Hidden Indicators of Improvement in BJJ

About the author: Sam Joseph is a second-degree black belt, head instructor and gym owner.

As a Brazilian jiu jitsu coach, the subject my students ask me about more than any other is improvement. People want to know how to train in order to improve, how to improve faster, why they don't feel like they're improving, and on it goes. BJJ is fun, but most of us want to see real progress in our games alongside the enjoyment — it's a time-consuming, demanding sport, after all. The challenge is that BJJ is a marathon, not a sprint. Progress takes time, and it often isn't as obvious as it is in other sports or pursuits. With that in mind, here are some things we can watch for that quietly signal our BJJ is, in fact, getting better.

Indicator #1: Self-correction in your jiu-jitsu

One of the most overlooked signs of improvement is when we start fixing our own mistakes on the mat. The funny thing about this is that as soon as it starts happening, we tend to focus on the mistakes themselves and forget that recognising and eliminating them is the very thing that shows we're progressing. Self-correction in BJJ implies a certain amount of acquired technical knowledge AND a willingness to evaluate ourselves honestly.

My students can attest that my favourite saying is, "Abs are the second most important muscles in BJJ." The most important muscle is the brain — and as we get better at using our brains on the mat, we see exponential growth in our games. BJJ is a combat sport, and as we drill and spar, we're constantly measuring the result on our partner. As our technical knowledge grows we produce better initial results, but the real leap forward is when we can make the right correction either during or after the exchange — on our own. Whether you're drilling, doing positional rounds or live rolling, gauging the result of what you just did and adjusting accordingly is always a significant sign of improvement.

Indicator #2: Rolling with less advanced students!

Justin Parsons, head instructor at Helix BJJ, has visited my gym in Atlanta (Buckhead Jiu Jitsu) over the years. Before we both opened our own academies, we trained and taught together at Creighton MMA, so I've watched his BJJ from a lot of different angles. One of the best things about Justin's jiu jitsu is his ability to genuinely train with less advanced students. By "less advanced" I mean partners who are less technical, less athletic, smaller, or have some other distinct disadvantage relative to him. Over the years I've kept being impressed by how he can spar with these training partners in a way that is "competitive" while protecting both himself and them. I've watched him go from rolling with uber-athletic, big guys straight into rounds with petite new women — and afterwards everyone involved was happy, feeling good and dripping with sweat.

That ability speaks both to his willingness AND to his very advanced jiu jitsu. Most of the time, we measure ourselves by how many people we can tap or "beat" on the mat. When we stop adding to that list, we assume we're not improving. The problem is that we are not training in a vacuum — everyone else is training and growing too. When we make "victory" our only measure of success, we hand the result over to variables outside our control. Opening your eyes to the advancement that being able to roll well with less experienced training partners represents expands what counts as real growth — and lets you take advantage of your full pool of partners instead of just a small slice of it.

Indicator #3: Coach turns it up!

"Who is the toughest person you have ever rolled with?" If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked this question, I'd be a very rich man. The interesting thing is how the answer connects to our current subject — indicators of improvement.

Coming up at the Yamasaki Academy, Francisco Neto was one of my main instructors, alongside Mario and Fernando Yamasaki. I spent a lot of time in his classes and doing privates with him on the weekends as a blue and purple belt. My results in tournaments and in sparring with everyone else steadily improved, but when Neto and I rolled, the result was always the same: he smashed me. It didn't matter what tournament I had just won or who I could now tap, Neto would handle me with what felt like the same ruthless efficiency.

One day, after another beat-down, I was fairly frustrated and asked him why I didn't seem to be making any progress against him. Neto said that not only was I doing well, but in his opinion I had always done well when we sparred. That surprised me — and made me look at our engagements in a different light. I started seeing the fact that he had to shut my game down as a compliment and as respect for my BJJ, rather than as a reflection of some lack of quality on my part.

Now, as an instructor, I've come full circle. Recently I found myself consoling one of my students after he asked why it was so easy for me to "shut down" his game. I told him that not only was it not easy — the fact that I had to shut his game down speaks to how far his jiu jitsu has come. Learning to recognise that a "step-back" in outcome can actually be about an increased sense of urgency or a higher level of respect from our instructors and senior training partners opens our eyes to genuine advancement in our BJJ.

Indicator #4: We plateau!

We don't normally associate improvement with "plateauing." A plateau is usually a stretch of frustration, poor results, and even what feels like regression. But if you keep training consistently, what a plateau can ALSO mean is imminent progression. Think about how muscles actually grow. We break them down when we lift, and the gains happen when we rest — the growth literally happens while we sleep, not while we are under the bar. It's a bit of an over-simplification, but it makes a valuable point for us on the mat. Sometimes when we think we aren't growing, we're actually going through an important phase of the development process. It brings to mind a very popular saying: "We often learn more from defeat than from victory." The challenge is not to read a plateau as a signal to quit or to let it drag us down emotionally. We need to have faith that, even though we can't see them in real time, positive things are happening — or about to happen — because of the work we are putting in. When we hold that line, plateaus stop being roadblocks and become precursors of progression.

Conclusion

In Brazilian jiu jitsu we are often our own toughest critics. There's nothing wrong with pushing ourselves, but we have to balance that with being able to recognise real advancement when it shows up. Being aware of these hidden indicators of improvement helps us hold a healthy mindset by surfacing and acknowledging the forward steps we're already taking. Recognition and affirmation of progress is the key to longevity in BJJ — and to long-term enjoyment of the sport and the lifestyle. See you on the mat!

Originally published in Jiu Jitsu Style by Sam Joseph. Refreshed for 2026.