A BJJ journal is a simple system for tracking what you’re working on, what’s happening in your training, and whether you’re actually improving.

It’s not a diary. Don’t try and scribble down everything you learned in class.

Instead, a useful journal is a structured set of prompts (or questions) that gives your training direction and makes your progress visible.

Most grapplers don’t use one. And most grapplers deal with the same three problems:

1. You forget what you learn. You drill a sweep in class, it clicks during drilling, and by next week you can’t remember the setup. Some grapplers call it “jiujitsu amnesia.” You retain maybe 20% of what you’re taught in any given class. Without writing things down in a structured way, techniques fade before you ever get a chance to develop them.

2. You train without a plan. You show up, do whatever the coach teaches that day, roll a few rounds, and go home. There’s no thread connecting Monday’s class to Wednesday’s class.

3. You can’t tell if you’re improving. Progress in BJJ feels slow or even nonexistent. You don’t feel yourself getting better. It just sort of “happens” over months and years. Without a record to look back on, you’re guessing. And that uncertainty is one of the main reasons grapplers lose motivation and quit.

A good BJJ journal solves all three of these problems.

It forces you to decide what to focus on before class, capture what happened after class, and review your progress over time. It turns scattered training into structured improvement.

The system I use and teach takes less than 5 minutes before and after each class. That’s it.

No lengthy essays. No complex spreadsheets. Three questions, a pen (or your phone’s notes app), and five minutes.

BJJ Journal: Table Of Contents

• How To Keep A BJJ Journal
• BJJ Journal Template (Free Download)
• What To Write In Your BJJ Journal Before Class
• What To Write In Your BJJ Journal After Class
• How To Review Your BJJ Journal Entries
• Common BJJ Journaling Mistakes
• BJJ Journal Apps vs Pen And Paper
• Frequently Asked Questions About BJJ Journaling
• Start Your BJJ Journal Today

How To Keep A BJJ Journal

The biggest mistake grapplers make with journaling is treating it like a training log.

They write down what happened in class — “learned kimura from closed guard, rolled 5 rounds” — and never look at it again.

That’s notetaking. Don’t bother with this.

An effective BJJ journal works on four levels:

• Yearly: Set your direction. Where do you want your game to be in 12 months? What positions do you want to develop? What are your biggest weaknesses? You write this once and revisit it quarterly. It gives everything else a purpose.
• Quarterly: Pick your focus areas. Based on your yearly goals and your instructor’s feedback, choose 2-3 specific areas to work on over the next three months. This is where you decide what instructionals to study, what positions to drill, and what to prioritize in rolling.
• Weekly: Choose one thing. At the start of each week, pick one specific technique to focus on. Not three. Not five. One. This is the hardest part for most grapplers. We want to work on everything. But focused repetition over a few weeks builds more than scattered attempts over a month.
• Daily: Three prompts, five minutes. Before class, write down what you’re going to work on.

Me working on my mounted armbar — an example of a specific technique you could work in class AND on your Grappling SMARTY. 

After class, answer three questions:

1. What worked?
2. What didn’t?
3. What should I focus on next class?

That’s it.

This four-level structure is what separates a BJJ journal from a training log.

The training log records what happened. The journal tells you what to do next.

BJJ Journal Template (Free Download)

This is the exact template I use and teach to my students at InFighting.

It started with a concept I learned from Gordon Ryan‘s instructional called The Sport Of Kings.

The big idea is that you improve fastest when you train with a single, clear focus instead of rolling aimlessly. 

I’ve simplified the approach into a journal system that any hobbyist training 2-4 times a week can use.

Here are some examples from my BJJ journal when I was blue belt working towards my purple belt.

Yearly Goals

Where do I want my game to be in 12 months? What do I want to learn? What improvements will I see?

You write this once per year and revisit it each quarter. Keep it broad — positions and concepts, not individual techniques.

Example: Over the next 12 months, I want improve my pin escapes, guard retention, and open guard. I want the upper belts to struggle to pin me or pass my guard.

