Drills or Rolling?

[Gsoares2***]

Doing 1 without the other is just traditional martial arts... Thats what makes bjj different. You spar full power every day.

Practice technique untill your sick of it, then practice it a little more. Roll and youll watch your game improve... Its the only way to pull off subs on a fully agressive opponent.

 

[Calibur]

Every move that I can exceute and teach without thinking is a move that I drilled to exhaustion at one point. If I was motivated enough I would spend more time doing drills than learning and rolling. My sweeps and subs would be top notch.

 

[Moving Shadow]

some techniques i nail while rolling despite never drilling them (oldschool, flowersweep, scissors sweep) coz they feel instinctive.

drills are very important for some techniques though
eg i suck at triangles, i try them lots from guard but get blasted thru and passed everytime.
i still have to 'think' about what i'm doing and i know more drilling is required

 

[Bama Zulu]

"If you go to class just to grapple, you aren't going to get better."
Pedro Sauer

 

[Coleman]

I think you need both.

In our class, we start off drilling a move and gradually move into full out rolling by the end of class.

For example, last night we were working on taking the back from gaurd. We spent some time going over just technique and what not. After that, we drilled climbing on the back as fast as we could for 2 minutes straight for rounds with no resistance from our opponent. After that, our opponent would give us his arm and we would go and he would fight full resistance. Once you got his back or he got his arm back, we would start over. After doing this for a while, we moved into just regular rolling and if you got your opponents back he had to do 5 star jumps and 5 burpees at the end of the round just to make it a little more fun.

 

[Zankou]

What is it you learned about the armbar in the drill that helped you get so much better at it? Share the wealth.

 

[flyingknee16]

You do the drills a couple of times, but then rolling is how you will be able to learn how to progress with the skills. If you can do a reverse triangle beautiful in drills but can't pull it off in randori, then it doesn't mean anything and it's useless to you.

 

[Piper]

You should have a training partner to practice with, slowly and carefully, so you have all the pieces of the technique working. Then you can roll slowly giving each other the opening to to try what you are practicing.

I'm lucky, I have mats at my house, 6 years of experience, and several new guys coming to learn, each week. I don't charge anything to teach them. In return I get to practice and try new stuff, as I actively roll with them. So, for myself there is very little in the way of "drills". In effect, I have a group of live practice dummies that keep my technique fresh, and can try new stuff as I roll.

If you are in the San Diego area and want to get some mat time, drop me an email.

Good luck.

[email protected]

 

[Dedicado]

Drills. You are the proof Man Monster. Drilling a move hundreds of times will develop a reflex so you can pull off the move without thinking. Rolling you may not be able to get the move 5 times in a row, let alone 500, so the reflex won't develop as quickly. Rolling is an integral part of training, but it has a purpose: cardio, real time experience, trouble-shooting, pointing out a weakness, pointing out a strength, confidence building, conditioning. Drilling's purpose is to instill something in you so deeply that even under the worst kind of pressure you can execute at wil.

 

[Dedicado]

You do the drills a couple of times, but then rolling is how you will be able to learn how to progress with the skills. If you can do a reverse triangle beautiful in drills but can't pull it off in randori, then it doesn't mean anything and it's useless to you.

I agree with you mostly. You are right in saying that a move is useless unless you can do it in a fight. However, rolling will not always let you work on your weaknesses because you are struggling to impose your will on a guy who is fighting you- what will happen is you will end up bringing your " A " game and trying to beat him with it instead of developing your weaker skills.
If you drill a triangle hundreds of times a week, with different people, from different angles at different speeds and levels of resistance I can garuntee that in time you will be able to do the triangle in Randori and be deadly with it.

 

[VampireMonk]

drills rule, rolling is to feed your ego.

I hate rolling.

 

[Dedicado]

drills rule, rolling is to feed your ego.

I hate rolling.

With respect, I disagree. Rolling is the only safe way to simulate the situations you may face in a tournament or on the streets. There are many different ways people might define "Rolling", but generally it involves all-out or close to all-out grappling fighting in a place and under rules which simulate as closely as possible the actual event you are training for.
Rolling is the only way a grappler can learn what he can really do with a live, resisting opponent without actually showing up at the event. Going to a tourney without investing some serious training by rolling is a recipe for disaster.
Rolling develops a fighter just as much, albeit in a different way, as drilling. Likewise, never Rolling cannot help you in a self defense situation, your fighting speed, timing and experience just won't be there.