How to Watch a BJJ Instructional

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Lex

Someone mentioned to me a few months ago that it takes them forever to get through an instructional because they like to carefully watch, re-watch, and re-watch again, every single move in it, take notes, and then drill each one.

My approach has been different. I watch an instructional the same way I read a philosophy book. I watch the whole thing without pausing much at all. When I’m not watching it, I’ll think about what makes the technique work (the fundamentals behind it) and let it settle somewhere deep in my subconscious. I’m not looking for a technique I like, I’m looking for one I love. It has to click with me immediately.

An example of a technique that clicked with me right away is Andre Galvao’s bull pass:

When I first saw that, I felt immediately that this will be one of my favorite passes, and it is.

More often than not, however, I don’t pick up any one technique but use the system of techniques presented to modify my current game. I’m not sure how to describe it best. But by watching someone who is a world-class jiu jitsu player perform a set of related techniques, I tend to pick up a few general principles and begin almost imitating them in drilling and training.

The techniques I saw in instructionals that had the biggest impact on my game so far (that I can think of) are:  Marcelo Garcia butterfly and x-guard, Jared Weiner’s knee on belly and guard passing, Caio Terra’s half guard, Ryan Hall’s back takes, Andre Galvao’s guard passing, and the variety of fundamentals from Saulo Ribeiro, Robson Moura, and a few others I can’t think of now.

Anyway, the point is, I think too many people obsess about getting to know every single technique on an instructional dvd set they purchase. For me that’s too much pressure. I just like to enjoy the totality of it, pick out the rare technique that clicks with me, and slowly integrate it into my relatively simple game.

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Old School Jiu Jitsu: “You’re My Boy, Blue”

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Lex

I registered for the IBJJF Chicago Open today and paused for a moment when I saw a note that said I can register for the Masters division if I was born in 1982 or before. I’m just one year away from that.

I have been casually following the winners of IBJJF events (Pans, Worlds, Europeans, Chicago, New York, etc) in the blue belt middleweight division (which is my current division). The people that place (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) without exception that I could find are all in the 18 to 21 year old range.

It’s a reflection of a lot of factors, but in my experience the difference between 18 and 28 can be boiled down to cardio and agility. Whether justified or not, I kind of feel like Clint Eastwood. These young kids might have their tricks, but I got my old school basics. They can run around all they want, but eventually I’ll wear them down with heavy fundamentals and pure guts.

By the way, I’m kidding with this post. 28 is by no means old. I will say though that I think one of the big things that gets in the way as an amateur BJJ’er like myself gets older is the responsibilities I have off the mat. I try not to let work kill me too much, but on many days (like today) it really takes away from my training.

But I draw inspiration from the warriors that never stop fighting, like Blue from Old School. You’re my boy, Blue…

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Pulling Guard Like a Boss

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Lex

The title of this post is how I think about yoko tomoe nage in the context of BJJ. Joel Gerson explains it best:

It’s a throw that I very much like to do in jiu jitsu when my opponent stiff arms me with a bent over defensive posture. The version I prefer is the more on-the-move one that I first saw Justin Flores do, kind of like in this video:

And a very interesting variation again from Joel Gerson, starting out with just one grip:

In judo tournaments, I avoid this throw because it easy for to become just a way to enter into ground work (which I’m trying to avoid when I’m looking to get stand-up experience). But in jiu jitsu, it’s a nice option to keep in the bag against a defensive opponent.

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Pondering a Weight Cut

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Lex

I’ve met very few top grappling athletes and coaches that don’t see cutting weight as an integral part of the sport. I think it’s an unfortunate but necessary fact of life for the pros. However, a major downside of that is that this mindset trickles down to the amateurs (such as myself and others I compete against), the weekend warriors, the lower ranks. I’ve often met guys going into their first tournament that focus exclusively on the weight cut without putting much emphasis on drilling solid technique, learning, and just enjoying (win or lose) their first tournament experience.

I am an academic by day, night, and weekend. All I do is read, write, think, and program. I’m often sleep deprived. On top of all that, I have a fat kid in my brain that loves food. I think my friends know me as someone who is very strict about his diet, but there is a reason for that. It’s because I lack the ability to stop eating bad food. The only way, I can live happily is by eating healthy and strictly controlling the portions I eat. But all that falls apart on days and weeks when I have tons of work and am not able to sleep as much as I want.

If I don’t have any deadlines coming up at work, and I get full 8 hours of sleep, dieting is easy. But without that, it becomes extremely difficult. So I decided some time ago that I won’t let weight get in the way of my enjoying competition. Whatever weight I am, I decided to enjoy the experience without cutting weight. It’s very difficult for me to beat out the wrestler mindset that wants to come in 10-15 lbs lighter than my fat weight, but I’m working on it, and trying not to letting the obsessive weight cutting of others affect me.

