of the basic understanding of how the mechanics work. Breaking down each movement step-by-step opens up the door to many different solutions and gives a greater relaxed feel when it pops up during a round of randori.

Bridging the gap between what you know and what you don't starts with embracing the unknown. There is no guarantee that you'll see a certain position in a match and there is no guarantee that the side control escape you've been working on for the past five months is going to work the way you expect. Knowing this shouldn't upset you, but create a realization that it is important to know multiple ways to attack and defend in different positions. Certain positions also compliment each other in the flow between one another for alternative attacks or recovering positions. A good passer usually has a great guard and a good De La Riva player can easily transition to reverse DLR, deep half-guard, or X-guard. There are many possibilities for transitions, so always keep an eye out for new opportunities to flow into a new position.

The development of your own personal game begins at taking the foundational puzzle pieces and beginning to assemble them as the framework of your puzzle. You have a variety of tools to use throughout a match but knowing which ones that work best at the given moment will take awhile to discover. Your instructors are there to give you the blueprint, only you can build yourself and complete the puzzle of your game. Remember to not be afraid of taking a chance on a move because it might just be the key that unlocks the next level of your jiu jitsu!

Self-Preservation

The beautiful art of jiu jitsu; full of wonder and enjoyment. A form of poetry using two bodies to intertwine in the struggle of survival. There is no doubt that the art is an amazing masterpiece for an individual to express their mind through their actions of movement, but is there a downside? As great as jiu jitsu is for you, over time your body will begin to go through wear and tear. Just like any other vehicle, it is important to take care of your body and not be afraid to play your game a bit differently as you venture into the years beyond.

Let me first start by saying that I am far from an experienced practitioner and don't have very many years on my vehicle, but I do acknowledge the importance of self-preservation for the long haul. I have no surgeries or major injuries that I've experienced over the short time I've been training, yet some of the small ailments experienced have left me with an appreciation to maintaining my health. Taking full advantage of some of the advice I have heard, researched, and continue to discover myself, I am more than happy to share some of the tips and tricks.

One of the most crucial rules to remember for self-preservation is to remember to tap early and tap often. Even though it is preached during every class, everywhere you go, and by everyone you meet, there are still individuals who feel as though this rule does not apply to them. The ego is a powerful entity that needs to be checked or else it destroys itself. When you tap and admit your defeat in the current scenario, all you are doing is resetting the game and it honestly doesn't get any better than that. You don't die, you won't lose your limbs, and you learn a valuable lesson. The lesson varies from time to time, but overall you learn what not to do.

Over years of practice, knowing what not to do becomes extremely relevant. For example, if you get into a new situation that you have not been in before and you understand what your opponent has for controls, it becomes second nature to start to use reverse engineering on the position. How did you get there? What does he need to do for you to tap? What grip needs to be broken first? By analyzing your opponent's options you can prevent them furthering their attack and search to undo what they have done.

Even if you tap often, injuries are not completely out of the question. Taking care of your body is essentially for long years of practice. Practicing proper nutrition, strength/cardio training, and regular stretching can lead to longevity in your training. If you do not know where to start, it is highly recommended to seek guidance through your coach or a personal trainer to give you the tools you need for a successful regime. Good hygiene can also lead to extended years of training. There have been too many horror stories of people missing time training due to infections or diseases, and if left untreated, these could compromise your own health and those around you.

Not every day of training should a battle to the death. Spending some days drilling technique or being defensive specific can go a long way to increase performance. Giving your body a break from the hardcore grind is absolutely necessary for prolonging your energy and mat time. If you are going to train five days a week, twice a day, then your body needs some time to recover. Listen to your body, rest is essential for growth.

 Learning shouldn't stop if you are injured and your appearance at training should be just as consistent. Take the time to show up and take notes, support your peers, and take advantage of viewing the class from afar. Seldom do we take the chance to sit out from a roll or technique and just watch. You may begin to understand some of the details that you hadn't noticed before. That move that always seems to work on you has a weakness that you couldn't see until you saw it at a distance and not in the moment. Making your training more of a mental process can help you put more of the pieces of the puzzle together, don't skip class because you can't roll!

Appreciate all the time you have on the mat because some day you may not be able to anymore. There are many people who overcome great obstacles to learn the art, but there are also people who cannot due to serious problems. Every time you skip a class because you aren't feeling it or you're too tired, you are wasting time that so many people wish they could have. Your worst day of being smashed on the mat after a twelve hour day of work and 4 hours of sleep, only to do it all again the next day may be a struggle, but it's worth ever second.

