Chasing the Blue - A BJJ Quest.

Interview with Frank Forencich

2009-12-31T21:57:00.003Z

Following my last post on human movement, I've been looking deeper into this issue and I think much of what I've found will inform my exploits in 2010 (more on that another time). I've just finished reading Frank Forencich's book "Exuberant Animal" and wanted to hear more from Frank and also offer readers of this blog some of his insights, so Frank kindly agreed to a short interview. Here it is - enjoy.

Al: Tell me a bit about your background, in particular your Martial Arts training.

Frank: I trained intensively in kenpo karate and then aikido for a total of about 14 years. The transition between the arts was very difficult for me, but extremely educational. I had to completely re-wire my body and my movements. I was also fascinated that so many teachers would lay claim to knowing the single "right way" to move. What was correct in one dojo was ridiculed in another, just down the street. This led me to a deeper inquiry and a search for common principles. In turn, I became intrigued with the study of human origins and was inspired to travel to Africa. I wanted to know about the universals of human movement, not just particular styles. I still do some martial art movement, mostly in the context of Exuberant Animal, play-based classes.

Al: In relation to your “Exuberant Animal” philosophy, how do you perceive the martial arts should be approached/trained?

Frank: Like many, I'm a fan of Bruce Lee's philosophy of Jeet Kune Do, or "the style of no-style." Obviously, when you're in combat, there' s no way to predict how an opponent will move or behave. Therefore, it's just crazy to train in a single method. I've seen people develop extremely deep neurological ruts that would be a tremendous liability in a dynamic situation. The key, as athletic coaches are starting to realize, is to be "adaptable, not adapted." This calls for a diversity of training, a diversity of challenges and movements, always looking for general qualities of power, speed, flow, agility and grace. And in this sense, martial can share a lot with the world of dance.

Al: You’ve spent time with some hunter/gatherer tribes – did you see any martial traditions there?

Frank: I did not. Primal peoples were extremely dependent on tribal cohesion for survival. Cooperation in the hunt was essential; this was the social priority. Population density was low, so battle between tribes was probably infrequent. Consequently, there wasn't a great need for martial training. We see some evidence of combat weapons (spears and shields), but compared with the modern era, these were probably used more for bluff than for actual killing. This, by the way, is what we see in chimpanzee behavior: males frequently engage in threat and dominance displays, but actual violence is not as common. Jane Goodall observed "warfare" between chimp tribes at Gombe, but we can't forget the bonobo, the highly-sexualized, peace-making hippie primates of Central Africa. We have both of these tendencies in our lineage.

Al: Are you familiar with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu- what are your impressions?

I've only trained a little bit in this art. I found it to be enjoyable and incredibly effective. It strikes me as high-quality physical education, although I also see a fair bit of macho chest thumping in the competitive ranks.

Al: I’ve just read your book “Exuberant Animal” and what I loved about it was the warning that we risk losing what makes us human – our interactions with each other, the environment, our own bodies, but also that you offer thoughts and solutions on a way back.

Frank: We're at a really interesting and exciting time in the history of the body. Our physical relationship with the modern world just isn't working and it's time for trainers, coaches and physical educators to step up and lead the way to a new physical culture. We have to do more than just be good athletes who study high performance. We need to be speaking out and changing the culture, the schools and the workplace. In addition to training individuals and classes, we need to be writing and speaking, taking our insights to a wider audience. The forces of physical apathy are immensely powerful and well-funded. We need to offer a compelling counter-argument to the status quo.

Al: I’ve got five year old twins and I love to watch how they play, move, even play-fight (parentally controlled of course!). It’s so fluid and natural! I mourn the loss of that. What can I do to ensure my kids retain at least some of that and try to recover some of it for myself, even in the face of the onslaught of the “Human Zoo”?

Frank: Rough and tumble play is essential to child and human development and we need to keep it alive. Above all, we need to get outdoors as much as possible and avoid the lure of computers, TV and video games. The real leader in this regard is The Barefoot Sensei. See the website for his story and his inspirational lifestyle. Take off your shoes and feel the earth as much as possible. Keep sensation alive in natural settings: walk more, touch the land. Also, devote more time to authentic communication with other people. Avoid email. Real-time, face-to-face communication is the core of tribal cohesion and in turn, social health.

Al: I’ve noticed a trend recently for lots of “back to basics” exercise regimes – Kettle bells, hitting things with sledgehammers, clubs, but they all still seem to me to have the gloss of a “brand” – a trend. What are your thoughts on this?

Frank: Yes, well, everyone has to make a living and this is a bit of a conundrum. When you get right down to it, all you really need for basic conditioning is terrain, gravity, momentum and human bodies. Add in some rocks and sticks and you've got a pretty complete outdoor gym. If people want to promote this as a "style," I'm not too concerned. Just don't try to lure me into a big-box gym packed with machines!

Al: I feel that you and people like Erwan Le Corre have a lot to offer to society at large at a time when the human race seems hell-bent on doing everything that is counter-intuitive to the species, but it feels like a “quiet revolution”. Is this how you see it?

Frank: Yes. But perhaps it's time to stop being so quiet about it! I keep looking around for more passionate voices in defense of health and the human body, but I'm not hearing much. Where are the militant PE teachers? Where are the militant coaches and trainers? The militant doctors, nurses and therapists? We need to speak out and speak up.

Al: What are your plans for Exuberant Animal?

Frank: 2010 will be a big year for us as we refine our identity as a "Health leadership organization." We have some extremely talented people on our team. They have diverse physical training backgrounds, but all are inspirational health leaders in their own right. We will soon have a certification process in place and a lot of events coming up. And of course, I'll be speaking up and speaking out whenever I get the chance. My new book "Change Your Body, Change the World" is due out later this year.

Al: Frank, thanks for taking the time to chat. I hope to catch you at a UK seminar sometime and wish you all the best for 2010!

Frank: Yes, hope to meet you in the flesh.

Many thanks to Frank!

Frank is holding a seminar in London in April, hosted by Wild Fitness in April

Check out Frank's Website at www.exuberantanimal.com

Check out some examples of Frank's training here on You Tube

A happy and healthy 2010 to you all,

Al

I like to move it move it!

2009-10-28T22:26:00.002Z

Over the almost five years of my children’s lives so far, I’ve sat through many kids’ films. Some of them are tedious beyond belief (bloody Barney the Dinosaur!) but many of the Pixar/Dreamworks etc films are excellent fun. One of them, “Madagascar”, details the adventures of a bunch of animals from New York Zoo as they make a bid for freedom and somehow end up in Madagascar. From their pampered lives in New York they find themselves ill equipped for survival in the wild and comedy ensues as they slowly discover what it is like to be wild animals back in their natural habitats.

Through a series of magazine articles, I’ve recently picked up on the notion of “the Human Zoo”, a term first coined in his book of the same name by Zoologist/Sociobiologist Desmond Morris back in the late 1960s. He drew remarkable similarities in humans with captive zoo animals and looked closely at the aggressive, sexual and parental behaviour of the human species under the stresses and pressures of urban living. The theme of the Human Zoo is also picked up by Frank Forencich – a human movement and health expert who heads up his own movement known as the “Exuberant Animal”. Take a look at this article. It’s clearly a fictional, sociological and political commentary, but it highlights the absurdity and dangers of what we’ve largely become – urbanised animals, detached from our natural environments, conditioned and unable to move the way nature intended and eating processed foods that are far removed from what we evolved to exist on. Forencich promotes exercise through play and drills such as this (taken from Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood) are perfect.

Once you start digging into this philosophy that we have unwittingly become captives in this “Human Zoo”, you start to uncover a wealth of complimentary viewpoints and movements that subscribe to this outlook.

First up is the “Paleo Diet”, created by Professor Loren Cordain, based on his own, and others’ scientific research into the diets of our hunter/gatherer ancestors. Cordain hypothesises that our modern western diet which contains high proportions of processed foods and cereal grains has only been with us since the advent of agriculture, which, in human evolutionary terms, is the blink of an eye. Simply, we have not evolved to cope with the modern diet and should, in the interests of health, return to a diet closer to that of our ancestors. This diet, not touted as a weight loss programme, but a healthy way of eating, follows simple rules such as, if you can pull it off a tree, out of the ground or kill it, then you can eat it, or lean protein and as much fresh fruit and non-starchy vegetables as you want. In his book, Cordain sets out the scientifically proven advantages of this way of eating, dispels some myths (such as those surrounding eating fats and red meats) and makes a compelling case for how and why we should make this diet part of our way of life once more. I’ve been following a self adapted version of this diet for about a month now and have found that I always feel full, have plenty of energy and, considering I’m eating almost all day (mainly snacking on fruit and nuts), my waist line is dropping! I’m eating tasty lean meats and fruit in probably greater quantities than at any time in my life. It just makes sense…to me at least.

Sharing some ground with Forencich and linked to the “back to basics” approach of Cordain is Erwan LeCorre and his MovNat concept. Central to the MovNat philosophy is the need to be “fit to be free”. LeCorre’s training methods involve natural, functional movement, lifting, running, jumping, fighting, swimming, bounding - anything that intertwines your movement to the world around you.

It’s a philosophy that, once again, makes perfect sense. Our ancestors, who created the evolutionary need for our bodies to become what they are today didn’t stand in front of mirrors, in rows of treadmills, weights machines and MTV in order to become physically fit, they simply got on with the things they needed to, using their bodies as they were designed. Sure, the world has moved on and we do not hunt for our food or fight off wild predators, but there’s no reason that we should not get outside, connect with nature and get our bodies working in the myriad ways that nature intended. Gyms have constrained our fitness by limiting the body to a collection of named exercises, range of movement limited by pulleys and pivots, done under fluorescent lights in sweat-tainted air conditioned rooms, headphones on and no social interaction. (recent research has shown that exercising in groups is more effective and boosts happiness). The futility of the gym is borne out of in own experience. BMF puts my body through tougher workouts, more ranges of movement and is infinitely more enjoyable than the gym ever was. And how about Jiu Jitsu? A raw physical workout that’s often more like play, with friends and some crazy body movements that challenge even the most accomplished. It’s no coincidence that LeCorre has studied Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Forencich is an accomplished Martial artist including studying Aikido.

Even what we wear holds us back. There’s growing evidence that training shoes have changed the way we run and actually cause more damage than they prevent. How many hunter-gatherer tribes do you see wearing trainers? Those that do have footwear have little more than rudimentary foot coverings. Trainers change our natural running motion, decrease sensitivity and feedback to our bodies. Even Nike are in on the act with their Nike “free” – an attempt to reduce a trainer to the minimum and allow the foot to move as it was designed. I’m not in any place to ditch my trainers, but I find the evidence presented by people such as John Woodward, Mick Dodge and Ken Bob Saxton among many others, compelling. Do we wear trainers in Jiu Jitsu? No! We need the use and sensitivity of our feet to both attack, defend and give us feedback on our base and balance.

In Jiu Jitsu, a form of conditioning has evolved and is taught at The Jiu Jitsu University under Alvaro Romano, known as Ginastica Natural (I’ve mentioned it before, here); a blend of gymnastics, yoga and Jiu Jitsu movements, using the body as a tool and minimal equipment. Once again, it’s a back to basics system of exercising the body and rejoicing in the possibilities of human movement.

I’ve recently been reading “The Last Wrestlers” by Marcus Trower and, as I sat at my desk, vegetating and ruining my posture as an exhibit in the Human Zoo, the following words resonated like a clanging bell:

"I couldn't really believe that people really took office world seriously, that this was where they really wanted to be and what they fundamentally wanted to do..."

"I thought everyone knew that the real route to happiness was through the body..."

As a society, we marvel and celebrate the physical courage and achievements of the select few “professionals” as if full and effective use of our body is reserved for an elite minority. I’d argue that it’s a shared inheritance and one that we all need to get back in touch with before it’s too late. We’ve become conditioned by the confines of the human zoo, obsessed with rules and what is deemed to be “safe”, sleepwalked into a shockingly unnatural way of moving, eating and living.

Jiu Jitsu shares a lot of ground with the philosophy of those trying to find ways to escape the zoo, but we need to keep an eye on what Jiu Jitsu is really about. For me, it’s simply the joy of human movement and possibility – an effective method of self defence is an added bonus. The rest is frippery.

Let's get back to basics and just move.

Surrounded by positivity...

2009-09-01T21:43:00.003+01:00

I’ll open this entry with a bit of a catch up on recent training. It’s been a bit patchy for me recently what with trips up North doing my Dry Stone Walling and the odd evening away due to work. It’s amazing how out of it you can feel just missing a week or so of training… consistency really is the key to progress. Anyway, for about as long as I can remember back, we’ve been working on using the open guard…drilling, drilling, drilling, week after week, but it’s paying dividends. I’m not great at it at all but I feel a whole lot more comfortable using this position than I used to. I think it’s good to major on aspects like this until you really start to feel at home in a certain place. Using the open guard well in a defensive fashion leads to so many offensive opportunities it really is worth the time and effort.

One thing I have felt though and this has been compounded by missing a few sessions is that I’ve slipped backwards a bit at worst and plateaued at best in terms of the whole movement/sensitivity thing that I was kind of getting. I feel I’ve resorted to a much more grappling/strength game lately and not only does this feel mentally disappointing, but it’s a whole lot tougher. I also feel that a lot of the guys around me are moving ahead. Simon is just awesome these days, but the other guys are making good progress too…don’t get me wrong…it’s great to see and I’m dead chuffed for anyone that improves – this is more of a commentary on my own self-perceived stagnation at the moment. Over the last couple of sessions, both Simon and Dean have given me a few pointers which have reminded me of where the real Jiu Jitsu lies. Time to get back to the source!

I’m finding my schedule tough at the moment too:

Monday nights – Jiu Jitsu,
Tuesday nights – BMF
Wednesday – off
Thursday nights
BMF Followed by Jiu Jitsu
Friday Off
Saturday morning – BMF, occasional Jiu Jitsu p.m.
Sunday – Off

It’s not awful, but Thursday is really tough, but I’m keen to get three BMF sessions in a week as this is where my fitness and weight loss comes from…plus it’s really good fun. It just means I arrive at Jiu Jitsu thoroughly knackered. However, on the upside it also means I have to work good techniques as I’m too tired to give it the strong man, plus this risks all out cramp…every cloud etc. It’s OK – just have to make sure I’m hydrated and that I get plenty of rest between sessions….not easy with my kids waking up with the sunrise at the moment!

I want to spend the rest of this entry talking about surrounding yourself with positive people, positive friends.

As an opener, I want to congratulate one of my good friends, and previous cast member of this blog, Big Dean. Some time back, Big Dean switched his training to Roger Gracie’s Academy in Kilburn, mainly out of convenience of its schedule and location. The last time I saw Dean train, his improvement was dramatic – he’s clearly getting a lot from his four + sessions a week and the excellent tuition available there. Well, A couple of weeks back, there I was, browsing the forum over on EFN and there was the news of Dean’s promotion to Purple Belt. I’ve already spoken with Dean and given my congratulations, but here it is again….really well done and well deserved. And to have gotten it from the current undisputed world champion in Jiu Jitsu and one of the Gracie family's most successful competitors (Roger) is just awesome. Nice one Mate.

So, yeah, positive people, good friends. In the course of my work, I’ve hosted a number of sessions with various people on motivation and positive mindset. I’ve also heard on a number of occasions about top sportsmen and women who make sure that the set up around them, their training partners, coaches etc etc are all the right people – people that make them feel good – positive and encouraging. This is distinct from “yes” men as I’m talking about people that you intrinsically trust to have your best interests at heart, even if giving you tough feedback.

The importance of this is so true. Negativity just drags you down. I mention this as something happened to me recently that made me realise that all of my friends in Jiu Jitsu are a great source of positivity. I’ve spoken many times about my good friends in Jiu Jitsu and I’ve just realised what it is that makes them all such great people to be around. They’re all always really genuinely happy that you’re there, interested in how you’re doing. They all want to help and create the right climate for good things to happen. Without fail, they’ll always energise me, make me feel positive about what I’m doing, comment if they think I’ve lost weight, small stuff like that, it really matters – it’s just a really encouraging and positive place to be. Although I don’t have the same friendships at BMF (I’ve only been there a few months), the atmosphere is the same. I love it and I thrive on it – it’s a good place for me to be.

Outside of this setting, there are always people at work and elsewhere, people that claim to be friends that will seek to undermine your credibility and confidence in horribly Machiavellian ways – I just don’t understand or like it. Equally I don’t understand what it is about some settings, like Jiu Jitsu, that make it so unlike the rest of the world “out there”. It must just be a shared experience, interest, hope and aspiration. In counselling, they call it Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR) – valuing someone at the most fundamental human level.

To illustrate this, another thing I stumbled across on the EFN forum is the story of a guy that trains at Gracie Barra Birmingham. I think his name is Steve Fan. He recently discovered that he has cancer in one kidney and his lungs. I’ve never met this guy but really feel shocked by his news… I can’t imagine how that must feel to be given that news. What’s so great about this shocking story though is the resultant messages of support from the rest of the Jiu Jitsu community. Such positivity must really give Steve a great boost and give him the positivity to fight his situation. It’s just great and I wish Steve every positive outcome.

I’ve mentioned before another blog titled Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood. A great title – descriptive of how friendship should be and can be.

Al

Review - myprotein.co.uk

2009-07-22T22:32:00.003+01:00

Bit of a review and a plug, but thought it may be of interest.

Recommended by a BMF instructor, I had a look at www.myprotein.co.uk - a sports supplements company trading solely on the internet selling “unbranded” sports supplements in bulk at a snip of the price of other brands. BMF’s pretty tough and with this, combined with Jiu Jitsu, I need all the supplementary help I can get to recover my weary muscles.

In the past I’ve dabbled with sports supplements – mainly protein shakes as a post-workout recovery drink. The main brands I’ve tried until now have been Myoplex, Maximuscle and Protoplex (Holland & Barrett). The first two are typically expensive (around £30 for just under 1kg) and Protoplex about the same cost for slightly more.

Myprotein’s Impact Whey Protein costs about £12.50 for a kg of flavoured powder. The cost alone makes them a winner.

But there’s more. The taste is excellent – so far I’ve tried, Strawberry, Banana and Chocolate and all taste like reasonable milkshakes – not too sweet and a decent flavour. Some of the other brands taste pretty bad, almost “stale”. Then there’s the mixability – shaken up in a blending bottle (also available from the website), the result is a smooth drink – not gritty like some others. A big plus for me is in the ingredients – myprotein are transparent in what their products contain and importantly, contain nothing artificial, especially Aspartame. It seems that you can’t buy anything these days without Aspartame being hidden in it and from what I’ve read it’s not something that I want anywhere near my body. Just google it – nasty stuff…take a look at this for starters.

Take a look around at the rest of the site and there’s plenty of stuff to keep the hardcore bodybuilder happy, but even everyday supplements like multivitamins are cheap here and good quality.

The customer service is excellent – delivery is usually within a couple of days and you can choose what service you wish to use. I’ve phoned their helpline for guidance a couple of times and the call handlers are friendly and knowledgeable about the products.

If you want to give them a low-cost try, most of their products are available as 99p samples, most of which is recoverable on placement of a full order.

If you want to give them a try, enter the code MP135819 when you checkout your first order and get a 5% discount.

Great products, great service – not much more you could ask for.

Hear the drummer get wicked!

2009-06-08T21:06:00.006+01:00

I need to open this post with a big “Congratulations” to Roubel who got his Blue Belt at the end of May. Roubel has been training for something like eight or nine years (with some breaks) and in my humble opinion was at Blue belt level a good few years back. It’s always been the lack of opportunity to grade within Rickson’s Association that has meant some pretty long-held belts within our club. Under the Association, gradings are formal affairs and administered by “licensed” Black Belt examiners (of which there are now only a few still in the Association).

But the times have changed.

Rickson’s Association seems to be really only that by name. Rickson is back in Brazil doing his own thing and running his seminars. Many of Rickson’s Black Belts (whilst still loyal in spirit to Rickson) have gone on to do their own things. Association is mainly through loyalty to Rickson’s name and this is the case in our club. Rickson is Dean’s Instructor…that’s a strong enough link for us to be a “Rickson” club, but the loyalty is to him, not necessarily the Association – the two seem to be increasingly separate entities. It’s interesting that even Kron competes under the Humaita banner…

These changes ultimately enabled Dean to speak with his friend, Romolo Barros, one of Rickson’s Black Belts and close friends and seek permission to award a well earned belt. It goes without saying, but Dean is well qualified to understand how a Blue Belt should perform against the standards that Rickson sets and it was this, combined with Romolo’s knowledge of Dean’s Jiu Jitsu that allowed Romolo to sanction the award.

This is great news for Roubel and I’ve confessed to him a degree of envy that it was Dean who gave him his belt. I’ve said it before, Royce is a good name to drop, but ultimately, it is Dean that is our instructor and has guided us through, and I know that Roubel cherishes this accolade. I also feel that I can now wear my belt with some credibility – despite knowing (and having been told) that I’m the worthy holder of a Blue Belt, it always felt strange wearing it knowing that there were guys better than me still wearing white belts – sure, it’s all cosmetic and about opportunity, but nonetheless….

Roubel’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and since he’s been back training regularly his Jiu Jitsu has become just great, aided by his naturally good movement and athleticism. When I roll with him, he reminds me of all that good technique and movement in Jiu Jitsu is…something that’s easy for me to forget. It’s great as I feel that between Roubel’s technique and movement and my size and strength, we can both develop each other’s games.

Training

Training’s going OK at the moment – we’ve been covering probably one main technique per session and really drilling it for the whole session. This is a really great way of learning as you get to fully understand the technique and the movement variations that can occur. If we’d have done this a few years back I think I’d have been impatient to move on to the next technique, but now I really value the depth of understanding that I can gain within each technique. It’s the difference between good and very good Jiu Jitsu. A lot of what we’ve been doing has also really highlighted the use of efficient leverage, which, when combined with sensitivity and movement is really what Jiu Jitsu comes down to. It’s great and adds a whole new dimension, but it’s tough trying to overcome the mind and body’s natural urges to use strength as a substitute. It’s great training.

At the moment, I’m training 2-3 times a week, which is great as I love it, but work seems to be getting in the way a lot lately – a bit of travelling and a few overnight stays. Another problem, (but an infinitely nicer one to have) is that the summer brings with it, more opportunities for family days out…don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a complaint – I wouldn’t have it any other way, just it necessitates the odd missed session here and there.

My back has been playing up a bit again recently too – not sure what’s going on but it’s certainly not as bad at it has been in the past. This has meant that my movement has not been all that I want it to be and when I’m rolling with the likes of Roubel, this is highlighted even further. I think it’s this that has led to a bit of frustration for me in my training recently. I have known and felt a better way of rolling…at times my movement has been good – now it sometimes feels like I’m regressing. I’m hoping that just as past “dips/plateaus” have come and gone, this one will too, but it’s always tough when you’re in the middle of it.

BMF

I’ve been going to BMF for a few weeks now and I’m still really enjoying it. As with Jiu Jitsu, work has been getting in the way of the two sessions a week I’d like to attend but overall it’s going well. Gains? I’m not sure…I think I’m upping the intensity slightly, but haven’t lost any weight as yet (need to fix my diet!!!). In my last entry I told you how I’d plumped for a Blue (novice) bib. Well last Saturday we had a Fitness Test. These are held roughly every two months and consist of a timed 1500m run, max press ups in 2 mins, max sit ups in 2 mins, max burpees in 2 mins and timed 15x 20m shuttle sprints. In doing this you are able to assess where your fitness lies. I set myself the target of getting the minimum scores needed for the Red bib group. I managed this in all but one of the exercises, which I was really chuffed with – to be wearing a red bib, you need to get “red” scores in at least three of the exercises. Sit ups was my worst exercise as I find these really make my back hurt…and I’ve got rubbish abs!

Still, I hit my targets and next time I plan to wear a red bib. Granted, I’ll be at the bottom of that group, but it means that I’ll get worked harder and have something more to aim at. Another good feature with the BMF Fitness Tests is that all your scores are put into a series of graphs in your member’s area of the website. They show your exercise scores overall and then your scores for each exercise against the highest, lowest and average scores for the group. These are great for me as I work well with targets to hit, so now I’ll have scores to beat at the next test.

One thing I am struggling with at BMF and have done with Jiu Jitsu also, is what to eat when. Tuesday is fine as it’s after work so I can plan my eating at work and time it well so I’ve got enough energy but am not full. Saturday morning however is harder as the time between waking and training is short so trying to eat enough but without feeling bloated and getting stitch is a challenge. One week I’ve felt close to being sick, another I just had no energy and lagged at the back of the group all session. It’s just a case of experimenting and finding a formula that works I guess.

Kodo

One last thing that I have to mention is the show that I went to this last weekend. I went to the Royal Festival Hall to see the Kodo Drummers from Japan. Now, the linkage here with Jiu Jitsu is tenuous at best, apart from, maybe a shared Japanese lineage and physical exertion, but I just had to post about this. I’ve always been interested in all things Japanese – I just think it’s a fascinating culture. I first heard of Kodo from a mate of mine who shares an interest and he told me about how he was blown away by them, so I’ve waited about a year for them to come back to the UK.

Before the show, I was lucky enough to attend a talk with Kodo’s Cultural Director who gave a bit of history of the troupe and their work and lives, which was fascinating. Kodo are an ensemble of musicians, dancers and mainly Drummers who live on Sado Island in the North of Japan and their mission is to preserve the traditional Japanese cultural arts. For them this is done mainly through the use of the Taiko - the drums. The drums themselves are amazing – the larger ones hewn from single tree trunks and covered with animal hides.

The show itself was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Drumming stirs a primal energy in all of us and the power of these drums makes your entire body shake. The skill, composition and timing of the pieces performed was amazing, but what really blew me away was the sheer physical exertion put into each performance. The largest drums are beaten with what can only be described as baseball bats wielded with huge speed and power for pieces that can last over ten minutes. Even some of the smaller drums are beaten fiercely with Rounders bat sized sticks. The deep postures the drummers hold are essential to be able to wield the power needed to strike the drums and these postures alone would challenge even the fittest people – add knocking ten shades of ssss out of huge drums, in perfect rhythm for ten minutes and these feats are not only artistically awesome but also super human feats of endurance! One piece was performed almost exclusively on the largest drum of them all – about 2 ½ times larger than a man with the drummer wearing little more than a fundoshi (loin cloth). This served undoubtedly to keep the drummer cool as by the end of the piece he was dripping with sweat, but it also showed the strain of every sinew in his body as he struck the drum. With the loudest beats you could see his whole body lift the baton into the strike with the kind of audible exhalation that only comes with violent physical exertion. After this piece these drummers then moved onto smaller (but still huge) drums that were played from what I can only describe as a half sit up position. Simply awesome. Holding a half sit up for the duration of the piece whilst laying into a drum skin in perfect artistic timing… awesome is the only word that springs to mind. I couldn’t help but shake my head in disbelief at what I was seeing and hearing. The two standing ovations were well and truly earned.

If you have even the faintest interest in Japan, drums, performance or simply human endurance go and see Kodo if you get the chance. I was blown away.

Take care

Al

Stand by......GO!!!

2009-05-17T14:28:00.008+01:00

Earlier this week I went along for my free trial class with British Military Fitness. This was something I’d written about doing in a previous post.

I turned up at their Mote Park venue in Maidstone nice and early and as 7.00 pm approached I noticed a group of healthy people gathering to the side of the leisure centre (ironically, most of the people to’ing and fro’ing the leisure centre looked anything but healthy, many red faced after their “workouts”, lighting a cigarette on their way back to the car!!).

Anyway, disclaimer in hand, I approached one of the instructors – a strong looking guy wearing DPM combat trousers, called “Danny”. All of the BMF instructors are either former or currently serving military – most Physical Training Instructors (PTIs), all with fitness instruction qualifications to their names. Danny gave me an overview of what would happen in the classes and talked me through the three different groups within the class – Blue bibs, Novice, Red bibs, Intermediate, Green bibs, Advanced. Unsure what these fitness standards meant in reality, I plumped for Blue… I didn’t want to overestimate my level of fitness and embarrass myself. Apparently it is for each individual to decide which bib they wear at any given session, which is cool as I guess you could up yourself and really cane it, or drop down if you needed to take it easy. I think the bib system is also good in terms of progress – it gives you goals to aim for, much in the same way as the belt system works in Martial Arts.

We jogged off to an area of the park for the warm up, which I had been warned would be the worst part. It consisted of a series of shuttle runs, gradually increasing in pace, with various exercises in between to warm up the major muscle groups. This was followed by a range of exercises and runs in groups, Greens, obviously running furthest and doing the most reps.

Then the whole group was split into two – one group of Blues with a few lower end Reds, the other group Greens with upper end reds. The session was then a series of short runs interspersed with various forms of abdominal exercises, squats, burpees (the exercise loathed by all who’ve ever done military PTI – we used to call them “bastards” in the RAF), various types of press ups and so on – all done in reps of 10-20, numerous sets so the overall number of reps is quite high. If you follow the PTI’s instructions and keep moving then you are doing something continuously for an hour, but there were a good few in my group that either found it hard to keep up or simply slacked off (which I have trouble understanding given that they’d paid to be there and to get fitter – each to their own). At the end of all this, there was a warm down run and some stretching.

The session lasted an hour and as I’ve said, if you keep moving, it can be an hour of non-stop movement which is good (how many gym sessions of an hour are a full hour of exercise?). The body weight exercises were in quantities enough to be challenging, but I found the aerobic aspect easy – I barely broke a sweat, but this has given me a bit of confidence in my existing level of fitness. I think, given that there was 1 or 2 lower end reds that were ahead of me and that I found some of the later press ups hard (damn you lactic acid!), I’m likely to stick with the Blues for a few weeks until I feel I can give a reasonable account as red – certainly I’d want to be at the head of the group I was in last night to feel that I was ready to move up….much like Jiu Jitsu – unless you’re at the top of the heap against all other white belts then you shouldn’t be thinking about a blue belt (IMO).

I went along to another session yesterday (Saturday) which was with a different instructor and was far harder - after some exercises my legs were like jelly and I found it really tough - great!! (Then I went and trained Jiu Jitsu for three hours straight after!!! - actually it was quite a good antidote.) Apparently there are some fitness tests coming up which should be a good way to guage where I am and also to track progress with future tests (approx every 2 months).

I can’t really think of any downsides with the experience. The instructors are friendly, knowledgeable, approachable and game for a laugh and any images anyone has of a PTI shouting into your ear commanding you to drop face first into the mud and give them infinity should be dismissed. Even in the regular Forces, I never met a PTI that needed to resort to that to get the best out of people – they just have a genuine desire to see people give their best. Do that and you’ll get along fine. The other participants are friendly and encouraging (I’d guess that 70-80% of the membership are women), it was well organised and exercising with other people, in a sociable way, outdoors is simply so much better than the sterile gym, full of posers and slackers. The other advantage is that there are no limits that will create routine, which can be a killer of even the most committed gym-goers. I know, from what Danny told me, and from experience that every session will be different – all you have to do is turn up and do your best with what the PTI gives you to do.

I feel I can make rapid gains with this, so I signed up for unlimited sessions per week - £38 per month where I live (it does vary region by region) which is only 50p more than my gym membership which I intend to cancel. I’ll be able to attend twice a week normally – Tues eve and sat mornings. The other advantage is that if I’m away somewhere with work, there are enough locations around the UK to be able to pitch up and train anywhere now that I’m a member.

Overall, it’s a great sociable, directed workout which I think will motivate me far more than the gym. I also like the format which, if you have the right mindset will encourage you to push yourself further than being alone on a treadmill will. Big thumbs up from me.

Catch you soon.

Al

It's not just my belt that's blue...

2009-04-18T20:19:00.005+01:00

I’ve been thinking about posting about this subject for some time now. I’ve wondered whether it’s something that I should keep to myself as there can be a lot of misunderstanding and prejudice around the subject. But I always intended this blog to be an honest account of my BJJ journey and the topic in hand is very much part of my relationship with BJJ. I also think that with, statistically at least, any one in four of the people reading this will be going through something similar and I hope, even if only in a modest way, that if I can help someone to see that it’s all very common, then I can break some of the confusion and stigma.

I’m talking about depression.

I’ve been properly diagnosed with depression for about four years now, but with hindsight I can think back to having lived with it for at least the last decade. It’s a difficult topic to discuss and all I can give is my own personal experience. I guess I’ll start with how it feels, and I’m pretty sure this will be different for every individual. And I apologise in advance if any of this seems disjointed…it’s mainly a flow of consciousness.

