What is the difference between a beginner and advanced technique in BJJ?

[dunc]

I wanted address this part in particular.

When you learn a new technique, it can often take a while before you get it to be functional in sparring. So if you judge yourself by whether you got the technique to work or not, that can be very discouraging. Instead, I would suggest you set up a series of progressively moving goalposts.

First is just recognizing when the opportunity was there for a specific technique. “Hey, I could have tried a scissor sweep a moment ago. Too late now.” If you realized that, give yourself a point.

Next is recognizing the opportunity and actually trying the move, whether or not it worked. If you saw the chance for the scissor sweep and you went for it, give yourself a point even if your attempt got totally stuffed.

Next is figuring out why the move didn’t work. If you went for the scissor sweep and it didn’t work, but you can identify at least one detail that you got wrong which contributed to that failure, give yourself a point.

Next is starting to fix the problems. In the previous step, you identified a flaw in your technique. If the next time you try the scissor sweep you manage to fix the detail you noted previously, give yourself a point.

If your sweep still isn’t working, go back a couple of steps and identify another detail you got wrong and work on fixing it. Give yourself points for those.

After some times looping through the previous steps, you’ll probably start to have some occasional success with the technique. Yay!

But now you’re starting to have some confidence in your scissor sweep. You think you’ve cleaned up most of the technical flaws. You try it again on someone new - and it gets completely stuffed and your sparring partner passes your guard. What’s going on?

Well, this is when you discover that your sparring partner knew a counter to the scissor sweep that you’ve never seen. Or you discover that there’s some aspect of the position you were unaware of that meant you shouldn’t have even tried for the scissor sweep at that moment. Or the other person is so skilled that the sweep only works on them if you get 10 out of 10 details exactly correct, and you had been getting away with 7 out of 10 mostly correct on less skilled opponents.

So you continue with the same iterative process, learning the counter to the counter, or learning the indications that you shouldn’t try the sweep at a certain moment, or cleaning up the additional details that you thought you had mastered but hadn’t really. But give yourself credit for each incremental step of recognizing and improving each tiny detail. You’ll probably find that you progress faster and feel less frustration along the way.

This is a great point
I find that the first time I try something new, I only get part of the way there. The next time it kinda works, but not quite right and so on
It’s the natural process of moving a technical understanding into practical application I think

 

[skribs106]

This is a great point
I find that the first time I try something new, I only get part of the way there. The next time it kinda works, but not quite right and so on
It’s the natural process of moving a technical understanding into practical application I think

That's where the frustration is when we don't do that technique again for a while.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf106]

That’s totally understandable, but if you’re looking for them then you’ll discover them much quicker than the students who are just trying to memorize the techniques.

The instructor also carries some responsibility for trying to communicate these ideas. It’s not really practical to take the time to explain all the concepts behind each detail of every technique as you teach it, but I make the effort to at least mention the most important principles behind whatever we are working on that day and periodically take a couple of minutes to show how the concepts underlying this weeks techniques relate to the techniques I showed the previous week. I also set aside a little time for Q&A and troubleshooting at the end of class and this often gives me the chance to demonstrate how they can use some principle they’ve previously learned to fix a problem they are having with the current material.

If your instructor doesn’t do any of that, then you have to do some extra work to figure it out on your own. I can also recommend some good YouTube channels or instructional videos that do an excellent job of explaining concepts. If you watch those, don’t worry about trying to learn the specific techniques they are demonstrating. Instead, focus on the ideas and see if you can understand how those ideas relate to the techniques your teacher is showing you.

I'd be interested in those channels/videos.

 

[wab25]

That's where the frustration is when we don't do that technique again for a while.

Thats where finding the core fundamentals becomes important. Even though the technique is different each week or class or whatever... you are still getting repetitions of the fundamentals. Thats why I mentioned the frequency of things. Instead of looking at the differences, look at what is the same... what part have you done before, in something else. The more fundamental or basic something is, the more you will find it in the system.

When those core fundamentals get better... then learning the move of the week, will become much easier, as you don't have to work on the fundamental parts as well as the move part. When those fundamentals get better, you will suddenly start to find those moves of the week showing up... This is because the fundamentals have become part of how you move, you no longer have to think about them, you start to see the openings, the setups....

When you work on the move of the week.... break it down. Where does the power comes from? Where does the leverage come from? How is my body working in unity? How am I controlling the other guy? What structure am I using? I made this small adjustment to a hand position... what did that do to me, my structure, my power, my leverage, my position.... and what did that do to the other guy? As you get better at breaking this stuff down... you will start to see very similar parts show up, again and again and again... in most of the techniques you are doing. These are the fundamentals.... and getting better at these will open the most doors for you in terms of techniques that you can apply.

 

[dunc]

That's where the frustration is when we don't do that technique again for a while.

Yeah I can see that
That's why, in my view, you need to figure ways to do specific sparring for your fundamentals. Either within class (during free sparring) &/or after class with a buddy

 

[drop bear107]

I'm just venting my frustration. I'm allowed to be frustrated. Just not allowed to let that frustration win.

Vent all you want.

Then pick a fundamental you like and try to make that happen in rolling for the next month or so.