We use a unique training method at Zenyo Jiu Jitsu to bring out the best in our athletes.
Effective training in Jiu Jitsu is a process of evolution not repetition. Evolution is a result of change.
Almost two hundred years ago, biologist Charles Darwin noted, “It is not the strongest nor the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
The unique bjj training method we use at Zenyo Jiu Jitsu give athletes total freedom in applying techniques while creating specific changes in how they drill.
These changes lead to a quicker evolution.
Unique BJJ Training Method
Some things to keep in mind when training Jiu Jitsu.
Complex activities are best trained in complex ways.
One complex activity — Jiu Jitsu — is not wholly different than another complex activity — say soccer or track. Learning and adaptation are the same for all complex activities. Learning is best with less instruction, less repetition and less correction. Decades of research shows that learners need freedom to make choices and mistakes in learning.
Too much instruction, repetition and correction make learning worse.
The goal of learning should be to expand what is possible. So that your mind becomes more fluid, adaptive and creative.
“Zenyo, its instructors, and students are an absolute joy to train with. Extremely hospitable, great training partners, and with a very unique training philosophy. I highly recommend this gym to anyone looking to get started in jiu jitsu or someone who has been training a while and looking for something new.”
See Below For Six More Videos On Our Unique BJJ Training Method
Differential Learning In Jiu Jitsu
At Zenyo, we play with how the body acts and interacts in Jiu Jitsu. The ways the body moves naturally produces changes in three specific factors: joint angle, velocity and acceleration. Your arms and legs flex and extend as you walk; they move faster and slower at different times and change pace as you switch to jumping and running.
The unique training method we use at Zenyo, called differential learning, intentionally shifts these factors so that training gets you to move and think in different ways. This shift produces a change in brain activity to a meditative state, the state of Zenyo, which means best use of physical and mental energy.
In practice and idea, differential learning is not overly complicated: Play different, move different, think different.
“In contrast to the traditional training strategy, where fluctuations (i.e., different from biomechanical models) are viewed as errors that must be minimized, the differential learning approach considers the fluctuations in moving systems as crucial sources for learning. A major purpose of differential learning is increasing the possibilities of movement rather than constraining them.” — Wolfgang Schollhorn, creator of differential learning
Six Changes For Jiu Jitsu Drills
In practice, our goal is to always train with differences to drive adaptation. Differential learning, as it is called, has been shown in studies to be more effective than repetitive or discovery-based training methods. Our goal is to overload coordination, cognition and creativity so that regular training seems easier in comparison. It’s not about the exercises, solely, but also about the changes caused by the exercises.
We change six key elements in training: lines, limbs, sides, angles, speeds and accelerations.
Watch the videos below to understand how we use this unique bjj training method at Zenyo Jiu Jitsu.
An Oasis In The Jiu Jitsu World
The unique bjj training method we use at Zenyo Jiu Jitsu creates training that feels good, is fun, playful and child-like. By being different, a world of new possibilities opens. The results are amazing and getting there is great fun.
Terence Nance, a filmmaker and purple belt in bjj who recently joined our gym in Baltimore, describes Zenyo as “an oasis from conformity and rigidity.”
Train with us at Zenyo to experience Jiu Jitsu with a difference.