For me, thinking back to my worst times, I can only really describe it as absolute, desperate sadness. Your whole world becomes void of light – the image of a grey cloud is a good one...except that it doesn’t just hover over you and rain periodically, it envelops you and constantly drenches you. It’s not just a case of being “a bit down” – it’s an insidious presence that completely alters reality…and it’s clever. You never see it happening. It becomes you. It becomes your reality and you don’t even notice. Despite even the best intentions of those around you urging you to not “let it control you” or the worst one, “get a grip”, you can never see anything except the bleak reality that exists for you. There’s a sketch by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as “Pete and Dud”, called “The Futility of Life” which sums this up nicely – here’s an excerpt:

PETE: No words can convey the merest inkling of my innermost thoughts.
DUD: On the contrary. What you've just said has conveyed to me in detail the nature of your malaise. You're feeling a bit droopy.
PETE: A bit droopy? You're the sort of person who'd have gone up to Joan of arc as the flames licked round her vitals and said,
'Feeling one degree under? Like a nice cup of tea?'
DUD: You know what my mother would say?
PETE: No.
DUD: 'Somebody has got out of bed the wrong side this morning.'
PETE: If your mother said that to me today, I'd smash her in the teeth with the coal scuttle.
DUD: Oh, I see. You're feeling a bit temperamental. As Dr Groarke would say 'half temper, half mental.'
PETE: These glib platitudes are, if anything, exacerbating an already unbearable mood of depression.
DUD: If you're depressed, there's no point sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. That won't get the washing up done.
PETE: Dud, your uncanny grasp of domestic trivia is of negligible therapeutic value, and if you tell me to pull myself together or snap out
of it, I might well do something rash.
DUD: I wouldn't say anything like that. Get a grip on yourself, look on the bright side.
DUD and PETE (together): Count your blessings.
DUD: Ooh, Mr Acid Drop himself. Come on, you'll feel better if you get it off your chest. You can confide in me. I mean, what am I here for?
PETE: In your fumbling way you have actually articulated the fundamental question. What are you here for? What am I here for? What is the purpose of life?

Depression is a horribly self-obsessed condition where your whole world turns inwards, as far as you’re concerned, no-one else understands what you’re going through and whatever is going on, it always feels worse for you. This is distinct from self-pity, which I think casual observers and cynics dismiss depression as being. Reality is in the eye of the beholder – we all see things differently and just because someone else sees that you have nothing to feel sad about, will not, and does not, make it so.

There have been many times when I’ve just wanted life to stop. I’m not talking about suicide…I’ve just felt it would be easier to not exist…”stop the world, I want to get off!”. This is why I’ve often found myself curled up under the duvet, with tears in my eyes trying to pretend that the world outside is on hold while I try and get some respite. All kinds of thoughts enter my head when I’m in a depression - a kilo of self-loathing, a few ounces of self-doubt, a cup of cynicism, a few tablespoons of hatred and a good dollop of anxiety and anger – key ingredients for a maelstrom of spiralling negativity.

You get moments of clarity when you start to see the roots of some of these thoughts and see the persona that you’ve become…you realise that you’re no longer the person that you used to be. For me, I became withdrawn and irritable and it’s true what they say – you always hurt the ones you love most. In public, you manage to maintain the persona that everyone wants to see, in private, you become moody, irritable…downright unpleasant to be around. That in itself is a huge cause for concern and grief and you can feel at a loss as to how you can get back, or even if you can.

The good news is, you can. Thankfully, my wife understands what’s going on and can very objectively see the changes when I’m slipping into a depression and prompt me to seek help. I’m lucky in that I have a great GP who is very knowledgeable about depression and takes an interest in me and my family and wants to see us all well. In the past I’ve taken Fluoxentine (“Prozac”) which at the time, faced with depression and anxiety was a great way to even out my emotional state. It brought me to a point where I felt I could cope again and even managed to come off it. However, for me, it evened things out too much – I didn’t experience the desperate lows any longer, but the cost was that I was also unable to experience the highs – to quote Blur’s “Country House” – “It’s a helping hand that makes you feel wonderfully bland”.

I’ve spent a lot of time reading about and trying to understand my condition and I’ve come to view it quite objectively as the illness that it is. Some people have diabetes and take insulin to control it, others have asthma and take ventolin. You break a leg and you wear a cast to help it heal. You can’t see my illness, but like all the others, from time to time, I take a medicine to control/alleviate it.

There is a scientific basis for depression – in my case I do not have enough Serotonin available to regulate my mood. Some of this is genetic, some of it is brought about by my brain using neurochemicals too quickly due to stress, some of which can be caused by the way I think and feel about certain things. The physical link between thinking patterns and mental health are well established – literally a case of mind over matter. Many anti-depressants are what’s known as Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and these work by controlling the amount of Serotonin that is used by the brain to ensure that there is always some available to the brain, thus regulating mood, which in turn, helps control thoughts. For me, the neurochemical/thought pattern process is a bit of a chicken and egg quandry – I’m not sure which way round it operates, but once the cycle starts it’s a pretty rapid downward spiral that needs intervention to help it.

I came out of a major depression with the help of Fluoxetine, feeling strong and capable, like I’d beaten the illness. In many ways I was grateful for the experience – it can give perspective on life, that, actually, it’s pretty great and you can only really appreciate that if you’ve seen the other side. I was also certain that having had the experience that I’d recognise the signs if it were to return.

I didn’t. Like I said, it sneaks up on you. It’s a con artist. It obscures your vision so that the false reality that you experience becomes true reality and before you know it, you’re back in that dark place again. For anyone that’s seen “The Matrix” – it feels like that to me. Like you’re trapped in a reality that you accept, but something tells you that it’s not right, that it’s not really your reality and it’s a battle to get out of it.

Right now, (I hope) I’m on the lower up side of the curve from a recent down. I’ve been taking Citalopram (another SSRI) which, whilst having more initial side effects (nausea, problems sleeping) – and I suspect will be harder to come off, has been very good. It has stabilised my moods and hasn’t numbed me in the same way that Prozac did. I’m also, at last, after a long wait, getting some help through talking therapies which I hope will give me further insight to my thoughts and ways of moving forward.

There are also plenty of other things to help you along: loads of reading – I’ve recently finished reading “The Art of Happiness” by the Dalai Lama, which had some great perspectives. At the moment I'm reading "The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness" by Williams et al, which describes a grat way of using meditation to overcome depression. This book comes with a useful CD of guided meditations, and I've said before that I find meditation useful. Topics like Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) are useful and interesting. The web is an amazing resource for scientific data, support, experiences and so on. One of the most useful I’ve found is the Mind website (UK based mental health charity). I’ve also bought a “Bodyclock” from Lumie – an alarm clock that wakes you with a simulated sunrise - far more natural and civilised way of being woken on a dark winter morning (the seasons do have a major effect on my mood) and there’s also a sunset feature for use at bed time to lull you into a more natural sleep. I’ve found this excellent. Also from Lumie, I’ve bought a desktop Lightbox to give me my dosage of light each day, again, especially in the Winter months. Whether this has worked or not, I’m not sure – I haven’t used it long enough to know, but I feel it may have reduced the fatigue I feel on grey days and all I can say is now that the lighter days are here, I feel my mood has improved dramatically. I’ve also looked into the linkages between diet, supplementation and mood and there’s compelling data around on this subject – well worth reading up on and there are a host of more natural remedies like St. John’s Wort and 5HTP than can help, although you do need to read up as there are interactions between various types and prescription drugs.

There’s one last thing I want to talk about and that is others’ perceptions on mental health. Some of my good friends have also had bouts of depression – some worse, all different in their own way. It’s really common…more common than you think because many people will not tell others about this problem for fear of being judged “a malingerer” or a “nutter” or some other prejudicial term. I was on the Tube the other day and I saw a series of posters for the “Time to Change” campaign which is a joint project by some of the main mental health charities to end discrimination faced by people who experience mental health problems. Such a project is well overdue and is supported by some familiar faces, some of whom you would never have known suffered from mental illness. Please take a look at this valuable campaign.

Those close to me know I have this illness. Others do not – this is certainly the first time I’ve spoken about it publicly. Because it’s been hidden I’ve heard others making judgments about people. I work in an HR function and regularly hear people off work with stress and depression being labeled as “Skivers” or worse. Now, I’m not naïve and there will always be a percentage of people who play the game, but for someone who is in deep emotional pain to be labeled a “skiver” is disgraceful and offensive. Because there are no outward signs of suffering does not mean that the pain felt inside is not acute. I challenge everyone to consider what life might be like living with mental illness and not be so quick to judge. Please take the time to understand and challenge your own perceptions…it’s statistically in your interest to do so as one day either you, or someone close to you will suffer from some form of mental illness.

So what has this got to do with BJJ?

Everything.

In a recent post, I wrote about meditation and this meditation is great relief from the inner thoughts that can send me into spirals of negativity. It’s great exercise and exercise is a great remedy for depression, so much so that some doctors have prescribed gym membership to patients. It allows me to connect with something tangible, something where I can see, that with application, I can make progress – a metaphor for life and something to give me hope that I can do the same in other areas of my life. But I think most of all, it’s the people. Meeting like minded people who do actually care about how you are, what’s going on with you, like you – it counts for so much. It’s so important to keep active and social (god knows it would be easier to succumb and not) and having such great people around you makes it easy and pleasurable. So thanks to all my good friends in BJJ.

I close this post with these few thoughts. For those that know me, please don’t think differently of me having read this. I’m still the same person I always was – just now you know something different about me. I don’t walk around near suicide every day. Mostly life is normal and I enjoy it. For those that don’t know me, thanks for reading – please think about what I’ve said and if you identify with anything here then I hope you found it interesting and useful.

Wishing you good mental health…

Al.

Ye olde curiositie shoppe

2009-03-20T21:56:00.015Z

I wanted to share with you a little piece of Jiu Jitsu trivia that I just picked up. Bored (as I often am) at work, I decided to browse e-bay to see what Jiu Jitsu related items were around. The usual mix of MMA gear, the odd Gi and instructional DVDs popped up. But also amongst the mix was a cutting from “Punch” magazine dated 1910, titled “The Suffragette that Knew Jiu Jitsu: The Arrest” by Arthur Wallis Mills.

What I thought was curious about this cartoon was the spelling of “Jiu Jitsu” which is often reserved nowadays in connection with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu whilst the Japanese original is often spelt “Ju”. It seems clear to me that it is only in recent times that any spelling of the Japanese word meaning “Gentle” has been standardised, hence the spelling in this cartoon.

However, I still felt that this was a nice little bit of trivia that would look good in a frame, so I put in my bid, forgot about it and lost. To be honest, I was a little bit gutted – you can by prints of this cartoon, but I felt I wanted the original with all of its history still clinging to it. That’s just me.

I put in a call to my Sister-in-Law, Tammy, who, with my Brother-in-Law and her Dad run a business in the US called “Bakertowne Collectables”. Here’s a quick plug – they buy and sell all types of collections and collectables and trade over e-bay…they’re a great place to try if you have some unique collections to sell or are looking for an obscure item or publication. Anyway, I thought that Tammy, with her connections might know where I could get a copy of the original. Almost instantly, the reply came “I have that edition right here in my hands!”. Schweet! It’s not what you know…

So I now have this original cartoon – monetary value is small, but I think it will look just great mounted and framed. Now I have it though, it has prompted me to do a bit of research on it and the history around it…the martial arts side. Women’s suffrage is well documented, but their involvement in Martial Arts is not so well known.

So where to start? Well, this cartoon is a good place. “Punch” was a weekly satirical zeitgeist publication and published this cartoon shortly after the release of a series of photos of Edith Garrud demonstrating Ju Jitsu techniques on a policeman (or at least a man dressed as one).

Garrud’s husband, William was a student of Sadakazu "Raku" Uyenishi - a Judoka who ran a Dojo in Soho in the early 20th century and was the author of the “Text Book of Ju-Jutsu as Practised in Japan”. William became the instructor at the Dojo when Uyenishi returned to Japan. Edith Garrud was active in the Women’s suffrage movement, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), led by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Sylvia and from her makeshift dojo at no. 9 Argyll Place, London (near Oxford St) she taught women of the WSPU the art of Ju Jitsu.

The need for women who were part of this movement to defend themselves became abundantly clear on “Black Friday” - November 18, 1910. In response to the Prime Minister quashing a women’s voter bill, 300 suffragettes marched on the House of Commons. Police were caught on film assaulting unarmed women attempting to march past. Unthinkable isn’t it? For a few still, this happened within living memory…

Ju Jitsu became an empowering force for a number of women in the Suffrage movement as shown in the article “Ju-Jutsu as a Husband-Tamer: A Suffragette Play with a Moral” From a publication called “Health & Strength”, April 8, 1911

In researching this, links to a Martial Art known as “Bartitsu” were also thrown up. Bartitsu was created by Edward William Barton-Wright who, while working as a railway engineer and surveyor in Japan, studied at two ju jitsu schools including the Kodokan Jiujitsu Dojo, possibly with Jigoro Kano, in Tokyo. He later incorporated stick fighting, Boxing and Savate into his learning and created an eclectic system which he named after himself – a pioneer in cross training and MMA if you will.

Barton-Wright was also one of the earliest people to open his doors to women, although, after the demise of Bartitsu, Edith Garrud’s Dojo became one of the most prominent places in London for women to learn self-defence.

Incidentally, Bartitsu was immortalized by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the fighting system employed by Sherlock Holmes – a feature not missed in the movie starring Robert Downey Jr released later this year, directed by Guy Ritchie. The movie is rumoured to contain plenty of fight scenes featuring Bartitsu - interesting since Guy Ritchie is, I think, a BJJ Brown Belt under Renzo Gracie, so I’d expect to see a distinct influence on the Ju Jitsu components of Downey’s Sherlock’s Bartitsu.

Anyway, it appears that Ju Jitsu was seen, at the start of the last century to be an effective way for women to defend themselves – a thought I’ve often had about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu today and yet, there are still very few women involved and this is a real shame. Rather than veer off on this subject myself, take a look at Meerkatsu’s blog which has a good article on this subject and also some of the links provided here by Slideyfoot to women in BJJ’s sites – they can give you insights that I certainly can’t.

Take care,

Al

Main source of info and links here

Mind, Body and Spirit

2009-03-19T19:59:00.003Z

It’s been just over a month since I made my last post…and how time flies! So here’s an update on all that’s been happening (or at least what I can remember!).

Jiu Jitsu: The Next Generation

Some congratulations are due! On the 1st March, Dave and his wife Toyah welcomed their daughter Nieve into the world. Both of them train with us and are Sensei and Senpai respectively in Kyukoshin Karate…I’d imagine with that pedigree, young Nieve has got an awesome journey in martial arts ahead of her! On 16th March, Simon and his wife Anna finally (long overdue) said “hi” to Marcella, their second daughter. Congratulations to you both!! And it doesn’t end there… Ram and his wife are expecting their first and Ian (AKA “Monkey”) and his wife are expecting their second not so long away. A ready made batch of Jiu Jitsukas!

Really, congratulations to all of you…it really is the greatest thing a person can ever be bestowed.

We can rebuild him…

I’ve already written about my quest to get fitter and slimmer so I thought I’d update on this. Since Christmas I’ve now lost about three quarters of a stone. It doesn’t sound much but when I’m being uncritical of my self, it’s actually quite good. I’ve made lots of small manageable changes to my lifestyle – mainly in the food I eat (although I’m still playing with this trying to get the right foods, right amounts an frequencies to get maximum benefit) and the result so far is slow, but steady weight loss. All that I’ve read has said that this is the way to go if you want to keep the weight off so hopefully this is good progress. Certainly my trousers feel looser which is always a good guide. There’s a long way to go yet though.

I’ve also become somewhat obsessive about my fitness training…but in a good way I think. At the moment a typical week looks like this:

Mon – 2.5 mile run at work
Tues – Jiu Jitsu (min 2hrs)
Weds – Gym (4 mile run, 10 mins row, 10 mins cross trainer all at average 70-80% MHR)
Thurs – Jiu Jitsu
Fri – 2.5 Mile run at work or Gym (as above)
Sat – Jiu Jitsu
Sun – Yoga and /or rest

I think that’s pretty good, but I’ve now started doubling up, so, for example, last Friday, I did my run at work and then went swimming in the evening. Yesterday, I went swimming at lunchtime and Jiu Jitsu in the evening. Swimming’s great for this as it’s quite aerobic, but low impact.

The sun has been out all of this last week, which makes my runs enjoyable, but I’m also starting to think I should dust my bike down and start cycling to work again now the lighter mornings and evenings are here (believe me – I have lights and reflectors galore but have still had far too many close shaves to want to cycle in the dark!).. It’s about 6.5miles one way so I figure this could also be a good, practical and functional way to add to my weekly regime.

I’m in a bit of a quandary about what to do with Yoga. It has been great, but one session is not enough to really progress. There are no other sessions and we are encouraged to do daily practice (which I don’t!). I would say, after around four months of Yoga, I have a good idea of the principles of the basic poses and the things I need to be aware of (but there really is no substitute for a teacher making corrections!). I have a book by the founder of Iyengar Yoga containing the main poses. I’m starting to wonder if I actually need to get up every Sunday morning to go to Yoga, or, with the props that I now have, whether I can simply practice at home. I do need to keep on with flexibility and core strength so it’s a tough one to call. Not sure what to do at the moment.

One thing that might make the decision easier is that I’m toying with the idea of trying British Military Fitness (BMF) once a week on Saturday mornings. It’s something I’ve wanted to do ever since I left the RAF. I’ve said before, I’ve never been fitter than when I was in my training in the RAF – the mix of functional exercises, aerobic workouts, camaraderie and genuine encouragement from PTIs (the image of PTIs shouting in your ears as you cry into the mud whilst doing your 1000th press up couldn’t be further from the truth – in the RAF at least!) is the most awesome recipe for rapid fitness gains. I decided to take a look at their list of locations and in the 8 years since I left the RAF, they have expanded enormously and now run sessions in a park not too far from me. The first session is free so I figure what have I got to lose?! However, if I try it and like it, then to be fair to my long-suffering wife, one of the weekend morning sessions is going to have to go (lie-ins at the weekend are very important when you have twins!). If I enjoy the BMF sessions, then I think the decision will be simple as I know from experience that the gains from that type of exercise will far outweigh the gains I’m making from one session a week of Yoga. I’ll just have to get some discipline and ensure I keep up some yoga practice at home! I’ll let you know how I get on if I give it a go.

Lastly on the body thing, yesterday I had my second session of Osteopathy. Since before Christmas I’ve had a tightness in my shoulder blade that has extended up my back, into my neck and had started to give me bad headaches in the base of my skull and started to disrupt my sleep. Some things just go on their own, but this one was just getting worse so I decided to get some help. After an initial consultation and some prodding, my Osteopath found the offending tissue and said it was probably due to some kind of knock during my late teens. Nothing significant sprang to mind, but my late teens/early twenties were my best Rugby years and I took knocks every week. Anyway – he certainly did, literally, hit the right spot – there’s not much, even in BJJ submissions that has hurt more than when he massaged the offending knot of tissue – if tapping would have made him stop I’d have been doing my Michael Flatley impression. The improvement after one treatment was noticeable and yesterday he went even further and deeper. I also got a full spine crack – neck, shoulders, lower back – wow, that always feels amazing and I arrived at training feeling lighter than air. Honestly, my back hasn’t felt so good in years. I’ve decided that £32 for a session is money well spent to keep everything doing what it should be so I’m going to have a session once a month as part of a “maintenance” regime. I’d recommend it – don’t suffer hoping things will just get better. You could be storing up problems for later – go get yourself seen to. Your body will thank you for it.

The melting pot…

One of the great things about Jiu Jitsu is that it creates a common bond amongst all who train it. People come from all walks of life, wear the same gear and train the same things. Life should be a lot more like Jiu Jitsu. Last night we had a discussion about religion and it just served to highlight how great Jiu Jitsu is. In our club, we have Anglicans, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists and each person is genuinely valued and respected for who they are, whilst at the same time, their religion being a total non-issue. We all share a mutual respect for each other and a love of the art we practice. Perhaps the world just needs more Jiu Jitsu?!

Training

Training has ticked along well lately. We’ve been training mostly techniques of late – a good number of sweeps and submissions, mainly from butterfly guard. Dean has also been majoring on the good use of leverage. This has been the “yang” to the “yin” of the softer balance/sensitivity stuff we’ve been doing. Dean has his sights set on training with Rickson sometime in the middle of the year and this has focussed his mind on the fundamentals of Rickson’s teachings – the things that are most basic and effective in Jiu Jitsu and it’s been great to be a part of Dean’s preparations as his work effectively rubs off on us, his students. It’s great to see, practice, feel and discuss, how the hard and soft aspects of Jiu Jitsu work with each other – each having their time and place. For me, it’s great…I’m starting to get a good sense of how I need to move, feel, wait for the right times and also understand when to be hard and unyielding and remove options from my opponent. I need to work hard not to lose sight of the softer, free flowing stuff I’ve worked hard on – it would be easy to default to hard, static Jiu Jitsu, so I think some movement drills would be good sometime soon.

This month has also been the month of Steves. Tugboat Steve has been back – great to see him and always a challenge. His strength is awesome and can challenge the best technique – a great guy to have to train with. Also, we saw French Steve for the first time this year. Even having not trained for possibly six months, he still doesn’t give an inch…great to see him back and looking forward to another visit in April.

Training’s been good – what more can I say? I could bore you with my technique breakdowns but there are plenty of other blogs that do that much better than me and a myriad of books. On that subject, I’ve just had my copy of Saulo Ribeiro’s “Jiu Jitsu University” delivered. I’m a big fan of Saulo and Xande’s as I know how much they’ve trained with, and been inspired by, Rickson. On first scan, it looks like the best instructional book I own. I’m going to take a much closer look and I will review on this blog sometime.

Catch ya soon(ish) ;P

Al

Marcelo Garcia Seminar - 7th Feb 09

2009-02-09T20:30:00.003Z

L-R: Roubel, Simon, Marcelo Garcia, Me

On Saturday I went to a Seminar with Marcelo Garcia (2 time World Champion at Black Belt, 3 time ADCC Champion). It was held in Hove near Brighton and organised by Grab and Pull, which is, I think, a BJJ related venture run by Gus Oliveira of Brighton BJJ. The seminar was scheduled over two days – 1st day being Gi, 2nd Day being No-Gi. Cost for one day was £50, both days, £80. I attended just the one day – the Gi day. The session ran from 2p.m. To 4p.m. with just under an hour of rolling at the end and the chance for photos.

Given the snow that had beleaguered most of the UK during the week, Si and I had a reasonable journey down to Hove and met Roubel there too. We had a good chat with a few guys we knew from other clubs, tournaments etc and I was also able to put faces to names of some of the guys that contribute to the EFN forums. As we were chatting, Marcelo walked in – just a normal guy – really quite small but he had a smile and a handshake for everyone – straight away you got the feeling he was one of those people that everyone enjoys being around. And there were no heirs and graces – he was in the thick of it with the rest of us (I’ve been to seminars in the past – mainly traditional Martial Arts I have to say – where the seminar instructor has been treated like Royalty…big entrance, separate changing room etc etc and many a lot less well known or accomplished than some of the top BJJ guys).

The seminar was held in the sports hall of the King Alfred Leisure Centre, which was absolutely freezing…something not lost on Marcelo as his opening remark was that this was his first trip to the UK and he couldn’t believe how cold it was. So after a quick warm up and stretch it was down to the business of the day.

Marcelo opened by explaining that although the two days were Gi and No-gi, the techniques he was going to show were applicable across both as this was how he trained in order to avoid the need to have two separate “games” depending on what type of tournament he was entering – sound logic (this was also indicative of his style which was very competition oriented, with mention of points and time considerations – that’s the world he moves in and where he’s made his name). He explained that day one would look at work from the top position and day two, the bottom position with all techniques building up an array of options from one position.

So, I’ll try to go through the details on the techniques he showed, but note that these explanations are given in ways that enable me to remember so I apologise in advance if they’re not always clear.

1. Starting from standing, at the feet of seated opponent using open guard. First try pushing opponent back or grabbing ankles to tip back. Grab ankles and place between thighs and kneel tight in to butt of opponent. This will, to an extent, trap opponent’s legs. Move hands in through between opponents legs, placing elbows at hips, head on chest. Move head to side of opponent’s body that you want to pass to. Hold knee of same side. Kick opposite side leg up so that you effectively end up almost doing a headstand, clearing any potential hooks from opponent and come down into kneeling cross side and secure with underhook and clinch around head.

2. Starting as above, but this time, as you kneel, the opponent is able to push your body away. To counteract this take grips on the side of the gi, then post weight with one arm and bringing hips in behind posting on the balls of your feet, head up. From here, using other hand, push opponent’s knee inwards and swing same side leg to posted arm up and around the head to slide own body down and across opponent to end up in cross side. Secure position.

3. This time, whilst aiming to do the above, the opponent is able to place feet on your hips and push you away. Reach through and post arm on chest as before and place other hand on top of same side knee. With knee that is same side as posted arm, work into centre position so that foot is near opponent’s butt. Push opponent’s knee down to get other leg outside of opponent’s. In one movement, push opponent’s knee down and swing centre leg back and up to clear hooks and swing back inwards to opponent’s body to take knee on stomach. If opponent tries to escape, follow and then drop into kneeling cross side. Secure position.

4. Whilst aiming to do the above, opponent manages to get half guard on centre leg and may also have grabbed posted leg (if you weren’t careful to keep it far away enough). As before, post arm on chest and place other hand on knee. Move leg to back of half guard (if this breaks it then great) and immediately shoot knee forward to land at opponent’s diagonal opposite hip. Take kneeling cross side and secure position.

5. As above, but this time the opponent has blocked any movement from the trapped leg (and again, may also have grabbed posted leg (if you weren’t careful to keep it far away enough). Posting and hand positions the same as before. But as with technique number 2, swing free leg round opponents head to slide down body. From here, turn body to face opponent and use free leg and shrimp movement to free other leg still trapped in half guard (if still trapped). Cross side and secure.

6. As above but having swung leg round, opponent has managed to grab back, preventing you turning to face him. Turn opposite way and take under grip and clinch around head. Place shin of free leg near trapped leg and roll your opponent onto his back whilst prising with legs to open half guard. Slide knees forward to escape half guard and take mount.

7. Submission #1. Progress as per movement 5 to point of having freed both legs. Post uppermost leg out and drop lower knee to hip of opponent. It’s important to be sitting up in good base otherwise you’ll just be rolled off. Push up so that you are effectively sitting on top of the opponent, straddling him You should be able to have taken his uppermost arm over your leg so that the hand sits near the hip. From here you can take an arm bar, wrist lock or a shoulder lock by squeezing your own knee towards the other, or by placing your foot over the opponent’s head, sitting to the floor then executing by squeezing in with your knee.

8. Submission #2. Progress as per movement 6. As you sit to the side, facing away from your opponent, wrap your closest arm round the back of opponents head. Keeping weight on the chest to keep opponent flat, work round to North/South position. Push hips back and to the floor. Bring free hand under to meet other hand and squeeze. Done properly, this should be a good, quick strangle but done badly can end up as a neck crank.

Wow, didn’t realise there was that much until I’ve just written it and I hope I’ve remembered it right – there’s always the risk of confusing the odd bit, but there were three of us from the club there so I guess we can always work it out.

One point to make about all of these – at every stage, Marcelo was very clear about the need to have good base, posture and to control the opponent and his hips, especially when in cross side type positions.

I was really impressed with Marcelo’s instruction – clear, precise with great attention to the details that make a difference. During the practice he was walking around paying careful attention to everyone, answering questions and making corrections. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the majority of the moves and was taken by the speed with which Marcelo was able to execute them.

The rolling at the end was done in rotating four minute bouts and was very enjoyable – no one going insane. I think the tone was set well by Marcelo and everyone followed his calm lead. I wasn’t fortunate enough to roll with him but those that did all commented on his amazing grip strength, lack of use of the Gi and his ability to almost magnetically grab and utilise anything of his opponent that was available. At the end Marcelo thanked everyone and seemed genuinely appreciative of the time and money people had given to go and see him – another mark of his humility. Then it was open season for the usual post seminar photo opportunities, again, all done in the same spirit as the rest of the seminar.

All in all it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, learning some new concepts from someone recognised as one of the best. The things I took away from it were (a) just what a nice guy Marcelo is, (b) that good jiu jitsu is simple and (c) it’s good to work up a range of scenarios starting from one source – the techniques I’ve described above all stared from being at the foot of someone’s open guard and I can see now why Marcelo is as good as he is. If his whole game is like this, then he pretty much has an answer for just about any eventuality and all of them are drilled to instinctiveness.

Value for money? Pretty good I’d say – about average for a BJJ seminar and for tuition of that quality and from a name like Marcelo Garcia, it’s hard to fault it. Thanks to Gus and his team for putting together a good seminar in the UK with a top name – I look forward to many more!

Slowing down...

2009-02-02T20:46:00.009Z

I’m pretty sure it’s something I’ve mentioned before in previous posts, but the parallels between Jiu Jitsu and mediation are many. In fact I would go as far to say that good Jiu Jitsu is meditation. There’s an interesting post on this on Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood and I can concur with everything written there.

A couple of years ago, I went to the London Buddhist Centre (LBC) in Bethnal Green for a day long introduction to meditation. I think it cost about £25… I know they still run them. I went along having read lots on Buddhism, a rudimentary knowledge of meditation and, I guess, looking for some answers. What I got was a relaxing day with some nice people, some methods of focussing meditation and some nice vegetarian food. Really enjoyable and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in getting started on meditation.

Just recently I’ve noticed a lot of “noise” in life and with a mail shot from the LBC my mind turned once more to meditation as a possible way to deal with this noise. The LBC runs drop-in lunchtime sessions from 1300-1400, costing only £1. So, with Bethnal Green only a couple of Tube stops from my office in London, I decided that, this year, meetings etc allowing, if I was working in London, I would spend my lunch times at these sessions. So far I’ve managed to attend twice.

The LBC is a great little oasis of calm in a busy city and the shrine where the mediation takes place is stunning – it just has an immediate feeling of calm. It’s a bright space, the air laced with incense and the giant gold Buddha that dominates the room gives the room the sense of reverence that it deserves. Two mediation practices are taught at the LBC – “The Mindfulness of Breathing” and the Metta Bhavana. Here, I’ll give a quick outline of the mediations, but I’d advise that you do further reading around these to understand them in their context, or better still, find somewhere that will guide you through them as they’ll be able to give context and also pointers on things like posture.

The mindfulness of breathing is probably the most accessible. You simply focus on your breath which is a constant and readily available feature that you can meditate on.

Stage 1: You begin by counting at the end of each out breath – do this ten times and repeat, initially for five minutes.

Stage 2: You count at the start of each in breath – as above. This is a very subtle but definite shift in focus.

Stage 3: You drop the count but focus on the experience of breathing – how it feels, how the body moves, pretty much any experience associated with breathing.

Stage 4: You take a single element of the experience of breathing (for me it was the sensation of cold as the air hit the back of my nasal cavity) and focus on that.

Each stage was five minutes. As you practice, it is possible to extend the duration of practice, and, I guess to become less reliant on the “introductory” phases. You do (I certainly did) experience “wandering” of the mind, but the trick is to notice this and come back to the practice, but the overall aim is to reach a single point of concentration that is here and now. It is this that takes you away from thoughts of past or future, problems etc and this that helps to restore peace to our minds. It is this same principle that is applied to all “mindfulness” practice – being aware of what is happening in the moment that you are experiencing rather than letting the sometimes damaging and rampant internal dialogue that we all have from taking over our experience and making us unhappy.

The Metta Bhavana (translates as something like “Cultivating Loving Kindness”) approaches a somewhat more spiritual angle on meditation, aiming to allow us to grow compassion and understanding towards ourselves and others, which I guess is no bad thing regardless of your religious views. Again, in the introductory practice that I have undertaken, the stages are done in five minute segments, but the aim is to extend the practice as you become more experienced. During the stages, you make the following “wishes” for the subject of your mediation:

- May they be healthy

- May they be happy

- May they be free from suffering

- May they make progress.

Simple, but nice sentiments. But these are not words, you need to feel that they hold a meaning and almost picture your subjects benefitting from these sentiments.

In stages, you apply these sentiments to:

1) Yourself

2) A close friend. It is recommended that this is someone same sex and not someone that you are romantically interested or involved with.

3) Someone you know but not well – this could be a shopkeeper, postman, receptionist – the point is that this is someone that features in your daily life but you are not well acquainted with.

4) An enemy – someone that you find difficult, perhaps even “hate”.

5) You open up these sentiments to the world around you.

