That Really Cool Move I Learned Last Week But Can't Remember Now

"He has forgotten more techniques than most of us will ever know in our lifetime!" I have heard this said about some of the masters of BJJ before. What a great compliment to pay somebody; I hope people could say this about me someday. Of course, what this saying implies is that the practitioner knows a great deal about BJJ.

As a 'young' blue belt (experience, not age-wise), you could say this statement about me in reference to some people -- those who come to a few classes and never come back. But as time go on, and I spend more and more hours on the mats, I am no longer the new guy in the gym. People come in who are bigger and stronger than I, and I am able to control them because I have learned technique. So now occasionally (only occasionally!) you could say that I have forgotten more BJJ techniques than somebody presently knows. As time goes on, and I leave more sweat, blood, and tears on the mat, I hope that this statement will become more and more true.

What originally got me thinking about this subject is the fact that I have gone to many seminars, many of them two to four hours in length, and I remember very little of what I was taught in the seminars. Of course, one reason is that I have not drilled the techniques enough. I give up on some techniques too easily. But I think the main reason is the sheer abundance of the material. Usually when I go to a seminar, I learn many techniques, but there will be one or two things that really change my game, and I am okay with that.

There are so many techniques that I will never learn them all, but I can think of one simple thing to improve in this area: taking notes. Whether it is a four hour seminar or 30 minutes of instruction in class, it is very easy to jot a few things down to jog my memory. Of course it would be better to be described as a walking encyclopedia of jiu jitsu techniques, but that comes slowly. I think that writing techniques down would be one of the means to that end. I have been told by instructors before that I should be writing things down, but I have just never done it. I also have friends who tell me that they should be journaling their BJJ techniques, but I don't see anybody doing it consistently.

So when you see me scribbling during class, that is what I am doing. I will check back in and present my findings, whether I notice a change right away, or whether it is something that takes place over months or years