Lachlan Giles is one of the most popular competitors and coaches to emerge in recent memory and he recently revealed what he thinks is the ideal way to get good at Jiu-Jitsu quickly. It can often be overwhelming to look at the huge amount of Jiu-Jitsu techniques there are out there, and the sheer volume of advice given to people new to the sport. Some of it can even be conflicting, like how some coaches will espouse the benefits of drilling techniques while others will focus on learning through task-based games instead. It can be difficult, especially for new grapplers, to identify where they should actually focus their time.
Giles took part in an interview with fellow top competitor and coach Andre Galvao for his podcast and at one point the conversation turned to the incredible breadth and depth of Jiu-Jitsu, along with how much of a problem that can be:
“One of the biggest problems in Jiu-Jitsu is there’s too many different things you can choose. How many guards can you name? Like 30 different guards. I think a lot of people try to learn the 30 different guards and they’re not good at any of them.”
He went on to explain that simplifying it down to a handful of things is probably the best approach:
“It’s probably better to go, okay, I’m going to have a half guard system and I’ll just be the half guard guy for now. Then I’ll have a style of passing I like and a way to finish the match.”
Lachlan Giles also spoke about the goal of every aspiring Jiu-Jitsu competitor out there, reaching a high level and having good performances as quickly as possible:
“I think the fastest way to get good quick is actually to almost forget about most things and just narrow down on a particular style… I think in like five years you could train really hard and just say, I’m just going to do this type of guard, this general style of passing and this type of finish. You could probably get yourself to a very high level quick.”
A clip from the interview with Lachlan Giles where he explains how to get good at Jiu-Jitsu quickly was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of ATOS Jiu-Jitsu HQ:
