The question then becomes, so if this is a bad way to train, what then is a good way? Bolo goes on to give an example of how to concentrate on one particular area. Pick that area and study it in detail working out yourself how to work the technique:
Let's say pin escapes is your weakest area and since pin escapes is applicable for gi, no gi, and MMA, it's a one to use as an example. By the way, for MMA, before you worry about how to handle strikes when escaping pins, you need to know to escape when there are no strikes, so "sportive" techniques are still applicable for you entire training program.
For 2 days of the week, you should get together with a training partner and "figure stuff out". This means ABSOLUTELY NO ROLLING. The reason I say this is because too many people always just jump into rolling too quickly and if I say you can roll a little, that little bit eventually turns into a lot.
These 2 days is about problem solving. Pick one or two very specific problems one work on that. No more than one or two things. We are using pin escapes as an example. First decide what position your opponent is going to start in since there are many different pinning positions. Let's say we isolate him hooking one arm behind your neck and the other around your chest.
With pin escapes, the first thing is to get your arms into posture. Don't worry about maintaining posture or the escape, we just need to get your arms into proper position first. Let's also assume you and your training partner already know some basic pin escapes and this is not your first month in jiu-jitsu. Have your opponent squeeze you a little and keep his head down and now try to get your arms in posture.
If you can't get your arms into posture or feel like you are using a lot of strength, then that is your first problem to solve. Let's say that your partner is positioning his head in a certain way that makes it difficult for you to get your arm into position. Isolate that specific head position and figure out how to get around that specific form of resitance. The partner is to hold that position and may not counter what you are doing or change his head position.
Figuring this out may take 5 minutes, it may take 30 minutes, it may take 1 hour. You do not leave the training room until you figure out the solution to the problem.
Sometimes as you are trying to figure out the solution, switch positions with your partner and pin him in the exact same position he was pinning you. Have him give it a try. Sometimes when you are on top, you can feel where the weakness in the pin is better than the person on the bottom. Give suggestions to your training partner on the bottom on how he can possibly get his arm in. You need to constantly get feedback from each other if you want to speed up the process.
Be honest with yourself when it comes to the amount of strength you are using. If you get your arm into posture, ask yourself if you could have done the same thing to someone who was 50 lbs. heavier. If it took a bit more strength to accomplish, then that may not be the right answer.
If you think you found the answer, tell your partner to keep the exactly same position and don't counter by changing his positioning, but add more strength into his resistance. See if it still works when dealing with more strength. If it doesn't, then go back to "figuring stuff out".
If you figure one thing out fairly quickly, then ask your opponent how he could chang his head positioning to counter what you figured out. Once he changes his head positioning, isolate that specific position and repeat the same process. If it took you 1 hour to figure out 1 thing, then just stop and do not moving onto a second thing. Only move onto the next thing if you figured out the first thing in under 30 minutes. Why? Because this is a thinking game and you need your mind to be fresh and sharp. If you go over an hour, your mind tends to start to get burnt out.
The reason I say not to cover more than 2 things is because it will ensure that you remember what you have figured out. You will notice that, in our example, I have isolated a problem area down to its smallest component.
The next time you do another "figuring stuff out" session, first review what you covered the last time. Many times the technique you figured out last session suddenly won't work as perfectly as it did before. Figure out why. Do no move onto something else until you figure out why it was working at the end of last session, but is not working now.
If you do this, at the end of the month, you will have added at least 8 new things into your game. Keep in mind that I said "things", not techniques. What you figured out could have been small details, a technique, a strategy, an issue on timing, etc… Do not think that what you figure out has to be a "new" technique.
After you have covered all the possible ways to position the head to prevent the arms to get in posture, then keep the same arm position, but have your partner change his body positioning. Maybe change the angle, or sprawl, or up on his knees, whatever…. Isolate that one body change and see how that prevents you from getting your arms into posture. Now the "figuring out" process starts all over.
Eventually, you can change the arm position and eventually to a different pin position and process starts over again. You can see that you can easily spend months just working posture and how you can spend years trying to get good at pin escapes.
If you follow this plan, I can guarantee that you will remember what you figured out better than what you were taught in videos, seminars, etc…