The Jiu Jitsu Blues

Short Survey on Vertigo and BJJ

2012-02-13T23:42:00.001-05:00

I'm conducting a short survey on grappling and vertigo. I have experienced a few bouts of vertigo in the past four or five years, and have both blogged about grappling with vertigo and read posts on sherdog about others who have. For this reason, I thought it might be worthwhile to conduct a short survey on grappling and vertigo. Of course, I'll share the results here once I've collected some data.

If you've experienced vertigo, I hope you'll take a few minutes to complete the survey.

Oh yeah, a short disclaimer: nothing in this survey is designed to be medical advice in any way (seriously). I'm just interested in finding out more about those who deal with vertigo and still manage to grapple.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Second Place at the Houston Open !

2012-02-12T14:44:00.001-05:00

While scheduled to compete on Sunday, I arrived in Houston on Saturday morning. This allowed me to settle into the hotel, go watch the blue belt divisions at the venue, get 45 good minutes of cardio at the hotel's gym, eat a healthy dinner, and get a good night's sleep.

For this tournament, I really focused on the mental side of the game throughout the week and weekend. When training in the gym against guys between 140 and 155 pounds, I tried to be really aggressive and go for submissions. I also stopped my nightly ritual of having a cocktail when getting home from training.

While on the plane, I did some visualization work of my A-game and me winning my matches. I watched the blue belt open division and continually asked myself what the smaller opponent should be doing. I took a pad to dinner and diagramed a flow chart of my various A-games (the diagram included options for the match not going according to plan). I wrote "AGGRESSION" on top of each arrow in the flow chart. Since I'm an insomniac, I took a sleeping pill at 9:30 and drifted off to sleep while visualizing my A-game.

Woke up after over 9 glorious hours of sleep and enjoyed breakfast at the hotel restaurant three hours before my division was to be called. Planning to arrive at the venue an hour before my division was scheduled, I actually said out loud "this morning is going exactly as planned" as I got into the car. That doomed me!

Five minutes later, I side swiped a pole in the parking lot, tore my driver side mirror off and dented the door of my rental car. Thankfully, I built an extra 15 minutes into my schedule to handle anything unexpected (like side-swiping a pole). I called my credit card company to notify them and file the claim (thank you Visa), and continued with my morning undisturbed.

Looking back on my pole side-swipe, I'm surprised how nonchalant I was. 15 years ago, I side swiped a pole and I was shaken and disturbed all day. This time, I felt like Kathy Bates' character in Fried Green Tomatoes. Guess "I'm older and have more insurance" now.

I walk into the the venue one hour before, change in the locker room, take a bio break, and walk out to the bleachers. I then plugged into my newly created eclectic competition mix on my mp3 player:

How Bad Do you Want It - Tim McGraw
Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones
Bollywood disco music - unknown
We Built this City - Starship
More Bollywood disco music - unknown
Who Am I - from Les Miserables
Own It - Black Eyed Peas
I Am What I am - Gloria Gaynor

While I was in the 141 - 154 weight division, I weighed in at 124. This is the heaviest I've ever weighed at a tournament, but I was feeling physically great. The other two guys in the division cut weight and both squeaked in with only ounces to spare.

I'll skip the details of the matches because I don't want to give up any details for future competitors. I played my A-game with the first guy and won my first match by submission. I failed to impose my game on the second guy and lost by submission in less than a minute. With only three guys in the division, I took second place.

A word of thanks to Traven: A good coach shows you technique and tries to motivate you to do your best, but a great coach pushes you to be the best you can be. I'm really lucky to have a great coach in Roberto Traven. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I really wanted to bail on this tournament because there were no purple belt Rooster or Light Feather competitors in the adult, masters, senior 1, or senior 2 divisions. Traven, however, told me that I had registered under my team name and that I was expected to compete - even if it meant giving up 30 pounds (25% of my body weight).

Quite honestly, I thought this was crazy, but I trusted his counsel. Submitting a guy who has 30 pounds on me in a tournament setting is definitely a huge boost to my confidence, and reinforces that my coach knows what he's doing.

Ice Cream

2012-02-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

IBJJF's Houston Open change day has ended, and I've now been moved up two weight divisions from rooster to pena (126.5 to 154). In the last couple tournaments, I've weighed in at 119 with my gi on, but I'd like to break at least 120 pounds this time. Time for some more ice cream!

Going Up in Weight for the Houston Open

2012-02-05T20:28:00.000-05:00

I'm a natural rooster weight (galo), walking around well below 120 pounds. Since there's not many purple belts who are my size, I tend to register for IBJJF tournaments because they seem to draw more galo competitors at the purple belt level.

After IBJJF closed registration and published the athlete's list for the Houston Open, I was the only purple belt competitor in any adult, masters, or senior division at the galo (under 126.5) or pluma (under 141) weight divisions. There were, however, purple belt competitors at the pena (under 154) division.

So I took the athlete's list to my coach and asked if I should bail on the tournament. He points to my name and my team name beside it saying "Your team name is on this paper, so you're competing. On change day you need to move up to pena."

At first, I was a bit incredulous, thinking "Doesn't Traven know I'll be giving up about 25% of my body weight?" After thinking about it for a couple days, I realized that it's nice to have a coach who believes I can overcome that kind of weight differential.

For me, the point of doing the Houston and Chicago Opens is to get some tournament tune-ups in before the Pans. Going against bigger, stronger guys in a tournament setting will definitely be good pre-Pan experience!

Since I'll be giving up about 30 pounds, I plan on using my old Philadelphia BJJ friend's strategy for going against bigger guys: go for a take down and stay on top.

Data Mining My BJJ Game

2012-02-01T00:19:00.000-05:00

About a week ago, I read about Roger Craig in the most recent issue of Esquire Magazine (you can read the article here).

Craig holds a PhD in bioinfamatics (whoknew such a field of study even existed). Anyway,he spent years studying Jeoprady – data mining over 250,000 clues to identifypatterns and categories. Through this,he learned where daily doubles were most likely hidden, as well as the topicsJeoprady most often asks questions about. He identified his weaknesses, as well as the weaknesses of thegame. And he studied to remove hisweaknesses and exploit the game’s weaknesses.

As a contestant, he also “bet” as much as he could on the finalround. In the end, he became the singlelargest winner in a single Jeoprady episode ($77,000 USD). And his totalwinnings was close to half a million dollars!

This made me realize that I should datamine my BJJ game, starting with what I tap to. For this reason, I have started a journal that merely tracks

each time Itap,
the technique I tap to,
the scenario that led to it,
the belt level of theperson who applied it, and
their weight.

