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Blue Belt Week 8, February 3, 2012

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

It has been a week of self-reflection. Am I too old for this? What if I get injured?  What else am I going to do?  Is this the right place for me?  If I am so fortunate to earn a black belt, then what will I do?

This week, I asked a brown belt, whom is close to earning his black belt, did you ever see yourself as a brown belt before becoming a brown belt? Could you see yourself as a black belt? He laughed when I asked the question then he answered, ” No, it’s a day by day event.”   Like him,  I can’t see myself beyond the next class.

I had a blue belt moment, I learned a technique incorrectly on the A Mas Apon. My choke hand was wrong. I tried it during a sparring session but it wasn’t working because of my hand position.  I gave it up because it looked like I was hurting my opponent. Anyways, the above brown belt was my fundamentals techniques partner that showed me the correct way.  This made me think what an advantage it is to take private lessons. I would like to try a private class but I don’t have the money and I am not sure what I would work on at this time.

This week, I learned that it will take two years to advance to purple.  Basically, I will get a stripe every belt ceremony if I put in the hours of course. That is okay since I am in no hurry. However,  I am a bit upset with myself.   I am going to write an article on mental alertness since I should have asked these questions on day one.

This week, I learned a cool new throw called Soto Makikomi.  Note, the way I learned the throw and the execution is slightly different from the way a judo practitioner would do it.  I would love to use that in the near future, but I am having trouble with the unbalancing of the opponent. I need to work on it. In that same class, I was thrown a lot.  The trick is to not tense up and to not give any resistance. A throw is a good way to gain the top position. A take down will also give you top position and that is where I want to be in fight. When I wrestled in high school, I remember the coach always telling us that the person who executes the take down first usually wins the match.

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Blue Belt Week 7, January 27, 2012

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , on January 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

On Sunday, I injuried my lower back trying to do a crazy exercise of hopping up four flights of stairs.  I got the idea from a show that I recently saw.  First mistake was that I should have stretched out.  Well, on last step, I felt severe pain in the lower back.  Odd.  So when I arrived home, I put on myoflex anti pain cream  and then applied a bag of frozen peas.  I don’t like pills.  I try to stay away from pills due to side effects.  Later on, I did a back stretch but it just added more pain.  Anyways, this got me thinking about a book I read a few months ago called Training Camp.  It had an interesting theme of sports competition and sports injury; apparently, they go hand in hand.   Every sports athlete has to deal with injury.   The champion player handles their pain and injury so that they come back for each game day.    Champion players bounce back faster than average players.  They know how to heal themselves quickly, and how to avoid on field dangers.  Also, they have a mind-set of staying in the game by working through the pain, they get taped up, and go back in.   Note, I’m not writing about life threating injury from game play or something that would warrant staying out of it.   As Jiu Jitsu players, we are going to face getting injuries from time to time.  So, this week, I avoided the throwing class and the sparring but I did go to the fundamental classes since it is a lower impact. I will be healed and ready for a full play next week.

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Blue Belt Week 6, Jan 20, 2012

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , on January 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

It took a lot of positive self talk to get me to sparring this week. I totally didn’t want to do it but that is the time I needed to go. As I waited for my name to be called, I felt like a bloody steak just about to be tossed into an alligator pit. I had four opponents, one American, one Brazillian, one Colombian, and one Russian.  I received the most damage from the Russian, but I also learned the most from him.  My body is all messed up.  I will be ready for next week. I gave up my back at least eight times. This is not sports Jiu Jitsu, so giving up your back is the end of the fight. I tapped out at least five times.  I did a few things right, I didn’t burnout.  I had conserved my energy throughout all my matches.    I didnt get overly aggressive and I remained calm under the pressure. I did a new take down,kukkiki toashi. I think thats the name. So, my goal for next week is to try to not give up my back as much. Work a new throw.

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The Bushido Code to the Path

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , on January 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Six months ago, just before I bowed to enter the mat for a class, I noticed a small picture frame hanging on the wall at eye level. It contained a letter.  The letter was titled, The Way Of The True Warrior.  It had seven prominent words with a description beside each.  During various lessons, professor Pedro Jr. would refer to this letter and mentioned that it was called the Bushido Code.  It’s a code to live by.  The seven words were as follows,

  1. Courage. * Note, the portuguese word for courage is Valente.
  2. Rectitude of Justice
  3. Benevolence  
  4. Politeness
  5. Honesty
  6. Honor
  7. Loyalty

****  reference,  http//artofmanliness.com/2008/09/14/the-bushido-code-the-right-virtues-of-the-samurai

After I started searching for more information about the Bushido Code, it led me to Buddhism. When I was in high school,  I read a book by Hermann Hess, Siddarth, which is about Buddhism.  It is a short book but very interesting.  Twenty five years later, the study of Jiu Jitsu sparked a new interest in Buddhism.  I turned to YouTube.com for information.  I was interested in learning how to meditate so I thought a monk would know and I was right.   There I found two monks, Yuttadhammo, of Canada, and Ajahn Brahmn, of England.  Yuttadhammo has great videos posted on beginning Meditation.  Ajahn Brahmn has great videos on how to deal with the problems of modern living.  Anyways,  it is worth checking them out on Youtube.

