In a revealing conversation on the Partizan Grappling Podcast, BJJ black belt and ADCC bronze medalist Lachlan Giles shared valuable insights into what separates elite grapplers from the rest. His perspectives offer a roadmap for aspiring athletes looking to accelerate their development in the sport.
When asked about what successful up-and-coming athletes have in common, Giles identified several key factors that contribute to rapid improvement:
“Pretty much everyone that I’ve seen is good studies,” Giles explained. He noted that serious competitors often arrive an hour before regular training sessions to work on specific positions.
He shared an example: “You look at Belal Etiabari… he’s probably spent 60 hours in the past three months just sitting there holding a foot, practicing different angles that you can apply pressure on.”
This kind of focused position work and “tinkering” with techniques appears consistently among those who improve quickly.
Rather than mindlessly drilling, Giles emphasizes troubleshooting and getting a feel for positions with feedback. The best grapplers constantly experiment with positions, making minor adjustments and testing how they work against resistance.
“This sort of troubleshooting, getting a feel for things… you are getting feedback,” Giles said, explaining that this approach yields results more consistently than other methods.
While many debate between drilling versus live training, Giles advocates for a balanced approach:
“If you can train it live, you’re gonna get more out of it,” he acknowledged. However, he added, “I think there is value in being taught… and in taking information in and learning that way.”
Giles doesn’t believe in putting yourself “in a box where it can only be one way.” He values both implicit learning through live training and explicit instruction when appropriate.
The best grapplers actively study tape of high-level competitors who excel in specific positions they want to improve.
“I study mostly if I’ve got a problem I’m having,” Giles explained. “I’m trying to work my North-South passing and it’s not happening. Who’s good at North-South?”
He approaches study strategically: “If you wanted to work your bare and bolo, you’d study Levi… If I wanted to work my K-guard, I would study Jozef …”
Giles offers sobering advice for young grapplers wanting to pursue jiu-jitsu full-time:
“As a career, it’s hard to make it,” he cautions. “If you’re going as an athlete, you’ve got what, five years at the top? And you’ve got to make enough money that when no one cares about your jiu-jitsu competition anymore, what have you got to fall back on?”
His recommendation for aspiring professionals: “If you’re really into it, think about how can I one day open my own gym? Therefore you want to be picking up some teaching skills, business skills, all that sort of stuff.”
For those who want to train seriously while working, Giles suggests finding jobs “that’s not highly intensive on the body, like something you can sit down” so it doesn’t interfere with training.
As a gym owner, Giles has cultivated success by avoiding politics and maintaining a positive culture:
“I’ve always tried to just stay out of politics,” he explains. “I’ve never told anyone that they have to represent Absolute to compete or train.”
This approach has helped him build one of Australia’s premier academies while avoiding the conflicts that often plague other gyms.
Perhaps most instructive is Giles‘ approach to setbacks. Rather than being crushed by losses, he views them as opportunities to identify weaknesses:
“I lost to Lepri and Gordon in 2019… I was not happy with my guard retention,” he recalls. This prompted him to study and improve that aspect of his game. “Six months to a year later, I was twice as good at guard retention.”
His long-term perspective helps him process defeats constructively: “If you just look at longer-term improvement, then a loss is—you don’t feel too bad. You’re like, ‘Okay, I lost, but I’m going to be better in a year.'”
