Taking a break

It's been a while since i posted, and that is mostly due to having taken a significant break from my traditional training schedule. Leading up to July I was rolling up to 4 times a week. Attending classes on Wednesday Morning, Wednesday Afternoon, (yes twice in a day) Thursday evenings, and Saturday mornings. This was pretty hard on my body, but I was liking it, and so i was content to keep getting after it every chance I got. Around mid July I started helping my buddy get ready for a tournament that is coming up at the end of this month. As such we have been attending private sessions with one of our most competitive coaches, and then meeting up mid-week to drill positions. Since this happened i have been training only during those sessions.

I'm not exactly sure why I slowed down so drastically. I mean, sure Saturdays have been busy, but that shouldn't stop me from getting to the school on the other days. Work has certainly played it's part. My old 2-a-day schedule on Wednesdays is just a fantasy now. No way I can escape for the class at noon with the load I have been pulling. Getting to class in Denver has been a traffic nightmare too. Excuses excuses I guess. I sure do have plenty.

I think I'm just looking to regroup, and get reinvigorated regarding my training. Twice a week isn't horrible or anything, but 3 classes a week used to be my minimum and I'd like to get back to that. I am thinking of switching up and going Ronin between schools attending more classes at Boulder, Arvada, since those schools are reasonably closer to the office than Denver. and South School on the weekends. It sucks, because I feel like I have relationships in Denver, but even that seems to be changing this past month. The coaches and professors I have grown accustomed to have been playing musical chairs with class times, so it is growing more difficult to get my schedule to match up with theirs.

Warrior Dash is this Sunday, and then next week is a new week. I plan to draw out a new training plan and get back to the mats at least 3 times per week even though each class may be at a different school. I'll blog how that goes.

What's your name again?

I've been training for a year and a half now, mostly at the same school location during that time, and I've seen a lot of people come and go. I try to remember peoples names. I'm bad at it, but I DO legitimately try. I am a pretty friendly guy in general, so that isn't unusual.

Since i have been training at Intermediate and above for some time now, most of the "new" faces i see have actually been around for several months attending Fundamentals classes prior to entering the Intermediate program themselves. When new faces show up I try to be welcoming, and help them out if they are just rolling live for the first time. I feel like it is important to make people feel comfortable, and I also find that when I'm a nice guy, then they tend to be nice back to me, and that is good for drilling, and training together.

I think BJJ class is actually a great place to make friends- as adults it is tricky to meet up with cool people you don't work with, and I have found training is a great social common ground.

I do tend to gravitate toward the people from my "class" meaning the folks that started right around the same time I started. There are several people I genuinely like from that group, whom I am friends with on Facebook, or have met up with off the mat. Others I just have a respectful acquaintanceship with on the mat, and it gets left at that until whenever.

i really believe you need to approach this sport with an open mind. I roll with all sorts of people- different races, educations, religions, professions, political affiliations, personal ethos, and socio-economic circumstances. I generally like everyone, so I feel pretty good about that.

What have you got on your feet?

I posted an opinion on The Tangled Triangle about Vibram Five Fingers shoes and a possible application to BJJ and mat sports as a more supportive alternative to being barefoot. The catch to that was that I had never worn a pair of VFFs on the mats, so i was kinda talking out of my ass. I decided it was only logical that I put my theory to the test since I have a few pairs of VFF shoes, and I am big on standing behind my opinion. I washed my VFF KSOs (to avoid bringing contaminants onto the mats) and then brought them along to a wrestling seminar being held at Easton's South School in Highlands Ranch CO. There were 2 reasons- 1. I wanted to test my theory, and 2. The mats at south school feel like sandpaper to me, and I knew my feet would get shredded otherwise. I came back with the following findings-
Conclusion 1- It was no big deal to the grappling coach that I wore VFFs on the mats. This was a relief to me.
Conclusion 2- I did not feel restricted in any way during the activities because of my footgear. These activities involved a lot of intensive drilling of movements like popping up from ref's position directly to the feet, pivots, shooting for take downs, sprawling, popping up from the sprawl, and getting back to ref's position after being flattened.
Conclusion 3- My feet took zero damage during the 3 hour seminar. My fellow students were not as fortunate- mostly the tops of toes were rubbed raw against the mats. My feet were covered and suffered no damage- also, the VFFs suffered no damage.

As far as support is concerned, I didn't really notice anything, but that could be considered a plus since I also didn't notice any difference in my performance- the shoes offered protection, but were not restrictive. I also didn't notice them giving me a traction advantage- the rubber soles on the bottoms of the KSOs look smooth when you glance at them, but to flex them reveals razor sipes- or tiny slits in the rubber which replicate the traction of a human foot brilliantly. Notice i used the word "replicate" I would not say "improved upon". It was basically the same as being barefoot.

As a result of this trial I am keeping the KSOs in my BJJ bag, and washing them with my Gi if I use them on the mats at South School. I want to keep them sanitary. I don't really feel the need for them on mats at Denver which have the traditional vinyl covers, but that rough stuff at the South School needs to be accounted for.

These guys make me feel clumsy...

I feel pretty disoriented in the black belt classes. I used to feel pretty confident in my game, whereas now I feel like I am second guessing all my movements, and it is costing me time which is leading to submissions. LOTS of submissions. The thing is, I don't think I'm the only one since the other newer blue belts seem to be struggling as well. I believe the difference is I'm not going to give up on showing up to the advanced classes. I'm going to keep on showing up, and practicing with these higher level guys. I'll catch up eventually.

