I recently promoted one of our students after 53 weeks of training. This is pretty rare without a strong wrestling or Judo background. Some gyms will promote students who couple reasonable skills with excellent athletic attributes. This is not the case at our gym. As the post above on Instagram states, Dan did this by the following:
1) He regularly attends classes starting at 6am. This is important because it means training is being prioritised first of all in the day. It is impossible for ‘something to come up at work’ at this time that keeps you after and causes training to be missed. You also are likely to be less tired. Done well, Jiu Jitsu is a highly cerebral sport often described as physical Chess. We’ve had students turn up to class and tell coaches they are struggling to concentrate as they haven’t had any water and / or food all day. Its almost impossible to make progress under these circumstances.
2) He records his sessions. Dan has a camera tripod and places his phone on it, covering the area of the mat he is on. Again like Chess, this allows him to correct any mistakes during reviews, watch back moves shown bo coaches, and see what submissions or positions he is doing best / worst in during sparring.
3) Attendance at Seminar weekends – he travels to Seminars both in the UK and Ireland to train with leading coaches and other gyms. This dedicated focus allows for several weeks of training in one weekend.
4) Ask questions during class – this seems obvious but many students don’t ask questions or clarify understanding
5) Makes a commitment to long term training – many students seek to pay as you go. That’s ok, but making a financial commitment to monthly classes also drives a mental commitment. If you train regularly monthly classes are cheaper than pay as you go and many private courses are available, such as online breathing training videos that are kept for monthly members only.
This list is not exhaustive but gives you some idea as to how you can rapidly progress your training compared to the average attendee.