Building a Better You.........

Often one will hear a Jiu Jitsu student or instructor speak on how Jiu Jitsu has changed their life. For the average person, it may be difficult to see how rolling around with someone on the ground can allow you to achieve enlightenment or allow a person to reach a near euphoric universal clarification on all that is grand and beautiful. Frequently these types of statements are brushed off as “hippie talk” and the individuals considered spurious at best. I will attempt to clarify in my own words to give a more tangible explanation on why people including myself feel this way about the art of Jiu Jitsu.

To attain a high level of proficiency in Jiu Jitsu it requires years of practice, dedication and discipline. To become great at Jiu Jitsu it would take all of the same, but even more of the key ingredient………………..time. Time is a fickle thing. It is a currency of sort. We spend it on watching T.V., eating, working, video games, sleeping, or chasing tail. We spend it on drinking and partying, playing and parenting, living and loving, and the list goes on and on.

Jiu Jitsu is unique in its abilities to initiate a sustained ripple effect throughout your life. Unlike other activities or hobbies that can occasionally cause one to change short term habits, few things can almost force one to overhaul their entire life for the better.  Addiction to Jiu Jitsu quickly forces you to choose your priorities. Would you rather party or train, would you rather hang out at the bar after work or train after work?
Jiu Jitsu is hard, very hard. And because of that intrinsic characteristic it will either make or break most people in the first year, if not the first month. In a 30 day period one will come into contact with the fear. And this fear will stand in front of you like a mile of 10 foot walls. The fear of physical contact, the fear of altercation, the fear of failure, the fear of hurt pride, the fear of commitment, and ultimately the mighty ego, will be the undoing of many first timers.

Jiu Jitsu asks you to show up voluntarily to a place where you will quickly realize how inferior your abilities to defend yourself truly are. The truth will be clear on the mat. The mat is a sort of looking glass. It will show you in complete clarity where your mental toughness is, how big of an ego you have, and how resolute you are.  You will be humbled day in and day out for years to come. You will have to actively make the choice to show up every day or every other day and learn. You will have to push past the claustrophobia, the physical discomfort, and the fear. Overcome your pride, selfishness, and inherent uneasiness with not “Winning”. You will have to get over the fact that you simply don’t know everything. All of these breakthroughs are humbling. Each  of the hurdles  you jump give you strength and every day you pick up something new, your confidence increases and your perseverance is all the more evident through your mini personal victories every day.

On this journey you will learn to trust your training partners, trust you instructors with your well being, and trust yourself that you have the willpower to dedicate yourself to a difficult mental and physical challenge. Through this initial process you are almost born again. Because every skill both physical and mental that is acquired along the way can be extrapolated to every aspect of your life, patience to solve complex problems, the ability to defuse altercations through conflict resolution, and the mental stoutness and clarity to think past the visceral responses that are generated by our feeble monkey brains. The road rage, the tough guy/girl routine, the need for approval and validation will slowly dissolve as you are less and less dependent on your ego and pride to guide your every decision. The benefits are countless. This week I will cover others such as diet and fitness in later posts.

Black is the new White?

Sometimes when you show up to the mat you are trying to grasp so much it’s hard to get everything to stick. It’s a lot like swimming in the ocean. While you’re getting thrashed around by big waves you’re basically just trying to stay afloat and avoid drowning. For a while you think the feeling is localized in your own psyche. But everyone has felt that and likely still does.

As a beginning White Belt your ABSOLUTE sole purpose and main priority should be learning to survive.  If you’re flailing your arms around like your trying to scare kids on Halloween, they are more susceptible to attack. Therefore you should always keep them tight. You should always keep your opponents hands off of your collar to avoid chokes.  Focus heavily on having good posture and having good base. Your primary objective as a White Belt is to stay alive and make it as difficult as possible for your opponent to attack you. Mastering defense is what it means to be a White Belt.  With this type of mental shift you will save yourself a lot of time trying to figure out how to “Win”.

As a Blue Belt you should be very adept at keeping your appendages attached to their proper joints and your blood consistently flowing to your brain without being shut off by nasty chokes. At this stage your goal will shift from defense to escapes. You want to be as slippery as a pig in a pigpen during a rain storm. A Blue Belts game should consist of perfecting your escapes and transitions. It should be increasingly difficult to even hold you in a position let alone attempt to attack you from one. During this period you can afford to move a lot more due to your increased body awareness and defensive skills that were honed during your time as a White Belt. If you find yourself in a less than savory position then you should already be proficient in “Staying Safe”; and equally as proficient in being patient and waiting for an opportunity to move to a superior position.

Now as a Purple Belt things shift more towards the guard. Pulling Guard and maintaining the Guard. Since the majority of your attacks will be from the Guard this should be your focus. Purple Belts should be efficient at avoiding attacks by utilizing great defense and being agile on the mat. Escaping and transitioning through and from various positions. Now is the time to focus on escaping and pulling Guard then maintaining the Guard. You will also be starting to develop your own game a bit during this stage. This development will progress mostly from increasing your skill level in the Guard.

