Last Friday, I had the privilege of attending a class at Eddie Kone's
EKBJJ Headquarters in London. The contents of the session and the long discussion and interview I had with him afterwards (video and transcription to follow) fired up so many questions and topics in my head that will colour the blog-posts of the Part Time Grappler for some time.
While there will always be a lot of
talk about the basics of BJJ / Grappling and a number of overlapping
opinions of what they actually contain, the bigger question on my mind is not the comprehensiveness of such list, but rather when and how these are actually taught.
By attending one BJJ/Grappling session, you already know more than the majority of the world's population. Does that mean that you can use your new knowledge on all of them successfully as they resisted? Not really. It's not that simple, is it?
It would however be fair to assume that the progressive resistance drills you most likely did will give you a somewhat higher awareness and alongside it higher likelihood of success in pulling the move(s) (e.g. armbar) off within the particular geography (e.g. mount).
What if you go for a second session? Chances are you will be doing a new set of moves, possibly in a different physical geography. How does that effect your comprehension of what BJJ Grappling is? Does it add another area or set of moves, parallel to the first, at which you have slightly higher awareness than the rest of the non-practicing population? Or is there some crossover? Is this conscious or sub-conscious? Is it long term? In that case, how long? These are all questions that really interest me.
Thanks to the recent works by Rener and Ryron Gracie in the development of the syllabus of their programme, the Gracie Combatives. I've been exposed to the potential of a linear, or as I prefer to see it: circular, syllabus in amplifying the learning
Think about it. What, if not a thought-out syllabus, guarantees that practitioners get enough exposure to a technique or position. The syllabus itself need not always be as extensive as what the Gracie Academy has done, but it needs to be there and it needs to be cyclical. An excellent example is
Cane Prevost’s 20-week revolving syllabus. You'd have to be very unlucky to miss out instruction on any off his topics. Sooner or later, he gets ya!
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