Each night after class, I add this to a spreadsheet that, after a month(or three), will provide very valuable data about what I need to learn todefend against various weight and belt levels. This data will certainly become invaluable in improving my game.

Once I’ve identified a specific area asmy most significant weakness, I’ll take a private on it and work to improvethat area when training. I’ll continueto do this until my defense becomes awesome.

At some point, I’ll turn my focus awayfrom techniques that submit me and turn them to (a) positions I get stuck in or(b) techniques I fail to execute.

School Review: Cobra Kai (Las Vegas, NV)

2012-01-18T20:46:00.000-05:00

A recent weekend trip found us in Las Vegas, America’s SinCity and the home of many great BJJ and MMA gyms. Though no-gi and MMA are definitely morepopular in this region, almost every gym now has gi classes. Since we were staying on the Vegas Strip anddid not rent a car, I decided to check out Cobra Kai because of its close proximity (less than two miles) from the north end of the Strip.

Contact Info: 1525 W Oakey Blvd; Las Vegas, NV 89102; Phone: 702-516-5758; Email: simpsonmgo@yahoo.com

Head InstructorHistory:

Sim Go is a black belt under Mark Laimon– a world renowned no-gi grappler. Frommy conversation with him, it sounds like Sim has been training gi and no-gigrappling for about a dozen years, and went from white belt to black belt in aboutseven years. He’s been an active andsuccessful competitor in regional, national, and international tournaments insome of the smaller weight divisions, including the Pans, Worlds, Abu Dahbi,and Grapplers Quest. Competing in theLight Feather (under 141 pounds), he took third place in the 2008 IBJJF World No Gi Championship, second place in the 2006 Pans as a purple belt, a2007 ADCC Trials Champion, and a fourteen-time Grapplers Quest medalist. Hebrings the relatively unique perspective of a small competitor to being aninstructor, and I found he really understood my game as a smaller person.

Gym History:

The Gym was founded by Mark Laimon,and blue belt Sim followed Laimon to the new Cobra Kai. Sim was quicklyteaching classes at Cobra Kai and eventually became the gym owner. Like manyentrepreneurs, the owner is a first-generation American whose father alsostarted a business. The Cobra Kai Team isa multi-time GQ champion, and its members perform very well at other regional,national, and international tournaments.

Instruction:

Sim explained a couple sweeps fromhalf guard, and he has an excellent teaching style. He simply and concisely demonstrated thetechnique, while showing some of the finer points (including a couple points Ihadn’t considered). While training, heoffers coaching to the guys on the mat and even took time after class to showme an arm-bar escape (after seeing me get caught in one).

Gym atmosphere:

The gym has a very friendly,relaxed atmosphere, and Sim’s family is actively involved in running thegym. His wife staffs the front officeand his father helps out around the gym as well. Super nice family, and his dad was kindenough to offer me a ride back to my hotel after class.

The Team:

About 20% of gym members are on thecompetition team, with the remaining folks participating for recreational andfitness purposes. On the day I was at the gym, I had the opportunity to rollwith a few purple belts, a couple blues, and a white belt. From just one day’s training, it’s very clearthat the Competition Team is serious and formidable, and the recreational guysare committed to pushing their buddies on the competition team.

Facilities:

The gym, located in an office parka couple miles off the strip, is designed exclusively for gi and no-gi grappling,as well as striking sports. Unlike manyBJJ gyms that branch out to weights, kettle bells, fitness classes, and more inorder to remain viable, this gym is perfect for the person who wants to get mattime in without other distractions. Thefacility includes a foyer and front desk, locker room with plenty of shelves, alarge mat room, and two showers and a restroom built into one corner of the matroom. The showers were very clean, hadplenty of soap, and were cold-water only. While a cold water shower isn’t fun, they’re definitely quick!

A few things to knowif you go:

There’s a very reasonable $20 matfee, folks don’t line up by belt or bow in, and the warm up consists ofdrilling a couple techniques.

Getting There:

Cobra Kai is very easy to get to ifyou’re staying on the Vegas Strip or in the Fremont district. You can walk there in about half an hour,which is what I did. If you choose towalk, however, obey all walk signals. Isafely walked against a light and was pulled over (lights, no siren) by acop. He frisked me, ran myidentification, asked me when I was leaving Vegas, and noted that anyone wholooks “out of place” in this neighborhood will be stopped and frisked for anyreason.

You can also take the Deuce Bus tothe Wyoming stop, and walk about half a mile west to the gym (Wyoming turnsinto W. Oakey). As you’re walking west,the gym will be just past the train tracks. Once again, follow all walk signals.

If you’ve got a car, it’s an easy15 minute drive from the strip, though I’d suggest you take back roads to avoidheavy strip traffic.

Verdict:

Great gym. Fantastic training atmosphere. Great instruction. If I lived in Vegas, I’d train here. If I find myself back in Vegas, I’ll trainhere and schedule a private.

Registered for the IBJJF Houston Open

2012-01-12T22:46:00.000-05:00

Best Jiu Jitsu Compliment Ever

2012-01-10T23:26:00.000-05:00

I'm sparring in the fundamentals class, and I get tapped by a white belt. He sits up, pumps both hands in the air and says "YESSSSSS !" He's been training for about half a year, and I roll with him a few times a week. This was his first time tapping me.

I told him "Good job" but thought, "Wow! I've reached a point in my jiu jitsu journey where tapping me out is really an accomplishment for a white belt. That's kind of cool".

Of course, I'm gonna choke the sh*t out of him next time we roll.

Annual Quote Post and Annual Review

2012-01-02T10:30:00.000-05:00

It’s become my custom to post separately on my mostinformative quotes and an in-depth annual review. Since I plan to compete again this year, I’mleaving out the in-depth annual review. But here’s the abbreviated version:

In 2011, my jiu jitsu year included one important returnand many firsts:

Competition:

I returned to competition afterover three or four years out of the competition scene. While I got my butt kicked at competitions, Ilearned a great deal about my game, charged my training, and started to dealwith the emotions of competing.

Teaching:

For the first time ever, I taughtthe beginners class as a substitute (and once or twice as an emergencysubstitute). Teaching was incrediblybeneficial because it requires that I think through how I actually use mytechnique.

Reffing:

For the first time ever, I reffedat a tournament. This mentally taxingand emotionally humbling experience has helped me gain a new perspective oncompetitions.

Cauliflower Ear:

After eight years of doing BJJ, Igot cauliflower ear for the first time and started wearing head gear.

And these four factors emerge prominently in my mostnotable quotes from my 2011 blog posts:

Deciding to compete again hasreally charged my training

This blog has left enough of a trail that I'd rather not follow me into competition.

I was also surprised to see that I compete the way I train.

