July 13, 2025 • 39 mins
Ever walked out of BJJ class feeling like you've just learned the perfect technique, only to completely forget it by the next day? You're not alone. This episode dives into the game-changing practice of strategic note-taking for jiu-jitsu practitioners at every level.
The martial journey becomes exponentially more rewarding when you pair physical training with deliberate mental processing. Using the "3S Method" (Situation, Steps, Success/Struggle), you'll learn how to capture essential details from each class in a way that actually sticks. Whether you're struggling to remember basic positions as a white belt or refining complex sequences as a colored belt, this framework transforms scattered impressions into organized knowledge.
Timing matters enormously when documenting your training. Those who take notes immediately after class retain significantly more than practitioners who wait until later. We explore practical approaches to make this habit sustainable, from bench-side jotting to voice memos that can be expanded later. The format whether traditional notebook or specialized BJJ app should match your personal style and routine.
The true power of BJJ journaling lies in pattern recognition. By consistently documenting your training, you'll start noticing which techniques naturally work for your body type and movement style. These insights help you develop a personalized game rather than simply collecting random techniques. Plus, having a training history to revisit when you're stuck in a technical rut provides immediate solutions from your past successes.
Ready to accelerate your progress on the mats? Join our growing Instagram community @caffeinatedjujitsu and share your own note-taking methods. We'd love to see snapshots of your BJJ journals and hear how documentation has transformed your training. Subscribe, leave a review, and remember—drilling plus reflection is where the magic really happens.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro/Outro (00:02):
Welcome to Caffeinated Jiu-Jitsu the blend
of white belt enthusiasm, blackbelt wisdom and a dash of
caffeine for that extra kick.
Dive deep into the world ofBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu as we
explore the journey, techniques,challenges and the sheer joy of
the sport from a White Beltsperspective, from intriguing
(00:25):
interviews with renowned coachesand professors to playful fun
episodes that'll have youchuckling mid-roll.
We've got it all brewed andready.
Now stepping onto the mats andinto your ears, here's your host
, joe Motes.
Joe M (00:55):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of
Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu.
Glad that you are taking alisten to today's episode and
all of listener base and youstart getting communications
from people asking questions andjust engaging.
(01:19):
And the caffeinated jujitsuitsuIG community is growing.
(01:45):
Every month we're adding newfollowers and new listeners to
the podcast.
So thank you again.
As always, I appreciate thesupport and I'm going to be
talking about a topic that wassuper beneficial to me when I
(02:10):
was starting out in Jiu-Jitsuand continues to be beneficial
through my journey now, and it'ssomething that I'll continue to
do and that is note-taking todo and that is note taking Right
.
So we're going to talk about inthis episode how to take notes
(02:31):
after a training session and so,and so they actually help,
right.
So that's what we're going tobe talking about here for the
next half an hour or an hour andI hope that if you're driving
along and you're listening tothis episode or you're working
out wherever or however you'relistening to it, that you get
(02:54):
some type of good, informativenuggets, if you will, from this
episode, and I hope to hear fromeveryone around kind of what
their note-taking process ormethod is.
So I am going to, I'm going towalk you through why, in my
(03:20):
opinion, you should take notes.
We're going to talk about whenis a good time to do it and what
to include, because sometimesthat can get overwhelming
knowing what to write down, whatnot to write down, and then how
, lastly, to make it stick, andhow to use your notes or your
(03:44):
journal to actually help youimprove in jujitsu.
And this is whether you're awhite belt trying to remember
the difference between closedguard and open guard, if you're
brand new, or a purple belttrying to refine your game if
you will, or purple belt tryingto refine your game if you will.
I believe that this will giveyou, as a listener and a
(04:11):
practitioner, structure to levelup and do so smarter and faster
.
I think that self-study andself-reflection is a big part of
how I am improving in jujitsu,and I feel like it's probably
(04:38):
the same for a lot of you outthere.
So why should we take notes?
You know, if I think about it,jujitsu is like it's really like
learning a new language, exceptyou're learning it while being
choked and tossed around, andthere's no way you're going to
retain everything by showing upto class and just hoping it
(04:58):
sticks.
I feel like taking notes isn'tabout being a nerdy or geeky
student.
It's about reinforcing whatyou've learned so you can
actually use it when it matters,either on the mat or even out,
more importantly, in the realworld, in competition.
(05:21):
Writing something down, even ifit's just a few bullet points,
to jog your memory later, itforces your brain to recall the
techniques and organize thesteps and process really why a
technique works, and just givesyou a better and more full
(05:44):
understanding of what you justlearned and it creates a history
of training that you canrevisit later.
You can go back and look atyour notes that you took from
the month prior or the weekprior and if you're feeling
stuck in a rut or forgetting howto do a technique or deal with
(06:05):
a position, you know.
Boom, it's kind of just rightthere, it's in your notes, it's
in your journal and you've takenthe time to capture that
training so you can reflect backon it.
And I've heard people say, justdrill it more and it'll stick,
(06:25):
and that may be true, but what Ihave found for me is that
drilling plus reflection isreally where the magic happens
and and notes can help you also,and I really have seen this in
in my notetaking.
It helps you track patternslike what you're good at and
(06:48):
what you keep missing.
Three, two, one.
And taking notes isn't aboutbeing a nerdy student per se.
It's about reinforcing whatyou've learned so you can
actually use it when it matters,either in live roles or
(07:13):
competition or, even moreimportantly, out in the real
world when you need to usejujitsu to defend yourself or
others.
I think that writing somethingdown, even just a few bullet
points, to maybe jog your mind alittle bit later, really forces
(07:34):
your brain to recall thatspecific technique and it helps,
at least me, organize the stepsand process or kind of think
through and visualize and seehow and why something works.
And it creates you know.
(07:55):
Plus, it creates that historyof your training that you can
revisit later.
You can go back and look attechniques that you worked, you
know, the month prior.