I find this meditation a little more difficult – my mind wanders a lot more with this and a few times I’ve even felt myself falling asleep. Also, wishing well to an enemy is an alien concept and very difficult sometimes. But I think it’s worth persisting – to acknowledge that every person has hopes, dreams, desires and a wish to be happy, just like yourself, is a useful and grounding thing to do and if it cultivates a more open persona to others, then surely that’s a good thing…? I have found it a grounding meditation, especially in the last stage - realising that you are a small part in a much bigger worl that surrounds you.

The goal of any meditation, is, as I’ve already said, to focus the mind on a single point of concentration, to stop the mind from drifting into uncontrollable thoughts about the past, which no longer exists, or the future, which doesn’t yet exist and to experience more of now. By doing this, we experience more of life, calm our minds and increase our ability to focus and concentrate.

And this is why, in my mind, Jiu Jitsu, when practiced with a right mind, is meditation. Two or three times a week I put on a gi, step onto the mats and meditate. My mind is occupied with Jiu Jitsu, its movements, its sensations and it is immediate and single pointed. That’s what mediation is and if you are so minded, it can be likened to a spiritual experience. Jiu Jitsu allows you to experience life in the moment and without distraction – how many other parts of your life can truly do that?

Sure, Jiu Jitsu is a great physical workout, but how many people really give their mind a workout….and I’m not talking arithmetic, memory, IQ type exercises, I’m talking something deeper, something more spiritual. This is why, for me, Jiu Jitsu will never be a sport, a workout or a recreational activity – it is all of those things on a physical level, but its so much more. It’s the piece of the puzzle that is far too often missing in modern life. It gives the time and space to “be”.

Helio Gracie 1913-2009

2009-01-29T18:04:00.013Z

Grandmaster Helio Gracie

1913-2009

I had to post something here today. This morning, one of the creators of the form of the art that I practice and think about every day died at his home in Brazil.

There are many alive today that call themselves "Grandmaster" and many in the past that have been lauded as such, but Helio was genuinely a legend that took a form of martial art and moulded it, refined it to become a phenomenon that forced all serious martial artists too look at the effectiveness of their systems.

Pick up any book on BJJ, or google his name and there are stories and legends of how Helio pioneered significant developments in an already efficient system and created a legacy.

I do not intend to cover old ground here but just wanted to pay tribute to a man that had a lasting effect on martial arts and the lives of all of us who practice his, and his family's incarnation of Jiu Jitsu.

Who ate all the pies?!

2009-01-26T20:47:00.003Z

Well, we’re just approaching the end of January 2009. Unbelievable. A belated happy new year to you all and I hope you had a great Christmas.

I really enjoyed Christmas this year. Immediately before Christmas I was suffering with a pretty bad cold – mainly a cough, but this cleared up just in time for me to enjoy my Christmas dinner! Having been ill with colds for the best parts of Oct, Nov and Dec I decided to take advantage of the break and do absolutely no training and I think it was just what the doctor ordered…I returned after Christmas feeling much healthier…although also much heavier! More on that in a moment.

One of the great presents I got, which I had hoped for, was a set of Bodylastics. You may remember me talking about these in a previous post. These are a great set of graded rubber tubes with fittings for resistance training. Having seen Dean’s demonstration of how these can be used to practice Jiu Jitsu movements just about anywhere there’s a door, I knew these would be a really useful thing to have. Besides that, there are a whole range of resistance exercises you can perform. They all fit into a tidy little pouch which means that you can take them anywhere. I don’t do loads of travelling, but for anyone that travels for work and can’t always find a gym, I’d say that they have to be an essential item in your luggage.

So after a couple of weeks’ rest, too much food and some illness I returned to training. It was great to be back and the ideal antidote to being back at work. There’s a renewed passion in many of the guys in the club and I get the feeling that 2009 is going to be a great year for everyone in the club so long as we can maintain what we have now. There’s a Saturday session again too, which is a great way to spend a few hours at the weekend. Here’s a quick rundown of the stuff we’ve been doing (more for my purposes):

- A cool variation on the guillotine choke – as the opponent comes forward, guide his head with hand and grab under chin, trapping the pack of his head under your armpit/shoulder. Place the “mound” of your thumb to the back of the chin (above the Adam’s apple) and twist up and into the base of the tongue. This (forgive my anatomical knowledge if I’m wrong) appears to close the Epiglottis over the Glotis (the same action as happens when you swallow food). It simply cuts of air at the source and is far less gnarly than the usual guillotine and easier to get.
- From the knees: creating space – rising up to tempt opponent in to mid-rift, rock back on to toes, fall back projecting your butt to create distance and bringing opponent off balance to create several opportunities for advancement/submissions.
- From standing: opponent jumps to guard, control base and posture, defend space and grips, breaking guard and pass (opponent under hips)
- Revision on Mount escapes: Elbow escape, upa (main point bringing other elbow into play) and practicing these with good movement and adapting between the two depending on opponent’s position.
- From standing (self defence): Defend punch (hair comb), clinch, step in for hip throw, or take back for lift from rear (important to get hips under).

More recently we’ve been revisiting many of our basic movements – teeter-totter, shrimp etc and engagement of the core – this is great stuff to do again and again and get ingrained – it makes such a difference to the movement and flow of Jiu Jitsu.

I’ve managed to get back to the gym too, which is great. I have lost some fitness, but not below what I would consider my minimum acceptable level, so that’s good. Just before Christmas, I moved to a new office, which has showers, so I’ve also started to run at lunchtimes which I also hope will make a difference (by the way, I've found a great little tool for mapping runs/walks and it does so much more at http://www.mapmyrun.com/). Yoga continues too and I can feel myself getting stronger in the poses all the time. All this and 2/3 Jiu Jitsu sessions a week and hopefully (colds permitting!!) I’ll soon be back in shape. This year I really want to get down to 15 stone. For some that’s heavy, but for me it’s a good, healthy weight. Right now I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been and I’ve got to reverse the slide, for health, for my kids and not least, to make my Jiu Jitsu better!

This goal has received an excellent boost by Dean seeming to have taken me on as a project. He’s taken my goal on of getting me down to 15 stone by mid-year and this is just great motivation for me. Now, for all of you that can just eat well and train hard, great for you…me, I need some external motivation. Way back when, it was the RAF, last year it was the Blue belt, now I’ve got my instructor putting his faith and confidence in me to do this. After a Saturday session at about 6 p.m. I got a call from Dean checking that I wasn’t eating any carbs after 6, but mainly to let me know how I’m doing in training. This was unexpected, but this was the turning point for me from vaguely hoping I could lose weight to actually making a commitment that I am actually going to do it. Same again this week – Saturday night a phone call from Dean - “a weekly motivational call” and it was. I don’t need any motivation to train, but to keep on the straight and narrow food wise…another story. And it works! I’ve spent the last week or so eating tons more fruit and veg than normal, and actually enjoying it…enjoying being healthy and enjoying that it’s got to be a good thing for me. Weight loss? I don’t know….time will tell but I’m staying away from the scales until I can see a difference.

Thanks Dean – I will do this...and if anyone else sees me sneaking contraband, you gotta slap me.

On to a couple of other things that have caught my attention in cyberspace this month. Firstly, an interview on the Fightworks Podcast with Rickson. It was great to hear some recent thoughts from Rickson, especially with the focus being Jiu Jitsu. So many of his interviews are taken down the route of MMA, which is old news, so it was nice to hear him talk about where he wants to take his art and about his seminars that he has been doing. Worth a listen.

The other thing that I’ve been checking out is a blog called Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood. There are so many blogs out there that it’s hard to see them all. This one is written by Nicolas Gregoriades who is, I believe, a Black Belt under Roger Gracie. It’s a great blog and one that very much mirrors many of the aspects of Jiu Jitsu that Dean espouses and that I feel. Definitely worth a read.

Got to go – I hope this year works out well for anyone reading this. I hope you stay healthy and achieve your goals. I’m hoping to be able to find time to put up a few more related articles this year and some reviews to add a bit of variety to the blog, so I please keep checking back for the latest.

All the best.

Al.

2008...Where did it go?

2008-12-24T20:48:00.013Z

Wow, so this is my last post of 2008. It’s been quite a year.

I think back to the start of the year and not really knowing how training was going to pan out. Fast forward to recent months and there have been occasions where there hasn’t been room for everyone to train at once. Just shows what can happen in a year.

This has, by far, been my best year in Jiu Jitsu, some major highlights being:

- Two medals at two tournaments
- Training with John Danaher at Renzo’s in NYC
- Meeting Matt Serra and training at his gym on Long Island
- Training at Eduardo Rocha’s gym in Oakland
- Training with, and getting my Blue Belt from Royce!!!

There have been loads of other great bits and some great training this year, but my biggest “gain” has been in my application of Jiu Jitsu. I feel that since Dean has returned to teaching, my understanding of how Jiu Jitsu should and can be has grown exponentially. Whilst I’m still not great, I’m training and rolling in a way that I’d have once thought off limits to someone like me, in a way that will sustain my interest and development for a long time to come – suddenly, a lot more seems possible. And it’s this that has led to probably my single best moment of the year.

I’ve already written about this, but I’m going to mention it again. Shortly after getting my Blue Belt from Royce, I was practicing with Dean and we were rolling and exchanging positions in a really free and creative way – it felt great. I felt great – like I was actually doing Jiu Jitsu, like I was well and reasonably skilled. At the end of that session, all Dean said to me was “and that’s why you’re a Blue Belt”. Looking back now, that was this year’s best moment. For sure, actually getting my Blue Belt was great, but getting that acknowledgement from my instructor meant so much more. Why? Well, because Dean’s my Instructor and know’s where I’ve come from, my strengths, my limits and also sees what I can do. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need or look for that kind of thing – I love Jiu Jitsu, man, I’m obsessed by it, but nonetheless, it felt like the biggest compliment I could receive. So thanks Dean, for your time, your energy and also for giving me the confidence to adopt a style of Jiu Jitsu that makes me smile.

Thanks to everyone I’ve trained with this year – every single person has added something to my training. Thanks especially to Big Dean and Si for their friendship and concern beyond Jiu Jitsu – it’s nice to feel that there are people out there who care and you can trust...I spend my working week with so many people I dislike and distrust that it would be easy to shut off unless you had a few good friends around you to remind you that life can be good.

A great year on the mat then….what does 2009 hold? One thing I’ve learned this year is that you cannot predict what’s going to happen, so I’m not even going to try or worry about it. I just wanto train and feel good. I did have some hope of a BJJ odyssey, but that seems to have been removed in one swipe by the Billionaire owner of the company I work for announcing a pay freeze and no bonuses (I can see his brand new £180K Ferrari from my office window…hmmm) during 2009 – the credit crucnch hits BJJ! We’ll see – I certainly never expected 2 US trips this year – just the way things can work out!

My quest to be leaner and fitter will continue…as always. Yoga and a better diet will help. I’ve been trying this year, but no path to improvement is ever linear so I’m not perturbed, nor am I going to make any excuses. I’ve got to do something though – three colds in three months (yep, I’ve got another right now) has got to be telling me something and it’s hard to train well when you’re not 100%.

So, I’ll close this year by talking about our last session which took place on Sunday - a few hours training (mainly working on Mount and weight distribution – worth mentioning Richard’s return (with Craig!) – good to see both back. Also good to see Toyah, looking very well on imminent motherhood) followed by a few drinks and a meal at Pizza Express. Despite feeling a bit ropey from this rubbish cough I’ve got, I really enjoyed being with those that could make it – it’s this stuff that makes you feel like a “club” or a “team” so thanks to all for your company. And what a great choice – Pizza…food of Ninja Turtles….a poor attempt by me to create a segway to this. I found this a long while back and thought I’d share it. I just know you will try it. Just one of those things you have to do. Enjoy.

Purple Belts...purple backs.

2008-12-17T20:21:00.008Z

Training over the past few weeks has been excellent. We’ve been working a lot from the guard and open guard – passes, sweeps, controlling the guy in your guard with sensitivity and balance, movement and taking angles to get controls, taking the back – a lot of stuff, some new, some revision with fine tuning and new, deeper understandings, but one thing remains common to all of it – core understanding of body movement, leverage and sensitivity. I would honestly go insane trying to recall the detail of every technique or detail of the stuff we’re practising, so instead, what I am focussing on is the core principles of everything we do and how these apply to just about any situation. Ultimately, Jiu Jitsu is about creating – creating movement and exploiting leverage and balance.

There’s also been a good mix at the club lately – some of the older guys returning, a few new guys who seem to be enjoying themselves and a spirit of cooperation. I’ve been enjoying rolling with a couple of the newer guys – Nuri and Dave. Both have been training long enough now to have a grasp of the basics and the direction that they should be heading. I can roll with them and see the gaps and opportunities they give me that perhaps some of the more experienced guys wouldn’t – this doesn’t mean that I exploit any advantage of experience, indeed I purposely give up positions and wilful submissions so that we can continue to roll and learn from each other. I’ve learned a lot from rolling in this way, get a good workout and always come up smiling.

I’ve also enjoyed rolling with Dean T. Because of the way that Dean rolls, I feel compelled to return the complement, so to speak. Also, because Dean’s game is so secure, you’re forced to think more creatively about opportunities and escapes, which is never a bad thing. Last Sunday I trained with Dean and he took me through the basics and finer details of holding cross side and escaping – a position I always struggle with and I came away with a deeper understanding of this position and very grateful for the time that Dean had given me.

All told, I am really enjoying my training lately. I’m enjoying the possibilities and the feeling that I’m no longer do Jiu Jitsu “by numbers” – i.e. I’m a little more adaptable than thinking “Right, I’m under mount so I’m going to do an upa escape, page 5 figure 4” and insisting on that one technique because it’s all I know. I’ve felt the ability to move well – sure, sometimes, especially under pressure I can freeze and, especially early on in each session my back keeps me rigid (it takes a while for things to warm up and get some flexibility there), but I’m headed in the right direction.

Around Jiu Jitsu, I’ve been prevented from training a little by colds and a few sessions missed due to work commitments/travel, which sucks, but that’s life. Yoga’s going OK – I feel I’m making progress and becoming more aware of the areas of my body I need to work on – not surprisingly my lower back mobility is poor, but especially on one side – the side I had all the trouble – maybe I’ll look into some kind of massage/physio – I’m beginning to wonder if something strange has happened to the muscles there during the time that it was bad…? Anyway, yes, Yoga. I’m definitely feeling the benefits – I feel much stronger and still enjoying the challenge that it presents.

On to Some other news. On 6th December I went along to Carlson Gracie London, in Hammersmith. I knew that a number of guys I know would potentially be getting belts so I wanted to be there to congratulate them. I met some of the Tonbridge guys in central London and we headed over. I was meant to meet Si there too but there was no sign of him and I couldn’t get hold of his mobile. One of the guys mentioned that he’d hurt his ribs the night before so I started to suspect that he was bad enough not to train. More on that in a moment.

The gym itself looks, at first, like you’re walking into someone’s flat, but as you walk up the stairs the walls are covered in photos, reflecting the history and changing times the club has seen. Upstairs, the training area is a reasonable size and well matted out. I’ve been to lighter, airier gyms, but it has the feel of a friendly, but serious, no-fuss, no-nonsense approach to BJJ, which, I guess reflects the Carlson ethos well. I saw Mike there, who has been training there for a while now (it’s easier access for him), tearing up the mats. It was really good to see him again and catch up. It was also good to see him leglock a purple belt, who, I have to say, could have been a little more gracious in defeat. Also, really nice, was to have Simon Hayes come up to me at the start and congratulate me on my Blue Belt – a nice thing to do considering he doesn’t know me too well.

There must have been between 50 and 60 guys at the session and a great atmosphere of fun and expectation. The session was all rolling – and it was tough, lots of guys smelling blood and seeing a chance for a promotion. I managed to cope with most of my opponents well, staying calm and secure and mostly dominating. I rolled with a purple belt, who, at the end of the session got his Brown Belt. I actually did OK – first off he choked me but after that I managed to hold him at bay with a reasonable level of confidence. The person I struggled most with was a guy from Tonbridge called Keith – a blue belt for quite a while now. He caught me with armbars about 3 or 4 times from taking early cross side. I’m not sure what I was doing wrong or maybe I was just too relaxed, but I found it tough to compete. Maybe he was just better than me.

Anyway, after it was all over, it was belt time. Some well earned promotions for some of the Tonbridge guys – Doug, Hellboy and Yaron all got blues – well deserved. Mike got his blue – which I was pleased to see. Mike’s a monster and easily out performs a lot of guys with his natural ability and athleticism. Dave Broughton got his purple, which was easily due any time soon, if not sooner, in my opinion. Most noteable, for me, amongst all of those was Si, getting his Purple belt – long, looong overdue. Yep, Si had turned up nursing two broken ribs, but still trained (much to his pain and my concern!). It was mainly my suspicion that Si would get his belt that made me go along and it was great to see him promoted. Si’s been training at Carlson’s quite regularly now, alongside at our place, as usual, and has had quite an impact with his style of Jiu Jitsu and it was great to see it recognised in this way. I guess it also speaks well for the Carlson’s guys that they would do this for a guy, effectively, from another association. Anyway, huge congratulations to all, but for me, especially Si. Here's a snap of the proud owner of a new purple belt:

After a brief photo, some 50 odd guys lined up for what is a Carlson’s tradition – one which I believe is common in Brazil. All I can say is that I was glad to have got my belt in the way that I did. Belt Whipping. Basically this is the new promotions walking a gauntlet while being whipped by the other guys’ belts. There are boundaries – no head shots or below the waist, but, still, it’s pretty brutal! It’s done in good humour and people participate willingly – some actually seem to enjoy it! Man, there were some red backs at the end of that. It’s not for everyone, but it is the Carlson’s way. Here's a clip so you get the idea:

So, there we go – the last few weeks in a nutshell. Not long til Christmas now, so I sense one more post before the year’s out.

Catch ya soon.

Al

The way...

2008-11-19T19:59:00.009Z

Since my last proper post, training has continued as usual, and largely has been going great (apart from getting another bloody cold just as the last one has cleared up!!!). I'm still working on my movement, sensitivity etc with Dean and he's been really generous with his time helping me to get to grips with this and I just know it's going to pay dividends. It's also interesting in that it's kind of setting me up to be able to train myself and from what I understand of Rickson, this is very much the way that he's trained his network of friends and associates over the years. It's great as it's an ultimately sustainable way of training Jiu Jitsu so long as you can find a few like minded people to practice with.

A few things of note really in terms of what we've been doing - a lot more stand-up stuff with self defence application which has been great, a neat defence/escape from spider guard and really just focussing on the movement. There's little technique involved - a few set points here and there, but it all revolves around this movement and sensitivity.

Dean also brought in his set of "bodylastics" - exercise tubes, to illustrate how these can be used to practice the movements we've been doing whilst also doing specific conditioning. This was really interesting and guess what's now on my Christmas list?! Again, it's part of this ethos that with an appreciation of Jiu Jitsu and the true ethos within the art, you can train and develop a long way on your own.

I've also spent a bit of time chatting with Dean after training, sharing thoughts, philosophies and i've appreciated this insight into the way that Dean approaches Jiu Jitsu and it has made me appreciate all the more what we've been doing over the past months. A bit more on that later.

Earlier in the month I went to the Kent Open for my first tournament as a Blue Belt. I guess by many's standards, it was a quick entry so soon after promotion, but I'd entered (and paid!) as a white belt (I wasn't expecting to get my Blue Belt so soon!) but I couldn't lie and I'd paid my entry fee! It was a mammoth event brilliantly organised by the Carlson's guys, held at the Olympic Judo training centre at Dartford - just up the road from me (bonus!) - a great facility.

I knew that by going up to Blue Belt that I'd meet Janos AKA "Dumptruck" who had so resoundingly beaten me at the Southern Open. An absolute monster. Anyway. It turned out that in my category it was just me and Janos - one other Hungarian guy hadn't shown, so only one fight. This would be the only criticism I had of the day (and it's not a huge gripe - that's the way it goes), but there were two guys in the same weight class in the Adult category (I'm Masters) so by merging the categories we could all have had a couple of fights at least. To be fair, looking at the numbers there maybe there wasn't time to mess about with the schedule, but to have one fight (and lose!) for £25 ...well, I just wish it had been different.

So...yes, I lost. Pretty early on Janos got a single leg take down. I fell quite well and managed to frame him off and as far as I know he failed to secure cross side or knee on stomach. He tried a a choke with the fist in the throat quite early but didn't have the purchase. Eventually (and it must have been approaching time) he took a decent Gi choke. Janos won, but I must say I didn't feel as overwhelmed as I had at the Southern Open - maybe a combination of more experience of both Jiu Jitsu and tournaments? I'm annoyed with myself that I pretty much got consumed with holding him off rather than working some movement to improve my situation, but I guess that's my learning point from the day. It was also strange to be awarded a silver medal for losing one fight!

On the flip side, getting my stuff out of the way so early meant that I got to watch some good (and some not so good!) Jiu Jitsu for the rest of the day.

Si had a great day at the office ploughing through his division with relative ease to take Gold. Here's a film of Si's final - it speaks for itself - great roll to reverse the takedown and a trademark cross collar finish from Si:

All in all it was a good day and a huge congratulations goes to all the Carlson's guys that made it happen - hopefully one for the annual BJJ calendar! It was good to hang out with the guys (Dean T came along, as did Dave, Big Dean (who is in LA training at Rickson's Academy at the moment - can't wait to get the low-down when he gets back) and to cap it all, there was a Subway van there and I had a Meatball Marinara Sub - my favourite!

On to some other stuff that I've found interesting. I mentioned eralier that I've had a few good chats with Dean T and he's spoken about how a lot of his recent philosophy has come from reading about Morihei Ueshiba - the founder of Aikido (there are some great clips of him well worth a look on YouTube) Dean mentioned a collection of Ueshiba's writings - "The Art of Peace" (which you can read here) so I thought I'd have a little look into it to see what it might have to offer me in my training.

It's a small, digestible book, full of short quotes on a range of subject, some more spiritual than others, but found a good few words that held resonance for me in the way that I am experiencing training. Here are a few of my favourites - whilst they ultimately stem from his practice of Akido, I feel that the sentiments are equally applicable to true Jiu Jitsu:

On Training

The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit.

Iron is full of impurities that weaken it; through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion.

Instructors can impart only a fraction of the teaching. It is through your own devoted practice that the mysteries of the Art of Peace are brought to life.

Progress comes to those who Train and train; Reliance on secret techniques Will get you nowhere. Fiddling with this And that technique Is of no avail.

In your training do not be in a hurry, for it takes a minimum of ten years to master the basics and advance to the first rung. Never think of yourself as an all-knowing, perfected master; you must continue to train daily with your friends and students and progress together in the Art of Peace.

Ultimately, you must forget about technique. The further you progress, the fewer teachings there are. The Great Path is really No Path.

On Mindset

There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within.

A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind.

On the philosophy of the art

The Art of Peace is the principle of nonresistance. Because it is nonresistant, it is victorious from the beginning. Those with evil intentions or contentious thoughts are instantly vanquished. The Art of Peace is invincible because it contends with nothing.

It is necessary to develop a strategy that utilizes all the physical conditions and elements that are directly at hand. The best strategy relies upon an unlimited set of responses.

Techniques employ four qualities that reflect the nature of our world. Depending on the circumstance, you should be: hard as a diamond, flexible as a willow, smooth-flowing like water, or as empty as space.

If your opponent strikes with fire, counter with water, becoming completely fluid and free-flowing. Water, by its nature, never collides with or breaks against anything. On the contrary, it swallows up any attack harmlessly.

When an opponent comes forward, move in and greet him; if he wants to pull back, send him on his way.

The body should be triangular, the mind circular. The triangle represents the generation of energy and is the most stable physical posture. The circle symbolizes serenity and perfection, the source of unlimited techniques. The square stands for solidity, the basis of applied control.

In the Art of Peace we never attack. An attack is proof that one is out of control.

Never run away from any kind of challenge, but do not try to suppress or control an opponent unnaturally. Let attackers come any way they like and then blend with them. Never chase after opponents. Redirect each attack and get firmly behind it.

Opponents confront us continually, but actually there is no opponent there. Enter deeply into an attack and neutralize it as you draw that misdirected force into your own sphere.

Even the most powerful human being has a limited sphere of strength. Draw him outside of that sphere and into your own, and his strength will dissipate.

The essence of training is to bring your opponent completely into your sphere. Then you can stand where you like.

Whirl in circles around A stable center. Manifest yang In your right hand, Balance it with The yin of your left, And guide your partner.

The techniques of Peace Enable us to meet every challenge Seeing me before him, The enemy attacks, But by that time I am already standing Safely behind him.

Pretty cool huh? That's how I want my Jiu Jitsu to be.

One last thing - proud dad moment. I took my 4 year old son to his first Judo class last week. Dartford Judo Club run a "Pre Judo" class for under 5's which is great as most clubs and classes don't start 'til after 5 years. Anyway, he got really stuck in and loved every second. He even won a couple of his fights! I'm so proud and his new Gi just arrived today - the smallest Gi you've ever seen! Cute.

Movember

2008-11-09T14:16:00.004Z

Hi Readers!

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'm growing a Mo. That's right, I'm planning to grow more hair on my top lip than I have on my head because I care about tackling men's health issues and being proactive in the fight against prostate cancer. I’d be really grateful if you could spare some cash for this cause.

You can donate to my Mo by either:

Clicking this link http://uk.movember.com/donate/index.php and donating online using your credit card or PayPal account; Giving me hard cash, or; Writing a cheque payable to ‘The Prostate Cancer Charity Re: “Movember', referencing my Registration Number 1353376 and mailing it to:

The Prostate Cancer Charity

First Floor Cambridge House

100 Cambridge Grove

Hammersmith

London W6 OLE

And don’t forget to Gift Aid it – every pound is worth £1.28 when you do! You can check my progress on my “Mospace” blog at:

http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1353376

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to The Prostate Cancer Charity which will have an enormous impact on many men's lives and the awareness will help us to fight prostate cancer on every front - through research, support, information and campaigning.

Did you know...?

-Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK.

-35,000 men are diagnosed every year and one man dies every hour.

-1 in 11 UK men will be diagnosed in their lifetime.

Thanks for your support

More information is available at http://uk.movember.com/

Blue Friday...

2008-10-20T22:27:00.004+01:00

Well, you expect a quiet Friday night…and then…

On Friday 17th I went along to Eddie Kone’s Gym (Eddie is a Black Belt under Royler Gracie) in Hackney for a seminar with Royce Gracie. I wanted to go along as I’ve never met or trained with any of the Gracie clan so it seemed like a good opportunity. Thos reading this who know BJJ will know all about Royce. For those that don’t just google him. Regardless of what anyone thinks of him, his status in martial arts cannot be denied. He woke the martial arts world up to BJJ and the importance of grappling.

So, after a rubbish drive (endless traffic lights and slow moving traffic) I eventually found Eddie’s Gym which is above a convenience store on Lower Clapton Road. It’s a good place – well equipped and spacious. I was greeted in a friendly fashion by the guys that train there, even moreso by Eddie, who I guess recognised me from my Rickson Gi patch. Royce wandered in and was immediately in the thick of handshakes and photos all in good humour. I was immediately struck by his size…by this I mean how slight he is. He’s a little over 6ft but very slim. I could immediately see why the Gracies chose him to represent the technical superiority of their art in those early UFCs.

The seminar kicked off with some standing drills – the first was practicing the movement for Susae Tsurikomi Ashi. Starting with a “classic Judo” grip, lifting the opponent up and forward slightly to break his balance then stepping forward to block the front leg. Then we covered a sort of Tai Otoshi - fake a foot sweep, follow through to step to side of opposite leg bracing back of knee against opponent's knee. Post weight on front leg, pull opponent and straighten back leg for throw. Next up was Koshi Guruma - stepping one foot forward diagonally in front of your opponent’s same foot, then you pivot, hips under your opponent’s hips, lift then execute the throw. The last takedown technique was pretty nifty. Same grips, you pull your weight back so that you are virtually bent at 90 degrees. Swing the same side leg as your lapel grip up, as if to jump to guard, fall to your back, lift the hips and bring the other leg up to take the arm bar on the arm that you have maintained your grip on. Cool.

We then moved on to some guard stuff. A lot I had seen before, but it was good to get some additional details. In no particular order (except that which I remember): 1) Pull your opponent in with your legs and into cross-collar choke from beneath. 2) Attempt cross collar to bait opponent into scissor sweep (here I realised I need to work much harder on unbalancing my opponent before making the sweep). 3) Pull your opponent in with legs and arm drag. Escape hips out to opposite side to arm drag. Push opponent's near leg away with bottom leg and put in hook. Reach over back with to arm and grab lat/armpit keeping close contact. Pull up and over to take back, other hook in.

From open guard we did a few drills: 1) as opponent lifts leg to make classic guard pass, you block hip and shoulder, scoot out, then straighten to replace guard. 2) Similar drill but you simply circle your lower leg back inside to replace guard. These two are good movement drills. The last one that I remember was from the same starting point so, your opponent makes for classic guard pass. You brace against his body with the leg that is being passed raise hips and opposite leg up. Roll back over your shoulder, frame against the opponent who’s likely coming forward and sit back into guard. Again, a good movement drill, but possibly a useful technique in the right circumstances.

Royce moved quickly but took time during the practice to move among the attendees to make corrections and give pointers. He was also very concerned, as you might expect, with correct technique, stopping us at various points to point out common errors and potential pitfalls. It was all done in a friendly and humorous way.

Then Royce asked who had been training for over a year which was, I guess around half a dozen or so of us and he got us onto the mat in pairs to spar, wandering between us seeing what was going on. I was pretty OK with my first opponent, keeping good control and tapping him twice with a cross collar choke – once on top, the other from guard. My second opponent was a tough (is there any other kind?!) Polish guy who I later found out had five years of judo under his belt. This bout went on and on and on, both exchanging positions, near submissions, escapes. It was exhausting and seemed it would never end. Eventually he caught me in a cross collar choke from mount, I tried to upa out, but it was a touch too late and his balance was good. It was a good roll though and we both came up smiling but knackered.

Just as we finished, Royce called time and told me, my Polish opponent and one other guy to stay on the mat. My first thought was “oh, no – he’s going to make us go head to head!” and I was pretty exhausted. Instead, one by one, he shook our hands and said “Put on a blue belt!”. At first I didn’t really twig, but then I realised – Royce has just given me a blue belt – Wow! Totally unexpected and I felt a little drunk with happiness – or maybe that was just the after effects of the last choke!

Royce stuck around for photos, chats, to give individual pointers and was more than generous with his time. I got changed and after thanking a few guys that I’d trained with and Eddie, it was downstairs to the shop for a drink – never has a bottle of water tasted so good!

So here I am, a BJJ Blue belt. I know it’s a junior grade and I’m not going to be the best blue belt, nor was I ever the best white belt, but after 3 years and three months’ training 2-4 times a week I have reached a milestone I had wondered whether at the outset it was possible for me. I’m pretty sure I was the best white belt I could have been and know I’m good enough to wear a Blue Belt. For the time that I’ve put in, for the continuous effort to improve and for the mindset I bring to my Jiu Jitsu I know I deserve it.

A few thank yous are also due. To Big Dean and Si – thanks for keeping me going when training was looking like ending and for the training and coaching and time you’ve given me. Thanks to all the guys I’ve trained with – you’re all a part of my achievement, especially Richard who's given me some good pointers along the way. Thanks most of all to Dean Taylor. From the time I started, it has been Dean’s teaching that has inspired me to keep going and his communication of Rickson’s vision of Jiu Jitsu that has kept me on this path. More recently, it has been Dean’s encouragement that has helped me start to train a style of Jiu Jitsu I never though that I would be able to execute and it’s this that will help me on beyond this achievement.

Without this sounding like the Oscars, last and by no means least, thanks to my wife Laura for understanding how important BJJ is to me and putting up with me being out a few evenings a week!

So, I guess I’m now left with a question – what next??? This blog has been all about the lead up to a trip to LA next year with the aim of getting my Blue Belt and a year sooner, I get given it unexpectedly by Royce Gracie! I’m going to have to rename the blog for one thing and try and figure out a new colour scheme!!

Blogging aside, my training will continue as it has done – trying to master (is that ever possible?!) balance and sensitivity. I have a decent (enough) repertoire of techniques and I’m pretty certain that will continue to expand of its own accord through general training, DVDs, books, seminars – all the usual sources, but the work is really in the stuff we’re training with Dean T. I still want to get into better shape and will continue to use Jiu Jitsu as my driver for this. Purple belt is a possibility but many years away so is not really a focus at the moment. As for a trip next year…I still really want a decent BJJ adventure so we’ll see how that pans out – LA is top of the card, but if Rickson surfaces, Brazil could also be a possibility…whatever, I’ll let you know.

Thanks to those that have offered congratulations – I’ve had some very kind words. I leave this entry with a simple photo that I think sums up how I felt on Friday night – stunned, tired, but very happy:

This sucks...sniff!

