The majority of bjj students have expressed that they have great difficulty remembering the awesome bjj techniques that they learned in class.
For a little test, at the end of an hour class, with the students in a line up I will say “Ok, before you go home, let’s review what techniques that we learned today.”
“What was the 1st position?”
An amazing number of puzzled looks come over the faces. They have already forgotten the technique that we did 30 minutes ago!
Once I remind them you see the looks on the faces change “Oh yeah! Now I remember!”
There is a danger of learning several cool techniques, but forgetting them by the next morning and not furthering your jiu-jitsu.
The fact remains that learning bjj as a beginner is overwhelming and can be likened to trying to drink from a firehose!
Here are 3 Tips that you can try to help remember your techniques
1) Make sure that you KEEP one technique from that day’s class
Instead of trying to remember everything (and fail!) resolve instead to burn one technique or important detail into your memory.
Faced with a confusing sweep setup and mechanics, I have said to myself in class “I’m not going to master this technique in this class. Let me continue to drill the previous technique and make sure that I KEEP at least 1!”
Keeping the technique and seeing it are NOT the same!
2) Film a video
In smaller classes when I see that a student has fallen in love with a new technique, I ask them to go grab their cel phone out of their bag.
I film them performing the technique on their partner for several repetitions – while it is still fresh in their minds.
They can watch the video the next day and analyze what they did correctly and what they missed.
3) Youtube
After seeing a great technique, I go home and search for similar techniques on Youtube.
I can usually find the exact technique that I need and remind myself of the details.
I use an online video saver to download the video to my laptop and save to a folder of my favorite Bjj techniques.
Some students like to take notes, but unless you are that style of learner, it can be tedious and your notes near impossible to decipher later.
