Being a Good Training Partner
I think it's kind of intuitive to know that you ought to be a good training partner when you are training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or any other sport; however, I believe that most of the time, we human beings tend to value more our interests than others' and so, a refresher once in a while doesn't hurt. You can still get what you want (more repetition, explore new techniques, more cardio, improving a specific part of your game, etc), but you have to be smart about it and being a good training partner is definitely a win-win. Oh, and one more thing, it requires patience!
The Frustration
How many times have you been paired up with that person, regardless of belt level, that you reasonably dislike working with? If you are a higher belt, probably a countless amount of times. When you are lower belt you don't really encounter this as much since you will be probably paired up with a more seasoned Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. In my personal experience, blue belts and 4 stripe white belts take the gold in this category of bad training partners. I went through the same stage when I was at that particular phase of my Jiu-Jitsu journey so I get it, but in retrospect, I feel that if a higher belt would have taught me how to become a better partner, I would have advanced in my BJJ much quicker. As a white belt, whenever I got called by a more experienced blue belt or even purple belt, I always felt I had to prove I was worthy of getting picked by the more advanced people. Because of my mentality at the time, I repeatedly got crushed by these higher belts. I never fully understood what "let's just flow roll" meant until my professor took his time with me and repeatedly flow-rolled as opposed to smashing me. I started to understand what drilling, positional training, and knowing when to let go of a submission because my partner failed to see the risk of injury. When I was on my way to becoming a better training partner, I noticed more people wanted to work with me, both upper and lower belts. My Jiu-Jitsu started to improve because of it, but then I found myself having to be the one that had to deal with the other person being the bad training partner and it sucked. My body language said it all when I got paired with certain people I had no wish of working with. I couldn't focus on improving when I was getting elbowed in the face or kneed in the groin area. Frustration built up very quickly and I started to grow a strong dislike for certain training partners. All I could ask myself after walking off the mats frustrated and hurt was why are these idiots like this? Why can't they use an inch of their brain and stop acting like animals? All along, I was asking the wrong questions and focusing on the wrong side of the problem. To make matters worse, I had completely forgotten that not long ago, I was exactly that training partner trying to bulldoze my way through everything.
This frustration lasted for a while until one day, out of the blue, the answer was so clear and easy. Just like my professor repeatedly showed me, I would have to now repeatedly show the other guys how to be a better training partner. It takes a lot of repetition and patience, but at the end, making your training partners better will make you better as well. The beauty of investing in people is that you create a ripple effect to where these guys will show the newcomers, how to become better training partners and thus, you create a great culture of brotherhood.
The Frustration
How many times have you been paired up with that person, regardless of belt level, that you reasonably dislike working with? If you are a higher belt, probably a countless amount of times. When you are lower belt you don't really encounter this as much since you will be probably paired up with a more seasoned Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. In my personal experience, blue belts and 4 stripe white belts take the gold in this category of bad training partners. I went through the same stage when I was at that particular phase of my Jiu-Jitsu journey so I get it, but in retrospect, I feel that if a higher belt would have taught me how to become a better partner, I would have advanced in my BJJ much quicker. As a white belt, whenever I got called by a more experienced blue belt or even purple belt, I always felt I had to prove I was worthy of getting picked by the more advanced people. Because of my mentality at the time, I repeatedly got crushed by these higher belts. I never fully understood what "let's just flow roll" meant until my professor took his time with me and repeatedly flow-rolled as opposed to smashing me. I started to understand what drilling, positional training, and knowing when to let go of a submission because my partner failed to see the risk of injury. When I was on my way to becoming a better training partner, I noticed more people wanted to work with me, both upper and lower belts. My Jiu-Jitsu started to improve because of it, but then I found myself having to be the one that had to deal with the other person being the bad training partner and it sucked. My body language said it all when I got paired with certain people I had no wish of working with. I couldn't focus on improving when I was getting elbowed in the face or kneed in the groin area. Frustration built up very quickly and I started to grow a strong dislike for certain training partners. All I could ask myself after walking off the mats frustrated and hurt was why are these idiots like this? Why can't they use an inch of their brain and stop acting like animals? All along, I was asking the wrong questions and focusing on the wrong side of the problem. To make matters worse, I had completely forgotten that not long ago, I was exactly that training partner trying to bulldoze my way through everything.
