Aliveness Gym Aberdeen

By SBGi President and Head Coach, Matt Thornton - http://aliveness101.blogspot.com/2008/05/notes-on-drilling.html

Some of the questions I get asked about the most are related to Alive drilling methods. So I decided I would devote this article to some details on that subject.

As most of you who follow SBGi to some degree know, my main message is that of Aliveness. If Aliveness doesn’t come first, then everything else unravels to some degree and what we are left with isn’t even the same animal. So in order to be on the same page when teaching somewhere new, I always start with that vital principle.

After that comes the curriculum itself. And this gets into my entire teaching thesis, which I have laid out here in various articles. The basic premise being that the entire curriculum, stand up, clinch and ground revolves around the fundamentals of the delivery system. And because of this, each individual athlete is given the freedom needed to develop his/her own style; one that is optimum for their own body, mind and temperament.

In a Gym that focuses on fundamentals, as opposed to a technique-by-technique template, each and every purple belt (as one example) will roll using very different types of games. And this not only produces better athletes/technicians quickly, it also helps impart and preserve the core Art (delivery system) itself.

It is about giving students not just the game, but also the understanding behind why the game works the way it does; a point that is for me as a Coach, very important. Learning to think critically/rationally, and understanding why things work the way they do as opposed to simply how something works, is very important to me as a teacher.

Of course certain core movements and techniques help form that curriculum, but as you will see in the article below sometimes these can be as simple as a posture, or a concept.

To be clear this teaching thesis is not new, and certainly not something I claim to have invented.

My first big BJJ influence (and the person who gave me my blue belt) was Rickson Gracie. And I owe a lot of credit to my understanding of how important focusing on fundamentals is to him. *(My Coach who awarded me my purple, brown and black belts is Chris Haueter, and he had a massive influence on me as well. I will talk about that influence later on in this article) If you have ever watched Rickson teach you will notice he seldom (if ever) shows anything that your average blue belt has not already been exposed to at some point. Yet each and every time, a new detail or key point is revealed in his class about that core movement. And that is for me, the definition of a great Instructor.

As a recent example of the contrast that sometimes occurs, a few of our blue and purple belts recently visited another BJJ schools competitive open roll run by another BJJ black belt. One thing everyone noticed quickly was that everyone from the other Gym was using more or less the same set of techniques. The same couple of guard passes, the same escape series, the same attacks, etc. By comparison, every blue & purple belt on the mat from our Gym was playing a different type/style of game. Needless to say, our athletes did extremely well.

We have many visitors at the Portland Gym who travel from all across the USA and World. And this point about the wide variety of styles represented on my mat always gets noticed. It’s no secret, it is just the natural by product of focusing on the fundamentals.

This concept of maintaining a curriculum that revolves around the fundamental movements of a given delivery system/range and training that curriculum in an Alive manner, is something we do because it is the best method we have come up with so far.

Not only is it most efficient, but it also allows the athlete the most possible freedom to do things in the manner that he or she can make them work best.

And for every body, that is going to be different.

Although I’ve read a few critics of the method over the Years, none have actually formed a rational argument against why sticking to fundamentals would ever be anything other then a rock sold method for getting people better at BJJ, or any other sport.

Obviously there are as many styles of teaching as there are teachers. So find a teacher, Gym, and vibe that suits you. This article is about the SBGi teaching/Coaching method. So I assume readers are here for that information. But if a detailed discussion of how we try and Coach is not of interest, or if you are of the “just do it”, or “there are no superior models” mindset, then this is probably not the article for you. I do believe there is always room for improving things, and this goes for the field of education as well. I am of course not alone in that belief. And teaching/ Coaching methods have, like everything else, evolved over the decades.

This is my contribution to that process.

The starting point for understanding the SBGi teaching model is the “I” method.

The “I” method is a simple 3-step process. You begin with introduction, the starting point for any class. Proceed directly into isolation, which is the drill stage, and consequently the stage I will be discussing the most in this article. And you finish with the integration stage. I call this the context stage, it’s the point where you take that class and work it back into the big picture of whatever game you are working on, BJJ, MMA, self defense, etc.

