In the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, one of the main sayings is that you will forget more techniques than you learn. Which for the most part is true. With all the years you have been training, and all the techniques you have been shown, you would have to be some type of athletic rain man to remember them all. On top of performing them fluidly, it’s just damn near impossible. So just like most, we pick a few techniques that we seem to like at the time, and a few that seem to work for our body type. Because let’s face it, your body type has a lot to do with how you choose techniques. Not very often do we see big boys performing flying armbars and triangles, it’s just not the norm. Their body types do not allow them to perform acrobatic types of movements like smaller and lighter framed players. The same can be said for the lighter players, not very often do you see the small guys using “Power” techniques where the need to use strength is important to help finish the move. We all know our bodies and have a pretty good idea of what works for us and what to just totally dismiss. That being said, you selected a few techniques that work for you and drill the heck out of them and put them in your A game. You use the moves all the time because you know how they work and know how to apply them live. Great! But now, you use them so much, your training partners know what’s coming and they now have counters to your A game! No bueno. Now you feel like you are back at square 1 all over again. Don’t get me wrong, there is a number of JiuJiteros who take the advancement of your training partners as a challenge, so they adapt and evolve the technique so they can still continue to work their A game skill. Awesome, thats a great way to advance your game. However, there are some that will totally abandon the technique and start to adopt others in place of the old. They figure, new technique, new look, it will take them time to figure out the new stuff you are incorporating into your A game. Which is all fine and dandy however, the cycle will continue. As you start to get better, so do your partners. So through the years, as you go from White to Blue to Purple and so on, you learn and abandon techniques and replace the old with the new the same happens again. Here’s an idea… Revert back to the old.

In all the years of training, you have come across some very cool techniques that worked for you in the past. Now is the Best time to revisit those old techniques! Rediscover those hidden gems. Bring out those old school moves! Now that you are more advanced and have more experience with the way your body moves, you will surely be able to incorporate the old with the new. You will find that the muscle memory you need is still there when performing the technique, but now you have a better understanding of the position and how to apply it. You will be able to apply the same technique in different positions! Not only that, but with the strategy skills you have developed, you can now hide your intentions and use some trickery to pull off your technique! You will have a greater appreciation for those hidden treasures. Being able to work the old in combination with the new will bring some new life into your game. It will open up and create new angles for you to work with. The best thing about a lot of this is, the drilling will be easier! You don’t have to drill and practice like you are just learning something new. The work has already been done. Your body has trained the same technique for many years previous, and just like riding a bike for the first time after a long break. Your body still remembers how to move. All you have to do now is find the spot to insert and apply the old technique into your current game. I myself have had huge success with this theory. In my early Blue Belt days, I was a huge player of the inverted guard. I would catch a lot of guys with the triangle in transition along with a few other solid sweeps. Many of which won me lots of medals early on, so I knew I had some nice inverted attacks and sweeps. Later on in my early Purple Belt stages, I had put the inversions on the back burner for some reasons and had a newfound focus on my top game. Just like I stated earlier, my training partners and I would build on each other so much that it became difficult to gain ground in rolls. We would have some intense rolls but most would end up in stalemates. It came to the point where we all knew each other’s game. So countering each other became very easy. I remember rolling with my very good friend and fellow Brown Belt, Brock. He and I are a classic example of Steel Sharpening Steel. We have rolled together for the better part of the last 10 years. Needless to say, we know each other’s game very well. However, a few months ago, we were in a position where we would usually end up in a draw but for some fantastic reason, my brain saw an opening and before I could think it through, my body was inverting and I was able to advance the position and nail my old sweep to sub combo I used as a Blue Belt!! We both got up with that smirk on our faces. “You haven’t Inverted like that in a Long time!” yelled Brock. We both laughed as we remembered. This is where it started. Since then, I have started to go through the old sequences and have found a ton of old techniques that have added some new life to my game.

Related: How BJJ Training Helped Me In Real Life

In conclusion, if you ever feel like maybe your game is at a standstill, or that you may be in a “Valley” instead of on top of a “peak”, don’t be afraid to look at your past. The past is what made you who you are today. There are many treasures you may find that will pleasantly surprise you. Who knows, might even give you that extra edge you have been looking for. Blending the Old with the New might just be what the Dr ordered. Until next time.. See y’all on the mats! Oss.