I'm still an incredibly slow learner when learning a new technique, and it often takes me months or even years to be able to really learn a technique.

Despite eating everything in sightlast night, I still woke up weighing only 114 pounds (that's 51 kilos for therest of the world).

I have decided that I need to focus more of my energy on themental side of the game and timing.

And so now the serious preparationbegins. Lots of double classes and cardio work between now and March23.

Smashapalooza. Nail v Hammer. Godzilla v The Mushroom Kingdom. Rome v Jerusalem. You getthe picture.

At that moment, I had this epiphany: "It's not about the size, it's about jiu jitsu".

Yes, he turns on the furnace in themiddle of summer.

Traven said, "Dolph, you have anew nickname: P90X"

Serving as a ref forjust one day will have a profound impact on how I train and how I compete.

Suck it up, buttercup!

A submission erases any bad call aref might make.

My first reaction wasthat the top portion of my ear resembled a reservoir tip on a condom.

Grand Marnier + Gin + Ice = ManyHappy Hours!

The same scenarios that are issuesfor me in the gym are also issues for me in competition.

One of the things Ilove about BJJ is the egalitarian nature of the sport.

I learnby trial, failure, try something else, failure, repeat, repeat, repeat.Success.

Emotionally,this tournament was a great experience for me because I had done a lot morephysical and mental prep work

I started thinking about my"A" game, and really focusing on how to impose it on others.

I was very pleased with how calm and composed I stayed, perhapsthe calmest I've ever been in a tournament.

But I should havetried to estimate the final minute of the match and tried to go for "allor nothing". Go all out on a sweep - with a possible payoffthat I might get six points for a sweep and mount, and the possible risk thathe might get three points for passing my guard.

Had a nice conversation with RyanHall after my match [against one of his purple belts], and it confirmed my initial impression that he's a goodguy.

I met the bloggerGeorgette! She was actually keeping score on my mat. Told her howmuch I enjoyed her blog - - - especially the recent donut blog! Super niceperson.

When I saw the guys in my division Ithought - "Wow! Those dudes are tiny. They're like miniatureadults". Then I though "Dang! I'm that smalltoo". I don't think of myself as that small, but I am.

My Pan Ams training is going well. I'm currently training atotal of 15 hours a week, which means a lot of double classes. My cardio isgoing through the roof, I can't keep weight on despite eating like a pig, andmy weaker game is significantly improved.

Each day, I've gotten seriously smashed by at least one ortwo of the higher belts, but my defense, resilience, and overall attitude hasgotten significantly better.

This is the year I turn 40, and Iunderstand my decision to compete this year is a futile attempt to stave offmiddle-age and the declining decades that will follow it. Competitionprep has been great transition to my mid-life crisis: I sleep more, trainmore, eat more, and work less.

If you want to trainlike your life depends on the outcome, I can live with that. If you want to use your extra 50 or 60 poundsto smash me when I'm on bottom, I can live with that. If you want to cross faceme or choke my jaw with all your might, I can live with that. But if I survive long enough for you to gasout and me to start getting dominant positions, don't tap when I'm on topsimply because you're "too wiped out to continue".

Providing six people paired off inthree groups appropriate help and support was both demanding and humbling.

I channeled Steve Maxwell's great line, "This isn'tthe YWCA knitting class, so let's get to work." And they did. It's not really my style to motivate in this manner, but it certainly seemed towork.

Tonight, I drilled technique and then trained with a guywho had more hair than Samson, Jesus, Fabio, and Rapunzel COMBINED.

At the end of a very long day, the guy who owns Lutador asked meif I'd like to ref again. I smiled and said, "If you need a crappyref, I'm your man!"

This is also the first time I've beenpaid to do anything related to jiu jitsu. I took my cash down to the liquorstore and bought a nice bottle of gin and a bottle of grand marnier.

Momentum in a match is important, butmomentum is less important as competition experience increases.

Seeing the innerworkings of a competition helps me better understand that a competition isn'tall about me - or any single competitor. In the ideal world, a competition ismerely an efficient mechanism of matching several hundred people up for a fairfight. While winning is keenly important to the competitor and her team,it's remarkably unimportant to everybody else. Understanding this helps to putthings into perspective.

The Engineer and WJ – who both wrestled in school and have moreexpensive headgear – compared my cheap headgear to a training bra.

Six Layer Excuse Cake With a Bullsh*t Frosting (or why I’m not doing the MiamiOpen).

Stay two steps ahead of your opponent. Know what they want to do and ensure they hit a dead end.

School Review: Tribe Jiu Jitsu (Rome, Italy)

2011-12-28T23:32:00.000-05:00

First a quick note: Ionly had the opportunity to train one evening at Tribe BJJ, and it happened tobe an evening when Carlson Gracie, Jr. was instructing. Obviously, I had a great time getting tolearn from one of the best BJJ practitioners in the history of the sport.

School History:
TribeBJJ is the first and oldest BJJ school in Italy. When founder Federico Tisi moved to Rome a decadeago, there were no BJJ schools anywhere in the city. For this reason, he started the school out ofa need to have training partners.

Head Instructor History:
Federico is the school’s head instructor and has medaled as a black belt in the European Pans. He holds a black belt under Carlson Gracie,Jr. and remains affiliated with him today. As is my custom, I emailed the school severalweeks before my trip, and Federico responded with a very warm and welcomingemail. Most gyms don’t even respond tothe email, so this sets him above the vast majority of school owners and headinstructors.

The Team:
The eveningI attended, there were perhaps 20 people on the mat. Three or four purple belts, four or so bluebelts, and the rest were white belts. Theyseemed like a cohesive group of guys who take training seriously. The training atmosphere is relaxed yetserious, with a strong sense of camaraderie.

Facilities:
Tribe islocated on the third floor of Fleming Fitness at Via Flamina, 611. The mat fee is 15 euro for drop in guests,and entitles the visitor access to the mat room on the third floor andlocker room on the ground floor. It isclear that the locker room and mat room are cleaned regularly. The mat room is approximately 20 feet wide by50 feet long, and the mats are in greatshape.

A few things to know if you go:
Students line up by belt before and afterclass to bow in, and the warm up seem to be done by rank. Classes are taught in Italian, but the headinstructor and many of the other students will provide you help inEnglish. The gym is located in a part oftown where many Romans live, but it’s not near the main areas touristsstay. For this reason, you should planon 90 minutes of travel time from city center to the gym if taking publictransit. I got there by taking thesubway to the Flaminio station, hopping on the #2 trolley to the end of its line, and then walking about 20 minutesnorth just past the city’s outer perimeter highway. You’ll want to take a map of Rome thatextends at least 2 kilometers outside the highway encircling Rome.

Verdict:
Awesomeschool. Incredible instructor withimpeccable lineage. Great team to trainwith. If I lived in Rome, I’d definitelyjoin this school.

Suck It Up, Buttercup !

2011-12-21T23:16:00.002-05:00

I moved down to Atlanta about two years ago as a newly-minted purple belt. Of course, I had to find a new bjj gym and chose Unit2 because of their great head instructor, excellent competition results, and proximity to both my new home and new job.

With a barely worn purple belt around my waist in a very competitive BJJ gym, a lot of guys - especially bigger blue belts - came gunning for me. As folks who've been reading this blog for the past two years may remember my posts about Chewbacca and others who I felt used their weight advantage to beat the crap out of me.

This has been an interesting year for me because my attitude has really changed about big guys using their weight. Over the past few months, I've come to realize that they should use their weight, just as I should use my speed and smaller frame to my advantage whenever possible.

Over the past couple months, I've had several really good training experiences with Chewbacca. He takes it up a notch, I take it up a notch, he takes it up a notch, and I take it up a notch. He still pisses me off when I train with him and taps me out a ton, but I've now use that emotion to work for sweeps, to keep top position, or just escape a submission. After a recent class, where we each kept amping up the pressure when paired up, I said to him, "you know, Chewbacca, I used to really hate training with you, now I look forward to it."

Similarly, I was training with a much larger (maybe 200 pound) purple belt who I don't get paired up with very often because of his size. After I tapped out at least three times in the first three minutes he says something like, "I feel bad because it isn't fair. You're so much smaller than me". I replied "No one hands out fairness at birth, so just train".

This is definitely an interesting change in my training attitude, and I think it will make me a fiercer competitor in the coming year. While I still tap out early and quickly to all joint locks, my training has become more intense and more productive.

Guess you could say my motto for the second half of this year is simply "Suck It Up, Buttercup".

Being Gay in the Jiu Jitsu World

2011-12-05T23:15:00.001-05:00

I'm out in pretty much all aspects of my life - including the BJJ world. While I don't introduce myself by saying "Hi, I'm gay and by the way my name is Dolph", I also don't hide the fact that I'm gay or have a same-gendered spouse.

In most areas of my life, I only need to come out once. Once at work, once with the family etc. But in the BJJ world, I seem to come out every three to six months. In fact, I'm always sort of surprised when I realize someone at my BJJ gym didn't know I was gay. I bring my spouse to social events that other gym members are at, and I usually introduce him as my partner/spouse/husband etc. I invite folks from the gym to our house for parties once or twice a year.

But BJJ gyms have a lot of turn-over, especially among white and blue belts. One day before or after class, one of them will ask about my wife. Tonight for example, a blue belt asked about which city my wife liked best from our recent trip. I responded, "He liked Florence the best." No one skipped a beat, and life went on.

In the BJJ world, no one really cares who you are as long as you're serious about training. Our sport attracts a great diversity of people - intellectuals and stereotypical jocks; doctors and drop outs; vegans and carnivores; potheads and straight-edge folks.

While our sport has a great diversity of folks, I also realize that not every gay person in our sport feels as comfortable being out. In fact, a fellow blogger recently referred a gay person who was interested in jiu jitsu but concerned about being accepted. So I'll close with my advice to him, which is also my advice to any gay person training or interested in training jiu jitsu:

Hey,

The UK BJJ blogger Can suggested that I reach out to you.

I'm a purple belt (currently training in Atlanta, used to train in Philly), who trains regularly, competes a couple times a year, and is out at my gym.

While I don't personally know any other guy who's out in the BJJ world, I've not really had any issues with being out. I do, however, know several out lesbians in the sport. When visiting a BJJ gym, most people aren't going to ask about your personal life (spouse, kids, etc), which gives you a chance to show you're serious about training and being a teammate before the opportunity to come out arises.

Having a partner has made being out a bit easier. He comes with me to social events, and I introduce him as my partner. When someone asks about my spouse, I talk about him casually the way a straight person would. And sometimes it can be funny. I was at a tournament and someone from an affiliated gym asked about my wife (I wear a wedding band), and I said, "My spouse is a dude".

I've never had any issues being out, but I've also trained in large cities (Atlanta and Philadelphia). If I were training in Huntsville, Alabama or Biloxi, MS I might feel differently.

My best recommendation would be to try introductory classes at several of the BJJ gyms in your area. Focus on the warm up and technique taught that day, and don't offer a lot of personal details (likely no one will ask). Once you've decided this sport is for you, have chosen a team / gym, and have shown that you're serious about BJJ, I seriously doubt anyone at your gym will have an issue with you being gay.

While it's doubtful that anyone will ask you about your personal life during those introductory classes, though they will ask you for an emergency contact as part of the liability waiver. I've traditionally put my spouse's name and phone number. Even when visiting schools in small towns (like Huntsville, Charlotte, Jackson, etc), it's never raised an eyebrow.

Trained with Carlson Gracie, Jr !

2011-12-04T15:25:00.001-05:00

Trained with Carlson Gracie Jr!

I like to train when traveling and made plans to train atTribe BJJ while in Rome. Normally, I write a school review of the places I train and will do so in a few days.

I seriously considered not going to Tribe because it was anearly two-hour trip using mass transit. This meant I’d be leaving Frank for about 6 hours and an entire evening,which didn’t seem entirely fair to him. Since I hadn’t trained at all in Florence, I finally decided that Iwanted to go train in Rome. So, I mademy apologies to Frank and headed off for the long trip to the gym.

Tribe BJJ is located inside another gym called FlemingFitness, and the guy at the front desk told me that today was a “specialmeeting” with a higher mat fee of 15 euros. Since I expected to pay 15 or 20 euros anyway, I figured a languagebarrier made him refer to a regular practice as a special meeting.

When I walked into the mat room – there was Carlson GracieJr! He was speaking in Italian, so I hadto follow along as best I could. He ledus through a warm-up that was very dynamic and acrobatic. He then showed us some really cool techniques– three throws after capturing an opponent’s arm, a new way to jump guard aftercapturing the arm, and a sweep after jumping guard. I’ll be trying the later two when I return toAtlanta.

When we got paired up to train, I was paired up with CarlosGracie Jr! It was the gentlest asswhooping I’ve ever had! At one point, hegot knee on belly, and effortlessly switched from side to side when I’d try tohip escape. Moving gracefully andinfrequently, he always stayed two steps ahead of me. He knew what I wanted to do before I did,allowing him to make very path forward a dead end.

That’s what I learned from training with him: stay two steps ahead of your opponent. Know what they want to do and ensure they hit adead end.

