Why some people get loyalty to an instructor wrong, Wrong, WRONG!

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Stephan Kesting

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Hello Sherdog

I just finished writing the latest lesson for my free Beginning BJJ eCourse. I started out nice and calm, but by the end of it I was all worked up.

I think that a lot of people mis-apply the concept of loyalty when learning BJJ, and I wanted to get my feelings about this topic off my chest (and give you a sneak preview of what I'm sending out on that list).

---------- DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE -----------

Today I want to talk about something that might be a little controversial: loyalty.

Loyalty to an instructor, to a club, or to a team is highly valued in BJJ. Generally that's a good thing. As I hinted three lessons ago (in "Know This About Your BJJ Club"), you're not just learning techniques at a club. You're joining a social network, a family of sorts.

But some people get the concept of loyalty totally wrong. They think that loyalty means becoming a clone of their instructor. If he's a top player and prefers not to use the guard, then they become fanatical top players. If he prefers the knee mount with a certain grip, then they always use it too and insist that there are no other valid grips. If he uses only two collar chokes to finish from rear mount, then they close their eyes to any other submission opportunities.

OF COURSE your game should look different from your instructor's game. For one thing, his physical attributes won't be the same as yours. If he's super-flexible, and you can barely touch your toes, then his bread-and-butter techniques may not work for you. If you're 200 lbs of muscle and gristle, and he's 140 lbs soaking wet, then you'll be able to do things that he can only dream of.

I've heard of some martial art instructors who demand slavish imitation, and suppress any creativity on the part of their students. Maybe that has a role in traditional martial arts, where they're trying to pass on historical information and valued traditions unchanged to the next generation.

Suppressing creativity in BJJ is a different matter. If your instructor's ego is really so weak that he can't handle you exploring any new territory on your own, then you've joined a cult, not a school. My suggestion would be to find a new instructor.

Seriously.

If you and I start training at the same school then we might both initially learn the same techniques (and the same way to do those techniques). There's nothing wrong with that - everybody needs a place to start. With time, however, your game will be different from my game, and both our games will be different from our instructor's game. That's not a sign of disrespect - it's a sign of our games maturing.

Loyalty does NOT mean slavishly imitating your instructor's techniques. Listen to your instructor. Learn his techniques. Pay attention to his suggestions. But ultimately YOU decide whether or not you're going to add a specific technique to your arsenal.

I always find it interesting when a famous student has a very different game from a famous teacher. Among other things it means that the teacher was secure enough in his own knowledge to let his student go and find his own way.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is an art of physical self-expression. The job of your instructor is to facilitate that development. He can give you some guidance, but ultimately the responsibility for your development falls on your shoulders, not his.

If you develop some unique techniques, combinations, strategies or tactics then your instructor should be happy with a job well done.

Stephan Kesting
BeginningBJJ.com
Grapplearts.com

-------------------- Additional Resource #1 --------------------

Training tips for grappling and the martial arts

-------------------- Additional Resource #2 --------------------

Grappling Breakthrough Stories
 
very well said!

I have always told my students that a great way of learning about potential coachs is to watch their students. Do they all look like clones of the instructor? Or do they all have their own games? I pride myself on the fact that all my guys have different games. At tournaments you could not tell simply by their games alone that they train under me (I hope not anyway...LOL). They all are individuals. This is the mark of good student development.

Unfortunately, i do see lots of cookie cutter approaches out there on the mats.
 
I would add that I don't think this is always a loyalty issue on the part of students. It can also be a sign of unseasoned, unskilled, and premature coaches...coaches who are not developed enough in their own right to know how to let their students develop on their own. Prospective students may be attracted to a certain coach because of that coach's game. But, it is the coach who should limit set and encourage the new students to explore for themsleves what works for them...and not just try to copy what he or she does.
 
it would be more fun if you talked a little more about loyalty and creontes
 
I train to be like Jacare... So eh, I do what I can.
 
"Learn to express your self honestly through combative form."-Bruce Lee
 
I can't realy chose any gym then the one im going, but I do learn only the things that i like from class/dvd etc.
 
Thanks for the article, I find your stuff very helpful and informative. The BJJ roadmap book you put up has really helped me feel more comfortable as a brand new student, kind answers the questions you don't know you need to ask.
 
Off topic: it is a very informative beginner instruction manual you put online.

Great job Stephan! The fact that it is FREE alone shows your dedication to the art!
 
