Is 30% Good Enough?
Progress in jiu jitsu is not measured by making everything work. It is built by recognizing the few attempts that do, then learning how to find them again.
Yes. If a technique works 30% of the time against someone actively trying to stop it, you may be doing much better than it feels.
In most things in life, if you have a 30% success rate, you're most likely failing at it. Well, in jiu jitsu you're supposed to be failing. And if that doesn’t make sense, stick with me and it will.
You've probably had times during your training, either very early on, near or around your blue belt, or even in those coveted upper belt colors, that it feels like you’re not really getting better - and the moves you’re trying aren’t working during sparring.
I’ll use a baseball analogy to explain why, even though I don’t follow baseball - and to be honest, I don’t even like it that much. But for whatever reason, it might be the best comparison to jiu jitsu, and I don’t think there’s much debate there. Let me sell you on it.
Why .300 is considered great
At a professional level, a great batting average is .300 or a little bit better. That's only 30 percent! In fact, during my extensive research (I Googled for a few quick moments), no qualified Major League hitter has hit .400 or better for a season since Ted Williams did it in 1941.
We could go deep into other ways baseball and jiu jitsu are basically the same, but let’s just assume I’m right, because I can go deep, but this is neither the time or place.
Now where was I?
You are supposed to miss
Jiu jitsu works in a similar way to batting averages, and honestly, you don’t even have to be elite to fail as much as professional batters.
Most of the time, especially early on, things aren’t going to work out for you. You’re not going to hit every technique. You’re not going to win every round. Let's be honest, early on, you’ll be lucky to escape a sparring round with your ego intact.
You're like a Little League batter facing a high school pitcher. You might get lucky and connect with a pitch every now and again, but you'll be as surprised as anyone else that you did. If you cleanly hit your technique 1 out of 10 times against someone actively trying to stop you, it would be pretty significant. In reality, until you start consistently practicing a move - finding the right time to use it and apply the nuanced adjustments you've discovered work best for you, you might not even get too many chances to hit your technique at all during a sparring round. As you progress let's say you only average 1 or 2 successful attempts in a week, if you can work your way up to 3 to 4 successes in a week of sparring you could be hitting .300 or better.
Small moments add up
The goal when learning jiu jitsu isn’t to get everything right all at once. Jiu jitsu is far too complex for that. The goal is to start recognizing positions, find small moments where things do work, then figure out how to replicate them.
Over time, all of those small moments add up. You might start out only hitting 3% of what you try - and that’s normal. If you stay consistent and keep trying to hit your technique you might find yourself eventually getting to 10% and then to the elite, professional level of 30% or better.
Imagine a .300 hitter being discouraged because they’re “failing” most of the time. That wouldn't make much sense. Failing in this sport doesn't mean you're not getting any better - even though it might feel like it. Failing might be exactly what you're supposed to be doing.
See you all on the mat this week.
Joshua is the owner and head coach at 608 Jiu Jitsu in Cross Plains, Wisconsin. He writes about learning, problem solving, and becoming a better training partner through jiu jitsu.