What I'm Working On | Dirty White Belt

February 15, 2015

Toro Cup Preview

For the first time, I’m playing an unfamiliar role with a jiujitsu event: matchmaker.

While incredibly fun, it has definitely given me a new appreciation for the people in the jiujitsu and mixed martial arts community who do this all the time. Hence, let me start by saying “thank you” to the local folks who make great cards happen all the time.

As I write this, we’re two weeks out from the Toro Cup, and much of the hard work has been done. During this calm before the storm, I wanted to do a quick preview post explaining where the idea came from and previewing the matches. I’m not going to make predictions, but I would like to say something about why I’m interested in each match.

The idea for the event came during the last Metamoris card. I love watching high-level matches, but I also love gi jiujitsu — and it seemed like too few superfights were happening in the gi. So we at Toro BJJ decided to do a day focused on matches taking place in the kimono. My goal for the event was to make matches that would be exciting for people, would represent a wide array of schools, and would give folks that haven’t had a chance to compete against each other the opportunity to do so. At the core of this event are some huge jiujitsu fans (me and Boomer from Cageside MMA) wanting to see certain great matches happen.

I’m confident we’ve done so — and I hope everyone enjoys the day. 13 different schools are represented among the 11 matches! (Let me also say we got very close to making two black belt matches that would make people say “wow,” and we’ll hopefully do both of those for Toro Cup 2). If you’re interested in checking the event out live or online, here’s all you need to know.

Now, the fun part: the matches.

Unfortunately, one of the matches I was most excited about — Jason Jelen vs. Adam Jetton — isn’t happening. Both competitors unfortunately sustained injuries. I’ve been watching Adam since I was a white belt, and he’s a fierce and mentally tough competitor. Jason Jelen is a black belt instructor at Gracie Raleigh, and he’s tremendous: he’s got a great grasp of both old and new school technique, and I can’t wait to see him compete at black belt. Hopefully they have speedy and successful recoveries: I know I’m not not the only one who really wanted to see this match.

We kick off the event with this one:

JOHN “BAGELS” TELFORD VS. JOSEPH CARROLL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KRz6x71MOo&feature=youtu.be
Because we wanted to start the show with an exciting match, we’re offering this one. John Telford has been tearing up the competition circuit at purple belt — and with a style that’s entertaining to watch. Joseph Carroll earned his black belt in January, is a regular competitor and has a reputation for exciting matches as well. I acknowledge that it’s unconventional to have a match with this belt discrepancy, but both guys wanted to do it, and neither guy cared about weight. It should be a fun contest.

ADAM SONG VS. MATT MESSER

This is an interesting match in the gi between two brown belts with lots of cage experience. Matt “The Masher” Messer is one of the state’s most popular MMA fighters for good reason: his aggressive style and his ability to always push forward. Adam “Soul Horse” Song of Ring Lords Vale Tudo has been training MMA since 1999. But both of them also love gi technique. Messer just had a brown belt superfight in Charlotte that went to a draw: I know Song has been training hard for this, and I’m looking forward to it.

JAKE WHITFIELD VS. NEAL WEAVER
This is the only no-gi match on the card. I wanted to have a card full of entirely gi matches, but when the opportunity came to see these two compete, we had to make it happen. Both are prominent local instructors, Jake at Triangle Jiu-Jitsu in Goldsboro, Neal at TFTC Academy. Besides his accomplishments in gi and no-gi jiujitsu, Jake is also one of North Carolina’s most successful MMA fighters. These two have never competed against each other, and this is probably the match I get the most messages about from other fans of grappling. Don’t miss it.

BRAD WOLF MCDONALD VS. BRAD ACOSTA
A purple belt match, this contest has the makings of a good one. Brad Acosta is an active competitor who performed very well in a recent gi superfight at the Bull City Brawl: Brad McDonald has been a well-respected practitioner for a long time, but hasn’t competed recently. Both of these guys are fun to watch, so it’ll be interesting to see how they stack up against each other.

JOSEPH LEE VS. GUY PENDERGRASS

Coast to coast! Joseph Lee is coming out from Los Angeles for this one, and it should be great. Both Guy and Joseph have excellent transitions. I think there will be a lot of movement, a lot of flow between positions, and a lot of great technique. As someone roughly their size, I feel fortunate to have been able to roll with both of these guys: I’ve learned a lot from each of them, and this is one of the matches I’m anticipating most personally.