2008-10-10T19:39:00.005+01:00

I haven't trained at all this last week as on Monday I came down with a cold... (in honour, I'm publishing this entry in green). I guess I'm due one and one of the things of having kids is that they come home with anything that's out there.

It's not the worst cold I've ever had but its main feature seems to be lethargy. It sucks...no gym and no BJJ. All I want to do is sleep. The worst thing is that (I'm guessing I may be better once the weekend's out (I'm hoping to at least get to Yoga on Sunday)) I won't be able to train Jiu Jitsu until Thursday next week as I'm away with work on Tuesday night.

Recent training continues in the same fashion although we've started a bit of stand up - same principles of occupying space/yeilding, controlling your opponent's base with the odd trip here and there. I get the principles but just need to work a little more sensitively - there's still a temptation to over do it and end up wrestling with my opponent. In all of this there's a notion of self defence first and foremost, which is great. It means that the training is immediately transferable to a sports arena without any adaptation required - not neccesarily the case if Jiu Jitsu is trained primarily with sport in mind.

I trained on Sunday with Big Dean and Si - just casual, swapping a few ideas and observations - nothing taxing and good to just throw a few ideas around. Obviously it was good to see Dean again too - mate, it's been too long! I think it was a good thing that the session wasn't too tough as just after the first few signs of my cold started to make themselves known. :(

Another feature of recent weeks seems to be burgeoning numbers with Nuri bringing a friend along and old-timers returning (some threatening) to the fray. One major development worth spending a bit of time on is the news of Richard's (Blue belt, purple stripe) decision to stop training.

This came out of the blue and as quite a shock to all. Richard's not the longest serving member of the club, but is one of the most advanced and ever present guys. I'm only guessing, but I'd imagine a few factors in his decsion. Without going into detail Richard does a job that he's fully committed to both ideologically and in terms of his own career progression. It's a taxing job that most of us, me included couldn't even countenance doing - I'm just glad there are people around like him to do it.

He also lives in Whitstable so I guess a minimum hour and a half round trip twice a week is tough.

Whether this is forever, I guess time will tell and ultimately, only Richard knows. All I can say, and this is purely selfish, is it's a shame. I've definitely benefited from training with, and under Richard - he's able to feel exactly what you need to do to improve or make things easier and coaches really well. Maybe a long break will reignite whatever it is he's lost (assuming he has of course, or even that he wants to).

The other by-product of Richard ending his training is that Craig won't be around either as he got his lifts with Rick - a shame as I enjoyed rolling with Craig as he is much smaller than me so challenged me to roll with technique rather than strength.

Richard, if you're reading, thanks for the training, the coaching and the pointers and all the best for all that you do in the future.

Update to "Where is Rickson?"

Today, Dean Taylor, my instructor sent me a couple of links that make reference to recent Rickson activity that I thought was interesting so I thought I'd share it here:

The first is a recent (this month) interview with Rickson himself (in Portuguese):

No huge surprises in what he says, but it's interesting to see his views on Jiu Jitsu as a martial art above and beyond the sport and its links with MMA. The rough translation provided is:

“He said that he will probably not fight again, if he fight again he wants to get paid more than any other fighter (he said that he does Not need the money but he has too much to lose) and he doesn't need to prove nothing to nobody. He said that he is not impressed with anybody at this moment in BJJ in MMA, he said that he adores Minotauro but he is should be training more BJJ he has great BJJ but he should train less boxing or MT and more BJJ, because he should not have to take so much damage in a fight to win in the ground, when he is on the ground he usually wins but he has a hard time taking the fight to the ground. He said that he wants to change the image of BJJ in Brasil, he wants it to be a martial art that is effective like it is today but he wants everybody to do it, not just fighters, because he believes that, BJJ should be used to make people more confident, better citizens, make people more respectful, BJJ need to bring back some of the traditional martial arts ideals.” [sic].

Also, according to GracieMag, Rickson is running a seminar this weekend (11th/12th Oct 08) in Rio - “Rickson has reached a point in his life where he has decided to share with everyone, indiscriminately, his knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu. It’s a unique opportunity to learn the Jiu-Jitsu he has dubbed as "invisible", but that, although abstract, will be taught for application not just on the mats, but also off them”.

If this is true (aligned to the plans for a seminar series in 2009), this is going to be an awesome time for anyone that can attend these seminars.

The second is this interview with Shane Rice (scroll down the page)(Rickson Gracie Black Belt and main instructor at the LA Academy). What's interesting is Shane's take on what it's like to train with Rickson and the difference in the way Rickson approaches BJJ compared to most people. Some of the stories (like the legendary closed doors fight with Yoji Anjoh) are cool too. I've never met Shane (or Rickson!), but I recognise what he's saying in the philosophy that Dean brings to the way we practice Jiu Jitsu at our club. Some will dismiss this as just more Rickson propganda from a loyal student, but it's hard not to be inspired. Enjoy.

Where is Rickson?

2008-09-21T19:56:00.008+01:00

Training this week has been more of the same and it’s going well – a couple of sessions this week just working hard on the principles we’ve been covering. Am I making progress? Yes, I think so – I may not have fluid, instinctive movement yet, but every so often I get something that feels great and works really effectively. My marker is that the frequency of such events is steadily on the increase week by week. I’m really enjoying myself at the moment.

For some reason, and I may have mentioned this already, my back is giving me a little trouble at the moment. Nothing like the “old” days, but I start out sessions a bit restricted then warm up into better movement during the session then it seizes up as I cool down. However, I’ve thought back to my time at the Osteopath’s and the hold/cold therapy that I was recommended so when I get in I’ve started using a hot water bottle and an ice pack alternately (always ending with ice) and it’s really helped – by morning I’m moving pretty freely. There must just be something that gets a little inflamed – I’m hoping that staying active, doing Yoga (my back always feels great after Yoga) and losing weight will gradually improve my back health.

On to the topic at hand. I thought I’d try and broaden the scope of the blog – mainly for interest but also as there are a lot of other things that surround BJJ – books, DVDs, news, products etc so I thought I’d try a few different pieces, reviews and so on. So today, I launch a pretty poor investigation into the question “Where is Rickson?”.

Rickson’s is a name that looms large in BJJ folklore and everyone’s got an opinion on him. To many, he’s a legend and an icon. Check any internet forum and there are many threads discussing how Rickson would fare against today’s MMA stars. It seems that as we approach the end of each year, rumours abound that “next year” Rickson is stepping into the ring for one last time, usually with the name of Sakuraba, “The Gracie Hunter” mentioned in connection. These rumours spark excitement, disbelief and their own speculations about who would win and how, and the inevitable discussion on Rickson’s age (he’s 49 at the time of writing) and whether he could still cut it in a professional Vale Tudo/NHB fight.

For an angle on this, we can look at a story from 2006, regarding Paulo Filho training with Rickson stating “I have trained with the toughest guys formed by Carlson Gracie. They were all great and I for sure don’t want to diminish anybody, but I have to say that no one ever did to me what Rickson Gracie has done during training these last days” suggesting that Rickson’s fitness and technique is as supreme as ever. And why wouldn’t it be? For sure, Rickson is genetically gifted, but why would anyone assume that he has stopped training, evolving, improving, just because he is no longer under the spotlights?

So where is he? Fitting with his legendary status, it seems that sightings of him and knowledge of his activities are fleeting. Every time he surfaces, there’s news or clips on the intranet and I guess there are two major things people want to know – is Rickson ever going to fight again and where/when and how can they train with him? It's a question that occupies my mind as a member of his association - especially since pretty much everyone else at my club has met Rickson and trained with him at least once...everyone except me!

Here are a few of the main sightings and rumours:

Rickson quits the US

According to this interview, Rickson has quit the US in favour of his Brazil homeland. Many observers speculate that the death of Rickson’s eldest son, Rockson back in 2001 in a Motorcycle accident (although rumours persist around the cause of death that I won’t grace with any mention here) prompted a retreat from public life for Rickson (and why wouldn’t it? The adage that no parent should ever have to bury a child springs to mind - take a look at this sympathetic interview which sheds light on Rickson's life straight after the death of Rockson). Rickson had this to say about his life in the US:

"There I feel that I am being sucked and I do not have a way to recycle that. "

I heard 2nd hand from someone that had spoken with Eddie Kone, who had trained in Brazil recently with Royler, that Rickson was at Royler’s Academy, just training and hanging out.

Rickson at the Mundials…

…and other assorted tournaments. Wherever Kron fights, Rickson’s usually around. Kron’s a big name. Not only is he Rickson’s son, but he’s also a pretty good BJJ prospect. OK, so after getting his black belt, he lost his first match at the Mundials. This created inevitable glee amongst far less talented people on internet forums all over with accusations of “sandbagging” at Brown Belt. From where I sit, these people conveniently miss the fact that Kron almost finished that fight by choke within the first two minutes but his opponent managed to tough that out – fair play, but it stands to some reason that a young guy (late teens) who’d been a Black Belt literally months, might lose out to an older guy with more experience. Kron isn’t Rickson, something that seems lost on detractors. I’m sure Kron will take lessons from the Mundials and return to dominate in future years. And Rickson will be there, coaching from the bleachers.

Rickson launches Budo Challenge

I think this was launched back in 2005 as a pilot with the prospect of more competitions to follow this foray. The notion behind the event was to promote Gi fighting with a rule set which encouraged submissions with core martial arts values such as honour and respect. This was seen as a rebuke by Rickson of competition Jiu Jitsu which allows competitors to play a tactical game of stalling and holding positions for points rather than seeking to end a fight by submission, which, ultimately, is Jiu Jitsu’s aim. It was also seen by many, with its production values, as an antedote to the rise of promotions such as the UFC, which many feel are now well removed from the core spirit of martial arts, something that Rickson quotes as his reasons for solely fighting in Japan during his “prime”. Take a look at this article which gives a pretty good overview of what Budo Challenge is all about.

I bought the DVD via the website and got pretty quick responses to emails to the producer, so there is an air of it not being completely dead, but almost three years on little else seems to have happened. I’ll review the DVD some other time, but suffice to say it’s a great spectacle for anyone that loves the Gi game.

Rickson joins Carlos Gracie Jr in Celebration

At the award of Carlos Gracie Jr’s Red and Black belt (8th Degree), in April 08, Rickson made an appearance as a guest speaker. This was a significant gathering of some of the best known names in BJJ and the promotion of a man who heads up the largest BJJ organisation in the world (Gracie Barra). Rickson’s presence was seen as significant by many because of a perceived “split” between those who believe that Carlos Gracie (Jr’s Father) is the true founder of BJJ and those that believe that Helio (Carlos’ brother and Rickson’s Father) forged what we now recognise to be BJJ. Such argument, if indeed any exists, is ultimately nonsense and was effectively buried by Rickson’s pesence at the ceremony, showing family unity between him and his cousins.

Rickson in Japan and launches the Jiu Jitsu Federation of Japan

Rickson holds a special status in Japan and has said in many articles he feels at home there amongst people who have a high appreciation of the martial arts. Because of his many Vale Tudo fights there in the 1990s, he is something of a celebrity in Japan and appears to spend a reasonable amount of time there.

Rickson has spent some time this year in Japan with one of his black belts, Takamasa Watanabe of Axis Jiu Jitsu running seminars with his son, Kron, which must be one of few, if not the only seminars or teaching he’s done recently.

Rickson (President) has also entered into a venture with Takamasa Watanabe (Director) called the Jiu Jitsu Federation of Japan. It seems that in addition to organising many tournaments, seminars and offering affiliation to clubs (for FREE and the list of current members is impressive), this organisation has, at it’s core, the desire to propagate the martial traditions that Rickson has spoken of many times and that are held in esteem in Japan, which is, afterall, where BJJ originated – almost a return to the roots.

Take a look at the website and you’ll get a better idea of what it’s about and here’s a little clip of Rickson talking about the federation:

Rickson slaps The Hulk!

Rickson makes a brief appearance in the 2008 film version of The Incredible Hulk, starring Ed Norton. In his short scene, Rickson plays a Martial Arts Instructor (a big stretch!) – confusingly labelled as “Aikido” in the end credits – teaching Bruce Banner a breathing method to control his anger. Quite how Rickson got this part (could be his famous breathing scenes in “Choke” caught someone’s eye), or whether this signals a wider interest in acting I do not know, but it’s still pretty cool that Rickson gets to slap the Hulk, thereby nullifying any arguments that he isn’t what he once was ;P LOL. Rickson beats the Hulk by Armbar! Here’s a clip (crumby quality but the only one I could find):

So there’s the best of what the internet has to offer…Still none the wiser, I decided to contact the Association Headquarters in LA and, as a member, ask simply “Where is Rickson?”.

I got this answer:

“Rickson pretty much living in Brazil, he spends only few times a year over here. He has a project for 2009 of seminars in the main cities of Brasil, US and some overseas. The Rickson Gracie Seminar Tour schedule is not available at the moment but we will post on the web. Rickson is not teaching in regular bases anymore or thus he has an academy in Brazil.” (sic)

I take the last part to mean that he doesn’t yet have an Academy in Brazil, but may be wrong on this.

So there we go – there may well be more info out there or people that know stuff for certain, but this is what I’ve found. I’d be happy to hear from anyone that has factual information on where Rickson is and what he’s doing. Let’s see what happens in 2009 with the Seminar project. I’m planning a trip to the US in 09 anyway so if there’s a dovetailing of plans there that would be awesome, but we’ll see…

Rickson… where are you?!

I can see clearly now..

2008-09-15T22:37:00.003+01:00

I’ve just had a pretty good weekend as things go. Saturday was an impromptu training session – just me, Dean T and Rick. We spent the time looking at one of the sweeps that we trained on Tuesday, but also the whole principle of inviting weight and re-directing and following weight. Dean also coached us to make it a training opportunity for both people – one practicing sensitivity and technique, the other just practicing movement and momentum.

I can’t quite remember what prompted the next part of the session, but I was struggling with one particular movement in trying to make our practice flow – that is kind of a backward roll – legs coming up and over the head to roll backwards. Having seen so many other people doing this, it’s an invaluable movement, but to me, there seemed to be two things stopping me executing. The first is a lack of core strength and the second, my perceived lack of flexibility in my lower back.

Dean took some time to coach me through the movement, using Rick as an “anchor”. With the right pointers I made pretty rapid progress with this movement, then, once I’d pretty much got it, Dean encouraged me to hold the position on my shoulders rather than follow right the way through. Once there, sort of just hovering over Rick, there were so many possibilities – I had controls with my arms, but was also able to use my legs and feet to block things – it was like a whole new world opened up. Being in such positions, I had Rick covered which forced him into various moves in his attempts to escape, which invariably gave me far more ammunition than had I simply followed the move through to the far more static mount, cross side or knee on stomach positions. It was amazing – on two separate practices I rolled effortlessly into a triangle and then an omoplata – positions I know but rarely, if ever, execute. It all just “happened” and I pretty much felt like I was doing nothing except waiting and moving with the energy created by my opponent. This is how Jiu Jitsu is meant to feel! I would never have thought that someone like me (I mean my level of competence, my size and restricted back movement) would ever be able to accomplish this sort of stuff! Before, I’d felt pretty much resigned to my “game” being using my weight, securing certain positions and then constructing opportunities for a few techniques which I know work for me. This was like coming up for air.

This was achieved with some great coaching from Dean – pointers at just the right moments, but far more important, encouragement which constantly raised my confidence to give things a try, reinforcement when things went well and the push to go “once more” each time to really drive home the feeling of success. It was also due to having Rick help me as my training partner – sympathetic and guiding in his own movements to give me the conditions I needed. Thanks to both of you.

I hope I’m right, but this feels like it could be the start of a new chapter in my training. I hope I can keep this feeling going – this style of training. I’m going to say now (easier said than done) that I know I’m about to enter a phase of making loads of mistakes and probably getting tapped every five seconds by less sympathetic training partners, but that’s OK. That kind of fits with how the BJJ learning curve seems to go anyway. Steep curves, drops, up again, plateaus, then another rise and so on…

So roll on training – I want more of this…I just hope I can get some consistency in keeping this going from one session to the next.

Yesterday (Sunday), I had my second Yoga class. More of the same stuff as last week, but focussing on different postures and mainly work around the shoulder area. This was bad news as my left shoulder has been a little “crunchy” of late and my trapezius muscle on that side feels pretty tight or like a nerve is trapped or something. Still, I gave it a go – tried the headstand (without success!) and the shoulder stand (which I just about did). Once again, I was surprised by how hard holding these poses works you – loads of muscle groups come into play and I worked up quite a sweat! I was keen to give everything a try and, with hindsight, I put myself under a lot of pressure to do things that, after only two sessions, I’d probably not be able to do after several. Even as I thought this I knew I was wrong to think this way, but seeing people around me, some many years older than me, some a lot less strong etc., doing things that I was not able to do made me even more “pushy” with myself. The teacher very kindly said to me afterwards “You’re game, but we just need to build up gently” – a kind way of saying don’t run before you can walk. I already knew she was right. So, I’m going to take my time, build up slowly and build my confidence. There were people there that have been doing Yoga for a while who were only just doing the headstand fully for the first time – why should I expect to do it on my second lesson?! Like I said in my last post about Yoga, I see this as a long term practice so have just got to take it slowly and as it comes.

It brought me back to thinking about this weekend’s progress in Jiu Jitsu. I’ve been training three and a half years or so now. In yoga, I’m like I was when I started BJJ – all enthusiasm and frantic tapping – metaphorically speaking. It’s taken a few years to get this far – and really that’s no distance at all, but I have made progress and am doing things I would never have thought possible even a few weeks back let alone a few years. You’ve just got to practice, keep applying and then when your body and mind are ready, things just “click”. You just have to trust in the process.

Ommmm....

2008-09-08T21:40:00.007+01:00

Another entry, but I thought it best to keep this one separate from the San Francisco post just to catch up on the last week.

We arrived back from San Fran on Sunday morning – not feeling too shabby as it goes, but jet lag was evident at times. I was faring pretty well although the kids were still on California time and if they’re awake, then me and my wife are awake so this delayed all of our recoveries somewhat.

Tuesday I got back to training and we were pretty much doing what we’d done just before I went away – practising certain movements, keeping the core connected, keeping the feet off the floor and then Dean T very skillfully wove these movements into the practice. We spent most of the time looking at escapes from cross side and knee on stomach using these principles of sensitivity to weight and balance and gaining leverage using the legs and the core. I love this stuff – it’s a tough route to take in Jiu Jitsu… a long term practice, but it feels right.

Here's a film clip that illustrates what I’ve been talking about – this is from Tuesday – escapes and submissions from cross side using the principles I’ve talked about – Dean T instructing and Si practising:

I found it good to get back to training, but the effects of jet lag were ever present and toward the end of the session I was very tired and everything teetered on the edge of cramp with every movement…maybe just a little too soon after getting back? I don’t know – there must be some stuff out there about dealing with jet lag and training etc…

Anyway, next session was due to be Thursday, but I’d agreed to take my parents to Heathrow and ended up getting stuck on the M25 on the way back so missed training. On reflection, I was still pretty tired so maybe it was for the best to have a rest, but I did spend the time in the car thinking through the movements we’ve been doing which I’m sure was useful.

As I’ve mentioned, Sunday I went to a Yoga class. Equipped with my £6.99 mat from Tesco (is there anything they don’t sell?) I arrived feeling a little sleepy and not at all bendy. Not unexpectedly I was the only man there (although I’m told there are usually a couple of others) but I was made to feel welcome. As I’ve said, the type of Yoga is Iyengar – the differentiator with this type I’m lead to believe is that postures are achieved and then held for longer than in other styles. I was pretty pleased with my level of flexibility in comparison to some of the people that have been doing it longer, but was surprised at just how tough it was! Like many other people I guess I thought that yoga was all gentleness and joss sticks, but half way through a few of the poses I got the muscle tremors and was desperate for the instruction to relax! After just one session I can feel a difference – my hamstrings and shoulders definitely feel like they’ve worked. I can see already that if I keep this up my strength, muscle tone and overall fitness will improve…no doubt at all. My objectives with Yoga…all driven by BJJ are: regain lost flexibility; strengthen my back; strengthen my core. I can see this as something that has longevity and many benefits, but we’ll see how it pans out – after my first session I feel very positive. The only thing I felt a bit strange about was the “Ommm” stuff at the beginning, but I guess I’ll get used to it – I still remember how odd bowing and “kihap!” was when I started martial arts.

If anyone reading this has thought about Yoga I’d say definitely give it a go. I was inspired to give it a try by Dean T and also watching Rickson in “Choke”, but also as I’ve read good things about it in relation to health and backs. I would say however, that I’ve also read about an upsurge in injuries form people trying to do it from books, DVDs and unqualified instructors. Having done this class I would definitely advocate finding a class with a qualified tutor. Getting the hands on corrections really is necessary and makes all the difference to the efficacy of the poses.

As I type this, I’ve just gotten another year older – I’m now 34. That’s not ancient, but I can feel time ticking on - things creaking that didn’t before. I’m still on my journey to my milestone blue belt and hopefully that will come to fruition next year. So I’ll ask the same questions as last year – older? Yes. Wiser? I think so. With Dean T’s help I’m starting to see how to train Jiu Jitsu in the way that it was intended and with it, practices, like Yoga, that are going to sustain me in the long term. I want to remain active and stay healthy right through to old age. Lots of damage has already been done with Rugby etc, but I want to limit this as much a possible and in achieving this, there is definitely a right way and a wrong way to train and regularly beasting your body is sometimes fun, but a surefire path to niggling injuries. I want to train smarter, not necessarily just harder.

The heat is on!

2008-09-08T21:05:00.009+01:00

I’ve been back from San Francisco just over a week now, so time to catch up before time and detail runs away…

After an 11 hour flight (United airlines – dreadful) we landed in San Francisco to temperatures in the mid to late 30s. After a short drive we got to our hotel in Walnut Creek. I love hotels – you can make a mess and every day the hotel fairies just come along and tidy up after you. I got straight to work on satisfying my passion for Root Beer and later found the hotel pool (a welcome relief as you’ll see) and Gym which was well equipped and usually empty.

We were in town for a week for a wedding – My Brother in law Jack was marrying Jen – a lovely girl from Walnut Creek. How Jack met Jen is a long and complicated story that I won’t tell here…

All week we were very fortunate to have Gene and Michelle – Jen’s parents, pretty much at our disposal as chauffeurs for the week – an unexpected but absolutely amazing bonus. With two three year olds in tow, I’m really not sure how we’d have managed without their help. The Bay Area’s transport is very good – cheap, efficient, regular and well connected, but getting around local areas, like Walnut Creek, is just so hard – streets are not pedestrian friendly at all – the car rules out there, and, on reflection, that was probably a good thing. By the end of the week, temperatures inland (where we were) had hit highs of 46°c so any opportunity of being air conditioned was gratefully received.

Looking at the schedules (visits to San Fran, family get-togethers etc), Tuesday was going to be my best bet to get to Eduardo Rocha’s place in Oakland to train. I had planned to simply go there by BART, but Jen and her parents looked horrified at this prospect and said they’d drive me. By all accounts, Oakland is not the sort of place you want to go on your own and start taking wrong-turns. I gratefully bowed to their greater local knowledge and accepted a lift.

So, I headed out for an “all levels” session, Tuesday morning 1000-1200, ready with Gi in hand and a huge bottle of Gatorade (why can’t you get the range in the UK [weeps]?) A few people were just turning up as I arrived and I introduced myself (rather obvious from my accent) as being the guy from England. The gym itself is a small space in what seemed to be like an office block, but it was clean, well equipped and airy. The guy taking the class that day was a purple belt called Jeremy Adkins – a really nice guy that kind of reminded me of BJJ’s answer to Henry Rollins – only with more tattoos…the most striking being one that completely covered his head. I believe Jeremy won gold in the open division at the recent Mundials and Pan Ams. We were joined by another Purple Belt called Butch (like he said I really was in the US now I’d met someone called Butch) a couple of Blue belts, a Couple of White belts and a lady Brown Belt who I think ran her own school somewhere.

So, after a reasonable warm-up, we got on with the lesson. Jeremy ran through the techniques in a clear, logical fashion, highlighting all the important details – his style suited my way of learning really well and I found the translation to practice pretty smooth. I trained with a huge guy called Scott – a white belt, at least 6’ 5” and the build to go with it. It’s always good to train new stuff with someone your own size (ish!). We worked on various moves from Butterfly Guard – here’s a quick summary of what I remembered:

Sweep 1 - I've done this one a few times before... Sit up to your opponent, scoot in close and slightly side on. Grab his belt behind him, scoop the opposite arm. Staying connected, fall to the side then kick your upper leg to sweep the opponent and take either cross side or mount.

Sweep 2 - Can be used if opponent pins your ankles. Simultaneously sit up and grab diagonally to back of tricep, posting out same side leg and post remaining hand out to side. Shift butt out to where hand was posted, simultaneously pulling the arm that you have hold off - this pulls the opponent forward onto all fours (this is a dynamic movement). Position hips up to opponent's, take an over and under grip, connect to your opponent and fall to pull opponent to his back then place in the second leg hook.

Pass 1 - In the butterfly guard, slide arm to hip (elbow by hip) and place head on opposite side under ribs. Place other hand on knee. Sprawl, flattening leg that hand is on, keeping that hand in position to prevent opponent from taking guard. Work way up to cross-side.

Pass 2 - Start as pass 1. Bring other hand (the one that would have been on the knee in Pass 1) under the leg to grab his belt. Bring other hand round to grab the ankle of his trousers. Bring weight up onto shoulder and walk around the legs, extending the leg you have hold of and take cross-side.

(Somewhere in Pass 2 (I think) I've missed a detail which involves switching a grip on the pants but need to run through it again to try and figure out where this is and how it works.)

After drilling these techniques it was time for positional training and here we mixed up training partners a bit. I found passing OK, but struggled on the bottom – everyone was very quick and precise. I was most impressed with a small blue belt – his sensitivity and timing were perfect and I struggled to do anything against him. Also, as if proof were needed that BJJ is effective for the smaller person against a larger opponent I got nicely tapped to a choke by the Brown Belt.

Then it was on to free sparring and this was solely with Scott. Scott was a strong guy and we ended up 2-2 from our practice and I was pretty pleased with how I fared as I tried to use the type of stuff we’ve been doing at home over recent weeks and was pleased with how it worked with such a big guy.

As we were practicing, Eduardo arrived so as we finished I had a chat with him – a really nice guy who genuinely opened his door to me anytime I wanted to train. My only regret is that my schedule didn’t allow any more than that one session, but I shall definitely be visiting Eduardo’s next time I’m over there. His accomplishments speak for themselves and his mettle is shown through the quality of his students – very technical and all great people. There are plenty of schools in the Bay area and some of them more well known, but I’m glad I went to Eduardo’s – I’ve no doubt it was the best choice. If you’re over that way look him up.

After downing as much Gatorade as my body could take, and whilst waiting for my lift, I was chatting to Scott and what was great, as with everywhere else that I’ve trained, was that we were both able to shoot the breeze about Jiu Jitsu, our hopes, ambitions, favourite moves, our philosophy on training and it’s always remarkable just how, even with so many thousands of miles between people, there is a commonality in Jiu Jitsu.

A big thanks to Eduardo, Jeremy, Scott and the rest of the guys for making me so welcome and allowing me another great Jiu Jitsu experience.

The week was amazingly hot but passed by so quickly. We visited Pier 39 which was fun and allowed us to catch many of the trademarks of San Francisco including an entertaining ride on the Cable Cars. Later in the week we also went to the Golden Gate Park – the Japanese Tea Gardens there were fantastic and a great backdrop to our trip as the photo below shows, although parts of the park were pretty run down and inhabited by drop outs and people who don’t seem to know that the 60’s are over. It’s also a pretty spread out city so getting used to the transport options is a good idea, but with kids it’s hard to fit a lot in to a day. Walnut Creek was fun – a charming little place if only it hadn’t been too hot to step outside of anywhere – one to investigate properly another time.

One major frustration on the trip was trying to get a drink on Jack’s Batchelor evening. Last orders in one very nice bar were 10pm, so, on to other late night bars only to not be let in…even with passports! They were really strict on ID – as if I look under 21!!! It was like the 1920s trying to get served alcohol in that place… or maybe a bunch of Brits just scared them… I don’t know. A passport gets you into their country but can’t buy you a drink. Marvellous.

Anyway, it was a great week – the wedding was perfect and I was so proud of my kids who were Flower Girl and Ring Bearer. A big thanks to Gene and Michelle – I’m pretty certain the week would have been a blur of sweat and tears if it wasn’t for them. Good times.

Are you going to San Francisco...?

2008-08-22T20:32:00.003+01:00

A quick catch up then on the last couple of weeks.

First the technical stuff…

Monday last week - we covered a take down in which, having taken up grips, you kind of squat, then project your hips backwards – this brings your opponent off-balance over their own toes. As your but touches the floor, you place one foot on the hip and execute a sort of half Ippon Seoinage, sweeping with the other leg. From here, you can take top position. Clearly, this technique is wholly dependant on the initial resistance of your opponent, but it’s easy to adjust and improvise with this one. If your opponent does start to come forward of his own volition, you can block his legs with your feet, slide them to hook the ankles, then push on his knees – this will sweep him backwards.

One other thing we looked at was from spider guard – feet in opponent’s biceps, controlling the wrists. Wrap one arm with your leg, pull the other shin across the body. Invite your opponent in and then project of using your shin.

Wednesday last week – still working on the sensitivity/leverage of the core and legs used in symphony, we practiced a movement where you start kind of in open guard, defending against the opponent with your shin and hand to stop them from passing. As he comes forward, you can frame against him, lift your hips to raise your legs, swing legs across and chop down, keeping your core engaged. As your body comes up, place your free hand on the floor and swivel round to face your opponent having created space and now in a stronger open guard position.

Working with little Dean we also did an exercise with one person initiating, the other trying to “sense” (through a combination of feel and reading body movement and posture) what the opponent was going to do. The aim of the exercise was either to occupy the middle space before your opponent does, thus putting him literally on the back foot, or to be away from your opponent’s forward intent, creating space and momentum that will work against your opponent. It’s about being alert to subtle changes in your opponent’s intentions, weight and balance and trying to never be where your opponent wants you to be.

We then looked at an escape from cross side using leverage in the legs and core to create space and movement. Once space has been created you can often get your bottom knee in to create a frame/take guard or sometimes, if the weight is correct, you can extend your other leg to sweep your opponent over. If your shoulder is blocked by your opponent (thus preventing you turning in to face him), simply use legs and leverage to come out the bottom – you can use the arm to create a frame against the throat or face to create additional space.

Only one session for me this week due to other stuff going on, but we really extended the work started last Wednesday. We started by drilling a whole heap of basic movements – variations on teeter totter, shrimping, pocket knife, all focussing on keeping the core strong and the feet off the floor. There were also a lot of movements to practice projecting the legs and one particularly hard one of coming feet over your head and sort of walking around your shoulders – I need a bit of practice on all of them methinks, but especially that last one. Apart from being good conditioning for the core muscles, the reason behind these movements would later become apparent.

We then worked on the same sensitivity drill from Wednesday, but a little more freeform and with this some of our earlier movements came into play. Dean T also went over the escapes from cross side again and the movements we practiced worked seamlessly into the practice and the same principles applied to practicing a couple of escapes from North/South.

All topped off with a nice bit of free-training which I did with Craig. I really enjoyed this and the training felt cooperative and mutually beneficial. Aside from cramps in both calves (a side effect of the previous night’s five mile run I suspect), it was a comfortable and enjoyable way to train.

I’m really enjoying the training we’re doing lately – I feel like I’m learning loads, like it’s the stuff that’s somehow “hidden” in Jiu Jitsu that can make it really effective. There are no shortcuts with this stuff though and you’ve got to be committed to its practice in the long term. There are shortcuts elsewhere – majoring on speed and strength – all great attributes to have, but this feels like it’s where it’s really at. I leave sessions feeling relaxed and happy. I’ve always left Jiu Jitsu happy in the past, but not always relaxed….more absolutely shattered and aching… This way means I get great training and am never too tired to go to the Gym for my CV workout the next day, which is great.

I haven’t trained at Tonbridge since Brighton, mainly because other stuff keeps cropping up, but also partly due to cost – petrol getting there and back then £8 per session. The credit crunch has hit BJJ :(.

I’ve managed to get back into some regularity at the gym lately and this is paying dividends – in fitness at least. I’m running further, faster and my resting heart rate and blood pressure have come down a lot (60bpm and round about 125/70). No more weight loss to note, but none gained so OK there.

