Deliberate Practice Leads to Mastery

Everyone practices BJJ for different reasons. Some train to compete and become world champions; some to learn self-defense, others for recreation, and some train to get in shape. Whatever the reason for training, all BJJ practitioners have the same desire- improve their game.

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So how do you improve your game and gain mastery in BJJ? According to Daniel H. Pink, business expert on workplace and personal transformation, mastery in any endeavor follows three laws:

·         First, mastery is a mindset

·         Second, mastery is a pain

·         Third, master is an asymptote.

Mastery as a mindset requires that we see our abilities not as finite, but as infinitely improvable. We have to have the mindset and determination to know that we can improve.

Part of this mindset is knowing, accepting, and willing to endure the journey to mastery. Master is a pain; it is difficult; it is not for the faint of heart. On average it takes a BJJ practitioner 10 years of consistent training to earn their black belt. Earning the BJJ black belt is not the end; many say it is the beginning of mastery. A BJJ black belt has learned the game, learned transitions, and timing. Now they need to master everything. This journey can be daunting.

Mastery of BJJ, sports, music, business, or any endeavor in life requires difficult, painful, excruciating, all-consuming effort over a long time. Not a week, or a month, but a decade.

Research has shown that this journey to master requires deliberate practice. The theory of deliberate practice is that scientific research has shown that the quality of your practice is just as important as the quantity. That in order to achieve expert-level performance is primarily the result of expert-level practice, not innate talent.

In the bestselling book Outliers Malcolm Gladwell research shows that quality practice time is the defining factor between athletes and artists. His research showed that the artist or athlete that put in the most quality practice time ended up being the most talented. Furthermore, according to Daniel Levitin, “the emerging picture form such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associate with being a world class expert-in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again.”

Let’s think about this concept for a bit and apply it to BJJ. In order to become a master at BJJ you need to have 10,000 hours of rolling, performed 10,000 triangles, 10,000 kimuras, 10,000 side mount escapes, 10,000 guard passes, etc… The list goes on and on. Doing this is not an easy task. If requires deliberate practice, determination, and persistence. It is not easy focusing on practicing 10,000 triangles from the guard. In fact, after the first 100, it becomes very boring. Now imaging trying to complete 10,000 triangles from the guard? If you performed 100 triangles a day, every day, it would take you 100 days (almost half a year) to become an expert at triangles from the guard. There is no fancy secret or fast track around this. However, if you put in the dedication and time to do so, you will be pulling of triangles from the guard at any angle, all based on reaction, and be feared for your triangles from the guard. Sounds awesome huh?

Hard work + dedication = success

Is this something you want? If so, the sooner you realize that in order to drastically improve in BJJ (or anything in life), you need to have consistent deliberate practice and focus on hitting the 10,000 mark. On TV, in magazines, in movies, we see the amazing feats or awards that world-class athletes achieve. However, we don’t see the painful hours, sweat, tears, and daily deliberate practice that went into achieve these results.

So if you want to improve, if you want to become an expert in BJJ, the more deliberate practice you put in, the faster you will see major gains in your game.

-Eric Rivard