I have journals that are nowfilled that have techniques in
them from my first week oflearning jujitsu, all the way
(08:17):
back when I was at Iron Wolf andI was like, like I said, the
first few weeks, and I have justa list of moves written out.
And if you're also, it's good.
If you're also stuck in a rutand forgetting.
Maybe you're having adifficulty getting out of a
(08:40):
certain position, like on yourescapes of a certain position,
like on your escapes, and ifyou've kept a good journal and
taken good notes, boom, it'sright there for you to find and
revisit and kind of drill andpractice.
I've heard a lot of people sayjust drill it more and it'll
(09:01):
stick, and maybe that's true fora lot of people.
But what I found, at least forme, is that drilling, yes, but
add to that reflection, and whenyou have drilling plus
reflection, and I would even addconsistency in there, that's
where the magic really happens.
(09:23):
In there, that's where themagic really happens and you
start to improve.
You're able to track patternsand notice what you're good at,
what you keep missing and whatkeeps getting you tapped or or
what helps you.
You know when, when the roundsyourself.
I I, when I first started tolearn las, couldn't really do
(09:52):
much, especially if you knowthey didn't have as much
(10:16):
experience as you and maybethere's you know specific ways
to escape lasso.
Not a lot of people get put inlasso, but I noticed as every
time we, or every time we wouldtrain lasso, I would get the
technique and it would all makesense.
But I was very seldom havingsuccess with lasso guard when I
(10:38):
was in a live round a role oryou know.
I never used it competition andwhen I did use it in a roll it
never really really worked forme.
But what I did notice workedand had a lot of high percentage
of success when I looked backto my notes was was half guard
and deep half guard.
(10:58):
I had more sweeps landed fromthose positions.
I ended up in a lot of thosepositions.
I most of the escapes thatworked for me came from those.
You know those types of of badpositions when people had me in
those.
So it helped me see that, keepin a log of that and I think
(11:22):
that you as a practitioner couldgain insight from you know,
keeping up with your stuff andlooking at those patterns and
looking for those patterns.
I think the other thing to thinkabout when taking notes is when
(11:43):
actually to do it right.
I feel that time means reallyeverything.
The best time to take notes isgenerally right after class,
while it's still fresh.
At my last gym after ourfundamentals class, there would
(12:03):
be a guy who would just go andthere'd be a couple guys who
would just go and sit on thebench beside the mat.
You know, right out they'd gofrom the mat right to the bench
and start writing down what theyhad learned during that session
.
And you know I'm not talkingabout writing an essay here.
(12:25):
I mean, you know five to tenminutes max.
You sit down, you grab yourphone or your notebook and just
brain dump the key points.
I think that you can keep itconcise, you can write down
something that will jar yourmemory for later.
(12:46):
But if you wait to writesomething down until you get
home, you shower, eat dinner,you typically find yourself
scrolling or just beingdistracted by really anything.
Your brain's going to alreadytossed out probably half of the
(13:06):
details of what you learnedduring that class.
What I would do in kind of theheight of my note taking, which
was kind of right when I got mythird stripe on my white belt
and I was progressing all theway from, you know, three stripe
white belt to blue belt, mean Iwas addicted to taking notes
and after every class, beforeI'd pull off or right when I
(13:30):
would get to work, I'd take afew minutes and jot down some
points so later that evening Icould come back and write down
the things that I could recall.
And if there was something thatI couldn't recall, the things
that I could recall and if therewas something that I couldn't
recall, I would message or reachout to someone who was training
that day with me, or theprofessor.
(13:51):
My professor himself, you knowto kind of is here that you want
(14:14):
to really lock in the musclememory by combining that
physical training with mentalprocessing and taking notes in
either right after class or in atimely manner, in my opinion
cements those natural pathways.
And you know if I think about ahack you could do, you could
(14:39):
pair note taking with that postclose or post class, cool down,
if you will.
You know, if you go off to themat and you stretch, maybe pull
your notebook off and pull yournotebook out and really just
kind of stretch and jot thingsdown.
Or, like the gentleman that Italked about earlier, that would
(15:03):
just go from the mat to thebench and just write down a few
things.
I think that's probably one ofthe best ways.
I know there are times where myhabit didn't work out well or
my practice, and it would be theend of the day before I would
circle back to it and I wouldhave forgotten a good deal of
(15:24):
the moves that we worked on andalmost said in school and in
class.
A lot of people Well, I won'tsay a lot of people, but the
people who know that I am ahabitual note taker and that
I've showed some of my journalsto they ask you know, what do
(15:48):
you write down?
What do you include in thejournal?
What should I be capturing?
And you see these journals allthe time on IG.
Bjj Fanatics has one now thatyou can keep up online.
You got the BJJ logbook.
(16:08):
I can't remember what it'scalled.
What else do we have?
We have the my BJJ Pal or Buddy.
What is that?
I have it on my phone.
It's really good when you're ina pinch.
But yeah, it's BJJ Buddy andit's a pretty cool app,
relatively functional If youneed something just to jot down
(16:32):
really quick.
But my point in bringing all ofthis up is each one of them
captures different information.
There's not you probably won'tsee two journals that you can
buy on Amazon or off IG or oneof these places that it's going
(16:55):
to be similar or that's going tobe the same.
They may have some similarities, but they're not going to be
the exact same.
So let's talk about how can wecapture important stuff, and I
(17:15):
had trouble with that when Ifirst started note-taking and
journaling for jiu-jitsu.
But then I remembered, and Ican't remember where I got this
from, but it was a method for, Ithink, open-hand note-taking.
(17:37):
Like I said, I can't rememberwhere I thought of this, but it
was for something in my past,either when I was in school or
something, and you know it'scalled the 3S.
It's a process, no method.
The 3S method and it stands for.
(18:00):
And the way you break this downis you start with the situation
and then the rest is steps,success, last struggle.
So the situation, steps,success and struggle.
Let me break that down a littlebit further.
So the situation is what washappening in the drill or the
(18:28):
roll right?
Was you know?
Is this something we trainedfrom the bottom, from the top?
