The Ninja Blog

Consistency has been and is a major key to improving my jiu jitsu game. I try to build a routine around my training schedule so that by default I’m busy on training nights. Friends want to go out for drinks that night? Sorry, but that is a training day for me. Take it as seriously as you would an appointment with someone else. 

If you are able to consistently dedicate as little as 300 minutes per week (3 days per week) to improving your Jiu Jitsu, you’ll be on track for great results. It's better to be consistent and steady than the alternative. I have had many friends hit the gym super hard for a few weeks only to vanish for months while they figure out why they got hurt or burned out. It's just as important to get quality rest as it is to get those hard sparring rounds in!  You can use Grapple.Ninja to help keep yourself accountable and motivated, while also keeping an eye on your training volume. I use Grapple.Ninja to keep an eye on how much I'm training and I adjust my days accordingly. 

Go train and happy tracking :)
 

Custom Training Reports are now available for Grapple.Ninja Pro subscribers!

You can now search your training history using a custom date search. This is just the beginning of what is coming for Pro subscribers. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Hows your training going so far this summer? Here's a snapshot of mine right now. Consistency is king! Happy tracking :)

Are there moves that are statistically better but are underrepresented in jiu-jitsu due to a cultural stigma? In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Big Man can’t Shoot” episode of the Revisionist History Podcast, he asks this question about basketball. Specifically about shooting free throws underhanded, granny style. In the episode Gladwell interviews Rick Barry who shot underhanded. He asks Barry about the stigma of shooting granny style and asked if that bothered him. Barry repeats what his Dad had told him, “They can’t make fun of you if you’re making them.” They go on to talk about how underhanded free throws are a superior technique and are statistically more accurate, but nobody in the NBA will shoot them because they don’t want to be picked on. This got me thinking. What jiu-jitsu moves are being unfairly stigmatized despite being highly successful?

One of the great things about jiu-jitsu is that different people can enjoy it different ways. I really enjoy playing closed guard. I like the submissions, setting traps, and switching between attacks. When I started working on my guard passing I had to learn to love a different part of jiu-jitsu. The grinding, pressure, and wearing down an opponent to win.

There is no single correct way to enjoy jiu-jitsu and there is no single way to train jiu-jitsu. Can you get better without Grapple.Ninja? Yes. But just like many other activities taking advantage of quantitative data can improve and speed up the process. Who is going to save more money, the person with a budget or the person who just tracks it in their head? Which weightlifter is going to make faster gains, the one who tracks his lifts and notes his progress or the one who just comes in and works hard? Obviously, someone working hard without Grapple.Ninja will beat someone who uses Grapple.Ninja and doesn’t work hard. But, if both people work hard, the person with the extra tools will have an edge.

Grapple.Ninja can help you focus and reflect which will give you the edge on the mats. It will help you start building healthy habits and motivate you to keep pushing as you see tangible results visually! Feel free to discuss in the comments below.