I've told this story before, but I'll say it again for your sake.
My guitar teacher told me that if I wanted to learn guitar, I had to do more than just play guitar. I had to listen to guitar, play with other people, go to concerts, be friends with guitar players outside of playing guitar, etc.
I do this sort of thing with virtually anything I do. I'll just obsess over it. Some people just have a fanatical, obsessive, addictive personality. Once they find something they like, they'll think about it constantly, research it, find forums about it, whatever. That's me. Sometimes those things are done to excess though. Particular internet forums are very addictive. I guess if you are reading sherdog to excess that it comes between other parts of your life (e.g. work, family) and even rolling, then it's time to scale it back a bit.
I find the same with BJJ. Just training all day isn't going to do it. Your body will break down. We can't always find the time. There are many reasons. Sherdog is how I maintain one of those BJJ aspects intersecting with my life. I also train, watch fights with guys I train with, go to competitions to compete and/or spectate, watch videos and even have a mat (12 x 12) in my house for training with other people.
I do something similar:
1. Sherdog (reading, until now). Doing this since I started rolling, pretty much.
2. Train
3. Watch fights with guys I train with (and on my own). Watching Pride back in the day was a factor in motivating me to start learning BJJ.
4. Compete, sometimes attend to spectate if I can't attend at the appropriate times to compete.
5. BJJ books and instructionals. Not only owning them, but actually reading them and applying them.
6. Youtube
7. Mat (it's only about 2mx2m), suitable for solo rolling and that's pretty much it. I have asked just about everyone who lives near me if they have a mat at home and would like to practice at all. So far no takers. But at a guess I've logged about 6-7 hours all up on my solo mat (e.g. about 20 sessions).
8. Write up notes on every class (well, probably about 90%). Techniques, things that worked, things that didn't, things opponents did, and every fight following a comp. Been doing this since I started rolling.
9. I'll also use my notes as a means of analyzing where my BJJ game is, where I want to be, my overall gameplan. And who I want to model parts of my game on. And any theories I have about BJJ and MMA in general. And gameplanning for upcoming competitions, and my peaking strategy.
10. Ask the guys who are better than I am in the gym (or even are worse, but have a neat move) what they do, or how they would defend a technique that they are adept at using. If they are really good, stuff at a higher level, e.g. how they got good, general sort of advice etc.
Possibly more stuff that I can't think of right now.
Has it helped my rolling? I would say so. I've done well in local level competitions (wins or places), and higher belts (e.g. some purples, instructors) have complimented my rolling. Maybe it helps that I even have a gameplan during a competition, this is kind of unusual for a WB. But I know there are times when I should be doing more stuff that I know I need to do to get better, e.g. drilling solo escapes, and deciding which escapes I'm going to learn. I basically know what I need to do, but need to ingrain the muscle memory.
