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Posts Tagged ‘Gracie Jiu Jitsu’

Blue Belt Week 84, July 26, 2013 What does a golfer, plastic surgeon, and a Jiu Jitsu student have in common?

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

Answer:  Small changes, or corrections, in a golf swing,  facial symmetry, and jiu jitsu technique have big gains in performance, appearance, and survival.

A few weeks ago, I watched a video on YouTube, motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZcbIGlCQk .  Tony Robbins spoke about how small changes could have big gains.  Tony gave a few examples, the plastic surgeon and the golfer.  The first one, according to scientific study which has shown that beauty was a measurement, for example, the ideal distance from the top of the lips to the nose was 3 mm, just as an example.   So if a persons distance was four mm then the plastic surgeon would try to reduce the distance by one mm, which would be a very small measurement for a big change in personal attractiveness.

Tony Robbins also gave another example of a golfer not able to hit a ball with accuracy.  When the golfer was taught to adjusted the slope of the club by 1 mm, he was able to hit the ball with better accuracy. There was a flaw in the golfer’s swing that was corrected.

In the Fundamental class, lesson number one, this week, which felt like the 20th time,  I had missed a point in the steps.  In all, I made four mistakes, so I made four corrections to the techniques.  After class, I wrote down the corrections.

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Blue Belt Week 83, July 19, 2013 The Best Offense Is The Best Defense

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , on July 19, 2013| 1 Comment »

Big gains in sparring development. The gains were NOT submissions, but defense from not being tapped out as often as previous sessions. I would say the development has to do with the advanced grappling class. When an opponent had me mounted and had their knees in the arm pits, I was able to shrimp out in order to get my elbows back down on the floor. Last time I sparred, I was tapped out a lot of times with the arm bar. Also, I learned a technique, from advanced grappling, to keep the elbows together on the chest and hands on the chin. That technique stopped multiple choke attacks.

This week I took the Advanced class which was taught by Professor Gui. During sparring, I was able to use the lesson on arm bar breaks to get a submission.

Back to fundamentals. I bought a new notebook. I plan to combine the notes from two other notebooks with the current lesson. I was trying to make a mnemonic device to help remember each lesson. I think this is the path to mastery. I believe I could get more out of my class time if I become more mindful. Mindful, being more focused, looking for details that I may have missed during previous lessons.

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Blue Belt Week 82, July 13, 2013. Back to the Fundamentals

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on July 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

At the fundamentals class on Wednesday, I was very rusty. I need to go back and apply myself to the fundamental program. My practice partner, a three stripe purple belt, made me humbled. Also, Gui noticed that I had fallen back. Most fights are won with fundamental technique. The advanced class was double the lessons of fundamentals, almost overwhelming. The Helio Gracie Tournament, a techniques tournament, is in October, maybe I should focus on that?

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Blue Belt Week 81, July 5, 2013

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , on July 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

All the Valente Brothers dojos were closed this week for summer vacation, July 1 through July 8, 2013. It  is a fact that vacations prevent burnout.  I hope you had a good 4th of July!  What is the 4th of July in America?  That is when the US officially declared it’s independence from Great Britain, back then, that was the mother country and a super power.  We celebrated with fireworks, parades, and picnics.  Along time ago, this was the time of the year in my youth when we would stock up on Black Cats and bottle rockets.

For the holiday, I was in Millersville, Maryland, not far from where I went to high school in the late 80s.  I was about 45 minutes from District of Columbia, a.k.a. DC, the capital of United States, and 30 minutes from downtown Baltimore.  Anyways, I thought about practicing jiu jitsu at a local dojo, but quickly changed my  mind after looking over the web page.  It wasn’t strictly jiu jitsu.  It was a mixture of MMA, weight lifting, aerobics, and jiu jitsu.  Reading the description made me appreciate my school.  However, there was a great Gracie jiu jitsu school in Baltimore, but that was a 35 minute drive, so I didn’t do any jiu jitsu during the break.

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Blue Belt Week 80, June 28, 2013

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This week in advanced grappling taught by Professor Pedro Jr., we worked on a few passes from the half guard. The passes were easy to understand and to execute.

In class, we watched a judo match where a guy won on a thirty-second pin.  There was brief talk about how the sport of judo has changed over the years from 1981 to now. If I understood right,  I think the 30 second pin had been eliminated.  There seems to be a trend to more throwing and less ground battles.  The truth,  I want to remember  judo the way I learned it back in the late 70’s.  Judo of today and Judo of 35 years ago, not the same.   Will that happen to sports jiu jitsu?  

The throwing class was good; however, I over did it.  I will have to alternate weeks, one throwing and the other sparring.  To hard on my body to do both. Another thing I noticed was that my practice partner in the throwing class, a blue belt two stripes, never slapped to break his fall.  He told me not to worry about it.

Royler Gracie had taught a class on Saturday.   I wasn’t able to attend.

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Blue Belt Week 79, June 21, 2013

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , on June 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

On Friday, before and after fundamentals class, there was a lot of gossip on the mat and locker room about an injury that occurred on Thursday evening sparring. Apparently, word travels quickly, a South Beach bouncer heard about the injury at work. He was asking others what happened and to whom. I didn’t recognize the people involved nor do I have all the details. Blue belt and a purple belt. Someone’s knee was caved in. The South Beach bouncer, from the details,  believed the injury was caused during a throw. The injury was to the thrower because he tried to hold the person being thrown, to soften the fall; however, the opponent landed on his knee while his leg was straight and standing. Throwing rule violation, never hold a person, for the purpose of cushioning the fall, after the throw has been executed. Once the opponent was thrown in the air, it was up to them to break the fall. You could throw with less power.

