Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Gui Mendes says he would organize everything if he could begin again.
In a recent video, he outlined a white belt plan built on structure, fundamentals and steady progress – as he sees disorganization as why many people walk away:
If I could start Jiu-Jitsu over again, I would focus on organizing everything.
It’s very hard to understand what you should prioritize and the things that are truly important.
The biggest reason why people quit jiu-jitsu is because at some point it becomes overwhelming for them, especially in the beginning.
If you focus on creating weekly tasks and every week you have a mission that you need to accomplish and you know what to prioritize, things are going to be much easier for you.
Escapes would sit at the core of his curriculum:
As a white belt, (whether) you want or not, you’re going to be forced to be defending yourself most of the time.
So, I would focus a lot on understanding how to escape from side control, how to escape from mount, how to escape from the back…
If your escape is good, if you have a good understanding of what to do from there, you can escape from that scenario and give yourself another try to win the match.
His first offensive priority would be closed guard:
My first attack would probably be closed guard. I think closed guard is like the first strong trap that you can learn in Jiu-Jitsu.
Having one strong trap where I could lock the person and take my time and rest and think about the next step.
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