Training habits

How to improve at BJJ: 7 habits to bring to your next class

By RollIQ · October 9, 2026 · 5 min read

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Choose one small problem, ask for one useful correction, and give yourself another chance to try it. A good session should leave you with something more specific than a win or a loss.

You can leave a hard class feeling exhausted without knowing what you learned. That does not make the session wasted, but it makes the next one harder to plan. These seven habits are practical experiments you can fit around your instructor's class, whether you are new to jiu-jitsu or have been training for years.

1. Arrive with one question you can answer

Try a narrow question such as, ‘Can I recognize when my partner is about to flatten me in half guard?’ It gives you something to pay attention to without demanding that every round go your way. ‘Get better at everything’ gives you no such direction.

This follows the deliberate-practice principle of choosing specific learning goals. BJJ Mental Models explains that approach in its guide linked below. Keep your personal focus flexible enough to fit the technique your instructor is teaching.

2. Learn the starting situation, not just the finish

When a technique is demonstrated, notice where both people begin and what makes the move possible. Which position are you in? What is your partner doing? What needs to stay controlled? If you remember only the final movement, you may not recognize an opportunity to use it.

Before your first repetition, explain the starting situation to your partner in one sentence. If neither of you is sure, ask the instructor before adding speed or resistance.

3. Replace ‘it did not work’ with a specific question

Describe the point where the attempt changed: ‘I got to the starting position, but their elbow moved before I could control it. What should I check?’ A coach can respond to that more directly than to a verdict about the whole technique.

You do not need the correct technical vocabulary to ask a useful question. Show the position slowly with a willing partner and explain what you expected to happen.

4. Ask for another attempt from the same situation

During instructor-approved practice time, ask a partner to restart from the position you are learning. Agree on each person's task and when to reset. This makes it easier to get repeated opportunities than waiting for the same position to appear by chance in every free round.

Keep the task appropriate to your experience and follow your coach's guidance on resistance and permitted techniques. Your partner should get useful practice too; exchange roles instead of turning the whole round into your private lesson.

5. Tell your partner what you are working on

A short conversation can change the value of a round. Try: ‘I am trying to notice when I lose balance in this position. If you spot it, could you tell me afterward?’ Then give them room to share their own goal.

Respect the agreed pace, stop promptly when either person taps, and ask before changing the exercise. A dependable partner is someone other people can learn with.

6. Notice a useful change before counting submissions

Maybe you recognized a position sooner, remembered the first step without prompting, or could explain why an attempt failed. Those observations are worth recording even on a day when your partners were more experienced than you.

Compare your own understanding across several sessions. The outcome of a round also depends on who you trained with, the task, and the pace, so it is a noisy scorecard for a single skill.

7. Leave yourself a note you can use next time

Write down the situation, the detail your coach corrected, and the question you still have. Keep it short enough that you will actually read it before the next class. ‘Work on passing’ is vague; ‘Ask where my weight should be before the first step of the pass from Tuesday’ is usable.

Do not turn note-taking into another large project. One concrete reminder is enough to create a connection between today's class and the next one.

Try it at your next class

At your next class, try just habits 1 and 3: choose one question, then ask your coach about the exact point where you get stuck. Afterward, write the answer in a sentence. Keep the habit if it makes your next session easier to approach.

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