The Magic Cult of the Training Room (Patreon)

You can only mimic competition through competing. The training room shouldn't and CAN'T be competition.  

By Sam 

I'm currently in the midst of editing/producing my episode with Jeff Monson, and there's a part about training I completely forgot about but it's really helpful. He said he had just won the ADCC Worlds, and while he was still in Abu Dhabi, there was open training going on with some of the other competitors. So he joined in. He's the champ mind you, but he said they were mopping him up. At first he was confused because he had beaten some of these guys but he couldn't hold his own anymore. Only in reflecting afterwards did he understand what had occurred. He was getting beat up because they were just rolling jiu-jitsu. And these were jiu-jitsu guys, so of course he was eventually going to lose.

Now, let me unpack this. Why the training room looks different from let's say a pro fight to even a competition jiu-jitsu match is, the training room is its own animal. I'm not talking about being able to strike in MMA, but if you think that's the only difference, you're also missing a lot. How this was different was because for Jeff who relies so much on wrestling, he couldn't really wrestle because they started already on the floor. There's no point in positional dominance because they were going until someone tapped. Also there was no time limit, you just go until you tap someone then you either go again or find someone new. And also, you were rolling. So no matter how high the intensity is in a jiu-jitsu roll, it's not the same intensity of an actual match or a MMA fight. If two people are rolling at 70%, maybe one person wins. But in a real match, you're both going 100% and one person's top end might be MUUUUUUCH higher than the other. But you will never know in training, you can only know in a match.

There's also so much that happens in training that could be considered stalling that neither you nor your partner pick up on. And also in training you're constantly stopping and resetting, which builds a different cardio and strategy than competition. You have time to think in training, in competition, not as much. You can be good in just one energy system in training, whereas in competition you need to be good in all energy systems. You can even talk during your training, whereas in competition, that's so rare, it weirds out the referees or if it's in a pro fight, the commentators will point it because it's so out of place and uncommon.

This is why so many things, like techniques, or certain submissions occur all the time in the training room rarely happens in let's say the UFC. It's not just because of punches, it's not an education problem either where they don't know enough jiu-jitsu (blue belts catch weird subs all the time). It's just because the rules of training and expectations of training room and cage are different. Same in a no-gi worlds match or a traditional BJJ competition.

In the training room, it is cowardice to stand up out of someone's guard and back out. In MMA this is just smart. In a comp match, you have a time limit and positions matter. Whereas in the training room, you might have never noticed your positional game is no good because you do so well with submissions and never let anyone pass your guard. You might also not notice how bad your cardio during randori or wrestling is. So esoteric moves you see on the mats all the time are less successful in MMA or even in competition. You can have zero intensity and be a monster in training, but that RARELY happens in competition. Also in training, you have to keep "rolling" whereas in a match, you can do other things besides just rolling. Even in a BJJ competition, it's not pure rolling.

This is why competition can't be truly replicated on the mats. You have to compete to get those miles in. It's why amateur matches in wrestling, boxing, and even MMA matter. You can be the leading scorer in your Peloton class but this does not mean you will perform just as well outdoors, with outdoor conditions, and wind, and cold or heat, with real pressure, and a million other intangibles a controlled setting like a class cannot account for. But it's not just a matter of will, the class won't highlight certain people's strengths or weaknesses either. 

When you see an MMA fight and are wondering why a certain obscure leg lock, a certain obscure choke, or a certain rubber guard technique never seems to work, it's because the unwritten code of valor is different in training. So people will constantly allow themselves to be in those situations. You will 100% roll in training and when you do that, lots of BJJ stuff happens. But just because a lot of the match is contested on the ground in MMA or in a comp, does not mean it's all rolling, so you will get different results. And someone you can beat in pure rolling like Monson, might beat you in ADCC.

North/south position is a great example. As common in training as any other position, gi or no-gi. But almost vanishes in competition or in MMA. No one says you shouldn't do north/south in comp or in MMA, but whatever differences there are from training to competition does not allow for it to be as common.

The Gracie cult magical thinking is all about the mystique of the training room. This is actually just martial arts magical thinking, but we think BJJ is somehow different. But it's the same logic, "Look what we can do in training, this hidden invisible jiu-jitsu. Why doesn't it work in comps? Because they don't know our secrets." Believing the training room is reality is buying into that lack of secret knowledge narrative that martial arts in general has been so known for. The secret knowledge narrative is always a red flag and always reactionary. "Why am I being oppressed, facing racism, and poor? Oh, I don't know the secrets of hustling and how to think like a rich person. That's been my problem!"

And thinking it's just a difference due to strikes is just lazy thinking. It's ping pong and tennis, very similar but worlds apart. You can incorporate strikes into your rolls, but that doesn't mean we'll see weird submission you see in training happen as regularly in a professional setting. This is why what happens during training really doesn't matter. If you've been working your judo for three month and get smoked while rolling in class, you might think you wasted your time. And that's really a disservice to your own progress...

Training room shouldn't be competition, not because it's a bad way to approach it, but also because it is IMPOSSIBLE for the training room to act as a competition. Just as it is impossible for indoor cycling to be the Tour de France. Thinking it can be not only makes you a jerk but also makes you misguided. So just train and HAVE FUN.