Quarterly Focus

What does my instructor want me to work on? Where do I feel weakest? What instructionals will I study?

Every three months, narrow your yearly goals into 2-3 specific areas. Talk to your coach. They see your game from the outside and can spot gaps you can’t feel.

Example: Over the next 12 months, I want to develop a strong single leg X game and get better at sweeping from the position. By this time next year, I want to be hitting single leg X entries and sweeps consistently against upper belts.

Weekly Plan

What one area am I focusing on this week?

Pick one thing. Not three. One position, one technique, one concept. You’ll work on it in drilling, look for it in rolling, and track it in your daily entries.

Example: This week I’m focusing specifically on the kipping escape from bottom mount to get into single-leg X.

Daily Entry: Before Class

Specific training: “Today, I’m going to ___.”

Write one sentence before class. This is your intention for the session. It takes 30 seconds and completely changes how you train. Instead of showing up and seeing what happens, you walk onto the mats with a plan.

Example: Today I’m going to start in bottom mount, attempt the kipping escape, and get to single leg X as many times as possible in my rolls.

Daily Entry: After Class

What worked? What didn’t? Notes for next class.

Three prompts. Five minutes. This is where the real learning happens. Not during class, but in the reflection afterwards. Be specific.

Example:

• What worked: Hit the single leg X sweep on 1 blue belt and 3 white belts.
• What didn’t: Got into single leg X against a brown belt, but they passed my guard before I could sweep.
• Next class: Ask coach how to defend against the guard pass from single leg X. He mentioned keeping my hips high and “closing the circuit” — connecting my knee to my ankle to attack the top player’s balance. Need to drill that.

What To Write In Your BJJ Journal Before Class

This is the part most grapplers skip. And it’s the part that matters most.

Writing down your intention before class takes 30 seconds. But it completely changes how you train.

Instead of walking onto the mats and seeing what happens, you have a specific mission.

Your before-class entry should answer one question: “What am I going to work on today?”

Think one position. One technique. One entry. One sweep.

Good examples:

• “Today I’m going to enter single leg X from butterfly guard and attempt the sweep.”
• “Today I’m going to look for the arm drag from closed guard every round.”
• “Today I’m going to focus on getting the underhook from bottom half guard.”

Bad examples:

• “Today I’m going to train hard.”
• “Today I’m going to work on my game.”
• “Today I’m going to try a bunch of new stuff.”

See the difference?

The good examples give you something specific to look for during rolling. You’ll know within seconds whether you’re on track or not.

The bad examples are so vague that you can’t tell whether you succeeded or failed — which means it’s much harder to learn.

What To Write In Your BJJ Journal After Class

Most of what you experience during rolling disappears within a few hours. The details fade, the rounds blur together, and by next class it’s gone.

You’re answering the three prompts below. I’ve included examples from my own personal journal so you can see how I use it.

1. What worked?

Be specific. Don’t write “rolling went well.” Write exactly what happened in relation to your specific training goal.

• Good: “Hit the single leg X sweep twice against blue belts. Making sure to elevate my hips made the sweep much easier.”
• Bad: “Sweeps went well today.”

The more specific you are, the more useful this entry becomes when you review it later.

2. What didn’t work?

This is the most valuable prompt — and the one most grapplers want to skip. Nobody likes writing down their failures. But your failures tell you exactly what to work on next.

• Good: “Couldn’t finish the single leg X sweep against the brown belt. As soon as I began to elevate my hips to get into position, he stripped my feet off his hips and passed my guard.”
• Bad: “Got smashed.”

When you write down specifically how something failed, the fix usually becomes obvious.

In the example above, the next step is clear: ask your coach about what to do if the top player anticipates your single leg X position.

3. Notes for next class

This is the bridge between today’s session and your next one. It’s what makes the journal a system instead of a diary. You’re telling your future self what to focus on.

