You only have limited time to get out of the house and into the gym, so here are some hints to the most out of your training time on the mat.

Unless you have set up a bunk bed in the changing rooms, you have a maximum of 2 hours a few times a week to train. Sometimes you've a little more, sometimes a lot less. What this means is that you need to get the very most out of the time you have.

Now first, I want to apologise for using the term "maxxing". I feel like an idiot repeating it here, but it started as a joke term, I promise.

For this idea, we're going to break training into time blocks-

1) Micro- Small periods of time. Think about a round, a drill, or a small sequence of training

2) Meso- Slightly longer, but not very large periods. A class/session. Or perhaps a 2 day or 1 week block like a training camp

3) Macro- A large block of time. Think about your 6 week training camp for a tournament, or mabe your 3 months you've put in to getting a new belt.

In my experience, not very many people think about their training to great effect. Almost no one plans, and very few people put a great deal of thought into training at all. What thought people do put in is quite general or long term. "Get to 3 sessions per week" or "Compete in May" or "Get my Blue Belt this year".

Nothing wrong with any of that, mind you. But how about making some session goals? And better yet, why not make some round goals?

If you do that then you can be, ugh, SessionMaxxing by tomorrow.

God I hate what I've just written, but you get the point. Here's what we're going to do.

In most cases, the Coach will set the session for you, so for example he/she will say "Today we're working on passing the closed guard". Okay, easy- now you have a session goal- improve my Closed Guard passing. This is the Meso phase.

But it's not that easy, is it? When it comes time to spar, a lot of people just go back to their favourite moves, or don't keep their intention for the full session. They get into the closed guard during their sparring or positional rounds and competely forget the session aim!

So tip number 1 here is remain focused. Focus less on Winning/Losing the round as a measure of success, and instead focus on incremental improvement on the goal of "Improve My Closed Guard Passing".

Tip Number 2 is to set Micro Intentions. Notice I didn't say "Goals". When it comes to goal, you eother score or you don't. Fail or Succeed. But learning Jiu Jitsu isn't like that.

A Micro Intention is when I begin working with a resisting partner that I have something I want to do in this particular round, in this small moment of time. This can be really brief- maybe 30 seconds (Maintain My Balance, Make Him Uncomfortable, Fight The Grips), or it can be longer (Don't Get Swept, Pass His Guard, Use My New Technique).

Does this sound simple? I hope so, that's what I'm aiming for. But you would be stunned to know how many people have no clue what they're doing from one minute to the next in training. This is fine when you're a Beginner. You sort of want everything to wash over you in that stage, but as you improve, focusing on an Intention can improve your sessions.

Put enough time together and your Micro improves your Meso, and before you know it, your Macro is complete. Now there's a sentence I've never written before.

Hope that helps your Jiu Jitsu,

See you on the mat,

Barry