No one is born knowing how to fight. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu requires blood, sweat, and tears like all other combat sports and self-defence martial arts.
As a white belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, you’re probably frustrated with the frequent tapping you, like most beginners, view as a failure. You’re currently failing to realise that with every second you spend on that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu mat, you’re improving.
With that said, there are various tips that you can implement in your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training to improve at a faster rate. In this article, we’ll shed light on some of these tips to help you keep your head in the game.
1. Forget About Immediate Success
The first and most important tip is that going into a sport like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with a need for instant gratification is setting yourself up for failure.
Succeeding in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu requires persistence, resilience, and hard work. However, this applies to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and all aspects of life.
Yes, the feeling of being at the bottom of the food chain as a white belt can be overwhelming and frustrating, but just as there are steps that you need to climb to get to the top of a building, there are stages that you need to get through to earn that black belt you’re after.
2. Do Not Tap The Mat
One of the most common mistakes that novice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters make, especially when rolling with other beginner fighters, is to tap on the mat for submission.
The problem with that is that the opponent might not hear the tap. If your partner is immersed in the drill, they probably won’t pay that much attention to anything else, including the sound you’re tapping on the mat, which can result in you passing out or getting hurt.
Rather than tapping on the mat, you want to tap on your partner. Are Both hands trapped? Use your feet to stomp on the mat until your partner hears the tap. If this isn’t an option, resort to verbal submission.
3. Drill Your Techniques Slowly
No matter the activity we engage in, we’re all trying to learn fast and be fast. Being impatient can do more bad than good when trying to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, though, because you risk forgetting or skipping integral moves, which, over time, leads to ingraining wrong motor patterns.
You want to take your time drilling each technique as a white belt. Drill your opponent as slow as possible to promote the correct motor patterns. If you forget a step, always ask your teacher and avoid skipping any steps. And remember, repetition is the mother of skill.
Once you’ve perfected the technique with the ideal form at a slow pace, you can only begin to add to your speed. And don’t just go Quicksilver out of nowhere; increase your speed gradually!
4. Master Your Escape Game
An integral part of being good at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has a solid escape game. The Hip and the Bridge escapes are the most notable escape techniques you need to master as a white belt.
Why these two techniques in particular? Because Side Control and Mount will be your sworn enemies, with the hip and the bridge being your saviours.
Remember that all escape techniques are derived from the Hip and the Bridge, so nailing them to a tee will positively influence your escape game in the long run.
5. Keep Your Emotions at Bay
In martial arts and contact sports, panic is the worst thing you can do when in a challenging position. It would be best to learn how to keep your emotions at bay. You can’t show your opponent any signs of tiredness or discomfort; otherwise, they’ll continue to apply pressure, which will only amplify your feelings and worsen things.
It would help if you also kept in mind that panicking will make it harder to get out of a challenging situation. So, you must train yourself to remain calm and collected in such scenarios to think clearly and swiftly work your way out of them.
6. Learn How to Break Falls
In addition to honing your escape skills, you must learn how to break a fall effectively. Failure to do so will increase your chances of getting hurt.
Learning how to break falls isn’t just helpful in the context of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; you can utilise what you’ve learned in your day-to-day life. If you stumble as you’re going down some stairs, good technique can help you break the fall.
Another technique vital to your safety is rolling, both forward and backward. Once you combine the ability to tuck the chin and roll over the shoulder with the ability to break falls, you significantly reduce the risk of getting hurt in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match.
7. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
The final advice we will give is that people advance at different rates. Some people advance quickly, whereas others need time. This boils down to various factors, including age, training frequency, athleticism, etc.
At the end of the day, though, those who get to the top are the ones that maintain consistency. So, rather than comparing your progress to others, put your energy into staying consistent.
Time To Start BJJ!
Your journey towards that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt will be long and weary, but one thing is guaranteed: slow and steady wins the race, so don’t rush the process and try to enjoy it as much as possible.
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Until next time!
You’ll have the opportunity to see how your fighting techniques fare under stress. You won’t have the chance to evaluate your balance except while rolling. No matter how much work you put into perfecting your stance, it would be best if you had an actual opponent to push you to the edge and put your skills to the test.
You won’t learn how to swim until you get into the water. It’s the same here, so make sure to spice things up in your training sessions and partner with opponents of different skill levels, body sizes, and weights. Even if you have to play defensively, you’ll learn a lot.
4. Drilling Should Be a Key Part of Your Training
Drilling and rolling go hand in hand in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. So, drilling is repeating a specific fighting technique until you develop the needed muscle memory to make it second nature.
Make drilling a daily habit even when you don’t have a class. During your classes, you’ll have too many things to capture your attention, whether learning a new technique for the first time or rolling with your peers.
So, adding drilling on top of all that won’t be feasible. Once you know the technique, take your time to practise in your room, or meet up with your classmates and practise after your training sessions.
There are different types of drilling that you should know when getting into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu like:
- Single: As the name implies, here, you’re repeating a single technique over and over. This can include a submission, a guard, or a sweep.
- Sequential: Once you’re confident in performing each technique independently, you can take your drilling to the next level and start combining different techniques in one fluid movement. This way, you can work on your choreography and learn how to smoothly transition from one movement to the next.
- Responsive: If you can get a partner to drill with you, they can start to mix things a bit to interrupt your sequence and see how you can respond and adapt to your opponent’s different movements. This is especially useful leading up to a tournament, as you don’t need to become too comfortable in your bubble and forget that jiu Jitsu matches can be unexpected.
5. Work on Your Breathing Techniques
In Jiu-Jitsu, the mental aspect is as important as the physical one. A competitive mindset can be a good motivation; however, don’t let it sweep you over to the point where you become overly competitive and tense during training.
You need to be relaxed and not feel bad about yourself if you have to tap your way out of a challenging grip. One way to get over your stress while rolling or drilling is by working on your breathing techniques.
Practice steady inhalations and exhalations, and feel the air flowing into and out your lungs. Panting and gasping for air in the ring will make your movements anything but coordinated.
6. Set Milestones for Yourself
As you progress along your white belt journey, you can set some milestones to keep yourself motivated. To stay fresh as a white belt Jiu-Jitsu player, you can aim to learn different guard styles, study the escape techniques for each significant grasping position, and be well prepared for grading.
Get Your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Belt!
One easily overlooked benefit to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the self-discipline that players learn first-hand as they get deeper into the values, legacy, and rich history that the fighting technique accumulated over the years.
We hope our guide has helped you set the right footing when starting BJJ, and you’re now ready to experience the numerous benefits that the sport brings to the table.
Our team is always here to assist you in purchasing BJJ gear and uniforms if you need any help. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Good Luck!
