Forward: DSTRYR/SG has been going strong for over 2 years now and we're only getting better. A lot of our newer readership missed out on some great exclusive stuff from the "early days." We intend to change that by giving you some flashbacks to some of our best material. Here's a post my teammate and friend, Kenny Bond (3rd degree black belt, Pan American Champ, and head coach at Simi Valley BJJ) wrote back in the day. It's spot on and still makes me think about my own approach to my BJJ game.

But first, we must develop our strengths, our style, our game. In my humble opinion, your first months (and years) of jiu jitsu should be spent learning the basic movements and concepts of BJJ. Your body should start to adapt to BJJ and once awkward movements will flow from your body without much thought. I call it “Jiu Jitsu Muscle Memory.” Your body will magically flow from side control to mount to the back to guard etc. automatically. Once a solid foundation of basics is developed, I encourage my students to begin developing their personal game. What is a personal BJJ game? It’s a specific move or series of moves that you have refined to a level where you can pull off on almost every opponent, even if they know what's coming.

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