Tag Archives: blue belt

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.

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…

 

Sizes of IBJJF Tournaments: Guide to Choosing Your Next Tournament

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Having just competed at Worlds in a division of 126 guys, I started to look ahead at what and when the next “big” IBJJF tournament is. I looked at Boston, Chicago, etc, and quickly realized that they are an order of magnitude smaller than the Mundials. So I decided to measure the relative size of the major IBJJF tournaments I’m aware of by what size the blue belt middleweight division was in 2011 for that tournament. This is usually one of the biggest (and often the biggest) division of the tournament. So I figured that it would serve as a decent measuring stick.

When considering whether to do a tournament, I’ll often just look at the next one, and decide based on how I’m feeling. But after doing the little research I mentioned above, it’s clear that it’s smarter to plan ahead to make sure that the division is big enough to justify the costs of travel.

So here’s the results. Below are the major IBJJF tournaments and in parentheses is the number of people that competed in the blue belt middleweight division for that tournament.

International
Worlds (104)
Pans (82)
Europeans (57)
Brasileiros (47)

No-Gi
No-Gi Pans (49)
No-Gi Worlds (38)

Regional
New York (37)
American Nationals (19)
Miami (18)
Houston (18)
London (16)
Las Vegas (15)
Asian Open (14)
Dallas (13)
Chicago Winter (13)
Chicago Summer(11)
Montreal (11)
Phoenix (11)
Boston (2)

From the above “results”, I draw several conclusions:

  1. I will not be going to Boston this year, lol. Come on, Bostonians, get your s*** together!
  2. The regional tournaments I’m considering are Miami in the fall, New York in the spring, and maybe American Nationals (since it’s both gi and no-gi and is pretty well attended).
  3. Since I have friends in Chicago, and the regional tournaments there are of a good size, it’s worth it to make a trip there.
  4. The two major IBJJF no-gi tournaments, while young, are really holding their own in terms of attendance. Just goes to show that the label of “World Champion” is worth a lot to people no matter how you look at it.
  5. All these tournaments are growing by leaps and bounds. Just in 2012 most of these tournaments had an extra 20+% of competitors in this division. The future of BJJ tournaments looks pretty damn good.
  6. And the biggest conclusion of all… the biggest and toughest tournaments are the Pans and the Worlds. If you go anywhere, go to those.

So here is my new strategy for choosing jiu jitsu tournaments to attend:

  • Do as many as I want that are within 2-3 hours driving distance.
  • Travel far only for Pans and Worlds, unless there is a good reason.
  • Do the closest World Pro trial (usually one in New York, or worst-case, Montreal).

Three New Blue Belts

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Peter, Lee, and Dave got promoted to blue belt at Osagame yesterday. All three of them are good competitors, and all three are good people. Congrats!

There’s something about a promotion of a friend that makes me look back with a kind of melancholy pride. Their old belt is a reminder that time flies and that all those months and years of training, competing, or just hanging out on the mat are behind us.

On my way back home, I started thinking of all the times I watched Dave and the others competing, on the edge of my seat, yelling stupid random advice. I know I’m just a blue belt and I’m talking about other blue belts. What the hell do I know? But the experience is still real, and it is certainly exciting knowing that this is just the beginning! I look forward to moving through the ranks and watching the others do the same as Ray and the other instructors grow the club and the competition team.

On a side note, I gave Dave some advice today on a couple of techniques, and then felt like one of those annoying white belts or blue belts that are always correcting people on their technique. Clearly, 2 years of training is enough to make anyone an expert ;-)

I thought that dealing with that whole ego problem would get easier as I progress, but it’s actually getting harder. It makes me appreciate (what I imagine to be) the immense mental barriers that brown and black belts must overcome in order to learn new techniques in the gym and to test new strategies on the competition mat.

Hey, IBJJF, Why So Blue?

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I’m not sure if this has always been the case, but it certainly seems that the blue belt divisions at IBJJF tournaments are exploding in size.

The Pan Jiu Jitsu Championship is this week. My division (if I were competing) is smaller than usual with 77 people. The divisions below have 126 and 98 people, respectively.

These are not your “regular” blue belts either. If you competed at an IBJJF tournament, you know that the people that show up to these tournaments are often experienced competitors, many of whom really do have a legitimate shot at gold. So to medal in a division of that size with that level of opponents, you can’t make a single mistake. It’s all about focus, incredible cardio, and technique.

I’m pretty sure that my “A game” vs the “A game” of the top guys provides too much possibility for losing. The real way to win all those matches, every time, is by dictating the pace and position in the match so that I am the only one playing my A game and my opponent is scrambling to catch up.

Good luck to the 3000 people competing at Pans this week.

By the way, when I say “good luck”, I don’t mean “you’re going to need luck to win any of your matches”. It’s just a nice polite way of saying “best wishes”. If you want to come away with the gold, actual luck has to be taken out of the equation.

US Grappling Submission Only in Philadelphia

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Instead of fighting at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship in New York today, I’m writing a post about my last weekend’s experience at US Grappling‘s Submission Only in Philadelphia.

It’s very disappointing that a damn tooth infection is holding me back not only from competing, but from training, sleeping, and working. But alas, shit happens. I’m already focused on the upcoming many weekends of battles.