Where I train they always teach 2 or 3 different ways to do a technique (variations in grips etc.) and accompany the instruction by telling us what works best for them but implore us to try the variations to see what works best for us. It's a Renzo Gracie affiliate so certain techniques such as rthe rubber guard are frowned upon hehe

However, I was in Sherbrooke visiting my sister for a few days and she trains bjj at a club there. I attended a class and they kept drilling the top game into their student's head. I discussed this with one of their instructors and he said "our school focuses on the top game and we teach our students to stay away from the bottom".
That bothered me because bjj was founded on the principle of the ground game and the bottom game is a critical component.

All in all our school is better ;)
 
Yeah, this is really true. And pretty much evident in a lot of sports like tennis, chess, running.

I am thankful my sensei lets us use a poetic license whenever we free roll.
 
Good points Stephan! I guess I'm lucky enough to learn under someone who realizes that different people will have different approaches. He's actually come around and seen me having trouble with some techniques that he and I both know I'll never really use. He kind of laughs and says, "just keep trying." More so that I learn the technique than actually use it. He's also very good at teaching towards your style or body type or whatever. Just a couple of days ago I was asking him about doing a sit out on someone who is trying to sink in an anaconda from the top (getting that over under and really trying to push that arm all the way through.) My instructor actually has freakishly long limbs for someone his size so he steps in and gets an over under and shoves his arm through and says, "see, now it's too late. You can't let me get here. But your wide so don't pull your elbows in, flair them out. Make it so he can't get all the way through. If he gets it in too deep you won't be able to sit out at all so get wide, move your head to the right side and try it."

It was awesome. And this from a guy who hasn't once in the 2+ years that I've been there ever taught us the anaconda. We are still free to pick up techniques wherever though and bring them in and have him help us. Damn, I feel lucky now.
 
My instructor's sort of let me do my own thing. But at times he's given me the "Easy Tiger. I really think you should work on this move first before you move to that. This occasion, work on the basics first"

You gotta trust the guy to know what's best for you and that he's teaching you the right thing.
 
I totally agree Stephan.

Very nice post.
 
I appreciate the fact that Cobrinha doesn't expect us to roll exactly like him, and he makes allowances for our differing bodytypes.

But I do WISH I were a copy of him....
 
Well said. It's particularly interesting to me, because in my 3 years of training, I've never encountered this, and I'd be interested to hear if it goes on at other places.

My instructor does suggest techniques for us to use, and he will show us the way he prefers to do things (one grip rather than another, for example) but he never tries to mold our game into his own. In face, I can think of a number of instances where he helped myself or other students individually modify a technique to suit us better. For example one of my training partners has really bad knees (needs surgery), and a certain application of an armbar that we were drilling was hurting his knees with some torque, so our instructor showed him a different way to finish, and a way to transition to something else that worked better for him, even though that's probably not how our instructor would do it himself. I take that for granted, but I guess I should be thankful?
 
whilst our club has a wide variety of styles and techniques on the mat i definitely notice that certain trends come across a lot of our games and thats is influenced by our head instructor, i don't think it limits us too much though its almost like a BJJ 'accent' and i've noticed it from other clubs too not in a negative way just certain techniques or transitions are more common under certain coaches
 
I think this is an important topic of conversation. I came up in a free thinking academy that was one of the first BJJ places to do leg locks, wrestle, judo or No-Gi to play with "what ever" to complete your own personal expression. Mixing all the Martial Arts. As a result, many of our guys expanded to HNB/MMA quickly and have distinctive games.

We have even had some really crazy times like Steve Heath and his buddy Carlton bringing their Cali sticks and practice knives and added them into the mix. Thats what Martial Artists do, consider all possibilities.

Now I am an agressive instructor at times to drill a basic or have a guy to practice a technique that may at first seem not to fit him[from his point of view], but after the knowledge is imparted and the student grows to a level of understanding you then free him to play with it to express his best talents.

It is a key point of Coaching any sport, because it the only way you can produce students to excell farther than you did. Coaching/Instructing your game on students is to insure you stay better than them. Thats 'Ego" and not caring for your students progress and devolipment.


Stephan Kesting, I personally would like to thank and commend you for joining the ranks of thinkers like Aeosapian and JaySkulls who also dedicate great love and effort to share and articulate in writing the pearls of BJJ, keeping and setting a standard for the level of conversation on the forum. Dave Camerillo also sets a high standard of thinking on his forums too, it is what keeps the desire of excellance high.

I also think this topic is key, because I have competed in days past in Track and Field and Basketball as most young athelets............but BJJ allows for the greatest oppertunity of "Self-Expression" than any sport I have come across.

Stick with your passion and keep writing, young man!



Final note; note the number of time I used the word play, play is and important time to be creative in finding your way to those serious competitive moments we all search for, to find that perfection thats in us.
 
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