I often hear students talk about the significance of training with different people to “mix it up.” They list reasons like; getting different looks or feels, breaking up a routine, or meeting up with friends. All great reasons to train with different people.

However, it’s important to remember the significance of consistently training with your teammates.

First is adaptation. Training with the same person forces adaptation*. Let’s say you have a killer transition to take the back. So good that people in the gym start talking about the unstoppable attack. No one can stop you, even your coach, a person twice your size, no body. Until one day someone stops you. And another person, and another, and another. (Here is where most people will think it’s time for train with different people. Just to mix it up.) WRONG. This is where it’s important to force adaptation, and figure out what’s stopping your “unstoppable move.”

Once you understand the problem, you can come up with a solution. The solution could be an alternative path to take the back, or it could be an alternative to attack for a submission. If accurate and effective, soon you’ll be know as the guy with an unstoppable submission. Until….. someone stops you, and the process continues. Maybe you go back to the initial unstoppable move of taking the back, maybe something else. This is the positive adaptation that can happen as a result of consistent training with your team.

Second is experimentation. A good phrase to keep in mind, “failure is expected and respected.” If a student of mine has a killer transition to take the back, I’m going to make myself vulnerable and expose myself to their best attacks. Yes, they will beat me but if I force myself to experiment from their best attacks, I will be able to adapt. This type of experimentation requires a sense of determination to learn instead of winning the round.

Experimentation requires you to redefine winning. Winning happens at a tournament not the practice room. (In jiujitsu where there are competitors and non competitors this is difficult for some to do. For many non competitors, winning happens in practice, but for those who compete winning happens at competitions. This reality can squeeze the common goal of a team.) Experimentation involves failure which means losing rounds in practice. This type of thoughtful failure is can only take place among a team that doesn’t judge their teammates failures but instead respect and expect them.

While on one hand it might appear that the same training partners lead to a plateau or become stagnant, remember the positive side of that experience. That is a time for adaptation and experimentation. In the end, make sure you are consistent in your practice. Without consistency you will always find yourself regressing back to the starting line.

*Adaptation won’t happen unless you force it. You need to think about what’s going on. Process the attack, counter attack, and come to a concluding counter to the counter attack.