Agreed. Muay Thai

Monitoring the cross-face arm and catching it before someone settles in to side control helped me reset my guard before they fully pass. Understanding when to give up the pass but focus on the small important battles helped my escapes.

Darces and anacondas were always difficult to finish for me. What made the technique click was tucking my elbow back and rotating instead of just squeezing. Understanding this concept made all chokes easier to finish. 

Great question Pete! Teaching can definitely help to internalize the move and all of the key points. I don’t necessarily think teaching should be a requirement to get a black belt, but a black belt should be a leader and open to help others on the mat. Some black belts may not be comfortable instructing and some just might not want to. I think that’s completely fine and up to the individual. 

Taking this course has proven to be extremely valuable in a short amount of time. What would take a coach years to learn by trial and error is taught in this course. The video series explains how to be a coach/leader and the in-person instructor program helps to internalize it. 

This course will make you proficient at demonstrating moves, answering questions, correcting others, commanding a room, and managing time. The strategies described aim to maximize learning for students, which can be utilized across all sports and subjects, not just jiu-jitsu. If you're interested in coaching others, this is certainly the place to start. 

One of the best pieces of jiu jitsu advice I've received is to stay in offensive cycles. Staying on offense forces your opponent to stay on defense. If they're on defense, they cannot attack or submit you. This makes a match one sided and creates the illusion of being "one step ahead", when in reality one person is simply more decisive. 

Ankle pick

You have a strong sense of imagination…

I absorb jiu jitsu best in long form content. I watch matches and rolls on YouTube, and if I see something I like, I dive deeper into breakdowns. It helps me to see techniques used in the context of a real match instead of a short clip. Whichever method used, studying jiu jitsu off the mats has been the best tool for progressing my game. 

That's a great goal Tyler. This year, my goal is to become a better teacher. One of the biggest challenges of coaching is finding techniques/details that are captivating for beginners and advanced jiu jitsu players in the same class. Excess details and advanced techniques are overwhelming for beginners. The basics are already understood by colored belts. I believe finding a middle ground to stimulate everyone in the room would be a great skill to have. I will be continuously implementing new coaching strategies as I learn them. The college jiu jitsu club will be a great testing ground for me to work on coaching over the course of the semester.