Was it a guard?
Was it an escape?
Was it retention?
Was it a pass?
Was it a sweep?
Like what was the scenario?
Slash situation, half guard,the opponent had a underhook,
(19:03):
etc.
Then what happens next?
Right, you start thinking aboutit like that and you try to
include that context and you askyourself was this positional or
you know did.
Is this something we werelearning through just drilling
is?
Was it live rolling?
What triggers this movement andwhat insights did you gather
(19:26):
from just the situation you werein, right?
So, and if we think about thesteps, that's, and if we think
(19:59):
about the steps that's, I don'tthink I have to break this down
too far, but what I do is Iwrite three to five key
movements or concepts.
Concepts and not every singledetail, just the critical parts
that I need to remember.
And I use kind of my own wordslike cross face pressure or
under hook, left arm, knee cut,pass through, or knee cut pass
while turning the hips,something like that, right, some
kind of phrasing.
And I also like to quickly kindof draw little arrows between
(20:20):
when I go from one step to thenext, and I've used alphabet
before you go from A to B to Cto D, so on.
But I really like using arrows.
And don't worry about gettingall of the terminology right,
especially if you're in yourfirst week.
You're not going to rememberany of that stuff.
(20:41):
These notes are for you, right?
So whatever you have to writeto help you remember is the most
important thing, and if you canremember it better by saying,
scoop the leg like a taco thanwrite that down.
You can refine the languagelater on or you don't have to do
(21:06):
anything to it if it remindsyou of what you need to do in
the technique.
And then we think of the third S, the success or struggle.
What worked for you, whatdidn't, what was hard, what kind
of confused you about thetechnique?
And you know this makes itpersonal and tells your brain
(21:31):
hey, pay attention to this nexttime.
And you know.
Example that is I didn'tcontrol.
The far hip got regarded.
Need to adjust angle.
Where to place your grip, wasit a c grip?
Was it an s grip?
I mean these are the kind ofreally quick details that you
(21:52):
want to write down that maybeyou need help remembering later.
And this also is a great placeto track your progress.
And if you revisit a note andrealize you fixed that issue,
mark that down, put a star, dosomething.
I mean journals don't have tobe just words.
I mean I have journals thathave drawings in them on pages
(22:15):
with words.
I have journals that havestickers in them posted pictures
, things to remind me of what Iwas writing about.
And these, these are more ofthe personal journals I have.
But doodle draw, you know, ifyou revisit a note and you
(22:36):
realized you fixed something,put something on there to
celebrate, right.
Those things will add up, Ikind of.
The next thing I want to talkabout is have you ever heard?
Let's start with this.
So I enjoy audio books.
(22:56):
So I enjoy audio books.
I enjoy podcasts.
But it will take me yearssometimes to read a hardcover
book and I'm just, you know, itwon't motivate me.
I, for whatever reason, don'tstay engaged.
I get sleepy when I startreading a big book.
(23:17):
I get sleepy when I startreading a big book, and so I
like listening and consumingbooks audibly or visually, and
audibly right.
Like sometimes I'll have thebook.
Like when I first bought the 5am Club, I loved it so much.
(23:37):
I had the book and then I hadthe actual audio, audible book
reading as I followed along inthe book.
It helped my note taking there.
But the reason I bring this upis because we need to understand
this dynamic between physicalnote taking versus digital note
taking.
Now you know, should you go oldschool, like I do, with a
notebook or keep it digital?
(23:59):
The answer is really justwhatever works for you.
You know my son.
He one of my sons.
He reads and buys books andcollects books all the time.
It would take probably the restof my life to read the books
that are on his shelf.
(24:19):
But he doesn't like an audiobook.
He likes to hold the book, helikes to turn the pages, he gets
into the words and you knowit's just really what works for
you.
It's the same way with notetaking and journaling.
A physical notebook is great ifyou do like writing by hand,
and it's very distraction-freeand kind of makes for me.
(24:43):
It makes me slow down andreally take stock of what I'm
learning.
Digital format, like things likeNotion or Google Docs or even
some of the apps I was talkingabout, like BJJ Buddy, makes it
easy to search and organize andyou can tag positions, you can
(25:07):
link videos, you can keep thingsneat and if it's something that
you do on an app or somethingyou keep on your phone, it's
always usually with you to pullup.
Like I don't walk around withfour or five journals, you know,
and I don't carry my journalswhen I travel.
I probably should, but you knowmy phone's always with me and I
(25:32):
do keep notes, like I said, onmy phone.
I do have the bjj buddy app,and it's really helpful.
Alliance has their belt testsystem, and I have all of the
belt test requirements copiedand pasted and saved and locked
in my iphone's notes app.
(25:57):
One thing I would say, though,is, if you are going to capture
notes in a digital format, thinkof a way to categorize things
right, and you know if you'redoing notes or you know the
notes app or whatever you'redoing make sure it's titled
(26:21):
something like BJJ Log, and thenthis is easier.
If you're doing handwritingjournals or physical journals,
you know, make sure you sectionthings out and guards and
passing submissions escape.
I like there's this certaintype of journal.
I have one sitting right here.
I'll look at the brand that Ireally like, and I like it for a
(26:47):
few reasons.
One is it comes with a table ofcontents and the pages are
numbered, and I'm able to reallysection my journal off.
I can't believe I can'tremember the name of these
journals, but they come in packsand they're pretty cheap.
(27:09):
Looking at it, yeah, anyway,just if you're doing something
digital, make sure you have away to organize your notes,
especially if it's not an app.
You know another option that Ihaven't used myself but I think
would be really good is the useof voice memos.
(27:29):
If you're not into writing, ifyou're not into just listening,
you know, say what you learnedand listen back later.
Listening, you know say whatyou learned and listen, listen
back later.
And there's also software.
You can take these software,apps that you can take these
voice recordings and they cantranscribe them into you know
written notes or things likethat.
There's at my, in my job, weuse this software called Fathom.
(27:55):
It records all our meeting,then transcribes it during the
meeting and pulls out takeawaysand things like that.
