Hey guys, this is a Professor Manny. And I wanted to come in and, and talk about your at home jiu jitsu training. You know, everything that’s going on (the Corona Virus). We’re stuck in doors and we’re stuck in a spot that, you know, we’re not really ready for. But I, was talking to several people and I think it’s, really good for us to, get back to what we really need to do. And this is in regards to jujitsu.
So what are we doing to get better and stronger and faster? And like I’ve always said, when we (Martha and I) first started, we didn’t have a place to train. There was no real jujitsu before, our school. So we always kind of trained, wherever we could. And so the first thing I wanted to talk about was drilling and training things that are LESS than techniques.
So I want you guys to think about this, is that like most students, they come in and they want to learn, a submission. They want to learn an escape, they want to learn a technique that is finite. And most of the time that’s not necessarily what is really needed. So we’ve talked about this and during class we teach with the idea that I’m trying to make you be able to move better, your mobility and agility. And we’ve talked about that.
So let me explain what I mean. When I first started, I didn’t have an instructor to actually teach me techniques, most of the things that were coming were movements, that I could get out of videos and DVDs that I was purchasing at the time. So I would get videos and DVDs and sometimes I didn’t have a partner.
I didn’t have Martha all the time. I didn’t have Alex all the time. I didn’t have Master Meme all the time. So I’d be by myself. So I remember I used to do so many drills, so many drills just over and over and over and over again. And then when I needed them, the technique was there. So the movement is way more important than the technique.
So we’ve talked about the lowest common denominator in jujitsu, which is our bridge and our shrimp. Well, imagine doing shrimping, you know, for 20 minutes. And some of you guys get upset when I make you guys do shrimps for five mins or for two lengths down the mat. And it’s true, you guys are like, Oh, we’re going to do shrimping again. We’ve got to do knee drops, you can’t, we need to do this. And the thing about it is that those are the techniques that got me to where I needed to be.
So I was a white belt competing at state tournaments with no instructor and winning. I was a white belt competing as a blue belt, you know, or in blue belt divisions at the time. I didn’t want to get that confused. And still winning because I had just so much repetition under my belt. It’s so many times and sometimes, if I would get a chance to get a partner, I didn’t really drill, an arm bar or an escape or an omoplata that honestly I just drilled one arm bar from guard going back and forth, back and forth and counted to a hundred once I got a hundred okay I can switch to the next technique and it goes like that.
So sometimes just getting into moving, that’s a really big deal. I tell everybody, you don’t always have mats.Like right now we actually have extra mats from our school because we’re hosting our tournament, so they didn’t fit at the school. And we have them stored everywhere. We have some stored at school, we have some stored underneath some of our beds and we’re pulling them out and we were able to put two mats together and then, we can do a couple of techniques, but in reality you don’t need mats.
And it’s like sometimes we would do so much. So much of that training that I was just talking to you about, like all the, the solo drilling was not necessarily on a jujitsu mat or mats made for jujitsu or a school mat, and it was a carpet we would get on a carpet and that’s the nicest thing we would have.
Another story is we had a friend that he wasn’t allowed to go out of his house to train, so we would go and train at his house, so we would take our huge bag of equipment mitts and boxing gloves and things like that and we would show up and we were training, so the standup was fine, we would kick and punch and hold mitts for each other and do everything we needed to do.
And that was okay. But the moment we needed to do our grappling, we were on tile and we were doing take downs. We were doing grappling like all matches, full matches on tile, because that’s all we had. Or that’s the only real sparring partner that I had. So wherever he had to go or wherever you could go. That’s where I needed to be.
It really depends on how bad you want it. Then that’s the honesty of this. How bad do you really want to get better at jujitsu? Are you willing to roll on tile? Are you willing to roll on grass? Are you willing to roll on the floor? Are you willing to put a carpet down on your tile and put up a couple of towels and san marcos and like any kind of blanket, like be honest. That’s what I used to train on.
That’s what I used to roll on because we didn’t have anything else. We had carpet in the living room. We wouldn’t move the coffee table out of the way and we were practice and roll and do several things there.
Several years later we were really lucky that we got some puzzle mats and these are not real thick puzzle mats. They’re probably like half an inch, inch thick and they’re kind of lousy. But Hey, they were the best thing ever and they were super cheap. Martha got them at Toys r us for really cheap. I think the cashier charged $20 but they were meant to be something like $100. The cashier guy was, crazy or something and gave them at a really discounted price. But the whole point was, that’s what we used for years.
So in my bedroom we, I only had one bed and I had that carpet space and we put a couple of these together and we would roll on, train and do whatever we needed to do and we were practicing on there. So a lot of it is what can you make, what can you get and how can you put it together? Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m real lucky I have these mats, but if not, I will put the carpet down. I would put a couple blankets down, we’d do something, we’d find ourselves in this spot.
Like I said before, guys we’re in this weird situation, but this is the honesty of it. How bad do you want to get better? How bad do you want to train and get to the next level? And hopefully it’s very high and it’s very strong and the will to win and the will to get better. That all comes from you guys. It doesn’t come from me. I’ve put in so many hours, so much time, so many days, so many repetitions guys, that it, it’s uncanny.
That’s what I used to do to all my students when we started. Like we didn’t have a lot of techniques and I would tell him, I was like, you know what? We need to drill all these movements if you want to get better, armbar drills, omoplata drills, the drills, scissors sweeps, whatever is the most basic movement, shrimping, drills, whatever you can get guys in however much space you have, you got to make due with what you have and just be grateful for everything that we do have. And I know that this will be over soon and we’ll be back on the mat. But meanwhile, are you still training? Are you still trying hard right now?
Keep Drilling your at Home Jiu jitsu Training
-Professor Manny
if you are looking for some home mats these are the ones i recommend. Im not sponsored by any of these companies i just did a google search and they popped up. I only recommend companies ive worked with in the past.
https://www.dollamur.com/flexi-roll-10×10-mma-1257.html
https://www.rubberflooringinc.com/gym-mat/4-6-114-junior-wrestling-mat.html?i=32399
