2 X a week of class is plenty. Once a week can be enough. In my experience with BJJ the biggest threat to your training and learning is burnout. BJJ is characterized by constant sparring. Frankly, this gets old and taxing. I train in class once a week now. When I started and was all eager I trained 4 times a week. Then I quit for a long while because I was so burned out and sick of full speed wrestling. I’ve seen this happen to others. Here comes some comments about BJJ and some suggestions: BJJ is a wonderful art. However, the teaching methodology is really lacking in most places. Your typical class will begin with technique training. Even if you know absolutely nothing about BJJ you’ll learn the same technique that others who may have 3 or more years experience learn. The technique drilling is usually in fine detail and slow. The repetition is seldom enough to really learn it and have it come as second nature. It’s more or less an exposure to a technique. You could expose yourself to these techniques in a book and then practicing with a friend. Then, you’ll spend the second half or more “rolling.” You’ll train at full speed grappling even if you don’t know the basic ground positions and escapes. Most people get submitted over and over and over. Some never progress and end up quitting. The learning is slow and often painful if not embarrassing. You’ll probably not feel real comfortable “unleashing” your true athleticism upon strangers and out of respect and shyness to people who have some color on their belt you’ll find yourself “playing along” to see what they do instead of really fighting like hell. In other words, there is no organized syllabus of instruction that builds upon itself.
The truth is that even when you become advanced you’ll use half a dozen submissions, a couple of guard passes, and a few positional escapes over and over again–namely rolling left and right in a 45 degree angle and shrimping escapes (knee and elbow). You’ll learn about posting and tying up posts to accomplish positional movement. These techniques comprise the very basics of BJJ. Most everything beyond that is geared to gi grappling in competition. And fortunately for you if you know how to teach yourself or are lucky enough to stumble upon a good school (unlikely), the basics can be drilled over and over and over again at say 50-75% speed with a friend in your living room. Honestly, I had a friend who ran flow drills like this with me. Unfortunately he moved and now I train in class and at home with my imagination and sometimes a homemade dummy. I would say that 4 months of that type of training with a fried you’re comfortable with was better than 2 years of in-class training. You just don’t get that repetition in sparring. Buying books as resources is a good idea. Just keep in mind that there really aren’t 10,000 techniques. There are just a handful with 10,000 variations.
Again, I really like BJJ, but it really needs some organization in its teaching. No disrespect to anybody in the BJJ business. Maybe you’re different.
__________________
"I don't know Karate, but I know Karazy!" --James Brown
|