When you wake up in the morning what are some of the things you do? Perhaps you brush your teeth, take a shower. Maybe you pray, eat breakfast, or do a little workout. Think about when you were a child or when you first started something you wanted to make into a habit, how did it go? You probably did not remember to do it daily, nor did it stick right away. The reason being is because in order for something to be turned into a habit, it must be done on a regular basis. Even if we examine the bad, smoking, we see that lung cancer from smoking doesn't develop until years after your first puff. Or even with the overconsumption of calories per day, it takes a while to get fat, right?If we applied this theory to our jiu-jitsu, we would realize that we could improve or get worse over time if we choose the right/wrong habits. Often times in class I look around during drills and I see people very lazily doing the technique. They are not actively completing the technique (where they are conscious of the details), but rather they are letting it passively go over them, as if there is something else on their minds. This is the first step to creating bad habits. It's like trying to study with the T.V on, you won't learn anything. When drilling and listening to instruction, you should be an active participant asking questions and allowing the details to stick by doing the technique correctly.
The funny thing about good/bad habits in jiu-jitsu is, you can always tell who has them. It is definitely apparent in sparring when you see someone getting submitted, passed, and just manhandled all day, erday. Normally, the one that is doing the handling is the better technician and the one who is getting handled is lacking the "habits" to protect themselves from the onslaught. I have stressed the importance of drilling on this blog before, but I have not stressed how important it is to get into the habit of paying attention to the details in the technique so that they remain in your mind. It is easy to remember how an arm bar works, but the details in which to make it an inescapable position for your adversary is what counts. I hope this helps fellow white belt.
