Why We All Need Solo Drills
With gyms gradually dusting off their "open" signs and commencing training under new guidelines imposed by government, many of us are facing a decision: Attend no-contact BJJ classes for instructor-led solo drills, or hold off until full-contact training is allowed again.* Despite having a rather large stake in this situation, I wasn't thrilled about it. "Maybe I'll skip classes and just spar with you when you get home", I told my boyfriend. Luckily for me, he wasn't about to accept that...which is how I ended up attending a class and concluding that I would have missed out on so much otherwise.
*We won't acknowledge the presence of "underground BJJ training" here.
Solo drilling classes may sound lame, but here are some arguments as to why we all need them:
They will help ease you back into training.
You might have a grappling dummy, training partner, and/or mats at home, but have you really kept the same training volume compared to pre-COVID times? Most of us have scaled back significantly, and all the cardio and strength training in the world is not a substitute for the unique movements required for Jiu-Jitsu. We've lost our edge, and so it's probably wise to dip our toes into the shallow end of the pool before strapping on a weighted vest and jumping into the deep end.
But with that being said…
They will challenge you physically.
When drilling with a partner, you automatically fall into a rhythm where one person is doing most of the work and the other is just supporting. The difference in effort might not be as pronounced depending on the drill, but the point remains that - with a training dummy - you are putting in 100% of the effort, 100% of the time. There are no built in breaks! With a good coach leading the way, you're going to go home or sign off of Zoom knowing that you've just completed a great workout.
And the last, perhaps most important reason…
They will highlight your weaknesses.
How many times have we subtly adjusted a limb to help our partners out while drilling? Grappling dummies don't do that, and so we are forced to examine every single aspect of our movement. Our technique needs to be nearly perfect, because we don't have a partner to fill in the gaps for us. For mount escapes, our grappling dummies don't brace themselves against the mats to avoid squishing us, and when working submissions they don't offer the limb(s) that we are targeting. It's all us, all the time. The full implications of this are not obvious until you experience it, so give it a try.
The best part of doing solo drills is that you don't need an expensive grappling dummy. Many of our students have made their own, some with four limbs, and others with less. Is it more difficult to perform certain movements on a dummy with no legs? Of course, but it is what you make of it. Do what you can, to the best of your ability, and your efforts will pay off. Any grappling dummy is better than none, and solo training is better than sitting out. I, for one, am loving our solo drill classes, and I'm looking forward to seeing the positive influence that they have on my Jiu-Jitsu as a whole.