Cross Train to Improve Your Jiu Jitsu with Airlock Jiu Jitsu in Bastrop, TX
Want to know how to get better at jiu jitsu even faster? You’ve got to get to rolling, and you’ve got to do a lot of it with a lot of different people and styles. The best way to do that? Cross train by jumping in on open mats at other schools! One of the best experiences you can have in jiu jitsu is through traveling to other schools, meeting new people, and putting your jiu jitsu in a pressure cooker rolling with others.
Now, if you saw the words ‘cross train’ and thought we were talking about lifting, running, biking, etc, we understand the confusion. In the future, we’ll do some writing about that kind of cross training – maybe we’ll even lean on our friends at Strive Strength and Conditioning to point us in the right direction since that’s exactly what they specialize in. What we’re talking about is taking your jiu jitsu on the road and getting the chance to roll with people at other local or even distant schools in their open mats.
Believe us when we say that cross training at other gyms is one of the greatest experiences that results from training jiu jitsu. Coaches Tyler & Andrea, for instance, started their training while they were full-time travelers, and they had the chance to roll at various gyms all across the country. You’ll even be able to see more of the story soon when Coach Andrea releases her upcoming documentary American Jiujiteira. The thing they and many others experienced while traveling and training was that the language of jiu jitsu is the same no matter where you go! It’s like traveling to a different country but finding that you speak the language of the locals. You’ve got an instant connection.
But cross training goes beyond the personal connections, too. Cross training is your chance (outside of a competition) to put your knowledge and skills up against many others with styles all their own. You will learn your weaknesses and your strengths much quicker with more variety in your rolling. And if you are committed to being a lifelong learner of jiu jitsu, there’s nothing quite like cross training to continue your journey.
Of course, you want a home gym where you can learn a comprehensive curriculum and synthesize your lessons into something more cohesive, and that’s what we do here at Airlock Jiu Jitsu. But to get rolls outside of your normal comfort zone? That’s priceless.
In fact, it’s even important to us as coaches to cross train. You’ll notice that Coach Rei specifically takes times during the week where he goes and crosstrains with some of the best practitioners in Texas. Wonder why? It’s because he’s going to bring new knowledge right back to the gym for all of us to learn from!
So start to keep your eyes open for Open Mats in the Austin area. Or maybe see if you can find a local open mat on that next trip you’ve got planned. You’ll see open mats happen everywhere. Our coaches love a good open mat, and we want our team to go and learn beyond our walls.
By the way, the same love goes out to all our local schools’ members – our own Open Mat is every Sunday at 11:30 AM, and all schools and affiliations are welcome to come and have some rolls with us! The only rule? You’ve gotta love jiu jitsu.
See you at Open Mat! Airlock Jiu Jitsu: 303 Martin Luther King Dr Bastrop, TX 78602.