• “Ask coach about slowing down the passer from single leg X.”
• “Drill the entry 10 times before rolling next class.”
• “Transition from single leg X to DLR when I can’t elevate my hips.”

When you sit down before your next class and read this note, you already know what to do. No guessing. No “what should I work on today?” You just pick up where you left off. The whole thing takes five minutes.

How To Review Your BJJ Journal Entries

The daily entries alone will improve your training. Just having a plan before class and writing down what happened after is more than most grapplers ever do. You’ll notice a difference within the first 2 weeks.

But if you want to accelerate your progress even further, start reviewing your entries.

This is where the journal goes from useful to powerful because you start seeing patterns in your training that you’d never notice otherwise.

Here’s how I review my entries at three different levels:

Weekly Review (10 minutes)

At the end of each week, read back through your daily entries. You’re looking for patterns:

• Did you actually work on what you planned to work on?
• What technique kept failing? Is there a common reason?
• What’s working that you should keep building on?
• Are you ready to move on to something new, or do you need another week on the same focus?

This is where you set your focus for the next week. Most of the time, the answer is obvious once you read your entries back.

For example, if your single leg X sweep worked against white belts but failed against every purple belt, you’re not ready to move on. Figure out what the purple belts are doing differently.

Quarterly Review (30 minutes)

Every three months, read through your weekly reviews. You’re zooming out:

• Which focus areas actually improved?
• Which ones did you abandon or avoid?
• What does your instructor say about your progress?
• What should your focus areas be for the next quarter?

This is also when you decide what instructionals to study next. Don’t guess. Let your journal entries tell you where your gaps are.

If you kept getting passed from single leg X for three months, that’s a clear signal to work on that position.

The Pattern Recognition Effect

Something happens after a few weeks of consistent entries that you don’t expect. You start seeing connections you’d never notice otherwise.

The same escape fails in different positions for the same reason. A sweep you thought was your weakest move actually works more often than you realized. Your worst rounds happen on days when you trained without a plan.

These patterns are invisible without a written record. Your brain doesn’t track this stuff accurately. It remembers the emotional highlights, not the details.

Your BJJ journal gives you the actual data.

This is the part of the system I go deepest on in my BJJ Journal of Champions video course. Module 5 walks you through exactly how to review your entries, spot patterns, and use them to adjust your training.

Common BJJ Journaling Mistakes

If you’ve tried journaling before and quit, you’re not alone. Most grapplers who start a BJJ journal stop within a few weeks.

But the problem usually isn’t motivation. It’s your approach.

Here are the mistakes I see most often.

Mistake #1: Writing a training log instead of using a system.

This is the big one. You write down “drilled kimura from closed guard, rolled 5 rounds, got tapped twice” and call it a journal entry.

That’s a training log. It records what happened but doesn’t tell you what to do next.

A journal entry has a plan going in and a clear takeaway coming out.

Mistake #2: Writing too much.

If your journal entry takes 20 minutes, you won’t do it.

Your journaling should take less than 5 minutes.

One sentence before class. Three short prompts after class. That’s it.

You’re not writing an essay. You’re capturing just enough to connect today’s session to your next one.

Mistake #3: Trying to track everything.

You focus on half guard sweeps, guard retention, leg locks, and passing all in the same week.

That’s the same scattered approach you had without a journal.

Pick one thing per week. It feels too simple. Do it anyway.

Mistake #4: Never reviewing your entries.

Writing entries and never looking back at them is like filming yourself rolling and never watching the footage.

The entries are raw material. The review is where you extract the lessons.

Even a quick 10-minute weekly review makes the whole system more effective.

But even without review, the daily entries still improve your training by giving each session a purpose.

Mistake #5: Quitting because you missed a day.

You miss a class without writing an entry and think the system is broken.

It’s not. Skip a day, skip a week — just open the journal before your next class and write down what you’re going to work on.

The system resets every time you step on the mats. There’s no streak to protect.

BJJ Journal Apps vs Pen And Paper

There are dedicated BJJ journaling apps out there. I don’t recommend them.