ASHLEY MCCLELLAND VS. CHRISTY “MACHINE” CHERREY
This is one of those matchups that worked out perfectly: two purple belts of similar size who have tons of competitive success in different tournament environments. I’ve trained quite a bit with Ashley McClelland, who has an excellent, well-rounded game, and competes regularly with US Grappling. Christy Cherrey does very well at NAGA tournaments and comes from a well-respected school at Team ROC Southern Pines, where she trains with Royce Gracie black belt Larry Hughes. Part of the reason for Toro Cup is to match up solid competitors who haven’t had the chance to compete against each other yet, and this is a good example. (I wanted to have half the card be composed of women’s matches, but it didn’t work out this time: there were some scheduling issues and some injury issues. But I’ve made a lot of contacts for next time, and I think it’s a reasonable goal.)

TIM MCNAMARA VS. STEVEN THIGPEN
This purple belt match should be both technical and action-packed. Tim McNamara is a very active competitor and a judo black belt who has great technique. (He also has a blog that is way better than mine). Steven Thigpen is a beast at both gi and no-gi grappling, is tough on top and from guard, and has excellent takedowns to boot. (He’s also one of my favorite training partners, although I don’t get to train with him as much as I’d like and he always beats me).

BRIAN MILLER V. DANIEL FRANK

Among the black belts I’ve talked to, this is a much-anticipated match. From Revolution BJJ in Richmond, Daniel Frank is one of the most dedicated practitioners and competitors out there. I love watching him compete and he was, actually, the very first person I approached to be on the card — so I’m glad we found him a tough and interesting match. Besides his considerable skills, Brian Miller has a unique style and unconventional approach that is somewhat reflected in the promo poster above. Oh, and I have a feeling you shouldn’t be late and miss the introductions.

JAY YOVANOVICH V. TRAVIS WHEELER

Of all the matches on the card, this is right at the top of my list to watch. I’ve trained with both Travis and Jay a lot, and both are very good — but what a contrast in styles. That’s what makes this intriguing to me: Jay’s approach features a lot of movement and judicious transitions. Travis’ forte, though, is preventing you from doing what you want to do while he methodically advances his position, trapping you into his game. One of these guys is going to force the other guy into his world, or adapt to what the other guy does best if he’s the one who gets forced.

JASON “BUMPKIN” WINGATE V. SEAN ZORIO
I’m also looking forward this contest between two very technical brown belts, one of whom (Jason Wingate from Gracie Raleigh) just got his fourth stripe. Since the Pendergrass Academy’s Sean Zorio got his brown belt last year, he’s competed quite a bit: it seemed fitting to match these two friends against each other for the Bumpkin Train’s return to competition.

C.J. MURDOCK V. ROGER CARROLL

CJ Murdock doesn’t have boring matches or fights. Roger Carroll doesn’t have boring matches or fights. This match will feature two tough competitors who love jiu-jitsu going at it to cap off the day, and I can’t think of a better way to end the first Toro Cup.

January 19, 2014

Interview with Fightland about nerd culture and BJJ

It’s been a while since my last post for two reasons: first, a lot of great stuff is happening (a few long-in-the-works designs are about to come out); and second, I’m in the process of finishing up a snazzy new website where I’ll migrate the blog. Stay tuned on that.

In the meantime, Fightland interviewed me about the TARDIS rashguard, and used that as a jumping-off point to talk about nerd culture and jiu-jitsu. I had a blast doing the interview, and this is my favorite part of it:

To me, a nerd is someone that is passionate about something that is not mainstream. … BJJ is an immersive culture, as are many nerd subcultures as well, and I think that’s not a coincidence. I think that folks that get passionate about certain aspects of cultural experience, [and] there is a particular personality type that is drawn to that. For some of us, that may be Doctor Who or comic books. It may be science fiction or ren faires or Dungeons and Dragons. Or martial arts history. It’s different for everybody, but it’s kind of cool to see the two parts of my world that are important to me fold in on themselves.

Shorter version: Nerd Life, that’s my alibi.

Anyway, it’s a fun interview. Check it out if you’re so inclined: you’ll get a preview of some new designs I’ve got coming out!