That said, there is a tournament coming up in a month where going to the 163 lbs division (from my current weight of 180 lbs) is good because in that division (light blue belt absolute) I have a chance to win a fully-paid trip to compete in Abu Dhabi. There are two divisions: 163 lbs and below, and 163 lbs and above. I have confidence that I can do well against 200+ lbs guys in terms of strength, but it’s the length (long and lanky) that I struggle with, and at 180-220 lbs guys can get really damn tall.

So the question is, do I want to cut 17 lbs in one month. The weigh-ins are the night before, so a lot of that can be water weight 24 hours before. That’s very important, obviously, since I wouldn’t make such a huge cut otherwise. But some of that (~7 lbs) will have to be real weight, which means dieting, which means more cardio (like running) than usual, which means suffering through the days when I have a ton of work, little sleep, and no chance to eat away the exhaustion.

I don’t know. I have to stay up tonight again, working. My knee is still hurt, and I don’t quite have that mental energy required to go to bed on an empty stomach, but I’ll give it a try. I’m going to compete either way, whatever the division, and am going to enjoy the hell out of it.

I’ll leave the post witha cool video of Krzysztof Soszynski making a big cut for a UFC fight.

Now, back to work.

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The End of Faith and the Beginning of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Lex

Sam Harris is a neuroscientist and philosopher who is popularly known as an outspoken critic of religion. He is not militant about his atheism, and doesn’t have the at-times-annoying self-righteousness (and British accent) of Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens. He is simply a man who believes in the beautiful simplicity and power of the scientific method.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to randomly stumble on a blog post of his on brazilian jiu jitsu from a couple days ago. It’s interesting to see world-class intellects (that can also write) get the BJJ bug and read what they have to say about the experience.

There is no doubt that jiu jitsu has a lot to teach anyone who takes themselves very seriously (which is most of us). Sam Harris describes the beauty of that in that blog post above. He compares the claims that some martial artists make to those that religious leaders make. But unlike those of the latter, the former can be put to the test. This is where jiu jitsu excels, and the truth is made clear. There are no places for the truth to hide in the jiu jitsu gi. It’s a sport that makes honest men of all of us.

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Why Has No One Murdered Me (Yet) on Craigslist

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Lex

First, sorry to be making light of crime. It’s a serious thing and should be taken seriously, so demonstrate some caution and damn common sense!

I use Craiglist to find carpools to tournaments. There are a lot of people out there that need to travel and like to carpool because they need help driving  or are looking to save some money by sharing the cost.

Whenever people hear that I do this, the first thing that comes up is the idea of a big biker dude sexually assaulting me and then (optionally) murdering me. Neither of those things has happened yet. In fact, the people I meet through Craiglist are usually the opposite of a violent excon biker. Most people I’ve met are hippies: college students, soccer moms, and European girls that giggle a lot.

When I tell this to people, they then argue that “of course these people appear to be harmless until you get to a truck stop somewhere, at which point they surprise attack you and have their merry way with your unconscious body”. While this is of course true, I don’t see why this can’t happen in my current home of sunny Philadelphia or anywhere any time. You have to have a rational estimation of risk in life. Otherwise, you never experience anything interesting.

This blog post will be of dark comedic value if I do get murdered one of these days while carpooling with a Craigslist person.

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Escaping Back Control

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Lex

As a lower rank, it’s very useful to learn good basic escapes from every bad position, because to put it mildly you get plenty of chances to “practice” being in a bad position, a whole lot more than you probably do as you get better at jiu jitsu.

Below are a bunch of videos with brief comments on different variations of escaping back control. At first glance, you wouldn’t think there are many options here. But it seems that people prefer different ways to escape, and the only rule of thumb is there is no rule of thumb.

A very effective escape involves bringing the choking arm (top one) over the head. Once you do, you can either drive into the arm as Robson Moura does in the first video below, or scoot away from the arm and get your back to the ground.

Scoot down and reach hand back around your opponents neck:

A similar idea is followed up in no-gi with a Brabo choke:

You can instead slide away from the arm over their leg as the second technique in the following video shows.

Another take on the same technique:

Here’s a no-gi escape away from the choking arm against seatbelt control:

And the same escape but with the gi (and in Portuguese):

And now the same but if the opponent has both lapels:

The same principles as shown in the first video applied to a triangle-body-lock style back control:

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Eighty Seven Reasons to Train Harder

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Lex

The IBJJF European Open started yesterday with the blue belts. The results are slowly trickling in. There were 87 guys in the blue belt middleweight division. I was positive that at least one of the guys I knew would medal. They did not. And then I started doing some research, and realized that this division had some very good competitors. About 10 of the 87 could win gold on any given day.