So you know, there's all kind ofthings out there and a lot of
times and this is again, this ismyself included people even
combine formats voice memosright after class and then later
(28:16):
they transcribe it or expandinto their notebook and, you
know, do really just what fitsyour routine and kind of your
energy level.
So we've talked about you knowwhy it's important journaling
(28:37):
and we've talked about what toinclude.
We've talked about when to takethe notes.
But we can fill up a ton ofnotebooks or apps or logs or
whatever, but if it's notbenefiting us it's just a waste
(29:03):
of time, waste of effort and awaste of energy.
And knowing what to do is onething and actually doing it
consistently is another.
So here's, you know how to makesomething like this a habit,
(29:25):
link it to a routine.
I think a lot of people and alot of self-help routine kind of
making books out there that tryto teach you this stuff Forget
the importance of this.
For example, as soon as I takeoff my gear or throw my gear in
the trunk, I write three thingsI learned.
(29:45):
Now I'm not saying I do that,but I'm just giving you that as
an example.
The other thing is set areminder and just something like
a daily ping after class thatsays write your bjj notes down.
I would typically have kind oflike a fail safe set in the
(30:05):
evening.
I don't do this anymore, butit's just because I've gotten
more consistent and well, Ireally haven't trained a lot
lately and I haven't had a lotto write down.
But a reminder before the endof the sometimes it's like at
eight o'clock, but I make sureif I've recorded well I haven't
done the voice memo stuff but ifI've jotted something down to
(30:28):
expand on later that I don't letthe week kind of end without
going back reflecting andthinking about that, that and
use that S or that 3S method.
Checklist keeps you fromoverthinking, helps you really
stay consistent.
And you know, one of the thingsI did early on is I would take
(30:50):
my notes, you know, daily, andthen on the weekends I would
pick, you know a couple days outof that week and go back and
study those days, like what didwe do?
I would review the whole week.
I would pick, you know, acouple of days out of that week
and go back and study those daysLike what did we do?
I would review the whole week.
But I would pick two days inone gi, I think, one no gi and
just kind of mentally workthrough or try to kind of shadow
(31:13):
drill these moves and just kindof mentally walk through them.
And if you treat it like that'sa good example, like brushing
your teeth, something you justdo after class, it becomes
really second nature.
It's all about habit forming.
And you can also, you know,build accountability.
(31:35):
And you can also, you know,build accountability.
You can challenge a teammate totake notes for a week and
compare what each of you wrotedown.
I think that would be anexcellent idea and sometimes
you'll catch details that theymissed and vice versa You'll
(32:00):
catch, you know they'll catchdetails maybe you missed or.
However right, and one of thethings, if I'm you know it just
kind of popped in my head thisis kind of more from another
(32:23):
benefit of videotaping yourroles.
I'll say roles and not thetechnique, because I think a lot
of academies aren't real coolwith you kind of filming the
technique while they're teachingit.
I think this has a lot to do, alot to do also with just
showing respect to the professor.
(32:45):
I mean, if you're just sittingthere and five or six people are
surrounding them with cameras,right, they're not.
They're not paying attention tothe technique.
What I'm talking about really iswhen you get ready to roll or
drill or positional training orwhat have you set your camera up
, your phone or what have you ona small tripod, off to the side
(33:07):
and out of the way so nobodycan get hurt on it, and record
that, record your rolls, andthen go back, like for me, it
was on the weekends when I wasdoing this, I didn't do this as
often as I should but just goback and review it and say, wow,
stay.
You know, one of the things Inoticed is I was staying too
still for too long when someonehad me in side control.
(33:33):
I was looking at it as a resttime.
I was looking at it as a resttime, but that's really when
you're losing energy as theirpressure is increasing.
You're working to keep themfrom going to mount.
So I noticed that on the, thevideos that I was taking.
So now you know, as soon asthey get past and into that half
(33:56):
guard, or not half guard, butinto that side control, I'm
moving.
You know I'm I'm not layingthere flat, I'm getting on my
side and I just, you know, keepfighting through it.
So this is something that Ilearned by you know documenting
and keeping up with with what'sgoing on and how my training is
(34:16):
going up with what's going onand how my training is going.
So there's really no I guessyou could say there's no right
way to do this, it's really justyour preference.
(34:36):
The overall gist of it is finda way that works for you, to
where you can capture reminders,knowledge, steps, the 3S method
, whatever, to have somethingthat you can go back and study
at a later date and to helpyourself improve.
(34:58):
And you know, if we were torecap it would be you know, make
sure you're taking your notesright after class or within that
first hour or so is probablyprime.
I always remembered better whenI was able to do it an hour
after.
The 3S method.
Again, that is situation steps,success or struggle, and you
(35:22):
know, choose that format thatworks best for you and just like
consistency right.
It's the number one key factorin improving our jiu-jitsu.
It's the same with note-takingYou'll attain more, you'll roll
with more intention and you willlevel up faster.
(35:43):
You'll see your progress andnotes are your personal cheat
sheet and honestly, they showyou kind of your future self,
that you care enough to takeyour progress seriously and that
initiative is going to take youfar.
(36:04):
And if you try this out, Iwould love for you to, if you're
in the caffeinated jiu-jitsuInstagram community, reach out
Love to hear your thoughts onthis episode.
I would love to hear yourmethods.
(36:27):
Send a snapshot of your journalif you want.
Would love to see the type ofinformation that you're
capturing and you know what'syour schedule.
Do you go back every week andtake a look at what you wrote
down, or you know if you don'tthink there's value in
journaling and writing down?
(36:48):
let me know that too, and maybewhat are some of your thoughts
or what has helped you over theyears retain all of this stuff
besides just using it, doing itevery day.
I mean, there's, of course,that, but I think this is a
topic where we all maybe journalor not journal, but we all do
things and retain things, and indifferent ways, and I think
(37:10):
it'd be a great, greatdiscussion down the road on this
.
