# 16 - The Rise of YouTube and Instructional Content in BJJ: Help or Harm?

In this episode of Social BJJ, Dave dives into the growing world of YouTube and instructional content in the jiu-jitsu community. Are these resources helping practitioners grow, or are they creating unrealistic expectations? Dave shares his perspective on how online content impacts the sport and the development of individual practitioners.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Pros of Instructionals and Online Content:
  • Access to techniques from top athletes like Gordon Ryan, Lachlan Giles, and Craig Jones.
  • How content-sharing platforms like YouTube and Instagram foster innovation.
  • The role of conceptual instructionals in advancing higher-level grapplers.
• Potential Downsides:
  • Over-reliance on spoon-fed techniques.
  • The risk of consuming bad or impractical moves.
  • The gap between watching techniques and drilling them effectively.
• Learning Alternatives:
  • Watching competition footage and breaking down techniques.
  • Experimenting and adapting moves to fit your body type or style.
  • Finding a balance between online learning and live training.
• Memorable Takeaways:
  • Instructionals can empower development but must be supplemented with practical application.
  • Grapplers grow when they actively work to understand and apply moves, not just passively watch.
  • Explore different resources, including lesser-known athletes and competition footage, for diverse insights.

Listener Engagement:

• What’s your take on YouTube and instructionals in jiu-jitsu? Share your thoughts in the comments!
• Do you prefer learning through competition footage or structured instructionals? Let us know!

Closing Notes: Instructional content has transformed the jiu-jitsu landscape, but how you use it matters. Experiment, drill, and find what works best for you. Catch you in the next episode—peace!

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome back to the pod today with your boy Dave and social BJJ today we're gonna be talking about the rise of YouTube and instructional content.

(00:12):
Is it helpful? Is it hurting BJJ development? This is probably gonna be a short episode guys to be honest with you.
Because I think that it's actually hurting the jujitsu community. No I'm joking. No way. It's definitely helping.
In YouTube you're gonna see a lot of like hit and miss stuff. You're gonna see a lot of garbage out there.

(00:34):
But for the most part I think there's a lot of people sharing technique because of the internet. Because of YouTube they're able to post things.
Not only just YouTube but Instagram, TikTok, right? Anything where it's like sharing videos like probably even Twitter. I'm not really on it like that or X I should say.
But anything along those lines where content is gonna be shared. You're gonna be able to weed out the good, the bad, and the ugly.

(01:01):
Now YouTube has a problem where like there's a lot of bad content out there. But the great thing about YouTube is if you look in the comments.
You're gonna see in the comments like hey that move doesn't work. That move is trash. If this person does that, that move is nullified. It doesn't work.
Or you might see I hit that move all the time. It's legit. As legit as they come. Love that move. Great move.

(01:29):
Now you're like wait a minute. A whole bunch of people are actually hitting this move. Maybe it might be worth something for me to try.
Vice versa like oh everybody's saying that move is trash. Maybe it's not really worth it.
When it comes down to instructionals, I mean hey you could buy an instructional. You pay money for it and it could literally be trash.
Or on the other side, a lot of the instructionals that are out there are from athletes that are currently competing.

(01:55):
So you gotta think about it. Are they really gonna be sharing their most prized moves and the things that they're wanting to hit when they put out an instructional?
Because everyone's gonna be able to see those moves and prep for them.
So they're just gonna be showing you some generic stuff that you probably could see on YouTube.

(02:16):
They're just consolidating it into one video, one area for you to be able to binge watch and consume and feel like you're learning Jiu Jitsu.
I'm very guilty of this by the way. I feel like I'm learning and I just watched two hours.
What was the first move again? But is it helping the development of Jiu Jitsu? Absolutely.

(02:43):
Because it's pushing people. You see one slice of a move and then you try that and then you know what?
Maybe it didn't work for your body type. Maybe your body type is a little bit different.
So you adjust it and now you have a different variation of that move. Like it's something completely different.
Or they do it, you learn the same move and then you do it but then your members in the gym counter it and now you're doing something completely different than that.

(03:07):
Because of that counter but it all started from that initial video and then you make a video showing your new move and it just exponentially grows the sport of Jiu Jitsu just because of us being able to share content with each other.
I think this is something that only helps the development of BJJ. I don't see the harm in keeping things censored or closed.

(03:29):
Now of course people have to be able to monetize their knowledge. I'm all for that.
Like Lachlan Giles, Submeta or BJJ Fanatics who have put out an instructional and you've been training your whole life.
You've been dedicating everything to this. You've been going to the competitions. You've been putting your bodies on the mat for how much? How long?

(03:53):
Absolutely you should try to get something from it. I'm not opposed to that at all.
But it's all going to make you better. So how do you consume the content? Are you just constantly watching it by yourself?
Not drilling it and just internalizing it. I think it depends on what the type of instructional it is. If it's a conceptual based instructional then absolutely you can't do stuff like that where you don't really have to drill anything too much.