Take the time you have and cherish it, through the good and the bad, in sickness and health, to death do you part. That intensity level might be a little over-the-top, but it is important to understand the significance behind the message. Enjoy what you have while it's here, for life is ever-changing. Time will tap us all out in the end, so give it your all while you can.

The Engineering Mindset: Foundational

The jiu jitsu journey is a life-long quest to create your game, adapt to any situation that you may come across, and evolve into the best practitioner that you can be. Constructing a solid foundation by working on fundamental movements and techniques is a good way to start, but what happens in a situation where you don't have all the ingredients for your recipe? Do you immediately panic and cause yourself to thrash an make a mistake, or do you begin to look outside the box at the larger picture? By applying concepts of what you need to solve the equation at hand, you create many new opportunities.






First off, let's start by taking a look at some foundational principles:

1. Space - The ability to execute a movement, whether it be a sweep, attack, escape, or defense, are all dependent on the amount of space you have created. By controlling the amount of space between you and your opponent, you can keep the roll in your own favor. Pressure Passing, Stiff Arm Escape, and keeping an Active Closed Guard are a few examples of space management. The easy thing to think of is that the more space you have, the greater the chance of escape and tightening the space will create a higher level of control.
2. Leverage - The key to a great attack and defense is having the biggest output for the least amount of input. With this being the idea of jiu jitsu as a whole, we are specifically looking for leverage. Leverage is the reason why an arm breaks during an arm bar and the reason why a sweep works better at a particular angle. How do we mange to harness the power of leverage you might ask? In order to do so we must ask ourselves how a lever works, but depending on your frame of reference it can differ. A lever is a device that moves a load at a pivot point on an angular plane by a force applied to both ends. In relation to jiu jitsu, the device is the arm/leg with the fulcrum being where the knees are pinched. By isolating the free side of this lever and applying force towards an end of it, the torque against the elbow becomes tremendous. Likewise, during a scissor sweep the pivot point is the person doing the sweeping and the opponent is the lever. By closing the space by combining the masses of you and your opponent and using your shin as the pivot point, the momentum of rocking backwards and using your legs as a pendulum will pull the opponent cutting out their base (example shown above)
3. Base/Posture - A solid base and posture are absolutely necessary for the use of defensive tactics. This means that your center of gravity is lower, making it more difficult to be swept or forced out of position and your posture is upright and unwavering. A solid base can be as simple as having your legs far apart with your hips sunk down low (active hips). Similarly, when attacking your opponent the focus should be disrupting your opponent's base. This can be done by breaking their posture or making them move from discomfort (applying a submission).
4. Weight Distribution - Where and how you apply your weight is different for each scenario. Keeping an opponent pinned in side control is different from maintaining position in mount and sweeping an opponent when they are standing is very different than knee slicing through someone's open guard. Directly linked to base and posture, weight distribution is the reason why an opponent can be off-balanced or smothered into the mat with no way out. Knowing where to apply the force of your body depends on where your center of gravity is in relation to your opponent. This idea can be applied in the opposite manner by reversing someone who is too far over that imaginary line. Gravity is a take no prisoners kind of force and not afraid to drag you down when the timing is right. Be cautious of where you post because a table only stand because of equal weight distribution.
5. Isolation - Before attacking your opponent, it is important to have complete control over them. By isolating the area of attack, the opponent is left with little options to defend and left virtually helpless. In a defensive standpoint, isolation is the first thing to break in order to survive and escape. An important idea to remember is what your opponent needs in order to successfully attack or defend. By reacting to the options quicker than your opponent, you are more likely to achieve success in executing your technique.
   
6. Momentum - Movement as whole is touched upon in a previous article, but it's still important to keep this in the forefront of every roll. Momentum is the spark that you need to sweep your opponent. It is the reason a throw is so effective and why an escape is possible in the midst of movement. By flowing with the direction of movement, one can operate with minimum effort and maximum efficiency.

Although these are only several of the many principles in their summarized forms, it is important to understand why these things apply to your jiu jitsu. With a solid comprehension of the basics, a jiu jitsu practitioner can use these as tools to build a bigger arsenal. Innovation is the beauty of the art, and understanding what you have in front of you can open many new doors. Stay posted for part two of The Engineering Mindset series.