December 12, 2013

A Few Great Solo BJJ Drills

Twice a week, I do 6 a.m. drilling. Most days we have between two and four people, but sometimes it’s just me and the cold gym.

We’ve all been there: you show up to open mat, put a gi on, get stretched out … and there’s no one to keep you company but the crickets. Or maybe you’re traveling and jonesing to train, but you can’t find a gym in the area. Or hey, maybe you’re just feeling antisocial.

Whatever the circumstances, sometimes you want to improve your jiu-jitsu but can’t find another grappler around to work with. You don’t want to waste that free time, do you? Of course you don’t, especially if you got up at 5:30 just to carve out a training session.

Some people collect baseball cards. Others collect autographs. I collect good drills, and I’ve been lucky enough to pick up some great solo training tips from terrific black belts. Here are some solo grappling drills to do on your own. These have been my salvation more than once when I’m by myself at 6 a.m.

Breakfall to Stand in Base Flow Drill: This drill combines two of the most fundamental Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques. First, from a standing position, do a back breakfall. Then, come up to one side, with one foot posted in front of you and the opposite-side hand posted behind you. Rotate your hips toward the mat and stand up in a nice base.

Check out how to properly stand up in base here, just 12 seconds in:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKShLC1ANrY#t=0m12s]

Since you’re back to a standing position, you might as well breakfall again and stand up in base on the opposite side, posting your other hand and other foot. This is a nice drill to warm up with, since you can get a good flow going, and it works two critical fundamental movements.

Hip Extension to Combat Base Drill: Roy Marsh, head instructor at Sandhills BJJ and a black belt under Royce Gracie, showed me this one. From your back, roll up onto your shoulder and extend your hips in the air. One leg should be straight and the other leg bent in front of you. From there, roll up to a combat base position (one knee up, one leg folded, elbows in tight). Roll back and repeat on the other side.

Be sure to step a fair distance with your extended leg. This drill can double as a good stretch, too: once you’ve come up to the combat base position you can play around with that.

Bridge to Turtle Drill: From your back with your feet in tight, bridge over one shoulder. As you thread our bottom leg back under to come to the turtle, sweep the mat with your mat-side hand to simulate clearing the hooks from someone trying to attack your back. Finish in a tight turtle position.

You can either sit to your back or roll over your shoulder to return to the original position. Then bridge to the other side. Again, this can be a nice flow.

Leg Circles From the Guard: Some people call this drill “the eggbeater.” You see a lot of guys doing this one to warm up for tournaments, and with good reason: it’s a core movement in the open guard. From your back, you rotate your legs in a circular motion like a windmill or an eggbeater. You can do this in each direction.

I mention it mainly to add one detail: a lot people do this drill with their back flat on the mat instead of raising the hips off the mat and moving from side to side during the leg circles. This is an important part of getting the movement down.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Hpmef70XI]

Hip Bump Sweep Drill: For many of us, the hip bump is the first sweep we learn in jiu-jitsu. That’s because it works. Another good solo drill involves putting something in front of you to mimic your opponent – I use a hanging heavy bag, but you can use something as simple as your coiled belt – and practicing the hip bump motion. From the guard position, roll up smoothly onto your shoulder, elbow and then hand, plant your foot and simulate a hip bump. Again, be sure to work both sides.

Start slowly to be certain you hit each step of the technique, and gradually work your way up to a solid pace. Royce Gracie black belt Jake Whitfield showed me this one, and told me that just doing this a few minutes each day would improve my hip bumps – and all the techniques that a good hip bump sets up. He was right.

The hip bump starts at 1:03 in this video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZLYg0IKEZs#t=1m03s]

OTHER RESOURCES

I think it helps to pick up a variety of drills from lots of different sources. That way, you have a menu of options for when you’re by yourself and when you’re with a group or a partner. Having many drills to choose from means you always have something to work and no excuse for getting bored.

To that end, if you’re looking for more, the mighty Jason Scully has a great video of 33 solo drills.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXjP50SOwK4]

Scully also put together 30 animal-themed movement drills as well.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO8u_3Jmiqw]

Next post along these lines: some great partner and group drills.

