Answers from a BJJ Black Belt

Joey Boretski

Q. Can you tell us about your background and how you got started in Jiujitsu?

A. I started JiuJitsu when I was 17. I had done about a year of Judo previously because it was the closest thing my town had at the time. About a year later a friend convinced me to go try a jiujitsu class and I was hooked. 15 years later I still love it as much as I did on that first day.

Q. What advice would you give to your younger self starting your jiujitsu journey? What advice should they ignore?

A. Trust yourself more and do what’s best for you. I trained at a lot of different gyms as a lower belt, and I stayed at some much longer than I should have because I was told it would be good for me, even though it didn’t feel like the right fit or I didn’t feel like I was getting what I needed to grow. Don’t listen to black belts who act like they own you, you’re a customer and free to do what is best for you.

Q. In your experience, what Intensity of training is best for learning? And how is this achieved? I.e. what proportion is drilling, sparring " light", And intense sparring across a session/week.

A. This depends a lot on your goals, but in general try to train at an intensity that keeps you on the mats injury free as much as possible. For some people this is 6x a week of hard session, for others its 1 or 2 moderate sessions. There’s no one size fits all answer so listen to your body, and find a strategy that allows you to keep training as long as possible.

Q. How often are you experimenting with new moves and positions vs working on existing and established techniques within your arsenal?

A. I spend most of my own personal training working on new things and fixing holes. I find experimenting and learning new things fun so I’m always trying to add new pieces to the game. I only really focus on my “A” game leading up to bigger events.

Q. Do you have any advice on recovery/preservation for BJJ, or any practices you wish you implemented earlier?

A. Listen to your body! A rest day or day off because you don’t feel right or are worn down is much better in the long term than 6 months off because you got injured. Spend the time and effort to work on strength and conditioning as well, and if something does get injured go find a good physiotherapist (preferably one who understands the demands of jiujitsu on the body) and make sure to do the proper rehab.

Q. Do you use strategies or game plans for upcoming matches or competition? If so can you provide an example.

A. for tournaments no because you can rarely anticipate who your opponents will be, however for super fights or matches where I know who the opponent is I will try to focus on finding areas where I think I have an advantage.

Q. Pre competition nerves is a thing allot of people deal with. Do you have any advice/tips on how to deal with it this that you or your students implement?

A. The nerves never go away. The best thing you can do is learn to deal with them and get used to that feeling. Competing often is the best way to get better at this, but if you can talk to a sport psychologist it can also be extremely useful at building skills and a plan for managing the anxiety.

Q. Strength and conditioning can be the deciding factor in a match with opponents of equal technical skill, do you do any Strength & conditioning? Can you give any insight as to what that looks like?

A. Not nearly as much as a should. I have a bunch of old injuries, so my S&C work is mostly rehab for those and bodyweight exercises, but I highly recommend younger athletes develop a solid routine/program.

Q. When preparing for a match/competition what does your training look like? (Eg 8 weeks out, training twice a day etc)

A. My preparation doesn’t look much different from a normal day. I coach and run my gym full time, so my number 1 focus is always on my students and helping them, my own preparation is secondary. I’ll usually try to roll a few extra rounds and let the lower belts start in dominant positions in the weeks out from an event. I may focus on my “A” game a bit more than adding new skills, or roll with a bit higher intensity but that’s about the only alterations to my routine I make.

Q. What’s something you now know that you wish you knew earlier in your Jiujitsu journey? (techniques, training methods, business advice)

A. Don’t waste time on drilling 1000s of reps on an unresisting partner, pick a good partner, pick a goal and focus on achieving that goal against resistance. Don’t focus on trying to have the ‘perfect form’, find what works for you, don’t be afraid to be different or experiment.