And you know, if you got valueout of this episode, be sure to
subscribe, to leave a review.
That's always helpful and butthe biggest thing I would love
(37:30):
to do is learn more about youand your note taking and, like I
said, just how you're retainingall of this.
So thanks for listening and, asalways, stay caffeinated, stay
safe and keep your passionbrewing and that's the final tap
(37:55):
on today's episode ofcaffeinated jujitsu a big thanks
to all of our listeners,especially today's insightful
guest, for sharing their BJJknowledge and tales.
Intro/Outro (38:08):
If you felt that adrenaline rush and are hungry
for more, hit, subscribe, drop areview and spread the Jiu-Jitsu
buzz.
For show notes and to contactthe host, reach out to the email
provided in the podcastdescription and to join our
grappling community, head overto Instagram.
Get those geese, crisp yourcoffee strong and always be
(38:31):
prepared for the next roll Oss.
Welcome to Caffeinated Jiu-Jitsu the blend
of white belt enthusiasm, blackbelt wisdom and a dash of
caffeine for that extra kick.
Dive deep into the world ofBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu as we
explore the journey, techniques,challenges and the sheer joy of
the sport from a White Beltsperspective, from intriguing
(00:25):
interviews with renowned coachesand professors to playful fun
episodes that'll have youchuckling mid-roll.
We've got it all brewed andready.
Now stepping onto the mats andinto your ears, here's your host
, joe Motes.
Joe M (00:55):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of
Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu.
Glad that you are taking alisten to today's episode and
all of listener base and youstart getting communications
from people asking questions andjust engaging.
(01:19):
And the caffeinated jujitsuitsuIG community is growing.
(01:45):
Every month we're adding newfollowers and new listeners to
the podcast.
So thank you again.
As always, I appreciate thesupport and I'm going to be
talking about a topic that wassuper beneficial to me when I
(02:10):
was starting out in Jiu-Jitsuand continues to be beneficial
through my journey now, and it'ssomething that I'll continue to
do and that is note-taking todo and that is note taking Right
.
So we're going to talk about inthis episode how to take notes
(02:31):
after a training session and so,and so they actually help,
right.
So that's what we're going tobe talking about here for the
next half an hour or an hour andI hope that if you're driving
along and you're listening tothis episode or you're working
out wherever or however you'relistening to it, that you get
(02:54):
some type of good, informativenuggets, if you will, from this
episode, and I hope to hear fromeveryone around kind of what
their note-taking process ormethod is.
So I am going to, I'm going towalk you through why, in my
(03:20):
opinion, you should take notes.
We're going to talk about whenis a good time to do it and what
to include, because sometimesthat can get overwhelming
knowing what to write down, whatnot to write down, and then how
, lastly, to make it stick, andhow to use your notes or your
(03:44):
journal to actually help youimprove in jujitsu.
And this is whether you're awhite belt trying to remember
the difference between closedguard and open guard, if you're
brand new, or a purple belttrying to refine your game if
you will, or purple belt tryingto refine your game if you will.
I believe that this will giveyou, as a listener and a
(04:11):
practitioner, structure to levelup and do so smarter and faster
.
I think that self-study andself-reflection is a big part of
how I am improving in jujitsu,and I feel like it's probably
(04:38):
the same for a lot of you outthere.
So why should we take notes?
You know, if I think about it,jujitsu is like it's really like
learning a new language, exceptyou're learning it while being
choked and tossed around, andthere's no way you're going to
retain everything by showing upto class and just hoping it
(04:58):
sticks.
I feel like taking notes isn'tabout being a nerdy or geeky
student.
It's about reinforcing whatyou've learned so you can
actually use it when it matters,either on the mat or even out,
more importantly, in the realworld, in competition.
(05:21):
Writing something down, even ifit's just a few bullet points,
to jog your memory later, itforces your brain to recall the
techniques and organize thesteps and process really why a
technique works, and just givesyou a better and more full
(05:44):
understanding of what you justlearned and it creates a history
of training that you canrevisit later.
You can go back and look atyour notes that you took from
the month prior or the weekprior and if you're feeling
stuck in a rut or forgetting howto do a technique or deal with
(06:05):
a position, you know.
Boom, it's kind of just rightthere, it's in your notes, it's
in your journal and you've takenthe time to capture that
training so you can reflect backon it.
And I've heard people say, justdrill it more and it'll stick,
(06:25):
and that may be true, but what Ihave found for me is that
drilling plus reflection isreally where the magic happens
and and notes can help you also,and I really have seen this in
in my notetaking.
It helps you track patternslike what you're good at and
(06:48):
what you keep missing.
Three, two, one.
And taking notes isn't aboutbeing a nerdy student per se.
It's about reinforcing whatyou've learned so you can
actually use it when it matters,either in live roles or
(07:13):
competition or, even moreimportantly, out in the real
world when you need to usejujitsu to defend yourself or
others.
I think that writing somethingdown, even just a few bullet
points, to maybe jog your mind alittle bit later, really forces
(07:34):
your brain to recall thatspecific technique and it helps,
at least me, organize the stepsand process or kind of think
through and visualize and seehow and why something works.
And it creates you know.
(07:55):
Plus, it creates that historyof your training that you can
revisit later.
You can go back and look attechniques that you worked, you
know, the month prior.
I have journals that are nowfilled that have techniques in
them from my first week oflearning jujitsu, all the way
(08:17):
back when I was at Iron Wolf andI was like, like I said, the
first few weeks, and I have justa list of moves written out.
And if you're also, it's good.
If you're also stuck in a rutand forgetting.
Maybe you're having adifficulty getting out of a
(08:40):
certain position, like on yourescapes of a certain position,
like on your escapes, and ifyou've kept a good journal and
taken good notes, boom, it'sright there for you to find and
revisit and kind of drill andpractice.
I've heard a lot of people sayjust drill it more and it'll
(09:01):
stick, and maybe that's true fora lot of people.