The flash on my camera didn't go off, so the picture is unfortunately very dark.

Product Review: Headgear

2011-10-22T20:05:00.001-04:00

A brush with cauliflower ear caused me to start wearing headgear regularly for the first time. I had already purchased headgear a few years ago when I had a cauliflower scare, but I only wore it for a couple practices because it was so uncomfortable.

For this reason, I decided to find the perfect headgear and review my headgear options. While a couple of online stores approached me last year about free products in return for reviews and links, I purchased each set of headgear to eliminate potential bias. For each set of headgear, I adjusted it according to the enclosed manufacturer specifications and wore each while training. The reviews are biased by the fact that my head is shaved and I tend to sweat a lot. Headgear on my head may be more likely to slip because of these factors.

I reviewed 3 types of headgear and rated them on the following factors:

Ease of fit: Are they easy or difficult to fit to my particular head
Stability: Once properly fitted and strapped on, do they stay in place or slip a lot?
Comfort: How comfortable are they to wear?
Ear protection: Can I feel my ear getting banged around inside the headgear?
Hearing: Can I hear my coach yelling across the mat or what others are saying in a normal conversation tone at a close distance?
Dorkiness: While no headgear is "cool", some are more dorky than others.

Below you will find my official "rating chart", followed by more detailed descriptions:

Mat Man #32, $19.98

I purchased this two-strap product because I thought the vinyl straps would be more comfortable against my shaved head. This product was relatively easy to size to me head: The head straps have plastic snaps for adjustment, but these snaps are evenly spaced. If your head size requires snapping in the middle of two positions, you're out of luck. The chin strap has a metal snap with the ability to tighten through a clasp system.

Once properly fitted, the Mat Man #32 was incredibly uncomfortable. I always knew that I had it on, and the earguards impeded my ability to hear. If my coach was on the mat's edge yelling something at me, it sounded like Charlie Brown's parents - "waulk, wonk, waulk, wonk, waulk".

Additionally, the ear cup is very small in the Mat Man #32, and my hurt ear kept hitting the side of the head gear. Even worse, the headgear slipped on my sweaty head more than once, causing the headgear to twist and hold my ear in an unnatural position.

Verdict: If the Mat Man #32 was the only headgear on the market, I would choose to have Shreck-like ears.

Cliff Keen Twister, $34.00
Ordering directly from www.cliffkeen.com, the Twister and its sister the Tornado were delivered to my door in less than a week. The Cliff Keen Twister is a two-strap model that primarily uses velcro adjustment straps, making it ultra-easy to adjust to my head. It also has a soft, cushion like chin piece that the chin strap threads through. While this makes the chin strap more comfortable and stood up during my week-long test drive, I don't know if the chin guard would be durable if used for months. Even without the chin guard, though, the chin strap is relatively comfortable and very durable.

The Twister is the most comfortable of the three headgears tested, and conversational-level voices are heard through the well-designed plastic sides. The ear cup can best described as durable and spacious, and the cup made plenty of room for my larger cauliflowear ear! While durable, the cup bend inward with direct pressure (such as a hand posting on your ear), and the cup touched my ear at least twice during the weeklong trial.

The Twister did not slip the way Mat Man 32 did, but Twister did require additional adjustment after its first use. The velcro straps allowed for easy adjustment to perfectly fit my head again.

Verdict: If you gotta wear headgear, the Twister is a good choice.

Cliff Keen Tornado, $34.00

Compared to its sister the Twister, the Cliff Keen Tornado was a real disappointment. Out of the package, this four-strap headgear was more difficult to adjust than its sister product (though still relatively easy). Like the Twister, the Tornado features velcro straps, which allow for greater adjustment flexibility than the Mat Man #32. The Tornado also has the cushion-like chin piece that likely won't hold up to several months of training, though the chin strap is comfortable without it.

Once on, however, the Tornado shifted significantly during training despite repeated re-adjustments. When not shifting what felt like half-an-inch, the Tornado was comfortable. But, the shifting was so frequent that it made the headgear very uncomfortable to wear. A training partner planted the heel of his hand directly on the plastic ear cup, and the headgear shifted to the point of pressing on my ear.

The Tornado sports Cliff Keen's patented ear-cup technology that allows sound to penetrate the headgear, so hearing even conversation-level voices wasn't a problem.

Verdict: For the same price, get the Twister because it will be easier to fit and be more stable during training.

Six Layer Excuse Cake With a Bullsh*t Frosting (or why I’m not doing the Miami Open).

2011-10-20T22:13:00.001-04:00

My originaltournament schedule for the year included doing the IBJJF Miami Open this Saturday,but I’m not doing it. In commemoration of not doing the tournament, I’ve baked a 6 layer excuse cake with a bullshit frosting:

Excuse #1:

I’m stilldraining my ear, and I don’t want to really screw up my ear in competition.

Excuse #2:

I haven’tbeen in competition training mode (see #1)

Excuse #3:

Work hasbeen killing me lately, and I’ve been only getting to train 3 times a week forthe past month (see #2)

Excuse #4:

I’ve beenworking six to seven days a week, so taking three days off to go to Miamidoesn’t seem to be in the cards (see #3)

Excuse #5: Up to theday before registration closed, there was only one person posted in the adultpurple belt division. He was a no-showat the Houston Open (where I was bracketed to compete against him), and Ithought it’d be a bummer to travel that far and not get to compete. (note: someone else signed up the last dayregistration was open)

Excuse #6:

A morerelaxing weekend would be nice.

Video: Draining My Ear

2011-10-10T21:26:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, Jeff suggested that (a) I go to the pharmacy and ask for insulin syringes and (b) it was not too late to drain my ear.

The next day, I had a conversation with my friendly grocery store pharmacist. After about five minutes of conversation (where I admitted not knowing what size I needed or the quantity in which syringes are sold), the pharmacist sold me a ten-pack of 30-gauge syringes saying, "It's obvious you don't know anything about needles". Of course, she was right.

Yesterday I drained my ear for the first time and got about 100 ml of fluid out of the ear. Tonight, I had a late city council meeting that prevented me from training, so I came home to drain my ear again. Tonight I got about 60 ml out of the ear.

And so, I share with you a video of me draining my ear (to be added to the hundreds of other BJJers who've done the same). A few caveats: I am not a medical professional, and nothing in this video is intended to provide medical advice. In fact, I would suggest that you NOT drain your ears yourself and that you ALWAYS seek professional medical assistance if you get cauliflower ear.

New Ear for my 40th Year

2011-10-05T20:20:00.002-04:00

I turned 40 this week! 40 years = 2,080 weeks = 14,560 days. However you slice or dice it, 40 years iswell over half an average life for my demographic group.