October 21, 2013

Final Tally For The Charity Challenge

When the year began, I knew I wanted to compete a lot. Competition makes you better, and you get to travel with your friends, and getting high-quality matches against guys you don’t know is fun.

A little extra motivation adds something, though. Before the first event of the season, I decided to donate $10 for every match I win this year to the Women’s Debate Institute, and an additional $10 to a second charity that blog readers could select. The winner of that vote was anti-cancer charity the George Pendergrass Foundation.

Now, the year isn’t over. I could conceivably still do Montreal, or Miami, or the No-Gi Worlds. For two reasons, though, I decided to wrap things up this weekend. First, I’m old and tired. I also have a few nagging injuries I’d like to let heal.

Every year, the Pendergrass twins — both black belts who have a great school, PAMA — hold benefit tournaments with US Grappling where proceeds help support the foundation. As it happens, the fall tournament was this weekend. It seemed like perfect timing to finalize the results and hand them a check.

That was all planned. What wasn’t planned was me getting sick the week before the tournament. As it happens, me getting stuck in a house for several days + Theraflu = me making an absurd giant novelty check. But then, how often do you get the chance to make an absurd giant novelty check?

Note: there is no "First National Bank of Berimbolo." Yet. — Note: there is no “First National Bank of Berimbolo.” Yet.

I want to thank the awesome folks who offered to match my donations to one charity or the other. Your generosity meant that every win this year was worth $45 to charity. I want to thank the Pendergrass brothers for doing great work to fight cancer, and for being great sports about my goofy check. And I want to thank everybody in the grappling community for the support, and in advance for your support next year.

Without further ado: the results.

FINAL CHARITY PROJECT STATISTICS
Total Matches Won For The Year: 16
Total Raised For Pendergrass Foundation: $480
Total Raised For Women’s Debate Institute: $240
Grand Total: $720

This money isn’t going to change the world, of course. But it’s the end of the year, we did some good, and because I stashed the cash a little at a time, I didn’t miss the money. I just thought of it as additional entry fees. I plan on doing this again next year, too — and you can get involved! More on that below.

Another cool thing about the tournament this weekend: my first two t-shirt designs for Cageside MMA came out. It was fun, and kind of surreal, to see people walking around wearing my shirts. Surreal in an awesome way, kind of like making a giant novelty check while hopped up on Theraflu.

One of the shirts, the “Just Train” shirt, you can see me wearing above. The writing inside the shirt consists of common excuses people use for not training. The other is a reference to this part of the old Gracies In Action tapes:

In-joke shirts for grappling nerds are the best.

Finally, I want to say this: I had such a blast doing the charity project this year that I plan on doing it again next year. Again, I will be donating $10 for every match I win to the George Pendergrass Foundation and the the Women’s Debate Institute.

The only difference: this year I’ll be actively soliciting more people to match either some portion of my donation or all of it.

In the next month or so, I’ll be posting the tournaments I plan to attend next year. That way, if you’re interested in splitting costs for a tournament we can travel to together, or if you’re interested in donating to support the cause — or both — you can get in touch with me and we can set it up.

Thanks for reading. Let’s do this again next year.

October 11, 2013

Toro Gi Preliminary Sketches

Yesterday was my birthday. As a present to myself, I spent the evening pulling together some concepts for the new Toro BJJ gi. I’ve kicked around ideas with a trusted friend or two. Before I get too far down the road, I want to put some out for people to see and talk about.

Hence: I’d love to get feedback from you, whether in the comments or on Twitter, Instagram (where I’ve posted earlier drawings) or via email.

THE CONCEPT: The gi is going to be inspired by Okinawan art and culture. Okinawa is my favorite place on earth, a beautiful area with a rich history and the kindest people I’ve ever been around. As the birthplace of karate, it also has a rich martial arts history, so this seems like a natural fit. (There’s another piece that makes the fit perfect, as you’ll see below).

Names I’m considering for the gi include the Toro Uchina (the name for Okinawa in the indigenous language, uchinaaguchi), the Toro Ryukyuan (before it was colonized by Japan, Okinawa was known as the Ryukyu Kingdom), or the Toro Haisai (“hello” in the Okinawan language). Right now, I’m leaning toward the Toro Uchina, so let’s go with that for now.

To start with, I drew a ton of artistic elements. Although I want the final gi to be simple and uncluttered, I wanted to have a lot of different options to choose from.