‘I’ Method:

Step #1 = Introduction
Step #2 = Isolation
Step #3 = Integration

Here is a practical example for using the “I” method.

The Introduction stage

Let’s say you are working on escapes from mount position. You begin by introducing the core escapes to the class. For sake of example lets say that is an elbow escape, and an upa (bridge & roll).

During the intro stage students are encouraged to talk to each other, switch back and forth and work the material without using any resistance right now. If there is a place for repetition in training, this is it.

The objective for the Coach is two fold, first everyone in class should be able to demonstrate and work the movement in a manner that is technically correct when no resistance is being applied.

And second, every student should understand why/ how the movement is meant to work.

This process usually takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes. If it takes more time then that then you may be teaching something that the class is not ready for, i.e. a triangle escape in a class of people who may not know how to do a triangle yet.

The biggest factor in time for the introduction stage is usually just class size.

As a teacher I like to make sure everyone on the mat gets it when no resistance is applied. And I have yet to meet a student who was not able to get it at the intro stage, provided you are patient in communicating with them. But obviously class size will effect the time this process takes.

Another key point about the introduction stage is how is the nature of the curriculum itself is introduced to the student. And this brings me to a major point as it relates to teaching:

The order in which you introduce things can determine the habits your students develop.

This point really can’t be emphasized enough. Here is a concrete example. If I begin a BJJ lesson with a ‘darce choke’ (as one of infinite examples), and these are individuals who are just starting out in BJJ (first few lessons), then I may in fact be helping them to develop habits which will be counter-productive to their game.

Why?

Because we have skipped quite a few steps, which in an Alive roll occur prior to the choke arising. In this example, we have not yet taught them about the importance of maintaining the far side underhook, we have not taught them the first thing to do when your opponent re-pummels and gets the underhook from crossides bottom, we have not yet taught them how to do a proper whizzer, etc. In fact, there are at least five steps that occur between the time your opponent gets the underhook on bottom, and the point at which you are in a position to do something like a darce choke.

So the question is, do you really want your students giving away the far side underhook, and then skipping all the steps needed to re-pummel and keep their opponent on his/her back? Because if you don’t teach them the material in order, then most students will automatically let all that go, and just attempt to jump into the darce choke. Why wouldn’t they, if at this point it’s all you have taught them?

Now you might say so what, won’t we get around to working the rest of the material as well at some point anyway? But the problem with that theory is that in BJJ everyone starts rolling on day one, and that means everyone starts developing habits on day one. And again, the order in which you introduce material to new students will have a direct effect on the habits those new students develop on the mat.

Of course that does not mean that a student should not be introduced to a darce choke. To the contrary, what it means is that there might be a better way to work the student towards acquiring that choke in a live roll.

You might want to first start with emphasizing the importance of not giving away the far side underhook to begin with. After that, you might want to work re-pummeling right away if that underhook is lost. A good movement to follow that is a counter series for when the opponent (bottom person) gets the far side underhook. At the Portland Gym we start with the “diaper check”, which is placing the hand inside the bottom persons thigh so that they cannot gain any leverage with their underhook, and then re-pummeling. After all that I would probably follow with the use of a proper whizzer (overhook) position from top. Something that is pretty detailed within itself. And from that whizzer position many submissions and movements open themselves up, one being the darce choke.

As a Coach who cares a lot about helping my students be as good as they can be, I know what habits I would like them to acquire once they get crossides top. And because I want them to develop those habits, I teach them in the order in which they arise naturally in a competitive roll. And only after I see that they have learned one set (with resistance) do I move on to the next series.

So using the example I just gave above, there are quite a few things I would want to emphasize and work with a group of beginning BJJ students before I would introduce a move like a submission listed above. Why, because I don’t want my athletes giving away all that space in order to jump into a submission, simply because that is all they know how to do so far. I want them to develop the habits that allow them to defend things (positions, submissions, counters) as early possible, as opposed to the last minute.

As much as that is all just common sense and as self evident as that actually is, we shouldn’t assume that people who have never had any formal training whatsoever as teachers would automatically get it right.

