A Roadmap to Technical Mastery in BJJ & Developing Your Own Style

[@JamesRBentley]

My grappling dummy has been a game changer. I use it maybe 2 hours a week, focusing on techniques that I want to learn, plugging gaps in my game (and there are a lot). Sure the dummy doesn’t work for a lot of positions, but there is a lot you can improve. Best of all I can drill positions hundreds of times, watching KZbin videos to really learn intricacies. Without fail, the techniques and sequences I drill on my dummy are the ones that work best in free sparring.

[@jamesn3122]

I think they are a great investment for folks that can't get to the gym a lot, but nothing beats mat time. If they were cheaper I'd consider it, but I already train 8+ hours a week so not convinced it would be worth it

[@clucero1986]

I have one I haven't filled yet, looks exhausting. What did you use and how much did it take?

[@noway5266]

​@@clucero1986 10-20 lbs of Poly-fil

[@CarMad97ci]

I like using a grappling dummy, but sometimes the white belts all roll with each other…

[@JumpToChorus]

I’ve been on the fence about getting one, Amazon has one that’s like $40. What you’re describing is what I’ve always suspected it would be best for-just drilling and memorizing steps. You might’ve just inspired me to finally take the plunge

[@tededo]

EXACTLY. Took me 20 years of mat time, to develop my game. Love your video.

[@jwillard911]

I'm a target opportunist. I tend to allow the person to move where they want( starting with jrs.) and always look for the easiest things to attack. If I miss it or get caught I still learn. At 50yr old I have to work smarter.

[@TheEmilewatson]

hey there Chewjitsu great video you have inspired to Brazilian jiu-jitsu

[@Chewjitsu]

Hope you enjoy it.

[@gmenendez9569]

Thank you for finally mailing this concept and roadmap down. I just started 3 weeks ago but I’m 53 so I need to turbo charge my JJ and frankly get decent with 2 years so can refocus on kickboxing. I shared this with a friend and he’s down. Thanks Chewy

[@timpower7992]

Right on about the positional drilling. I'm a member of a gym has a separate class dedicated to positional drilling three times a week. Every month we focus on a single position (mount, side control, guard, half-guard, turtle/back) working the position from offense and defense. In the first week we're introduced to a handful of attacks and escapes and by the end of the month we're going live for the entire the class, taking a sort of a crawl, walk, run approach while getting immediate feedback after every round. While the fundamentals classes provide a nice overview of different positions, the positional drilling classes are where I've really started to become competent in each position. To add on the if/then approach: Every technique has certain conditions that must be met in order for the technique to be effective. While working through a particular "flow" identify the conditions that are required for each technique. For example, if I'm in guard and my opponent's hands are on the mat (if/condition), I might go for an elbow roll (then/technique). If that fails because they post out farther (if/condition), I might try for a kimura (then/technique). However, if my opponent drives back into me (if/condition), I'll look to go with their momentum and shoot my hips out for a guillotine (then/technique). As you work through the positions, it's not enough to learn the techniques, you must identify the correct conditions.

[@jamesn3122]

The approach seems great for consistent training and would be awesome at my gym. Unfortunately I feel a lot of coaches focus on a week by week or even class by class approach since so many folks only train once or twice a week

[@shannonhepp3328]

That sounds amazing! You're very lucky to have a gym that does that lol. Like James said, I've only seen gyms that focus on the class to class or week to week topics.

[@ShaneHarveyMusic]

So true man!!!!! Im in my 3rd week. Here are my observations as a beginner white belt. Often the instruction demo starts with 3 moves to submit repeated for my elementary brain like 3 times max. Im excited. Ok. Then the instructor throws another couple moves in for the more advanced, everyone claps and away we go. By the time ive done the first couple the other moves go right out the window. Within a short period of time its an open roll snd i get no chance to work what ive learned. Im told just keep showing up and rolling. It will get better. It would be great to be given a sole opportunity to just do what I learned in a roll situation. I also heard that the first year of bjj you should only be concerned about defence. You cant execute an offensive move if you cant defend first. This is another oversight because they 99% of the time show a new white belt offence moves with no explanation of what to do defensively.

