Your First 2 Learning Tools To Master Hidden Jiu-Jitsu In Record Time

Your First 2 Learning Tools To Master Hidden Jiu-Jitsu In Record Time

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Over the next few weeks, we will be using the solo drills to introduce a system of accelerated learning you can use for the rest of your life, and especially for your Jiu-Jitsu practice. 

This system of accelerated learning uses tools that have been proven scientifically by some of the leading experts on learning and performance around the world. 

And the first two tools we are going to use in this system are: 

1. Spaced Repetition
2. Deep attention

As far as the content of our practice is concerned, we’ve decided to start with the solo drills.

We have done this so everyone has access to the techniques, and can practice and improve no matter what is happening in your environment. 

But once you understand what is happening, you will easily be able to use the same system to master ANY Hidden Jiu-Jitsu course. 

Here we go. 

Spaced Repetition

What is spaced repetition?

Spaced repetition is just what it sounds like - using calculated intervals of time to repeat something for maximum learning in minimum time. 

Why use spaced repetition?

Because our brains operate in rhythms, and some of those rhythms have been named “the forgetting curve”. 

In simple terms, the forgetting curve is the cadence at which our brains and nervous systems tend to forget, and let stored information go. 

Here’s an example of how it works: if you learn something new right now, you will retain it for about 20 minutes. 

If you don’t review it again at that 20 minute mark, you will lose a certain percentage of what you learned. 

Another 40 minutes after that, you will forget even more. 

24 hours after that, you will forget more. 

And in five days, if you haven’t reviewed the material at all, you will lose most, if not all of it. 

These intervals aren’t exact for everyone, but they’re close enough to be extremely reliable and effective for anyone. 

One important thing to understand is this: Besides these intervals of time, there are also other elements at play when it comes to your memory, like how much attention you are giving to what you’re learning, and whether or not the content of what you’re learning is strongly associated with emotions. 

But we will get into the emotional side of learning in a future blog post (it’s powerful!), when we talk about how memory competition champions use mnemonics to increase memory retention. 

For now, we should stick to spaced repetition so you master this piece before adding more to the system. 

How do we use spaced repetition with Solo Drills for Hidden Jiu-Jitsu?

First, we’re going to break the solo drills up into groups so we can learn how they flow together. 

Then, we’re going to learn each of those groups of drills that go together as a small “piece of the puzzle” you can practice with spaced repetition. 

Here’s how it will work: the first group in the series is a group of 5 solo drills called the “closed guard work” group. 

Each of these 5 drills has direct applications to work from the closed guard. 

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 (more on this in the “deep attention” section below).
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 motion 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 all 5 drills, (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. 

If you’ve followed these directions, you have demolished the forgetting curve and you will retain everything you learn each time (don’t take my word for it, put it to the test. You will be amazed at how effective this is, and after a few weeks, you will wonder why they don’t teach this in schools). 

Best part: once you’ve learned something this well, and learn how to use spaced repetition effectively, you will be able to review MASSIVE amounts of information in mere minutes. 

You don’t need to practice every piece every day. 

A quick review every 5 days will do the job. 

And these blogs will have a 5 day review schedule built in, so all you have to do is follow along and all the scheduling work will be done for you. 

And if you pay deep attention to the videos as you watch them, you won’t miss a thing as you go. 

Deep Attention

Many experts on learning and performance talk about deep practice, where you build feedback loops into your practice and push your comfort zone just far enough to find where your weaknesses are. 

But there is also deep attention. 

This is how Dr. David Handel was able to cut his learning time by huge margins, because he never had to watch the same video, or review the same part of the textbook twice. 

It cannot be overstated how much time people waste in learning by paying weak attention to the material as it’s presented, so that they have to go back and read the same passage or chapter over and over. 

By only allowing yourself to read or watch new material 1 time, you force yourself to pay attention. 

Here’s how it’s done: take the first solo drills combo video we will be using, the closed guard work video, for example. 

As you watch the video, make sure you have a method of taking notes handy. 

As new details emerge in the video, pause the video and make a note. 

Those who use flashcards will be right at home here. 

Or, if you prefer to just practice the techniques piece by piece, you may not need to take notes at all. 