But what I found, at least forme, is that drilling, yes, but
add to that reflection, and whenyou have drilling plus
reflection, and I would even addconsistency in there, that's
where the magic really happens.
(09:23):
In there, that's where themagic really happens and you
start to improve.
You're able to track patternsand notice what you're good at,
what you keep missing and whatkeeps getting you tapped or or
what helps you.
You know when, when the roundsyourself.
I I, when I first started tolearn las, couldn't really do
(09:52):
much, especially if you knowthey didn't have as much
(10:16):
experience as you and maybethere's you know specific ways
to escape lasso.
Not a lot of people get put inlasso, but I noticed as every
time we, or every time we wouldtrain lasso, I would get the
technique and it would all makesense.
But I was very seldom havingsuccess with lasso guard when I
(10:38):
was in a live round a role oryou know.
I never used it competition andwhen I did use it in a roll it
never really really worked forme.
But what I did notice workedand had a lot of high percentage
of success when I looked backto my notes was was half guard
and deep half guard.
(10:58):
I had more sweeps landed fromthose positions.
I ended up in a lot of thosepositions.
I most of the escapes thatworked for me came from those.
You know those types of of badpositions when people had me in
those.
So it helped me see that, keepin a log of that and I think
(11:22):
that you as a practitioner couldgain insight from you know,
keeping up with your stuff andlooking at those patterns and
looking for those patterns.
I think the other thing to thinkabout when taking notes is when
(11:43):
actually to do it right.
I feel that time means reallyeverything.
The best time to take notes isgenerally right after class,
while it's still fresh.
At my last gym after ourfundamentals class, there would
(12:03):
be a guy who would just go andthere'd be a couple guys who
would just go and sit on thebench beside the mat.
You know, right out they'd gofrom the mat right to the bench
and start writing down what theyhad learned during that session
.
And you know I'm not talkingabout writing an essay here.
(12:25):
I mean, you know five to tenminutes max.
You sit down, you grab yourphone or your notebook and just
brain dump the key points.
I think that you can keep itconcise, you can write down
something that will jar yourmemory for later.
(12:46):
But if you wait to writesomething down until you get
home, you shower, eat dinner,you typically find yourself
scrolling or just beingdistracted by really anything.
Your brain's going to alreadytossed out probably half of the
(13:06):
details of what you learnedduring that class.
What I would do in kind of theheight of my note taking, which
was kind of right when I got mythird stripe on my white belt
and I was progressing all theway from, you know, three stripe
white belt to blue belt, mean Iwas addicted to taking notes
and after every class, beforeI'd pull off or right when I
(13:30):
would get to work, I'd take afew minutes and jot down some
points so later that evening Icould come back and write down
the things that I could recall.
And if there was something thatI couldn't recall, the things
that I could recall and if therewas something that I couldn't
recall, I would message or reachout to someone who was training
that day with me, or theprofessor.
(13:51):
My professor himself, you knowto kind of is here that you want
(14:14):
to really lock in the musclememory by combining that
physical training with mentalprocessing and taking notes in
either right after class or in atimely manner, in my opinion
cements those natural pathways.
And you know if I think about ahack you could do, you could
(14:39):
pair note taking with that postclose or post class, cool down,
if you will.
You know, if you go off to themat and you stretch, maybe pull
your notebook off and pull yournotebook out and really just
kind of stretch and jot thingsdown.
Or, like the gentleman that Italked about earlier, that would
(15:03):
just go from the mat to thebench and just write down a few
things.
I think that's probably one ofthe best ways.
I know there are times where myhabit didn't work out well or
my practice, and it would be theend of the day before I would
circle back to it and I wouldhave forgotten a good deal of
(15:24):
the moves that we worked on andalmost said in school and in
class.
A lot of people Well, I won'tsay a lot of people, but the
people who know that I am ahabitual note taker and that
I've showed some of my journalsto they ask you know, what do
(15:48):
you write down?
What do you include in thejournal?
What should I be capturing?
And you see these journals allthe time on IG.
Bjj Fanatics has one now thatyou can keep up online.
You got the BJJ logbook.
(16:08):
I can't remember what it'scalled.
What else do we have?
We have the my BJJ Pal or Buddy.
What is that?
I have it on my phone.
It's really good when you're ina pinch.
But yeah, it's BJJ Buddy andit's a pretty cool app,
relatively functional If youneed something just to jot down
(16:32):
really quick.
But my point in bringing all ofthis up is each one of them
captures different information.
There's not you probably won'tsee two journals that you can
buy on Amazon or off IG or oneof these places that it's going
(16:55):
to be similar or that's going tobe the same.
They may have some similarities, but they're not going to be
the exact same.
So let's talk about how can wecapture important stuff, and I
(17:15):
had trouble with that when Ifirst started note-taking and
journaling for jiu-jitsu.
But then I remembered, and Ican't remember where I got this
from, but it was a method for, Ithink, open-hand note-taking.
(17:37):
Like I said, I can't rememberwhere I thought of this, but it
was for something in my past,either when I was in school or
something, and you know it'scalled the 3S.
It's a process, no method.
The 3S method and it stands for.
(18:00):
And the way you break this downis you start with the situation
and then the rest is steps,success, last struggle.
So the situation, steps,success and struggle.
Let me break that down a littlebit further.
So the situation is what washappening in the drill or the
(18:28):
roll right?
Was you know?
Is this something we trainedfrom the bottom, from the top?
Was it a guard?
Was it an escape?
Was it retention?
Was it a pass?
Was it a sweep?
Like what was the scenario?
Slash situation, half guard,the opponent had a underhook,
(19:03):
etc.
Then what happens next?
Right, you start thinking aboutit like that and you try to
include that context and you askyourself was this positional or
you know did.
Is this something we werelearning through just drilling
is?
Was it live rolling?
What triggers this movement andwhat insights did you gather
(19:26):
from just the situation you werein, right?
So, and if we think about thesteps, that's, and if we think
(19:59):
about the steps that's, I don'tthink I have to break this down
too far, but what I do is Iwrite three to five key
movements or concepts.
