Man, I am overwhelmed with the amount of...

[3s_em1]

Techniques.

I train 3 times a week (Gi only) and I pick things up quite easily. I also use the techniques we are taught which makes our intructor quite happy. I say I am coming along just fine for a 1 month old blue belt. My problem is that I am always looking for something more. I have 5-6 BJJ books and spend countless hours looking at BJJ videos and reading online. I have come to a point that I am overwhelmed with the amount of techniques available. Its like I want to know/try them all. I get the feeling this is not a healthy attitute towards BJJ.

damn...

 

[TheAth-ah-lete]

yup...

 

[Deleted member 3729]

Not a healthy attitude just get good at the fundamentals. You don't really need to master the twister right now

 

[matador1872]

I have been training 9 months and a month or so ago I had to quit going to class and only showing up for open mat. I was getting "hard drive "overload. Couldn't remember everything that was being taught. It really helped my game.

 

[Deloitte]

I agree, bad attitude, focus on improving and adapting fundamentals to different types of grapplers.

 

[Evaristo Medrano]

I see vids, but i just take lil details not the hole thing.
But just grapple man. Especially with Gi. Ive just benn rolling, and creating man. Just go !

 

[ILGrappler]

Great attitude, unwise practice. Keep that attitude going strong, it is the one you need on the road to your black belt. Just think it through and understand that first you need to work on the meat and potatoes of jiu jitsu, and then home in on what works specifically for you. The closer you become to an expert, the more moves you will learn and the easier they will come to you.

There are many moves, but they're held together by few principles. When you lock those principles in, the moves will come easier.

 

[Trickster***]

I started using a BJJ training log (I will give you the link but chances are it wont make any sense to you, it was just meant for me to keep track of my techniques, it wasnt really meant for the general public...and it certainly isnt anywhere close to a lot of the BJJ blogs out there) anyway the log helps me remember moves because when I come home I have to sit and think about them again, write them out step by step and force myself to review the move in my head....and I STILL have the same problem you do, but I think it helps me to remember the techniques more.

BJJ Training Log

You can check it out if ya want. Frodo turned me on to this blog to help me organize my techniques bc I was using microsoft word and there was no way or keeping all the moves organized. BTW Frodos blog is awesome...it puts my to SHAME!!

 

[philthyjitsu]

I think the best way to approach instructionals or books is to grab 1 move/detail/setup and work on it until it becomes part of your game. A huge mistake that I am guilty of is trying to learn an entire game of someone elses. I end up bogging down, and my progress slides backwards sometimes

Keeping an eye out for new weapon is always good, but forgetting to use what your being taught by your instructor is counter productive.

 

[slideyfoot]

I get the feeling this is not a healthy attitute towards BJJ.

I'd agree, that isn't a healthy attitude. Trickster's advice on keeping a blog is good: I've found that keeping mine since I started training in Nov 06 has been a big help. Much easier to remember technique that way, not only because you can refer back to what you've written, but because the very act of writing it down forces you to think carefully through the technique. Also means that notes on what you did in sparring (especially what you did wrong) function as an action plan for the next session: you'll know exactly what you need to work on.

Generally, I think you should concentrate on refining what you know, rather than constantly expanding. Instead of looking for new techniques, restrict yourself to the stuff you've been shown in class, treating videos/books etc as supplements to what you already know. Pick your weakest area (e.g., standing guard passes, side control escapes), then work purely on that for a few months.

Of course, I'm saying this as a mere four month blue belt myself, so take that for what its worth.

 

[JDV5811]

dude just let it come naturally.when you roll just say "all I'm gonna do is go for sweeps" and that's all you do then next time say "I'm gonna work on triangles" work at it one move at a time.things will come don't rush it.

 

[DaDiazBros**]

just take it step at a time, review your material before class so it can retain in your head better.

 

[3s_em1]

Thanks for the support and the links. I'll definatelly try the logs. In a sense, I feel I started BJJ kind of late (29-30) and I want to make up for it.

 

[anaconda]

You should stop focusing on techniques as a whole. That will severely limit your bjj growth.

