Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers States, that it takes 10,000 hours to reach expertise.

Most aspiring Jiu-Jitsu students are looking for shortcuts. They look for ways to shorten the time it takes to get decent, decent to good, good to great and so on. In short, they absorb. They absorb training sessions, DVD’s, youtube videos, and books talking about the newest and greatest paradigms, systems and tricks. They eat it all up hoping to obtain the secret behind ‘being good’. They are enthusiasts. They get excited! And that translates into progress. But progress isn’t necessarily a step beyond.

There is however something that separates most from the few and really elevates the student to a venerated degree. The difference between decent and great has less to do with technique, or systems or anything like that, it actually has to do more with something many people are afraid to obtain. It has to do with Situational Awareness.

I am all for searching for the secret. Systems are the most important way to initially understand Jiu-Jitsu. They are a large part of my game. But they are not the most important concept in Jiu-Jitsu. Situational Awareness is what sets Marcelo Garcia apart from most of the JJ community. And it is what I believe to be the most important lesson for escalating your game to the next level.

So what is it?

It is apply named: It is understanding where you are, what actions your opponent has taken and the extent of their abilities. It is also your ability to react to those.

What is gained?

If you have a high degree of Situational Awareness you are able to react better and faster than an opponent with a lesser degree. It literally shaves off time it takes to make a proper reaction. And as we all know a split second is enough time to get in trouble or to put your opponent in trouble.

How is it obtained?

It is obtained through two things, hard work and smart work.

Smart Work consists of :

1. Learning technique properly: Fragmenting then flowing
2. Drilling that technique until it becomes second nature
3. Creating threads and drilling them
4. Live drilling specific positions
5. Rolling

Hard work consists of:

Everything included in Smart Work, but taking it to a new level. You have to live it to be aware of it! You have to love it to live it!

That is situational Awareness.

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Sound crazy?

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