I’m off to San Francisco tomorrow for one week – it’s my brother in law’s wedding, so, as with my last US trip I have some training planned…it has to be done. I originally sought out a guy who is/was (?) a Rickson rep in San Fran – a purple belt. I eventually tracked him down and he told me that the weekend I arrived he was hosting a seminar with Xande and Saulo Ribeiro. “GREAT!” I thought “what an opportunity”. So as instructed I emailed the guy and waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually I phoned him again to check if he’d got my emails – yes, he had and would be in touch soon. 3 days before I’m due to leave and the seminars begin, I email him again to see if there’s any update….nothing. No response.

I know people are busy, but it doesn’t take much time to answer an email. I expected more especially from a guy who is a Rickson rep (although I heard he’s one over to Saulo’s Association). It’s just plain rude.

So anyway, after a bit of browsing, I find a guy called Eduardo Rocha, a 3rd Dan under Royler Gracie – 3 time Brazilian Champion, 4 Time Pan Ams Champ and World Cup champ amongst many other accomplishments. His gym is based in Oakland, a short hop from where I’m staying in Walnut Creek. I emailed Eduardo to see if I could train and how much it would be and almost immediately got a reply, in true Brazilian style “For sure. No Charge”. Now that’s more like it – how great is that…and no charge?! So, tomorrow, I’m off and hope to squeeze in a couple of sessions between the sightseeing and family fun and hopefully more great stories for this blog.

One other thing, before I go. I’ve decided to make more of my gym membership and recent talk from Dean T about Yoga and a thread on EFN, made me think about trying it out. Now luckily, there’s a class on Sunday Mornings at my gym – Iyengar yoga, the cost of which is covered in my membership, so when I get back I’m gonna give that a go – I’ll let you know how I get on.

See you in a week or so!

It's good to talk...

2008-08-06T21:27:00.005+01:00

I just want to begin this blog entry with a curiosity. I've had some nice comments lately on my blog so thanks to anyone that reads and makes the effort to leave a comment. I had one comment on my "always someone bigger" post though that simply read something like:

"I think you should show a little more respect to your opponent"

Predictably, this comment was from "Anonymous".

I've put it in this entry so that it doesn't get lost amongst the other comments as I think it's important to address this one. I have no idea what, or who "Anonymous" is referring to. All I can say is that nothing I wrote was intended to show any disrespect to anyone - least of all any of the opponents I've ever had, win or lose. Absolutely, categorically, 100% not. I have nothing but respect for anyone that I train with, and especially for anyone that competes - it's tough out there no matter who you are.

So, just let me say this. If there is anything that offended anyone in my last post, I apologise. That was never my intention and I am, to be honest, still at a loss as to what it was that prompted the comment. All I do here is talk about my training and my thoughts. So that's it. If "Anonymous" is reading this - genuinely, please let me know what it was I said that seemed "off" - feedback is great, but only when it's specific.

On to business. I'm not training at the moment as I just got another tattoo. It's at the top of my back, between the shoulder blades (possibly the worst place should I decide to train when not healed!) It's of a Sakura (Japanese for "Cherry Blossom") - My Daughter's middle name.

Just waiting for it to heal up properly so it doesn't go all patchy. So thought I'd use the time to reflect on one of the most recent sessions.

Last Wednesday, it was just me, Si and Dean T. Dean started talking about the philosophy of the training that he's been doing and I can't possibly do justification to the conversation here but it was pretty wide ranging, touching on Eastern philosophy, Buddhism, various Martial Arts masters, including Morehei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido. We talked for almost an hour, with the ultimate crux of the conversation being about the self discipline/personal improvement foundation of martial arts. It is clear, the more you read into it, that most of the originators of Martial Arts created them with the intention that they would be practised in this fashion. Yes, there is a defensive/combative aspect to them, but this might be seen almost as a by-product of the discipline of training. It is this that is at the heart of what Dean has been teaching and, I believe, is what is at the heart of those that practice Jiu Jitsu at the highest levels, including Rickson.

I've read a significant amount about Buddhism, and, whilst I wouldn't consider myself Buddhist, a lot of the principles hold a resonance for me. Carrying these principles into your training make a lot of sense to me. Sure, I'll compete and I want to be the best...but only the best version of me that I can be. As I say, I can't do the dialogue justice here, but I will say that it had a real impact on me and the way that I see Jiu Jitsu and the way that I want to train it.

It's strange, very little physical training that session, but the mental workout was every bit as valid for progression in Jiu Jitsu. We need to nourish and develop our minds as well as our bodies.

There was one thing I did pick up physically. Dean coached me through rolling backwards. Sounds simple I know, but as I've said in the past, my lower back is not the most mobile and so I struggle with any movement that requires this. Dean took me through a few exercises and projecting the hips..and somehow it just "clicked". really pleased - once again it's these small breakthroughs that carry you forward. I tried to incorporate it into my rolling but realised that I stopped the movement - this requires you to just go with the movement...another theme of Dean's teaching of late - knowing when to give or take with the movement of your opponent - it's great stuff and when you get it, it feels like anything is possible...even if only for a short time.

So, I left that session happy, tired and with a bit of a headache...I'm sure that was dehydration and tiredness rather than the impact of the philosophical discussion we'd just had.

The tattoo's looking pretty good at the moment. I've been using a nappy ointment called "Bepanthen" and I've got to say, it works really well as a tattoo cream! Hopefully this means back to training next week!

There's always someone bigger...

2008-07-19T21:35:00.010+01:00

I'm going to go a bit back to front with this blog entry and start with today's events. Today I went to the dubiously named Brighton "Grab and Pull" tournament - the first tournament organised by Brighton BJJ. I only really decided to enter about a week or so ago so no real expectations. I went along with Si and we met up with the guys from Carlson's which made for a great day out and as always, the guys made us more than welcome.

Although the day started later than published, the fights ran smoothly and quickly. There were a few mix-ups with fight weights, but the organisers remained flexible and in good humour which helped make a really relaxed atmosphere. I'm full of admiration for the organisers - I reckon I'd have flipped with all that stress so credit where it's due.

As with the Southern Open I was entered into the Super Super Heavyweight category (100.5kg +). After a long wait (about 4 hours) I was finally called. I really enjoyed my first fight. I was initially taken by surprise as my opponent jumped guard, but I dealt with it OK, quickly postured up, broke his guard and passed to secure cross-side. I then moved straight to mount and just secured that position, bringing weight and getting a nice high mount. I was just weighing up my options and resisting bridges and an Ezekiel choke seemed the best option so that's what I went for - sunk it in and stuck it on and got the tap - all lasted about 2 minutes. I felt I had good control the whole way through. Really nice guy though and enjoyed chatting to him before our match.

My second fight was a different story. The guy I was fighting was 122kg - that's 19 and a bit stone so I was giving away over two stone - and he was solid with it. He got some sort of sweep pretty quick and took mount very quickly too. That suited me - I stayed tight and was just looking to secure an upa, but he was clearly experienced and wise to this. As Si later pointed out, my mistake was that I stayed too flat on my back, preventing any decent disruption. Eventually, a combination of bad choices on my part and shepherding on his, he moved me to take an armbar which was successful. All over. That's the way it goes - sooner or later you always meet someone bigger, faster etc etc - different draws may have led to a different result, but that's the way it goes. It all meant I took bronze - again - that's OK. A medal's a medal. Just starting to think that losing weight might be a good idea for more than health reasons!

Si had a good first fight, took a decent takedown and then controlled everything as he always does, ending the fight with an armbar - great result. His second fight was against the eventual winner - a guy that had already shown some great Judo in his first fight and continued in his bout with Si, opening his scoring with a great ippon seoinagi. From there on, SI was always chasing the points. Si had the guy in guard and controlled him there for a long while always threatening to pull off one of his trademark cross collar chokes, but it just never quite happened. Eventually the guy passed and took a choke using his own gi. mathematics once again conspired to give Si a well deserved bronze. I get the sense that Si felt a little disappointed, but it was a good outing for him and there's always far too many variables in a tournament to worry about what could/should have been. Another good day out. I even met a nice parking attendant who bent the rules to avoid inconvenience. Once in a while something restores your faith in people.

Onto the last few weeks of training - usual story, Mondays and wednesdays at Rickson's, Fridays at Carlson's. All the usual drills really except that Dean T's sessions have been revelations - every lesson I've come away with a little gem. The ones that stand out are the relaxation required when applying chokes - I did one so well that I didn't even think I was doing anything. The other major thing was Dean helping me with my escape from cross side. I don't find bridge escapes easy due to my poor lower back mobility, so Dean showed me an escape using your legs to move your body to the side, slide the lower knee in to block the abdomen then project the free leg away to sweep your opponent over - really liked this and will work well for me - just need to drill it. The key with the leg movement is to engage the core of your body so that your legs connect up through your torso - realy obvious, but the penny dropped that previously I've just been waving my legs around - just a lack of understanding on my part. This also means that I really need to work up some core strength. After a good demonstration by Dean, I think I'm going to make an effort with an old Yoga video - I reckon this will benefit in sorts of ways.

Dean also spent some time with me rolling at the end of one session - in the way that he likes to roll - just playing really, working the movement and just "sensing". I really enjoyed this - it was imply fun but I could feel a whole lot more than I normally would - it's this "pronounced" form of training that gradually hones the sensitivity that allows the purity of Jiu Jitsu to prevail. Sure, I'm a long way from that , but it's really where I want to be in the way that I roll. It's what it's all really about. I'm really loving the training at the moment and finish every session with the same buzz that I had when I first started...love it!

Rick has also helped me with some escapes from a common position at Carlson's - the head crush either from under mount or sometimes when holding guard. It was clear I've just been doing everything wrong - when holding guard I need to release guard, trap arms and work sweeps. Under Mount, instead of going for Upas that aren't there I need to be shrimping out. So obvious...now I've been shown - cheers Rick...and thank you from my neck too!

One other breakthrough to mention happened during a light session with just me and Si one Wednesday. We just went through standing up in guard - trying to prefect this technique over and over. I finally made a few minor adjustments, the main one being to drive my stand from my foot position (like a sprint start), rather than awkwardly squatting to standing position...bit by bit, things just get better.

Everything's relative and belts aren't everything, but I've set out my goals and they remain intact. It takes many people only a couple of years to go from white to blue. By the time I hopefully get there, I will have been a white belt for four years, partly due to economics, but the results I get at tournaments and when rolling tell me I am where I should be. I want nothing more than to feel that any grades I earn came at the right time and that I am the best white belt I can be...still lots of work to do and I'm loving every second.

Speak to you again soon. I'm off to bed to sleep off this adrenaline headache.

Cracking backs and cup cakes...

2008-07-02T19:22:00.003+01:00

Wow! Time moves so fast - almost a month since my last post, which was kind of impromptu so I guess it's ages since I last posted properly.
It's going to be hard to recount the specifics so I'll just give an overview of what's been going on.

Training's been pretty consistent over the last couple of months - Mondays and Wednesdays with Dean T and the guys, Fridays at Carlson's in Tonbridge.

Mondays have been "beginners'" nights with Nuri still coming, a new guy Dave (3rd Dan in Kyokushin looking for a ground game) and his wife Toyah - both nice folk and a good addition to our numbers. On top of this, Dean has mentioned a couple of other potential noobs so numbers, on mondays at least are looking good - in fact, at this rate, we're going to struggle for room. The sessions have been covering all the basic positions and techniques as per the syllabus, which is great for the new people, but I've also found it invaluable - always great to go back to the basics and round off the rough edges that bad habits, misunderstanding and sometimes laziness create. I've developed a much better understanding of holding posture in guard, standing in guard, escaping from cross side amongst a whole host of other things.

At the end of these sessions we roll semi-competitively and I'm pleased with how I'm doing, even against some of the established guys - more than holding my own so progress is steady but upwards.

Wednesdays are generally for the guys that have been training a bit longer and there's far more emphasis on the sensitivity and movement stuff we've been doing with Dean T. This mix works great for me as I'm regularly practising the techniques and positions that fall on to the end of the movement we're practising.

Fridays are still the open mat session at Carlson's and I've been really enjoying the training there. It's tough to maintain "Jiu" the whole time down there with the way the guys roll, but I've had good successes with affecting guys' balance and posture and working my basics. Sure, I've been caught a couple of times, but that's cool - if you open yourself up in an effort to try new things that's going to happen...I'll sharpen up and gradually it'll happen less often.

There have also been a couple of low key sessions - one wednesday session with just me and Si, and Sunday morning just gone with just me, Big Dean and Si. All we did was go over some of the bits and pieces that we've done in the last few weeks. Working bits over and over, trying to maintain base and posture etc. These sessions really help, just to revise and solidify what's been going on - otherwise, it's so easy to let one week move into the next and forget the finer details that make all the difference.

I feel, with all the training and excellent pointers from Dean T, that I'm really making progress. I'm coming up for three years doing BJJ now and a few weeks back got a huge fillip to my confidence. Dean T was talking about people's progress and also saying how hard it was being so remote from Rickson's HQ. It means that we have a lot of guys who remain blue belts and white belts and should, by any other standard, be a belt above. Dean rolled through the guys that have trained a while and amongst many deserving others, pinned me as blue belt level. This was just great - for Dean to say this meant a lot for me and puts me in great shape for my trip to LA. Certainly my experiences against guys from elsewhere (NY, Carlson's etc) would suggest to me that I am at early blue belt level, but I don't like to set myself up like that - the fact is I'm still wearing a white belt so that's what I am. Great to hear though!

On other fronts, the gym has taken a bit of a backseat the last couple of weeks - just seem to run out of time at the moment and have also been feeling pretty tired. The whole work situation is quite exhausting at the moment, but I won't go into that right now - those that need to know what's going on, know ;P. I did manage a couple of sessions last week and was pleased that none of my gains had been lost so the BJJ has more than kept things ticking over.

I've just gotten back from another short break at Butlins again (wow - almost a year since the last one) and I had a great time with the wife and kids - real knackered right now and unlikely to make it to training tonight.

Before I go, a couple of thank yous. Thanks to Big Dean for "cracking" my back a couple of weeks back. For about three months now, I've felt a tension in my upper back, just between the shoulder blades. When I used to go to the Osteopath, the "cracking" used to be my favourite part. Dean kindly obliged me and the relief I've felt has been great - and it didn't cost £40 either! Cheers mate, Genius!

Thanks also to Simon for inviting me to a gathering of his, a couple of weeks back. It was his daughter's first birthday and I enjoyed a really nice afternoon round at Si's eating great authentic Italian grub (his in-laws are Italian) and shooting the breeze. I was also able to see a copy of Antoni's fight - wow...his fitness shone through in the end and the hits he was putting in as the fight closed looked like a scene from a Rocky movie. Credit to his opponent - he took some big, big shots, but took ages to finaly hit the floor.

Finally, photgraphic evidence of the softer side to MMA and Jiu Jitsu. Here's Dean tucking into his favourite pre-training snack - a pink, dolly mixture topped cup-cake - ah, bless:

NEWS FLASH!!! (or why you shouldn't miss training!)

2008-06-04T23:42:00.005+01:00

I'll update you on all the usual stuff and latest developments another time, but I need to get this down right now...

So, I hoped it may happen but so often these sorts of things don't come off, so I was over the moon tonight when, at training, we were joined by Antoni Hardonk (Rickson Gracie Blue Belt and UFC Fighter) and Henry Akins (check out this and believe the hype) - one of Rickson's Black Belts and one of the main Instructors at the Academy in LA.

Antoni is over in the UK to fight this coming weekend in UFC 85 at the O2 arena in London, assisted by Henry who has been helping with training and is taking Antoni's corner. Having trained with both Henry and Antoni in the past, Big Dean had offered to show the guys around and they both came along to our session, mainly to train a little for Antoni, just to keep things sharp, but also for Henry to give us some of his time to polish up some finer details for us.

Henry worked us through holding posture in guard, sensitivity to break down posture when holding guard, gradually progressing to standing up in guard, also off balancing opponents doing same, to breaking guard from standing and a nice little pass from in open guard. It all worked so nicely and I finally got the feeling I need to have to hold posture - the whole hip connection thing finally clicked. I was greatly helped by having Dean T as my training partner so he was able to point out little corections I needed to make and was the epitome of a helpful training partner.

After this it was kind of an open clinic where we were able to ask Henry about bits and pieces and he gave excellent coaching and advice. I saw a nice variation on escape from mount which I think will really work for me, a great little escape from half guard which at first was so fast and fluid I didn't have a clue what happened, but when broken down was just so simple, and Henry helped me with my worst position - cross side, nice frame using the Gi or across the face and a nice scoot and turn to the side - just great.

I saw Antoni in UFC 80 (his fight lasted all of 10 seconds as he TKOd his opponent with a wicked jab) and he was a really nice guy - huge, mind, but really nice and great to see him so relaxed and enjoying himself - I'd like to think we made him feel at home as part of the Rickson network.

Having Henry come see us was just great - I've heard and read so much about him and he's just a real nice guy with such extensive knowledge and makes everything look so easy that you just think "I can do that" - a great confidence boost to see Jiu Jistsu stripped right down.

Having him help us with such an impromptu session was just great. It can sometimes feel like the only connection we have with Rickson's Association is the badge we wear, but then stuff like this happens and you feel revived and I know that feeling will last a long while.

A big thanks to both Antoni and Henry for coming to see us and giving their valuable time here in the UK. Lesser people wouldn't have. And god only knows, it was given willingly and absolutely gratis - someone like Henry could command a tasty fee for what he gave us tonight - I'm just stoked! And of course, all the best to Antoni for his fight at the weekend.

I'm just so happy right now ....

(L-R) Simon "Super Kong Rubber Tube" Roberts, Antoni Hardonk, Dean T, "Little" Dean McKelvie, Henry Akins, Me, Ian "Monkey" Monkton. Behind the Camera: "Big" Dean Barthelemy - thanks mate ;)

Update 8 June 08 - Antoni won his fight in Round 2 with a sweet right hook - congratulations!!

I want to be a part of it, New York, New York!

2008-05-27T19:31:00.027+01:00

It's been a while since my last post and there’s a lot to cover so I’m only going to go over the highlights. Training around the following items has been the usual affair – drilling the basics, practising the more sensitive side of BJJ with Dean T (had some useful pointers on holding posture in guard from Dean the other week), Fridays at Tonbridge – really enjoying the Friday format and the variety of training partners there.

On to the main events:

Rodrigo Medeiros Session – Carlson Gracie BJJ Revolution Team, 8th May 2008, Tonbridge

Rodrigo Medeiros is a 4th (?) Dan Black Belt under the late Carlson Gracie and several times champion at the Pan-Ams along with a list of numerous other accomplishments. He ran this session as he would a session at his own gym in the US and was joined by one of his purple belts who had just won the purple no-gi World title. The session was well attended by Carlson’s guys from all over as well as those from other schools (me, Si and Big Dean from Rickson’s) and it was also good to see Simon Hayes sporting his new black belt (many congratulations) and Dickie Martin there too. It was the first time I’ve met Simon, having heard a lot about him and read some great stories from him on the EFN forums. Seems like a great guy and clearly passionate about what he does – a great ambassador for the sport and a great ally for all at Tonbridge. I’ve also just heard that since that session, Dickie has also been promoted – really well deserved!

The session revolved around working the open guard – taking up grips, movement, using the legs to defend. A memorable drill from this section was just using the legs. You partner up, one guy standing, the other on his back. To start, both guys put their hands in their belts so that both partners are reliant on their legs to pass/defend. Stage 2, the standing partner removes one hand, stage 3, the guy on his back removes one hand and so on until both partners have full use of both hands and legs. Each “bout” was 2/3 mins long. It was a great cardio drill as well as really helping to understand the movement required in open guard – good fun too.

Here's a film clip of this exercise:

The latter part of the session looked at various leg hooks in combinations and using these to sweep from open guard. It’s hard for me to remember all of these now, but one key thing that stuck was that Rodrigo always hooked his opponent’s heel with his hand before doing anything else – really important. We went on to look at an Omaplata from open guard – I really liked this move and the combinations off of the Omoplata were good too.

Here's another clip:

The session ended in usual style with a bit of rolling. In keeping with the stuff we’ve been doing lately, I tried to maintain my defensive sphere and work off of any imbalances of my opponent – all to good effect I’m very pleased to say.

The session was great – a good energy in the room and it was impressive and inspiring to see a guy of Rodrigo’s calibre in action. A really engaging, genuine guy who’s been around with some of the best in the world.

Here's a few photos of the session:

US Trip – NYC and Long Island, USA, 18th May to 25th May 2008

As I type this, I’ve just gotten back from the US after a week’s break with my family, staying with my Brother in law on Long Island. With the trip planned, I also made plans to fit in a decent chunk of training – well, it’d be rude not to wouldn’t it?!

Renzo Gracie’s Academy - NYC

Me at Renzo Gracie's Academy NYC

I trained here on Tuesday and Thursday, both early afternoon (purple belt) sessions. I knew I’d be in for a good time here…an instructor's personality is a strong influence on the students and as Renzo is renowned as a happy, approachable guy, it was likely his students would be too. I’d also had a reply from Rolles Gracie saying that the gym was my “home” whilst in NYC which was a really nice thing to say. I met Rolles (a giant) and his persona matches his correspondence – a really nice guy, very laid back.

Both sessions were run by John Danaher (New Zealand John) and were attended by mostly Blue Belts, a few purples and the odd Brown and some senior white belts. The sessions followed the format; Take downs, technique on the ground, sparring. The sessions were very relaxed and the tuition by John was first class – very methodical, technical and delivered in an easy to follow “instruction manual” style (John co-wrote the book “Mastering Jujitsu” with Renzo).

Here's what I remember:

Session 1

Take down: Change to cross grip, break opponent's balance step in, hook heel with own leading foot through centre, sweep or hook foot with hand if opponent steps up, take down. Knee over opponent, take cross side, finish with cross collar choke.

Take down as above but finish collar choke across throat sprawling hips downwards.

Take down as above, draw up opponent's upper arm, move round head(keep shoulder on opponent's hip to pin) and finish with arm bar.

Session 2

Mirror opponent's grip, step in to fake hip throw, step round back, block foot and pull opponent down finish with arm lock, kimura or armbar.

Similar to above – step in, block furthest foot (important to keep leg straight to prevent opponent landing on it.

From butterfly guard to choke defending opponent – begin choke, turtle backwards, project legs upwards to force opponent’s hands down, roll forward to execute choke fully.

Rolling at both sessions was a similar affair – three or four 6 minute bouts with a rotation of opponents. Considering I was rolling mainly with Blue belts, I fared pretty well, submitting all of my opponents except one that got promoted to Purple belt at the end of the session – he was all over me like a rash so I can more than live with that. I even got a cross collar choke on which I was really pleased with – text book even – I always struggle to stay mounted when attempting that. The area I struggled most was the stand up – unfamiliar territory – I did OK, but never got any take downs and always lost out at this point. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my basics worked for me and I was also impressed by how the guys there roll – very gentle…maybe a mark of how long some of them have been training but more likely it stems from the ethos of Renzo and his team of instructors. I was expecting a lot more of a “tough guy” approach given Renzo’s MMA links and the wrestling background a lot of US guys have, but it was all cool.

Training at Renzo’s was excellent – highly recommended. It’s steep at $40 a session, but with the facilities they’ve got that set the standard for BJJ gyms and instruction of the quality that I had, it’s well worth it. Friendly guys and great training.

Matt Serra’s Academy – East Meadow Long Island

Me outside Matt Serra's East Meadow Academy

I trained here on Wednesday evening and Saturday around lunchtime (white belt sessions). The sessions were led by purple belts – didn’t get the guys name on Wednesday, but Saturday was run by Billy Hofacker, the gym manager. Both session ran the same format; warm up technique, positional training/sparring. Wednesday’s session looked at defending a guard pass from the open guard, which was a useful drill and the sparring at the end was positional starting with the position we had been training. Saturday’s session was much more my sort of thing – Billy took us through a few different submissions from your opponent being on all fours in front of you. Very good, practical stuff that I know I can use.

Me and Billy Hofacker, Academy Manager

Here's what I remember from the second session:

- Arm drag to take back
- Arm drag, step round for take down from back
- Arm drag to pull down
- Guillotine position grab posting arm and roll opponent, take up slack on gi with free hand, grab gi, sit and pull for choke
- Gullotine, step up, sit back and apply.

The rolling was good – the styles between guys was very different – the younger guys were all gritted teeth and attack at all costs, whereas the older guys fought a bit smarter and softer. Again, I sub’d all of my opponents, but to be fair, I think all of them had been training a lot less time than me. A great workout and again, really friendly guys. Thanks again to Billy – he really made me feel welcome and took the time to make sure I enjoyed my sessions.

The sessions cost $25 each. The facilties were, again, very good and I’d recommend it to anyone who can get to, or who is staying on Long Island.

The icing on the cake for me was that, after the session, Matt Serra turned up to take a no-gi session fro his top guys. What a nice, funny guy. He took about 5 minutes to chat to me, asking about where I trained, how long etc, how my stay on Long Island was (he’s a proud Long Islander) – so genuine and you’ll see from this photo, you can’t help but be happy around a guy like him. Really great – a true champion.

Me and Matt Serra - what a nice guy!

My time in the US was short but I made good use of it and bring back a handful of new techniques, but more importantly a great experience and memories (oh, and a couple of great t shirts). If you’re going over that way, be sure to take your Gi and go train – you won’t regret it. Everyone I met was really friendly, one or two white belts (I have to say the younger guys) saw my white belt and were a little patronising (I’m sure they were just trying to be helpful), but their underestimation ended when we started rolling and then they were genuinely interested to ask about where I train etc etc so no offence – I’m sure it’s the same any club you go to until guys know where you’re at.

It was all great – thanks to everyone I met and trained with – it’s great to know that regardless of club or association, BJJ is just one big family with the common bond of good training and friendship.

At the end of it all, it was still a family trip and I had a great time in the US – many thanks to Tammy and Matthew for putting us up and giving us lifts – we had a great time – great memories.

Me and the family - what a great trip!

The value of tournaments...?

2008-04-22T13:45:00.002+01:00

A quick catch up on all the goings on since all the stuff I’ve just written about. I hadn’t trained any since last Wednesday except for a Gym session on Thursday. Friday and Saturday I just felt really tired so took the chance to rest. Sunday, I spent all day out watching Saracens Vs Wasps – gutted to see Saracens (playing in pink for Charity, which turned them all into a bunch of girls) go down 29 points to 40. A great game with some good tries but if only Sarries had played throughout like they did in the 2nd half….

Sunday night I went round to Big Dean’s to watch UFC 83. The main event was Matt Serra Vs Georges Saint-Pierre (GSP) for the Welterweight championship that Serra took from GSP at their last outing. I had hoped that Serra may pull it out of the bag again, but this was always a long shot. GSP looked to have his conditioning spot on and looked focussed in front of a home crowd. Sure enough, it panned out as per the script and GSP was in control every step of the way. Serra’s gas just ran out and at one point was too tired to put up much defence against some well aimed shots. I did see some of the BJJ for which Serra is famed, which was good, but GSP was just too dominant and with some nasty knees going into Serra’s ribcage, the fight was stopped to give GSP the win by TKO. Both fighters were consummate professionals giving each other due respect and plaudits and that was nice to see.

Another fight that I was impressed by was Mike Bisping’s debut at Middleweight against Charles McCarthy. Bisping looked trim and fierce at his new weight and easily outclassed McCarthy to get a TKO in the first round. It’ll be interesting to see where Bisping goes from here in this weight division. Even if he does sound like Ashley from Coronation Street.

So, Monday night’s session, just four of us again and I arrived not feeling 100%. I think it’s a continuation of the tiredness I’d felt last week and has transformed into a weird feeling of mild nausea and weakness. I can’t explain what it is, except that I just don’t feel “right” and it sucks – I’d rather be properly ill – at least that way I’d know what to say about how I feel. Anyway, we focussed on the stand up in prep for Seni – defending base, against throws and against opponents jumping guard. We also did some ankle picks which I found hard, but it was all to do with my posture. I found defending the jump to guard tough too, until Si pointed out that I shouldn’t try to hold onto my opponent as this was dragging me down – problem fixed! I found the whole thing tough – physically I mean – sweating loads more than usual, breathless real quick and my concentration wasn’t too sharp so I came away feeling pretty fed up with myself, but I guess it can’t be helped.

On to the “big” news from me. I’ve decided today that I’m NOT going to enter Seni. There are a couple of factors in this decision. The major one is poor organisation on my part. I thought that I had time to enter and logged on today to do that thinking that the cut off was 23rd (which it is). However, I’ve missed the deadline for early entry and late entry is at a fee of £40. It makes a significant difference to me financially and also in terms of the value that I attach to competing (i.e. do I consider the tournament and any potential benefit to be worth £40 – in short, the answer is no). I feel a bit down about it, mainly because of the time that Big Dean and Si have given in helping me train. I just want to say thanks to you guys. I hope you don’t feel I’m letting you down or that any of that time was wasted – tournament or not, it has all been useful and will still be useful as I turn my attention to other tournaments later this year. Sorry and thanks.

The second, less significant, factor is my current “wellness”. I could well be 100% again by the weekend, but right now I feel mentally and physically ropey, so why spend £40 and potentially give a less than honest account of myself at a tournament. I’ve done this in the past – played in important Rugby games with injury when I should have stepped aside. The result makes you feel a lot worse than if you hadn’t played.

I’m disappointed, but I guess that now, I just get on with training as I always have and I’ll have a look to see what tournaments are around for the rest of the year and decide whether I want to go in for them.

Hit me on my beeper, beeper, beeper, beeper...

2008-04-22T12:01:00.002+01:00

There’s been a whole lot of training since my last post, so I’d better capture it now before it all runs away with me.

I’ve been to another two of Tonbridge’s Friday sessions and both times Si came along. Both were much better sessions in terms of free rolling and again, I managed OK, particularly against their white belts. Against their blue belts is a different matter – these sessions have been the first time I’ve really felt a marked superiority in their blue belts and it’s a testament to how hard they train and how committed they are. Notable from the first of these two sessions was the attendance of Dickie Martin – one of Carlson’s brown belt instructors (and current Euro Brown Belt Champion). It was interesting to hear him talk about his philosophy and good to see him roll – the brown belt standard was clearly in evidence – very controlled, dominant, yet it was also clear that he had the sensitivity required to make it jiu jitsu and not just aggressive grappling. A really nice guy from what I saw and I was really impressed watching him roll. As always, both sessions were tough and I’ve taken away learning points from each one – mainly a mindset I’m going to need for the Seni tournament which is only a couple of weeks away now. Carlson’s have got some exciting times ahead – good targets for Seni, a Seminar with their top man Rodrigo Medeiros in May and a tournament of their own – the “Kent Open” in November. Good luck to them all and another thanks for some great training and an always warm welcome.

Sessions back at Rickson’s have been good, although attendance has dropped back again. I’m not sure why this is or if it’s going to stay this way, but at the moment it feels as though we’re back where we were a few months ago, which longer term, is going to raise the same sustainability concerns as before. We’ll see what happens. Numbers have ranged from just two and up to five, with Nuri now seemingly a regular, which is great, Mike’s been down a couple of times (work allowing) and Lee popped in too - always good to see him. The ethos of cooperation in training and trying to engage a “sensitive” approach has been retained and it’s evident that people are trying to make it work, which is good. We’ve been training regular Mondays and Wednesdays and also threw in a Sunday last weekend, which was a nice set up for the week ahead. One session we looked at a combination from the mount – going for a cross-collar choke and playing between that, arm bar and dropping to cross side for a collar choke. Last Monday, we looked at guard again, defending whilst in the guard, maintaining posture and passing guard and from the bottom, we looked at breaking down the person in the guard and a collar choke (you bring down the opponent, wrap an arm and grab the opposing lapel. Scoot out and grip up with your other arm for a cross collar choke – leg heavy across the top of the back to keep the opponent down.) – all good stuff and good revision. All sessions have ended with a bit of rolling and an inevitable round robin of opponents for me in prep for Seni.

A couple of sessions have been solely rolling, but with a purpose. Dean has a little beeper thing called a “gym buddy” so we’ve been rolling for 5 minute intervals with a minute rest between, switching partners each interval with around 3-4 rotations – about 45 mins rolling in total. This is a good exercise and serves a dual purpose – it’s good cardio and 5 mins is the length of a tournament bout so it focuses the mind on what needs to be done in a match. Last wednesday we did this and I also ended the session rolling with Si, Mike and Dean for 5 minutes each, consecutively with a minute recovery between each opponent. That was real tough. I did score a few points, but by the second round I was really gassing. By the end of the last round I was shot – I felt more than a little nauseous. My cardio’s not great, but it’s not bad either –I’m not too concerned – I didn’t find the Southern Open too taxing and I’m a lot fitter now than I was then. I was also rolling a lot harder than I usually do because this is how it’s going to be – there’s a fine line however between rolling hard and rolling angry – a line that I need to stay on the calm side of.