If your instructor is the type that just shows you new techniques every day, I say find another school. BJJ is not about techniques. Its about positional dominance, achieved through certain fundamental, core movements.

Learn how to move your hips, learn where to put your weight, learn where and how to control, and above all learn concepts that apply to all situations. Dont focus on techniques or every time you are put in a new situation you will be stuck. Once you understand the concepts you dont even have to think anymore, you just do.

 

[DirectDrive]

as others have said work technique.
that's one of the tricks to jiu-jitsu. there are countless moves and you have to find you game somewhere in there.

 

[Altephor]

I definitely agree. I started last week and I instantly fell in love. I've always been a fairly small guy but I have a decent amount of muscle, just not a lot of overall weight (5'7" 160), and I love the fact that I'm actually learning to move people that may be bigger than me. I'm obsessed with learning the techniques, I also spend hours looking over things online and in books and wherever I find it. I know I can't do pretty much any of it yet and I'm still learning the fundies but the way I see it, if I watch videos and read step-by-steps, then when they come in class I will at least be somewhat familiar with them and possibly learn them faster. We usually do about 2-3 techniques per class. I wish it was 50.

 

[wOg]

Don't sweat it. You're doing exactly what you should be doing as a new blue belt.

Being a blue belt is like being a teenager. You're supposed to run around in circles, spend endless amounts of emotion and energy trying everything that pops into your mind.

Trying to get blue belts - especially new ones - to train like black belts is like trying to get 16 year olds to live their lives like people who are in their 40s.

I've had my blue belt for about a year and a half and feel as if I am finally growing out of my "jiu jitsu teenage" years.

 

[3s_em1]

Don't sweat it. You're doing exactly what you should be doing as a new blue belt.

Being a blue belt is like being a teenager. You're supposed to run around in circles, spend endless amounts of emotion and energy trying everything that pops into your mind.

Trying to get blue belts - especially new ones - to train like black belts is like trying to get 16 year olds to live their lives like people who are in their 40s.

I've had my blue belt for about a year and a half and feel as if I am finally growing out of my "jiu jitsu teenage" years.

Thanks for those words.

 

[The Colonel]

I try to stay away from all the technique videos that are available on-line. They are great resources of course, but after spending several years grappling I KNOW that even what I know now is just the tip of the iceberg. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is enormous, and that is just one facet of grappling. I'm also intensely interested in wrestling, judo, sambo and even to a lesser extent aikido.

I have a ton of grappling books (I'm a book nerd and can't resist picking up a new book to add to my library) but I only have very few instructional dvds. The ones that I have I know I could spend months, maybe even years, working on what they show.

My advice to you is to find something specific to work on to further flesh out your game. But by specific I'm not saying something like, "I want to get better at such and such choke/armlock/sweep whatever" but instead get comfortable with a particular position/situation and work from there.

For instance, right now I'm mostly working on half guard sweeps and the cross knee guard pass. Of course each of those can be broken down into a ton of different ways to approach it, counters to counters, and so forth, but that's kind of the way I like to try to stay on track. Its easy to get overwhelmed in this Information Age.

 

[Einherjar]

Don't sweat it. You're doing exactly what you should be doing as a new blue belt.

Being a blue belt is like being a teenager. You're supposed to run around in circles, spend endless amounts of emotion and energy trying everything that pops into your mind.

Trying to get blue belts - especially new ones - to train like black belts is like trying to get 16 year olds to live their lives like people who are in their 40s.

I've had my blue belt for about a year and a half and feel as if I am finally growing out of my "jiu jitsu teenage" years.

All though I agree to some degree, I also think one should try to focus on basics!
One of my strengths is my reportoar of techniques, no doubt, but I think that focusing on the basics has helped me way more. The basics have to be there or else everything else will fail. If you have strong basics you can play around because if you fail, you can just turtle up and pull guard again, or something like that.

This sort of reminds me of the tread about what the difference between bluebelts is. Well. in two words, I would say: strong basics.

By all means, try new stuff, but that should be like 20% of your training in my mind.