2 More Tools For Mastery - These Are Absolute Dynamite

2 More Tools For Mastery - These Are Absolute Dynamite

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Today, we have a new video of solo drills and two new tools to use for rapid and lifelong mastery. 

First, let’s talk about the content of today’s video: the rolling movements.

In the first blog of the mastery series, we covered 5 drills to improve your closed guard work and crush the abs. 

Today, we’ll focus on forward and backward rolls. 

This is a fundamental skill for Jiu-Jitsu because the ability to avoid impact when we fall, forward or backwards, is crucial to avoiding injuries from throws or just the chaos of the fight. 

Here’s the video for today, and below this, we’ll cover a review of Day 1’s material, and how to integrate this into your practice so they flow seamlessly together and for maximum retention of the material. 

Just like last time, we’re going to learn and practice this series of drills very deliberately and in timed intervals. 

You’re going to need to set aside about an hour of time, although the actual practice will only take a few minutes, because you need to be able to repeat the drills in 20 and 40 minute intervals.

In case you need a refresher...

Here are the steps I would like you to take to get the most out of this: 

1. Watch the video one time, and one time only (remember, this is all about “deep attention”  and by forcing yourself to watch the video one time, making note of each significant detail piece by piece, you will make sure to get 100% of the knowledge transfer. If you’d like to read more about why this is so effective, check out the story of Dr. David Handel here.)
2. After you’ve watched the video, and mapped out each specific detail, I want you to go through the series of drills slowly for a couple minutes, being very careful to get the details right as you go.
   
   Do not move any faster than you feel you’ve got the movement down perfectly.
   
   If you need to slow down to get it perfect, great. We should only ever go as fast as perfect form allows.
3. Once you’ve gone through both drills a couple times, (shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes), I want you to set a timer for 20 minutes from the time you’re done.
4. After 20 minutes have passed since the end of round 1, review each of the drills again, and practice them in the sequence outlined in the video. Because this is a review, it should take less time than the first round, 5 mins or less.
5. Once you’ve finished round 2, set a timer for 40 minutes.
6. After 40 minutes has passed from the end of round 2, start round 3. Same deal. Flow through each of the movements being careful to get them right, according to each of the details you mapped out earlier.
7. Once you’ve done all 3 rounds (this will happen over about an hour of time if you’ve done it right, with 20 and 40 minute intervals between each round), you’re done for day one.
   
   You can forget about Jiu-Jitsu for 24 hours before you hit your next practice session.

Today’s 2 new tools, and how to use them. 

• Retrieval practice.

•  Association.

Retrieval practice

Maybe the most effective learning method recorded by modern researchers is called “the testing effect”. 

It’s what happens when you quiz yourself on what you’ve learned. 

The idea is when you have to make the effort to recall the details, the effort itself strengthens the neural pathways that create strong learning. 

How to use retrieval practice with the solo drills. 

The most proven way to use retrieval practice is with flash cards. 

And there are plenty of free flashcard tools online. 

Cram.com is a great start. 

With flashcards, as you watch the videos, once you understand a new “aha” detail, you simply pause the video and make a note on the flashcard. 

Some might argue that Jiu-Jitsu is a physical art, and so flashcards are too much “book learning”. 

But there’s more to the story. 

Because before you have something mastered, there are still sequences of details you can benefit from committing to memory. 

Everyone who has practiced Jiu-Jitsu can prove this by simply asking yourself, “How many times have I been rolling and got ‘stuck’, forgetting what to do next?”

If you’ve ever had that experience, you could benefit from flashcards, because they are the most proven way to quickly memorize every detail of a given set of knowledge. 

Meaning if you use them with these drills, or any technique or sequences of techniques, you will rarely if ever, get stuck wondering what to do next. 

Still, some just don’t want to use flashcards. 

Which is fine, because it’s not the only way to take advantage of the retrieval effect. 

You can also make your muscle memory act as your flashcards, by actually moving your body and practicing the drills in pieces as you watch the videos. 

Meaning as you watch the video, instead of making a note on a flashcard when you pause the video because you understand a new detail, you just do the movement. 

The movement itself is your flashcard note, and the more you repeat it, the stronger the neural pathway you build for your muscle memory. 

And as long as you test yourself later and the results are good, game on. 

The downside of doing this is the only way to check your work is to return to the video, and this takes away the benefit of the “only watch the video one time” rule. 

But it’s your journey and it’s important to do what makes the most sense to you. 

Association

The memory works in large part by association.

Which means exploring how “thing a” is just like “thing b”.

This is the reason why the flow of electricity is easier to understand if you think of it in terms of the flow of water. 

Or why songs you hear during important times of your life tend to remind you of that time when you hear them again. 

Professionals who compete in memory competitions use this to amazing effect. 

By telling a story about what they’re remembering, and associating data points with fantastic imagery, they can often defeat the forgetting curve without any spaced repetition at all. 

This truth is intuitive, as we remember the more intense, emotional moments of our lives. 

Think back to a time that was simply amazing, one of your best memories. 

Did you have to use spaced repetition to recall every last detail?

If you did, it probably wasn’t intentional, it was just that you enjoyed recalling every detail of the memory, so spaced repetition happened naturally. 

Here’s how to use association with the solo drills.

There is actually no limit to how you can use association in learning, and I wouldn’t want to put the brakes on any creative way you might use naturally. 

So it’s important to say these aren’t the only way to use association. 

Just some good ones you might find useful. 

1. 1. Association between Jiu-Jitsu techniques themselves. Make the effort to have an eye out for which solo drills and techniques use similar movements or principles.For example, in the solo drills course, the sit out and the hip bump use very similar mechanics of engaging the body as a whole and engaging the hips. The more connections you make in your understanding, the better each of your techniques will become. The more effort you put into playing detective and asking yourself “what else is this like?” the more quickly you will become skilled everywhere because you understanding on every level will strengthen. 
   2. Association with things not at all Jiu-Jitsu. There is a solo drill called the “side winder”, in reference to how a side winder snake moves. This is an image that helps people understand immediately how to use this motion that applies to open guard work, and staying safe from strikes.This is no different than how greater than and less than signs in math are taught to kids by talking about how they look like crocodile jaws.Ask yourself what is something crazy that this motion reminds you of? The more insane it is, or the more it makes you laugh, or the more ridiculous it seems, the better chance you have of remembering it.

Well, that’s it for today. 

Once you practice the forward and backwards rolls with spaced repetition, make sure to review your 5 drills from day 1. 

Remember to practice from memory as much as possible before you look at flashcards or return to the video (if you must). 

And work these two new tools into the learning, retrieval practice and association. 

As much as you can, recall as many details as possible (and why they’re relevant) from memory. 

If you can teach someone else each detail or movement, even better. 

And ask yourself, “what is this like?” as much as possible. 

You won’t have to practice the ab crusher from day 1 for another 4 days, so don’t worry about the log of techniques to review stacking up or becoming unmanageable. 

And make sure to practice the rolling drills 24 hours after your last round for today.

Finally, just like last time, whoever is brave enough to teach the details of each of these sequences to your peers on Facebook will get free swag from http://shop.hiddenjiujitsu.com. 

Pictures are good, but video is best. 

For those who want to review the details of the applications of the solo drills taught in this sequence, see the links below:

Unit 9 - Forward Roll

Unit 10 -  Backwards Roll

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The Rolling Drills