I know that the blue belt is commonly thought of as a beginner rank, but the guys that win these divisions do not have many holes in their game. They are by no stretch of the imagination “beginners”. Many have spent 3 to 4 years training daily (if not twice daily). What’s clear to me is that several of these guys will beat me 9 out of 10 times if I am passive and let them play their game. For example, the first place winner looks to be a triangle guy. I know if I stick around in his closed guard long enough I will get triangled. The answer for me is to be the aggressor, to not allow the closed guard, or if it happens to very aggressively work to split it.

Marcelo Garcia put it well in his new book on advanced jiu jitsu that you must always be threatening some kind of attack. At every moment of the roll, you are winning if you keep your opponent on the defensive. That requires a certain mindset that to me doesn’t come naturally. I have to develop it in training.

Here’s a video of the first place winner (Julio dos Anjos):

Here’s a video of the second place winner (David Hulland):

I have to be honest and say that I am genuinely intimidated by the level of competition at this tournament. It’s a wake up call that I have to do the things I know I need to do to win. That’s a confusing sentence. But basically, many of us know what needs to be done to accomplish a certain goal. You can write it down on paper. You can visualize doing it. Actually doing it is a whole another challenge, especially with many forces from the real-world putting stumbling blocks in your path.

I won’t make promises that I will win. But I can promise that I will give it everything I got.

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The Six Stages of Grief After a Jiu Jitsu Injury

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Lex

My knee popped in training (MCL sprain). It hurts, but it’s manageable. Feels unstable, but I feel that recovery is possible without taking any time off.

It seems that once people start having knee problems of this kind, it has a long lasting effect, not just physically, but psychologically. Confidence in the knee’s stability is lowered, affecting many decisions you make while grappling. I definitely feel it now, but I’m staying positive and taking it all in stride.

With any injury, big or small (though with jiu jitsu my injuries have been all small so far), I seem to go through stages that resemble the stages of grief. For the fun of it, let me try to describe them:

  1. Shock: The moment an injury happens, the pain is usually most acute. I don’t know how bad it is, but the fact that it could be very bad leaves me in a state of shock where I just remain motionless, trying not to think about anything.
  2. Anger: Once I get a handle on how bad the injury is, I realize that I can’t train any more at that moment and have to go home. That realization leads to anger at myself, at the world, at the people around me, at everything really. It’s the kind of anger you feel when you stub your toe on something and you yell out a profanity of the creative variety.
  3. Depression: Anger quickly gives way to zen-like reflection of my place in the world, and how nothing really matters. Somehow, in this case, the result of this reflection is usually a kind of loneliness.
  4. Recovery Planning: After the nihilistic depression wears out (usually after a nap and a snack), I get very optimistic, and make grandiose detailed plans for recovery. I plan on what I will do if I can’t train. I plan on what I will do if I can only train lightly. And so on…
  5. Acceptance: I prepare myself mentally for taking time off if the injury does heal without prolonged rest. I imagine myself taking several months off (which kills me to think about). I slowly accept the negative elements of the circumstance, accept the plan of action, and try to focus on the hope that such a plan provides.
  6. Game Change: During the days and weeks after the injury I experiment with what hurts and how to avoid making the injury worse. Based on that I change my jiu jitsu game.

All that sounds kind of depressing. I don’t exactly go through all those steps, but I do experience parts of each. I just like putting things into a numbered list.

Anyway, hopefully I’m lucky in this case, and will be able to at least continue drilling (and maybe training) as often as I did before, and won’t damage the ligament any further.

There are a bunch of tournaments coming up, next one in 10 days, but I’m trying not to think about the fact that I may have to miss any of them.

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Cross Choke from Mount

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Lex

The cross choke from mount is one of those submissions that you learn on day one of starting jiu jitsu but can take forever to get good at. It’s not a surprise attack. There are very few tricks to it. Most of the technique’s effectiveness (as far as I understand) is about controlling the position.

I love this submission, not because I’m good at it, but because I believe that maybe I will be good at it one day. I’ve been working at it slowly but steadily. Here’s Roger showing the basics of it:

And here’s one of his black belts breaking it down in more detail:

Like many basic but effective techniques, the cross choke from mount has just a small number of details. It seems that mastering those details requires thousands of reps that develop the right strength, balance, flexibility, and control.

Posted in Jiu Jitsu, Technique, Training | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment