If you aren't in class, do you think about grappling? If the answer is no, then you are missing a way to improve your jiu jitsu outside of the gym. There are two kinds of really beneficial study for making yourself more successful on the mat. The first one is analyzing your class performance which requires no research or outside sources, just simply think about what was and was not successful from class that day. If it helps keep a log and refer back to it. The second is watching matches. It doesn't matter if it's judo, wrestling, MMA, sumo, or jiu jitsu, whatever grappling you watch can be beneficial. Technical instructionals are interesting, but watching matches shows what works at an elite level. Those ideas can then inform your execution. You don't have to be like me and spend significant amounts of free time watching old ADCC and IBJJF tournaments, but if you feel like you are stagnating, start thinking about grappling differently utilizing examples of more skilled practitioners. 

It is difficult to learn a physical skill theoretically. Meaning if you want to learn how to do something utilizing your body, thinking about it only gets you so far. You can't learn to paint without painting, write without writing, or cook without cooking. The same is true of sports, there is no way you can be good at a sport without playing that sport. An added layer to that is we can all make baskets undefended, hit balls off a pitching machine, and drive a golf ball into the stratosphere, but how many of us can execute those things under pressure with a human variable? As fun as drilling is in grappling, it really doesn't translate to actually effective grappling. Live resistance is the most efficient means to see what works and what doesn't. If you aren't working against defense, you aren't actually doing the activity or really working towards the activity, it's a simulation. It is more difficult, but you will learn how to defend and apply a rear naked choke better by being in that live scenario with that as your goal, than seeking an ideal circumstance on a willing partner. Failure is the quickest path to learning, so actually do the thing.  

This category might have a misleading name. Over the guard passes are about stacking your opponent with their toes over their head rather than some sort of flying situation. When you think of a pass that involves stacking it falls into this category. Although, the result of this style of passing often leads to the other two varieties. The true finish of this passing style is a back take of some sort; however, nobody will fault you if you would like to lump all stack passes in this category.
               A good passing system includes all these styles in tandem, and one flows seamlessly from the other. Although terminology for the different passes can be helpful, sometimes it gets in the way of accomplishing the task. Oftentimes we seek a perfect example of a textbook move and while striving for that is positive, it also limits our possibilities. The benefit of showing techniques is that you can demonstrate a tested and verified means of accomplishing a given task. When we look at something like passing though, we see ugly but effective more than the ideal expression of a demonstrated move. It will lead to more success if you seek the ideal for you rather than something prescribed by your coach or the internet. The main goals of passing are to set your distance, establish control over the opposition, work into one of the three passing varieties, and establish a dominant position. In focusing on those things, I believe your passing will dramatically improve.

It seems counterintuitive, but being rigid is not helpful to your grappling. Being stiff does not allow you to absorb impact which makes injuries more likely. It also makes it harder to react. Obviously, you don't just want to fall over, but you have to find the balance between maintaining your position and being able to adapt to the circumstance. We are Chuva(rain) for this reason. Water molds to its circumstance and doesn't break, but is still immensely powerful.

Before we get to passing, we must get to the point of being able to achieve our positions. The biggest key for my personal passing success is being able to control my opposition without being controlled. That means I need to engage at an appropriate distance, break their connections and make connections of my own. If I am too far back, they can stand up. If I allow them to make connections, they have control. Allowing them to have control is exactly what we do not want. They need to have at least three contact points on me to play an effective guard. If I can limit them to two, that is all I need to begin seeking for my positions. Once I have limited or eliminated points of contact, I need to find an angle that will allow me to accomplish one if not all the three passing types. This angle and base passing type will vary person to person, but it is highly unlikely you will have success addressing the guard straight on.  Creating the angle will be followed by beating the line of the hips, this is where we get into our passing positions. Finally, we finish the pass with chest to chest or chest to back connection.

I read a significant amount, and one of the things I've had a lot of interest in recently is something referred to as "the Process". Multiple books I've read say former University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban tells his players to not worry about winning national championships, bowl games, SEC championships, or even individual games. Your goal should be to achieve the best result for that play, that rep, that down, that situation. This is grappling, we must focus on the immediate task at hand. There are always steps to achieve the end result and if we skip those steps, we make mistakes. Think about the immediate task in front of you, no more no less, once that task is completed, move on to the next task, and the next, until you reach what you have set out to achieve. If you can be the most efficient at coming out on top of each exchange it is very difficult to deny that you will be successful.   

This is something I'm trying to fix in almost everyone right now. We need to do a better job of defending the space between our hip and armpit. This why underhooks are so important, it's why elbow knee connection is so important. If you can control the space between elbow and armpit, you can direct a lot of things. We have to be more conscious of where our bodies are and what we are doing in training. Stop giving up control unconsciously.

Coming up in jiu jitsu, I sought out hard rounds. I wanted to roll with people who were better than me as much as I could, and I still do. When I go train someplace else, I want to train with people who are better than me by a long shot. I want to go get beat up by Igor, Stan, and Professor Doug when I go to the Bronx. I want the smoke at Pallaton. As a white belt I wanted to roll with my instructors, and as I progressed, I rolled with giant black belts. It's good to win, but it's also good to have your mistakes exposed. You won't get that playing it safe.

Physically grappling is difficult, conceptually it is not. There are really only a limited number of options and things to do. In our tasked based games approach you have a specific goal that you need to accomplish. In saying that, you must use the goal as a guide to the task you are trying to accomplish. An example would be if the goal is free your knee, logically you would need to remove your knee from the situation. IT would then not make sense to push your knee further into the predicament you are trying to remove yourself from. If the goal is sweep with a cross-collar grip, then you would need to utilize that cross-collar grip in a way that you could remove the opposition's base points leading to the most likely path being a sweep to the side your grip is on. The ability to think about what you're doing and why you're doing it is critical to jiu jitsu progress, this isn't a plug and play activity there is work involved. The games are available to you to think about before you come in to train, it is okay to strategize, come in knowing what you are working and do it. Make yourself better.  

There is no magic pill, there is no secret recipe, if you want to be a better grappler, you need to show up and show up with regularity. It is the indisputable path to success in any endeavor, and if you truly want to get better that is the price you pay. The people who get a black belt in 3-4 years train all day every day. If you have a life that's probably not possible, but once a week is the path of a 20-year journey to black belt. No matter what you choose to do, if you aren't putting in some kind of work towards your goal the people that are will pass you up.  The only reason that I am where I am is because I kept showing up, I am not naturally gifted or talented in grappling as all of my first coaches will tell you. The results only come from being in the room and doing the activity.