I have watched many classes from very high level BJJ players who simply begin with any random technique they may have been working on at the moment. And although that may be fine for a guest appearance, or at a seminar, or when working with a group of already seasoned blue belts, when your working with the same people week after week who are starting from scratch, learning simple concepts such as the relative importance of the order of the material can make all the difference in the world. And it can mean your students may be able to compete at a solid blue belt level within a Year, as opposed to two or three.

How do you know what order to place the material in?

Here are three simple rules of thumb I often use:

1- Teach things in the order in which they arise naturally on the mat.

2- Teach them in the order in which you want your students to apply them as habits.

3- And don’t create problems before they arise naturally on the mat

Regarding number one, if I am teaching how to open the closed guard to a brand new group of people, I am not going to start with a couple specific leg opening movements and then proceed later into base and posture. That would be out of sequence with what they will experience when they are rolling. So obviously there we would start with base and posture, and then proceed to opening the legs.

Point number one and point number two tend to blend together when you are teaching. They are like two sides of the same coin. As a good Coach what you obviously want is for your students to develop the habit of defending and applying things in the same order in which they actually occur during a live role. And that means always trying to solve things as early as possible, not at the last possible minute.


Here is another example of point number two (you can see where it relates to point number one throughout). Lets use the example of leg lock counters. If I show a group of people new to leg locks how to counter an achilles hold, and I start with the lock almost completely on, then again I have skipped at least five different steps. The natural by product of teaching this way is that you will have a room full of beginners who will often start their counter movements at a point in which they are just about to tap. As a teacher who wants his students to be catching these things as early as possible, this would not be good.

So instead, first I would start with where to put your feet. I would follow with how to clear your foot once someone grabs it. I would follow that with how to stay attached, and not allow your opponent to lay back and get position for the leg lock (assuming you could not prevent them from grabbing it in the first place, and once grabbed you were unable to free your foot), and only after all of those things would I proceed with the last ditch counter-submission movements.


Rickson had a very simple order in which he taught his curriculum. He called it:

defense – offense – defense.

What I believe he meant by that was that he started with the fundamentals of a given position. In his case he started with escapes. As you have to teach top in order to teach bottom, we can call that first segment titled ‘defense’, fundamental positions. Your first, and by far your best means of defense is to always seek the advantage found in positional dominance. That is what BJJ is about.

Following positional dominance he taught the second section of core ‘offense’, chokes, armbars, etc. All of these flow off of maintaining position first, as it’s the position that gives you the leverage for the submission. This is a point all BJJ players know and learn very quickly.

Last he would teach ‘counter-offense’, this is the third section labeled ‘defense’, which is to say the counters to the submissions. This is a very logical progression, defense – offense – defense. And it relates to the same points I have made above.

The last rule of thumb was not creating problems before they arise naturally. Here is what I mean by that.

Again lets assume you are working with a group of brand new students. The lesson for the day is the triangle. The students have already worked some fundamentals about the guard, and as such they are well prepared for introduction to this fundamental submission.

Here is the question, if the triangle is a new movement for the majority of the group, would I want to drill the counter to the submission in the same class?

My answer to that is almost always (remember warnings not rules) an emphatic no.

What I want to see first is the students in the class tapping each other out in live rolls using a triangle. In a good class, this can often occur the same day. But that stated, I would probably give the group at least a few weeks to work the submission before I started drilling the counter to it. After a few weeks every time I got to the Q & A section at the end of class I am quite sure there would be at least a few people who would raise their hand and tell me they were having trouble getting caught with triangles. The problem has now arisen, and as such it would be time to work the counter to it.

What I don’t want to do is drill the counter to the triangle before anyone in the class is really able to pull off a triangle in a competitive roll. If I do, I may actually be doing a disservice to my students. I will be shortchanging their ability to play with, and grow into this submission.

