Category Archives: Philosophy

Why I Like Promotions

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level-upSeeing people I train with (or am friends with) promoted to a new belt color is always exciting to me. It probably taps into the same neurochemical wellspring of joy I get from leveling up in a video game. (I just realized that it’s been a LONG time since I actually played a game, especially an RPG).

It’s a demarcation of progress. The most exciting one, to me, in BJJ is the white belt to blue belt promotion. There is so much possibility and hope for the future at that point. A new blue belt has not yet been beaten down by the reality that mastery takes a long, long, long time. When I got my blue belt, I still believed that just around the corner, I will begin my meteoric rise to amazing skill levels. In reality, the path to mastery is much more like hiking the Appalachian trail. It takes a lot longer than you think. It’s not glorious. There’s no sparklers or beautiful women (or dudes if that’s your thing) in bikinis cheering you on. It’s just a long daily grind full of simple pleasures derived from subtle improvement of skill and overcoming of challenges.

But again, I think what I like most about promotions is the same reason I like driving a brand new car: the new car smell. When my training partners are wearing a new belt, it feels like I just beat the game at the “normal” setting, and am now upgraded to the “expert” setting.

It’s amazing how a belt can be a canvas to project my thoughts on. A belt color is a set of goals, a set of techniques, a set of injuries, a set of tournaments.

In the rest of my life, there are no belt colors. When I publish a conference or journal paper, I don’t get stripes on my belt. The video-game-playing kid in me wishes that I would be “awarded” a green jacket or something like that for a week after publishing in a prestigious journal. I would wear it proudly, and write a blog post about how much I like the idea of green jackets that my colleagues would read and shake their head at in shame.

Never Complain and Never Explain

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“Never complain and never explain.” – Benjamin Disraeli

Luke-and-TerryWhen I fail to do something I promised to myself or others, there is a strong desire to explain why it was so damn difficult to get it done. “X happened, then Y happened. I’m sorry, I hope you understand.” As if a good excuse will somehow patch things up temporarily until I can prove myself next time.

Every time I hear others make excuses (even very legitimate ones) I cringe. I’m starting to understand that if you let your mind go to excuses, then it actually makes quitting easier. The worst part of that is it makes quitting easier NEXT TIME and the time after that and so on.

My goal is that if I can’t do something, I simply provide the fact: “I will not get it done” and nothing else. Step 2 is take quietly the painful reality of that failure. Step 3 is figure out how and work my ass off to not be in that position again.

This is very important in my work, but the great thing about grappling is that it gives me an opportunity to practice that mindset on a daily basis in a very direct way. For example, if I decide to do 8 sets of hard training, and I’m exhausted after 6 sets, I don’t think “I’m exhausted, I don’t think I can do another one”. Instead, I don’t even allow my mind to consider the possibility of quitting. Basically, exhaustion transforms from an excuse for quitting into just an aspect of the reality in which I’m existing. If I make a decision to do 8 sets, then I will do it. If later, I feel that 8 sets is too many, then next time I’ll decide to do 7 sets or 5 sets or 3 sets, whatever, but once the decision is made, it must be accomplished.

It’s not easy to do. I’m struggling with this every day. It’s very tempting to promise to myself and others that I will compete in this or that tournament, or that I will attend this or that training session. But I don’t want to live life on a cloud of promises as many dreamers do. For myself, I want to be the guy that decides, acts, and never quits.

BJJ Community Loves Drama

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When you take up a hobby or a sport, you join a community by the simple fact that the people you communicate with most often online or in person will be participating in that same hobby/sport. Then, it’s easy to forget that there is a world outside of that community.

sam-osman-brown-belt-pans-2013

I’m part of two such communities. One is the grappling community. The other is the academic community. The latter (academia) loves private gossiping, the former (bjj) seems to love public drama (especially online). I was reminded of this when I briefly noticed the heat that a guy named Sam Osman received after winning Pans in the brown belt masters division. The drama was due to the fact that Sam received his black belt 3 months before the Pans, but still competed in the brown belt division. The reason was because the process for IBJJF to get you approved as a black belt is complicated and takes time. I didn’t read anything more about it than that, but I’m guessing Sam was a bit slow with filing all the necessary paperwork, but still wanted to compete. The picture to the left is of Sam winning the gold and here’s the Facebook comments that the picture received.

