Skip to content
Treat the Mats Like Your Laboratory
Training Mats Are For Experimenting
There's been a lot written and talked about regarding the way one should approach the training mats. Do you train and roll to win? Do you go easy and let the other person work? Recently Tom DeBlass posted on his social media about falling victim to a Reverse Triangle from one of his students:
It's funny, I got reverse triangled by my purple belt tonight. Guess what, I didn't feel embarrassed one bit. If I am able to get submitted in training by a purple belt, when I've competed on the biggest no gi stages and been a black belt for 9 years, and care less about it, why are so many of you getting bent out of shape about bad training? Training is where we improve. Toughen up, stop feeling sorry for yourself, and live to kick ass tomorrow. THE ONLY ONES THAT NEVER GET TAPPED ARE THE ONES WHO NEVER TRAIN!--Tom DeBlass Social Media Post 9/6
Wanna learn the butterfly half guard secrets of one of the best half guard practitioners in BJJ? Click Learn More!
No matter what your training approach or level of intensity, there seems to be a time and place for all sorts of intensity levels, the one thing that seems to be true when you ask experienced students, black belts or high level competitors is that you should treat the mats as your laboratory and use the time to experiment and try new things. Garry Tonon, Tom DeBlass' first black black belt has said before that in a five minute match he will tap upwards of 15 times. This is not because Garry sucks or doesn't take his training seriously. Instead, he is using the time to try new things and experiment which can lead him to getting caught.
Training Mats Are Meant for Improvement, Not Necessarily Winning
In the video below, we see some historic footage of Renzo Gracie, along with his late brother Ryan and a well groomed John Danaher workshopping a shoulder pin sweep that Danaher is working on. As we can see from the short video, Danaher presents the idea. Ryan Gracie and John Danaher then proceed to troubleshoot it at different levels of intensity and the ultimate teacher Renzo comes in to make corrections and recommendations. Enjoy the video below!
If you're ready to follow Tom DeBlass' advice and start using the training mats to improve your Butterfly Half Guard, check out his latest release from BJJ Fanatics! In The Butterfly Half Guard, he's going to build on what his first release Half Domination started, giving you all of the half guard secrets that have got him to ADCC 3 times as well as being a UFC and Bellator veteran. Check it out today!
ARE YOU A BJJ FANATICS INSIDER? IF NOT, YOU’RE MISSING OUT!
Our Insiders Club is by far the fastest way to level up your game. Take a deep dive on one specific skill per month with the top instructors in the BJJ Fanatics family.
How much is it worth to get private lessons from Benardo Faria, the Ruotolo brothers, Giancarlo Bodoni, Jeff Glover, Neil Melanson, Marcos Tinoco… and the list goes on and on?! Forget it, don’t answer that - because you get all of these guys and more, for just $9.99 a month!
With your subscription you’ll get a Private Lesson (Masterclass), At Home Drills to work on, rolling breakdowns and more. You’ll also get a sneak peek at our upcoming Product Launch and Daily Deal schedules plus access to Daily Deals on BJJ gear and merchandise (up to 80% off). And much much more!
Just $9.99/month