Of course I am not suggesting that you will not mention key points that will involve what others may do in an attempt to counter the movement you just taught. IE: With a triangle you will probably discuss the need to keep the opponent from getting posture. You may also work what to do if the opponent tries to pick them up and slam them, or tries to hide their own arm, make a frame, etc. But the distinction here is one of perspective. We are working from the perspective of the person applying the triangle, so the majority of drill time will be aimed at this objective. That does not mean you will not expose your students to the things that may come up while attempting the movement.

Again, as common sense as that idea seems to be, we cannot assume that anyone teaching BJJ will automatically understand it.

As good Coaches it is our job to help our staff learn how to best impart this information to others. I have seen many coaches introduce a new submission to the class, and then five minutes later teach the counter to the very same submission. The natural by product of that is that a good percentage of the students never actually learn to use the submission, as everyone counters it before they have even gotten a chance to develop it. A few weeks go by, and the move is forgotten. Perhaps only to be picked up Years later when some of the students are purple belt, and they say “Oh ya, I remember seeing that 4 Years ago but I could never do it?”


At this point it’s worth stating another obvious point. All rules create exceptions.

So there will always be one or two athletes in any class no matter how terrible the Instructor is, who will get better using the material presented. I would offer that these individuals get better despite the Instruction, and certainly not due to it. And at the very least I think we can confidently say that given a more proper teaching method, not only do all the students on the mat get better, poor athletes and good athletes the same, but so do the natural ‘star’ students. As JFK said, “a rising tide raises all boats”. If the whole group is getting better, then every individual athletes game evolves as well. As such, I am always focusing on the best ways to teach the majority, not just the already gifted minority.

This brings me to another point, I am always using the example of brand new students when talking about these teaching methods. I am assuming in these examples a group of people who have had no prior BJJ or grappling experience. Again, if you are working with a room full of solid blue belts, everything becomes much easier. The points I made above, may in this case seem far less critical. However, common sense again tells us that if the suggestions above make a big difference when working with brand new people (and I assure you from 12 Years of fulltime teaching, day in and day out that they do), then they will also help more advanced athletes, blues, purples, brown belts as well.

When I am teaching my Instructor courses and the lowest skill level of the students is at least high blue or purple, I still follow the same progressions I listed above. I still teach things in the order they arise on the mat, in the order in which I want them used (habits), and I don’t create problems that have not arisen yet. Often times this means that I begin a class that I am teaching to purple belts (as an example) with a ten or fifteen minute review of the fundamentals of any given position or posture. After the review I get into the newer material I am interested in working with them. This helps make sure all my advanced belts always stay sharp on the fundamentals of each position themselves, and it also helps remind them of what I want them to do when they are teaching brand new people. And on a side note, it helps keep my own game sharper as well.

It’s easy for a purple or brown belt that is teaching a group of beginners to forget all the things that made a huge difference to him/her when they first started, and jump right into a cool submission or counter-movement that they themselves are working on. This often leaves new white belts lost in translation. By always reviewing the fundamentals in every class, you keep your upper belts reminded of the key points they may otherwise occasionally forget to pass on.

So this is the Introduction stage.

Some key points:

1- Use little to no resistance when introducing the move.

2- Encourage verbal communication between training partners at this stage.

3- Make sure the movement can be done properly without resistance before. proceeding to the drill stage, which for us (SBGi) always incorporates resistance.

Some key points on the material you introduce:

1- Stick the fundamentals of the delivery system being taught.

2- Make sure all the students can perform the move before proceeding, if this process takes more then about 15-20 minutes then the movements are probably to complex at this stage for the level of the group.

3- Introduce the movements in the order in which they occur in an Alive roll.

4- Remember the habits you want your students to develop, and emphasize these points by organizing the order in which you introduce the material, and the amount of time you spend on each piece.

5- Don’t create problems for your students before they arise naturally on the mat.

Before we move onto the next stage of the ‘I’ method I need to make a critical point here.

At SBGi the Introduction stage is always followed by the Isolation stage.

Of everything mentioned above, none of it is actually drilling yet. What we do not want to do is introduce a few new movements/techniques to students, repeat them in some form of dead pattern or repetition, and then roll. That exactly what I am not advocating.

