To master Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, one would have to train for many years as it is a technical martial art. An average practitioner can take up to 10 years to achieve the highly regarded black belt, the highest rank in BJJ. The difficult training makes plenty of people give up after achieving a blue belt.
People who achieve black belts have tricks and practices that you can use to reach their level. Many refer to them as black belt secrets that are key to every black belt’s success. After interviewing hundreds of athletes with the status, we’ve listed down the top ways people have become masters in the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Here are the seven best-kept secrets of BJJ black belts:
Identify What Inspires You
Inspiration or motivation is what keeps you on track when accomplishing your goals. Identifying your inspiration and passion always helps you in this regard.
Leandro Lo, a well-known pound and a favorite competitor for many BJJ practitioners, credits all of his success to sticking to his passion: his love for jiu-jitsu.
According to him, the more passionate you are about something, the more effort you will put in to accomplish it. Passion determines how far you will go to achieve your goal.
According to Leandro Lo, using this key to success can help you stick to and accomplish your goals, whether it is a BJJ black belt, your work, or anything that matters the most to you.
Don’t Halt Your Training
Never stop training if you want to accomplish the highest rank in BJJ. Always go the extra mile like UFC Fighter and BJJ World Champion Leandro Brodinho Issa. Leandro Brodinho Issa lived on the BJJ mats for months while preparing for Mundials.
He trained himself as much as possible before competitions. Living on mats is a term that translates to what we consider a really tough job, i.e., rolling and learning without giving up or slowing down. We can use this and countless other examples as inspiration to make an additional effort to drive ourselves forward and accomplish set goals.
Being a regular BJJ trainer, putting in extra effort, and spending more time on the mats can help you take your training to the next level. Apart from BJJ, this tip is also useful for other aspects of life.
When it comes to achieving something, it is essential to put extra effort in until it becomes easy for you.
Don’t Stop Competing
It is rightly said that competition makes you better whether you win or lose. So don’t stop competing. Bruno Pucci, two-time BJJ NO Gi World Champion, considers it key to his success in every fight.
Doing this will keep you focused as you learn new techniques that can be used by and against your future opponents. Having fears is normal, but getting overwhelmed by them in your mind can have a negative impact on your performance. However, competing with different stage frights can help you be well prepared for competitions.
Apart from eventful competitions, you can also apply this in your sparring sessions. The more experience you gain from competing against different opponents, the better BJJ practitioner you will become.
Identify Your Signature Move
It is said that Roger Gracie, who won the BJJ world championship 10 times, always wins with the help of his signature move, the Cross Choke from Mount. In all of his matches, you can see how he successfully uses this basic technique against many of his opponents.
The major reason behind it is his extensive knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu. It is all about practicing BJJ. The more you work on a particular move, the better you will be at it.
Identifying your signature move can help you develop a unique fighting style. It also helps link it to other BJJ techniques that could be useful in countering your opponents by knowing what position you’re going for. While having a signature move can be deadly, it’s not all that one should have in their arsenal. Try mastering a few guards, submissions, and escape as well.
Eat To Perform
Training hard and eating less cannot be a good strategy for a BJJ trainer. Healthy eating always pays dividends when you’re struggling to survive 10-minute fights during competitions.
This strategy has been adopted by eight-time BJJ World Champion Michelle Nicolini to reach her black belt. She believes that a healthy diet and lifestyle help her stay at the top of her game. Healthy eating habits don’t just make you healthier but they also amplify your performance.
Be Focused and Confident
Being focused and confident is the key element that has helped many black belts achieve their rank. Rafael Mendes, one of the most well-known featherweights in BJJ history, believes that the most important lesson he learned in his career was to remain focused and confident.
When you lose focus, you provide your opponents with opportunities to beat you. So, to prepare yourself to face the competition, you must be dedicated to your training. Mendes suggested following a strict training schedule and recommends that you focus solely on your training while challenging yourself.
BJJ black belt Jeff Glover recently introduced the world to a choke that was applied to him by a 7-year old he was supposed to train. This says a lot about how there’s always something new to learn in the dojo, even from places, events, and people you’d least expect.
Maintaining focus during training is the key regardless of how experienced you are as a martial artist. It will surely help you complete your goals and set aside distractions keeping you from prioritizing what matters to you the most.
Consistency is Key
Do you want to beat opponents twice your size? Do what the legendary Marcelo Garcia has always done to beat his opponents. He remained consistent with his game plan: attack, attack, and attack in every fight.
He believes that this mindset is what helped him to achieve his goals. Regardless of how experienced you are, consistency in all aspects can help you be perfect. From attendance to sparring to drilling, consistency plays a major role in making you the best.
However, it should be noted that this doesn’t mean that you become rigid. That is to say, while you shouldn’t give up trying to attain a position, you should repeatedly give up techniques that have proven ineffective.
Takeaway
These are the 7 best-kept secrets of BJJ Black Belts that can help you follow in the footsteps of masters and inspire you to meet your goals. Make sure to never give up and always keep learning.
