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Blue Belt Week 97, October 25, 2013 Dealing With An Angry Person

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , on October 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Dealing with an angry person; especially, when they are larger than you and yelling, can be intimidating.  Also, to approach the angry person requires courage and readiness to act.  This week, we learned strategies in dealing with these types of people, fundamental lesson 10, pre fight strategy.

In everyday life, the most crazy things can set people off,  ” You parked in my parking space!!!”, ” Why are you looking at my girlfriend???”, ” You cut me off *&(&@!$%!!  Sometime you have to protect someone, your kids, and have to approach the angry person.  The goal of the pre fight would be to position yourself in the most advantageous position for self defense.

Legally, it is important not touch the angry person.  Touching a stranger without justification could put the blame on you if a fight occurs.  Don’t make a fist, this may justify an attack on you.  An angry person’s insults doesn’t give you a right to attack; however, if they use death threats maybe you have a right to defend.   If police show up, a fight could become a court case.  It’s okay to tell the angry person, ” I don’t want to fight.” just to cover yourself in front of others, witnesses.

Does this angry person have a concealed weapon?  This angry person could have a gun or a knife.   The Stand Your Ground, Travyon Verses Zimmerman case  should have been a gun debate.  No gun, no dead Trayvon Martin.

Steps.  Go and talk to the angry person.   Make eye contact.  Stay calm.  Speak clearly what you want.  Don’t use any insults.  Always, the hands are up as if your praying but open and palms facing the opponent.   The distance should be around two feet away.  Be prepared to block the right or left hook. Be prepared to act.

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Blue Belt Week 96, October 18, 2013 Unreal Expectations

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , on October 20, 2013| 1 Comment »

This week, actually,  a week before,  a white belt wanted to review a knife disarming technique during the review part of class.   The owners have been debating adding in weapons disarming techniques into the fundamental classes.  My practice partner was overly enthusiastic to practice the new technique.  Personally, I thought practicing knife disarming technique at white belt level  a bad idea but I went along with it.  I know in order to disarm someone with a weapon, it takes a lot of training. My first reaction to a knife attacker would be to flee.  I think that trying to disarm someone without a good reason is dangerous.

Anyways, I wanted to test him.   I put the pretend knife in my hand and approached with a downward motion.  He weakly grabbed the downward hacking wrist and then did a terrible kimura grip.

On the second attempt, I was going to pretend more like a knife attacker.  With the knife, I came at him.   He weakly grabbed my wrist,  I immediately escaped the grip, and I pretend to stabbed him in the back five times.  Right afterwards, I asked him what he excepted would really happen?  He didn’t answer.  He appeared to realize the reality of the situation, in truth, a mistake could be fatal.

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Blue Belt Week 95, October 11, 2013 Equaniminity, Alertness, and Readiness

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Jiu jitsu doesn’t just train the body, it also trains the mind.   Training the mind takes many years of consistent practice.

Last Friday, Pedro jr. talked about the mental states of a true warrior,  equanimity, alertness, and readiness.

Equanimity means mental calmness under stress.  Equanimity also means maintaining mental stability, not over celebrating, nor be overcome with grief; ideally in the center.  If the mind entered an extreme emotion, the mind should quickly try to get back to center.   A palm tree, flexible in a hurricane.

Alertness.  In my own words, perception of reality, freeing the mind of chatter and distraction.   Clearly observing the opponent in front of you.  Observing the environment your in.  In an attack situation, being able to evaluating the options based upon immediate observation.  Sparring, knowledging what the arms and legs are doing.

Readiness. Train.Train..Train… Repetition equals muscle memory.

There are ways outside of jiu jitsu where you can improve your mental states.  Equanimity,  alertness, and readiness can be developed by consistent yoga practice.  Yoga means union of the mind and body.   Finding the right yoga studio is a problem.  Stay away from big gyms that treat yoga like an aerobics class. That I don’t recommend.   I recommend the study of the eight levels of yoga called The Eight Limbs. If the yoga studio never heard of this, eight limbs, don’t return. Find another place. Meditation classes can also be helpful to jiu jitsu students.  Finding a good meditation teacher isn’t easy as well. I recommend the study of the Eight Fold Path of Buddha. It’s really scientific and not religious. It’s similar to the eight limbs. Neither the eight limbs nor the eight fold path will contradict your beliefs but improve it. I’m not going to give more information because it’s something you need to research and worthwhile. Maybe your ready or maybe not? Take the time to see for yourself.

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Blue Belt Week 94, October 5, 2013, Breaking the Fall

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , on October 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

helio challenge throw 2013As I was reviewing advanced moves with a four striped white belt, he told me that he learned a new throw, without any thought, quick speed, and to my complete surprise, I was fully in the air and then crashing on to the mat. As taught, I slapped the mat at the right time. Got up and moved on to another technique.

Getting a good throw feels good, but getting thrown hard and getting up uninjured was a thrill.

This week, in the advanced class, I let myself get thrown five times so as to practice break fall techniques.

Disclaimer, I don’t recommend anyone to be thrown without FULLY knowing how to break a fall.

New students should be tested before taking the throwing class. An instructor should make a new student before class show them a standing side fall, forward, and back break fall.

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Master Helio Gracie’s 100th Birthday Celebration Sunny Isles Beach, Florida

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

govt bjj repres in fl 2013

October 1, 2013, at the Newport Beachside Hotel in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, 300 plus jiu jitsu students in white komonos celebrated the 100th birthday of Grand Master Helio Gracie.  Sadly, as many know, Grand Master Helio Gracie passed away in 2009; however, the memory of Helio, his teachings, and practice of Jiu Jitsu lives on.

