Training With A Purpose

The rudimentary statement of the more mat time you have, the better you will become is not only true but highly underestimated when you train effectively. What do I mean by 'training effectively' you might ask, and the answer is simple: Always train with a goal in mind. If you do not have a focal point, you won't see the desired result as quickly as you should. Improvement does take time, but keeping a plan for your training time will help trim the fat of progress. Lets take a deeper look on how to train smarter to break those plateaus and sharpen your skills.

We will start off first by finding the key components of what is considered a successful training session. Obviously we want to fix our weaknesses and keep our strengths up to par at the very least, but how can we extract the formula for overall efficiency of our training? Take into consideration how much time you have allotted in a given session, who are your training partners during this period of time, and the conditions of the scenario that you are in. By analyzing your environment, you will have a greater chance of developing a solid plan that will maximize your overall goal(s).

When we consider the factor of time in our training sessions, we can make those fine adjustments in the 'Plan of the Day' to keep us from wasting valuable time. A good portion of people have to work for a living, and this can drastically decrease the amount of time allowed to get onto the mats. If you can only come in for a short period of time or once a week, you might consider to spend a majority of your time drilling techniques down to the detail. Whereas the individual who comes in for double sessions most of the week will have to learn to pace themselves throughout their week to avoid getting burnt out. Maybe in these sessions we only focus on our weak positions and perform positional sparring opposed to a normal roll, making the time well spent in breaking those bad habits and learning the timing of the movements. Another focus in the topic of time could be a tournament that is quickly approaching. In this case, you'd want to use the training sessions to solidify what you already know and the moves tin which you are proficient. Repetition is king for the way of the warrior.

Training with a large variety of individuals, whether they vary in skill or body type, is extremely important for one's growth. During the session, if you do not adapt your game to who you are paired up with, you will miss out on a valuable opportunity to help one another grow. When rolling with someone less skilled than yourself, there is no need to always go for the tap time after time. It will help you more to catch and release these submission attempts and continue the movement. Learn to let these training partner's work their games so you can learn to flow into the next set of possibilities. For partners with a higher skill set than yourself, you may try to aim for straight up survival to ensure that your defenses are tight. And lastly for those partners of equal skill, this is where you should be playing your main game to keep yourself honest. Partners that are around your skill set are often going to be some of your most challenging matches, simply because it's going to really be a battle of the wits.

Finally we get to scenario based training... How does this differ from the other 'scenarios' above? This could be when you or your partner are slightly injured or limitations are set to make the rolls more difficult. Utilizing just your legs to work on good hip movement and guard retention will help you rely less on using your arms to control space. Not having a training partner when you're at home is a good scenario where you would have to have some alternative options of training. Solo drills, grappling dummies, pillows, broom handles, your own belt, and whatever else you may find will keep you training when you simply don't have a chance to get to class. Always be looking for creative ways to get in your reps!

Take your training to the next level by keeping a solid idea what you are trying to achieve each time you step on the mat. Some kind of plan as simple as working on escaping side control to re-guard can give you more to work towards and help spark more enjoyment at the end of the round by having accomplished something. It's hard to always see your progress as a whole because we are so fixated within the day-to-day details, rather than the bigger picture.

Our progress is tracked more like the stock market, yet a little more stable. Picture zooming out and seeing how far you've come since you began training and you'll notice that there are many small waves and troughs. This is normal! Dwelling on a bad couple days on the mat will drain you mentally. Find yourself a feasible goal, and start working towards it. I guarantee you'll find more enjoyment in your training and that's exactly when you'll start improving again. Mindset is the key to success, and planning your training accordingly will keep you training with a purpose.