Structured training: The overwhelming majority of work that I observe when watching people train is unstructured. It is simply two people or a group of people coming together and sparring for a time, perhaps some random practice of a move or set of moves. This is unfortunate, as it limits the amount of progress that can be made in the time available. I much prefer a strongly structured practice where there is a clear goal as to what the athletes are trying to accomplish and a plan as to how that goal will be reached. I usually find this garners better long term results than random practice. We work in a sport where it is quite possible to put in considerable amounts of effort to make relatively little progress. Hard work is of little value of it is not going in a direction that favors forward progress. If students put as much effort into formulating a structure for their training as they did for the actual physical training, I am certain their progress would be better. People are often surprised at the skill level of some of the students I train, given the time they have been training. For example, when eddie cummings fought Augusto Tanquinho Mendes, Mr Cummings total time of jiu jitsu training was less than half the time Mr Mendes had been a black belt competing at world championship level (bear in mind Mr Mendes has defeated Rafa Mendes and Cobrinha in competition and is thus clearly at the very top of the game). Even more surprising given that Mr Cummings did not even start jiu jitsu until his late twenties. Yet a well structured training regimen allied with very hard work allowed him to match Mr Mendes positionally whilst dominating the submission exchanges. Paying attention to structure worked for him – it can for you too. Here I work with young Mikey Wilson and Nicky Ryan, we start by outlining our goals for the class and put them in the context of our training overall and then into concrete means of achieving them – then let the workout begin
