Win at all costs?

So I've been training for a little over two years now and I've seen people on both ends of the spectrum; the person who wants to continue to improve and the person who just wants to win with their "bread and butter" technique. I'm an advocate of both types of training in certain respects.

I feel that when training for a tournament it is vital to train your best technique. Figure our what you're best at, what works more times than not and focus on it when preparing for a tournament. For example, when I first started training I was very interested in triangles (click for example). As a result, I tried to triangle the person no matter what the person gave me. Later my focus moved to armbars (click for example) where I had a lot of success in tournaments. It was my "bread and butter" technique. However, I feel that it is extremely important to evolve and not stagnate with your training.

I always tried to take an active role in my training and evolution in jiu jitsu. As mentioned above, I would focus on certain techniques when preparing for a competition, but after a competition I would always try to find something new so I would improve and evolve. For example, I focused on certain aspects of my game: the de la riva guard, the spider guard, taking my opponents back and finishing my opponent from his back. Because of my dedication to these areas of my game, I continued to see improved results and I would continue to get better. In my opinion, it is vital to continue to improve by taking measures into your own hand. Find something that you are interested in, perhaps a couple things, instead of 10 or 12 and focus on them for a certain period of time. This way, you will continue to improve and get better without stagnating.

As of right now I am focusing on two specific areas in my training, omoplatas (click to see one of the best at omoplata's, Nino 'Elvis' Schembri) and passing someones guard. The first year and half or so of my training I gravitated to the guard (fighting off my back) and had great success with it. Because of my success, I did not have to focus too much on my top game. The result was a pretty good guard and a horrible top game :(. So instead of just sticking to my "bread and butter" I decided to improve my game. I am seeing good results in my guard passing and am happy that I decided to go this route.

Does this mean that I will never use my "bread and butter" techniques? Of course not. At times it is needed because you still need to improve even your best techniques, but at the same time you can't forget about new techniques to learn. You need to find that happy balance between the two. Know when it is time to move on, but also know when it is time to focus and drill what your good at. Take a proactive approach to your own training. Do not solely rely on other people to tell you what to do. Take your training into your own hands and don't be afraid to tap when trying something new, it happens to everyone, trust me and trust your instructor!

Happy training folks