In further posts on the topic Bolo gives more advice:
As you figure out how to get your arm into posture, do not do anything else besides that. Do not do another technique or escape even if it seems like it may be the better option based on your partners resistance. Force this one thing- get your arms into posture. That's it. This has 2 purposes. One, it's the whole idea of get good at one thing before we move onto another. Two, the better you get at forcing that one thing your partner will have to do an even greater exaggerated movement in order to stop it. This will make a "follow up" or combination technique even easier in the future.
Especially if you do not have an instructor that you see constantly, do not look at videos, seminars, or the occasional private for all your answers. Unfortunatly, most people think that all their answers will be found in the newest video by the latest champion. Think of those training aids as a guide to steer you in the right direction. Once you are steered in the right direction, you must travel the rest of the path yourself. It is impossible for a video or instructor to teach you how to handle every position situation and nuance.
[…]
As you are figuring out how to get your arms into posture, try to also figure out and start to pay attention to the underlying principles and concepts to what you are doing. You will find that there are universal principles. It is ESSENTIAL that you figure out these principles as your figure out the techniques, details, etc… The goal is to slowly bridge the gap between technique and principles. This is what will allow you to be able to sucessfully improvise in an technical manner in the future when you are placed in an unfamiliar situation.
Remember what I said in the past. Principles alone mean nothing. They are just fancy words. Memorization of numerous techniques has limited benefit because your brain can only memorize a certain amount before you start forgetting things. In any fighting art, you must know how to improvise and turned thought into instinct.
If you are training 5 days a week, do this 2 of the days. If you are training 3 days a week, do this one of the days. Of course, this training methodology is for improving your skill and should not be followed if you are getting ready for a competition in the near future.
[…]
As I said, I recommend 2 of the 5 days to be "figuring stuff out". Other remaining days should be spend for live drilling and isolation rolling.
If you goal is to improve a specific area, a minimal amount of your training time should be spent rolling all out. One thing that plagues BJJ training is the "let's just roll syndrome". When you just roll and do everything, calculate how much time you actually spend in the position you want to work on. That amount of time is actually very little. So this is not very productive when it comes to improving your weakness. In addition, when people roll all out, they tend to get competative which means they want to avoid their weaknesses in order to win or look bad. At this point in your training, rolling all out is mainly just beneficial to improve your conditioning.
When you go into these training sessions, you must enter with the proper training mentality. First, you must have one specific and realistic goal in mind. Your goal should be to execute the one thing that you figured out in your "figuring stuff out" training session. Your goal needs to be very specific, just like when you were figuring stuff out. Do not go into training with 10 goals in mind. Do not have a general goal like, "I'm going to work on my escapes". This will do nothing but lead to disappointment. Most people tend to overshoot their goals, not be able to remember the 10 things they wanted to do when rolling, come up short, and then be disppointd in themselves. It is very easy to remember one thing, even in action. If you accomplished that one thing, that's great and you can feel good about yourself and your training. If you accomplish more than your 1 goal, then that's just a bonus.
Second, you must not care what others think. It does not matter how many times you get tapped or how many people you tap out. You must not care if a lower belt might make you look bad. It is stupidly amusing how many people actually count and keep track of that shit. It order to improve your weaknesses, you must put yourself in vulernable situations which often will cause you to lose or look bad. Remember that you learn the most from losing, not from winning. Also, one thing that higher belts must get rid of is the mentality in which they feel the necessity to kick the ass of a lower belt if that lower belt makes them look bad. I call tell you that every higher belt has had this mentality in their career. Your classmates are your training partners, you do not want your training partner to feel fearful or uncomfortable training with you because one day they may not want to train with you as a result of it. You want classmates and training partners that can tap you or give you a hard time. That is the only way to improve. Think of it this way- how much will a black belt improve if he only trains with white belts? Not very much.
[…]
On these training days, 80 - 100% of your time should be spent on pin escapes. Personally, I am not a big fan of high repetition on a compliant partner when it comes to practicing techniques. Of course, you do need to have done enough repetition to have the move down fairly well. However, I believe in getting most repetition in through progressive controlled resistance.
When you go to a group class or training, you should analyze each person there and figure out what they can offer you in regards to helping your improve your pin escapes. You should figure out how you can structure the few minutes you have with each person to maximize your ability to improve your pin escapes.
Women and smaller, lesser skilled men are great people to start off training with. Have them start off in side control and try to get your arms into posture. Guage how much strength you are using. If you find yourself grunting or using a decent amount of strength, there is something seriously wrong with your technique. If if you find it too easy, then give them some tips on how to improve their pin to make it harder for you. Most people would appreciate the advice.
On a person who is weak or lesser skilled, you should be able to do your technique with little strength and in slow motion. No explosiveness. Some guys tend not to like training with women or significantly smaller guys because they don't feel they gain much from in. If you goal is to "kick ass and win", then, yes, you won't gain much from it. If you want to get in some repetition on something you are weak at, training with them can be extremely beneficial because you can easily control the situation. If you can't accomplish your goal on the women and smaller guys, don't even bother with the bigger, stronger, or more skilled guys.
Once you have gotten proficient with your goal with them, then move onto the guys that are stronger or more skilled. If they are far too skilled or strong, ask them if they would be willing to limit what they are doing. For example, if you have only worked on getting your arms into posture for side control, ask them not to go to knee-on-stomach, north-south, or modified scarf hold. It never hurts to ask.
If you are unable to get posture on someone who is much more skilled or stronger, IMMEDIATELY BEGIN TO MAKE MENTAL NOTES AND PICTURES ON WHAT HE IS DOING! Even ask how he is able to stop your movement. Once again, it never hurts to ask! Rather than being disappointed that you could not obtain your goal on these stronger or more skilled classmates, you be glad that they have automatically given you your next problem to figure out in your "figuring stuff out" session.