Building Blocks:
Michael Jen's ABCs of BJJ

By Charles Choi

"Do or die. Sink or swim."

Sounds more like it's about life - but not so much about Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training, right?

To all who have practiced BJJ before, these words are more truth than they are cliche.

The training methods of BJJ are cruel: learn from sparring and learn quickly from defeats.

A typical class would involve a demonstration of a few techniques, with the balance of the session devoted to application and sparring.

Often, BJJ students feel they are left without a sense of guidance and end up loosing their motivation.

But according to Michael Jen, his 'system' of BJJ helps a student lace together combinations and flow.

No, he's not a World Champion. But does that matter?

He's known for his teaching ability and ability to relay the essence and skills of BJJ to a student.

What's more, he's not the biggest fan of the latest techniques. This BJJ Black Belt invests time in the mastery of basics.

From his home state of California, Michael Jen speaks on his 'system' of techniques and his teaching style.

Your teaching methods are constantly spoken of on Internet forums. You have a unique ability to breakdown the mechanics and relate them back to your students. What do you feel sets your instruction apart from others?
	Competitors put in a lot of effort to improve their fighting skill. As an instructor, I put in the same amount of effort to improve my teaching skill. I don't think you see that sort of effort being put into teaching too often these days. We always hear about how BJJ is constantly evolving. We hear about techniques and positions that are being created or rediscovered. The jiu-jitsu we did 10 years ago is not the exact same jiu-jitsu we are doing now. Unfortunately, we don't hear as much about the same evolution when it comes to teaching BJJ. For most instructors, the way they teach BJJ now is the same way they taught it 10 years ago, the only difference may be the techniques they are teaching. Good instruction is a lot more than just demonstrating techniques. My teaching methods are constantly evolving. I am always trying to figure out the easiest and most effective way to get students to be able to understand and perform. The way I teach now is different than how I taught a few years ago.
Students eventually fit the techniques they learn into game plan. However, from your experience in doing seminars and teaching classes, do you think that BJJ students struggle with piecing techniques together so that they can flow smoothly in a sparring bout?
	The reason why most students are piecing techniques together is because they have no guidance from their instructor. What do they have to do to get blue belt? Get good and tap people out. What do they have to do to get to purple belt? Get good and tap people out. With that sort of lack of guidance, the student is left on his own to figure out a game plan. The problem with piecing all these techniques together is that there is no system (or logic), therefore, the student does not know how to use one technique or position to support the others. Let me draw an analogy. Let's say you decide to build a computer on your own. You can probably do some simple stuff on it. Now, let's say you decide to do some advanced video editing - you add different components. When you start piecing all these components together, you often end up with compatibility problems. Then you either can't do your advanced video editing. Or, you eventually are able to do it, but you spent countless numbers of hours fixing these compatibility problems. In my opinion, this is what happens in BJJ. That is why many people never get beyond the basic levels or it takes them a very long time to progress.
Some students find it difficult to progress in the sink-or-swim world of BJJ. For instance, most academies don't have a set syllabus. They teach as they go, so to speak, and train a lot by sparring. What's your take on this for of training?
	That is one great example of the lack of evolution in the teaching of BJJ. This is such an old mentality. I have heard people say, "You learn from getting hit" when I trained with boxers and kickboxers. When I was doing judo, I was told, "You learn from getting thrown". I've always thought, "You learn from being taught". Sparring is a very important aspect of BJJ. You learn a lot from what happens in sparring. However, I don't believe that sparring should be a substitute for good instruction.
A popular trend nowadays, is to train no-gi (without the kimono). Do you think that training with the kimono improves your game without (and vice-versa)? What's your take on this trend?
	I've been doing BJJ for 13 years and did mainly no gi for the first 7 years. I know that many people were training no gi even before I got into BJJ. I believe you will get good at what you practice the most. I don't believe it is necessary to train gi to get good at no gi and vice versa. Some people who started with the gi think that is helped their no gi game. But it's not the gi that made them good. It was simply the fact that they have been grappling for a long time. If they had trained no gi their entire careers, they would be no less skilled for not putting on the gi. I also think that many people want to go with no gi to stay away from Brazilian politics as much as possible.
What's your take on people adopting the 'latest' techniques in BJJ?
	The biggest mistake that students make is that they look at what black belts are working on and add it to their game and think they need to be doing the same thing. That's like someone in elementary school wanting to learn the same things as someone in college. The "new trends" are fun to learn, but if you don't have a strong foundation of the basics, you have nothing to fall back on when the new stuff doesn't work. Great black belts aren't masters of every new trend. They have their game and they just do the same thing over and over on everyone. I see too many students wanting to get good at rubber guard, De La Riva guard, x-guard, cross guard, butterfly guard, spider guard. It is almost like these students want to be Gods of jiu-jitsu - they want to learn and be good at everything. Look at Marcelo Garcia. He is known for his x-guard, arm-drags, and choke from the back. Eddie Bravo is known for the "Twister", half guard, and rubber guard. Ryron and Rener Gracie have excellent closed guards, mounts, and foot-locks. The funny thing is that every time I think I have mastered a basic technique, I meet someone who is better at it than me and it makes me realise how little I know. I haven't mastered the leg-on-shoulder guard pass, but I'm working on it. My instructor, Joe Moreira, is truly a master at that pass, so I plan on picking his brain as much as possible.