I am humbled, but while the road ahead is more difficult the journey will surely be more interesting

So I am in Black Belt classes now, and it's an education for sure. I had a pretty good humbling on Monday night that has threatened my "this is definitely where i belong" theory. Let me put it like this- I'm still going to go, but damn Monday basically felt like the nightmares I was having before attending my first white belt introduction. The beatings come swiftly, they are merciless and basically I was left feeling like I never knew what the fuck I was doing in the first place. LoL. The up side is that after 3 more months of this I will probably be surviving again, and 6 months after that I'll be gaining some advantages. It's a crazy steep learning curve, but I gotta just keep on showing up, and keep on processing the lessons.

I now understand why so many new blue belts cling to the relative safety of the intermediate group. While I empathize I can't see myself doing the same. Fear is a killer, but there is nothing to fear. Pride is a bitch- but you gotta get over that if you want to make progress. My plans moving forward remain the same- to split time between intermediate and black belt. I'll begin this with the 3 class per week rotation ratio of 2/1. To begin I'll go 2 x Intermediate and 1 x Blackbelt, then I'll carry it over to 1 x intermediate and 2 x black belt, and then finally 3 x black belt. My intent is to make the full transition within the next 3 months.

We shall see how it goes.

Taking every possible lesson- Black Belt class, and a Saturday double Rolla-palooza Fundamentals, and Intermediate

Thursday of last week I stepped up to my first "real" Black Belt class. I attended one once before, but we had a substitute coach, and being honest it felt like a modified intermediate course. Thursdays Black Belt class was 1.5 hours long. 90 minutes. It felt different too. We "warmed up" rolling at 10% for about 10 min, just flowing from position to position, submission to escape- no "finishing" and not really even fighting- just trying to move through the repertoire of techniques. I rolled with a purple belt who was a very accommodating training partner with excellent input regarding technique. After the flow drills we worked an up-down-out drills for a while which gave me the chance to roll with pretty much everyone in the class. It was a large class due to all the new Blue Belts. I was glad to get to Roll a little with Professor Larry I think he came away from it feeling secure in the decision to promote me. I know he would have liked to have rolled with me a bit before hand, so I was glad when his response to me sweeping him was "GOOD!!!". I think it put ease to both of our minds.
the lesson of the week was attacking half guard, and we worked on position, and drilling for quite a while. Black Belt seems to be more about rolling though- and we did. I think of the 90 minutes about an hour was spent actually sparring. The sessions at the end were shining moments for me. After the sparring sessions I felt like I was where I belonged. I felt like I was competent enough to be there, and I felt like I could learn more in this environment.

Saturday morning we decided to pack up the whole fam and go to class. Shannon was going to do the Fundamentels class from 10am to 11am, and then I was going to do the Intermediate class from 11am to 12pm. my mother in law came along to watch Lila. all 4 of us piled into the truckster and headed down to the Denver school. When we got there I noticed one of my buddies had showed up for the Fundamentals class, so I decided to dress for that as well and just do a "double" for the day. The Fundamentals class was fun- they were working on escapes from half guard last week and we did a lot of drilling, and finished the hour with up-down-out grappling with the intermediate class I was due to attend next.

Intermediate began as normal- we did a review of the weeks lesson which I knew from last Tuesday was escapes from scarf hold. After a few minutes of drilling Prof. Junior called us in, paired us up and declared the day a "training day" meaning we would spar full speed from the knees for the remainder of class. I had some decent rolls. My first pairing was a 2 stripe white belt who was very lanky and flexible like I am. he got the tap with an americana in our first roll, then we set up again and I submitted him with an arm bar, set up again and I submitted him with a straight arm bar. speed kills, and I haz it.
My next partner was another blue belt- no stripes just like me. I had rolled with this guy on Thursday and knew he was vulnerable to arm bars. I submitted him 3 times in 5 minutes. Next I moved on to one of my favorite training partners. Jason is a good dude, has his head in the right place, is extremely strong and skilled in his BJJ. I determined to stay away from going to guard on this day as I know that this is my "safe place" but rolling with Jason I feel more comfortable trying to break out of that routine. I need to develop a more well rounded game, and this will include attacks from side control, escapes from mount, side control, escapes from the guard- all areas that need work, and this is a training partner who can definitely help me refine in those areas. I "lost" all the way through the 5 minutes, and that was cool because I feel like I got some idea of what needs to be worked on before I go to competition. I rounded out class with the 2 stripe I started with, and then off to the home front to reflect on what I had learned, and where I felt I needed to work to improve.

here is a list
Learned-
refining the fake-out. The art of showing one intent while actually setting up something else. I was doing well with this faking for a fan sweep and grabbing the arm bar.
The rolling choke I learned from John Boyle. I worked it a few times both Thursday and Saturday. I like it, and I think with more practice I'll get to use it as a regular part of my game.

Needs work-
Attacking without pulling guard. The guard game is strong. Time to break away from it and grow. I have an idea.
Chokes from the back. I'm climbing on too high- I need to remember to be low enough that my head is below the shoulder.
Strength- I know this is a finesse art, but putting on some muscle wouldn't hurt.

All told I attended 4 classes last week 2x Intermediate, 1x Black Belt, and 1x Fundamentals- so i traversed the full spectrum of Easton's BJJ offerings for the week. I feel pretty good about that!

My entry into Jiu-Jiu Julia's photo contest...