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The Grossly Obese Wrestler

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , on January 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Back in the late eighties, I was a high school wrestler.   I loved watching the unlimited weight class matches.  It was like an American sumo match.  Today, there isn’t an unlimited class anymore.  It has been banned.  I believe the heaviest weight class is around 240 lbs maximum.

Every match that I ever saw, the first wrestler to be taken down lost.   Most of these obese kids couldn’t do a single sit up, not one.  So, when the obese wrestler is on their back and with a 200 lb opponent on top of them, it was just a matter of time before they lost.

Heavy weights ran out of energy really quick.  Wrestling is exhausting.   After three minutes, these guys would just lay there waiting to be pinned.   This works well with Jiu Jitsu because the longer you wait, the faster they will use up their energy, and the quicker you will win.  So if you avoid getting knocked out in the first three minutes, these guys will spend most of their energy.

The grossly obese struggle with balance.  Hence, they are easy to take down if you can unbalance them.  Stay away from the double leg take down because if it’s not done correctly, you could get trapped underneath.   Also, the obese wrestler could fall on top of you and that’s when you could get hurt. So, it is important to be on top.  It is crucible.  We jiu jitsu players can win from the bottom, but that is the back up plan.

In conclusion, avoid being the guy on the bottom when dealing with a grossly obese opponent.   When the obese guy is on top, it is a bad situation.  Go for a quick take down.  I recommend osto gari, or a cinturada with a foot hook.  Stay away from double leg take down.   Ride them till exhaustion.  Three minutes later, escape, a choke,or a hand cuffing, you decide.

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Blue Belt Week 5, January 13, 2012

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 13, 2012| 2 Comments »

Monday, I went to the morning fundamentals class.  It is important to me to have a great grasp of the basics before getting into advanced classes.  A lot of fights are won with just fundamental knowledge.    A champion is a champion because they do the fundamentals better than everyone else.

At the throwing class, I was paired up with a judo black belt. Note, I believe he is a judo black belt.  He’s studying jiu jitsu at the studio.  He gave great advise on things that I didn’t know.  After the techniques part of the class, we moved onto randori, or sparring.  I didn’t feel comfortable about being too competitive. Let’s be honest, a little bit of a challenge makes it fun.   During the sparring, my practice partner, cut his toe. It was a small cut that he didn’t even realize until he saw small drops of blood on the mat.  So, we spent much of the sparring class cleaning the mat with lysol spray and paper towels.  I hope to pair up with him again because the judo insider information is a gift.

I am having trouble with the Japanese words. I found an interesting program called Human Japanese. It’s free. Check it out. You will like it.

This week I skipped out on the sparring class. I admit that I was putting it off and got over run with errands.   Can you believe a brown belt asked me why I didn’t show up.  I am looking forward to next weeks Thursdays sparring class.

I started doing meditation which I learned from a buddhist monk, Yuttadhammo, on Youtube.com, five minutes in the morning and five before going to bed.  I’m thinking about posting an article on Meditation because I believe mediation can help everyone become a better jiu jitsu player.

Good chess players make good jiu jitsu players. This week, I played chess everyday on my kindle.  There are lots of free chess programs on the Apple I phone and android network.

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Blue Belt Week 4, January 6, 2012

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, Self Development, tagged , , , , , , on January 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

After two weeks of rest, I wasn’t ready for the throwing class so I put it off.  Why? I didn’t feel confident about my falling ability.  I am older than most students so I need to be sure that I am limber enough to move around.   It is important that you feel confident about your actual ability to break a fall.  As a general rule, every time I attend, I warmup with falling exercises. In the future, I’m planning to practice falling on a beach because of the soft sand.

However, I did go to sparring this week.  Back in December, I took my first sparring class. It felt like an MMA event.   I had four opponents and two were overly aggressive.  I had never seen them.  I was fighting for survival.   At the end, I was completely exhausted and had marks all over my body and face.  I violated the rule, To fight the slow fight, and conserve energy.