This example of bad teaching is the often known coaching method of “here are a few random movements I just pulled out of my ass, they may, or may not even be related, lets do them a few times without resistance, okay now lets roll”. I have seen far too many teachers run classes this way.

A few final points before we leave the introduction stage. There are two good ways to know as the teacher when it’s time to move forward into the drilling stage. The first is to look around the room and observe if everyone in the class has the movement. And the second is to listen.

Because we place a lot of emphasis on helping your training partner out at my Gym, and because we encourage verbal communication during the introduction stage, the room is filled with conversations about the movements we are working. Everyone on the mat actively helps his or her partners. This is a great plus for new people, who find themselves in a welcoming environment where students go out of their way to help newcomers. But it also has the added benefit of allowing a smart teacher one more method of telling when it’s time to drill. By keeping your ears open to the conversations occurring on the mat, you will easily be able to notice if the group as a whole has the movements figured out up to this stage, or if some still need a bit more time. It’s always worth taking the time to walk around the mat and listen to the conversations.


Finally, I usually end the introduction portion of the class with a question and answer period that is related to the material we just worked. That does two things. One, it allows any final questions to be asked before we enter the drill stage. And two, it lets everyone know in the class that the time for conversation is now ending. We are now moving forward into the timing stage. The part of the class where it’s time to let the body do its thing, and give the mouth a rest.

Between working the technique without resistance (introduction), and rolling live at the end (integration), exists the extremely important drill stage (isolation), and this stage is the key linking point between the techniques/positions/movements introduced to the student in the class, and the entire game (rolling) that occurs at the end of class. And this is the stage I will talk about now.


The Isolation stage

Once we have completed the introduction stage we head into the key stage of isolation. This is the stage where students are actually drilling. This is the stage where students get to work the movements against Alive resistance. And this is the stage where students actually acquire the critical element of ‘timing’.

Timing is not gained from repetitions without resistance. As such we don’t usually refer to any form of repetition without resistance as a drill. All of drilling at SBGi is done Alive. And this linking point between technique, and what actually occurs in a live roll against a fully resisting opponent is know for us as the isolation stage.

Contrary to popular misconception, the majority of classes at my Gym are not ‘sparring’; the majority of any class I teach tends to be the isolations stage, it tends to be drilling.

As an example, if I am teaching a 60 minute BJJ class, the first 15 minutes or so may be devoted to the introduction stage, the following 30 minutes will be devoted to the drilling or isolation phase, and the last 15 minutes may be devoted to sparring, the integration stage. Of course this is just a sample break down. But most classes are quite close to this example of time.

There are many ways to drill Alive. And once drilling Alive is understood, the amount of great drills available for any particular movement is limited only by the Coaches own imagination.



I sat down and tried to list all the different ‘types’ of drills that can be created. So far I have only been able to come up with 5.

These are the 5 types of drills we use.

1- Objective drills
2- Isolation drills
3- Call out drills
4- Re-set drills
5- Pocket drills


Each type of drill isolates a different group of skill sets, or a particular type of timing. And each has its time and place, depending on the material you are working and the focus of that particular class.

Each type of drill could easily warrant an entire article on its own. But for simplicity sake I will give a brief example of each for ground (BJJ), clinch (takedowns/ wrestling) and stand up (boxing).

Keep in mind that many drills are combinations of two of more of the types listed above. Don’t get two hung up on the semantics of it. The point of listing them to begin with is to help open up your imagination/mind as a teacher and a coach. I want all my staff to easily be able to create fun and highly useful drills on the spot; regardless of the material that is being worked. My own students are constantly coming up with all kinds of variations on different drills, and it’s always something I enjoy seeing and learning from.

1- Objective drills:

Objective drills are drills that focus on a particular goal.

Using BJJ as an example, a drill where one side tries to pass the open guard and the other tries to hold the open guard, would be a simple objective based drill. Using the clinch, it could be one side tries to work a throw, one side defends. And using stand up, it could be one side trying to close the gap, and the other side working on staying off the fence/wall using footwork.

Objective based drills are probably the simplest to create, and their purpose is the isolation of a particular goal.


