Why Should You Join Corvus?

A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO TRAINING

1. Organization of Information

The Problem: BJJ instruction is traditionally very inefficient as techniques are often presented randomly to the students. In its worst forms, students may learn one technique e.g. armbar from side control followed by one or more techniques that are unrelated to the previous technique shown. A more modern approach will at least make sure that all techniques of the training session relate to each other in one way or the other.  

We are interested in optimizing the process of learning and progressing in BJJ by addressing two aspects: organization (macroscopic level) and content selection (microscopic level).  On a macroscopic level, if we organize material, we look at the following:

• Rank different aspects of the BJJ game by importance
• Capture the entire scope of BJJ to some degree
• Include Repetition on several levels (short term and long-term repetition)
• Realize that people will not attend every class
• Account for new people joining the program at various stages
• Identify a time frame for teaching one full cycle of the curriculum
• Look at potential flow from one subject to another

Our current schedule and curriculum reflect these goals.  Classes on our Schedule are labeled with the topic for that day. Topics are covered in 4-week blocks and include various amounts of repetition.

• A 15-month cycle to cover every aspect (side body escape, armbars, stand up etc.) of the BJJ game to some degree. The goal is to at least cover the fundamental techniques (we don’t mean beginner techniques; we mean the ones that you will use throughout your BJJ journey regardless of skill level).
• Micro Repetition for some skills. For example, Tuesday and Thursday classes will always include the same general topic (e.g. side body escape or mount attacks). Wednesdays and Saturdays sometimes include the same topic.
• Micro/Macro repetition: for every day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday) the topic will be covered in 4-week blocks. This means that if the topic at the start of a cycle is “Front Headlock Defenses” for the Monday class then we will cover “Front Headlock Defenses” for the next 4 Mondays before we move onto the next topic.
• Macro repetition: We identified 7 CORE skills that we will focus on. These are: Side Body Escapes, Mount Escapes, Back Escapes, Half Guard, Half Guard Passing, Back Attacks, and Leg locks. We divide the year into trimesters. All 7 of these CORE skills will be taught in every trimester.

2. Curriculum

Problem 1: While many schools have a “curriculum,” it usually refers to a random selection of techniques where it is believed a student should know e.g. at least 2 specific sweeps from guard or demonstrate how to perform an armbar etc. This type of “curriculum” may not provide a student with the foundational requirements to build a modern BJJ game. Instead, it acts as a type of gateway that a student must pass through so that they can then try to develop their own game without any organized guidance.

Problem 2: Imagine one could only learn a set number of techniques in their BJJ journey, for example, 50 different techniques. How picky would you be in choosing what techniques you want to learn? Most people would probably want to focus on the best, most efficient techniques that have a high degree of success and can be applied in many different situations. How would one know which techniques these are though? While it appears that we do not have such an artificial limitation, the truth is, we actually do. Whatever our schedule is, time will limit us in how many techniques we can actually learn. There will always be an opportunity cost where if we spend time learning one specific technique, we do not have the time to learn a different one. As such, if we want to maximize our return of investment, in this case time on the mats, we ought to be very careful on what we focus on.

We are focusing on modern techniques/strategies/tactics coming out of the New Wave camp surrounding John Danaher and Gordon Ryan.  Here are the reasons:

• John focuses on techniques that work at the highest level and as such these techniques are mechanically optimized
• John is not just an innovator but he is obsessed with studying the modern game and he identifies what works at the highest level.
• There are common principles, common language, problem solving skills as we go from one area of BJJ to the next.
• There is a hierarchy built in where not only techniques are identified but also body movements required to perform the techniques which will be particularly important for beginners
• The system gives an overview of what we are actually trying to accomplish in any position and the techniques become pieces of a puzzle where you can clearly see what the actual puzzle is. Instead of trying to figure out the big picture or even realizing that there is a big picture, we can focus on mastering the individual pieces knowing where they belong within the big picture.

We believe this approach allows us to design a complete curriculum that covers all aspects of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In addition, we rely on techniques, tactics, and strategies that we know are functional and optimized for any level of competition.

3. Emphasis on Learning: Tools

Each time we perform a technique during sparring in BJJ, we will encounter some form of resistance. Techniques are not used in isolation but are directly connected to the varying types of resistances we see. We teach techniques with these resistances in mind. Sometimes the resistances are foolish and lead to more obvious problems for an opponent. Other times, resistances are intelligent and we need to overcome these with mechanical perfection (which is often underutilized) or alternatives, ideally in the form of dilemmas. As such, small battles may form during the execution of any techniques. We believe that being able to identify what these battles are is key to BJJ progression. On the mat we try to accomplish this via the following:

Sparring: We will place a heavy emphasis on sparring during class to make sure that students get the opportunity to implement what they learned. Sparring may be about figuring out how to steer the battle towards the positions and techniques that you are proficient with.

Positional Drilling: While not a new concept, positional drilling is important to develop skills within a certain system (Mount, Closed Guard, Back Position etc.). We use positional drilling to practice control and then implement the techniques we learned within this controlled system.

Micro Drilling: This is a more modern approach to drilling. Here, we do a deep dive into each separate techniques while still sparring with resistance. It is a form of positional sparring with additional constraints and smaller goals that focus on skill development related to individual techniques. Over time, the constraints may be reduced while the previous goal remains in order to allow students to implement the techniques into their game. It is here where one learns about the small battles that happen when executing techniques.

Repetition: We build into our schedule several chances for repetition. The goal is to include opportunities for repetition while still allowing students to experience the full scope of BJJ within a reasonable amount of time.

Respecting the Clock: People are busy and we will try our best to respect the time allotted for each class. We expect students to get a physical and mentally challenging workout without wasting much time.

4. Value

Our monthly membership option comes in at $85 and is one of the most affordable BJJ programs in the Salt Lake area. We chose to put the monetary advantage last in this list because the true value of our program lies within our organization and the curriculum. The low cost is simply the icing on the cake. We are providing the most organized, efficient, and technical instruction for an affordable price. If that is not enough, if you have any interest in Muay Thai, Heavy Bag Fitness, or Krav Maga, you have access to the team around Zach Evans at Atlas Combat Sports at a moderate additional cost. Zach is a great coach and has build a fantastic program with Atlas Combat Sports.