One of the first questions I’m often asked by beginners and new starters is if I teach private lessons – which I do. Everyone is looking for a fast track to success whilst at the same time wanting to ensure that the techniques they’re practicing are performed correctly etc; all admirable goals and desires. Many instructors will play on this and suggest that a private lesson with them is worth 10 regular public classes. Something which is nothing more than a sales pitch.

Don’t get me wrong, private lessons have their place e.g. if people can’t make regular class times, or want to work on specific areas that we don’t regularly cover in class, such as handcuffing or control and restraint techniques/procedures etc. However what they don’t do is improve performance in the same way that regular classes do.

The problem with private classes is that they don’t give a student the opportunity to train with a variety of people. In the UK I took private BJJ classes for around 3 years before my schedule allowed me to train in a regular public class. In those 3 years I’d got very good at rolling with my instructor; I knew his game perfectly and although not technically as good I could give him a good run for his money (or at least I thought I could) as there were few things he could surprise me with. When I started to train with different people I found that my game wasn’t working nearly as effectively as I thought it should. It took me another 18 months to broaden out and develop a “style” that had universal effectiveness.

The fact that we have a large span of body types and athletic types in class is only to everyone’s advantage e.g. we have people who are fast and have reach, physically strong and large students, small and powerful students etc. Each one of these groups brings their own skills and “style” to the mats. What works well against one group may have to be adapted and modified (or even thrown out) when working with somebody with a different level of athleticism, physique and body type.

We all have people we enjoy working with, people that we naturally gravitate to when it’s time to partner up. I don’t discourage this but I would encourage you to look at whose on the mats and who may be able to present you with a new problem to solve. Reality based self-defense involves adapting to the situation. It isn’t a sport where you’re placed in a weight category and may have prior knowledge of who you’re fighting. On the street you must learn to solve the problem you are facing as it happens, if you haven’t trained with a variety of people on the mats you may find your game-plan is ineffective and you don’t know how to change it.

Next time you hear “Change Partners”  look for a new and different problem to solve.