This is an article courtesy of Paul Greenhill of the wise Grappler:
90 of the folks that you start with at white belt will never make it to black belt- You will be one of those 90 percent that never reaches black belt unless you really want it- Injury is 100 percent guaranteed at each belt level, but that shouldn't stop you from going after your black belt- Family members will try to talk you into quitting after each injury, especially if surgery is required. And if you really don't want to be a black belt, their comments will make sense and you will quit- Listen to your body and rest when you're hurt. BJJ is a marathon race, not a sprint- There's a thin line between being hurt and injured. Don't ignore the warning signs- BJJ is ALL EGO, regardless of the old "leave your ego at the door" mantra- Keep a flower pot at the office large enough to soak my sore wrists, hands and elbows during the day and a bathroom trash can for my toes, feet, and ankles at night- Never train hard without a good warm-up first. If you're intentionally skipping warm-ups so you can save energy for your matches, you're going to pay for it someday- To not listen to training advice from other white belts over my instructor- Everyone online sounds smarter and better equipped to teach you than your instructor that sees you every day- Too much BJJ info (e.g. DVDs, books, magazines, etc.) is just as bad as not enough BJJ info- Good grapplers are training, not spending all day posting about who's the best grappler or where they train- If you don't have training goals in the beginning, someone will give you their agenda for what they want you to be and you may not like them- The grappler that thinks "drilling is a waste of time" will be an average grappler at best- You don't have to be at the gym to train- You can join the best grappling gym in town and still suck if you're not doing what you need to do on the mat- Competitions will reveal all your bad habits that you can either hide or ignore in the gym- Start learning take downs as a white belt. that way, you won't be a blue/purple/brown belt that can only jump guard or butt scoot- The paintbrush and every other basic technique that you think is useless will work if you take time to learn how to set them up and execute them correctly- If you have to think about doing a technique before you execute it, you don't know it- Drill at least 10-15 mins after class every day on the technique you just learned to help reinforce it in your muscle memory- Trust your coach to build you as a grappler, not strangers that you only talk to online- White belts don't have a style, regardless of what they think - Never let anyone intimidate you on the mat- Remember to breathe when sparring. If you run out of gas too quickly every time you roll, you're probably holding your breath- Never be afraid to tap with a partner, it's really not that important- There are no "magic bullets" to ensure grappling success. If you want success, commit to a grappling system and put in the mat time necessary to master the system I'm sure that I could've gone on forever, but I'll have to put my "grappling brain dump" on hold until a later date!Meditate on these "28 things" and feel free to send me your feedback at paul@thewisegrappler.com to let me know how you can use these tips to make life easier for you on the mat.
