Mark of a Champion >> Training Journal

[Einfach]

I looked through the other BJJ threads and didn’t see anything about a training journal. If something similar has already been posted, I apologize. If not, some people might find this little trick to be a huge help in improving their game. After every training session, usually before I go to bed. I'll pull out my training journal and write down each of the things I learned that day. Like most schools we might go through 5 or 6 techniques. Some I know and some I don’t. But regardless of prior knowledge I still write out the technique in careful descriptive detail so that even a brand new student can make sense of the technique. Keeping a training journal does a few things. It helps you to make a clearer mental picture of what you’ve just learned. For some of us who don’t have a drill partner, we might not use or see a specific move again for several months. Writing in a journal also allows you to get the full wealth of the lesson. BJJ is not a cheap sport. Why waste your money by learning a technique to just forget it a week later. It's also nice because if you are clear in your description of the technique you might find the journal as a nice personal reference to a key point that you missed during a good roll. "Oh I was supposed to plant my left hand on the mat...not hold the shoulder…" I started using a journal about a year ago. It's amazing looking back at the progress I have made. I think that maintaining a fight journal has been a key part of my own personal success in the sport. It's tough to get going in the beginning but stick with it and it will soon become a habit. If anyone else has any good ideas for recording new moves I would love to hear about them.

[Tony Dismukes]

I don't find I need this so much for regular classes, but I've used the same idea when I go to weekend seminars. At seminars the teacher will typically show so many moves that I'll forget 90% of them within a week if I don't take the time that first evening to write down every detail I can remember about every technique that was shown. (I do wait until after the day's training is done. I've seen guys at seminars taking time out to go write in their notebooks each time the teacher shows something, and they miss out on all the time drilling the technique.)

[Erik]

I keep a training journal. It's a binder with a tab for each position (mount top, mount bottom, side control top, guard bottom, etc.) and the moves from there.

I try to draw pictures, too, whenever I can, and at the back I made a state diagram of all the positions in BJJ as each state and the links are the transitions. Hard to keep it from getting all cluttered up.

It's fun to look it over and remind myself of things I used to understand but I don't do anymore, to see how my understanding has evolved, and see where I make breakthroughs in understanding the same move (like a falling armbar).

Side note (my little brush with fame...): I was at SLO Kickboxing, run by Scott Adams and Chuck Lidell. Scott had the fastest submission in the UFC at one point (long time ago) and runs WEC, another MMA league in California. Scott was laughing at me, saying, "Oh, those engineers, make technical diagrams of everything!"

I said honestly that I'm simply a dumb person and have had to learn to work with it. Chuck exploded in laughter behind me. That was the first time I had met him.

[FunSPE]

A training log is an excellent idea. When we trained with Randy Coture a few years ago, he showed us his training log. Man it was unreal. It was very detailed and it coverd all aspects of his training. Its something I need to do. I do have tons and tons of notes though. Its great to go back and see how the techniques have evolved.

"I was at SLO Kickboxing, run by Scott Adams and Chuck Lidell" - I bet it was a lot of fun training there. Ive always wanted to train leg locks with Scott. His leg attacks are unreal.

FunSPE