[@jakehammond12345]

same at my Gym, here's three variations, take 2 minutes maximum to do them then listen to some more complex stuff.

[@Wengelsworkshop]

I could definitely speak on this forever. Lol Situational drilling is very good. You can add layers to that by making it positional reaction training also. Examples of this would be to start in side control and the guy on the bottom has to turtle away as soon as you say go. Or starting in 50-50 and one guy attacks while the other looks to stand and clear legs. Next would be grip fighting. Understand that at a high level fighting off their grips and getting your own is a TOP priority. The last thing I'll add and never see taught is learning how to complete sweeps by maintaining a foot grip and finding a proper technical stand up rather than relying on momentum without maintaining grips. Also when you are using momentum sweeps stop kicking the person away. Keep your knees close to your body and this will help you follow the person up instead of extending your legs away which creates space and causes unnecessary scrambles. These were all big game changers for me. Sorry for the long winded answer.

[@ChoonMa]

This is super timely because I have been having thoughts along the lines of this question recently. Thanks for answering my question before I asked it!

[@darylkenny4562]

Positional sparring is one of my go tos. I just set it up a lot of times without my partner even knowing. For example there’s a sweep that I am working on catching out of bottom side control. So for 2 days straight I would let people pass my guard. If they got mounted then my new sweep didn’t work. If it did then that’s cool, lets set it up again. It actually confused one of my training partners last week because he caught me in a submission from there and I said just start again from that position. He looked at me funny and I said I’m working on something. So then he stopped because he thought I wanted to try drilling something. I said no no keep going full power. I explained afterwards that sparring to me is a laboratory where I take the techniques and learn to apply them in real time against a live opponent.

[@Patrick-sheen]

A great video that captures the essence of BJJ and quite possibly all martial arts. What is clear is that at lower belts, we often win because our opponent has made a mistake and vice versa. A lot of white belt competition for example is a series of `mistakes’ or lack of control, before someone catches a position and submission. As we progress through the belts it becomes far more about control and breaking down the others’ control, technique and defences and finding a way to bring the opponent into our area of speciality. Of course there is a physical component to all of this, but through the process of training and honing skill, we begin to close that gap more and more. Something useful to think about after every session is did I `win’ my rolls by design or was it more down to luck? In this way I/we can start to hone our craft. I will be listening to this video many times in future 🤙🤙🤙

[@simonmathman5443]

Fantastic video! I teach math and physics, and a lot of the idea discussed in the video are relevant to that area of my life. The way Chewy worded things is exactly what I think about education with my students, and it's something that clicked on the best way for me to move forward with my training as a new blue belt.

[@openwaters2988]

Yes, math is just like Jiu Jitsu. I've noticed that over the course of learning through white and blue belt these past few years.

[@RMatty95]

Thanks for this. You worded it exactly how I needed to hear

[@medicineandbrazilianjiujit8511]

Thank you for posting, Professor Chewy. I always gain valuable insight from your videos.

[@isaacmartinez7866]

Chewy, thank you for all the videos you produce. All these videos are on repeat and are my motivation to keep getting to the gym and train. Will make a trip out to your gym to train with you at some point in my journey. Thank you again! 1.5 year blue belt

[@Chewjitsu]

Happy to help Isaac. Hope to see you on the mats someday.

[@CBraxton]

Great video. One of your best. To your point about a specific few areas of competence-your comments in “Survive” about Roger Gracie’s performance in 2009 ADCC and how he used basic techniques perfected were very eye opening. I did go back and watch his matches. Amazing to see him just methodically use the same thing over and over to mow through the best of the best.

[@Chewjitsu]

It was a masterpiece of a performance.

[@kylejeffers4761]

Half guard game is my fav.

[@Lincoln352]

Thanks Chewey needed this information!

[@newenglandguitarman3345]

As always , great advice from Chewjitsu

[@markjuarezmma]

I like the last point you make 👍

[@danielskrivan6921]

The blue and purple belts at my gym were talking about their styles. The purple belt said his style is offense. I said, "yeah, people find my jiu-jitsu pretty offensive too."