The week before mybirthday, I happened to brush my right ear while watching tv and it feltsquishy !#@? My initial reaction was“That’s weird. Let me go look at this inthe mirror”.

Staring at myself in themirror, I realized the top portion of my ear resembled a small waterballoon. Okay, that’s not true. My first reaction was that the top portion ofmy ear resembled a reservoir tip on a condom. I knew this was cauliflower ear, and I had a decision to make: drain it myself; have an ENT drain it; or let it become deformed. I have decent health insurance, so costwasn’t really an issue. But timewas.

This was an incredibly busyweek, and taking time to deal with something just cosmetic was not in theplan. I had a week full of workmeetings, a 40^th Birthday Party to finalize, and an out of townconference the day after the party.

For this reason, I stoppedby my local Walgreens Pharmacy to buy 3 needles because I read that sometimescauliflower ear requires multiple drainings. The Pharmacist wasn’t willing to sell me three needles without adoctor’s note. So you can picture thesetting, I went to Wallgreens on my way to the office and I was wearing a suitand tie with my briefcase in hand. Whilea “suit” could be an intravenous drug user, I had the added advantage of beingable to point to my ear and explain why I wanted them.

The pharmacist and I had abrief conversation about state law, and he agreed that state law did notexpressly prohibit him from selling me needles. He just didn’t want to set the precedent of selling needles without adoctor’s note.

Thankfully, I only wanted aneedle to drain my ear, but I left the pharmacy feeling that he was doing adisservice to IV drug users. An IDU who wants a clean needle should be ableto buy one - - - which would allow the addict to decrease the transmission riskof hepatitis or HIV. [End of Dolph’srant on harm reduction public policy]

I went to work, a meeting after work, and by the evening myear had started to harden. So, throughmy inaction, I chose option three: adeformed ear.

Thankfully, the ear doesn’tlook that bad, but it definitely feels like part of my transformation intomiddle age. Most guys my age areoverweight and headed toward a heart attack. By comparison, a deformed ear doesn’t seem so bad. If someone asks me about my ear in thefuture, I’ll likely say, “It’s hard to explain, but it happened when I turned40”.

I bought headgear a fewyears ago when I had a cauliflower ear scare, but never wore it much. Now I’ve pulled it out of the drawer and amwearing it whenever I train. Interestingly, I find myself using my head todrive a lot more now that I’m wearing headgear. Also of note, the Engineer and WJ – who both wrestled in school and havemore expensive headgear – compared my cheap headgear to a training bra. Who knows, maybe I will trade up to betterheadgear now that I’ll be wearing it a lot more.

Over the coming days, I’llpost something about my rockin’ 40^th Birthday party and a schoolreview of East Coast Fighter.

Brief Summary of Private with Traven

2011-09-25T11:10:00.000-04:00

The Engineer and I recently decided to arrange for four private sessions with Traven. With an up front cost of $400, we are each paying only $50 per session. The Engineer wanted to focus the first private on escaping side control.

At this point in my jiu jitsu journey, I've probably taken 15 – 20 privates. My approach to privates has changed somewhat as I've gotten better at jiu jitsu. I used to take privates to refine very specific techniques, but now I primarily focus on general concepts necessary from specific positions or techniques.

Traven offered a lot of good advice as part of this private, including:

A. It's always easier to keep an opponent from passing guard than it is to escape from side control when you're completely flattened out. Use the transition of your opponent passing to set up your next moves. A few principles that will help prevent your opponent from passing the guard include:

Connect your top elbow and your top knee to make a frame as your opponent tries to pass to side control. This is a change for me because I've traditionally connected my bottom elbow and knee (which allows me to shrimp on my side, but fails to create a frame that my opponent then must pass).
Make a frame with one hand while using the other to butt scoot:
Grip fight! Your opponent must get grips in order to pass, and work to break his grips. Note that a grip on the ankle is better than a grip on the knee, so fight the ankle grip with extra effort.
Bring your bottom foot inside opp's leg to get a butterfly half guard (your foot will be in, but your knee will be protruding out).
Use muscle! This is an appropriate time to use muscle as it requires that you hold your opponent off or lift your opponent.
Belly down and to your knees if possible (though watch out for the guilotine)

B. Traven then showed us a cool sweep from the butterfly half guard (step two above)

Sink your underhook
Your free hand will capture opp's free hand
Bottom leg shoots to the side, providing the leverage necessary to sweep opponent

Following this Traven showed another cool sweep, which we dubbed the “Arm Twist”

This can only be done when your opp whizzers your hand
When your bottom leg shoots out on the technique above, your free hand releases their free arm and shoots out with the leg
Your underhook hand needs to grab his whizzer wrist
This causes you to spin below your opponent and be outside his knees (with your back on his back)
Go to the back or pivot around to the head (w/ you sprawled on top)

One other key concept I gained from this private:

Imagine playing a game of chess and being able to make two moves for every move your opponent makes. That should be your goal in jiu jitsu. If you can stay a step ahead by progressing through the ladder of techniques faster, you will almost always have the upper hand.

What I Learned as a First Time Ref

2011-08-13T23:20:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to serve as a referee last Saturday, and I learned a tremendous amount about BJJ and competition by reffing.

While I've competed in a number of competitions during my jiu jitsu journey, being a ref forced me to concentrate on matches on a specific mat for most of the day. Despite this being a small tournament with a little over 200 competitors, a large portion of the breadth of jiu jitsu competed on my assigned mat that day: kids, teens, white belts, blue belts, and purple belts.

And I learned a lot from these competitors:

#1: Kids Make the Best Competitors: Those in the kids divisions showed up more relaxed than the adults, socialized with their potential competition while waiting for their division to be called, walked out on the mat and did their best, and walked off the mat happy whether they won or lost.

Quite honestly, I've never seen so many smiling faces among competitors whose hands were not raised. The vast majority of the kids who lost walked off the mat with a smile on their face, got a high five from their coach, and were already talking about the adventures the rest of the day would hold. (Based on the little I heard, a correlation apparently exists between not being upset and going to Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch).

#2: Momentum is Important in a Match: I was truly surprised at how many matches ended with a significant point spread. In most cases, the first person to get two points used this momentum to advance their position and garner more points. The majority of losing competitors seemed almost defeated once they were down by two points, and had negative momentum.

#3: Momentum is Less Important As Competition Experience Increases: It was clear which blue and purple belts had significant competition experience because they seemed less nervous before clapping hands. Those with more experience were also more likely to rally when down on points.

