Six Ways to Guarantee Your BJJ Students Are Learning
You've reached that stage in your BJJ journey where your instructor feels you're ready to start teaching a class or two. Most of you will be a little anxious about it, wondering whether you have…
By Brendan Hufford
You've reached that stage in your BJJ journey where your instructor feels you're ready to start teaching a class or two. Most of you will be a little anxious about it, wondering whether you have what it takes to deliver when you're the one at the front of the room. Your instinct as a new teacher might be to just replicate what you already know, or to hope inspiration strikes the moment you step up.
If you're serious about delivering a great Jiu Jitsu session — and walking away at the end feeling good about it and keen to do more — then you need to prepare for success. Here's how.
How many times have you seen this in a Brazilian jiu jitsu class? The instructor teaches a technique three to five times while the students sit silently. The instructor asks if anybody has questions and is met with silence. The instructor maybe shows the technique one more time.
The students are sent off to drill. No more than a minute passes before the instructor calls everyone back, telling them they're all doing it wrong. The instructor shows the technique another couple of times, the students still ask no questions, and off they go to drill again. Depending on the academy, somewhere between 20 and 50 percent of class time gets wasted this way.
Why? Because the instructor has no idea whether the students have actually understood what was taught.
In classroom teaching, we're trained to check for comprehension — both formally and informally. There are six great ways to see whether your students understand what you've shown them: orally, physically, during drilling, during positional work, during sparring, and at the end of class. By combining these checks, instructors can make sure their students are genuinely learning what they're teaching.
1. ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECKS
While demonstrating a technique, the BJJ instructor should show it twice. On the third run-through, give the first step and then ask the class, "What should I do next? Why should I do that?" Oral comprehension checks like this are a quick, informal way to gauge whether students understand what's being taught. Maybe the class is full of beginners and you need to show the technique four or five times before you check. Conversely, the class might be advanced enough that you can skip the check entirely. Either way, I'd still recommend using this in every single class.
2. PHYSICAL COMPREHENSION CHECKS
After demonstrating the technique, running your oral checks, and giving students time to drill, you can ask the class, "Who understands the technique?" A student then demonstrates it with a partner in front of everyone, and the instructor and class can constructively critique the work.
There are two benefits here. First, it lets the whole class learn together while you give one student your truly undivided attention. Second, it gets students used to being nervous and performing in front of a group — and over time, that nervousness fades and they're better prepared for the "nerves" that show up at competition.
The first time I experienced a physical comprehension check was at a Caio Terra seminar. Needless to say, there are few things more nerve-wracking than being asked to demonstrate a technique Caio has just taught you in front of 60 other people. I failed horribly, but within five minutes I genuinely understood the technique — and every student who demonstrated after me did an excellent job, because they'd learned from my mistakes.
3. COMPREHENSION CHECKS DURING DRILLING
This is probably the check that 99 percent of BJJ instructors already know and use. It happens after you've shown the technique and you walk around to see how everyone's doing with it. Drilling is when you can teach far more individually, because it lets you work with students in small groups.
Don't get me wrong — just because it's the most common doesn't make it wrong. It's actually the perfect time to check comprehension. It just shouldn't be the only way you find out whether your students are learning.
4. COMPREHENSION CHECKS DURING POSITIONAL WORK
I believe positional work can range in intensity anywhere from 50 to 100 percent, and it's one of the best times to check for comprehension. If a student shows full understanding at zero resistance, have their partner increase the resistance gradually and see how well they can keep executing what they've learned.
I'd recommend every instructor use this, because it gives students a chance to actually attempt the techniques taught that day. If you've just taught armlocks from closed guard, close the class with multiple rounds starting in closed guard. That forces students to attempt and defend exactly what they learned. If they learned three half guard sweeps, start every round that day from half guard.
Watch which students are effectively using the techniques from class and coach the ones who are struggling. Do this and you'll drastically reduce your students' learning curve and increase the effectiveness of your instruction.
5. SPARRING OR JIU JITSU COMPETITION
Some of the best instructors I've ever trained under take sparring seriously — so seriously they'll step away from their own rounds to observe and assess their students.
The ultimate display of comprehension is when a student makes a technique part of their game and uses it in sparring and competition. If they can pull it off against an opponent of equal skill in the heat of a match, you know they've fully understood it. On the flip side, if a student can demonstrate a perfect mount escape in class but gets mounted in every competition and never escapes, you've got a much clearer picture of where their understanding really sits. These days you don't even have to be matside to see it — a lot of students film their rounds and competition matches on their phones, and watching that footage back with them is one of the most honest comprehension checks there is.
6. DRILL WHAT YOU REMEMBER
So your students are exhausted. They've just been through a 90-minute class with hard drilling and sparring. They're grateful the last round is over and ready to bow off the mat and go home. If you let them just walk off, you miss one of the most golden opportunities to find out whether they understood the day's lesson.
Have your students grab a partner and, with no instruction from you, perform 10 to 20 reps of each technique they learned that day. Stress that every rep must be perfect. In their depleted mental and physical state, you'll quickly see who has the highest level of conceptual understanding.
Don't stop students who are doing it wrong. Instead, make a mental note to pull them aside afterward and help them with whatever they were missing. This is, without a doubt, my favourite way to assess understanding — and to ingrain technical memory into my students' minds and muscles.
A CHECKLIST TO REALLY KNOW IF YOUR JIU JITSU STUDENTS ARE LEARNING
Have them orally walk you through techniques.
Have them demonstrate techniques in front of others.
Check them while drilling.
Have them do high-intensity drilling or positional sparring using the technique.
Critically observe sparring.
Have students end class by drilling what they remember from earlier.
Brendan Hufford has a Master's Degree in Educational Administration and is a Brazilian jiu jitsu purple belt under Miguel Torres / Andre Maneco. Originally published in Jiu Jitsu Style; refreshed for 2026.