The best way to be able to break an opponent down and pin him when you need to in a real situation is to drill on it so much that it becomes instinctive behavior. You shouldn’t have to “think through” what you’re doing. By the time you’ve thought it through, your opponent has escaped or reversed the situation, and your opportunity to pin him has been lost.

Before you can drill on moves, every athlete needs good coaching. There are a lot of good coaches teaching good skills, so make it a point to seek one out and learn from him. A vital key to your development as an athlete is a good coach. Your grit and determination will take you a long way, but a good coach will make that journey a lot easier. While you most likely will have one person who you will recognize as your main coach, there will be a lot of people along the way that you can, and will, learn from. This photo shows the author, Steve Scott, coaching his athletes at a typical workout.

Mat Uchikomi (Fitting Practice or Repetition Practice)

Training on a consistent basis with discipline and forethought is what separates a champion from a tough guy who likes to roll around with his buddies. Drill training is essential for learning skills and making them work for you. Spend a large amount of time every practice in drilling on your moves in addition to going live or randori.

A great way to practice breakdowns and pins is to do what are called “uchikomi.” Uchikomi is repetition training. Doing the move over and over again with different levels of resistance until you can do it in your sleep.

When drill-training on breakdowns and pins (or any skill for that matter), the primary rule is: “Correct practice develops a correct skill.” If you don’t practice the moves correctly, then you won’t be able to actually perform the move when you need to. You can work really hard and do hundreds of repetitions of any technique, but if you don’t practice the mechanically correct form of that technique, it will simply reinforce a bad technique. Also, don’t simply go through the motions or do the drills to get it over with. Train with a purpose, even if it’s simply for the joy of learning (and doing) a move with extreme skill.

Remember, when you practice, it’s practice. That may seem like a dumb thing to say, but working out on the mat isn’t a match. There is plenty of time for randori or free grappling later in the workout, but make sure you spend a good amount of time working on your skills and drill training. People who don’t understand how to train efficiently often think the only way to work out is to go full-blast in free grappling during every practice. Doing this type of training leads to a quick burnout, injuries and getting (and staying) stuck in a rut from a technical perspective. If you want to improve your skill, fitness level and fighting spirit, follow a disciplined regimen of training that includes drill training. I’ve followed a simple formula for workouts for many years with great success. A typical training session is divided into three main parts. They are:

1. Warm-ups and drill training: This is the time whey the group does various exercises, games and calisthenics to warm the body up, then some functional stretching. This is followed by the coach running the group through specific drills to reinforce skills, fitness and tactics as well as develop moves instinctively.

2. Skill training: This is the part of the workout when the coach teaches new skills or works on previously learned moves. The group practices the skills the coach wants them to and may even do some drills to reinforce the move just learned.

3. Randori (Free Grappling): The group now has time to “go live” and work out in practice grappling. This is practice time, not a tournament. In training, you will take falls, get tapped out or pinned and you will do the same to your partners. They’re partners, not opponents.

If you can work out on a consistent basis with good training partners and with a coach that not only encourages you, but also can teach you, then you’re in a good place. Appreciate what you have and make the most of it. If you’re missing any part of the above, try to make improvements in your training situation. The bottom line is that if you want to perform to the best of your ability, you not only have to train hard, but you also have to train smart.