Fuck work, it was a bit too much horseshit to have to deal with this week.  I think I'm due to bang in soon.  Thankfully it went by quickly and I was able to hit the gym for some cardio right after work.  Then, after a quick siesta, it was time to train.

Lately, with the advanced class at least, Professor has been having us drill alot.  Not just drilling the MOTD, but passing, sweeping, escapes, takedowns and inversions.  This takes up a third of the class after which, we drill the move of the day which is usually a move he chains other moves off of.  The last third is either situational sparring (starting from a certain place aka more drilling) or if we have some time left, regular sparring.  I kinda love it.

I was never a big fan of drilling, and most people aren't.  They wanna see the move, try it a few times and then get in there and try to use the move and roll.  And I was ok with this.  But the more I thought about it the more I realized it wasn't going to help me get better.  Watching Professor roll and other Black Belts too, I could see they saw their opponents movement and responded accordingly 90% of the time.  They had been in that situation or one similar probably hundreds of times before and have at least 6 different ways to escape/attack or sweep.  They might wing it or hope to get lucky maybe about 10% of the time if that.  To my knowledge you can't practice luck, so that says drilling lots of drilling is what got them to that level.  

Mat time does not equal progress.  Kit Dale, not one to drill in the traditional sense, said "Its what you do in the time you train that counts, not how often you do it - quality over quantity."  And he is right up to a point.  But why have your cake and not be able to eat it?  Have both quality AND quantity.  Not everyone is as athletic or as gifted as another.  Why not combine quality and quantity to get your game to be where you want it to be?  Use ALL the tools at your disposal. That hard work, that boring (to some) drilling can and will be the equalizer...when you are down on points to some younger opponent who has been dogging you all day it will be automatic. Guard recovery, sweep, and pass to side or mount and you are back in the game.  

There is alot of debate about Gladwell's 10,000 hours of practice paper/study.  I'm not going to turn this into a study on the methods and results of each side of the argument, but I will say this. 10,000 hours is not going to hurt :)