2- Isolation drills:

Isolation drills are drills that focus on a particular movement or technique.

Using BJJ as an example, a drill where one side tries to pass the guard using a knee over pass, and the other side defends, would be a simple isolation drill. Using the clinch it could be one side tries to execute a bodylock takedown, the other defends. And using stand up it could be one side working a jab, and the other side working head movement.
Isolation based drills are also fairly simple to create, and their purpose is to isolate a particular movement or technique.

As you can see already, isolation and objective drills, while being different, also tend to blend together to some degree. There is however a time and place for each.

For example, you may have a student that is quite good at escaping by pulling guard, but weak at going to quarters. If you work only objective based drills, i.e. one side tries to escape crossides, it’s highly probable that they may stick with pulling guard. If however you focused your class that day on getting to quarters, then using an isolation drill where the students have to escape that way (going to quarters) may be more useful.

Likewise, there are times when a more broad based objective drill is more appropriate. The main point is that as a coach you want to have as many good options as possible to help your athletes get better.


3- Call out drills:

Call out drills are drills that focus on a particular set of transitions.

Using BJJ, our guard surfing drill is a great example. Guard surfing is a drill where the coach calls out a series of ten commands. For simplicity I will list only three, tripod (this is posting one hand on your opponents lower stomach while you pass), lift (this is just as it states, using the persons heels and then belt to stack them onto their back and pass), and push - pull (pulling and pushing your opponents legs/gi pants). One student is trying to pass the open guard and the other defends. As the coach calls out a new pressure i.e. “lift!”, all the students in the class will immediately switch to that type of movement. So in a 3 minute round the coach may call out “lift!”, “push – pull!”, “tripod!”, in any random order, and every few seconds. This forces students to transition from one type of pressure to the next very quickly.

We have found that we can get a room full of new BJJ people passing the guard really well, in a very short period of time using a drill like ‘guard surfing’.

Using a technique by technique method of teaching, learning to pass the guard well can take some students Years. In addition, people often find themselves caught in a rut where they may be trying to force the same type of pass over and over, and as a consequence they get shut down. This can be very frustrating for some. This is where a call out drill, such as guard surfing becomes a really useful tool. It gets students out of the habit of forcing a particular kind of pass, it gets them flowing, moving from one pressure into the next. And since each call out represents a different type of pressure with your hips, it teaches students the single most important skill you can develop as a good guard passer, the ability to switch your hips in flow/timing with your opponents movements.

For the clinch we have a similar drill. Yes, we call it ‘clinch surfing’. The concept is the same, getting the students to switch smoothly between different positions and grips in the clinch. The drill works the same, the coach has a series of different call outs, and the students transition between them during the round. A simple example would be a two call out drill, lets say single neck tie and double neck tie. These two commands can be called out at random times during a round, which helps teach the students the timing and transitional skills between these two crucial clinch positions.


With stand up we can do the same thing. A very simple stand up call out drill would be the run – counter – clinch drill. This is a drill our MMA competition team boxing coach (Brian Walsh) uses quite often in team practice. One side is designated red, and one blue. Red responds to the call outs. When he yells “run”, red uses footwork to evade the charge of blue, and stay off the cage. When he yells “counter”, red boxes with blue. And when he yells “clinch”, red looks to tie blue up against the cage. As simple as this is, it remains an important type of drill to add into the mix. It helps keep the athletes from freezing up and not moving. It gets them alternating between boxing, moving, and clinching up with their opponent, all within the same round. Something we want all our fighters to be able to do.



4- Re – set drills:

Re-set drills are drills that focus on a particular position, or moment.

Using BJJ as an example, one side might start in an upright butterfly guard with a single underhook. When the coach yells “go”, one side tries to sweep or work whatever set of movements was introduced in class that day, while the other side defends. The key to a re-set drill is that once the rolling moves away from the particular position being worked (in this case an upright butterfly guard), you re-set and start again. This allows you to focus on one particular moment within a given match.

Using clinch, you might start with an underhook and look to take down your partner from there. Your given a few seconds to work as your partner looks to counter the underhook and takedowns. The moment the coach yells “re-set” you stop and start again in that perfect underhook position. Another example would be starting half way into a double leg takedown, and the other person starting half way into the sprawl. When the Coach yells “go” the two wrestle from there, perhaps to isolate turning the corner for the shooting person, or finishing the sprawl for the sprawling person. When the coach yells “re-set” everyone stops immediately and re-starts in that same position.

With stand up, a simple example of a re-set drill is having one person start against the cage (or in the corner), and the other side looks to keep them there using footwork and strikes, once the person gets out they continue to box until the coach yells “re-set”. Then both athletes start again in the same spot.

There are two ways to do re-set drills. The first is to have the whole class start at the same time, and have the coach call out “go”, and “re-set”, when you want the class to start again at the designated position. The second is to have the athletes re-set themselves. Quite often I will start re-set drills by doing the first few rounds together as a group, so that everyone gets the picture about re-starting immediately once we veer away from the position we were working from; and after those first couple times I will have the students re-set on their own.

Re-set drills become really useful when you are working more transitory positions.

For example, when working escape from crossides an objective based drill is an easy solution. One side tries to hold, one side escapes, when you escape start again. But with something like a sweep from butterfly guard, the isolation or drilling stage can be a bit tougher to figure out because once the other person starts to pass, that initial butterfly position may morph into something else very quickly. This is where a re-set drill can be a really helpful addition to your drill options.

One of the other questions I am frequently asked is how to apply alive drills to things like specific submissions. Positional drilling is quite easy to sort out, but how about drilling an arm lock, or a triangle? The answer is that I usually work my way backwards when isolating particular submissions; it is the starting at the end method.



In other words I may do a round of re-set drills, starting with the triangle almost completely locked in. The next set of rounds work with a starting position a little further back, and we progress to the initial submission entry.

By starting the first few rounds with the submission almost finished, you create an environment of success, and then work backwards from there. I have found that this method often leads to students being able to pull of a new submission on the first day it’s taught.

For all these situations and more, re-set drills can be extremely helpful.



5- Pocket drills:

Pocket drills are drills that focus on a particular distance, or range.

Using BJJ as an example, you may have introduced a series of two or three sweeps for when your opponent is standing in your guard. Now its drill time, and a pocket drill is a great solution. One side essentially hangs out at the range in which the bottom person’s sweeps are available, their only objective is to keep base, keep standing. The other side gets to work cycling back and forth between their sweeps.

Using clinch a pocket drill could be as simple as working for head position, and throwing hands (unattached strikes in the clinch). This forces the athletes to learn to work within that pocket of space/distance. Corner drills are also good examples of this type of drill (see FJKD series #1 for examples).

There was a great stand up pocket drill that was posted recently on BJ Penn’s website. One side would stand feet planted, and every few seconds a new boxer would step into a certain range, in this case it was close enough to hit with a jab/cross without stepping. Both athletes threw light shots, worked slipping, accuracy, composure, etc. This is a good example of a nice pocket drill. As a new boxer would cycle in every 15 seconds or so and one side stayed in, it was also an excellent endurance drill.

Obviously it should go without saying that in a fight you don’t want to stand feet planted and bang, anymore then you want to stay in a corner, not getting out. Footwork is the main component we work with our athletes when it comes to striking. But that stated, there are still moments in time where these ranges exist in fights, and pocket drills are excellent tools for isolating those moments and helping athletes get over their apprehension at working from these distances. They help with timing, composure, combinations, everything.


So these are the five types of drills:

Drill Type - Helps Isolate:

1- Objective - A Goal
2- Isolation - A Movement/ Technique
3- Call Out - A Transition
4- Re-set - A Position
5- Pocket - A Range/ Distance


Now that you have all the options for drilling, there really should be no set of movements or techniques that you teach in an introduction stage that cannot immediately be translated into an almost infinite amount of fully “Alive” drills.

That crucial drilling stage should always exist in class between your introduction stage, and your sparring. There is no movement “too deadly”, or “too advanced” to not be put into an Alive drill format. And it’s in the drill stage that students are given the space and time to develop that ever important element of timing for the particular lesson taught in class.


