3 Types of Training Partners

Lesser skilled; this is where you should spend most of your time, outside of competition prep.  This is where you get technically better.  When you don’t have to worry about fighting for you life, things will slow down and become more clear.

You can also chill out on your A game, focus on techniques you are not that good at, add to your repertoire. 

Use the lower level guys to figure the techniques out in a live roll scenario.  As you get better, you move up the chain of opponents. Eventually the move will be added to your A game.

This is the cycle forever in Jiu Jitsu, and you will NEVER run out of techniques.

Better than you;  These are the partners that are considerably better than you.  People you don’t expect to beat. 

I constantly have white belts trying their hardest to beat me.  They’ll stand far away from me when I’m already playing guard.

They’re looking for the perfect grip to make and then just jump as fast as they can into some guard pass.

This is the wrong way to look at the training. The legitimate white belt will NEVER “catch” me and then get a tap.  It’s not going to happen.

Even if it did, did you get any better?  Or did you just use a giant explosion to catch a once every 1000 attempts success at a guard pass?

You will get some much technically better if you just engage.  Instead of wasting all that time trying to set up that imaginary perfect movement to win, just step in and go.

You’ll learn way more, and every time the higher level guy beats you, you will get better on a subconscious level.  It’s just putting in the work, and getting your reps in.

On top of all that, there should be no ego involved.  It’s perfectly normal and correct to lose to someone so much higher level than you.

There should be no reason to get mad or upset when you lose to someone way higher than you in skill.

People like to put on a big show and say things like “I'm different, I don’t lose” things like this…but if some white belt with no experience actually beat me, that doesn’t mean the white belt is good.

That means I’m not actually any good, and people shouldn't be training under me.

Who would want to train under an “expert”  if he loses to a white belt after over 16 years of training?

Keep in mind I'm talking about legitimate white belts, not some Judo Olympian who just started Jiu Jitsu.

Similar level to you; And finally the guys who are right around your level, sometimes you beat them, sometimes they beat you, and sometimes it’s just even.

These are the partners you use most when preparing for a competition.  These are the guys who will push your cardio the most, and get you in the best shape.

It’s easy to give up and submit to someone who is leaps and bounds ahead of you.  And it’s very easy to cruise and not really use any energy on people you are leaps and bounds ahead of.

But when you know you can beat someone, you will try much harder.  This is a time when ego is your friend.  Your ego won’t allow you to quit or give up.  Use that to push yourself.