If you want to understand something – teach it
If you want to understand something – teach it
If you want to understand something – teach it: Little known fact is when someone becomes my student I always teach them two different skills. The first is the one everyone knows about, how to get good at BJJ and improve your mindset through Jiu-Jitsu. The second is much less widely known. Once you get to purplebelt level, I teach all my students to teach. This forces them to be able to articulate exactly what they are trying to do. Learning to articulate this knowledge greatly clarifies it in your own mind. In my experience, the more clearly you think about your skillset, the better you will get at that skill. Often I make my students teach back the skills I taught them, or have them teach some new idea they are working on. In addition, the act of doing this always sharpens and enhances their understanding in ways that will increase their performance. It also has the additional long term benefit that they can make a good living from the art as a teacher as well as an athlete. It’s a way of paying it forward and spreading our art. Next time you feel confusion about an area of BJJ, do some research on it and try to teach what you’ve learned to a teammate, or if you really want a challenge, – to a non BJJ friend. Then you will have to add explanations as to why this skill is important, since this may not be obvious to an outsider. Make sure you make it shorter and simpler. I promise this will be more than just a fun experience, it will make you a better performer in that area of the game.