As I mentioned previously in terms of time, if we are using a 60 minute class for a rough example, then approximately 15 minutes or so would be devoted to the introduction stage. During that stage students practice the move without resistance, communicate with each other, ask questions, and make sure they understand the basic how’s and why’s of its structure. Your job as a coach at this stage is to help make sure everyone in class gets what it is you are offering.

The second stage, or isolation stage is the drill time. And this will take the large bulk of class. Again using the hour long class example, the drill stage would usually take up at least half that time, or 30 minutes. During this stage students are encouraged to be quiet.



Verbal communications is discouraged for a number of different reasons:

- It is distracting, drill time is the time to allow the body to work..

- It can used as a tactic by students who are too lazy or out of shape as a means of evading the workout.

- Its not only okay to be unsuccessful sometimes during drills, its required. If you are successful 100% of the time, then you are not working against enough resistance. So there is no reason to stop and have a conversation mid drill about why something is failing. That will occur post drill time.


The students at my gym know that when the music turns on, and the stop watch or timer gets going, it’s time to be quiet and drill. I encourage each student to help their partner by correcting mistakes physically, not verbally. That means that if your partner is having real trouble with a particular drill, you ease up a bit. Once you see they have it, you then reverse the process and turn it up a bit.

This brings me to one of the most important points as it relates to Alive drilling. All Alive drilling should incorporate progressive resistance.

The key word there is ‘progressive’.



One thing I often say prior to working drills at my seminars is that if you are working with your partner, and you are a purple belt and they are a white belt, and you completely shut them down during the entire drill, then you are a dick. This usually gets a bit of a laugh, but it’s a solid point.

You want to create a culture in your gym where athletes learn how to work with each other. Having a drill partner who just falls over and allows you to score every time, sucks. Likewise, having a drill partner who dominates you to such a degree that you are completely unable to work the material, also sucks. Both are really pointless. What we want to do is create an environment where all the students learn how to ratchet up or down the resistance they are giving during a drill, without having to stop and have a conversation about it.


There are a couple ways you can help facilitate this habit as a coach:

1- You can make sure you talk about it in class, prior to starting the drill.

Let it be known from the top down that when it comes to drill time, if any one particular athlete shuts all the beginners down nobody on the mat is going to think their cool for doing so. Being a great training partner is a skill you have to work at, and part of that is being conscious of the level of resistance you are giving.

2- You can make sure you designate who the “coach” is prior to every drill.

What I mean by that is I make sure before every drill period that all the students know who the drill is designed primarily to help. IE: if we worked escapes from bottom in class that day, then the top person is the coach. If the bottom person escapes two or three times in a row, ratchet up the intensity more. If they can’t get out at all, ease up just a bit. Likewise, if we were working holding top in class, then the bottom person is the coach. If you escape easily, slow down a bit. If you are having trouble, raise the intensity.

By designating who the coach is during a drill, you are by proxy assigning one of the two people involved the role of controlling the tempo, pace, and level of resistance during the drill. And that can make a huge difference.

3- You can match people yourself.

Some times the resistance levels match up naturally and both parties can go 100% with each other. For example, two blue belts that are both about the same level and size. If you as the coach notice a match up during drill phase that is not working out so well, one side may be completely outclassed, then matching up training partners yourself (who works with who) may help.

One note of caution here, if you have a student who you find yourself having to re-match frequently because he or she has a hard time adjusting intensity levels, it may be worth taking the time to have a conversation with them about this. Not everyone gets it if you don’t.


As an example of this, there was a brown belt at another school in my area that was fairly notorious for not playing nice with others. He had on multiple occasions, hurt out of town guests by slapping on fast submissions, leg lock, etc, not giving them time to tap. I went so far as to have a conversation with the gym owner about this guy, and although they were fully aware of the issue, they kept him on board. Why? Because he was a brown belt, and a good body for the upper belts to roll with.

Of course this eventually turned around and bit them on the ass, the brown belt left their gym to do his own thing, and for a b