The title of this blog was going to be “7 habits of Elite level grapplers” but the truth is you don’t have to be Elite level to have these habits. BUT if you do adopt these habits you might mess around and find yourself there anyway.
1. Consistency
On any list of building good habits, consistency should always be near the top. Of course you want to maintain a consistent training schedule (2-3x a week minimum), there are definitely supplemental things you can do to improve off the mat, but at the end of the day, NOTHING replaces mat time.
You should also look to be consistent with things like your diet and a regular strength and conditioning program. Nobody is saying that you can’t enjoy yourself, but not going overboard with what goes into your body will go a long way in helping with your performance. If you’re a competitor, being consistent with good eating habits and strength training regimen will help your coaches focus more on your strategy for competition than getting you back into shape. For non-competitors, you will struggle less in practice, have more energy, and a better training experience.
2. “Little things” make big differences
Don’t be a “rep champion.” Oh? You did 1,000 reps of a move but you did it poorly? Congrats! You have bad technique. Details matter! If you need to fix your positioning, fix it! If you think something is incorrect, ask. Focus on mastering the techniques that are placed in front of you, not just collecting them to say that you did them and move on to the next technique. Listen to your coach(es). Be open to criticism/discussion. Try your best to be purposeful in your actions. We all have our off days. But simply “going through the motions” every single session won't get you to where you want to be.
3. Discipline
Your coaches want to help you, they want to see you achieve your goals, reach your dreams, etc. They just can’t want it for you. They can teach you the most high-level techniques, design the greatest of training plans, have a room full of skilled training partners, but at the end of the day, it’s all up to you. What do you do when you’re “just not feeling it”? What do you say to that little voice when it says “it won’t kill you to miss a few days”? A bunch of people have been motivated to start training jiu-jitsu, a bunch of people have been motivated to do big things in jiu-jitsu. But motivation is simply a temporary thing that comes and goes on a whim. It is the thing that starts the race, discipline carries you across the finish line.
4. Start with the end in mind
You wouldn’t plan a trip without knowing your end destination, right? Your grappling journey is no different. What are you looking to accomplish? Do you want to be a world champion? Do you want to lose weight? What does your vision look like? For example: in 6 months I would like to... Or in 12 months I would like to... Once we understand where you want to go, it's much easier for us to design a training program to help you get there.
5. Be ready to adapt
You know that old Mike Tyson quote “everyone has a plan till they get hit in the mouth”? Well, on your grappling journey, you’re going to get hit in the mouth if not literally, at least metaphorically. Things like injuries, work, and general life events ARE going to happen. That nice little training plan we wrote in the above step? Get ready to have that ripped up, reworked, rewritten, and possibly changed altogether. You need to be open to new ideas, learning new skills, new strategies. And get used to the only constant being change.
6. Give your ego a role, but don’t make him the star of the show
Don’t kid yourself, we all have an ego and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It is, after all, the thing that makes us want to be good at something and that little bit of an edge that tells us we can be good at something. BUT you can’t let that ego run wild and run around thinking no matter what you accomplish that you are a finished product. Being coachable and open to growth is imperative to your success.
7. Seek Out the Hard
Comfort is the enemy in grappling. Look to challenge yourself in the training room daily. Roll with higher belts, start in disadvantageous positions with lower belts and work to get out. As you get better, focus on hitting a technique that you might not be good at x amount of times during a training session, travel to a different gym to train, etc. Relying on JUST the things you’re good at during training does not get you better. Rolling with only lower ranks and submitting them with the same techniques over and over does not get you better. Consistently seeking out the hard and challenging yourself is what gets you better. It’s not always going to be fun but it is incredibly necessary.
Can we promise that every person that reads this blog and adopts these habits will reach an elite level of skill or competition? No, of course not! However, there is an old saying that “Success leaves Clues” and we can almost guarantee that anyone who has reached an elite level of skill or competition practices these habits daily!