Here are a couple of preliminary sketches I posted to Instagram of the gi’s proposed layout:

I like the traditional look of a white gi, so that’s what we’re going with. It’s going to be a 450 gram pearl weave gi in the Toro style. That much is just about decided. But what art we use and how we situate that art is what we’re in the process of deciding.

Let me show you a few things, and tell you a little bit about what I’m thinking for each of them.

THE BACK EMBROIDERY PIECE: This is just a quick rendering for a back piece. It’s two bulls locking horns in Okinawan style bullfighting, with the kanji for Togyu, Okinawan style bloodless bullfighting.

Okinawan bullfighting is like sumo in terms of both rules, moves, and that the grand champion is called a Yokozuna, so there’s a grappling connection. More importantly, there is a “Bull” connection. Obviously, Toro means “bull,” and is reference to both the bullfighter pass and the fact that Toro is based in Durham, North Carolina — the Bull City. All of this seemed to indicate what the main piece of art should be.

Here’s a preliminary rendering, without text:

We will probably put the Toro slogan in the circle around the piece (“Live to Roll, Roll To Live”). We could also do something else specific for this gi, like the slogan in kanji or katakana.

[You might notice that the bulls locking horns forms a third bull’s-head shape as well. Could do something with that.]

I drew another bull design that was a little more abstract, but it wound up looking like Ferdinand. I’ll post it if anyone wants to see it.

THE COLORS: You might ask: why these colors? They are taken from the Kingdom of the Ryukyus’ flag, which will also have a place on the gi:

It’s also a cool flag, no? I love the iconography, so I plan on putting a treatment of the flag in at least one place on the gi, most likely the front of the skirt below the belt.

Two other notes about this: there will be grip tape around the skirt of the gi that draws on the red-and-black bottom part of the flag. I think this will give the gi a simple but elegant color scheme. And I plan on contrast stitching using the blue.

SHOULDER EMBROIDERY: All around Okinawa, you see guardian shi-sa dogs. These lion-dogs are protectors of the home. Aside from being culturally significant, they’re visually very cool.

Traditionally one of the dogs has its mouth open and another has its mouth closed. I’d like to have one shi-sa on each shoulder, facing forward. I took a common design and tweaked it a little:

I was considering doing a full-bodied shi-sa doing a horizontal pose like you see here, but I like the faces. What do you think?

THE PANTS: I do want to keep the pants simple, and there are two possibilities I’m kicking around. I’d like to do a stylized map of the Ryukyu Islands and incorporate that into either:

* A rectangular Toro logo at the top right portion of the pants; or

* Just an outline of the islands that would be placed at the bottom right shin, so it would be distinctive but still IBJJF legal.

This would be similar position to the embroidered Toro logo on the company’s “Blue Steel” pants offering. Note also the contrast stitching on this model. I’d like for the Uchina to keep some consistency with the existing design of Toro, but also break out into a few new directions.

The island outline will probably be the next drawing I do and post for reaction.

FINALLY, I WILL PROBABLY NOT GET TO DO THIS, BUT: Sublimated printing on the interior of a gi is expensive to do. However, I really like what some companies have done in this vein. Putting art pieces on the inside of a gi keeps the gi looking clean and uncluttered outside, but provide art opportunities for inside. It’s like having a secret. Plus, you get to add fun elements without having the gi look too busy.

Examples of this include the Scramble Wave, which uses an internal rash guard, and the Muae Furinkazan, which just prints on the inside of the gi. I’d prefer to do something like Muae gi, for two reasons: I personally don’t have a lot of experience with internal rash guards, and the Muae print looks very cool as the color fades (check out the pictures in that link). I think either of my ideas would look good after fading as well.

My two ideas: either a growing banyan tree (found throughout Okinawa’s forests) or a coral reef scene (the Ryukyu Islands are some of the most biodiverse in the world, and contain more than 400 types of coral and all manner of fantastic aquatic species).

Again, this stuff is pretty expensive, so I probably won’t get to do it. Unless, you know, the people demand it. If you’d like to see what the banyan tree or reef scene would look like, I could draw and post those, too.

