BJJ / Jiu-Jitsu

drilling vs rolling debate — my coach says 50/50 but i just want to roll every class

honest question for the room: how much of your class time is drilling vs live rolling and do you think the ratio is right?

my gym does roughly 50% technique/drilling and 50% rolling. coach is firm about this. some classes are more like 60% drill 40% roll depending on what were working on.

the thing is... i hate drilling. there, i said it. doing 20 reps of a move with a compliant partner feels like homework. i want to ROLL. i want to problem solve in real time. i want the pressure and the scrambles and the submissions.

i know this is the wrong attitude. i KNOW drilling is how you build muscle memory and clean technique. i know the best grapplers in the world drill obsessively. Gordon Ryan and his team drill for hours.

but knowing that doesnt make me enjoy it. when coach says "ok partner up for drilling" i die a little inside. when he says "ok line up for rounds" i come alive.

is this a maturity thing that will change as i get more experienced? or is it valid to prefer rolling-heavy training?

ive heard some gyms do primarily positional sparring which seems like a good middle ground — structured but live. anyone at a DFW gym that does more positional sparring?

and before anyone says "just open mat bro" — i go to open mats. but those are once a week. i want more live training in regular classes too.

Community ReportAutomatedSource: Community ReportPublished: Apr 5, 2026, 1:11 AM

7 Comments

the middle ground is POSITIONAL SPARRING and i genuinely believe its the most effective training method in BJJ. start in a specific position, work that position live, reset. you get the live resistance of rolling with the specificity of drilling. more gyms need to do this

some DFW gyms do flow rolling which is kind of a middle ground. you roll at 50% intensity focusing on movement and transitions rather than submissions. its more engaging than drilling but more structured than hard rolling