The Compass of Practice

Every class offers a chance for a small evolution, but only if you commit to the practice. If you quickly abandon the day’s lesson in favor of your comfort game, you’ll miss the chance to discover new elements. 

The point isn’t to make it to sparring and then do what you’re already good at; it’s to troubleshoot inside the context of the new position under pressure so that it imprints in its best possible version.

So if it works for you, you’ll know why, and if it doesn’t, that “why” becomes a question you can bring forward. Either way, you progress.

For instance, are you lacking awareness of cycles? If you don’t recognize the cycle you’re in, your focus narrows to forcing your preferred move to work. A skilled partner can exploit this by pressuring you to attack when you should be defending, or to defend when an opening to attack is right there. Recognizing those moments is a deeper kind of timing—one that goes beyond mechanics. But it will remain undeveloped if you stay trapped in a stylistic bubble of what you like to do.

Take the arm drag from seated guard. If that’s the lesson, use it as your compass. Don’t just pull the arm and scramble for the back. First, ask yourself: Am I attacking or defending? If your partner squares their base and clamps down, you’re not really attacking—you’re defending against counter-pressure. Recognize that cycle and adjust: frame, reset, and recover your angle before re-entering the drag. But if they extend and lean forward, the cycle has shifted. That’s your moment to attack—committing before the window closes.

The deeper point is this: you may know the position, but the details inside the details are what matter. A hand a few inches higher, a hip turned a few degrees more—those refinements turn “something you know” into “something you can’t be stopped with.”

And as much as the coach teaches, the mat is not a one-way street. Students are collaborators, not empty vessels. Your attentive resistance, your questions, and your genuine attempts at the technique complete the cycle of learning.