The guy was called a sandbagger and a lot more ridiculously exaggerating accusations. I have my opinion on this, but that doesn’t matter. Everyone has an opinion. What’s amazing to me is that in the BJJ community everyone with an opinion feels it their moral duty to make that opinion known. It doesn’t matter if they are an expert or a novice, whether they know anything about competing and whether they know any of the facts in the case, their opinion must be known! The result is often not something I’m proud of associating with. Still, having so many loud voices means that it’s hard to get away with shady stuff. That’s a good thing. The whole Lloyd Irvin thing is an example of that. Keep honest people honest, and jump on anything that looks like b.s.

In the end, I’m happy to be part of this unique bunch of pijama wearing folk, but I do try to stay away from the drama. I’ll admit, it’s often enticing to read and share the latest gossip. But it’s not good for your brain, your soul, and your long term outlook on life.

Force Yourself To Do Stuff That’s Fun

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rubiks-cube-whats-upI recently heard Joe Rogan say that everything he does he really enjoys but sometimes he has to force himself to do it regularly. That resonated with me, because I’ve often had to try to explain this concept, and it sounds like a contradiction when I try to explain it. For me, “fun” is something that happens while I’m struggling to overcome a challenge.

This especially applies to training. I often don’t feel like going in to train, but I’ve learned that even though it doesn’t sound like fun right now, it will end up being fun once I get on the mat. Or if I’m really dragging, I still know that the benefit of building the habit of coming in to drill and train far outweighs the costs of struggling through a gloomy training session.

Also, positive attitude is definitely contagious. It helps me to see people like Sam Oropeza on the mat always smiling, joking around, and still working harder than anyone else. By the way, he has a fight coming up on April 4th, 2013 in Bellator.

Street Fighting Should Be Legal but Regulated by the IBJJF

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USA. New York. 1950.I think a lot of the problems in public discourse (in real-life and online) arise from the fact that people don’t have to back up their words with action. That’s why I am usually more comfortable talking to a guy who has been punched in the face, or especially lost a fight, many times in their life. There is a humble reality-check that comes with that. Reality-checks like that can come in many ways, but fighting is a potent one.

I think fighting on the street (or anywhere) to resolve a conflict, when both people agree to it, is a great way to learn about the consequences of words except for the fact that people can get seriously hurt (or die). So I propose that Congress pass a bill legalizing street fighting but that it be regulated by the International Street Fighting Federation (ISFF) that will be a branch of the IBJJF ;-) The goal is to make illegal any techniques that can cause permanent bodily harm. No ground and pound on a hard surface, no slams, etc. If you do any of those things, you’ll go to jail, otherwise if both people agree to it, the fight is completely legal. You might get banged up pretty bad, but you’ll be fine a week or two later.

Obviously, this idea (much like A Modest Proposal) is not a serious one (especially about the IBJJF), but I still am saddened when I’m confronted with people in our society who hide behind the veil of the “I’ll sue you” threat versus the much more basic human threat of fighting. I think most of us (including myself) would be a lot more careful in talking crap if we had to back it up through fighting.

The Logic of Movement

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movnat-cat I saw the cat picture to the left on Reddit with the title “We actually had to help him down… Idiot”.

This immediately reminded me of the several discussions I had with Josh about movement (motivated by his work with MovNat).

There are many times in jiu jitsu that I have put myself in a position where I felt very much like the cat in the picture, wondering (1) how the hell did I get here and (2) how the hell do I get out of here?

Kinematics of Humanoid Robots

Relevant side note on my work in computer science: While I don’t build humanoid robots myself, a lot of the research I do brushes up against the immense challenges of programming the kinematics of movement. It’s always humbling to learn all the things that the nervous system takes care of without requiring active cognitive input from us. A lot of the stuff you (as a human being) take for granted (in terms of how you, for example, pick up a cup of coffee) is actually accomplished by an incredibly complicated system. Most of the details of voluntary movement are handled just below the level of consciousness. You just think “raise arm” and your arm goes up.

Learning to Walk Again

In jiu jitsu, we have to return to some of the same problems we had as toddlers when learning to walk. You have to once again actually start actively thinking about minute movements. You have to start thinking about where every part of your body is, and how to get from one point to another against a resisting opponent. Of course, if you have to think about it, it probably means you are going to move very awkwardly. After you solved a particular movement problem in your head many times, it starts slowly drifting below the surface of consciousnesses where it becomes more instinctual and less “cognitive”.

So, in the above example, the cat might put itself in that tricky tree situation a few times, and learn either not to go into that position any more or figure out a chain of movements that get it out of that situation in a safe and consistent way.

Practical Movement in Sport

The discussion Josh and I had that was particularly relevant was “arguing” about what sport trained you to be agile in the widest variety of practical movements. Gymnastics was the one we agreed on. I think that in jiu jitsu it can be easy to narrow your range of movement to just your particular “A game” and in so doing makes you less able to deal with tricky situations that your opponent might put you in by exploiting a moment’s error. Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way, if you open up your game (in terms of movement) when drilling and training.