Most are too rigid. They force you into their structure and format.

If the app doesn’t match how you actually train, you’ll fight the tool instead of using it. And the more friction there is, the faster you’ll quit.

My recommendation: keep it simple. Here are two options that I’ve tried and both work great:

Option 1: Pen and paper.

A cheap notebook in your gym bag. Nothing fancy. The physical act of writing helps with retention — your brain processes information differently when you write by hand versus typing. And there’s zero chance of getting distracted by notifications when you’re writing in a notebook.

The downside is you can’t search your entries easily. But for the daily and weekly entries, you don’t need to. You’re only ever looking back a week or two.

Option 2: Your phone’s notes app.

The notes app that’s already on your phone. No download, no subscription, no new tool to learn. Create one note per week or one note per session — whichever feels more natural.

The upside is you always have your phone at the gym, so there’s no “I forgot my notebook” excuse.

You can also search your entries if you want to look back at how you handled a specific position months ago.

Which one should you pick?

Whichever one you’ll actually use. The system matters more than the tool. A $2 notebook with consistent entries beats a $10/month app that you stop using after two weeks.

Personally, I find it easiest to use my Notes app. I do my journaling on the train to and from class.

My free journal template works for both. Print it out for your notebook or use it as a format guide in your notes app.

Frequently Asked Questions About BJJ Journaling

1. Do I need a BJJ journal as a white belt?

I’d highly recommend it. The earlier you start, the bigger the advantage. White belts are drowning in new information every class. A journal helps you focus on one thing at a time instead of trying to remember everything. You’ll build good training habits from day one while everyone else is scrambling.

2. How long should I spend on my BJJ journal?

Less than 5 minutes. One sentence before class, three short prompts after class. If it’s taking longer than that, you’re writing too much.

3. What if I train multiple times a day?

Write a separate daily entry for each session. Same format: one intention before, three prompts after. Your weekly focus stays the same across both sessions.

4. What if my coach teaches something different from my weekly focus?

Follow your coach during drilling. That’s respect and it’s good learning. But during live rolling, come back to your focus. Rolling is your specific training time. And you can absolutely choose to specifically train what your coach is teaching that day/week/month.

5. I’m a blue belt and I’ve tried journaling before. Will this be different?

Yes, because most journaling attempts fail due to a lack of structure, not a lack of discipline. If you were just writing down what happened in class with no system for choosing what to focus on or reviewing what you wrote, this approach will feel completely different.

6. Can I use this system if I don’t buy instructionals?

Absolutely. The system works with whatever you’re learning — class techniques, YouTube videos, constraints-led approach, concepts, or just positions you want to explore during rolling. Instructionals can accelerate your progress, but they’re not required.

7. What’s the difference between this free template and the BJJ Journal of Champions course?

The template gives you the structure: the prompts and the format. The course goes deeper into the thinking behind the system: how to pick the right focus area for your belt level, how to structure your training sessions, and how to review your entries to spot patterns and break through plateaus. The template gets you started. The course gives you the full system.

Start Your BJJ Journal Today

You don’t need a fancy app. You don’t need to spend 30 minutes writing after every class. You don’t need to be a certain belt level.

You need three prompts, five minutes, and one thing to focus on.

The grapplers who improve fastest aren’t the ones with the most mat time or the most instructionals.

They’re the ones who train with intention: who walk onto the mats knowing what they’re working on and walk off knowing what to do next.

That’s what this system gives you.

Download my free BJJ journal template and try it at your next class. One session is all it takes to feel the difference.

And if you want the full system — how to pick the right focus area for your belt level, how to structure your training, and how to review your entries to break through plateaus — check out my BJJ Journal of Champions video course.

---

Tsavo Neal

Tsavo is the founder of BJJ Equipment, author of BJJ For Beginners, creator of the BJJ Missions app, and a brown belt instructor at InFighting. He launched BJJ Equipment to help grapplers at every belt level train smarter, make faster progress, and find the best gear for their game.