FINALLY: Other potential ideas for design elements included drawings of some Ryukyuan castles, which are beautiful and diverse in appearance; a stylized rendering of an Okinawan proverb about food being medicine for life, but applied (of course) to jiu-jitsu; and numerous cool indigenous animal species like the Okinawa dugong, Yanbaru kuina and Iriomote yamaneko. At this point, I haven’t found a place for any of these, and probably won’t, because I want to keep the design simple. But I wanted to mention them in case they spark any ideas. (I might try to work one into a re-design of the Toro embroidered patch on the jacket lapel)

Also, nothing is really set in stone. I really love thinking about this gi, and would love it if I could get some help from you. So let me know what you think, whether it’s in the comments, on Twitter, on Instagram or in person. Thanks for reading.

October 9, 2013

I Am Designing a Gi

Folks, I have great news. I get to design the next gi release from Toro BJJ!

This is something I’m very excited about. I’ve done a lot of writing in my life, but I’ve only focused on the visual arts over the past few years. New ground is always exciting. I’ve been having a blast thinking up concepts for this kimono.

Besides, I’m a huge fan of my Toro gis. I have both the “Blue Steel” and the “White Gold,” and they’re durable, comfortable and stylish. Toro is a relatively new brand, but one that already has some quality products. It’s gratifying to have the opportunity to explore what the next step for the Toro line looks like.

Here’s the upshot: I’m going to need your help!

I’m going to be posting concepts and drawings here and on my Facebook page. I’d love your feedback on what you like, what you don’t, what you think generally makes a great gi, and what specifically you’d like to see out of this one.

To get the party started, I’ll spill the tentative plan. The gi is going to be inspired by my favorite place in the world, a place I used to live: Okinawa. It’s a place with a rich martial arts history, of course, but also one with an incredibly rich culture, environment and history. You can’t capture all of that in a gi, so you have to make visual choices — which is where y’all come in.

I’ll keep you posted with the specific elements that may go into the gi. In the meantime, think about what makes a great gi! If you need some visuals of your own to guide your hand, Meerkatsu had a design-a-gi contest that has templates. But you could also just look at your own gis and figure out why you like the ones you like and hate the ones you hate.

I’m grateful to the Toro folks for giving me the chance to do this, and couldn’t be more enthusiastic about getting started. I’ve already started drawing: watch for some design ideas here soon.

September 14, 2013

When Do You Stop Feeling Incompetent? Five Answers.

When we finished up with a 6 a.m. drilling session the other day, one of my white belt training partners asked me a poignant question. “So,” he said, “when do you stop feeling incompetent at this?”

I laughed, and gave him a glib answer: “I’ll let you know when it happens to me.”

I feel like I owe him a better answer, though. This is a dedicated guy we’re talking about — not everyone gets up at 5:30 to drill with me — and honestly, everyone has felt that way. Jiu-jitsu is so complex and multifaceted that there is always some aspect of it giving you trouble.

This post is my effort to get past that flippant first-thought answer and think through five legitimate responses to that question.

1. Even The Basics Come Hard: Accept That. It took me three classes to learn to shrimp. Not shrimp perfectly. Not shrimp well. To understand the basic mechanics of one of the art’s most fundamental movements enough that I could actually do it. Seriously, that took me three classes. It took me several nights and personal attention from the instructor before I could participate in the very first warmup.

Eminem's reaction to watching my first attempts at shrimping. — Eminem’s reaction to watching my first attempts at shrimping.

I tell this story for two reasons: first, take heart! Even if you totally brainlock on the simplest things, a little patience can get you where you want to be. Second, get some perspective. These movements are counter-intuitive. We don’t grow up moving like a shrimp does: it has to be learned. It takes some of us (like me) longer than others, and that’s fine.

2. Everything is Relative. I was fortunate enough to go to the Mundials as a white belt after training a little over a year. I hadn’t competed outside of North Carolina, and it was an incredible experience.

One remarkable aspect of watching the best in the world: you’d see a guy mow through competition with a smile on his face. You’d think that he was invincible.

Then you’d see him get schooled in the next match. Then you’d see the guy that beat him lose. And then you think again about that first guy, and how he could tap you 10 times in a five minute round without using his hands.