MovNat and Ginastica Natural

I think MovNat is motivated in part by this goal of helping you train a wide range of practical movements that you might not always get to train when focused on a particular aspect of your jiu jitsu game. Of course, it has a few other philosophical underpinnings outside the scope of this post, like keeping the workout fun, interesting, and goal-oriented.

At one of Saulo Ribeiro’s seminars I attended, Saulo emphasized the effectiveness of dynamic movements outside the scope of your jiu jitsu game. His favorite approach was something called Ginastica Natural, but I think there’s probably a lot of different programs of that kind all governed by a focus on a wide range of efficient movement.

Marcelo Garcia on Training for Competition

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Marcelo Garcia put up a training discussion video on his site a few months ago, and I just came across it again on YouTube. He highlights the difference between going hard and going REALLY hard to the point where it essentially becomes a conditioning session:

I think that we (me and people I talk to or train with) often confuse the concept of “going 100%”. What does that really mean? You might think it means going as hard as you would in competition. But what does THAT mean? Do you really go all-out in competition, never resting, never pausing? In competition, you want to attack aggressively but you also want to not waste any energy and find safe spots to rest up for another burst of aggression. The ultimate goal in competition is to get a submission and score a bunch of points along the way. No part of that requires you in every case to push the pace to where your heart rate is at a constant 200 bpm.

But in training for competition… it may be beneficial to push the pace beyond what you would do in a tournament, to go to exhaustion in the first 2 minutes, hit the wall, and keep going. The things you’re working on are:

  1. Improve your mental ability to ignore the panic that comes with shortness of breath.
  2. Improve your ability to attack with good technique while exhausted.
  3. Ensure that your basics (e.g. elbow discipline, good base, good posture, grips) don’t break down when you’re exhausted.

110-percentThe intensity Marcelo goes at in the above video I’ve never seen him do in competition. It would be reckless and risky if he did. But in training it would help improve his conditioning. For many of us who don’t do 3-4 separate conditioning sessions a week, we have to incorporate the conditioning as part of the jiu jitsu training.

So, let’s call competition intensity as “going 100%”, and the type of non-stop intensity Marcelo shows as “going 110%”.

So how and when to train 110%…?

I think that depends on your personality, your gym, and your training partners. In the end it’s always up to you. Even if you do a “competition team training” session, there’s no one who will know that you weren’t going 110%. It’s up to you to make yourself hit the cardio “wall” and push beyond it.

Honestly, sometimes all it takes is one roll for me to hit the wall the first time. For example, I often roll with a blue belt, let’s call him Genghis Khan. He is very technical and can be very aggressive, especially when his guard is being passed. He is willing to take himself to his cardio limit and in so doing forces me to do the same.

It takes a lot of mental energy to “go 110%”. No coach can force you to take it to the limit (queue the music). When you come up against that feeling that you have to slow down, that’s when it’s up to you to not slow down. Forget the fact that there is still 40 minutes of training left. Forget the fact that not slowing down means you might get swept, passed, submitted. I try to think of it as a conditioning session and a mental training session, not a jiu jitsu match.

I personally prefer to throw in such training sessions whenever I’m mentally up for it. I find that if I had to stay up real late for work and so didn’t get much sleep that I can’t quite push myself in the right way while still staying positive and focused. If jiu jitsu is your life, then a better idea would be to organize regular 110% training sessions with higher ranks.  But again, no matter how many hard training sessions you organize, it’s always up to you to push yourself to the limit. The only person who’ll know that you coasted is you.

For me, the battle is first and foremost with my own weak-ass mind. Almost like a muscle, it requires training, and grows weaker if neglected.

Breaking News: Lloyd Irvin, Keenan Cornelius, Jordon Schultz

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breaking-news-lloyd-irvin-keenan-jordon-atosI heard a bunch of “breaking news” references on the mat over the last couple of days. I find it fascinating that our jiu jitsu community has grown big enough that the news of drama from 100′s to 1000′s miles away reaches everyone from white belt to black belt where it becomes a topic of conversation. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter have created online jiu jitsu celebrities, and not all of them are famous for just their jiu jitsu. Lloyd Irvin is an example.

The Lloyd Irvin off-the-mat soap opera has captured the attention of thousands of people, probably all of them grapplers… Lloyd Irvin’s sexual misconduct, Keenan leaving the team for Atos, Jordon coming along with him, etc.

The sexual misconduct charges are very serious and it’s important for anyone who did anything bad to get punished.