The birthday celebration began with awards presented by the City of North Miami Beach which proclaimed October 1st as Helio Gracie Day.  There was another award, presented by a state congressman, a purple belt.  All in all, very good propaganda for jiu jitsu and good representation in government.

Right after the awards was held a special event, the Helio Gracie Challenge, a self-defense techniques contest.  This special event featured five contestants whom were the winners from previous years.  In the end, Roberto Flesishmann won.

Pedro Valente gave an excellent speech on Helio’s ring fights from 1932 to 1936.  Ten fights from the best fighters from the United States, Japan, and Poland.  Impressive was Helio’s tremendous courage to fight incredible opponents.  In post fight interviews with Helio’s opponents, they praised his superior defense.

After the speech was a video presentation by the Valente Brothers, Pedro, Gui, and Joaqium. In the video, they told stories of their experiences with Helio at his home and on the mats.

Finally, a slide presentation of Helio’s amazing life.  The presentation ended with the last time he was seen alive by Pedro.  In his door step, smiling. a hand wave of good-bye.

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Blue Belt Week 93, September 27, 2013 Single Collar Grab Defense

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , on September 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This week I learned again the Single Collar Grab Defense.

What is the Single Collar Grab Defense?  First of all, this is when the attacker grabs the collar, or shirt, of a victim, but with their elbow bent.  The attacker’s other hand is ready to strike the victim.  This is a bully type attack.  The defense is almost a surprise.   As the attacker grabs the victim shirt, the victim steps wide and across the attacker  while grabbing the shirt grip hand and slapping up the elbow.  The victim’s elbow is tight to the body so that the attacker cannot push the arm down.   Once you step behind, keep hold of the elbow and twist the hand to the shoulder, It is a lot easier to demonstrate than write.

This lesson, when I first learned it,  was the beginning of an awareness that grabbing someone was a bad idea.  All people should be respected.   I started thinking differently about how to conduct myself if I were to become angry.  Grabbing someone is grounds for a fight and could lead to serious injury.

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Blue Belt Week 92, September 20, 2013 Standing Foot Lock

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , on September 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This week we reviewed the standing foot lock.  I like foot attacks because these attacks are a surprise to most opponents,. It should be noted that this attack is banned in the MMA and sport jiu jitsu.

So what is the standing foot lock?  First of all,  the opponent is on their back with legs up in a defensive position called gungoha , in English, sea saw position.   The floor position is a defensive move so as to ward off being mounted and also one can kick the knee of an attacker. This is when you catch the foot of an opponent while standing. The foot is held  in a kimura grip close to the ankle and over the foot arch.  You look over the shoulder and twist  to break the foot.  It is important to pin down the opponents other leg with the knee so as not to get kicked.

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Blue Belt Week 91, September 13, 2013 Closed Guard

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , on September 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This week, we reviewed the closed guard. While the attacker is in the closed guard, it is very difficult to be knocked out, or passed into a side or full mount. The closed guard is mostly a defensive move. However, in a street fight or mma, you could strike the ear. The technique is as follows: start on back, one hand holds the back of the neck and the other arm wraps around outside the bicep, the wrapping arm hand can grab the opponents inside collar. Tuck head in. Legs are locked around the opponents waist/lower back.

While in the guard, you could defend against strikes. However, the main objective is defense and to burn the attackers energy as much as possible.

The higher the belt rank the more they are thinking on passing the guard. It is not a good idea to allow any opponent to remain postured up while your legs are locked for too long. As a jiu jitsu player, How do I break posture and get them into the closed guard? So, the objective is to break posture. Grab the top of the hands quickly, with power pull the hands apart while PULLING down with the legs into the closed guard. Basically grip fighting.

If the opponent stacks you while the legs are locked, swim the arms, and put the attacker in the closed guard.

I

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Blue Belt Week 90, September 6, 2013

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , on September 8, 2013| 2 Comments »

bjj SamuraiWhat is important is the goal, purple belt.  That is what I keep telling my self.  I miss a class or a week because of sickness, family, injury etc.  Organize my thoughts, heal up, fight back the fear, and get back on the path. Stop thinking. One step after the next.

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Blue Belt Week 88, August 23, 2013 Shoulder Grab Defense Mistakes

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , on August 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

For the longest time, I have been practicing the shoulder grab self defense incorrectly.  What exactly is the shoulder grab defense?  It is a shoulder dislocating technique against an unsuspecting attacker.

As a practice partner, as the attacker, my first mistake was not grabbing the defending person correctly. Improper grab position. The shoulder grab is closer to the neck than to the bony part of the shoulder.  Second, the grab is an  aggressive attempt to unbalance the defender.   Once the defender maintains base, or regains base, meaning the atttacker can’t drag the defender around, that’s when the move is executed.

Once the defender has gained base, that’s when the defender wraps around the attacker’s grabbing arm and punches down towards the floor.   From the punch, the attacker’s arm is cradled by the punching down arm with an underhand grip by the wrist.  From the wrist grab,   the defender lifts up  with all their body weight to the ceiling.  At a certain point, the attacker’s shoulder should be dislocated.  A mistake I made was cradling the arm on the stomach.  To max leverage don’t cradle the attacker’s arm on the stomach, leave a little space. Second, really punch down with force.  Lastly, cradle the attacker’s arm under the elbow.

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