(04:18):
Because it's just more along the lines of if I understand these concepts then I can apply these concepts during live rolls.
Now I do think that's a higher level skill. You've got to be a little bit more experienced to be able to do those things.
You've got to be comfortable during a roll no matter where the positions go in order to be able to apply those concepts. To be able to think about those concepts.

(04:40):
Usually when you're first starting out you're a little bit overwhelmed by everything that's going on.
You're just trying to figure out what to do next. And that's why that's the big difference between rolling with somebody who's really experienced versus somebody who's really new.
The experienced person is going to foresee a couple moves ahead and maybe give grips.

(05:02):
The other person who's just new is just going to be taking the first couple grips that they can see and not realizing that's a setup.
When they hit with it a couple of times then they're going to realize that's a setup. And then now they're gaining experience.
The instructionals will definitely be able to help with that. And I think that it's great because it's instructionals for every single level. There's instructionals for beginners that are going to help them.

(05:27):
There's instructionals even for cops. It's going to help cops. There's instructionals for women. There's instructionals for everything.
How can I harm the development of BJJ except for if you're just watching it and think, oh just because I watch it I know exactly what to do.
If you're one of those individuals then absolutely it's going to definitely harm your game. It's going to harm your development in Jiu Jitsu.

(05:55):
The other thing I can see is like I said earlier, you're watching crappy technique and constantly applying crappy technique.
But it's a way to mix up the Jiu Jitsu in your gym because a lot of people are just going to be following the coaches at the gym, the instructors at the gym, the moves that they show and do.

(06:16):
But if you're able to watch some instructionals from maybe some of the top athletes of the sport or martial art, however you want to look at it, and learn from the best or the people with the best track record in terms of competition.
Or just in terms of coaching like Dana Hurd for example, you want to learn from somebody like him.
And then you hit those moves in the gym and maybe some of those moves your instructor isn't showing. Maybe if you're using somebody like Neil Madison.

(06:46):
Or maybe you're following Ryan Hall. I don't know how many people are looking at those guys.
Obviously they're huge but a lot of people are following Craig Jones, Gordon Ryan, John Dana Hurd because those are the biggest names in the sport.
Maybe Mike Musimichi or Misimichi. I'm not sure how to say that.

(07:11):
But a lot of guys are going to be looking at what they're putting out and following them.
And you can be counterintuitive. You can look at other athletes that are amazing.
Like Kian Darte, I think that's how you say his name. Amazing.
Look at what he has out there. A.O.J. Look at what they have out there. Of course they're big gems. Of course they're big names.

(07:33):
Now, Felipe Pena. Look at what all these other athletes have.
Obviously Felipe is huge because he always matches with Gordon and actually beating Gordon.
But there's just smaller people that are maybe a little bit less known.
And see what they have and then try it out. You don't always need to be the best person or learn from the best person to be able to learn something new.

(08:01):
Oftentimes the best people are not the best teachers.
Sometimes it might be better just to watch the competition footage, honestly, and be able to see what the move is.
And that's I think it was Craig Jones. He ended up saying that on the Lex Freeman podcast, the best way to actually learn Jiu Jitsu is not from instructionals, but it's from watching competition footage and trying to recreate that in the gym.

(08:27):
But not everybody has the time to be able to do that or the dedication to do that.
Some people just want to be spoon-fed. But when you're spoon-fed, the problem is it doesn't stick as long.
It doesn't stick in your head as long because you didn't have to do the work to really understand the move. It was just explained to you. It was just given to you. You didn't have to work for it.
Usually when you have to work for something, it sticks in your brain much longer.

(08:51):
I remember there's a word in Korean, and it means torture.
When I was in Jiu Jitsu class, there was a blue belt and he kept footlocking his white belt.
It was in Korea and I didn't know how to say stop torturing a guy.

(09:13):
But I refused to speak English because that was in my face when I was in Korea. I didn't want to speak English. I just only wanted to speak Korean.
So I'm saying all the words that I know trying to describe what I mean and then finally, boom, come on.
I was like, come on. Stop torturing him.

(09:36):
I will never forget that word because of how hard I had to work to get them to say it.
I think that goes a long way too. If you are watching instructionals and doing most of your learning from instructionals,
maybe try mixing it up a little bit more and watching some footage and breaking down the footage.
You might be able to learn more or at least have those moves stick in your head.

(10:01):
You might be able to apply them just that much faster because of the work you had to actually put into it.
So those are another option. Are they harming? I don't think so. I think it's definitely hurting.
I mean, I'm sorry. I definitely think it's helping. But there are other ways to grow as well.
I'll see you guys tomorrow. Let me know what you think in the comments. Peace.