Instead of going on the forums and contributing to the senseless scream-fest, I’ll just do what most of the people I look up to are doing: focus on creating a positive and respectful environment for the people I train with, and make sure there’s no place for drama on the mat. It’s a sanctuary of sorts, and one that has changed my life for the better. All I can do is help pass it on in small ways every day.

The Strategy of Unceasing Aggression

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aggressionAs I gradually improve my jiu jitsu game, I notice my movement getting slower and more subtle. Understanding the tiny details and timing that make certain guard passes or sweeps work allows me to improve position without wasting energy. All that is a good and natural part of jiu jitsu growth, but it worries me in that I’m neglecting the thing at the core of any combative sport: aggression. I don’t mean aimless aggression, I mean keeping the kind of pace that allows me to stay one step ahead of my opponent (in competition) the whole match.

I’m distinctly aware of situations when I fail one attack and before continuing to the next I’ll take a little 1-2 second breather, not because I’m forced to, but because… well… there’s still a lot of time left on the clock and the guy I’m going against is pretty good and aggressive, and I surprised that the previous attack failed… and more excuses like that. That’s good in training, because training is about learning, but in competition it does nothing but gives my opponent the opportunity to start attacking as opposed to defending my attacks.

Anyway, aggression is not a simple switch you can just turn on. A lot of NCAA wrestling programs specialize in building aggression through intensive training (sparring and cardio) to basically give the wrestlers the confidence that they can push the pace the whole match and not crash in the process. It takes a lot of work to build that confidence. I think most people (including myself) are simply afraid to embrace this strategy. Unwilling to pay the price of going balls-to-wall. And so we point out that there are “smarter” ways to win. While that’s true, too often “smart” somehow begins to mean “passive”. It’s impossible to deny that in competition there are times when relentless aggression is necessary. Again, I don’t mean spazzing all over the place. I mean chaining together endless sequences of attacks without a pause in between until your opponent makes a mistake.

But as I said, it takes a lot of work to build that mentality, and that work takes a toll on your mind and body. Many of us love jiu jitsu, but have lives outside it. And a Dan Gable work out every day is just not something that a human being can manage without dedicating their whole mind to it. So most recreational competitors such as myself have to find a balance. In a way, it’s depressing to know that I’m not doing everything I would need to in order to win. At the same time, it’s a reminder that FOR ME winning gold at IBJJF events is not the most important thing. By the way, when I step on the mat at a tournament, I’m there to win, period. Put in an another way, I’m there to have fun, and to me winning is fun. Losing is not fun. I believe I have a chance at beating any purple belt out there today. And when I compete that’s what I go to do. But I have to be honest with myself about my preparation and only train as hard as the rest of my life affords but not less than that!

Marco Perazzo suggested to me a couple of months ago that I should be doing a little Muay Thai as part of my training because he’s seen it help a lot of jiu jitsu competitors step up their aggression a bit. I think that’s very true, and this advice has been on my mind for a while. I haven’t added it to my training yet. I don’t like starting stuff and then stopping. So I’m always very cautious about adding new things.

This whole post came after I read the following Patton quote that is an absurdly blunt example of the kind of unceasing aggression that I was talking about:

“I don’t want to get any messages saying, ‘I am holding my position.’ We are not holding a goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy’s balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!” – George S. Patton

The Regulars on the Mat

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homeless-manThis week is definitely rough for me in terms of work, as many weeks over the past year have been, so I draw much needed mental rest from the exercise aspect of jiu jitsu. But somehow the most grounding and peaceful element of training is just seeing and interacting with the regulars who are always there. From white belt to black belt, these are guys who follow their passion for this sport, and so I think the comfort I get is from the fact that we’re completely on the same page about this one thing.

We are the hobos reclining outside the same Seven Eleven for years and years.

There are not many of us “regulars”.

Each is in various stages of their jiu jitsu journey: everything from training hard for an up-coming competition to exploring the deep philosophical implications of the added leverage from curling your toes up on a counter to a counter to berimbolo.

I especially like seeing the lower rank regulars (the category I comfortably reside in). We are the foolish dreamers of the bunch. It’s easy to be passionate about something that you’ve only been doing a couple years. You eventually hit a wall. Some regulars seem to disappear off the face of the earth at that point, and others barrel on through. Reality inevitably sets in, and us dreamers have to deal with the disappointments of failed expectations. Any journey involves failure along the way. The test of a “regular” is their ability to deal with failure when they are forced to acknowledge it. Many white belts and blue belts that train every day (or twice a day) for months will disappear. I understand that struggle. That’s life. I understand the people that go. But I think I’ll stick around…