Off the matt, the conversation has been fairly typical – upcoming UFCs, a myriad politically incorrect topics for which we’re all going to hell, and the usual focus on faecal (do you want a flake in that?) and methane expulsions. I’m not sure if this is common within BJJ, something that just happens when you get a bunch of guys together, or says something about us specifically. Then again, I’m not sure I care – it’s fun and that’s all that matters. One little thing that just made me chuckle…upon arrival last night, Mike made his usual visit to the loo and all we could hear from inside was him laughing to himself, which was funny in itself. It transpires that the usual lack of bog roll had forced someone to stash a bunch of napkins in there and on each of these napkins was written “You’ve missed a bit”. :D

Row, row, row your boat...

2008-04-08T16:46:00.006+01:00

I think this is going to be the way of things – updates every two to three weeks. Time moves so quickly that it’s hard to keep a weekly update, plus I’d run the risk of repeating loads of stuff.

So, the last few weeks…?

I’ll start with a visit to Carlson’s at Tonbridge – they’ve added a Friday night to their schedule as an “open mat” night – a session to try out new stuff, work through problems or just roll with a variety of guys – a great idea. I have to confess I was a little disappointed – the session was billed as open and flexible, but was still very structured with activity being dictated which wasn’t what I’d gone along for. It was fine – a good workout, but I’d rather have just rolled. I’m led to believe that the Friday session is usually loose, but I just caught an odd night, so I will definitely give it another go sometime soon.

Things did get looser as the evening progressed and I acquitted myself reasonably well. I was trying to work with what we’d been doing recently, i.e. balance, weight etc and did pull it off a couple of times, but it’s hard to resist fighting when guys are coming at you in the way that only Carlson’s guys do! I was pleased to hold good posture against their blue belts and to be able to break them down when in my guard. Against the other white belts I was fine and got some good sweeps and a couple of decent taps with relative ease and importantly, I was patient, just rolled with it and played my game – my basics worked well for me. It had obviously been a hard session as I retired early with my legs teetering on the verge of all-out cramping every time I moved, so rather than cramp up and face a day or two of limping about, I thought it wise to stop.

Something else to come from Carlson’s that I’ve been trying out recently is a good workout on the rowing Machine – here it is, taken from the forum at www.bjj.eu.com. I think it’s from one of Carson’s Brown Belts, Simon Hayes:

If you have access to a concept 2 Rowing machine continue reading:

Set the resistance to '10'
Set the computer to 'Interval'
Set the distance to '250 metre'
Set the rest time/interval to '30 seconds'

You should do every set at an absolute 100% sprint. As if someone has a gun to your head. You will complete the distance in 45-55 seconds.You then rest for 30 seconds (the machine will count this down for you)You then do your next set and try to match the time of your first set. YOU MUST GO 100%

You continue doing sets until
a.You Puke
b.You cannot get within 10 seconds of your first set.

If you can do 3 sets that’s not bad.
If you can do 6 sets you are fucking fit.
If you can do 10 sets I do not want to fight you.

(Please do not bother with this if you are the sort of wastrel who cannot go 100%).

If you want to get fit for BJJ and only have 5-10 minutes this is the best exercise available.

I’ve given this a couple of goes. First time, I did my first set in 55 seconds and managed 11 reps. Second time I did my first set in 52 seconds and did 10 reps…not bad and was pretty tough. I’ve since learned that you really need to go sub 50 seconds in your first set to be “in the zone”, so I’ve got a bit of work to do. It’s a good workout, but not something for every session!

I’ve managed to get back into the gym with some regularity again and I’m dropping weight again which is good and I’m enjoying my sessions there and have been mixing up the programmes on the machines to do loads of interval work, mainly just for the variety, but also because intervals are good CV work. I generally try and do 60 mins of good quality CV work each session.

Sessions at the club of late have been typical of the last few weeks – lots of the sensitivity stuff. A session we had a couple of weeks back was really good – there was a good number of us and it was all free rolling and semi cooperative. Dean T was coaching as we all rolled and there was a good vibe in the room with people really taking on the ideas and making it work – really good fun...it felt like anything was possible. I felt really energised after that session. Last week was similar in nature, but for some reason I just wasn’t getting it – I think I was going too flat and a step behind the movement – that’s just the way it goes….I also had a lot on my mind.

Last night we had two new guys join us – Nuri and his brother Haider (sp?). Two really nice guys with no experience but a whole lot of energy and enthusiasm. It’s always good to have new guys train and both were willing learners and seemed (I hope) to get a lot from the session. Nuri says he’ll be back, but his brother is normally at Uni, so we hope to see him when he can make it. Thanks to big Dean, I had my usual round robin of opponents at the end of the session, in preparation for my tournament at Seni later this month – phew! On that subject, I’ve just joined the Grappling Arts Association – a body set up by the leading BJJ guys in the UK to support people in BJJ and other grappling arts. It cost £7.50 (membership is free until Seni 08) to get some reasonable insurance cover which is something I’ve been meaning to do for some time. It’s a good venture and I wish them every success – BJJ needs a body like this to move things forward.

On to the wider world (it’s all intertwined you know – I see my week as moving from weekend to BJJ sessions to weekend, interspersed with the annoyance of work). Things aren’t great. I’ve been feeling pretty low lately – tons to do at work, in a job that I have no passion for, knowing that none of it is recognised (in fact quite the extreme – work I’m doing is being claimed by others!) and knowing that peers are earning in the region of £10K more than me, my boss is on almost double what I’m on and I perceive that all the good results from my department are majoritively down to me (and there’s plenty of evidence to support this). This is against a context of me being the sole wage earner in my family with two young kids. I wouldn’t change that for anything, but it’s hard. It’s really getting me down. I’m going to have to address this, but have no faith that speaking up will do any good whatsoever. I already know that I’m being stitched up, so will probably get a publicly sympathetic ear only to be stabbed in the back behind closed doors.

What’s this got to do with BJJ? Sometimes it impacts on my ability to concentrate, to be motivated (but I always manage to get out to training – I’d feel a whole lot worse if I didn’t). On the flip side, BJJ really helps me to be free of the worries for a few hours each week and is valuable in suspending the stress for a moment or two. The other really great thing is that the guys I train with are genuine people, some not a million mile from where I am in life, and their genuine concern, advice and support is essential to helping me feel like there are some people out there that are on my side – thanks guys.

It's a dog's life...

2008-03-13T21:15:00.001Z

It’s been a while since my last post, so I’m not even going to try and give a full recount of each session. I’m back to some semblance of health and I can hear in both ears again (they still pop quite a bit – the doc said it can be up to six months to return to normal!), although I did have some weird 24/48 hour thing last week that stopped me training on Wednesday. I woke up in the early hours of Wednesday (I say woke up – it was that weird sort of half sleep), convinced that I’d been drugged by someone and I span off into this whole convoluted fantasy about who did it and how. Suffice to say I woke up Wednesday morning not feeling 100%. Apart from that though, I’m feeling OK now and enjoying getting some regularity back in to my gym visits and feeling good when training.

It’s been a weird few weeks. Apart from the various ailments (which now thankfully seem to be over), I’ve been feeling really stressed about work – no doubt this has had an impact on my health in one way or another, and, to be really honest, I’ve been more than a bit depressed about the whole work/life agenda. It’s all the usual stuff – underpaid, overworked, undervalued…just gets a bit hard to take at times. Anyway, at least there’s always Jiu Jitsu. Dean’s sessions of late have been as much about mindset as anything else and you know what? They have a real impact on stress – even if only for a few hours a couple of times a week, I’m able to be with friends who are honest, I can forget work and all the bad stuff and meditate on very immediate things. It’s great and this is why Jiu Jitsu will always be more than just wrestling with a bunch of sweaty guys in pyjamas. It’s a great distraction and matters to me on a personal level that work never has, and I have to say, can’t see that it ever will. The other really good thing is that, because the guys are honest and open, we talk about these things and I know I’m not alone in this…and that in itself is hugely useful in lifting the cloud which can sometimes make you feel like you’re the only person in your situation.

So, a quick summary of the last few weeks’ training. Dean T’s sessions have continued much in the vein of recent weeks – more of the sensitivity/weight/balance drills, and a few reminders of some of the escape techniques previously covered. Mondays have been varied – on one, Big Dean was uncharacteristically ill, but Dean T trained with me and Si – we just did a round robin of rolling and it was all done in the spirit of recent weeks’s training so was really good to try and operate in the way that we were shown. I’m under no illusion that Dean had a myriad of options to tap me out , but allowed things to flow and gave me a few clues to help things along which was great – I got so much more from that than just being stuck and tapping every five seconds. Another Monday, the two new guys from a few weeks showed up again, which was good. Big Dean took us through breaking guard, as always in good technical detail. The rolling was good and this time I stayed a lot more in control and just played my own game to much better effect. Big Dean gave me another round robin of opponents in two minute bursts, but I gassed real quick and can only put that down to recent illness….maybe even not eating so well (ie. Skipping meals and not drinking enough) of late too (all stress related again!).

Last night, considering Dean T was taking the session, was a pretty low turnout, just me, Si, Dean and Ian (AKA “Monkey”). This was a really good session for me as Dean spent around half the time purely chatting with me about the weight/balance philosophy, Jiu Jitsu being “in the moment” and rolling with me in a very loose way so that I could feel first hand how it is meant to be. It was great to be given this attention and there really is no substitute for feeling how it should be done. As we progressed, I tried to replicate what I was feeling, often with little result as I pushed too hard, over compensated or thought too much. I did execute it a couple of times and I can only say that when I did, it just happened, I wasn’t trying to make anything happen, or thinking ahead about what might, I just reacted in the moment to where Dean put himself. On the receiving end, I can only describe as feeling like you’re constantly in a middle place – held in a sort of limbo. If you try and regain your starting position, you’re damned, if you force to go where you wanted, you’re damned, so instead, you sit in this middle ground, held, not really sure where to go or what to do for the best. It’s really funny because as it happens you know immediately that you’re in trouble and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. I’ve noticed lately that Dean T seems to be working his way around each of the guys giving quality 1:1 time with each of us, really wanting us to understand and embrace what he’s trying to communicate and achieve with his Jiu Jitsu. It’s great, and I really value the time taken and the chance to train in this way. A picture speaks a thousand words – look at photos from our club and guys are focussed on what’s going on, brows furrowed trying to grasp the fine detail and philosophy. A look at many other clubs’ websites and there are lots of pictures of guys looking shattered and sweaty (but admittedly happy – BJJ will do that to you wherever you train!). We are studying the “gentle method” – Jiu Jitsu as it was intended to be. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy the hard training too, but know that this is the stuff that separates good from outstanding. This is why it’s worth the time and patience trying to acquire this approach.

With ying comes yang and so to balance out the sublime, as always there’s the ridiculous. This week we were discussing “Crufts” of all things - Dean has a couple of beautiful Akitas – great looking dogs, huge fluffy monsters. Dean’s brought them to training a couple of times and they sit as good as gold at the edge of the mats waiting for the session to end. It can be a bit disconcerting to be reversed from some position to find yourself eye to eye with a panting Akita, but they’re very good natured and often just shuffle off somewhere else. For Dog lovers (and I include myself in that – I own a wonderful Border Collie called “Paddy”), Crufts is a huge event taking in 5 halls at the NEC (nearly 20 Acres worth), over 150,000 visitors over the four days and around 23,000 dogs entered in various events and shows. I have to admit, I have never considered this question until it was asked last night – but what happens to all the dog muck? Imagine that?! That’s somebody’s job for four days a year!!! And there was me thinking that my job was shit!

Zen and the art of Jiu Jitsu

2008-02-24T21:26:00.008Z

No teaching from Dean T week before last, so it was back to “da old skool” with Me, Si, Big Dean and Mike. Both sessions were really similar – we solely worked positional stuff – escapes from under the mount, focussing on the elbow escape. Just drilling the move over and over. I used to hate this type of stuff, but now it’s essential and I get a whole lot out of it. Coaching from the guys, as always was well observed and well-timed and really helped loads. The key points I took away from both sessions were:

Secure the frame (Dean’s image of expanding into the gap like water and then freezing is a useful prompt for how the frame should feel)
Be aware of not pushing with the frame – this can be helped by not using the “spare” hand – just make it ready for movement to the next phase of the move
Put energy into the frame – this comes up through the posted foot (needs to be as close to the butt as possible) and through the shoulder
Take up the space before beginning the move
Attempt the move to get a reaction from your opponent
Don’t be locked in to one move – be aware of the moment, where the weight and balance is and react accordingly

We rolled at the end of both sessions, and, having announced that I am going to enter the Gracie Invitationals at Seni, Dean was kind enough to give me a round robin of opponents both nights – roll after roll after roll! On Monday I was gassing big style – I was coming down with a cold, had struggled in the positional stuff and was just too frantic in a lot of what I was doing – really tough. Wednesday night was different thought – it was as though all the learning had sunk in and was starting to take effect – my rolling was a lot calmer and I was getting some good results. I even managed to remember and use some of the escapes Dean T had shown us recently, although I was a bit late on the omaplata escape! The guys were really encouraging and I did feel a difference. The key difference between Monday and Wednesday? Pure and simple – staying calm and working the technique. That’s what I’ve got to do – just gotta sit back and be cool. Both sessions were tough, but enjoyable and really brought me on in a position that I always struggle with – still no where near perfect, but big strides ahead.

The two guys from the previous week didn’t show. I was hopeful that they might return, but not surprised they didn’t. I get the impression that our style of BJJ wasn’t what they were looking for. Because of its association with MMA, BJJ attracts quite a lot of guys that just wanna smash things. That’s cool and there are a lot of BJJ clubs that can cater for that, but that’s not the way at our club – see my last post and my “painting” analogy. Hey ho – just another pair in a long line of people that wander in through the doors and don’t stay the distance.

Last Monday’s session was with Dean T and a good turn out. Sticking with the whole balance/kuzushi thing we worked controlling the opponent’s balance from standing – manipulating weight onto one leg then controlling how and where the opponent is then able to place weight with their other leg. The “sphere of energy” principle remains and it’s a case of manipulating the opponent’s weight by moving your “sphere” in a subtle fashion to the opposites of where he wants to be. In doing this, you can move weight on your own terms and as your opponent struggles to regain, you can exploit any over-exuberance with a well-timed takedown – albeit a gentle one of simply stepping away and leading your opponent to the floor.

We worked the “sphere” principle into a couple of self defence moves, the first one being a grab to one shoulder. The principle here is not to react with an overbearing “base”. Dean clearly demonstrated how this is ineffective. Rather, in this scenario, you simply raise your arm up to meet the grab, maintaining your own personal space – this move effectively neutralises the push from your opponent. Persistent pushing can be overcome by redirecting force and a change to pulling can be counteracted by following your aggressor whilst wrapping the arm into a shoulder lock. Using very similar principles, we also worked a defence against someone shooting in to grab your hips – rugby tackle style – again, all about maintaining distance with your “sphere” and redirecting force and balance. It’s always interesting to see the self defence applications of Jiu Jitsu and this is another thing that separates Rickson’s style from other schools – the Jiu Jitsu always starts from a position of self defence as opposed to scoring points in a tournament.

We also worked a similar frame/sphere thing with someone placing knee on stomach - not working too hard, just going with where the weight and balance of your opponent is - a very "alive" way of moving, always playing with the point of discomfort for your opponent. It's all very "in the now" and something that takes a lot of mental discipline. Dean demonstrated very well how the usual tactic of pushing against your opponent under knee on stomach just gives him everything he needs to get purchase, so the discipline with this is to keep your sphere and just keep rolling with the movement as it comes, staying relaxed and in the moment.

Here's a few photos of the session - Dean T demonstrating principles with Roubel:

The only other thing to note in this entry is that I have at last returned to the gym after nearly two months with assorted congestion/colds/catarrh. I'm slowly getting the hearing back in my right ear at last!!! It was a tough session, but the good news is that I don't appear to have lost any of the fitness gains I made before I got ill, so hopefully I can just carry on where I left off. Just may have put a bit of weight back on that's all but that's easily shifted!

Use the Force Luke!

2008-02-11T14:11:00.002Z

After Monday’s trials, Wednesday’s session was just what I needed to re-focus on what I need to be doing in my BJJ. Dean T worked solely on the whole balance/sensitivity thing, mainly from standing. We worked with low grips pushing up (as if you were pinning someone against a wall), high grips pulling down and straight arm grips pushing forward and were simply working off these to affect the balance of the opponent. All of this was related to defending an imaginary “sphere” of personal space – making a sort of frame of energy and just deflecting the opponent or defending the space with a fluid frame. It’s a tricky concept to explain, hard to do. It’s pretty easy to understand what needs to happen and when it’s done to you, you can feel exactly what is happening. Dean trained with me for quite a while, and at one point, he deliberately trained in quite a hard way, then, without warning, switched to the softer style. The impact was really marked. When training hard, I was able to get in on Dean, to take up grips and affect him, but the very second he switched, I could get nothing and was off balanced in a matter of seconds. It was literally like a switch had been flipped.

I think the toughest thing about this is mental discipline to override your natural urges to resist, or to use strength to combat the aggressor. Then again, I’m not so sure these are natural urges. My kids are three and I’ve shown them, albeit in a playful way, various BJJ principles and I’ve watched them playfighting. My son moves so fluidly and without effort that I’m so envious of his natural movement and it just makes me feel that I’ve somehow lost, over time, the natural movement that we are all capable of. We’ve somehow got to return to the source. If I playfight with my dog, he doesn’t push back, he rolls with what is happening and recovers and takes his chances when they’re there. Fighting, in the aggressive forceful sense seems pretty unnatural. When Dean demonstrated the principles, it felt like there was nothing that should be stopping me doing what I wanted to do – there was a zero energy to what he was doing. I was ultimately the architect of my own downfall – as I moved, I off balanced myself, Dean was just a facilitator in making me go to the extreme of that position.

The session was much more like the sessions were when I first started training with Dean. Plenty of practice, but also lots of Dean talking about the principles, trying to aid our understanding. Dean was really passionate about what he was teaching and it was great to see and to receive – it’s really inspiring and after a period when Dean, and he’s admitted it himself, was less enthusiastic about the whole thing, it’s great to see someone recapture a passion and want to share it with people.

We talked about Kuzushi (good article here), which appears to have gotten lost in Jiu Jitsu and in Judo, where competition with its rules and time limits have forced competitors to bypass the need for sensitivity and breaking balance via the use of pure force and strength. If you look at regular BJJ competitors and top Judo guys, they’re all strong, athletic people. Sure, they’re skilful, but they are all physically capable of imposing their will or a throw on someone through sheer strength and determination. It’s a small percentage of people that will affect a person’s balance so profoundly that a throw is hardly required. This is Kuzushi. I looked back at some old footage on Youtube of Jigoro Kano – the founder of Judo and Kyuzo Mifune (one of Kodokan’s finest proponents) and there’s hardly a single “big air” throw in their demonstrations. The subtlety of what they do is all in the Kuzushi. It is this, that we are practicing, and I know it’s the single most important aspect that I can try and get to grips with in my Jiu Jitsu. Get this right, everything else will take care of itself. All the techniques that so many people “collect” are simply the things that you apply at the end of your efforts (or lack of!) in Kuzushi.

Dean spent a lot of time with me this session and I really appreciated it. At a time when I could quite easily let the desire to use strength and get quick results take over, this was an excellent grounding in the style of Jiu Jitsu that I need, and want, to be using. This is why I’ve stuck with this club all through the times when we could and should really have folded. It’s pure. It may take longer, but it’s profound in it’s proficiency. It’s like anything – if you rush the job, you may get it done and it may be OK for a while, but in time, the lack of proper foundation or preparation will show. Like painting to illustrate a point. You can slap gloss paint onto a bit of wood and it will look good, but, after a while, cracks will appear, then the paint will start to peel and fall off. On the other hand, you can sand the wood properly to provide a key. Wash down with sugar soap to remove any grease that may affect adherence of paint. Apply a primer, then under coat, then coats of gloss. All of this will take time and seem like a lot of effort, but the end result not only looks better, but will last inordinately longer.

My point is this – these are my foundations that will make my Jiu Jitsu stronger. I know this. My foundations are not a collection of techniques, which, admittedly, are quicker to learn and look better, but it is this that is ultimately going to take me to where I want to be.

Does it mean that I’m not going to train hard against hard opponents, enter tournaments, still use a bit of strength from time to time? Does it mean that I will not get tapped by those less capable than me whilst I try and get to grips with this style? No. It just means that I need to have this in the forefront of what I’m trying to achieve when I train and let it soak into my mindset. That’s the challenge.

Stick to what you know...

2008-02-05T20:19:00.003Z

No training last Monday – bit of a communication breakdown, so Me Mike and Dean had a chat and then I went home and enjoyed a few beers.

Wednesday’s session was taken by Dean T – we didn’t cover any techniques. We worked on sensitivity to your opponent’s balance – starting in guard position, gripping up behind the opponent’s elbows and just manipulating weight as the opponent shifts to pass guard – really useful drill. This then evolved into discussing the notion of defending your own personal space with a “frame” that you simply use to keep distance and “deflect” any aggressive moves into your space – this works standing, kneeling, on your back – a universal principle. Really good.

Friday was MMA night – just a few of us, but rather than go full on MMA we just revised some of the escapes we’d covered with Dean T – escape from omoplata, escapes from armbar combinations and escape from kimura (underneath opponent, on side). A really useful exercise, as, even despite blogging the details of these moves, there’s no substitute for doing them…especially so soon after. I feel like the week or two straight after doing something is the key time for revision – so easy to forget stuff in this time after the event. We finished up with a bit of pad work – nothing silly, just working a few punches. Man, I’m so sloppy on this stuff – any basics I had (if I ever had any) have just gone and I’m slow, telegraphing, just all the things that you don’t want. I got some good pointers from Dean and Mike and I just need to work on these – namely keeping my hands up and keeping tight whilst throwing punches – it’s a muscle memory thing.

I was going to enter the Bristol Open Tournament this month, but I’ve not been 100% lately and as a result I haven’t been to the gym in almost a month and t shows – the combination of catarrh along with a drop in gym work meant I was struggling a little on Wednesday’s session – nothing bad, just I felt a lot more breathless and sweaty than I have done in a while. I’ve just finished a course of antibiotics and things are starting to clear, so hopefully I can get back to the gym soon – still deaf in my right ear though! So, yeah, Bristol – decided against it, plus it’s a long way to drive to sit around and wait all day, so I turn my attention to the Gracie Invitationals at Seni in April.

On the subject of Tournaments, congratulations to a number of the guys from Carlson’s in Tonbridge, who competed in the Europeans in Portugal at the end of January. By all accounts all who went acquitted themselves admirably and they returned with a decent haul of medals, including a Gold for one of their instructors from their London club – great result. I may look to enter next year…depends on funds and where it’s going to be held.

Last night it looked like being back to the old routine, me, Si and Big Dean. I’d had an email a couple of weeks back from a guy that was looking to train who said he was coming down, but no sign. As we were about to start, he showed up with a mate – it’s not an easy place to find! Anyway, Rob and Richard – two nice guys that have done bits of stand up to date and are not strangers to grappling (more on that in a mo). Dean, knowing we may have new bods had lined up a session looking at the two major escapes from mount (upa and elbow escape), so we drilled these a bit and then ran them as positional drills – man in the middle under mount, 2 minutes to get out, then fed another opponent. Si made short work of all his opponents, then it was my turn. First off, Richard on top. Richard’s a big guy and strong with it – looks strong and is strong. I really struggled under his mount and to be honest, was spazzing towards the end of my two minutes. I really just should have stayed calm, worked the techniques and taken the moments as they presented themselves….instead, my ego took hold and I was just trying to not get held by the new guy – sooo wrong! Of course, these drills are great for training the technique, but aren’t a real reflection – I’ve said it before, anyone, with limited skill can hold a single position with no great effort and with no submission attempts for me to work off, I wasn’t really given any great opportunities. On the other hand, if my technique was where it should be at then there shouldn’t have been a problem. I managed to shift Rob relatively easily, but again, more with strength than technique so a hollow “victory”. By now, I was gassing and had Si “pound for pound” Roberts to contend with. Well, Si just locked on and brought the weight down – I couldn’t breathe, move, nothing – it was so claustrophobic.

After a short break, we rolled. Dean paired me up with the new guy Richard. I’d already experienced how strong he was so decided that Jiu Jitsu rules and to stick to technique and started off reasonably well. From the knees, we gripped up and it was the perfect opportunity to try out the stuff we’ve been doing with Dean T. Sure enough as Richard moved I off-balanced him and was actually taken aback by the force with which he went over. I took cross side and worked easily to mount. From here, I was working for an Americana, one of my favourites, but again, Richard’s strength made this tough. I probably could have muscled it, but was still in “jiu” mode so gave it up. I looked for a few Ezekiel chokes, but my position wasn’t secure enough. Neither of the new guys wore Gis so my options were limited to a degree, otherwise I’d have definitely tried a cross collar choke. Anyway, after a while, I worked Richard into a nice position for an armbar – all set up and ready to go and this is where I always mess up – as I drop back, my leg nearest the head always goes light allowing the escape – and this was no exception – I’m mad at myself – I know so much better and have spent ages practicing making it a slow, controlled movement, only to get excited and screw it up!!!

So, here I am now, with Richard in my guard and now my “jiu” has run out on me. So, instead of relaxing and trying to work the very stuff Dean T had been teaching the week before, I start trying to go for sweeps, which I’m not in any position to do and, without a gi to grip up on, I have to confess, a bit lost on. Net result was that I ended up with Richard taking my back. This is where it was evident that both the new guys were not complete strangers to grappling – he had a good position with hooks in and was going for a rear naked choke – fortunately for me, he couldn’t close it so I made for my escape – moving to the open side, killing the underside leg etc etc – all going well until he was able to mount. Again – stupid!! How many times have I been told, and even written here that the last and most important part of that move is to frame against the opponent’s knee to stop the mount and to move out. Did I do it? No! Not just once either, but twice!!!! Anyway, some poorly executed upas by me led to Richard taking my back again, this time going for a Gi choke, which again, was not executed properly so I was uncomfortable but not threatened and after a while, time was called and we finished. Now, the fact that I survived the latter part of the roll means nothing. If Richard had just a little more experience, knew to take up slack in the Gi before executing chokes, then I’d have been tapping. Him not wearing a Gi was a factor – I couldn’t take the grips that I’m familiar with, but not the factor. Far too many times I was sloppy – my control was poor and I committed the cardinal error of getting sucked into a fight rather than staying calm and working what I know. Like, when I opened my guard and tried fancy sweeps – what was the point?? Better to have held guard and worked on disrupting his base which could have opened up far better options. Under the mount – why force poor upas?? Far better to have waited for him to attack and then go for something with his balance exposed. My frustration was short lived as I’m actually far more interested in the fact that I can review what went wrong and try and work it into my rolling next time – the path of development. So, from that point of view it was actually a really good session.

I rolled with Rob and retained far better control and secured a decent Americana. Feeling shattered, I also rolled with Dean, and he used our sensitivity/balance stuff really well and walked all over me – usual story but I had little else to give anyway.

So, apart from my frustration at myself, it was actually a really good session. I learned a lot – not new stuff, just how I need to keep control to execute the stuff I know well. It was great to have two new guys to train with. I hope they enjoyed themselves and come back again – it brings a new dimension and it was certainly (and Si commented on this) a tougher session than we’ve had for a long time, just by account of the fact that they were two strong guys with a clue about what to do, enthusiasm and a competitive spirit, compared to our comparatively “gentle” style that pervades normal training. The gentle style, when executed properly, dominates – I’ve experienced this, but certainly, it’s good to test it, learn from mistakes. This, after all is what happens at competitions and that’s what I’m after doing a few of this year. Competition is by no means my focus, but guys at tournament don’t roll gently so it was a timely reminder of how it’s going to be and what I need to be working on.

Good times.

Let's get it on!

2008-01-27T21:08:00.002Z

I gotta lot of catching up to do so here goes…

Monday last week there were five of us. I wanted to work on going round open guard so Little Dean showed a few variations that he’s seen lately. These all worked pretty well and I remember elements of them, but here’s the rub with not keeping up with the blogging – I’ll need to revisit these sometime. He also showed us a drill which was great for just working movement – omoplata to triangle to armbar. You need to work with your partner to make it work, but it’s a drill, not a contest – just trying to keep the movements flowing. Really good for a warm up – might try and get a film clip of it up soon. We had a little bit of rolling at the end – usual story – nothing significant to report.

Except....that is....a bizarre conversation about what super power you'd have if you could pick one. Without being too graphic, one of our number (he shall remain nameless!) chose the ability to freeze time and re arrange things, then start time up again. He must've had some bastard teachers at school because he went off on a tangent about freezing time, putting teachers into comprimising positions and taking photos of the evidence. It was just far too detailed to have been an impromptu thought - a whole lot of repression there if you ask me...scary! I am frequently left dumbstruck by the direction our conversation takes at times.

Dean T had scheduled to teach on Thursday this week, and due to domestic arrangements I had to choose between Weds or Thurs, so Thursday it was. We covered a lot of ground, so here’s a quick summary. (1) Escape from omoplata – rolling into the opponent. (2) Escape from armbar – 3 variations all involving disrupting opponent’s base (3) 3 variations from opponent taking back- 1 escape from position – 2 escapes from chokes (gi choke and Rear Naked). It’s a whole lot to remember, but the principles for all of it was the same: move as you are attacked to either the escape, or to disrupt you opponent’s base. These principles are essential to just about every technique – move to late and you’ll have to fight for what you want – timing and sensitivity are everything. No time for rolling this session, but my mind was working overtime to store all I’d seen. We did just finish of with a sensitivity drill – one person making a move, the other just exploiting the movement to off-balance the opponent – a really useful thing to do and something I’ll aim to do more of.

On reflection, I also felt I picked up the value of small movements rather than big bold attempts at techniques, particularly in the armbar escape drills – 10% this way, 20% that way, 30% this way, 40% that way and so on rather than 100% that way and then fail.

All in all a good session.

Onto the main event of the week - UFC 80: Rapid Fire!!!

Big Dean had arranged for a few of us to go and see UFC 80 in Newcastle. I took the opportunity to blend the event with a visit to the in-laws so drove up on Friday, whilst the rest of the guys flew up Friday night. Sounds like I got the better end of the deal as they were all delayed getting away from Heathrow following the crash landing there the day before.

I arranged to meet the guys Saturday afternoon in Newcastle, so we met up (Me, Big Dean, Mike, Si, and Dean's mates Mick and Robbie) and had a few beers. After a short detour for the guys to spruce up we headed to the Metro arena - a decent sized venue.

Once inside we had seats about 30 meteres away from the Octagon and I was impressed by the set up - big screens, great lighting and a good buzz of expectation. The crowd was pretty mixed crowd - nerds, guys that train and know their stuff and a spattering of steroid abusers posturing their way to the bar, but all in all a good atmosphere.

The early fights were pretty good- most notably Paul Taylor V Paul Kelly (a unanimous decision to Kelly) - two British scrappers embroiled in a war of attrition - great stuff. Some other notable fights with surprise outcomes were Jess Liaudin losing by TKO (a sweet punch straight on the jaw - out before he hit the mat), Kendall Grove losing by TKO to a couple of punches that sent his pupils wide like black holes, Gabriel Gonzaga losing by TKO to Farbricio Werdum and also a very quick win by Antoni Hardonk over Colin Robinson (TKO within 1st 30 seconds of round 1). Hardonk's win is notable to this blog since he carries a Rickson Blue Belt and was proudly sporting Rickson's logo on his fight shorts - a proud moment for us all!

And the main event - the interim World Lightweight Championship bout between legendary BJ Penn and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. Wow- the place went mental right from the off. Expectation was high and both fighters have a great record. Penn looked in great shape as he entered the Octagon, calm and determined. Stevenson looked pumped and ready for anything. Right from the off, Penn had the upper hand with excellent boxing skills and on the ground his BJJ pedigree shone through - such amazing control. Part way through round one, everything looked to be over as BJ dropped a nasty elbow that split Stevenson's face open - blood everywhere. Saved by the bell, Stevenson's cut-man started his fight with a losing battle. Round 2 was more of the same with Penn keeping Stevenson at bay with good footwork and well placed shots, but it looked more and more as though the fight would be stopped - BLOODBATH! The Doc had a quick look at Stevenson, but judged that his vision wasn't impaired by the blood. Eventually Penn off balanced Stevenson with a few good shots and took it to ground. More big blows gave Penn Stevenson's back - hooks in and after a few brief attempts by Stevenson to halt the inevitable, BJ sunk in a textbook rear naked choke for the tap.