Concepts and not every singledetail, just the critical parts
that I need to remember.
And I use kind of my own wordslike cross face pressure or
under hook, left arm, knee cut,pass through, or knee cut pass
while turning the hips,something like that, right, some
kind of phrasing.
And I also like to quickly kindof draw little arrows between
(20:20):
when I go from one step to thenext, and I've used alphabet
before you go from A to B to Cto D, so on.
But I really like using arrows.
And don't worry about gettingall of the terminology right,
especially if you're in yourfirst week.
You're not going to rememberany of that stuff.
(20:41):
These notes are for you, right?
So whatever you have to writeto help you remember is the most
important thing, and if you canremember it better by saying,
scoop the leg like a taco thanwrite that down.
You can refine the languagelater on or you don't have to do
(21:06):
anything to it if it remindsyou of what you need to do in
the technique.
And then we think of the third S, the success or struggle.
What worked for you, whatdidn't, what was hard, what kind
of confused you about thetechnique?
And you know this makes itpersonal and tells your brain
(21:31):
hey, pay attention to this nexttime.
And you know.
Example that is I didn'tcontrol.
The far hip got regarded.
Need to adjust angle.
Where to place your grip, wasit a c grip?
Was it an s grip?
I mean these are the kind ofreally quick details that you
(21:52):
want to write down that maybeyou need help remembering later.
And this also is a great placeto track your progress.
And if you revisit a note andrealize you fixed that issue,
mark that down, put a star, dosomething.
I mean journals don't have tobe just words.
I mean I have journals thathave drawings in them on pages
(22:15):
with words.
I have journals that havestickers in them posted pictures
, things to remind me of what Iwas writing about.
And these, these are more ofthe personal journals I have.
But doodle draw, you know, ifyou revisit a note and you
(22:36):
realized you fixed something,put something on there to
celebrate, right.
Those things will add up, Ikind of.
The next thing I want to talkabout is have you ever heard?
Let's start with this.
So I enjoy audio books.
(22:56):
So I enjoy audio books.
I enjoy podcasts.
But it will take me yearssometimes to read a hardcover
book and I'm just, you know, itwon't motivate me.
I, for whatever reason, don'tstay engaged.
I get sleepy when I startreading a big book.
(23:17):
I get sleepy when I startreading a big book, and so I
like listening and consumingbooks audibly or visually, and
audibly right.
Like sometimes I'll have thebook.
Like when I first bought the 5am Club, I loved it so much.
(23:37):
I had the book and then I hadthe actual audio, audible book
reading as I followed along inthe book.
It helped my note taking there.
But the reason I bring this upis because we need to understand
this dynamic between physicalnote taking versus digital note
taking.
Now you know, should you go oldschool, like I do, with a
notebook or keep it digital?
(23:59):
The answer is really justwhatever works for you.
You know my son.
He one of my sons.
He reads and buys books andcollects books all the time.
It would take probably the restof my life to read the books
that are on his shelf.
(24:19):
But he doesn't like an audiobook.
He likes to hold the book, helikes to turn the pages, he gets
into the words and you knowit's just really what works for
you.
It's the same way with notetaking and journaling.
A physical notebook is great ifyou do like writing by hand,
and it's very distraction-freeand kind of makes for me.
(24:43):
It makes me slow down andreally take stock of what I'm
learning.
Digital format, like things likeNotion or Google Docs or even
some of the apps I was talkingabout, like BJJ Buddy, makes it
easy to search and organize andyou can tag positions, you can
(25:07):
link videos, you can keep thingsneat and if it's something that
you do on an app or somethingyou keep on your phone, it's
always usually with you to pullup.
Like I don't walk around withfour or five journals, you know,
and I don't carry my journalswhen I travel.
I probably should, but you knowmy phone's always with me and I
(25:32):
do keep notes, like I said, onmy phone.
I do have the bjj buddy app,and it's really helpful.
Alliance has their belt testsystem, and I have all of the
belt test requirements copiedand pasted and saved and locked
in my iphone's notes app.
(25:57):
One thing I would say, though,is, if you are going to capture
notes in a digital format, thinkof a way to categorize things
right, and you know if you'redoing notes or you know the
notes app or whatever you'redoing make sure it's titled
(26:21):
something like BJJ Log, and thenthis is easier.
If you're doing handwritingjournals or physical journals,
you know, make sure you sectionthings out and guards and
passing submissions escape.
I like there's this certaintype of journal.
I have one sitting right here.
I'll look at the brand that Ireally like, and I like it for a
(26:47):
few reasons.
One is it comes with a table ofcontents and the pages are
numbered, and I'm able to reallysection my journal off.
I can't believe I can'tremember the name of these
journals, but they come in packsand they're pretty cheap.
(27:09):
Looking at it, yeah, anyway,just if you're doing something
digital, make sure you have away to organize your notes,
especially if it's not an app.
You know another option that Ihaven't used myself but I think
would be really good is the useof voice memos.
(27:29):
If you're not into writing, ifyou're not into just listening,
you know, say what you learnedand listen back later.
Listening, you know say whatyou learned and listen, listen
back later.
And there's also software.
You can take these software,apps that you can take these
voice recordings and they cantranscribe them into you know
written notes or things likethat.
There's at my, in my job, weuse this software called Fathom.
(27:55):
It records all our meeting,then transcribes it during the
meeting and pulls out takeawaysand things like that.
So you know, there's all kind ofthings out there and a lot of
times and this is again, this ismyself included people even
combine formats voice memosright after class and then later
(28:16):
they transcribe it or expandinto their notebook and, you
know, do really just what fitsyour routine and kind of your
energy level.
So we've talked about you knowwhy it's important journaling
(28:37):
and we've talked about what toinclude.
We've talked about when to takethe notes.
But we can fill up a ton ofnotebooks or apps or logs or
whatever, but if it's notbenefiting us it's just a waste
(29:03):
of time, waste of effort and awaste of energy.
And knowing what to do is onething and actually doing it
consistently is another.
