I watched a few videos recently that were less about specific techniques and more about philosophies related to training. First, I came across this discussion of guard pulling. It pretty well captures my feelings about training standup. There are folks who complain about the lack of standup in Jiu Jitsu and it’s fair to note the deficiency at the highest levels, but there are practical reasons to de-emphasize it at the hobbyist level.
The rest of the interview is interesting because Travis Stevens is such a beast from his judo background, but here are some thoughts on BJJ takedowns from a Judo silver medalist:
On another subject, Andrew Wiltse went on a rant about skill development. I’m less interested in his detour about optimal strength and conditioning training beyond my agreement that rolling is not the optimal way to achieve it. That isn’t a huge concern from me. As Kesting’s video noted, there’s a difference between dedicated competition training and learning.
I know rolling is fun and I try to accommodate that in class but I do agree that free rolling and not using enough intermediate levels of intensity prevent skill development. I’m super guilty of this in my guitar playing as I have a tendency to play songs within my current skill level rather than doing more deliberate practice to advance the level. There’s a balance between having fun and progressing, but everyone needs to ask themselves whether they really want to get better over time and are they really doing the things that would contribute to that.