[@dw.discgolf]

Lmao I feel this rn

[@bjjstudent4life]

Always quality content Sir. Much respect

[@ksonss]

If Chewy posts a video Then I will watch, like and comment.

[@sandsand5483]

Love my deep half guard, because if I feel like my guard is being threatened, I can usually find a deep half entry and work from there. Every failed attempt at any other guard turns into a deep half opportunity.

[@nolimitmixology2101]

I love jiu-jitsu in general I prefer No Gi but nothing against GI of course. My question is that I don't really care about colour of belts , my goal is to be better every training. Is it wrong to not hunting belts? I don't have to be black belt , but same time my goal is to have it skills of black belts but mostly in No Gi. Great contents thank you.

[@leonufchampfan1258]

Tons of awareness and mental anguish. I enjoy bjj tho

[@MshadowsenseoC]

Thanks for the tips, this is actually very helpfull!

[@normundselksnitis5558]

Brilliant 👍

[@steelybojangles]

I always feel lost in what I should be drilling because there are just so many moves. Thinking about the 20/80 rule (ie 20% of moves are used 80% of the time), what 10 moves do you suggest newer people concentrate on and drill to get proficient at first?

[@shannonhepp3328]

Would also love to see an answer to this!

[@thepracticaldad]

Following

[@10Sethg]

He commented in one of his videos that he got really good at one thing for each position. I forget the details but it was something like learn one takedown, one guard pass, and one submission. I’m interested in his response. My opinion is to pick things you are naturally drawn to.

[@IDESERTSTORM]

Chewy, Interested in your thought process on whether it's more important to focus on a wide range of techniques vs picking 3-4 and honing in on only those techniques until you develop "technical mastery".

[@jamesn3122]

I try to focus on positional systems as opposed to atomized techniques, interested to see if Chewey or others reply with their approach. I'd say if you really want to focus in on one technique, always learn at least one other technique connected to it at the same time to start building that systemic web.

[@jakehammond12345]

The gym I go to is superb in some respects but situational sparring, repping and coaching are not high on the agenda. Excellent instructionals, getting you thinking about concepts and time rolling is all there but I just haven't developed in that environment as much as I'd like. It seems to suit some people who seem to be able to transfer instruction to memory and then rolling but for a lot of us it's lacking coaching and repping. It seems to create a duality of white belts and upper belts, those who have got over the bump somehow and those floundering . Moving away for a year and a new gym... this in theory should bring it all together for me, I hope ....

[@danielskrivan6921]

Step 1: Learn the techniques. Step 2: Spend a bunch of time playing with them to learn when they do and don't work.

[@belatorius3442]

Saw you at the airport in Kentucky Friday. Dunno if you were getting ready for a comp or something but you sure did look mad 😂

[@Chewjitsu]

Haha. Nah. Wasn't mad. That's usually my thinking face. You should have said hey

[@trekynerd]

What I do is put my self in a bad spot that I want to work on and use my team mates reaction to help with my it that then what. If I don't like what happens I ask upper belts or my coaches about technique after the roll or try different things and watch videos online lol

[@MichaelJames707]

🙏🏼

[@jero1918]

I call rolling jiu-jitsu candy. I am guilty in overindulging. I don't drill enough.

[@yosemitmarrero4084]

Ooda loop… it’s all about the reactionary time!

[@adamwood87]

off topic, but: after rolling, sometimes i'll feel intense pressure in my throat like a cross between acid reflux or having air trapped in my throat. anyone know what i'm talking about?

[@AlkaRez]

Eating habits a few hours before rolling. Notice what your eating before training and start there? A year old but..I care enough lol

[@adamwood87]

@@AlkaRez nah, i think it was from people putting intense pressure on my stomach. anyway, that was a year ago, now i'm doing the crushing.

[@loganandblake]

When you talk about not situational sparring that’s how my gym is a lot of time. We will occasionally do situational sparring but the majority of the time you wait for a full roll or an open mat to work on what we’ve learned. I’m not a fan of it at all

[@mus1cal4ddict76]

I miss the ambulance 😢😢

[@TransparentlyReal]

Smoke!

[@jujitsuman9934]

Tell Dan to just take TRT ……ya know gotta get back to your youth 🙄