What's your number?

I caught something very interesting the other night on YouTube. It's from an Eddie Bravo seminar at Submissions101.com. Essentially Eddie talks about finding your number. How many reps does it take before "the little man inside you" knows a movement.

To put it more bluntly, how many times must you practice and escape, transition, defense, submission, etc before it becomes second nature, before you can rely on it in the clutch?

This concept really hits home for those of use without access to frequent training. How do we develop the muscle memory needed when perhaps we only see or try a technique twice a week? Sure, rolling is fun, but it's the drilling and the practice that we need to truly see improvement.

Hmm, seems YouTube pulled the video, you can always go straight to the source and get it..

Eddie Bravo - Importance of Drills (Submissions101.com)

I'm reminded of the summer time when I was able to put a few things in motion to improve my "practice" opportunities.

First, I gathered email addresses from like minded guys in my class, we were able to get together one night/afternoon a week to try and drill the things we learned the week prior. It worked for a time, however like everything else, busy schedules soon took precedence and before you know it I haven't seen those guys in months.

The next thing I did was look into base movement training, how can I use bodyweight cardio exercises to help build muscle memory? I found a very well put together DVD by Stephen Kesting on Grappling Drills, sure many of them require a partner, however there are quite a few (20+ I believe) that can be performed without assistance. How useful are they? Well they are no substitute for a training partner, but they are much better than doing nothing.

So, to recap, practice is important, getting more practice when you have precious little time in your life is difficult. Try grabbing a buddy from class, or take a look at Kesting's DVD, either one will get you one small step closer.

Train Smart

-hz

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