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Archive for July, 2012

Blue Belt Week 32, July 26, 2012

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , on July 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I am realizing, from watching fundamental videos,  that I’m making small mistakes in some of my fundamental techniques.   I have a plan to change all of that as I start getting more serious in preparation for the Helio Gracie Tournament in October.  My goal is getting to the second round.

I recommend all Gracie Jiu Jitsu student to see the movie, CHOKE.  It is not on Netflix .  Here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjvzJO-6ESc  Wow. Very inspirational for anyone that follows Gracie Jiu Jitsu.   A true, flesh, and blood champion, is Rickson Gracie.  I plan to watch it a few more times.

I had thought Kimura, the all time Judo champion, had never lost a match.  WRONG!  Rikidozan verses Masahiko Kimura.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtwqmU2eV6M  As I wrote in the first few weeks of the start of this blog, how judo practitioners are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to a real street fight.   I was going around thinking Mr. Kimura was invincible.  He never lost a fight.   As per the YouTube match between Japanese wrestler, Rikidazon, Kimura was clearly knocked out in a fist fight.   It was a humiliating loss.   Why didn’t Kimura clinch?  Close the distance?  Get out of the ring??

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Blue Belt Week 31, July 20, 2012

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on July 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

What would you do if you were violently grabbed from behind in a bear hug over your arms??? The answer is a throw.   Note,  I had this lesson a few times and today the fundamental lesson finally sunk into my thick skull.  Also, I was back working out with the heavy weights, someone that out weighs me by more than 50 lbs. My partner was Alex, a Romanian Black Jack dealer at the Hard Rock Casino.

Like a guy with a grudge, bam!, into my back, he’s got me in a Grizzle bear hug, my arms were locked down, and I felt that I may be body slammed if I don’t act quickly.  Just like I was taught, I quickly base out. I drop down and curled my arms.  My shoulders wobbled a little bit as he thrashed me side to side.  I shrugged my shoulders up, it gives the space I need, I  step to one side, all in seconds, I then slip my front left leg behind his back knees. From my semi crouched position, I stood up quickly while grabbing his pant legs at his knees while dumping him over my shoulder.  I launched him, off over my back shoulder with velocity, right into the mat.  Actually, I stopped while I had him in the air.

Of course, nobody was injured.   We didn’t actually execute the throw.  This was a typical fundamental’s class.

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Blue Belt Week 30, July 13, 2012 Qatar

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on July 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

It has been an interesting week. On Monday, a sports Gracie Jiu Jitsu team from Qatar, practiced with us. The team was in Miami on their way to Orlando for an international tournament. I worked out with a guy named Abdul. He was strong, tall, and had some skills. He said they were exhausted because it took 27 hours to get from Qatar to Miami. Plane delays.  The team was trying to adjust to the time change and practice a bit before the big match in Orlando this weekend.  Abdul said that he was hoping to visit Milwaukee after the tournament because one of his parents was from there and he still has family living in Wisconsin, ironically, so were mine parents.  It is a small world.  After training I wished him and his team good luck.

A few days earlier, I was channel surfing and stopped on a TV channel called Link TV, www.linktv.org.  It was a documentary on Qatar. It is the wealthiest nation in the Middle East. It has a population of 250,000. Qatar is friends to everyone.  The person that runs Qatar, Emir, is Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, whom is a brilliant politician.  Besides making Qatar an amazing place to live, he also created Al Jazeera, the premier Middle East television news program. When I can, I will watch Al Jazeera.  I like it since it gives a very different view of the world of an issue.  I feel U.S. news is filtered. True or not, it is good to get different points of view.

I’m not exactly sure how to pronounce Qatar.  It is pronounced in different ways. See YouTube. 60 minutes Qatar.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFW-IUlnHag

In the year, 2022,  the whole world will  learn about Qatar because it is scheduled to host The World Cup, which is the biggest soccer event held every four years.

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Blue Belt Week 29, July 6, 2012

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , on July 4, 2012| 1 Comment »

Happy 4th of July, 2012, the celebration of the United States Independence.

Before class, Kevin, a fellow blue belt, three striped, confided in me, ” I don’t know anything. I can’t recall what I have learned.”  Do you remember driving from your home to the dojo, school, or gym? How many right turns did you take? Did you use the turning signal? The truth is that you don’t remember because the information is in your subconscious mind. I trust the info is in my subconscious memory, memory you know without actively thinking.

Am I on the right path? Freak!!!! My arm, shoulder, was almost broken in the grappling techniques class. I was super pissed off the other day. This is good because I am working out my anger.  I’m trying my best not to make this personal.  I will let this go out of my respect for the professors. I control my emotions and no one else.  Maybe this was a good event to happen. I think learning to control your emotions could be a part of jiu jitsu.  I will continue until purple belt. I owe it to this blog.

Super cool!  I got an invitational YouTube email to practice Gracie jiu Jitsu in Tokyo, Japan. Probably spam. I didn’t respond yet. The training starts in August which is too short a time for me to get everything together and it is for a month. If it were true, I would want to do it next summer so that I could train, train, and train at home. I’m not going to Japan to make an ass of myself, my school, and my country. Wife already said no and said something about a divorce. I think I could change her mind if I had more time. My kids were super excited when I mentioned the invitation. I would be a great candidate to study in Japan. I love their culture. Atari, Godzilla, Gamera, Speed Racer, Shogun,Sushi, Judo, jiu Jitsu, sumo wrestling, Judo champion Kimura, Buddhism, baseball fanatics, The iron chief, samurai, Kumon, Honda, Toyota, Toshiba, Sony. Seppuku.  I was learning to read and write Japanese. It is not as difficult as you might think. It is a phonetic language unlike Chinese. I gave up learning Japanese since learning Japanese didn’t make sense. I wish I had Japanese friends. Well, it’s was a fun dream.

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