So, what's your take on basics? You seem to heavily focus on those.
	There are thousands of techniques in BJJ. I've forgotten more techniques than most students have ever learned. At this point in my training, I want to "cut out all the excess fat" and make my game as simple as possible. Here's an interesting story that really inspired me to focus on the basics. I was training my guard with Joe Moreira. He did the basic leg on shoulder pass on my right side and passed my guard in seconds. Throughout the session, no matter how hard I tried to attack, counter, create space, or stall, I could do nothing to stop this one pass, on one side. I felt like a white belt and was in awe. It made me realise how little I actually knew about that technique. I then thought to myself, "Why do I need 60 new guard passes if I can be unstoppable with one guard pass?"
What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome in your Jiu-Jitsu training? What are some of the common obstacles that you help students overcome?
	I think the main thing I have helped my students overcome is the confusion that coincides with learning BJJ. I bring order to all the chaos. I give them a clear path on how to get their skills from one point to another. I am 30 years old now, which really isn't that old. However, I think the biggest obstacle -for me- is staying healthy and injury free. I sometimes get these injuries, pains, and strains that I never remember having when I was 18 years old. I think this is a bigger obstacle for me than the average student training BJJ because my job is very physical and my livelihood depends on my ability to stay healthy.
When did you take an interest in teaching?
	I started teaching when I was blue belt. I loved doing martial arts and also enjoyed sharing that interest with other people. So I guess teaching was a natural thing I wanted to do. I wasn't a very good teacher when I started - I even remember the first time I ever taught a private lesson. I was teaching a guard pass and was teaching things all out of order because I forgot to mention certain steps and details. My teaching ability as come a long way since then.
At what point did you begin creating your own system of techniques?
	When I refer to my system, I am not referring to creating unique techniques myself. I am referring more to "style". It wasn't until after I was a black belt that I truly figured out my own style. In my opinion, true personal style does not occur until a much higher level. Ask any black belt and they will tell you that the game they have now is not the same game they had when they were blue belts. At the higher levels, you have enough experience and knowledge to impose your game on people of all levels without needing to change your game. That is true personal style. So I guess the question is what the difference is between a system and personal style.
So, what is the difference?
	Every black belt has a personal style when they roll. However, when you look at the students of most black belts, they do not look exactly like their instructor when they roll. I now have a system, where I teach and where my students have the ability to duplicate my style. For example, my guard passing "system" consists of 4 main types of passes. Each main type of pass has about 5 minor variations. This is most of what I teach when it comes to guard passing. I don't teach anything I don't use most of the time. No matter what kind of guard work my opponent attempts, I can always find a way to get to one of my 4 main passes. All these passes have the ability to flow and interconnect with each other based on the type of resistance I am getting. This is my system of guard passing. I do these guard passes 99% of the time on everyone from white belts to black belts. If you look at the individual techniques, it is nothing revolutionary. What is unique is how I put it all together.
You've practiced other styles before, but how is BJJ unique?
	Actually, I don't think BJJ is unique. Of course there is a huge difference between BJJ and some traditional martial arts where you do nothing but kata. However, if you look at the underlying principles of BJJ and any other effective, functional martial arts (boxing, kick-boxing, judo) from a sport science perspective, it is all the same.
Some groups seem to emphasise the importance of competition. Do you feel there is too much of an emphasis on competition within the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community?
	Go to every BJJ school in the U.S. and look at the total number of students enrolled at each school. You will probably find, on average, that over 90% don't compete on a consistent basis. So that means that most people do BJJ for reasons other than competition. The small percentage of people who do compete are very vocal about the importance of it. I think the bottom line is competition is as important as you want it to be for you.
Joe Moreira is your instructor. Tell us a little about your relationship with him. How has he influenced your training?
	As far as my relationship with Joe Moreira, he is very jealous of me because I am so much better looking than he is. Just kidding! Joe is great because he will teach you anything you ask. He never holds back. Many instructors hold back information for financial reasons or they don't want you to be able to beat them. I've experienced a lot of that in the past with other instructors and I hate it. I also really like the fact that he is very laid back. He is not into the "master" mentality. I can joke around with him, curse at him as he is kicking my butt, and he does not care about the stupid issues that plague BJJ politics. Joe has had different influences on my training at different stages of my game. In my early years, he really influenced me in my understanding of flow and how to combine techniques. In my later years, I was really influenced by his concept of crushing pressure and having a tight game. Now, he has a big influence in my understanding and pursuit of mastering the basics.
What sort of goals have you set for yourself in BJJ over the next 10 years? What else do you hope to accomplish with Jiu-Jitsu in the coming years?
	I am hoping to semi-retire from teaching BJJ in the future. I will still make instructional videos and have my association. But I am planning on retiring from teaching regular weekly classes. Actually, I have now stopped accepting any new local students. I would like to get back to focusing on my own training before I get too old. I really miss what it was like when I first started, back when my main focus was doing BJJ for myself. In addition, I have 1 year old son and another on the way and I would like to focus a lot on their training when they get older. My goal is to have them at black belt level by the time they are 18 years old.

All Interviews