Hajime!

Judo

Back in 2010, I took up Judo. I’ve written before that my Son (and now also my daughter) do Judo and back in August 2010, with summer holidays in full flow, the kids’ and adults’ classes were combined and the instructor, knowing I did Jiu Jitsu said I could join in if I wished, rather than sitting at the side waiting for the kids. So I got involved. What the hell? I was there anyway for the kids and Judo is ridiculously cheap.



Me and Cam sharing the tatame

I really enjoyed myself (especially sharing the mat with my son) and really got into Judo (and read a really good book called “The Pyjama Game”). With Ne Waza (ground work) I can more than hold my own, but standing is a different world. Good 14 year old kids can trip or sweep me with ease. This, I always knew was going to be the case. Apart from at the highest levels, Jiu Jitsu takedowns are pretty scrappy and often neglected in tuition (but you will find that the best Jiu Jitsuka also train Judo), so it was good to learn some new things. I confessed some concerns about the ability of my knee (old ACL troubles) to withstand Judo, but all the instructors are older and carrying injuries themselves so fully understand and all the other students are very kind to me during randori (free practice). Mainly through technical knowledge and execution rather than competition, I am now an Orange belt in Judo and it’s something that I feel can only help my Jiu Jitsu.

Being a sport, it does have some curiosities to the Jiu Jitsuka. The aim of Judo is to throw or pin you opponent onto his back. When I first started, predictably, I would get frequently thrown and then be on my back, in open guard, ready to get started. Of course, my opponent walked away, having scored Ippon (outright win by throwing your opponent on his back). This took some getting used to. Also, being a sport, it has a time limit which requires a lot more aggression and directness when fighting. My Jiu Jitsu has always come from a position of exploiting the opportunities that arise when defending oneself, but in Judo, this is frowned upon and you can actually get warnings for being too “passive”. Another little curiosity that springs to mind is that, generally, I “roll” with my eyes shut. In judo, this is a no-no (as the referee has to assume that you are unconscious) and in fact, in one inter-club Ne Waza competition, I was disqualified against a Brown Belt (who I was clearly beating) as I had my eyes shut. There are also a whole lot less submissions that you can use in Judo so this has sometimes limited me, but you know, after a few weeks of feeling that all these rules are restrictive, I got used to them. It’s just about familiarity – Judo is a sport and as such it has its rules, but if you go past that, there’s a lot in it that is incredibly useful to the Jiu Jitsuka. Here’s a few things I’ve picked up.

- The standing game: simply, there’s more to life than pulling guard or grabbing legs only to get sprawled on. Done well, some throws are incredibly effective.

- Aggression: Judo is competition oriented. It’s a great focus for Jiu Jitsu competition (if that’s your thing) to be active and do what you need to do as quickly as possible.

- Technique: When all a guy wants to do is hold you down, it’s pretty tough to get out. Jiu Jitsu works in the spaces left when your opponent tries to move or submit, but when a tough Judoka grabs you in a determined Kesa Gatame, that’s tough. You need to work proper technique to get out. Think your cross-side escapes are good? Think again – ask a good judoka to hold you down and see how good it really is.

- Fighting Judoka – as time goes by, more and more people are cross training between Judo and Jiu Jitsu. This means rolling with Judoka and they can be pretty tough and, at times, frustrating. If a Judoka is determined to “turtle” and stay tight then it’s pretty tough to move them (not to mention pretty damn annoying), but I’ve learned some nifty Judo moves to counteract this that will hopefully be useful.

Apart from club visits (which are a very common and healthy thing in Judo – in Jiu Jitsu everyone would cry “dojo-storm”, but a bit more cooperation and play between clubs would be a good thing for everyone) and inter and intra - club competitions, I have entered one Judo tournament – it was a Ne Waza Tournament in High Wycombe. It was a while ago now, so don’t remember much of it, but I came 3rd. I fancied my chances, but in the end, was far too passive – I even got pinged for it in one bout. I did switch on in later rounds and things went my way, but I was too “Jiu/Ju” to start with and that’s what cost me – that and the HUUUUGE Greek fella that just fell on me and then laid there in my 1st round.

 

Since I've gotten back more fully into Jiu Jitsu, Judo has taken something of a backseat.  I maintain a licence and attend when the fancy takes me.  I've no ambition to compete and I'm nit fussed about belts - it's more of a recreational/fitness thing for me, and this suits me just fine.