This frustration lasted for a while until one day, out of the blue, the answer was so clear and easy. Just like my professor repeatedly showed me, I would have to now repeatedly show the other guys how to be a better training partner. It takes a lot of repetition and patience, but at the end, making your training partners better will make you better as well. The beauty of investing in people is that you create a ripple effect to where these guys will show the newcomers, how to become better training partners and thus, you create a great culture of brotherhood.
 | ||||
| Improve, not prove
The Reality
Ideally, every person that starts training should learn fairly quickly not to try to bulldoze their way through every obstacle (knee shields, foot in the bicep, butterfly hook, etc), they encounter during training. There are some people who unfortunately only learn one way - getting bulldozed and crushed back; this is a very small amount of Jiu-Jitsu beginners so please think twice before you decide to crush them.
By nature, there are people who are aggressive. Passive rolling with such teammates does not help them in any way. I train with a guy that is a blue belt who is probably in his late 30s and weighs about 250lbs. The first few times I gave him the benefit of the doubt and rolled very passively, but it didn't take me long enough to realize that my friend had only one speed, 100mph. I have been smashing this person for a few months now and sadly, he still hasn't learned to slow down. Will he ever slow down? I don't think so. He is an older fellow that is late into his blue belt, so unfortunately for him, the only thing that will slow him down is an injury - don't be this guy!!! I have another training partner that is a new purple belt, and again, he only has one speed. Every time we roll, because I don't like to get crushed, I purposely outwork him on speed, aggressiveness, and technique. He often gets the bad end of my elbow or knee and truly, I feel slightly guilty that he gets hurt, but I have talked to him several times on slowing down. Will he ever slow down? Not a chance. Don't get me wrong, both of these guys are good people, but they are the type of training partners that I just benefit from the workout.
The Improvement
Before you can understand others, you have to understand yourself right? Jiu-Jitsu is no different. Before you can understand people's reactions, movements, and mentality, you have to comprehend these same aspects of yourself. For example, before trying a Torreando pass on someone, use a swiss ball and drill it there. Throughout the drilling phase of this technique, you can understand how your body moves, which side feels more comfortable, your weight distribution, etc. It is imperative that you know these things before facing a partner that is going to give you resistance. You can apply this concept of solo drilling with a lot of techniques but unfortunately, not all. More complex techniques like a De La Riva sweep have to be done with a partner. By the time you start to drill such techniques, you ought to be comfortable enough with the more basic ones. It is a major plus when you don't hurt your partner because you understand your body mechanics already.
There a lot of ways you can benefit from training with a good training partner; my favorite one is honest feedback. There is feedback and then there is honest feedback - give the latter. If you think a technique sucks or it's just not realistic, then just freaking say it. Don't just end the sentence by saying it sucks, rather, add some value and give an alternative on how to improve it. The other day I was drilling some takedowns with my boy Patrick. I started with a single movement and ended up drilling a chain of moves based on his reaction. My last technique ended with a single leg with one of my hands in the collar - a move that I have been drilling for almost 2 years. Patrick, being the sweetheart he is, said, "If I really wanted to sprawl on you, you wouldn't be able to catch the single". I looked at him for a second as in "are you serious? In my head, I said to myself, "I have been drilling this move and used it efficiently in tournaments, so you are wrong". I told Patrick, "ok sprawl and let's see"... he was right. I started to think why it worked on tournaments and why people hadn't been able to sprawl and defend the single leg. I realized that because I used a different chain of techniques or setups, instead of this particular one I was training, therefore, I was ending at the right angle. I adjusted my angle and sure enough, even when Patrick sprawled, I was able to finish the single leg takedown.
|
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment