advice.md

LLM-summarized advice from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumXHpYvEJY

Gordon Ryan

• Situational Training: The fastest way to improve in Jiu-Jitsu is through situational training, focusing on specific positions like attacking/defending the back, arm bars, or leg attacks (1:19-4:52). This allows for a massive acquisition of knowledge in those specific areas, giving you an advantage even against those who have trained longer overall.
• Force Opponent into Specific Positions: Train to always force your opponent into the specific positions where you have a deep understanding and significant training time (2:38-4:52).
• Confidence Built in the Gym: True confidence comes from positive results in the gym. Hitting techniques consistently in training builds the belief that you can execute them in competition (21:40-23:54).
• Progressive Application: When learning a new move, start by applying it on less skilled partners and gradually work up to hitting it on the best guys in the world (23:00-23:54).

Jozef Chen

• Discussion After Rounds: After specific rounds, engage in a discussion period with your training partner to talk about what went well, what didn't, problems, and possible solutions (5:36-6:43). This helps keep the experience fresh in your mind and allows for understanding different perspectives.
• Helping Less Experienced Partners: Talking to less experienced partners and explaining what you did and how they can counter it is an investment. As they get better, your rounds with them will also improve, providing more resistance and a better training experience (8:31-10:00).
• Drilling with Dialogue: Once you can perform a move, drill with mild resistance or with dialogue, asking your partner for their thoughts, what they felt, and what options they see. This is more effective than drilling for reps (26:50-28:10).

John Danaher

• Pareto's Principle: Focus almost all of your training time and resources on a small percentage of techniques that are truly effective across the board for most people and body types (11:04-12:29).
• Focus on High-Percentage Techniques: Learn to identify and focus on the truly high-percentage techniques of the sport, even if popular belief doesn't currently consider them so (e.g., leg locks) (11:52-12:29). Control-Based Approach: Approach techniques with a control-based mindset rather than relying on speed (12:19-12:29).
• Value of Philosophy: Studying philosophy makes you a better grappler by forcing you to think about complicated problems, thus improving your overall thinking skills (34:02-34:42).
• Trickery vs. Tricks: Utilize "trickery" (connecting concepts over time) rather than just "tricks" (moves that work until the opponent learns to counter them) (34:44-35:09).

Craig Jones

• Study Specific Problems: Study grapplers who are good at positions or techniques you are struggling with or want to improve (13:02-13:56).
• Efficiency over Strength: Focusing on becoming more efficient with body usage can lead to perceived strength gains without additional conditioning (13:57-14:16).
• Innovation through Study and Play: Innovate by studying tape to reverse engineer techniques, understanding how to make opponents panic by putting them in unfamiliar positions, and having fun with the artistic aspect of creating new ways to beat people (14:43-15:14).

Mikey Musumeci

• Combination of Training Elements: Skill development in Jiu-Jitsu requires a combination of drilling, ecological training, sparring, and playful rounds (15:29-15:56).
• Purpose of Drilling: Drilling helps you understand the mechanics of a new move statically against a cooperative opponent, giving good reactions (15:57-16:42).
• Progressive Intensity: Transition from drilling to live sparring by gradually increasing skill level, intensity, and fatigue to sharpen moves (16:44-17:06).
• Working on Areas of the Game: Dedicate weeks to working on specific areas of your game, exploring variations, reactions, concepts, principles, grips, and strategies (17:10-17:38).
• Gradual Challenge Increase: Start by applying new techniques on training partners with lower skill levels or different body types, then gradually work up to partners at your skill level or higher to test and refine the move (19:07-19:56).

Bernardo Faria

• Practice Weaknesses: To truly get better at Jiu-Jitsu, you must practice your weaknesses and not just your strengths. Aim to be equally strong in every position (guard top/bottom, side control, mount, back, etc.) (20:34-20:58).
• Repetition: Repeat techniques and scenarios over and over again until you are confident and have a chance of success when you encounter them in live rolling (21:27-21:38).

Greg Souders

• Value of Conversation: Conversations and sharing techniques are valuable parts of the ecological training process, as interactions with others affect your understanding (24:00-24:25).
• Trial and Error is Crucial: While quick answers feel good, true understanding comes from the often daunting trial and error process of digging through problems yourself. The ease with which an expert explains something comes from their deep, developed understanding (24:40-25:49).

Eoghan O’Flanagan

• Purposeful Drills: When setting drills, clearly define the purpose of the drill. Focus on understanding the underlying idea and why specific movements are important, rather than just performing steps perfectly (28:30-29:26).
• Flexibility in Technique: Allow for variations in technique based on individual attributes (e.g., flexibility) as long as the core important "notes" are hit (29:13-29:57).
• Digestible Information: When teaching, present information in a digestible way, especially for new students, perhaps by showing one or two options and explaining the rationale (30:15-30:40).

Lachlan Giles

• Coach's Role as Option Provider: The coach's job is to show options, but the athlete's job is to understand which options are best for them, as personality will determine their Jiu-Jitsu style (31:18-31:50).
• Focus on Concepts, Not Just Moves: Teach and learn the underlying concepts and principles (e.g., weight distribution) behind techniques, as this understanding allows for adaptation and the development of new movements (32:07-32:44).

advice2.md

LLM-summarized advice from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zGoYf5f6pk

Jozef Chen:

• Learn through conceptual understanding, breaking down Jiu-Jitsu into fundamental elements like posture, structure, and base. He highlights how his original coach taught him to define "base" as "your ability to generate and absorb force relative to your goals," allowing for a more creative interpretation of the concept across different positions (0:31-2:13).
• Balance a "growth mindset" with a "performance mindset." During an off-season or when no immediate competitions are coming up, focus on a growth mindset by taking in new information at a slower, more conscious pace. When preparing for a competition, switch to a performance mindset, refining what you already know and acting more intuitively (4:40-6:14).
• Let your Jiu-Jitsu progress be led by your own curiosity. Instead of solely trying to win, explore what interests you, even if it's something like "No-Gi Platas" or combining different guards (9:41-10:01).
• Prioritize self-introspection to identify areas needing improvement. For example, if your supine guard is bad, work on it by finding relevant instructionals or practitioners (11:10-11:27).
• Don't rely solely on being "spoonfed" by an instructor. To get as good as you can, you need to do a lot of the work yourself, critically thinking about problems and deriving your own solutions, as what works for one person may not work for another (11:59-12:50).
• For young grapplers, his advice is to have fun with Jiu-Jitsu, driven by curiosity and the enjoyment of the learning process (2:04:52-2:07:40).

Kade Ruotolo:

• Suggests that static drilling is not realistic for competition. Instead, once a technique is understood, move into specific training to learn how to defend and react in more dynamic situations, like starting from a heel hook position to understand its mechanics (13:02-13:34).

Andrew Tackett:

• Emphasizes listening to your body as the biggest key for recovery and preventing injuries. If you feel pain, like in your neck or hips, adjust your training (e.g., do light physical therapy or core work) rather than pushing through and potentially worsening the injury (14:10-16:26).
• Learn from others' mistakes to avoid your own. For example, after his brother hurt his knee, Andrew learned about and started consistent physical therapy for his own knees to prevent similar injuries (17:31-18:16).
• Advocates for a "prevention work mindset" to avoid traumatic experiences that force long breaks from training. He highlights the necessity of consistently working on past injuries, such as his dislocated shoulder, by strengthening supporting muscles (21:12-21:22).

Levi Jones-Leary:

• Finds taking the back to be the "ideal of Jiu-Jitsu" because it universally puts you in the best positional advantage (22:29-23:12).
• Believes that aiming to get to the back helps you stay a step ahead positionally (22:56-23:07).
• Expresses a personal preference for pressure passing, which he considers a skill he developed over many years of hard work, finding it to be a "good passing system that sort of works for me and my style" (23:43-24:37).

Helena Crevar:

• Prefers positional rounds over open rounds because they allow for focused work on specific positions and help chain together your entire game, leading to more in-depth problem-solving and efficiency in training (25:30-27:14).
• Highlights that positional training (e.g., starting from turtle, half guard, or back control) helps you learn how to get out of positions and submit opponents more easily in open rounds (27:15-27:40).
• When asked about changing the training structure, she values longer rounds but suggests sometimes doing three or four shorter rounds (e.g., three five-minute rounds instead of one 15-minute round) for different looks and paces (27:53-28:17).

Deandre Corbe & Greg Souders (on Autoregulating Training):

• Coaches should design on-the-mat practice and read the room to gauge athlete recovery levels. They can adjust training by:
• Having a smaller focus within a game (e.g., just holding a line instead of completing a full pass when tired) (29:16-29:45).
• Changing constraints of the game to make it less taxing (30:00-30:02).
• Changing the time of the game (e.g., making it longer, which tends to reduce intensity of exchanges) (30:04-30:13).
• Using partner selection (e.g., going with someone lighter or less skilled) to still get a good training session (30:15-30:23).
• Athletes, if the coach isn't adjusting, can apply the "smaller focus" strategy themselves (29:45-29:51).
• It's highly advised for coach and athlete to communicate to pull these "levers" for effective training regulation (29:52-30:00).

Giancarlo Bodoni (on Using Instructionals):

• Do your homework on whoever you're purchasing an instructional from (the website and the instructor). Research their accolades, who they learned from, and where they got their results. Watch YouTube content or trailers/previews to ensure you're getting good information before spending money (33:58-34:55).
• Don't just watch videos and let the information sit there; you need to leverage and translate that information to the mats (33:14-33:35).

Andrew Tackett (Favorite Strength Exercises):

• His three favorite gym exercises are Zercher Lunges (for split stance applicability and how they feel), Weighted Chins, and Weighted Dips. He states these hit all necessary areas if you are pressed for time or equipment (31:08-31:54).