#4: A Submission Erases Any Bad Call a Ref Might Make: As a first time ref, I certainly wasn't perfect at at awarding advantage points or penalizing for stalling. No matter how good or bad I might have been as a ref in any particular match, getting a submission trumped my ability to ref. Or - as so many have said - "Don't leave the fight in the hands of the ref".

#5: Thinking of a Competition as a Mill Reduces a Competitor's Anxiety: Seeing the inner workings of a competition helps me better understand that a competition isn't all about me - or any single competitor. In the ideal world, a competition is merely an efficient mechanism of matching several hundred people up for a fair fight. While winning is keenly important to the competitor and her team, it's remarkably unimportant to everybody else. Understanding this helps to put things into perspective.

Confessions of a First Time Ref

2011-08-07T17:42:00.000-04:00

I agreed to serve as a referee at the Lutador Grappling Challenge this past weekend, and the experience could best be described as humbling, taxing, and educational. Serving as a ref for just one day will have have a profound impact on how I train and how I compete.

Like most people who do jiu jitsu and compete occasionally, I know the basics of the rules and point system. In the referee certification course I took the night before the tournament, I learned that applying the rules of jiu jitsu is not unlike applying the rules of law. There is a technical definition for a take down, a sweep, knee on belly, etc. And all aspects of that technical definition must be met before the ref should award points. Here's just one example:

If someone gets thrown down but lands on their butt instead of their back, the thrower must pin him to the ground in the same position for at least three seconds in order to get points.

In this one example, the ref has to vigilantly observe the take down and note whether or not the back hit the mat. If not, the ref must wait for thrower to hold him down on the mat for at least three seconds before awarding points.

Looking back, there are several calls I made that were incorrect. In some cases, I misapplied more obscure rules of jiu jitsu scoring, while in other cases I spent so much time debating in my head whether points should be awarded that it would be nearly impossible to award the points.

Thankfully, I don't think my instances of poor calls impacted the outcome of any matches because they were made during matches that ended in submission or with a significant point spread.

Overall, I think I did a good job on 80% of the matches; an acceptable job on 10% of the matches; and a poor job on 10% of the matches. Of course, the competitors I reffed for may feel differently ;-)

I also think I did a better job reffing the kids matches and the white belt matches because the stakes didn't seem as high. But it was really tough reffing a few of the blue belt and purple belt matches. These guys were fast, technical, and kept the pace of the match moving quickly.

One purple belt match stands out: I missed a sweep, and the competitor's coach starts screaming at me. For the next four minutes, he's hollering at me like an angry soccer mom. I got flustered and actually lost my ability to concentrate on the match (there is no instant replay). The more he screamed, the worse I was as a reff. The worse I was as a ref, the more he screamed. And I knew it. And he knew it. His guy lost on points. After the match I explained to the coach that I'm a first time ref but his guy probably would have lost on points with a more experienced ref, too.

He asked to speak with the Technical Director who encouraged him to ref at the next tournament instead of coaching. The TD then gave me some practical advice on how to deal with the screamers.

This was a very beneficial experience because it's given me significant insight into competition. I'm working on another blog post "What I Learned as a First Time Ref" that will probably be a more interesting read than this one.

At the end of a very long day, the guy who owns Lutador asked me if I'd like to ref again. I smiled and said, "If you need a crappy ref, I'm your man!" In truth, I think it was a beneficial experience for me, and I'd be up for doing it again (and will probably be a better ref the second time around).

This is also the first time I've been paid to do anything related to jiu jitsu. I took my cash down to the liquor store and bought a nice bottle of gin and a bottle of grand marnier.

Grand Marnier + Gin + Ice = Many Happy Hours!

Tournament Update

2011-08-04T00:04:00.000-04:00

When registering for the Lutador Grappling Challenge, I checked the box that I was willing to drop down to the adult division but I wasn't willing to go up in weight.

Unfortunately, this decision put me in a bracket of one:

While I'm bummed about not being able to compete this weekend, choosing to not go up in weight was definitely the right decision. It turns out that the next weight division in which there are competitors is under 154 lbs. Since I'm currently walking around about 117, I'd be giving up over 25% of my body. Thankfully, I understand that the tournament organizers will offer me a credit for a future tournament or a refund.

This tournament will, however, be my first time as a referee. So Friday night I will go to the referee's certification course, and try to learn everything I need to know about being a ref.

Quite honestly, I think I'll do a good job with awarding points appropriately, but I am nervous about my ability to award advantages competently. Thankfully, I'll be paired with a more experienced ref, and I'll only be a ref for white belt matches.

Samson Couldn't Have Done BJJ

2011-08-02T00:35:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I drilled technique and then trained with a guy who had more hair than Samson, Jesus, Fabio, and Rapunzel COMBINED.

In tonight's fundamentals class, Traven paired me up to work the Technique of the Day with a tall dude who had unbound hair going way down his back. Rapunzel cold have rappelled down the tower if she had that much damn hair.

Tangential aside: do you ever wonder why Rapunzel waited for someone to come along and climb up her hair and then be stuck in a tower with her? She could have simply tied her hair to an object heavier than herself, rappelled down the tower, and cut her hair when she got to the ground.

The ToD was side mount to knee on belly to baseball bat choke. When he starts with side mount, a couple feet of hair just fell right onto my face.

Rolling around on mats infested with ringworm and staph doesn't disturb me, but tonight I learned that two feet of hair on my face really pisses me off. I hastily brush his hair out of my face and say, "dude, you've got to do something with your hair". He apologizes and flips his hair to the other side of his shoulder.

Twenty seconds later - the two feet of hair is lying across my face again. "Dude, really, keep your hair out of my face," I said more emphatically. After that, he made a concerted effort to keep his hair out of my face.

When we were paired up to train, I just worked to stay on top and tried not to pull his hair when going for chokes.

I looked for Samson after class but was unable to find him. I was going to suggest that he ask some of Unit2's long-haired women for tips on tying his hair in a bun or something. Next time I see him, I'll take him aside and make my suggestion.

Book Review: Grapplers Guide to Sports Nutrition

2011-07-29T08:44:00.000-04:00

The Grappler's Guide to Sports Nutrition by John Berardi and Michael Fry is one of the best books on grappling-related nutrition. The book is so useful that I read it every couple of years as a reminder to watch how I eat.

This short book is packed with good information, but, at less than 100 pages, it's a pricey $30. I can remember buying big fat text books for that price when I was in college, so I always tried to buy used text books to save money. A quick search on Amazon resulted in no used copies of "Grapplers Guide", though that may change on a daily basis.

Anyway, the book offers a system for maximum calorie usage, maintaining a healthy weight, and even includes meal plans based on your weight. Unfortunately, the meal plans start at folks 140 pounds, so you've got to do some math if you're under 140 pounds.

