Some good training rules to follow

1. Execute your movements with speed, relaxation and technique, never try for power. As far as speed is concerned, smooth=fast

2. You don't have to always see the opening for a specific move. Just throw you technique smoothly and quick and often the opening comes in the middle of your combo.

3. After your done attacking, move away to either side. Your even better to stand your ground than backing straight up.

4. When you think your using your hips enough, use them twice as much. 

5. If you get into trouble, place both hands on your chest, palms up and shrimp, shrimp, shrimp. 

6. When defending submissions, try not to tense your body. Simply relax your body. This is easier said then done.

7. Keep you hands off the mat at all times.

8. Mix up your attacks, try to be as unpredictable as you can with your combinations.

9. Pace yourself.  Use your defensive and offensive techniques instead of just attacking the entire time.

10. Focus on keeping yourself in a good balanced position before attacking, while attacking, and after your attack. This is very important!

11. Never give up. Taking a bit of a beating in the beginning is all part of the learning process. Stick with it and you will slowly become more like a hammer instead of the nail.

TIPS ON BECOMING A MORE PRODUCTIVE BJJ PRACTITIONER

#1- Be a good partner and don’t resist during repping. By acting like a “grappling dummy”, you give your partner a chance to get comfortable with the movements against a non-resisting opponent. If you resist and try to “disprove” the technique you are doing nothing but retarding the learning process, for both of you.

#2- Relax and Breathe! In through your nose, out through your mouth. Make sure you learn to control your breathing and stay relaxed. Tensed up muscles use oxygen. Without oxygen you can’t breathe. Without breath… you die. Plain and simple. Relax, use your energy in calculated spurts and you will do fine. Stay tense & go 100% at all times and you will likely gas out followed by a tap out.

#3- Leave your ego at the door. Ego does nothing but hinder your learning process. Class is not competition. There is no score being kept and no trophy at the end of the night. Use your mat time to perfect your skill set and don’t worry about who tapped who. Just remember, the more you tap, the more you learn.

#4- Go with the flow and flow with the go! Think of BJJ like water. What does water do? It finds the path of least resistance, right? So if there’s a large wall in front of water, it doesn’t try to smash it down, rather it finds the walls’ weaknesses and exploits it. Water will try to go around, over, under or through a weak spot, rather than trying to smash the wall down. If there’s a crack in the wall the water will seep through. BJJ teaches you to look at your opponents the same way. Find their weaknesses and exploit them.

#5- Repetition is the key. Think about learning a technique as making a down payment on it and every rep you do is another payment. You must make A LOT of payments on any given technique to actually “own” it. Though sparring is usually considered the “fun” part of the class, constant repetition is the key to ingraining the movements into your muscle memory. If you really want to stop having to think about what to do and start just reacting, you will need to spend the time repping the movements. Take advantage of the time given to get as many reps as you can in.


#6- COME TO CLASS!!!!!!!1