The Self Coached Grappler
How To Train Without A Guide
Choke Point Chronicles is where strategy meets storytelling. Each post explores the tactics, psychology, and culture of Jiu-Jitsu, written for students and coaches who want to train with intention and think deeper about the art.
Tapped In is a short-form audio series built for grapplers chasing mastery, not medals. Weekly insights blending mindset, structure, and real-talk in just 15-20 minutes.
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I have been training for 14 years now and the majority of the last five years or so have been self-coached. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t have an instructor for that time period, it meant that I was the one driving my own training.
The Audio Companion
The Silent Struggle of The Uncoached
Being uncoached is one of the most difficult aspects to work through. You’re required to keep yourself motivated, while being self aware enough to address whole in your game. It’s not an easy road and it demands a lot of you as a student. I’ve had friends who have struggled to keep themselves honest.
When you’re training without some kind of guard rails, you can end up wasting time and picking up bad habits.
You’re trying, but spinning in circles.
Coaching is a privilege—not everyone has access to consistent mentorship.
Modern gyms aren’t always structured to develop individuals.
Why Self-Coaching is a Skill
Coaching is difficult, coaching yourself is whole other skillset. Not everyone can do it and many will fail doing so. As someone who’s had to do it, I’ve embraced a honest self assessment. I understand where my strengths are and where I’m weakest and will try my best to spend time on those elements.
The goal should be to frame your training by creating deficits for yourself, especially if you’re the highest ranking person in the room.
Just because you’re the highest ranking person in the room does not mean that you need to win every round. You should be framing the training room focused on learning and not winning.
Something that I started doing the last few years was training with other Black Belts outside of my home gym. It’s been an amazing addition to my game. I’m currently training with several Black Belts who have wildly different games than mine who graciously allow me to pick their brains.
It feels like a collective of sorts, figuring things out like little mad scientists.
The Self-Coaching Framework
Set a Weekly Theme - What guard or positions do you want to focus on and why?
Track Your Focus Each Roll - What went well, where did you get stuck, did you muscle or was it smooth?
Review and Reflect - Your reviews of rolling should be less about emotion and more fact based.
Your Mat is a Lab—Not a Scoreboard
Remove ego from your rolls.
Failure is feedback. Get curious, not judgmental.
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Last Thoughts
As the self coached grappler, the responsibility is on you to keep your training honest and enjoyable. Not every round needs to be goal oriented or picked apart. Spread free play in in order to keep things light and fun. At the end of the day, if you’re not enjoying yourself, none of this is going to work.
Thank you for reading.
David Figueroa-Martinez
Founder, DFM Coaching
Coach | Writer | Grappler
DFM Coaching is dedicated to helping you overcome mental hurdles and achieve your full potential in BJJ. Whether through in-person instruction, seminars, private lessons, remote coaching, or video analysis, I provide personalized support tailored to your needs. Keep pushing forward, and let’s grow together!