Best training review so far was on Friday when I reviewed the nine pins. I think I have the nine pins down. Here are the moves.

Review nine pins

1) Mounted
2) Shoulder left side from the mount
3) Shoulder right side from the mount
4) Side mount
5) Side mount scissor towards legs
6) Side mount scissor towards head
7) Modified side mount, knee on hip
8) knee on belly, leg out
9) North / South

Longevity, I stopped taking supplements because of severe stomach pain.  I believe the omega three pills spoiled. One of the pills is making me sick. I am beginning to think the supplements from Costco aren’t worth it. The truth is ” you get what you pay for.” I should try to return them. Aspirin can also cause stomach bleeding. Supplements may need some refrigeration. I am full stop on the supplements.

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Blue Belt Week 78, June 14, 2013. Half Guard / Bad Injury

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , on June 13, 2013| 2 Comments »

Tuesday, we worked on the half guard from the bottom. It was a good class. At the end of class, Professor Pedro brought to the attention of the class that if we missed a lesson or didn’t get it, the lessons will repeat in other classes during the week. That is good to know. In the future, I may take the same class three times in the same week if I think it is important enough. We did work on hand position from the side to the guard but not as much as I would have liked. I am looking for a solution for my weak guard. Everytime I had someone in the guard during sparring, I get passed. I would like to improve my guard. So, what makes a good guard? What should I look out for? How do I stop a pass? The focus of my sparring is purely defense. I don’t care if I submit anyone at this point. Right after Tuesdays class, I started feeling the effects of the flu.

This week, I ran into my friend that brought me to Gracie Jiu Jitsu. He had stopped training about seven months ago because of a shoulder injury, which needed surgery. It is a fact, injuries are going to happen during your study of jiu jitsu, and sometimes outside of jiu jitsu, a car accident for example. The question will be how are you going to handle your injury and will you come back? Injuries should always be avoid while sparring; however, I am thankful to the guy that injuried my shoulder which was in the advanced grappling class. I hated yoga before. My wife would try to get me to go for the last ten years, and I wouldn’t. That all changed with my shoulder injury. I became a believer of Iyengar Yoga when my shoulder became healed. Yoga also helped in fixing my back. I had terrible posture and now not so bad. I do jiu jitsu three times a week and yoga two times. I am able to let go of anger and forgive without expecting any apology.

When you practice jiu jitsu you have to play SMART! Follow some self rules.

1) Tap..Tap often. Jiu Jitsu is a mind game not a power game.

2) Don’t go full speed unless you talk it out with your sparring parnter. Note, some students want full speed.

3) Beware the dojo drifter. A guy you never seen before wearing a rented gi with white belt who is there for sparring only.

4) Choose your partner before class starts. Someone you know is good.

5) Warm up with a few push ups and do light stretching before class, a must. Coming in cold is just asking for trouble.

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Blue Belt Week 75, May 24, 2013

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , on May 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

In the advanced grappling class,  we worked on escapes from the side mount into the guard position.  Simple and effective. I’m all about defense.  Yet again, I trained with another Russian student, the seventh one.  My experience with Russian students is that I can see why Russia has been a super power for more than a 1000 years just by its people, tough, intelligent, dominate.  Russia sees sharing power with other nations as weakness.  Russia is a nation and people that demand respect with no compromise.  very interesting and mysterious group.

To really progress to the next level, I need to increase my flexibility in my hips and back so that I can do more moves.  Also, I have to work on timing.  I am about half way there with flexibility and nowhere near ready with timing.   I added a new speed exercise, basically, a front leg lift until toes rest on a chair seat.  You will need a chair.  Lay on your back while holding the legs of a chair from the front side. quickly lift your legs, this is a speed drill, until your toes rest on the top of the chair then back to the floor. I will try to do a set of 10 a day.

In the throwing class, we learned a defense throw against a wrestler that has gotten your back from the standing position. I learned that while standing having someone’s back is not a safe position. Incredible simple throw against the wrestler.

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Blue Belt Week 74, May 17, 2013

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , on May 18, 2013| 1 Comment »

For the record, I am all about technique, and trying to execute technique perfectly.  Also, I am working on in my study of jiu jitsu to be patient, self-aware, and calm under stress.  I fully believe in the Gracie Jiu Jitsu techniques and my instructors.

On Tuesday, in the advanced grappling class, I was frustrated. We were learning defense from the bottom; however, my class partner was focused more on sparring. This was the sixth Russian student that I have worked out with at the dojo. I was choked out about six times. I couldn’t careless.  At one point during the class, I advised my partner that I wanted to focus on technique and to take it easy. He didn’t respond.  At one point, I was getting baited into sparring back. Professor Pedro Jr. didn’t like what he was seeing.  The truth, I found the arm and hand positions difficult and even more so while being aggressively choked.   I didn’t fully learn the lesson and I doubt my partner did as well.

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Blue Belt Week 73, May 10, 2013

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, tagged , , , , , , , on May 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

With proper hip throwing technique, I consistently lifted a 260 lbs off the floor at least five times and I didn’t injury myself.  Because of all the intense stretching, iyengar yoga,  I have been doing outside of bjj twice a week, the stretching is now paying off in reducing injuries. I also have a lot less back pain.  A general observation is that I noticed that when I go beyond three times a week of jiu jitsu practice, my body starts getting chewed up or injured.

This month, we are working on jiu jitsu ground defense.  We learned keeping the elbows in and the hands cupped under the chin. If you’re not taking advanced grappling, your sparring game will develop slowly.

On Friday, A dermatologist took two biopsies, one from my face and one from forehead. a little smaller than a quarter-inch square.  Sort of shocked by it all. I tan easy.  The results will be in next week.

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