There’s a story about an old dude (Aristotle) who remembered things by imagining that they were all located in some imaginary place. He would think about this place, and then recall things that he had imagined he placed there in different areas. This would help him when he was making speeches and had a lot of content to get through. For more about this memory technique, check this entry on wikipedia out.

I was talking to Elliot the other day and he suggested that a good way to learn techniques, and identify areas you’re weak in, is to write down all the positions and then try to think of a small number of techniques, say 2, that work for you from each position. (I have been working on this over the past few days.)

Since jiu jitsu is so much about strategy and having a game plan, I am pretty psyched to finish my list, commit it to memory and then refer to it, while rolling. “Hmm, I am in my opponents De La Riva Guard. I am going to go to the De La Riva Room in my mind and see what techniques I find there. Oh I see the lean-in to knee on belly pass. Sweet I’ll try that and then go to the Knee On Belly Room.”