Open Mat & Practice Guide
After class ends and during open mat, the time is yours. No coach is setting the activity. No structure is imposed. Most people default to live sparring, every time, until they're tired. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you want to develop faster, you have more options than you probably realize. This page gives you concrete ways to use that time.
Why This Matters
Live sparring is the most fun part of training. It's also, from a pure development standpoint, not the most efficient use of unstructured time. The positions you need most are usually the ones you end up in least during live rounds, because your instincts route you toward what already works.
Structured practice after class is how you fix that. It's not about being serious or grinding. It's about pointing your reps at the right problems instead of defaulting to your strongest positions.
Five Ways to Spend 30 Minutes
These are ordered roughly from most developmental to most fun. None of them are wrong.
Constrained games with a partner (15 min). Pick specific win conditions with a partner. "Top wins by connecting chest to chest. Bottom wins by getting an underhook." The constraints keep both of you in the problem instead of escaping to what you're already comfortable with. This is the tightest focused practice you can do outside of designated winner reps.
Positional rounds (15 min). Start from a specific position and play with broad objectives: sweep, pass, or submit. More focused than live sparring, and you get far more reps in the positions you care about. If you spent class working guard, 15 minutes of positional rounds from guard will give you more practice in that position than an hour of live sparring would.
Designated winner reps (10 min). One person practices a specific technique against calibrated resistance. Great for sharpening something you're actively working on. Tell your partner what you're drilling: "I'm trying to hit this pass. Give me smooth resistance and counter my clear mistakes." A few minutes of this is more targeted than hoping the position comes up in a live round.
Mixed session (30 min). Ten minutes of positional rounds, ten minutes of constrained games, ten minutes of live sparring. You get targeted development and you get to play the game. This is a solid default when you're not sure what to do.
Pure live sparring (30 min). Just roll. This is the fun part, and fun is a legitimate reason. Do this when you want to test what you've been building, blow off steam, or just enjoy grappling. Don't feel guilty about it. Live sparring is how you play the game, and playing the game is why you're here.
How to Pick What to Work On
If you sit down after class with no plan, you'll default to live sparring by inertia. That's fine sometimes. But when you want to use the time more intentionally, here are three reliable approaches.
Follow the curriculum. Whatever position the class covered, do more of it. The curriculum is designed so that class gives you an introduction and open mat time is where you get more reps. If class was half guard, work from half guard after class.
Work your weakest position. The position you avoid in live rolling is the one you need most. That's almost always true. If you notice you're never in turtle, never working guard retention, or always giving up mount immediately, that's your answer. Set up positional rounds from there.
Ask a coach. A 30-second conversation can set your direction for weeks. Coaches watch you roll. They notice things you don't. "What should I be working on?" is a straightforward question, and the answer is usually specific and actionable. Most coaches want to give you this kind of input and rarely get asked.
How to Ask Someone to Practice With You
Most people are happy to do structured practice after class. They just don't want to be the one to suggest it.
The easiest way is to be specific. Vague requests create friction. Specific requests are easy to say yes to.
Some examples:
- "Hey, want to do some positional rounds from half guard?"
- "Can we do designated winner for this pass? I'll go first."
- "I want to work on my guard retention. Can we start from open guard and just play?"
If someone wants to just spar instead, that's fine too. You can always find a partner for structured practice at another point. The goal is to make it easy to say yes, not to convince anyone.
When Live Sparring Is the Right Choice
Live sparring is the right call in more situations than people sometimes think:
- When you want to test something you've been drilling in a realistic context
- When you want to see how your game holds up against different people
- When you need to blow off steam and moving your body at intensity is what the day calls for
- When you're having fun and that's enough of a reason
The purpose of this page is not to make you feel like live sparring is a lesser option. It's to make sure you know the other options exist. Use them intentionally when they fit. Roll when you want to roll.
Solo Open Mat Time
If you show up and the mats are empty, you can still do useful work. Movement drills, solo positional entries, shrimping, bridging, and other solo movements are productive. But the biggest value of open mat is having a training partner, so if you know you're likely to be there alone, try to coordinate with someone ahead of time. Texting a training partner before you leave for the gym takes ten seconds and doubles what you can do with the hour.
See Also
- Training Modes for the overview of modes and what each one is good for
- How We Train for the deeper philosophy on play, invest in loss, and growth vs. performance
- Being a Great Training Partner for how to give smooth resistance and calibrate for different partners