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Applying Rapid Learning to Jiu-Jitsu Training

My coach recently interviewed Tim Ferriss, a man whose work has influenced me greatly. Check out the full interview here (highly recommended).

In his latest book, The Four Hour Chef, Ferriss talks about his system for rapid learning. In this fascinating guide he uses cooking a vehicle to explain his method for accelerating progress from average to “world-class” (top 5% of the relevant population) in six months. This approach led him to set a world record in Tango dancing, him winning the San Shou world championships, and deadlifting some 500 lbs (about 260kg). Key fundamentals are leveraging what you are already good at – Tim has a background in wrestling and break dancing, so for his Tango world record, he focused on moves which allowed him to capitalise on his ability to spin fast. For San Shou, he won by pushing his opponents out of the ring, using wrestling control techniques, and also rapid weight-loss (now a regular fixture among competitors, but 10 years ago very cutting edge).

So, what is this system? It’s DiSSS:

Deconstruction: Figure out the “components” of the skill you are trying to learn. Cooking is made up of a number of components: shopping (actually very important for finding the right ingredients), preparation, a range of cooking techniques (sautéing, baking, grilling etc.) and clean-up. It is important to be clear what the main components of a skill are, so that you are able to complete selection.

Selection: Apply the Pareto principle to the deconstructed components of the skill. Briefly, the Pareto principle states that 80% of your success will come from 20% of your techniques/customers/efforts. You must identify what this 20% is, and then focus on it so you do not waste time on the low-yield 80%.

Sequencing: Once you have identified which “components” will result in the greatest skill increase, you must then figure out the correct order in which to learn these components. Many times people learn great techniques, but are not able to execute them because their sequencing is off.

Stakes: As SS discussed in this article, without stakes, you are setting yourself up to quit. Create a bitter pill to swallow if you quit. Make it humiliating for yourself, make it painful, make it something that makes you shake your head when you imagine it. The stick is mightier than the carrot.

So…how do we apply this to Jiu-Jitsu?

I am going to go through this process for myself, step-by-step. You can do the same, simply replace my strengths/weaknesses with your own!

Deconstruction: What are the main components of Jits? I contend the main components are: Guard passing, closed guard, butterfly guard, half guard, top control (could split between mount/side control), stand up (take downs and take down defence), taking the back, and back control. These are the parts which are also referred to as games, you’ll hear guys talk about their “top game” or “half guard game”. Of course, these components can be broken down much further into sub-components from each position: sweeps, escapes, submissions, as well as more exotic positions such as the Twister, X-Guard, de la River and 50-50. I think that this is something for more advanced players to do, however at my stage I feel I still need to focus on the basics. Also, on the more macro-scale, there are concepts like: posture, balance and leverage. However, since these elements are relevant to pretty much everything in Jiu-Jitsu, you cannot isolate them in the process of deconstruction, and anytime you work on anything, you will be working on these macro elements (worth remembering).

This year, I want to accelerate my progress in jiu-jitsu. Having deconstructed the components, I now need to select the components which I believe are going to offer me the greatest “return”. It strikes me that in order to do this I need to analyse my strengths and weaknesses. I will do this objectively, not just from the point of view of “for my weight category” as my long-term goal is to compete in the absolute weight division too.

Strengths:

–          Fast

–          Flexible

–          Disciplined

Weaknesses

–          Small and light (easy to crush, brute force subs)

–          Poor stand-up/takedowns

–          Ego

Average:

–          Cardio

–          Mental toughness

–          Balance/base

High-Percentage Submissions

–          Triangle

Low-Percentage Subs

–          Guillotine

Average:

–          Kimura

–          North-South

–          Arm Triangle

So what does this mean? As a smaller, lighter guy, I do not want to be underneath guys much heavier than me – even if my bottom game is good (it’s not), it still means I am constantly under pressure. It also means that if a sub attempt goes wrong then I’ll end up in a losing position. So it means that I should work on 2 things: getting to top/back control, and staying there. What components make up these things? Take-downs/stand up, guard passing, escapes/sweeps from the bottom, taking the back (which is easy to merge with escapes from the bottom) and top control. There, I’ve deconstructed the parts of jiu-jitsu I need to focus on. In terms of subs, I should be focusing on those that require less strength – i.e. avoiding subs where bigger guys can “muscle out” (see this video from Marcelo Garcia) OR subs where I’m using my strongest limbs (triangle).

I’m going to focus this into something tangible: 2-3 moves which play to my strengths (speed, flexibility) to really drill for every selected area. These will be my focus over the next 6 months.

Take downs + defence

1) Double-Leg w/ leg wrap

2) Single-Leg

3) Sprawl

Guard Passing

1) MatadorPass

2) “Leg Wrap” pass (love that one).

Sweeps from the bottom

1) Hip bump

2) Omoplata to sweep (can combine with hip bump – hand on mat – omo)

3) (optional) butterfly sweep

Escapes from the bottom/Taking the back

1) Arm drag to back

2) Guard replacement

Top Control – General Position (incl. knee-on-belly)

1) North-South Choke

2) Triangle from mount

3) Eziekiel (in gi)

There, I’ve established the moves I need to drill and drill over the next 6 months. These moves play to my strengths, and will help me develop a game which will stand me in better-stead against larger guys.

The next thing to consider is sequencing. Which order should I be learning these?

Well, I’m not going to be able to apply my top control submissions if I haven’t first got to top control. Also, things can go wrong from right off the bat, so escapes probably come first – as I can’t setup any sweeps if my opponent is dominating the position. Once I’ve pulled off a sweep, then I’m more likely in a position to be able to work a pass. So the logical sequencing is probably:

–          Escapes/Take Down Defence

–          Take Downs

–          Sweeps

–          Guard Passing

–          Top Control + subs

This basically tells you what every good jiu-jitsu fighter knows: Control the position first, then work the submission.

All that remains is the setup some stakes. In jiu-jitsu, this is actually quite easy: enter a big competition! You have to pay in advance to enter, so of course there is financial incentive, and you’re far less likely to just not show. Train hard for the comp, fuck that noise about “just getting some experience”, no, you want to win and win big. You should be aiming to submit your opponent, not win on points. My old MMA coach used to talk about wanting to be so good that he would “humiliate [his] opponent”, which is perhaps taking it a little far, but you see the point. Yes, it’s true that if you lose, you will be better for the next competition, but don’t use that as an excuse not to train your butt off for the competition – eating smart, training hard (roll for long rounds, drill your selected techniques thousands of times, including against resistance). In my case, I’m on the hunt from a big comp this spring – probably April/May.

And there we have it, DiSSS applied – I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Over to you.