Below are my  four matches from the submission only event. I fought two divisions: blue belt gi under 175 lbs and the blule belt absolute. Both were 8-man brackets with I believe 5 people in the first and 7 in the second. I caught a bye in the first round for each.

A match at a US Grappling submission-only tournament has no time limits and must end in a submission. This format lends itself to a great experience no matter the outcome. I had all short matches, but I saw many 20+ minute matches, and overall everyone was happy (though exhausted).

Surprisingly, it was a huge relief to not to have think about points. It freed me to take risks in passing and improving the position. Also, it allowed me not to stall in dominant positions. I didn’t rush anything, relaxed, but always kept an eye out for submission (chokes, arm bars, etc) openings. Often, in regular, tournaments I won’t risk going for submissions when I’m up 2-0, 3-0, or 5-0, and so a lot of my matches against tougher opponents look like: takedown, pass, hold. I’m of course trying to mount and take the back, but not risking anything.

This tournament has taught me to relax even more, and not take the game so seriously. In order to learn (and win), I need to make myself more vulnerable and take a damn risk every once in a while.

Anyway, the four matches are below. I tried a new thing: I added voice-over commentary to the vids. Please let me know by voting in this poll whether you like or don’t like the addition of commentary for personal competition footage: 

One Year as a Blue Belt

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Coming up is the one year mark of my having the rank of blue belt in brazilian jiu jitsu. The year flew by, and feels kind of like the first shot of vodka when a good friend comes to visit and is down for some serious philosophical conversation. It’s a hell of a good beginning… Time to get to work.

My main goals for this year are:

  1. Compete and medal at No-Gi Pan Ams, Gi Pan Ams, and Gi Worlds.
  2. Compete 1-2 times a month in jiu jitsu and once a month in judo.

Someone said to me a couple months back that most people that quit jiu jitsu seem to quit as blue belts. There are a lot of reasons to quit training seriously: work, family, injuries. However, I think the real reason people quit is that they run up against the first major mental barrier where expectations are crushed. Where a passion for the sport is met with the reality that there is no shortcut to the top. Significant improvement (with accompanying competition results) at every level requires a lot of work, a bit of luck, and constant frustration / tension / discomfort. You have to constantly catch errors in your mindset, your technique, your intensity, and fix it, always trying to solve problems, evolve, and come back. And at the same time you have to believe in your training, and stick to it, for thousands of reps, hundreds of mat sessions, and (shudder) hundreds of bus rides.

I don’t know if any of that makes sense, but for example, I decided early on that I would relax as much as I possibly can, and not bring my overblown ego onto the mat. There was no “losing” in practice, and that as long as I do a technique correctly, it’s okay to have it shut down hundreds of times. I stick with it, believe in it, and drill the crap out of it until piece by piece it begins to click.

It’s been tough training hard and often, while at the same time focusing on the #1 priority: my research. I choose to sacrifice things like a social life, girls, etc for the most part.

There’s a couple of people that help me progress, that for some insane reason don’t mind seeing my sorry ass week after week, and I’m lucky as hell for that and am honored to known them.

One Year Anniversary

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I’m celebrating my 1 year anniversary training brazilian jiu jitsu. I’ve done a few classes before then, and even competed, somehow winning all my matches, armed only with a double leg and a guillotine, but it was in January 2010 that I started training seriously, attending classes regularly, and embracing the lifestyle.

I was fortunate to train under and with some of the best folks in Philadelphia. I’ll be forever grateful for their care and friendship.

First and foremost I’ve learned to control my ego, and from that followed improvement in my jiu jitsu game and life off the mat.

I’m only at the very beginning of what I sincerely believe will be a lifelong journey. I saw this quote from Jacare and thought it was appropriate for where I’m at as a blue belt:

“The blue belt is like the young cop, shooting every time he gets the chance… After many years, he will learn to choose his shot carefully, and have patience.”

Guard Passing Drill

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I listened to The Fightworks Podcast episode 227 with an interview of Marshal Carper, a blue belt in BJJ and the author of a new book “The Cauliflower Chronicles” about dropping everything and moving to Hawaii to train jiu jitsu as a white belt at BJ Penn’s Academy.

The Cauliflower Chronicles: A Grappler's Tale of Self-Discovery and Island LivingIt sounds like a cool book, not just because of the idea, but because of the writing. It seems that Carper tells a good story.

Anyway, one thing he said stuck in my mind. He described what a typical day at the academy was like and one thing he mentioned was that every single class (afternoon and night) involved about 20-30 minutes of guard passing training. Basically, you start in close guard and go until the guy on the bottom gets a sweep or the guy on top passes. This is just one of many types of positional training, but it was very interesting to me that instead of going for variety, they really emphasized this aspect of jiu jitsu in every single class. Perhaps such focus on a particular position (in this case, an extremely common position) for a prelonged period of time is very effective at elevating the skill of the club as a whole in that position. Everyone builds off of each other’s growing expertise in the position.

Obviously this is an extreme approach, but it also reminded me that I do very little positional training myself and that both Xande and Fredson when they visited emphasized the importance of this kind of training.