It will just become muscle memory as you repeat the movements. 

But, this is important: only when there is actually something new to understand do you make a new flash card or take a new note or practice the next movement. 

You don’t want to turn this into a neurotic capturing of every frame of the video. 

The goal of this practice is to be present with what’s happening so that you understand each part of what’s going on. 

By taking your time as you have each new understanding, you will make sure you get as close to 100% transfer of knowledge as possible. 

It’s been wisely said that repetition is the mother of skill… but this is best applied to practicing, not absorbing, new information. 

Best to absorb the knowledge completely, and then leave the repetition for review and practice. 

Enough, you get the idea. 

Once you’ve finished the video, review each piece you learned. 

This breaking a subject down into pieces is called “chunking” by Barabara Oakley, and we will dive deeper into this subject in a future blog. 

If you decide to take notes, do NOT review the notes before you’ve made a strong effort to remember without help. 

Using active recall is a powerful tool in strengthening your neural pathways, even if you get the answer wrong. 

The effort itself to recall the information sends your brain in the right direction. 

If you did not take notes, you may be tempted to watch the video again, or rewind to a particular section. 

Same deal, if you must review the source material, do NOT do this before you’ve made as strong an effort as you can to recall the information without peeking. 

Now you know everything you need to start the practice on day 1. 

Here’s a quick summary:

1. Watch the first solo drills combo series, the closed guard work video.
2. As you watch this video, pause the video with each new “aha” moment and make sure you work out each detail into either flashcards or physically practicing each detail of each movement (as slow as you need to to get it right).
3. Set a timer for 20 minutes after you finish round 1.
4. After 20 minutes, go through the series again from memory for round 2. If you did steps 1-3 correctly, you should never need to watch the video again. And if you must peek, make sure to make as strong an effort as you can to do everything from memory FIRST.
5. After round 2 is finished, set another timer for 40 minutes.
6. 40 minutes after round 2 finished, hit round 3. Again, rebuild it all from memory.
7. After round 3, you’re done for day 1. Try to aim to review what you’ve learned the same time the next day, 24 hours later. 

Now, there are a lot of words in this blog, but you’ll see once you go through the process it’s actually not complicated at all. 

It goes by pretty quick. 

And, as the days go by and we add new pieces to the puzzle, you’ll see how much material you can review in just seconds or minutes once you’ve made these efforts to learn it. 

Typically what will happen is on a day we are learning a new series, we will take the normal measures (3 rounds of learning spaced 20 and 40 minutes apart), and then at the end of the new material we will quickly review material from days past. 

It will never have to take longer than 5 - 10 mins to review (but you’re welcome to go longer if you just want a more hard core workout) because we review each piece of the series in 5 day intervals. 

Bonus

If you really want to cut your learning time in half, there are two tools you can add to those above that will accelerate your progress even faster. 

1. Public accountability.
2. Teaching someone else. 

Any time you teach someone else, it forces you to master the material even more. 

This is because it’s one thing to know something well enough to do it, but in order to teach someone else you have to learn it so well there are literally no blind spots in your technique. 

Also, whenever your reputation is on the line, or you feel other people's eyes are on you, we all naturally tend to perform better. 

As the saying goes, “everyone runs faster when the coach is watching.”

To that end, I want to invite you to post in the Facebook Group a video or pictures of you walking everyone else through what you’ve learned. 

Click here to visit the official Hidden Jiu-Jitsu Facebook Group and show us what you’re made of. 

The best walkthrough for each series (most details, best performance) will win some free swag. 

Today's Solo Drills Video - The Guard Work Ab Crusher Workout

Last, one of the most important parts of the solo drills course is to visualize the actual application of the techniques in terms of Jiu-Jitsu. 

So for those who need a refresher, here is a link for each of the individual drills that make up the series mentioned in this blog (make sure you're logged in or else these links won't work): 

Unit 20 - Guard Pulls

Unit 21 - Guard Pull Lift

Unit 22 - Guard-Hip-movement-Side-to-Side

Unit 23 - Guard-shooting-hips-up

Unit 29 - Slipping from the guard

Closed guard work - ab crusher - hiddenjiujitsu