What a fight - what a result - what a champ. I've also gotta give big respect to Stevenson - he put in a big effort, but BJ was just sooo superior on the night. Despite being absolutley distraught (you've gotta feel for a guy who has put months of focussed training into this one night), he still went across to raise BJ's arm to give him his due plaudits. Really nice to see.

See round 2 of the fight here. (Get it while it's hot - it's bound to be taken down sometime soon!)

BJ's message? "Sean Sherk- you're dead" - what a fight that'll be and on this form and in this shape you'd have to put your money on Penn.

Certainly this was my first live MMA event and I wasn't disappointed - well orchestrated, very professional and I was impressed by the time given by refrees, announcers, fighters etc to the fans for photos and autographs. The UFC have it sewn and know that it's the fans that keep it where it is.

So, cheers Dean for sorting it out, and to all the guys for the company - a great night. Here's a few pics:

So, one more session to cover off and that was taken by Dean T on Wednesday. Good to see French Steve back again and Ian aka "Monkey" after a while. Continuing with the "least energy used" methodology, we covered a nifty little escape from Kimura (on your side with attacker over your head). Main points: weight on - pull the attacker in to off balance, swing legs to side you're facing, then bridge back in to get the escape. Weight off, swing legs opposite way to spin out from under the position.

The rest of the session was largely given over to practicing more sensitivity and staying in control from cross side. Dean made the point about keeping the hips connected - the rest, the arms and legs were irrelevant and all the fancy grips you see many people using are just counter to what you need to be happening. We all spent a long time doing this - it's a pretty tough thing to do, but when it's right, there's little your opponent can do. I felt pretty good under cross-side in this drill, securing some good escapes and making good movement for myself, so pleased about that.

We also looked briefly at taking an armbar from allowing the opponent to make an escape from cross side: as the escapee pushes you away, you accept the push which over-extends your opponent's arm allowing an armbar to be executed using your knee to apply pressure. This fitted in nicely with a talk that Dean gave about accepting opponents' movement from the outset rather than resisting - going with the flow. It makes a lot of sense but runs counter to instinct, so needs to be trained as hard, if not harder than the myriad techniques in BJJ. It's great stuff.

Really enjoying training at the moment but I'm suffering with Catarrh. I don't actually remember having a cold, but I'm just so congested lately - I've gone deaf in one ear too. It's a pain in the arse- I'm not ill, but it's making life uncomfortable and stopping me going to the gym for a decent workout lately. May have to go to the doctor's to try and get something to clear it - it's taking too long on its own.

'Til next time - keep on training!

Absolutely Fabulous!

2008-01-12T22:35:00.001Z

So, a new year. I hope everyone reading this had a great Christmas break and I wish you lots of success over the coming year.

I had a pretty good break – two weeks off work, just spending time with my family. It was great this year as my kids are now old enough to go in for the full Santa/Christmas experience so it was a fun time. We even had snow whilst we were in the North East – a decent amount too so the kids even got their first dose of proper winter. I didn’t do a whole lot of training over the break – I managed a few very good gym sessions and I was set up to train with another club whilst I was up in the North East, but that fell apart due to a breakdown in communications – shame that, but no-one’s fault.

I managed to avoid the worst of the seasonal excesses, but am more pleased that I managed to avoid the many illnesses and colds that seemed to be doing the rounds. I put it down to more or less overdosing on fizzy Vitamin C & Zinc tablets. Placebo, or real, I don’t care – I’m just pleased I’ve stayed well.

Anyway, with the new year in full swing, I went along to training on Monday, knowing that it would be just me, Big Dean and Si as usual, half expecting that we would be discussing how we were going to wind things down. More on that in a moment.

We decided to just roll – blow out a few cobwebs, and it was great to be back on the mat and in the company of friends – especially as Monday had been my first day back at work and I was feeling less than enthusiastic about life. I was trying hard to work on some decent escapes and my main objective was to just keep moving...and it worked. Si commented on this so it was good to know it was noticeable and I even managed to replace guard from under mount a couple of times – really pleased with that. I got tapped as usual, but felt that I gave a good account of myself and was moving with a bit of purpose so was pretty pleased.

The major event of the evening was when Dean Taylor showed up. It was really good to see him. He looks well and relaxed We spoke about how we were unsure of what was happening to the club, Dean (T) said that he was looking to train again (as his back allows) and there was a general consensus that everyone wanted to try and keep things going if possible. Dean said that he would train when he could and hoped that may attract a few of the old faces back to the club, which it undoubtedly will. It may even attract a few new members. This will be great from a number of viewpoints. Firstly, it will mean that there is more money going into the pot than just that which Me, Si, and Dean have been paying for the last 9 months. Secondly, it will mean that we have got someone with superior skill and knowledge to coach/teach again (which will help the Blue Belts develop)and lastly, I hope it will mean that everyone can just get on with what’s important – i.e. enjoying training together. So, with this news, we take our first tentative steps to getting things going again. I don’t say this with any huge expectation, for fear of disappointment, but it would be great to see things get a bit of life back into them. We’ll see – fingers crossed.

Wednesday night – well, what a turn up – literally. There were 7 of us – count ‘em, SEVEN! Me, Big Dean, Si, Mike, Rick, Craig and Dean Taylor. It was so good to see a good number, good to see Rick and Craig again and better still to see Dean back and teaching. I heard him say that he’s looking to train around 3 times a month, which will be just great. We started off with Big Dean, at my request, showing how to pass around the butterfly guard. The key factor here was connecting to the opponent and pinning one of his feet to the floor – this prevents him getting a hook in which is always the thing that stops me passing round – so simple…if you know it.

Dean T showed a slight variance in this, bring one knee up to create even further space to prevent the hook but also made the point that defence needs to be more proactive – defending one’s own space which will cause the opponent to overstretch or off balance himself in his attempts to get close. Dean said that, due to his back he’s been working on Jiu Jitsu principles and making them work so that he has to do the least possible to affect his opponent.

What followed was a masterclass in sensitivity and simply making your opponent his own worst enemy. Fascinating to watch, even amusing at times, as Dean managed to have people falling all over the place with only the merest of touches. I felt it myself – as I moved to take up grips on Dean, he’d positioned himself in such a way that I was immediately off balance – had I persisted with my forward aggression, I would have been on my back in no time. It’s so simple, but really difficult to explain – it’s just something you have to experience and then try and replicate for yourself. The only thing I can try and liken it to is imagining that you have a sphere of energy that you are trying to stop your opponent penetrating – you do this with a light frame using arms and legs depending where you are. As the person moves to you, you just have to try and maintain this sphere, yet yield to the attack and then re-direct it at the appropriate time. I’m by no means proficient at it, but I gave it a go and was surprised by the results, even though I was still pushing at times.

It’s this stuff that Dean T teaches so well, and makes the difference to the Jiu Jitsu that we practice and that I’ve experience elsewhere. It’s this subtlety and sensitivity that threads between the positions and techniques and enables them to happen – it’s the glue, the DNA of Jiu Jitsu if you like – and it all flows from Rickson. It’s why you hear comments like this from guys like Paulo Filho: 'I've never seen Jiu-Jitsu like that in my life! …no one ever did to me what Rickson Gracie has done during training these last days.” (Source)

I think that this rejuvenated input from Dean T, combined with the coaching on the techniques and positions that I’m getting, will be the next leap in my progression and couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I think I know (even if I can’t always execute!) enough of the basics for this stuff to have an impact for me now. I suspect that, great as it was, I may not have been in a position to identify how what Dean was teaching us back when I started could be used as I was too concerned with positions and techniques. I feel like now I can see how it is going to fit into the other stuff and make it all work so much better. It remains to be seen how competently I can do this, but right now, I feel like a new door has been opened – the room is dark, but what I can see looks pretty interesting.

From this revelation, we sunk swiftly back into the depths of tabloid obsession discussing the various merits of Girls Aloud, including, to my dismay, details of which one’s going out with who. It was like everyone had turned gay and was reading “Heat” or “Hello” or “Yowzers Weekly!” or something. Next week, we will be mostly discussing “A New Year, a new You: how to make colour work for you in 2008!”. Christ, just what BJJ needs to enhance it’s reputation as the gayest martial art ever created!

Too easy being "Anonymous"

2007-12-21T00:10:00.000Z

I thought my previous post was going to be my last for a short while, but then today I noticed I'd got a comment on my "face the final curtain" post.

"Cool" I thought - always good to see what people think and nice to know someone's reading.

I wasn't going to allow this comment as it's junk, but you know what? Here it is in all its brave glory.

From "Anonymous":

LOL WHAT A JOKE , U AINT GOT A CLUE HAHAHA!cHEERS 4 MAKIN ME LAUGH THO :)

Now, I write what I think. Noone has to like it or agree with me. I don't set myself up as an authority on anything - just a guy that tries his best and likes to train.

I'm not entirely clear what "joke" my anonymous friend is referring to, or what I "AINT GOT A CLUE" about.

The internet's great isn't it? If you're an illiterate troll, you can wander on to any site and make retarded comments and not expect any comebacks. And I guess you're right. But not the bravest of acts is it?

So, if I've said something that you disagree with, fine, let's talk, but let's at least be on named terms. Maybe I've said something that has touched a nerve - your problem, not mine.

My ego isn't so big that I expect many people actually read this blog, so if I know you, then that's even worse. Grow a pair and talk to me like an adult.

Whoever you are "Anonymous", please enlighten me (in grown up words, not your retarded teen text talk) as to what the joke is and what I have no clue about, then maybe we can all have a laugh, or perhaps we can just figure WTF you are on about.

In the meantime, I'll still be training, pushing myself out of my comfort zone and hopefully making progress.

Peace.

Bring the noise!

2007-12-20T16:06:00.000Z

So this is my last post before Christmas. I’ll start with this week’s news.

Firstly a big CONGRATULATIONS to Neil and his wife Jen on the birth of their Daughter! Really chuffed for you mate. Enjoy the ride and the months of sleepless nights! It really is the greatest privilege ever to be bestowed on a person.

On Sunday, having had limited training last week and also looking forward to this, I went along to Tonbridge on Sunday.. I’m not sure what they put into the water over that way, but there seemed to be a lot of big guys down there at the moment! Anyway, Muttley kicked off the session in typical Carlson’s style with a hellish phys session. After what seemed like an age of “duck walking”, my legs had all but given up on me.

A bit of practise on breaking guard – this is where you really see the focus on basics being sooo fundamental. It was winner stays on and I was on my back. My objective – keep guard and/or sweep/submit the opponent. I was there forever, choking, sweeping and just holding guard all day – all on my terms. This sounds big headed, but at one point I just felt like there was little point in me being in that position any more and I let one guy pass just to be able to switch up. There was a certain pleasure in doing this – all on my terms. I’m not telling you this to come across as arrogant, I’m just really chuffed that in this session, I had so much control over my opponents that I was able to dictate how the game went – a far cry from rolling with Si and Dean!

We then went on to some positional stuff from cross side – winner stays on again . I started off on the bottom. Cross side is so hard, but all the training paid off – I was escaping very easily, rolling guys off, scooting out, the works – really chuffed. The objective for the guy on top was to mount or submit. There was one guy – clearly a very powerful chap who seemed to have missed this point and just laid on top of me with some kind of headlock/facebar combo. I’m not sure if he was just trying to stay secure in cross side or thought that he was executing a submission, but he just lay there squeezing my head. It was pretty uncomfortable to be sure and I’ve now got a nice “Cheesegrater” effect on one cheek from his Gi, but, man, I ain’t goin’ out like that! Squeeze all you want big boy, but unless it’s breaking something or choking me, I ain’t tapping. I worked on the back of his elbow and the harder he squeezed the easier it was to just pop his arm off and I came out the back and took his back. Easy. Don’t get me wrong – he was a really nice guy but he was either quite inexperienced or over confident in his strength.

We then did some rolling, but this was with the objective of scoring ten points under tournament rules before you could submit your opponent. This was really interesting. I’ve said before that the guys at Carlson’s do well in tournaments and they train very hard for them and this showed in this drill. The guy I rolled with (a blue belt) was all over me – cross side, knee on stomach, mount, cross side – he soon racked up his points and there was little I could do about it. Just as I was about to deal with one position, he was on to his next. Very fluid. However, and here is the major difference with how I’ve trained to date – at no time was there any actual threat to me – it was all about the positions. It’s actually pretty hard to do anything to an opponent who is not doing anything to you except scoring points. Once the submission game kicked in, it was a different story. He tried to take my back and I bridged out of it (the drill we’d trained a week or two ago) drove into him, managed to take his back, hooks in and tapped him out with a Gi choke. And herein lies the difference with competition Jiu Jitsu. Give me some gaps, mistakes, overbalances, an arm or whatever and I can turn it around and get my submission – a submission cancels out any points anyone scores, but my worry, as with the tournament I entered, is that if the opponent plays an “anti” Jiu Jitsu game and just scores points all day, I could effectively lose without having been threatened once. Is that right? Dem’s da rules, but it just doesn’t feel like real Jiu Jitsu to me.

Rolling with Dave (main guy at Tonbridge - Blue Belt) was a different story and I think expresses his understanding of combat and Jiu Jitsu clearly. He was able to score his points with ease. I did get a few points, probably due to my size advantage but Dave was easily out-manoeuvring me. He was also able to translate his dominance into a submission when the time came and was very adaptable in his execution. It felt entirely different – like he was in total control, could take his points at leisure and still get his submission in a controlled fashion when he chose. There’s a huge difference in skill here. To be able to get a dominant position and hold it without making any threat of a submission is actually pretty easy, regardless of your level. I’ve seen white belts hold cross side forever with a mix of weight, strength and tenacity – very little skill involved in that.

I’m not meaning to be judgemental – each person will take Jiu Jitsu in his or her own way and make a style unique to his/her attributes. That’s how it should be. It’s just that I judge my ability on being able to gain dominant position, maintain it and then submit. It has to work that way for me otherwise there’s little to be gained in my opinion.

Anyway, some good food for thought, a confidence boost, and a hellish workout. As always, thanks guys. I suspect I may be training at Tonbridge a whole lot more in 08, and I look forward to it – have a great Christmas guys and lots of success in 2008! Oss!

Wednesday was our last session of the year, but much like any other – just me, Si and Dean. We just rolled in rotation in 5 minute bouts. I rolled with mixed success, holding out sometimes, tapped very quickly others, but I did pull off a few escapes that I was very happy with – much better movement and far more of a “plan” behind what I was doing. I think mindset has a lot to do with it. Certainly my “successes” at Tonbridge helped me to realise that I’m not doing all that bad and this confidence is a great help in feeling like you can do stuff, that you do have options. I was mainly tapped with armbars and kimura’s and I knew they were coming – I’m leaving my arms all over the place – something I need to be more aware of.

In my last roll of the evening, Dean told me to take my belt of and he gave me his blue belt to wear (only just fitted!). He said it was for the effort and commitment I’ve given this year – a really kind gesture and one that I appreciated. It was also a timely reminder of the goals that I’ve set myself. Cheers mate. None of the belt’s “power” rubbed off on me though – maybe the batteries needed replacing, as Dean tapped me out three times in five minutes, giving me one of his running commentaries as we were rolling. He was, as we say, “bringing the noise”…except that the noise was literal and carried noxious gas right in my ear! Ahhh…the perfect end to another BJJ year! LOL :D.

So, 2007. I’ve come a long way this year. My Jiu Jitsu is far better and my understanding is far improved. I have a clear vision of what I want and what I need to do to get there and most of that is due to Simon and Big Dean. A HUGE thanks to you both for your time, patience and friendship – it’s been a pleasure. Thanks also to Rick. His observations have been well timed and incisive and have mad a big contribution to my learning this year. Thanks to all the guys I’ve trained with. Despite my rantings, it’s all been good.

What does 2008 hold? We’ll see. I’ve got my eye on a few tournaments, I need to keep on with the fitness, lose more weight and just keep training and trying to learn and improve. With regards to the club…? I have no clue. We’ll meet up in the new year and decide. I think we’d all like to keep meeting up but the problem is where, when and how often? Still, all that’s a decision for another year.

Merry Christmas to anyone reading this.

All the best ,

Al.

And now, the end is near, and so I face, the final curtain...

2007-12-17T09:47:00.000Z

Weds 12th. A new week but the same drill – Me, Big Dean and Si training in a North Kent industrial estate on a cold December night. If you detect that my tone is less than chipper, you’d be right. More on that in a moment.

This week we briefly covered the escape from having your back taken when in the “turtle position” – again, something that I get 50% success with then get stuck at the vital moment – as demonstrated in my third fight at the tournament – just unable to capitalise on throwing the guy off. Key things here, grip up the elbow of the arm coming in for the choke. With the opposite arm, reach up and grab high on the back of the opponent’s collar. PULL IN TIGHT. Drop the shoulder to off balance the opponent. Re-grip and pull tight again. Walk round into the opponent to bring pressure onto his hooks. When everything is tight, shoot out the outside leg and this will facilitate the opponent falling off. Without this tightness or walking round, the opponent will often be able to simply roll you and take your back – something that has happened to me on numerous occasions. From here, switch the hips and drive back to take cross side. Because you have an under grip from the manoeuvre, you’re perfectly set up for a choke that I’ve described in a previous post.

All good. When I rolled I got choked by Si pretty much as soon as I’d started – hey ho. Rolling with Dean, I managed to get some reasonable positions, but was repeatedly frustrated by not being able to get round his open guard – it’s like a force field or some kind of Jedi Mind Trick – Dean (in Obi Wan voice): “you cannot pass” … Me: “ I cannot pass”. Will have to cover this at some point.

Now, onto the main business of the day. You may recall my post on apathy. It was meant as an observation of the state that the “club” (which is basically me, Dean and Si and a few casual members) is in, and a call to arms. With another year approaching of the same three people training in the same venue, it brought about a discussion over what to do. For me, on the one hand, it’s great – there’s a whole lot I can learn from Dean and Si for a long time to come and I’m getting 2:1 coaching for a very low cost each month. Fantastic. On the other hand, when I roll with the guys, it’s the same story every time. They know my game and the moves and the results are almost inevitable.

For Dean and Si, even if others have given up the ghost, they still want to train and develop, but with no one to teach them new things, their development will stagnate. Same problem with rolling against each other – perfectly demonstrated this session – an endless stalemate as each knows the other’s game inside out. So, the discussion went along the lines of whether, despite the desire to keep a Rickson associated club going, the continuation of training in this manner was conducive to meaningful development for any of us.

We’re not getting any new members, despite me posting on one of the most prominent BJJ websites around. That post has had over 200 hits at the time of writing. We’ve only had about 5 people get in touch and a grand total of zero people actually come and see us. All this despite us being the only Rickson school in the UK, one of only 2 in Europe. I have to say, the link to Rickson’s is getting more and more tenuous. The standards are high but contact with the States is minimal to non-existent. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation. We need more members, but we need a new venue to attract new members, but we can’t afford a new venue because we need more members – then there’s the whole affiliation to the association thing. Nothing doing there either. The school is dead on it’s a…

So, the discussion basically ended up that the three of us will train once more before Christmas, then meet up briefly in the new year. The option at that point looks likely to be to let things go and we will all go off in search of BJJ elsewhere. It’s sad – we’re good friends and enjoy training together, but you can’t flog a dead horse. I’m sure we’ll find time to train together once in a while. I’ll still maintain my Association membership – that goal of a Blue Belt from Rickson remains. It’s just probable that I’ll do the majority of my training at Carlson’s in Tonbridge. No problem. It’s a bit more expensive, but the guys there are great and they’ve got a good core of good and dedicated guys and some very good instruction – at least there’s a bit of passion there and some chance of continuity.

I’M AWARE THAT IN E-ETIQUETTE TERMS, I’M NOW SHOUTING – I HAVE NOT ACCIDENTLY PRESSED CAPS LOCK. I AM INTENDING TO APPEAR TO BE RAISING MY VOICE BECAUSE I AM PISSED OFF. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? I WARNED IN MY APATHY POST THAT UNLESS PEOPLE SWITCHED ON, THIS WOULD BE OVER…WELL HERE YOU GO. A RICKSON SCHOOL ON YOUR DOORSTEP – SOME EXCELLENT TUITION IF YOU WANTED IT, RIGHT HERE, AGAINST A SYLLABUS CREATED BY THE MAN ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE PUREST BJJ TALENT THAT EVER LIVED. THEY SAY THAT YOU DON’T REALISE WHAT YOU’VE GOT ‘TIL IT’S GONE – WELL NOW IT’S LOOKING LIKE THAT REALISATION IS ABOUT TO HIT.

My vision for what I want to achieve remains intact and will be unaffected. I know I can get great training from the guys at Tonbridge and I’ll throw myself into their set up heart and soul as I always do with everything I do. I’ll fight in their name at tournaments and hopefully contribute to their haul at those events. I just can’t help feeling utterly disappointed that something that should have been really good has been allowed to just slip on by. If I could personally do anything, I would, but who am I? A white belt with a couple of years’ training…it ain’t going to happen and it sucks.

Some might say “everything runs its course” – but nothing has to so long as people change, adapt and stay focussed. This is such a wasted opportunity and that really grates. If people have lost interest and do not intend to train any more, that’s fine, but a bit of honesty with their mates and themselves to say “actually, it’s not what I want any more” would go a long way. The whole “yeah, I train BJJ at Rickson’s (but what I really mean is that I show up once in a blue moon)” is just dishonest. Like I said, train, or don’t train – makes no odds to me, but just be honest about what you’re choice is. Part of what makes all this so hard is that there are so many guys out there who have trained on and off – many of them very talented and likeable people, all of them with the Rickson patch on their Gi. But, when the chips are down, as they have been for the last year at least, they’re nowhere to be seen.

So, there we have it…unless something miraculous happens, that’s where we’re headed. At the end of the day, it’s not life and death, but for me, it is very much part of my life – it’s what I choose to do when I’m not sitting at a desk working a job that, given the financial freedom, I wouldn’t give a toss about. Some people define themselves by what they do for a job. I prefer to define myself as a husband, a father and someone that loves BJJ. That’s why it matters – it’s part of who I am.

Who knows what the future holds? Maybes something will happen and the phoenix will rise from the ashes one day. Maybe not. Al I know is that one way or another, I’ll still be training hard trying to be the best that I can be in BJJ. See you around. Soon I hope.

BJJ: Bringing communities together...

2007-12-17T09:26:00.001Z

Mon 3rd - A distinctly better week this week. Buoyed by having seen the comedian Frankie Boyle (I’d highly recommend seeing him if he’s near you) on Sunday night I went to training on Monday night in good spirits. Usual turnout and we went over breaking guard (both knees down, one knee up, walk over and stand up) again, picking up all the finer points. This stuff really works….every time we do it I pick up some little nuance that I’ve not understood before and it’s always good to go back to the root and iron off any little bad habits that we all develop from time to time.

Rolling was pretty good – I was trying to keep on moving and felt that I reacted pretty well to the positions of my opponents…certainly the feedback I got was positive and a fillip to my confidence. I think also that maybe my improving fitness from my gym sessions is starting to pay off – fitness really helps to keep on moving for longer rather than gassing and just lying flat! I think also, my core is getting stronger and I’ve also lost weight (almost half a stone now! – sure, I’m still a contender for Homer-a-like 2007, but progress is progress). All of these have to be good things and contributing to a better overall performance.

Discussion after training started with me making reference to Frankie Boyle’s show and trying to do justice to his very funny ramblings about political correctness. Now, I don’t need to labour this point, but all of the guys are a tolerant and friendly bunch, but political correctness is not top of the agenda…you may have detected this from previous posts. I think this is great – it’s nice to know that we’re not completely in the throes of an Orwellian nightmare with pathetic attempts to control thought by the control of language. Political correctness sucks and serves only to confuse people as to what is or isn’t the right thing to say anymore and also serves only to make an issue of difference by giving at a very obvious label…why create labels for difference? Difference just…is. Understand it, embrace it, but why make an issue of it…no wonder we’re in such a mess.

Anyway, before I risk building a soapbox, the conversation went on to discuss how London, with all its diversity is a place that makes you very intolerant. This intolerance does not stem from any one group, except people. Just people. I can vouch for this, having commuted in and out for three years – it drives you mad. Everyone seems to go into this aggressive “zone” – all me, me, me, gotta get where I’m going and damn everyone else type mentality. Mike recounted some little guy deliberately barging him a few weeks back...now, Mike’s a big guy – gotta be around 6’3”/4” and athletically built with it. If you were going pick someone to shoulder barge you’d choose someone with a different profile than that. Mike took it very philosophically, understanding that everyone’s like that in London and the guy that barged him hadn’t done it personally to Mike – it could have been anyone, just Mike was there at that moment. Very noble sentiment, very enlightened. Big Dean recognised this and I thought “Hmm…strange, maybe Dean’s softening in his old age”. Then Dean said “of course, if it was me I’d have pummelled the little f***er”. Our very own Nick Diaz ;p.

Wednesday night was just three of us again – Me , Big Dean and French Steve. By my request we looked at the escape if someone’s taken your back – opponent underneath with hooks in, you, on your back, on top, defending your neck. This is a move that I’ve done a couple of times and have had moderate success with when rolling…problem is, I can “kill” my opponent’s leg as I move to the open side no problem – hell, I’ve got plenty of weight to do that, but then the problem starts – where to go from there? Once again it’s all in the detail…so, main points – defend the choke, bridge back as far as you can to the open side (aim is to touch your head on the floor next to opponent’s shoulder). From here you can kill the leg on the side you’ve moved to. Frame against the uppermost knee to stop the opponent from mounting and also to assist you in a shrimp movement away from the position. Drive back into the opponent to take cross side. Major points learned during this drill were (a) the frame on the knee and (b) Steve noticed that my movement out was hampered by too much ground contact. I realised immediately that this was what has been causing a lot of my movement problems – far too much friction involved so we went over the need to create small contact pivot points. It soooo damn obvious…why I’ve missed this for so long I do not know. Still, now need to build it in and make it permanent. A big learning point that will have a big impact I’m sure. I didn’t do a whole lot of rolling – my mind was full of what I’d picked up so I felt happier just to leave it there and let it sink in.

Friday night, MMA night. We went through some different drills from a pummelling exercise, which was good, but I found the coordination really hard. We then went to a one legged takedown which I’ve seen in BJJ before so was good to cover that again. During this drill, Big Dean was encouraging us to follow up and create an attacking mindset – something that I’ve seen Steve Morris talk about before – it’s all about training with the mindset that you need in combat so that it is easier to switch to that intensity when needed…makes some sense (to quote the man himself). We then did a bid of pad work – always enjoy this – nothing like a good thrash on the pads to get a good workout and fire off some aggression. I think I’ve got pretty powerful punches, but I’m very one sided – my right side does a lot of the work, much to the exclusion of my left. This is an area I’d really like to work on, my hand speed is slow and I telegraph a lot of my punches. I also really need to work on pivoting the grounded foor while kicking – especially with my knee the way it is – that’s an injury waiting to happen – so much for Choi Kwang Do – in four years of training, none of that was picked up – hell, I even got a black belt! Anyway – it was a good session – really enjoyed it.

The week was interspersed with the usual Gym sessions – these are now very much part of my week and I feel a distinct need to train – that’s great, just where I wanted to be. Gotta be aware of the need for rest though. I’m currently battling off a bit of a cold – not a bad one, but I’ve certainly noticed its affect in the gym – higher heart rate sooner and tired quicker. No big – if it was that bad I wouldn’t train…just interesting to note what happens though.

Not all plain sailing....

2007-12-03T18:48:00.000Z

I’ve been a bit lax posting lately, but the last couple of weeks just don’t seem to have run all that smooth.

Training Monday before last was good. Big Dean took us through a kind of grading format revision of some of the key things we’ve been doing the last few months. This was a really useful thing to do as (a) it showed us how a grading works (b) it was great revision and (c) really helped to highlight the bits we’ve forgotten, didn’t know or aren’t getting quite right. In demonstrating each technique, we had to talk through what we were doing and why, showing a clear understanding of each technique. This was really tough – you start to realise both how automatic some things have become and at the same time, just how much you don’t really understand or know – a really useful way of highlighting these things. So, big learning points and I need to start becoming a whole lot more conscious around what I’m doing again – goes to show, don’t run before you can walk. One other major thing that came out of it for me is that I appear to have been confusing and merging two separate methods of breaking guard – one with the knee up, and one with the knee down. I’m not sure how I managed this, or have gotten away with it so long, but once it was pointed out, it was so obvious why it was wrong. Time to get back to basics on that one – I fear I may have accumulated the wrong memory pattern on that one so time to make a new one.

I really struggled with the rolling this session. There was a point when I really just wanted to throw it in – it was only a fraction of time, but I just felt so frustrated, angry, hopeless and upset all at once. It felt like being a kid and wanting to throw a tantrum. It’s probably the worst I’ve ever felt at training. I just felt like I’m not getting it and unlikely ever to. It’s all passed now, and was never a threat to my continuation, in fact straight after I was back on the mat and managed to do a few bits we’d been doing the week before (taking the back) reasonably well. It’s mostly plain sailing, but occasionally the water gets a bit choppy.

An unusual breakdown in communications and childcare conspired to take training off the agenda for Wednesday and MMA on Friday respectively, but I did get in a good few workouts at the gym, which is going really well since I started on my CV only approach. No huge weight loss as yet (I need to fix my diet) – a few pounds, but my fitness has picked up noticeably from where I started about a month ago.

This week also conspired to make for only one session – Monday again. A good session with a reasonable number and Lee was down again. We worked on escapes from cross-side – always good to cover, so hard to do well. We covered the usual combinations, then trained it positionally. A good exercise. Rolling wasn’t as bad as previous weeks but wasn’t perfect. I was pleased with a cross collar choke I secured and I managed to make life hard for French Steve – a rarity not to be choked out inside 60 seconds…not so sure it was skill, but I was thinking pretty hard about what I was doing so maybe that made a difference…plus luck…sometimes it just works like that, others, you’ll be tapping within seconds of starting. I rolled with Big Dean and was working hard to walk round him (he was in a sort of “turtle” position) to take his back, but failed repeatedly. He pointed out after that simply trying to walk round will never work and referred back to the same movement we’d been practicing from cross side a few weeks earlier – keeping the hip engaged. It instantly made sense – I’d just missed the commonality of the position. This is how BJJ needs to be – you need to see everything as a principle that has just as much application elsewhere and is not tied to any one technique. Simply “collecting” techniques will be extremely limiting.

Wednesday, I travelled to Telford for work and bad traffic on the way back meant that I was never going to make training, which is a shame as it sounds like it was a good turnout, which was nice to hear. Friday night I was looking after the kids whilst the missus was out. I’m kind of hoping that having not trained so much over the last couple of weeks may have a positive effect on my rolling. Maybe this enforced break is a good thing…we’ll see.

I'm just off to training now - time to crack on and get in as much good training as I can before festive temptation sinks in!

I said a hip hop the hippie...

2007-11-17T21:05:00.001Z

...the hippie to the hip hip hop, a you dont stop the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat...

I didn’t train last Friday and I skipped the gym on Thursday – the cold I had brewing that I mentioned in my last post was in full flow and I wasn’t in any fit state to train…it wasn’t a bad cold per se, but it left me feeling absolutely knackered.

After a bit of a rest (although my kids’ third birthday on Sunday and party was more “active” rest!) and plenty of vitamin C and zinc, things had cleared enough to get back to training on Monday. I wasn’t 100%, but 99% is good enough – just meant a bit more sweating than usual. Not a bad turnout – the usual crowd, plus French Steve and Little Dean. We trained some escapes from knee on stomach (KOS). The first involved bridging up and then scooping an arm under the foot of the leg that is KOS. Frame in with the other arm then scoot out, creating a void for the knee to drop into. Since you have the foot scooped, this prevents posting and the opponent falls backwards enabling you to follow up and take cross-side. A nifty little move, but actually pretty difficult to execute well – one to just try out when the opportunity arises. The second variation arises when the KOS is not quite as “deep”. In this instance, you roll away from the KOS, enabling you to brace the back of your uppermost elbow against the knee, creating a frame. Using this frame, you execute a reasonably explosive shrimp out from under the knee and turning to face the opponent. Depending where you end up will determine next moves, but the ideal is to be able to take a leg and drive back into the opponent and coming to rest in side control. I found this one pretty tough as my shrimp movement is pretty limited by my back mobility.