It’s all relative. Even now, I’ll hear an incredible instructor remark after training with someone like Royce Gracie or Gui Valente: “Wow, he really makes me feel like I don’t know jiu-jitsu.” Compared to a day-one white belt, a very good white belt can feel like a fount of information. Compared to someone who has been training 30 years since childhood, a very good black belt can feel like a white belt.

1011343_10151555296083483_2112042903_n — Either of the two guys on the end could submit me 10 times, blindfolded, with each hand in their belt. BJJ has levels.

There will be days when you feel like you’re getting this. Then there will be days when you feel like me during my second class, trying to shrimp.

By now my training partner is probably saying “enough with the platitudes. Give me a number.” OK. Done stalling. I’ll give it a shot.

3. About 18 Months. Once you train for about a year and a half, you’ll feel like you have a good handle on the basics. Depending upon how much you go to class, you might earn a blue belt slightly before or slightly after this time. Again, everyone is different. Some people have natural aptitude for grappling, and you can get there faster by spending more time on the mats, taking privates, watching videos, reading books, or whatever supplemental effort is best for your learning style.

But if you go to class regularly (say, three to five times a week) and do your drilling, you’ll build a solid foundation for yourself. You’ll start to recognize mistakes other white belts are making. This will help you first stop making those mistakes yourself, and then start exploiting those mistakes.

This is a really fun and exciting time in your development, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. I had an absolute blast when this happened for me, and it happened probably around the 18 month mark. That’s the good news.

Yes, there’s bad news.

4. … And Then You’ll Start Feeling Incompetent Again. Right after I got my blue belt, I felt euphoric. And so should you when you level up! It’s the result of a lot of work, sacrifice and effort, and you should be proud of it.

And then you should forget about what belt you have on and get right back to training. Because after you’ve had that belt a year, you’ll look back and can’t believe how little that dude who got that belt knew.

Everyone is making progress all the time. Other people — your training partners, your opponents — are getting better. You’ll feel good about where you’re at, but the rising tide means you’ve got to keep learning or get left behind.

Hey, I got good at the double under pass! I'll just keep doing ... ah, crap. — Hey, I got good at the double under pass! I’ll just keep doing … ah, crap.

That’s a beautiful thing, though! If you get good at the triangle choke, let’s say, your partners must adapt. Eventually, they will stop you from triangling them. Then, you’ll be forced to either figure out new setups or use a different technique. This, in turn, forces you to learn and improve.

The down side to this is that you end up feeling like a doofus. But that’s why the wise jiu-jiteiros tell the new guys that it’s important to keep the ego in check.

The art will do that for you, don’t worry. Last weekend I had perhaps the best tournament I’ve ever had. This week I got back and trained with some guys so good, they thwarted everything I was doing and submitted me multiple times without breathing hard. It’s inspiring, and humbling, to roll with people whose technique is at the level where it makes you feel utterly ineffectual and incompetent.

This brings us back to:

5. I’ll Let You Know When It Happens. Sorry, man, we’re back to the beginning.

Maybe, as the Buddhist meditation master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche told Allen Ginsberg, the first thought really is the best thought. Or maybe jiu-jitsu is just so rich and complicated that I’m always going to feel like a novice.

If you saw me try to shrimp, you’d probably bet on the latter, and I probably would too.

That’s the thing, though: ultimately, you’re competing against yourself. The you of today is no doubt miles more competent than the day one version. And you’re only getting better.

There will always be people that make you feel like you have no technique compared to them. But when I think back on the version of myself that walked into the gym about three years ago, I have no doubt that I would tune him up without him even realizing what I was doing.

We all feel lost sometimes. Part of why jiu-jitsu is so interesting is that there will always be more of it to understand. Embrace that, and enjoy the ride.

December 17, 2012

Letting Ego Go

When I did debate in high school, a bunch of us went to watch our best debater — a senior — compete in a final round. We were sophomores, and we watched our best guy deliver a terrific speech to win top honors. Afterward, still suffused with the glow of sweet victory, I told a teammate: “You know, I want to be that good someday.”

This particular teammate never thought much of me, so that may be why she gave me a look of scorn. It may also be that such a declaration came off as arrogant, or implausible, or some combination of all of these. Whatever it was, it was clear that she didn’t think my goal was happening, and she wanted me to know it.

Fine, I thought inside. Out loud, I said: “No, I changed my mind. I want to be better. And I’m going to be.”