So here's, you know how to makesomething like this a habit,
(29:25):
link it to a routine.
I think a lot of people and alot of self-help routine kind of
making books out there that tryto teach you this stuff Forget
the importance of this.
For example, as soon as I takeoff my gear or throw my gear in
the trunk, I write three thingsI learned.
(29:45):
Now I'm not saying I do that,but I'm just giving you that as
an example.
The other thing is set areminder and just something like
a daily ping after class thatsays write your bjj notes down.
I would typically have kind oflike a fail safe set in the
(30:05):
evening.
I don't do this anymore, butit's just because I've gotten
more consistent and well, Ireally haven't trained a lot
lately and I haven't had a lotto write down.
But a reminder before the endof the sometimes it's like at
eight o'clock, but I make sureif I've recorded well I haven't
done the voice memo stuff but ifI've jotted something down to
(30:28):
expand on later that I don't letthe week kind of end without
going back reflecting andthinking about that, that and
use that S or that 3S method.
Checklist keeps you fromoverthinking, helps you really
stay consistent.
And you know, one of the thingsI did early on is I would take
(30:50):
my notes, you know, daily, andthen on the weekends I would
pick, you know a couple days outof that week and go back and
study those days, like what didwe do?
I would review the whole week.
I would pick, you know, acouple of days out of that week
and go back and study those daysLike what did we do?
I would review the whole week.
But I would pick two days inone gi, I think, one no gi and
just kind of mentally workthrough or try to kind of shadow
(31:13):
drill these moves and just kindof mentally walk through them.
And if you treat it like that'sa good example, like brushing
your teeth, something you justdo after class, it becomes
really second nature.
It's all about habit forming.
And you can also, you know,build accountability.
(31:35):
And you can also, you know,build accountability.
You can challenge a teammate totake notes for a week and
compare what each of you wrotedown.
I think that would be anexcellent idea and sometimes
you'll catch details that theymissed and vice versa You'll
(32:00):
catch, you know they'll catchdetails maybe you missed or.
However right, and one of thethings, if I'm you know it just
kind of popped in my head thisis kind of more from another
(32:23):
benefit of videotaping yourroles.
I'll say roles and not thetechnique, because I think a lot
of academies aren't real coolwith you kind of filming the
technique while they're teachingit.
I think this has a lot to do, alot to do also with just
showing respect to the professor.
(32:45):
I mean, if you're just sittingthere and five or six people are
surrounding them with cameras,right, they're not.
They're not paying attention tothe technique.
What I'm talking about really iswhen you get ready to roll or
drill or positional training orwhat have you set your camera up
, your phone or what have you ona small tripod, off to the side
(33:07):
and out of the way so nobodycan get hurt on it, and record
that, record your rolls, andthen go back, like for me, it
was on the weekends when I wasdoing this, I didn't do this as
often as I should but just goback and review it and say, wow,
stay.
You know, one of the things Inoticed is I was staying too
still for too long when someonehad me in side control.
(33:33):
I was looking at it as a resttime.
I was looking at it as a resttime, but that's really when
you're losing energy as theirpressure is increasing.
You're working to keep themfrom going to mount.
So I noticed that on the, thevideos that I was taking.
So now you know, as soon asthey get past and into that half
(33:56):
guard, or not half guard, butinto that side control, I'm
moving.
You know I'm I'm not layingthere flat, I'm getting on my
side and I just, you know, keepfighting through it.
So this is something that Ilearned by you know documenting
and keeping up with with what'sgoing on and how my training is
(34:16):
going up with what's going onand how my training is going.
So there's really no I guessyou could say there's no right
way to do this, it's really justyour preference.
(34:36):
The overall gist of it is finda way that works for you, to
where you can capture reminders,knowledge, steps, the 3S method
, whatever, to have somethingthat you can go back and study
at a later date and to helpyourself improve.
(34:58):
And you know, if we were torecap it would be you know, make
sure you're taking your notesright after class or within that
first hour or so is probablyprime.
I always remembered better whenI was able to do it an hour
after.
The 3S method.
Again, that is situation steps,success or struggle, and you
(35:22):
know, choose that format thatworks best for you and just like
consistency right.
It's the number one key factorin improving our jiu-jitsu.
It's the same with note-takingYou'll attain more, you'll roll
with more intention and you willlevel up faster.
(35:43):
You'll see your progress andnotes are your personal cheat
sheet and honestly, they showyou kind of your future self,
that you care enough to takeyour progress seriously and that
initiative is going to take youfar.
(36:04):
And if you try this out, Iwould love for you to, if you're
in the caffeinated jiu-jitsuInstagram community, reach out
Love to hear your thoughts onthis episode.
I would love to hear yourmethods.
(36:27):
Send a snapshot of your journalif you want.
Would love to see the type ofinformation that you're
capturing and you know what'syour schedule.
Do you go back every week andtake a look at what you wrote
down, or you know if you don'tthink there's value in
journaling and writing down?
(36:48):
let me know that too, and maybewhat are some of your thoughts
or what has helped you over theyears retain all of this stuff
besides just using it, doing itevery day.
I mean, there's, of course,that, but I think this is a
topic where we all maybe journalor not journal, but we all do
things and retain things, and indifferent ways, and I think
(37:10):
it'd be a great, greatdiscussion down the road on this
.
And you know, if you got valueout of this episode, be sure to
subscribe, to leave a review.
That's always helpful and butthe biggest thing I would love
(37:30):
to do is learn more about youand your note taking and, like I
said, just how you're retainingall of this.
So thanks for listening and, asalways, stay caffeinated, stay
safe and keep your passionbrewing and that's the final tap
(37:55):
on today's episode ofcaffeinated jujitsu a big thanks
to all of our listeners,especially today's insightful
guest, for sharing their BJJknowledge and tales.
Intro/Outro (38:08):
If you felt that adrenaline rush and are hungry
for more, hit, subscribe, drop areview and spread the Jiu-Jitsu
buzz.
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