I’m finding rolling a little tough lately. I don’t think having the cold has helped and added to this I’ve been getting up early to go to the gym and my kids are going through a phase of waking at 0400hrs so I’m not getting great sleep at the moment. Not making excuses, but things are tough when you’re tired. I think I’m also in a bit of development dip at the moment – when I roll, I’m not really conscious of what I’m doing, pushing too much and just seem to get nowhere fast. It’s demoralising, but as Si said, I’m rolling against guys that have got anywhere between 4 and 6 years training on me. It could well be time for another visit to Tonbridge. It’s good to roll with others at your own level as it gives you a better measure of where you’re at and how you’ve progressed. I know I must have progressed – there’s no way that you can train 2/3 times a week, every week, and not improve. The issue at our club is that the other guys are improving too, so I’m chasing an ever-moving goal line. I think I also go in phases when I’m learning loads of new stuff and it takes a while to assimilate the information and put it into action. Once it is assimilated I then seem to have a phase where things are good, then I go back into a learning phase – maybe this is a better way to see it rather than being in a “bad patch”.

I had an interesting day Tuesday. I mentioned this in passing a few posts back, but a few months ago, I went on a course called “The Athlete at Work”, run by a company called K2. In my work, I’m an “Organisational Development Manager”, which means that I look after the development of staff in all areas of the business. As part of this I source appropriate training and education and so get bombarded daily by companies offering their services. Once in a while, something interesting comes up, and K2 was one of these. The majority of the K2 team come from sporting or sports science backgrounds and work with top level sports performers to improve their performance through managing training, mindset, nutrition etc. They’ve taken this arena and put it into a business context, based on the data that sports science has given them – a really fresh approach to the whole subject of performance. Anyway, they offered me a free place on the Athlete at Work course, so I gladly accepted. The course dealt with topics such as nutrition, hydration, rest & recovery, bodyclock, self-talk, using imagery and planning training for peak performance. It was fascinating stuff, all well researched and compellingly evidenced. I guess I could credit the course with giving me the inspiration for setting myself my blue belt goal and starting this blog. The knowledge and inspiration it gave to me to set some hard targets and plan a campaign to achieve it was excellent (sure, there was a load of stuff transferable to the workplace, but I figure, whatever’s good for me personally, must be good for my work performance). Anyway, on Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to have a follow-up coaching session with one of the guys from K2. There was a dual agenda with this, one for me to personally gain form the experience, but also a professional motive for me to see the learning process first hand to assess its relevance for the company I work for. It was a really useful session (not least as I was reassured that taking time off from training while not 100% was absolutely the right thing to do). Through some well placed questions from the coach, I was able to understand certain habits that I’ve developed that make my nutrition an issue for me and to create small actions that will help this. I was also able to examine how much rest and recovery I’m getting and create some strategies to manage the transitions between training, rest and then training again very soon after. Most useful of all was some good advice about my training regime – BJJ and MMA are givens, so I need to be smart about my gym work. I was advised to switch my training from CV work and weights to just doing short, intense CV workouts. It was felt that my BJJ etc would maintain strength and functional muscle workout, but the CV work would (a) make my workouts more manageable in the time I have available, and (b) be better for me in my goals and losing weight is the major factor at the moment. I was also helped to understand a bit more psychology of managing goals. For example – running. My goal is to be able to run 3 miles in 21 minutes – the RAF Officer standard and one that I used to be able to do, so something that I think is achievable. So, what I’ve been doing is running 21 minutes every session and trying to see how far I get. It’s tough and when I show no improvement, or worse, actually fall back, it gets really demoralising. It was suggested that instead of this “testing” every session, that I test myself monthly. This way, I should usually see improvements month on month towards my ultimate goal. Even if I fall behind, using this methodology, I can still see net gains on my starting point so there is still an overall success. I’ve already started this and the running, whilst still hard, is so much more pleasurable and relaxed. I will apply the same “ethos” to many other areas as it’s a far healthier way to view progress than constant pressure. So, the whole K2 experience has been invaluable in setting me up to stand a chance of achieving my goals…oh, and it is also something that I will be implementing at work by the way ;P.

Wednesday’s session was only four of us and we trained taking the back from someone that’s in “turtle” position and not allowing you to get foot hooks in. First off, the ideal position to work from…sort of to the rear and on the hips while making your opponent carry weight. Transitions from this – first one was kind of gripping the same side lapel, low down (prevents opponent from grabbing arm and rolling you over), one foot up behind, one to the side and the drive with the legs over the opponent’s shoulder, maintaining hip and body contact. This takes you to controlling the opponent’s back from where you can get hooks in and execute a choke. There’s a risk here that before putting in the 2nd hook, the opponent could turn out. So long as you’ve maintained good position, it’s pretty easy to follow the turn and end up with cross side. 2nd variation prevents the turn out – by driving your knee in between the opponent’s elbow and knee, you can create a sort of “cradle” after you’ve turned the opponent which prevents any turn out. In executing this knee positioning, you of course open up the other side of the opponent’s body to move out to that side, so for that reason we looked at a simple switch to prevent this. Major point in all of these is the hip to hip contact throughout (hence this post’s title – hips… get it? Get it? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?). Rather than roll this session, we did some cross-side positional training. I’m still facing the frustration of not really being able to do a whole lot but getting tapped in seemingly the simplest of ways. That’s just BJJ. I’m relatively certain that this cloud will lift soon – it usually does.

Only other bit of news right now is that I’m going to UFC 80: Rapid Fire in Newcastle in January – should be good – there’s a few of us going up – Me, Big Dean, Si, Mike and a couple of Dean’s mates. Can’t wait! More on that when the time comes.

I'm off to see the Foo Fighters tomorrow and then I'm off work most of next week an I just had a great session at the gym so feelin pretty good right now... good times, let's rock!!

Oops up side your head!

2007-11-06T19:52:00.001Z

I’ve got a bit of catching up to do, so apologies for being lax and for the long post that is likely to ensue…

Wednesday’s session last week was just me, Big Dean and Si (surprise surprise!). We looked at taking mount from cross-side, using the same cross-side variation that I’ve written about recently. There were two variations here. I’ve seen both before but it’s been a long time so was really to good to go at them again. The first variation involves kind of sitting back under the opponents armpit, controlling the hips with the “bottom” knee, then posting the “top” leg over the opponent and down on the other side. From here, it’s a pretty easy transition to full mount. I really like this one – it’s pretty simple…important to maintain good base throughout, but simple in principle, and easily overcomes the “foot on knee” defence that so many seem to try and use to stop the mount (which is pretty ineffective at the best of times). The second involves threatening the neck to allow you to move your “top end” knee into a more favourable position for base and the “sliding” your lower knee across the abdomen – almost knee on stomach, except you maintain a low body position over your opponent with your body, maintaining the pin. From here, you push the knee down and backwards to complete the mount – pushing the knee in this direction counters any attempt by the opponent to block the knee with their hand – their pushing the knee only serves to assist the movement you want. From securing mount it’s important to aim to get high mount where possible. I don’t remember much about rolling, although I’m pretty sure it was the usual affair of me being tapped repeatedly…oh, hang on, I do remember. I had some kind of strange lower back twinge – really bad pain which flared every time I tried any kind of upa or shrimp. I couldn’t stand up straight at one point. After all kinds of potions, stretching and some pain killers, it subsided enough for me to roll, but I didn’t feel at all confident or comfortable. Strange – the day after I went to the gym and not a trace of any pain….I was expecting to have to lay off, but it was fine…must have been something trapped rather than damaged, which was a relief, given my back track record.

We had MMA on Friday – just me, Dean and Tugboat Steve. We worked from guard, framing against a fence from being pushed backwards, getting to standing, then reversing your opponent onto the fence. I remember doing this a while back and really enjoyed the drill – really hard work, but a good functional workout and very useful with some direct cross overs to Jiu Jitsu principles. We then worked a pad drill with a few pointers on punching technique. Not having done a striking art for over two years now, I can really feel how slow my reactions have become – I’m not worried – I’m sure with a bit of training it will come back. It’s good to hit the pads every now and then – working good punching technique and hand speed is always a good thing to do – a good sharpener. We then did a few 5 min rounds of light (ish) sparring. Dean was being kind to me, going real light and only playing at Superman Punches – enough to make a point. Kind to me to the point when he shot in and I punched to the pack of his head – not full pelt and without malice. I now understand that’s not allowed, and fully understand why. By way of explanation, I can only offer (a) I didn’t know it wasn’t allowed and (b) it was an automatic response, probably from the self defence stuff I’ve done, which is basically taking whatever I’m given – if it’s there, I’ll strike it, gouge it, whatever to stop the attack. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not excusing it, but offer it as an explanation. Dean dealt with it in typical fashion – telling me it wasn’t allowed, then reinforcing the learning with a kinetic reminder – namely a well placed punch to the bonce. Fair enough. Point made and no animosity beyond that. I think again this comes back to control – a little less “excitement” on my part would go a long way to preventing these “rushes of blood to the head”. Sorry mate.

I then sparred with Steve and was able to use my reach to good effect, keeping him at bay with some good jabs. I also landed a couple of decent body punches and a nifty upper cut up inside his guard. Steve got in a good body/head combination. Major pointers that Dean was giving to me were that I was very upright and my guard could be higher – I need to “hunch” into a tighter posture… I’ve covered this with Steve Morris before and just need to keep focussing on it. Dean also mad the point that I had far more capacity to double up on shots rather than just single shots…just need to build confidence in this, and a refresher on the way that Steve Morris generates and positions his kicks was useful. Anyway, all was going reasonably well, until I stepped in to throw a punch and at the same time Steve threw a belter, which landed square on my jaw – really took me aback and for a couple of seconds the world went a crazy shade of blue and yellow spots. I think we could all tell it was a great shot – Steve backed off and Dean stepped in. It was a pretty hard, shot but thankfully within sparring force. I think I’d have been down if it had been full-on. Proof indeed that I was too upright and my guard was low – another learning experience from instant “feedback”.

I was shattered and pretty lethargic the day after. It was a hard session and being smacked upside my head couldn’t have helped. I’ve also got a bit of a cold at the moment – I’m not sure I’ve adapted yet to training every day (gym included). It’ll come. But I also felt a bit down about the back of the head thing in sparring. Not sure what that was...I think I’m just disappointed in myself for not having more control and doing something to a mate that was potentially dangerous. I’m OK now – no point in dwelling on it, just making an observation really on how things like this can affect my mindset and the need to reflect and move on.

Last night (Wednesday), there were four of us. A quick revision on blocking punches, then we went over the mount from cross-side again – the one with the knee sliding over the abdomen. I think it was good to drill this some more – it’s really important to drill single techniques like this and get beyond superficial detail – these moves are so important to achieving dominant position and without that, there can be no submission. We started to look at some submission possibilities and transitions off of it, but that was not the focus, so nothing exceptional to comment on with that. I was pretty disappointed with my rolling – not because I got tapped time and again, but more that I was pretty purposeless – I wasn’t really thinking what I was doing and pushing far too much. I think I need to take a few moments before rolling just to focus on what I want to do, maybe even visualise how I want it to be. I don’t expect that I’ll get my way, but if I can roll with a bit of direction, that will be sufficient for me to feel satisfied.

A-P-A-T-H-Y...what does it spell? Oh it doesn't matter anyway ;P

2007-10-29T20:46:00.000Z

By now, you’ll have seen a trend emerging in my posts. The same people training week in week out. The same FEW people. Most sessions I guess we average 3 guys, four at most.

There was no training tonight. Rick’s away until at least December and Big Dean is away with work. It happens. No problem with that. Anyone would be forgiven for missing training from time to time – we all have jobs, family, friends etc, and Si, Dean and Rick already give so much of their time anyway. In any club with a good, strong membership, you can absorb these intermittent absences, but as things stand, that just leaves me and Si as guaranteed tonight and there’s only so much value in rolling with the same guy all night, and I’m sure Si’s got better things to do than choke or armbar me all night.

No training sucks – I really look forward to it and there’s only the odd evening when I don’t want to train, but, so long as I can drag my ass to the car, then once I get there it’s all good again.

So, excuse me for a moment while I cast aside my normally sunny disposition, and indulge me if you will, in a bit of griping.

There’s something special about being part of a school affiliated to Rickson’s Association. Ask anyone into BJJ, who’s right up there at the top of BJJ folklore, and Rickson’s name will rightly be there every time. When people carry a belt awarded against Rickson’s standards, other people take notice. Lots of practitioners would walk over broken glass to train with Rickson, or to at least have one of his schools near them. I can only think that any desire not to could only be motivated by politics, which I have no time for anyway, so care little for opinions such as these.

We have a club that was started by a guy totally committed to Rickson’s teaching and philosophy and driven to pass this on to those that wanted to understand. People come and go…I’ve seen it enough just in my time training and I admire Dean T for sticking with it as long as he has – it must be so demoralising to believe in something so absolutely and yet not have people share your passion. I feel this. It’s not my club, I haven’t trained as long and I doubt I possess any natural talent, but I believe in what we’re doing and I believe in the style of Jiu Jitsu that flows from Rickson. If I didn’t, I would have gone elsewhere a long time ago, quite possibly from the start.

So, here I am, fed up. Not with Jiu Jitsu, but fed up with apathy. There is a real chance for this to be something really great for all those involved, but it needs more commitment. There are people that we do not see for many months, show up for one session, then disappear again – there’s no pattern to this, totally random, so no reliance can be put in the numbers of so-called “existing members”. We need new members, and I guess we could do more on this front, but, for example, I listed our club on the European Fight Network. We’ve had approaching 200 hits in a couple of months and only a couple of enquiries…all to no avail. I simply do not understand.

Something I’ve been told by lots of people on numerous occasions about Jiu Jitsu, is that you should not “play in the middle” – either take a position, or don’t. It’s sound advice. I think it’s just as relevant off the mat. Train Jiu Jitsu, or don’t. Don’t play in the middle. Don’t treat it like a convenience that you can pick up and put down as you please. We’re all different and have different motivations and issues in our lives, but when you boil it down, most of us are leading pretty normal lives with no great dramas or issues that should prevent us doing what we want to be doing. So, I guess that’s the question – is Jiu Jitsu what you want to be doing? If “yes”, great, I’ll see you at regular training, no ifs, no buts. Hell, I have lots of ifs and buts, but (there's one) I want to train. It’s important enough to me. If “no”, then make a decision now. Be honest and stop pretending. In Big Dean’s words, stop being a “partial artist”.

Something has got to happen – as much as I want it to, the club cannot continue, limping along as it has for the last couple of years. So, if you answered “yes” to the above question, let’s do it. Let’s get training and start making things work. If we don’t, one day pretty soon, that random evening you think “I’ll pop along to training”, we won’t be there. It will have died and so with it, a chance to be part of something good.

Sure, this is just my opinion and lots of people see the world differently. I’m not saying any of this aimed at anyone in particular, nor am I saying it to get a reaction. It’s not just Jiu Jitsu either, I experienced it in my last Martial Art and I’ve heard Steve Morris similarly puzzled by people’s commitment to training with him (and I've said it before, if you're serious about real fighting, you should be). I've seen it all through my Rugby days - the people that don't turn up to train but show up on Game Day expecting to get on the team. It seems that only a small percentage of the population have the commitment to stick stuff out. If you feel hurt by it, I apologise, that wasn’t my intention, but likewise, maybe you need to ask why you feel hurt by it. All I’ve done here is give my opinion, and it’s honest and heartfelt.

Rant over…back to the scheduled programme. Thanks for humoruring me.

I want to buy the world a choke...

2007-10-26T16:37:00.000+01:00

Bit of a switch around this week – Richard had switched his session to the Wednesday, so Monday was just me, Si and Big Dean. Dean ran us through some submissions from cross side, utilising a slightly different position which basically requires pinching your opponent’s hips between your own hip and elbow, so that you are sort of side on (make some sense?). We just practiced this, moving around and trying to ride any upas etc. The first submission was bringing the free arm to rest beside the opponent’s head then gently reaching over the face to grab the opposite collar. A slight shift of position to bring the hip arm under to grab the nearside arm of your opponent, the choke is applied by dropping the elbow to the floor, out and up. The second submission from the same position basically requires you to bring the lower knee through, almost diagonally, against the opponent’s nearest arm, near the armpit. Hold the arm in, remaining leg round and over the head, drop back for the armbar – I liked this one, just, as always, gotta keep everything tight and controlled.

Part way through the session my phone went off (which freaked Dean out – my ringtone is a recording of my son laughing, but admittedly, at first, can sound quite freaky). It was my wife telling me that my Son, Cameron, had had some kind of asthma like attack. He gets hit pretty hard by colds and they always affect his chest. The doctors have suggested that we need to be cognisant of asthma, but at not quite three years old, it’s too early to properly diagnose. Fortunately, we have been given an inhaler to use should we need to, and in this instance, we did. He was OK – I think panic took hold of him more than anything, but it was still quite worrying, so I left early - for the best as I really wasn’t able to concentrate following the call. He’s fine – but it’s never nice to see your kids unwell or in distress though.

Wednesday was Rick’s session – me, Rick, Si, French Steve and Craig in attendance – a rare no-show by Dean due to car trouble and a mystery to me as to where everyone else was – maybe it’s Wednesdays…perhaps I’m missing something good on telly.

Anyway, Rick covered cross-collar chokes – a blue belt basic. I’ve said before, these are much harder than they appear, so it’s always good to cover them. Rick covered variations depending on what grips are available – both hands with fingers in, one fingers, one thumb, gripping round the back then bringing the arm round, but the major points taken from this were: 1) Positioning – posting the foot (knee up) to stabilise; 2) as the second hand goes in, just positioning the head to the opposite side to counterbalance against any upa; 3) take up slack and turn in the blades of the wrists before you commence the actual choke and; 4) Major one this – drop your hips onto the opponent’s chest, then drop your head to the floor. Breath out as you drop, pull the elbows in and back and then expand (breathe in) to finish. Depending on how well the previous steps are done, the choke may be over well before you reach the floor. The other critical thing with this is soft, relaxed hands – the more you relax with this choke the easier it is and the more effective it is. Rick also covered how to finish the choke if the opponent grabs the wrists over the top – a common defence. This is done by posting a foot beside the opponent’s head – this allows leverage to pull your body back, which pulls the opponent up. Key point here is to keep the opponent close and pull him up with your body, not your arms. At the top of the pull, expand as before, but this time, pull the elbows out. If the guy drops back down, revert back to the regular cross collar. With all of it, it’s just keeping everything tight – no gaps or slack, and staying relaxed and methodical. It’s a great choke when done properly but really hard to do well under pressure.

Rolling was good, although against Rick and Si, I think I lost sight of what I need to be doing – I was so preoccupied with being owned and not getting caught in their set-ups that I was pretty dumb with most of the stuff I was doing and ended up getting repeatedly armbarred. Rolling with Craig was different – I think we can both relax a bit more and be a bit more deliberate, so I was able to try a few things. I found myself in a decent cross side (top) so decided I’d give Dean’s choke from Monday a go. I tried to apply as gently as I could (as it can be a bit gnarly) and sure enough, it worked...well pleased with that.

No other training this week, apart from the gym, as I’m left with the kids for a few days as my wife’s off to a family funeral. Only other thing to say really is that I think we all hope that everyone in and around Rickson’s Centre in California are unaffected by the fires, or at very least, safe and well.

Cue the Training Montage!

2007-10-23T20:06:00.001+01:00

You may remember my fighting fit post, well, I’ve not been doing too much on that front to date, just normal training which keeps things ticking over. Well, I’ve decided to crack on and work on my fitness. What has prompted this? Well, my local leisure centre has just stumped up an offer of full membership for only £25 for three months, which is just the financial inducement I needed to get my arse in gear. I get access to the gym – which has recently been refurbished and is kitted out with all sorts of machines and, importantly, also has a decent selection of free weights (I far prefer these – far more functional than machines). I can also use the swimming pool and get in on classes (although when I’ll have the time I don’t know…).

So, I want to squeeze in three gym sessions a week. These are mainly going to have to be before work, which sucks, but then again the kids are waking up way before 0700 lately anyway so it’s not like I’m losing sleep. I think I’ll break each session up as follows (with each session including a decent CV burst at start): 1) legs 2) Chest and back (3) arms and shoulders. My goals are really to lose weight, tone up and add strength.

I went for my first session today and it was good to get back into a gym. I still need to get into a rythym and figure out exactly which exercises I want to do, but that will come. I'm going to record everything I do (not here - that would be sooo boring) as I like to try and beat times and weights, reps etc etc, so I'll just keep you updated on how I'm doing and any major breakthroughs I get. I will also get my BP done and update the fighting fit post as I didn't have that figure back then.

I'm also thinking - the more varied a training regime is, the better the results, so they say, so I was thinking I might give this a go for some CV work. Enjoy. (WARNING - contains Action Words so if you're easily offended or too young for such words, don't watch it.)

Life rolls on...

2007-10-19T21:13:00.000+01:00

Still reeling from the stress of the weekend’s Rugby results (Swing Low, Sweet Chariot!), I went along to training as usual. Simon and Big Dean were fresh from training at Carlson’s in Tonbridge the day before and reported the usual mix of hard training, nice guys and getting owned by Wilson – the giant Black Belt instructor down there.

Rick covered an escape from under cross-side – the specifics of this being the assumption that the guy on top has wrapped his arms around you, effectively stopping you from rolling into him. A few deft moves, creating space with hands and framing with forearms and shins and you’re out, or, in some cases, able to take the back. I loved this one – it really worked and the movement seemed intuitive. Definitely one I want to try and keep in my armoury. Drilling this one move, with various scenarios off the back of it (i.e. opponent driving in, pulling back etc) was enough for this session, and one where I really felt like I’d got something I could use.

This feeling seemed to carry over into my rolling. Admittedly, Rick tapped me in all of about 5 seconds, but I did some good work against the other guys I rolled with. I got tapped eventually, but I really felt I made them work hard for it and for a lot of it was able to make escapes and keep dominant positions and make the odd threat myself. I think the difference was a sense of confidence from the earlier training (i.e. the fact that I “got” it) and also a conscious effort to stay tight, suck up the gaps (something Rick has brought home over the last few sessions). I also tried to utilise my attributes a bit more in conjunction with the developing technical aspects of my game, namely my strength (in a controlled and constant way, hopefully not in an aggressive, bullying kind of way). It didn’t work the whole time – I got swept and people made their escapes…it just didn’t feel like one way traffic, which sometimes it can.

Some might think that using these attributes is not what Jiu Jitsu is about, but I disagree. I think you should concentrate on technique first and foremost, but then you should start to bring your natural abilities to bear. Some guys are small and quick – should they “slow down”? Flexible guys can make moves that others can’t, should they not? No, of course not, so why should strong guys not use their strength? Even Rickson’s website says that he “recognizes and accepts the use of individual qualities, such as power, speed, instinct, strategy, talent, strength, etc” and that people can “achieve great results even without complete knowledge of the technique. Without question, the results are the most important elements as long as the fight strategy makes sense, and does not involve the use of thoughtless random movements.” If your technique is superior, someone using inferior technique should not prevail, regardless of physical attributes and this is constantly borne out in the whuppings I receive, but hell, it makes no sense to not use what you’ve got. Don’t misunderstand me – technique rules the roost and I’m not talking about brute force, but applying strength to good technique.

I finally got my new Gi which my wife bought me for my Birthday. You can never have enough Gis...no matter how hard you try, there’s always an occasion when you have to train in a wet or dirty Gi…and that ain’t nice. It’s taken just over a month to get to me as it’s had to pass through the hands of various relatives through transatlantic travel. Anyway – it’s good and I can recommend it. It’s from HCK (Howard Combat Kimonos) and the Standard Single Weave I’ve got worked out at around £35 GBP – an absolute bargain, especially with £/$ exchange being so favourable at the moment. I think Shipping comes in around £25 (cheaper if you wanna wait a bit longer) so I guess you’re looking at around £60 all in for the standard Gi. Still not bad…many UK suppliers and importers will struggle to beat that in terms of quality and price.

On Wednesday, I arrived later than normal – stuff at home to take care of. Despite being there week in, week out, I got the usual ribbing from the guys – I didn’t even get to finish my bag of peanuts! I’ve got weight to maintain you know! Anyway, this week we went over chokes form the rear, mainly using the collar, but then digressing to other options following defences of that. It was good stuff. I think the main things that stuck were just keeping everything close, how to work the hands in for the choke, which can sometimes be a battle, and also how to control the opponent on their back.

Rolling wasn’t as successful this time, but then again I was rolling against Dean and Si. I was using strength, but in a bad way – far too much and at times, in frustration – all bad as it just gives your opponent everything he needs to submit you. And they did, time and time again. I even had Dean giving me a running commentary of what he was doing step by step and telling me how he was going to submit me and there was nothing I could do about it. It’s soul destroying. Fortunately, I have broad shoulders so remain unaffected and find it amusing. Just need to keep moving and doing what I need to do. I did pick up a nifty little escape from under knee on stomach from Dean – whether I can do it remains to be seen. But, armed with secret ninja techniques I will prevail!

There was a bizarre conversation at the end of the session which started off with quotes from Eddie Murphy movies and then moved on to Jamie Lee Curtis (the link being the movie “Trading Places”. I won’t go into details or mention any names, but all I’ll say is some people ain’t all that choosy and I guess it just goes to prove that we are indeed a diverse group. ;P

In memory of Jack Fennell 1921-2007

Game On!

2007-10-12T20:20:00.003+01:00

So, I’ve had three sessions since my last post. Last Friday was MMA with Big Dean , Tugboat Steve and Si. A good session working a takedown from the clinch (immediately useful to BJJ stand up and pretty similar to a takedown from the rear in the BJJ syllabus). Then we worked defending strikes from the back under cross-side – again, very useful to BJJ, especially Rickson’s style which always starts from a position of self defence. That was really hard work, and especially with some meaningful punches coming in to be defended. It’s also easier in this drill to see how the BJJ translates as any attacker trying to strike will always give something up for an escape, much moreso than in BJJ without strikes. I have to confess, I got a bit carried away in this drill – we were fed opponents and it was hard work to keep up and I also found that after a couple of clips, I got a bit rattled and became a little more aggressive. So much so that when I rolled Tugboat Steve off, I took top position and gave him a dig in the ribs….it was automatic. Luckily, Steve’s actually built like a tugboat so no harm done but I’ve gotta watch my control. The aggression’s an asset, but only if it’s controlled.

We finished off the session with some stand up sparring, punches and kicks only, not all out but enough effort to want to keep your hands up. I enjoyed that – it’s good to put a bit of pressure in your training once in a while. Dean was looking sharp and threw in a lovely “Superman punch” that landed right on top of Steve’s head, giving him a look of “what was that/where did that come from?”. He got his own back a bit later on with a couple of heavy body shots. A good session and a great workout.

In Monday’s session Rick went over a take down from the rear for my benefit (grading wise). It was good to cover this again, not least for the need to look again at good base on your feet – a really hard concept. We also covered a takedown and escape from being in the side headlock – similar in principle to the previous takedown, then using a frame to release the headlock.

French Steve turned up again - always good to see him. Quick explanation of the oh-so transparent nickname. His name’s Steve and he lives in France. Good eh? See what they've done? He visits for a few weeks at a time then disappears back home for months – cue many jibes about being on the run and Interpol etc. Steve’s a Blue belt and started BJJ all the way back with Dean Taylor when they visited LA together. Steve’s a small but strong guy with great technique and he’s really into Qigong type stuff, which is really interesting and maybe something I’ll investigate when I get the time.

Rolling was good – had some good rolls with Roubel and Craig. Roubel commented as we were leaving that I’m really improving, which coming from a far more experienced white belt that used to own me every time we rolled, was really cool, so cheers mate.

Anyway, here's a couple of videos of the guys rolling on Monday:

Above: Big Dean and Roubel

Above: Rick and French Steve

Wednesday night was just me and Si so we just drilled some positional stuff – cross side to be exact. I used to get real bored doing this sort of stuff, but now I know how important it is, I’ll drill it as long as someone wants to keep on doing it. It was really good to do this and Si’s really good at coaching the details and is very patient – happy to let me do my thing. Really appreciated. I think the biggest thing I took away was the need for good connections – take up the space and stay connected ….CONNECTED, not pushing. And small, constant, movements. It all makes a huge difference.

We spoke a bit about wanting to grow the membership a little more and to try and move things forward, in terms of getting some seminars or something that will help us all develop. It’s good to know that there’s a few of us that want it to stay alive and keep moving forward. I just think we need to set some targets and hit them, otherwise another year’s gonna pass and we’ll all be where we are now. It’s a tough one though – a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. We need existing numbers to be consistent to stand a chance of making a new venue work – which will attract new members which will make seminars etc cost effective. It’s really frustrating but it’s always been this way - why is the general population so apathetic? I’m not just talking BJJ – just life in general.

Anyway, there was a ray of sun on my BJJ landscape this week as I got an email from Kim Gracie, Rickson’s wife, saying that she’ll arrange my belt test when I visit LA, so, on the face of it, when I’m ready, it’s game on…very exciting!

This is Sparta!!

2007-10-04T20:24:00.000+01:00

With aching arms and medal in hand I went along to Monday’s session. I walked in to find Dean giving the guys the summary of my adventures and doing justice to the description of the Hungarian fella. Guys if you think it sounds like an exaggeration, it really ain’t – he was a monster!

There were constant references to my medal successes throughout the night – referring to me as “champ” and suggestions that anyone that tapped me got to keep my medal…. Ain’t no-one gonna touch the champ’s bling fool! ;P

Rick covered off a slight alternative on the defence of guillotine from standing – main points, grip choke arm as before, the other arm comes right over the shoulder and you then hang weight onto the opponent. Angling the closest leg round the opponent’s leg, hips in and head over to break posture and then take the opponent to ground, working in a frame against the throat to release the guillotine. Nifty.

It was during this drill that I heard possibly the funniest quote I’ve heard during training, and true to form it came from Big Dean, delivered in a way that only he could. I was putting on the guillotine (or trying to) and Dean shouted “C’mon! Finish me, you Homo!” It was all in the delivery – really cracked me up. :D

We then went back to the combinations from the Ezekiel choke that we’d covered previously – more armbar practice for me. We also looked at some sort of collar choke – moving from Ezekiel to armbar, to choke. Rick came and positioned me into this choke as I was struggling a bit. As always, tiny changes just tightened everything up so there was absolutely no slack and made the choke work. The great thing was I could instantly feel how the things that Rick did changed everything - a real kinetic learning experience…very powerful.

On then to rolling. Rick was in good form – his rolling looked really fluid and he seemed to have 2 or 3 options in every position he took, a pleasure to watch. I tried too keep everything a lot tighter and had Dean’s words ringing in my ears to always keep moving, which I felt I did reasonably well. I still got tapped like a good’un by everyone, but that’s normal. At one point I got sort of half a mount on Big Dean and he couldn’t resist a jibe – “now mate, this is what top position looks like” – a direct poke at me going to my back at the tournament. I know I deserved it. That was about it this week. I think the bronze medal is probably a pretty reasonable indicator of where I’m at at the moment – doing OK, but still some creases to iron out.

Usual Wednesday night crew – we just trained positions, cross side. Despite my success with it last weekend, I always struggle with it – always useful to drill it. I think the major point from drilling it again was remembering that you really need to get good connections between you and the opponent – in a similar fashion to what Rick said on Monday, just suck up any gaps or slack, keep it all tight. Also, like I’m frequently told – always keep moving, small movements – these will create a reaction from the opponent which may create space or an opportunity. It’s often frustrating drilling this position, as I always get rolled off with great ease when I’m on top but on the bottom, seem to flail without any direction. However, Si pointed out that this is against Blue belts with an average 6 years plus training. I am improving, but so are they, so it’s like chasing an ever moving target. I think I just need to look at the successes I’ve had against opponents around my level and in fact, yeah, they leave the gaps or shift their weight in ways that allow me to escape, so I shouldn’t really beat myself up so much. Just gotta keep on drilling it home. The other problem at the moment is that I’m still at the conscious stage – i.e. I know what I need to do but have to think about it and often, especially with the Blue belts, my thoughts aren’t as fast as their movements, so just as I figure out what I need to do, they’ve moved. It’ll come.

Off the mat, there is a bit of talk of finding new premises, which would make a huge difference I think, not least to our ability to maybe get a few more members. Watch this space. Also, any time now, Little Dean is going to be a daddy again. Good luck mate, to you and yours.

Slightly off topic, I watched 300 this week, just out on DVD – what a great film! I only mention it as it’s a great movie, it was promoted by Chuck Liddel (UFC fighter – Ultmate Fighter…Spartans…ultimate warriors…see what they’ve done?) and the training the actors went through (some good articles here and here and a good video here) to get in shape for the movie is awesome. Highly recommended.

I’ll leave you with this little curiosity. My son (nearly 3) knows I do Jiu Jitsu and vaguely what that entails. For some reason though, when ever we drive past the local Somerfield supermarket he says “you do Jiu Jitsu there daddy?”. I’m baffled – what on earth creates a connection in a child’s mind between Jiu Jitsu and a supermarket? Answers on a postcard.