Now as a Brown Belt you have a solid defensive game, vibrant escapes, and a dynamic Guard. But so does every other Brown Belt. Now is the time to work on passing the dozens of guards out there. You can’t work your game; if you’re constantly stuck in someone else’s Guard. And everyone knows it’s a pain trying to pass a really good Guard. This is also the stage where you are not only refining your own game, but refining others game also. Fine tuning your abilities to instruct others and point out the proper way to perform a technique on various body types will be the key to making the jump to the next level.

Your been through fire and hell, long hot, roasting days on the mat, years of being flipped, swept, choked, locked, chewed up and spit out. And now FINALLY you have arrived. It’s almost impossible to attack you; you’re always moving around and escaping. Your opponents throw tantrums on the mat because they can’t hold you in a position for more than a second. And even if they manage to get you in the Guard you pass with ease like Peyton Manning against a High School football team.

At the rank of Black Belt you have a deeper understanding of leverage, timing, weight distribution, and the combination of what I like to call the Jiu Jitsu Sixth Sense which is sensation and reaction (You’re basically a Jedi on the mat).

Now it’s time to finish. It’s time to attack and finish attacks from all the positions you have become ever so comfortable with. Now when you grab a hold of something, you take it home with you! That arm is now your arm. His joints respond the way you want them to. He is but a helpless crash dummy coming along for the ride. You dictate the pace, and you are now in control.
As a Black Belt it’s all about finishing and fine tuning. Insuring that not only can you drive the ball 90 yards, you can score at will. Everything you have learned over the past years has been stripped down to its simplest form. You act instinctively to your opponent, relentlessly adapting to your environment. Like the great Bruce Lee often said you don’t even have to think, it just does it all on its own.

Many Black Belts often refer to themselves as a White Belt that never quits. It is important to remember that even at the Black Belt level you still feel like a White Belt. There is still so much to learn.

It’s a long Journey for us all. Never quit and eventually we all can get there.

Eureka!!!!

Every Grappler has had that moment where your instructor has shown you a technique or explained a concept to you that instantly ripples through your entire knowledge base of techniques. It is slightly different then the times you normally are shown a technique. It is different then when you normally commit something to memory or when you see different ways to add something to your repertoire. You, for some reason can see how that one technique/concept applies to a wide variety of techniques you have been working on or it helps refine ones you have been using for a while.

I call these moments Light Bulb Moments. Walking around in a dark room with a candle can be difficult. Bumping in to things, sort of fumbling your way around until you finally turn the light on and suddenly you have a clear path. These moments don’t always last long, eventually it will get dark again, but you have gained a new outlook. Now you know when it does get dark again, you probably won’t bump into the couch again, and you will remember where that table is next time. Each time it just gets easier and easier to manage those dark times, when things seem foggy, and it’s hard to see a clear path, those light bulb moments help you the most.

A good example is when you finally realize how the core movements of Jiu Jitsu show up with almost every technique you do, every movement, and every escape. You wonder why you didn’t figure that out a year ago, but once you do remember, you never forget.

Those Light Bulb Moments make the journey worth it. And the growth that transpires from those moments is priceless. 

Can I get sprinkles on that?

A buddy and I were chatting about Jiu Jitsu and its evolution. With a new generation getting involved and the originators and the purist that are still around. There seems to be a conflict between what is acceptable BJJ and what is not.

We are all aware there are a ton of guards out there, often, to many to even count. Just like Donuts, a little flavor here, a few sprinkles there, you can turn a regular guard into anything you want, and call it what ever you want. From the super creativity of Eddie Bravo and the 10th planet system, to Mad Magazine style (insert word here) Guards. From Quarter Guard, Half Guard, ¾ Guard, Full Guard, DLR guard, Open Guard, Spider Guard, Butter Fly Guard, Hooks Guard, X-Guard etc, etc. Everyone has their own flare they like to put on their game.

I come from an academy that focuses almost solely on Self Defense. So what ever we do in the Guard, or any other position for that matter, priority one is, “Respect the Punch”. And also, you need to be aware that most people don’t fight fair. So be aware of secondary attackers. But I can’t lie; it is fun to fool around during open mat with all the various guards. I love the DLR guard myself, not for any reason other then when I first started and didn’t know anything, this is a position I often found my self in. I didn’t learn it was an actual guard till much much later. Go Figure?!?!


Unlike traditional Martial Arts and other Sports, creativity is a wonderful thing in BJJ. Look at Braulio Estima with his reverse Triangle victories at ADCC this past weekend. I mean, it may not be new, but not a whole lot of people are pulling that off on the main stage these days.


So I encourage everyone to experiment from time to time. Always being aware of your surroundings, and recognizing what is sport and what is self-defense.

Genesis

Jiu Jitsu is a fundamental part of who I am and will soon become. It is the foundation for my improvement as a person, as a father, as a friend, and partner. 


I do not subscribe that the only way to personal improvement is through the path I have taken. There are many paths and this is just one. 


But there are few things that can ignite a passion as the art of Jiu Jitsu. A passion so deep that although there is repeated trying and failing day after day, you wake up the next day only to try again. 


The thought of quitting is worse than death. 


Forcing your mind and body to breakthrough the restrictions set upon you by society or ignorance. Few things can take your health, fitness, and diet to new levels as well as give you the tools to defend and protect, provide and progress through life in a more humble, centered and enlightened way. 


Jiu Jitsu makes me and many others a better person. 


For this gift I am thankful.