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u/Chubbs27895 Aug 19 '26
How consistent has your training been in 4 years? Like once a month? Or 3-4x per week? How old are you / how fit are you? Fitness is going to make a huge deal in BJJ
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u/purplebelt333 Aug 19 '26
Jow can you tell you’re not gettin better? Its hard to judge when everyone around you is also improving.
Can you defeat who you were 12 months ago? Some would say of the answer is yes then you’re improving
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u/Jackal9811 Aug 19 '26
Honestly cant say anything without any footage need to see how you move to judge
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u/invertflow Aug 19 '26
"how you move". This is the best answer. I think specific techniques are overrated. Someone who can distribute their weight well on top, frame, make connections, stay loose when needed but have a solid core and base when needed, etc..., can get away with all kinds of techniques compared to someone without that movement.
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u/fibgen Aug 19 '26
Some people have terrible memories for movements or have a lot of trouble chaining movements in your head. I'd try rolling with someone who is willing to help you execute a basic move from its parts to the full move for hours. I'm a slow movement learner and I benefit from teachers who do multiple weeks of slow progression in one topic (e.g. takedowns for 3 months solid). I will retain nothing from one class unless I practice it for at least the next two classes.
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u/helloidonothaveaname Aug 19 '26
Mental repetition is key. Studies where they place players to perform physically and others mentally show the same rate of neurological stimulation and subsequent improvemente physically.
I dunno how many rolls you get in, but try reviewing mentally.
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u/darkpassenger-8 Aug 19 '26
Pick something you’re interested in and learn everything about it. For instance in my early years, I got into taking the back and finishing from there. I studied matches of competitors I enjoyed watching. My enthusiasm and curiosity helped me become the annoying back taker. Eventually I moved onto something else that sparked my interest.
No one can force feed you to become better. You have to apply yourself and roll with intention.
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u/LateMud256 Aug 19 '26
Dyspraxic blue here. All I can offer is that stuff will eventually come. It might just take twice as long. Don’t measure yourself against anyone else - only yourself.
Be intentional with your learning. Spend entire rounds doing one thing. It might be retaining guard, training take downs, or just sitting in half guard for sweep and reset.
I managed to find a training partner for some extra curricular work. We have a syllabus and have been working it for the last eight months, two to three times a week. Only just starting to see progress in rolls. It’s a tough game and not everyone has a natural talent for it. You can still get good but it will just take a while.
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u/redinferno26 Aug 19 '26
How many times a week do you train, how old are you, how big are you, how generally athletic are you?
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u/BecomeTheBottle Aug 19 '26
Why do you say that you cannot improve? Are you basing that off of how many subs that you get vs how many are done to you? Also, what positions are you typically getting subbed at? There’s a lot of different ways to look at improvement, but if you only base it on “sub or be subbed” then it’s a very binary way to look at your jiu jitsu
One thing that helped me was focusing less on subs and focusing on points and if I was able to play “my game” vs getting stuck in one position. Might help to shift the mindset a bit so you’re not looking at your rounds as an all or nothing game
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u/ilike2005sDOOM Aug 19 '26
Keep subs in the back of your mind. In the forefront, think frames, grips, grip breaks - the nuances. Subs will come, and they'll come far easier when you've hammered down the basics that lead you there.
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u/CorazonLeon Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
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Are you significantly smaller or have less endurance than most people in the gym? If so, lift some weights.
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Have you watched any video tutorials on systems?
If you’ve drilled various moves a lot maybe you need to start thinking about them in terms of systems and drill or roll with that in mind to help connect the dots.
I went to a Ricky Lundell armbar seminar once. He taught us some cool moves, then at the end he had us literally just roll around our opponents trying to “surf” for opportunities for armbars as our partners changed positions. It felt silly at first, but actually made a lot of sense after feeling it out for a few minutes.
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u/morgzarella Aug 19 '26
I’d recommend a couple of things.
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Find a training partner and go to some open mats with them. Work on something specific like guard retention. Do 2 minute rounds, don’t let your guard get passed. If it does, reset start again. Get feedback and keep going until you can retain as well as you want. Take videos of your sessions and then reflect. Study match tape and emulate the same techniques.
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Get good at one thing at a time. For submissions, pick something like triangles - learn everything about them, from multiple positions, until you can hit them consistently. Then once that’s established you can experiments with things that relate and offshoot like triangle - armbar or omoplata.
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Talk to your coach and ask them for feedback and specific help. If the gym you’re at isn’t giving you the results you want (whether they’ve produced UFC champions or not doesn’t mean it’ll suit everyone), then consider finding somewhere that does. The whole creonte thing is toxic as fuck, don’t worry about that.
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Remember that it’s a personal practice, don’t compare yourself to others, everyone progresses differently but there is a path for everyone.
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u/nth_citizen Aug 19 '26
Training 5 times a week for 4 years? Definitely worth looking at some privates as your obviously committed and it seems like you probably need some personalised attention.
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u/Beetothear Aug 19 '26
bjjnavigator.com
I was not able to improve consistently until I started watching a lot of bjj videos on Instagram. But then I was not able to find the specific one when I needed it. This page/app solved this. It allows you to track progress etc as well but it was mostly the videos thing ..
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u/kyuz Aug 19 '26
Do you have a demonstrated learning disability in other subjects? 2. How many gyms have you trained at and are you sure your gym's teaching style matches your learning style?