Drilling is central to success in jiujitsu. With an art this detailed, you simply have to repeat the core movements thousands of times to train your body. As Roger Gracie famously advised, you shouldn’t drill a move until you get it right — you should drill until you can’t get it wrong.

There are several great sites and articles and videos out there with specific drills. I’ve written about the solo drills I do when no one is around to train with.

That’s not the point of this post, though. It’s very common that I see new white belts making mistakes in terms of drilling method: either they treat it like sparring, or they race through the  details, or they make other simple errors that are going to impede the learning process.

These are understandable mistakes — they’re new, for one thing. Also, sometimes new people see upper belts doing drills that are more appropriate for experienced people. Drilling should never stop. Red belt legends still drill basic moves.

It’s a lot easier to implement good practices than to correct errors. So let’s go over how I like to drill myself, and how I suggest you learn jiujitsu through drilling as you move up through the ranks. Continue reading “How to Drill for BJJ”