Mental Models Glossary
Eleven training concepts from the BJJ Mental Models podcast, translated into plain language for the mats.
A reference page for 11 training concepts drawn from the BJJ Mental Models podcast. Each entry stands alone. Read them in any order, come back to them when one feels relevant.
Waypoints
In plain English: A waypoint is a stable, comfortable position you aim for on your way to a bigger goal.
On the mats: Instead of trying to go directly from standing in someone's guard to completing a pass, you aim for a middle stop first. The split squat (one of your knees past one of their legs, squatting down in their guard) is a classic waypoint for guard passing. Once you're there, you can breathe, feel the situation, and decide what to do next. Waypoints work all over jiu jitsu, not just in guard passing. Low mount, the front headlock, and headquarters (HQ) are all positions that function as waypoints on the way to something bigger.
The takeaway: Pick one position that sits between "nowhere" and "where I want to be," and train to get there reliably.
Interleaving
In plain English: You learn faster by cycling through different topics than by focusing on one thing for a long time.
On the mats: A gym that spends a full month on arm bars (A-A-A-B-B-B-C-C-C) is using blocked practice. A gym that cycles through arm bars, triangles, guard passing, and sweeps in shorter windows (A-B-C-A-B-C) is using interleaving. The cycling forces your brain to notice how techniques are similar and different, and makes you keep retrieving earlier material rather than filing it away and forgetting it. The curriculum at GJJ rotates positions across the whole program rather than camping on one position for months at a time, which is interleaving in action.
The takeaway: If you train multiple techniques in a week, that's not scattered. It's more effective than locking in on one thing.
Effortful Retrieval
In plain English: Trying hard to remember something is more useful for your learning than reviewing notes or watching the move again.
On the mats: After class, sit down and try to recall what was covered without looking anything up. The struggle to remember is the actual training. Writing notes at the end of class is valuable not because the notes are useful to read later, but because the act of trying to recall what happened strengthens the mental pathways you need to use that information during a live round. Taking notes during class while the instructor is showing the move does not have the same effect. The recall has to happen later, when your brain has to work to get it back.
The takeaway: After your next class, give yourself 10 minutes before you look at your phone and try to write down everything you can remember. The harder it is to recall, the more useful it is.
Spaced Repetition
In plain English: Review things soon after learning them, then push the review intervals further and further out as your recall gets better.
On the mats: After class, try to recall what you covered (see Effortful Retrieval above). If the recall goes well, wait a few days before revisiting it. If you remember it again, push to a week, then a month. If you fail to recall something, review it sooner rather than later. This keeps the connection strong without requiring you to review everything constantly. Over time, things you know well get reviewed rarely. Things you keep forgetting get reviewed more. Spaced repetition apps can manage this automatically if you want to track a lot of details at once.
The takeaway: Success at recall means you can wait longer before the next review. Failure means review it sooner. The goal is to stop cramming and start building long-term memory.
Investing in Loss
In plain English: Getting tapped is not losing. It is training. The losses are the investment, not the setback.
On the mats: Progress in jiu jitsu is not linear. You will go through stretches where you feel like you are not improving, and you will get submitted constantly by people you thought you had figured out. This is normal. When you reframe getting tapped as an investment in your future self rather than a score against you, it becomes easier to stay consistent, take risks, and try new things. This applies at every level. A black belt working on an unfamiliar position is, in that position, a beginner. If they are afraid of looking bad, they will avoid working on it, and their game will stop growing.
The takeaway: The next time you get tapped, ask yourself: what did I learn from that exchange? That question turns a loss into a lesson.
Controlled Breathing
In plain English: Breathe like you are sitting on your couch, even when you are in a hard position.
On the mats: When training gets uncomfortable, most people's breathing goes ragged. Heavy, panicked breathing is readable by your training partner and signals that you are struggling. It also makes it harder to think clearly. Keeping a slow, deliberate breath even when you are under pressure helps regulate both your body and your mental state. If you are not sure whether your breathing is under control, ask a training partner to tell you honestly. Experienced grapplers can feel it and hear it.
The takeaway: In your next round, notice your breathing. If it gets frantic, that is the cue to slow it down deliberately, not to work harder.
The 80/20 Rule
In plain English: A small number of techniques will handle most of the situations you face on the mats.
On the mats: About 20% of what you practice is probably generating 80% of your results. Knowing your high-percentage moves and investing in them makes sense. That said, there is a real trap here. If you cut everything that is not currently working, you will throw out techniques you are still developing. A move that is not working yet is not necessarily a bad move. It might be an investment. The 80/20 rule is useful for identifying what to double down on, but not as a reason to prune your game too early. Apply it carefully, especially when something is still new.
The takeaway: Know your best two or three positions. Practice them until they are automatic. But do not abandon new techniques just because they are not working yet.
Growth Mindset
In plain English: Your ability is not fixed. It grows through effort, and where you are today does not determine where you end up.
On the mats: A fixed mindset sounds like: "I am just not a flexible person," "I am too old to get good at this," or "I am just not a submission person." A growth mindset sounds like: "Where could I be, and how could I get there?" Most of the limitations people identify in their jiu jitsu are genuinely improvable with work. As soon as you decide your weakness is permanent, you have stopped trying to fix it. That said, a growth mindset is not a magic solution. Some physical attributes are harder to change than others, and it is worth being honest about that too, without using it as a blanket excuse for every gap in your game.
The takeaway: When you catch yourself thinking "I am just not good at X," replace it with "I am not good at X yet."
Hick's Law
In plain English: The more options you have, the slower you decide. Fewer choices means faster reactions.
On the mats: In jiu jitsu, reaction time matters as much as what you decide to do. A complicated game plan with 15 options for every position is slower to execute than a simple one with two or three high-percentage moves. This is one reason why many great grapplers build a signature technique, a go-to move from each key position that they trust without thinking. In judo, this is called tokui waza. On the mats, it means having a default answer ready so you are not searching for one when the window is already closing.
The takeaway: Pick one thing to do from each position you are working on. Practice that one thing until it is automatic, then add a second option.
Curse of Knowledge
In plain English: The more expert you become, the harder it gets to remember what it felt like to be a beginner.
On the mats: A black belt who has been training for 20 years may struggle to explain why something is hard for a new student, simply because it stopped being hard for them long ago. This is the curse of knowledge. Blue belts and purple belts often teach beginners effectively because they are only a few steps ahead and can still remember the confusion clearly. If you are a newer student and something a coach says is not clicking, it is not necessarily your fault. It may just mean you need the explanation through a different lens or from someone closer to your level. If you are more experienced, this is a good reminder to think carefully about what a new person actually sees and feels, not what you know the position looks like.
The takeaway: When a concept is not landing, ask a training partner who learned it recently to explain their version of it.
Impostor Syndrome
In plain English: The feeling that you do not belong or are not good enough, even when you have every right to be there.
On the mats: Jiu jitsu is one-on-one and physical, which makes impostor syndrome hit harder than in most activities. Getting tapped repeatedly, especially by people who are younger or have trained much longer, can make it easy to feel like you are out of place. The useful reframe here comes from coach Emily Kwok: "You are in your own category." Comparing yourself to a full-time competitive athlete is like being frustrated that a professional accountant does your taxes better than you do. Of course they are better. It is their full-time job. And those athletes need recreational practitioners in the room. Without hobbyists, there is no team, no training partners, and no gym. Your presence has real value regardless of where you are on the skill ladder.
The takeaway: Stop measuring yourself with someone else's yardstick. You are in your own category, and that category is worth developing.