So, for the second sparring class, the one on Thursday, I took the advise of other students to conserve energy and not be overly aggressive. I communicated better with my opponents.  The 2nd class was more staged.  If one person wins passing the guard, you are supposed to stop resisting, wait, wait for them to move,  and then you react.  I didn’t have any injuries.  For my first and second class, I admit that I was using everything but  Jiu Jitsu.  I used a judo pin with a choke hold.  I used wrestling moves.   Next sparring class, I will try to only use Jiu Jitsu.  If I can do a throw, it will be from the clinch.  Professor Pedro Jr. made it clear that he doesn’t want to see any throws that aren’t from the clinch.

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Blue Belt Jiu Jitsu Goals for 2012

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, Self Development, tagged , , , , , , on January 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Here are my Jiu Jitsu goal’s  for 2012:

Keep coming to class.

Try to follow a weekly plan, one fundamental class, one throwing class, and one sparring.

Give 100% effort while training.

Make it past the first round of the next Grandmaster Helio Gracie tournament in October 2012.

Talk with white belts. Give them support.

Review my fundamental notes twice a week. Copy my fundamental notes into my phone.

Be able to do 40 military push ups and situps by the end of the year.

Practice Uchikomi. Note, Japanese word meaning self throw practice. Article to follow.

Eat a five vegetable soup everyday.

Improve flexibility.

Buy a chess game for my computer. Play once a month.

Learn all the bushido words to memory.

Try a meditation class.

Add pictures and videos to up coming posts.

Learn to make it a habit of executing throws from the clinch only.

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Blue Belt Week 3, Dec 30, 2011

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, Self Development, tagged , , , , , on December 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

A question for myself is, “How can I maintain my Jiu Jitsu lifestyle?”  since classes don’t restart until January 2, 2012.

Maintaining a healthy diet is part of the Jiu Jitsu lifestyle.  Every morning, I drink a Gracie diet smoothie made with an apple and  a banana.  For lunch,  I have  a bowl of soup, preferably made with a minimum of  five vegetables.

Jiu Jitsu lifestyle is staying physically fit. So, I do thirty push ups a day and twenty sit ups.

How do I keep the Jiu Jitsu mind sharp? I review my fundamental notes. Professor Gui gave good advice to execute the moves in your mind as read them, which is a transferring from the conscious mind into the sub conscious mind.

New Years is around the corner. I am preparing a Jiu Jitsu resolution list.  Do you wish to make an attainable Jiu Jitsu new year’s resolution?   If so, would you consider sharing some of your ideas?

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Mental Toughness

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, Self Development, tagged , , , , on December 30, 2011| 2 Comments »

During the last two plays of my high school American football game in 1987, the coach put me in the game, as a tight end and not as a linebacker which was the position that I usually played.   It felt right. As the game played, I clearly realized that I was better suited for a position other than linebacker.  I always knew deep down that I was playing the wrong position, but I didn’t advocate for myself.  From the first day to the last two plays, I was always full of tremendous self-doubt, lacked concentration, full of negativity, had poor self-confidence, and suffered because of an inability to let go of mistakes. I always felt like  a stranger on the team.  Mental toughness, I sadly admit, was something I didn’t possess.

I had a much better time when I practiced Judo as a kid and when I was on my high school wrestling team. Then I enjoyed the grueling practices, had great coaching,  didn’t feel like a stranger there.   I liked the matches and when I won, I felt like I had won a million dollars. I had a mental toughness that I lost when I played football.

So, what is mental toughness?  It is being able to overcome a problem, a bad situation, an attacker, a competitor, or a competition, by staying positive and focused through the challenge. It is an ability to bounce back from an injury, emotional trauma, and change.  It is the ability to go through training and keep coming back.  The good news is that mental toughness isn’t something your born with, it is something you can develop via a process. The process is removing the negative thinking and putting positive thoughts in its place.

Here are some suggestions to help improve mental toughness for Jiu Jitsu practice and for your life:

Try and not view sparring as a competition. There isn’t a winner, nor a loser. Analyze what occurred after the match and try to make yourself better for the next session.

When things go wrong on the mat or in life, instead of complaining, try to find a solution and focus on it.

Before going to bed, rehearse previous lessons in your mind.

Listen to music before class. Music helps improves attitude.

Try to give 100% dedication to whatever you’re doing. Don’t hold back. Go all out.

Never take yourself totally serious.

Visualization. This is how you should visualize yourself.   Relaxed under pressure. Focused. Not wasting time on unimportant aspects.  Thick skinned, meaning, able to rebound from errors, bad habits, and failures. Be able to handle last-minute self doubts and negative thinking. Confident. Positive attitude, I can show them.

Thank God everyday. Try to do something good, for others.

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