 

Judo is a great challenge and I'd reccommend anyone to give it a go!

Don't call it a comeback...

My god, is it really that long since I wrote anything in this blog?!!!!

 

I got a comment on my last entry a while back from SlideyFoot. That was nice and much appreciated, so I suppose I (and you?!) have Slidey to thank for this resurrection.

Plus, there's so much that's happened and about to happen it seems appropriate to get writing again.  I've got a lot of catching up to do so will make a number of small entries on some of the main things I've been up to (seminars and the like).
 

But first, I guess I should explain myself, so let’s rewind. 2009 was a year when work really began to get me down – you might detect that when reading back over some of those entries, so much so that I started looking at ways I could break free from the drudgery of wage slavery. To cut a long story short, I started working on my own training and development consultancy (that’s what I do for a living). By early 2010, I felt, despite the economy, the time was right to go it alone. I’d made enough contacts to feel there was enough work out there, so in February, I left employment and set out on my own with Oracle Learning & Development.

Life was pretty good to start with as I only really needed to work a couple of days a week to get where I needed, which meant lots of time at home, dropping the kids off and picking them up from school. I was able to put things into my work that I really enjoyed, and test out ideas that I’d been thinking about for a while so I felt pretty motivated. The work I was doing was all about me and my family so had real purpose and was genuinely satisfying.

 

However, life is never simple, and, even when there was enough work, getting invoices paid on time was a nightmare! Then summer came and to show how bad things got, in the space of three days, £1600 worth of work got cancelled. When margins are tight, this kind of thing is not sustainable. I was incredibly lucky in that parents, in-laws, grandparents all came to the rescue and saw us through the worst times. I also did some work with super-plumber Si (mentioned in these blogs) which really helped financially and was also a great distraction from my woes. I owe a huge thanks to all those people.

 

All through my planning and running the business, Mrs Al had been wonderfully supportive, but the finances were really putting a strain on our lives so I had to accept that that little experiment was over and started looking for employment once again. What followed were several months of soul-destroying job-searches, interviews and dealing with those awful job-pimps, recruitment agents. Eventually, early in 2011 I landed a good job, with good money, based in the City of London and, a couple of jobs later I'm pretty settled again.

 

And this brings us to here, November 2012. So what of Jiu Jitsu? It’s been pretty tough with this background…

 

Starting and running your own business is hard – chasing new business, planning, putting together new training material and tenders takes a lot of time and I generally found that my key time for productivity was in the evenings. This had an immediate impact on my attendance at training. Then there was the money. Now, it’s not particularly expensive to train where I train, but even so, when things are tight, every penny counts (including petrol!) so that too kept me away.

Then, as things started to crumble and defeat stared me in the face, my black dog returned. Feeling anxious and depressed by the loss of my little dream of a life of freedom and flexibility and the thought of returning to employment, I lacked motivation to do much of anything.

With the relief of a new job and the financial security that comes with it, my mood brightened, but, as mentioned, my first job after self-employment was based in London which meant about and hour and a half commute each way each day, which meant that I don’t get home ‘til around 7pm (and later if the trains were fucked – which they often were). After a long and often frustrating day, pretty much all I wanted to do was get home, see my kids for an hour and the eat and then go to bed.

 

Net result, not much Jiu Jitsu at all for a couple of years.  I trained a few times here and there, but nothing with any consistency.  I did get to a couple of seminars – one with Roger Gracie at the opening of his new Soho Academy and another with Romolo Barros (5th Degree Rickson Blackbelt) – more about both later.

At the back end of 2011, I got a contract job based in Bromley which brought me much closer to home and so, in January of this year, I got back to regular training again 2/3 times a week.

 

It was great to be back, but with so little training or consistency, I sucked.  And my fitness was shocking.  I remember one session where I was so unable to do anything constructive and was so frustrated with myself that I serioulsy wanted to cry.  Like all things, this passed and my fitness built back up again and I'm back where I used to be, including my enthsiasm for Jiu Jitsu.

So, don't call it  a comeback...I've been here for years...over the following posts, I'll cover off some of the things I've been doing in an attempt to bring this all up to date, and then I have some really exciting stuff from this year and, as I write this, some great stuff still to come!

It's good to be back.

Al

Interview with Frank Forencich

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