***

I admit it: I’m a competitive person. I will further admit that this type of competitiveness is rooted in ego, and that this is not always my most charming trait. At 38, I certainly hope that I’m more mature about expressing these feelings than I was as a sophomore in high school. But that base impulse — You think I can’t do that? Well, we’ll you’re wrong, and I’ll prove it — remains the same.

Ego can be a mixed blessing at best — in life and in jiu-jitsu training. If your instructor is anything like mine, he or she has probably has probably told you over and over that ego is your enemy.

There are good reasons for this. Especially with something like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, where improvement is such a long-term process, conquering your ego is something you simply have to do. Humility is worth cultivating for its own sake. It also has instrumental value: being humble also allows you to be open to what your instructors — and training partners — have to teach you, in word and deed. There are lot of reasons for this, but my favorite is this: if you don’t believe you’re making mistakes, you can’t learn.

Humility is also a recipe for being much happier in life. I fundamentally believe this. As beneficial as competition can be for us, physically and mentally, an all-consuming focus on it isn’t charming. It can also undermine your long-term progress. I’ve seen a lot of people with impressive physical attributes start to rely on their strength or speed to win matches and perform well in rolls, since that’s easier at first than learning technique.

Let me make an uncomfortable admission, though. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that a tiny kernel of ego still continues to drive my training. I like getting medals. I don’t like big, strong, new guys coming into the gym and calling me out, assuming they can beat on the little old guy. I like it when they get a nasty surprise.

This isn’t a part of my personality I’m particularly happy with, but I can acknowledge that it will always be a part of me. And contrary to what the great Annie Savoy said, the world can be a better place with a little self-awareness. Knowing our own tendencies can be the best way to moderate them.

Ultimately, I think that moderation is the lesson here: you don’t want to let your ego run you, but you don’t want to completely abandon it, either. You can’t run an engine on a spark alone, but sometimes you need a spark to get started.

***

Since I’m sure everyone is anxious to know how my debate career turned out, I’ll return that to close this out. (Spoiler alert: it’s actually a pretty good parable for what I’m trying to say in the post.)

Debaters work really hard. I worked as hard as two of them. I kind of had a chip on my shoulder anyway, but I used doubters — real and imagined — to motivate me. Tournaments were most every weekend, and I lived for them.

The work paid off, such as it was: for a few years I was pretty hard to beat at debate. Then, as suddenly as I started obsessing over winning debates, I found myself burning out. I was exhausted all the time and had stopped enjoying something that had been the center of my life.

I had a lot of success, and I had a lot of fun, but I don’t think I had as much of either in the long run as I might have. Tough to admit, but true.

We’re all capable of making mistakes. One of my goals in training jiu-jitsu is to fix the mistakes in approach I made during debate. Ego is a tough opponent, but it can be defeated, too, and the more I defeat it, the happier I am.

June 28, 2012

A little vacation Judo

One reason I started this blog now is that I have time to do some posts. Usually, work, school and training pretty much covers all my free time, and I’d rather be training that writing about training. But now, I’m on vacation for five weeks or so.

All the training I’m going to get in is judo (there is no BJJ instructor in Palau, where I am, but there is a national judo team), and the rest of my jiu-jitsu time is going to be spent catching up on the litany of DVD instructionals I own.

This means:

* When I get back home, I intend to do some “training log” posts about what we go over in class, but for now, I’m going to post about other things I’m working on.

* Expect the occasional DVD review post in the next month or so. First one coming in the next day or two.

When I visited last, I trained with the judo team. They were kind enough to show me a few things. Unfortunately, two of my favorite training partners just left for the Olympics (Good luck, Jen!).

Fortunately, I can still get a little judo in, which I want to do so I can improve my options while standing in the gi. I did some wrestling in high school, so I’ve always had some takedowns. But the gi changes things, and can impede the kind of shot-based takedowns I’m best at. Some basic judo techniques will diversify my standing techniques.

What I’ve learned so far: short, stubby legs suck for foot sweeps; morote seio nage is my favorite throw, because it looks cool and you don’t run as much risk of getting your back taken; and tomoe nage is a terrific option for “I’m not *really* pulling guard, but yeah, I’m pulling guard.”

Got any favorite judo throws I should drill while I’m here?

Tag: What I’m Working On