Judo champion who trained with Danaher defends drilling and says "there isn't a secret"
Commonwealth Games gold medalist Owen Livesey disagrees with those who preach giving up technique repetition and describes the routine in John Danaher's group.
Owen Livesey, a judo gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games, has weighed in on the drilling debate, the practice of repeating techniques with a partner who does not resist. In an interview picked up this weekend by specialist websites, he said he does not agree with those who argue that jiu-jitsu practitioners should stop drilling.
For Livesey, the idea of giving up repetition is an attempt to sell as new something everyone already knows. "There isn't a secret," he summed up.
What he saw in judo and jiu-jitsu
Livesey trained judo full time for eight years before moving into jiu-jitsu and grappling. According to him, the Olympic judo medalists he has met drill every day, and the same goes for the top jiu-jitsu competitors he has crossed paths with.
The judoka also said he spent two weeks training at the Renzo Gracie Academy with John Danaher's group, alongside names such as Gordon Ryan and Giancarlo Bodoni. There, the routine included a sequence of six to eight technique drills before sparring.
Hard, but safe training
According to Livesey, the time spent on repetition did not make training any softer. He described the team's sparring as hard but very safe: "When they spar, it's hard, but it's so safe."
Today, however, Livesey himself admits he no longer drills, for lack of time. His solution has been to go into sparring with set goals, such as working a specific submission, pass or defense. According to him, that is the closest he comes to drilling these days.