Here are the "gems" I found in the book this time:

Gem #1: Don't think of eating as a "meal"; instead think of it as a "feeding". Meal implies more food than you need in one sitting. Instead, have a feeding every 2 - 3 hours.

Gem #2: Each feeding should include a complete protein and a couple vegetables

Gem #3: Carbs other than fruits and veges are only for post-workout

Gem #4: Prepare your feedings in advance (especially true for those of us who work 8+ hours a day).

Gem #5: Real food (proteins, vitamins, etc) is better than supplements

Gem #6: The following foods that I love are good for me: Salmon, eggs, plain yogurt, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, berries, oranges, beans, nuts, avocados, olive oil, green tea. He listed other foods, but these are my favorite (hey, this ain't Cliff Notes).

Gem #7: Watch what you eat, think about it, and write it down.

Gem #8: Want to gain weight? Eat more of these whole foods (lean protein with veges at every feeding) in order to gain lean muscle.

In terms of content, readability, usefulness, and ease of understanding, I'd give this text an A. With only about 3% of the book on those trying to gain weight, I felt a little short sheeted.

Racking Up Gym Wins

2011-07-16T23:18:00.000-04:00

Over the past month, The Engineer has engaged me in some interesting dialogue about "winning" and "losing" while training at the gym.

The dialogue started about a month ago when we were lined up on the wall to be paired up for rolling, and the conversation went something like this:

The Engineer: "That one blue belt is a monster. I always lose to him".
Me: "There is no win or lose when you're training at the gym. If you want to win, you have to go to a tournament"
The Engineer: "So when you tap someone at the gym, you don't feel like you beat them?"
Me: "Not really. Most people aren't using their A-game and aren't training with the same intensity they would compete with. In a lot of cases, they might even be working techniques they aren't that good at."
The Engineer: "When I tap someone, I feel like I've won"
Me: "If I tap and learn something, then I've won. I've won knowledge even if I tapped to a submission"

The Engineer is not so keen on competition, so I've been trying to use his desire to "win" as an encouragement to compete. For this reason, I was talking to him about an upcoming tournament, and one of my best training partners happened to walk up just as I was saying, "If you want to win, you should compete in the August tournament." The Engineer asks for this other guy's view on whether submitting a training partner in the gym was a win.

The guy grins and says, "Dolph taps me. I tap him. I don't keep count of it, and he probably doesn't either. So no, I don't think I've won if if I submit someone". Validation!

This sense of "gym wins" is pretty common in BJJ, and I had related conversation with a white belt a few weeks ago. After one class he came up to me and asked "Would it be appropriate for me to ask how to pass your guard". My response was simple: I'd love to show you the techniques most effective for passing my guard. Because we'll both get more out of training if you are developing that skill.

This white belt later told me that he was having trouble sweeping or getting the back from half guard, and I suggested that he "put himself there" as much as possible. I had a fairly simple pitch: You won't do well at first because this is one of your weakest positions right now. But as you work to apply the technique you know, you'll start to get the timing down, and you will get much better at this position.

When I roll with him, he's been working a guard pass and starting from his half guard a lot. And he's making significant improvement in both.

My New Nickname

2011-06-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

A couple months ago, Ranger Rick tried to popularize a nickname for me: "the punisher". For better or worse, that nickname never really caught on (I happen to think for better).

On Saturday, however, Traven said, "Dolph, you have a new nickname: P90X". Today he used Dolph and P90X interchangeably throughout the warm up to confirm that this is indeed my new name.

I'm thankful it's a complimentary nickname, and as someone who remembers the 1970's it's kind of cool to have a nickname that sounds like a it could have been created in the same factory as R2D2 or C-3PO.

Warmed by the Gates of Hell

2011-06-25T23:32:00.000-04:00

Atlanta has been hot and humid for the past week, with temperatures getting into the mid 90's most days and lots of thunder storms in the afternoon.

To say the least, the mat room at Unit2 has felt like a swamp much of the week. To combat this weather, I've been drinking tons of water before and during practice, stopped wearing a rash guard, and started changing into a fresh (dry) gi top between the fundamentals and advanced classes. While this has made a huge difference, I felt on the verge of heat stroke and dehydration toward the end of one class this week.

I was looking forward to (hopefully) cooler temperatures in the Saturday class because it starts at 11:30 AM. I got into the mat room about 11:20 and started introducing myself to the guys who traveled from a TRT affiliate in Spartanburg, S.C. As I'm doing this, Traven comes in and raises the thermostat setting to start the furnace.

Yes, he turns on the furnace in the middle of summer.

He asks me to lead the warm up, as the mat room temperature climbs into the mid 70's, and well into the 80's by the end of practice. After a ten minute warm up and about twenty minutes of drilling technique, we embarked on about 75 minutes of training. Toward the end, the Engineer said it best: "We were warmed by the gates of hell today".

Despite the heat, training is going really well. I'm focusing on a couple of different areas of my game and seeing significant improvement in them.

I was also in Jackson, Mississippi last week and had the opportunity to train at Gracie South in Flowood. I was one of only two people to show up for the Saturday morning class (in a nice, air-conditioned mat room), so essentially got a semi-private lesson from a really good black belt!

News Flash: It's not about size. It's about Jiu Jitsu!

2011-06-14T23:28:00.000-04:00

It's only Tuesday, and this has been a brutal week with highs in the 90's and fans that are often note turned on until the second class. Last night, I had a moment where I realized I was about to faint. My sweat soaked gi had become a thermal coat trapping my body heat. I drank at least four liters of water over the course of 2.5 hours, and still could barely make it through both classes.

So tonight, I decided to train without a rash guard and bring an additional fresh and dry gi top for the second class. The first fundamentals class had a few folks close to my size, but the second (advanced) class was land of the giants. Smashapalooza. Nail v Hammer. Godzilla v The Mushroom Kingdom. Rome v Jerusalem. You get the picture.

My last roll of the night was against this gigantanormous blue belt who's well over 200 pounds. He's not tall, but he's just huge. So we clap hands, he tackles me, controls an arm across my neck, takes my back and just starts cranking at my neck - all in about 45 seconds. As soon as we clap hands, he tackles me and gets the cross arm once again.

At that moment, I had this epiphany: "It's not about the size, it's about jiu jitsu". Before I knew it, I was moving my cross arm out of the way, getting an underhook, and just pivoting myself to his back.

It's almost embarrassing that it's taken almost 8 years of training to truly realize that it's about technique not size. I'm an incredibly slow learner.

Managing Great Expectations

2011-06-02T22:10:00.000-04:00

I taught class again tonight, and it went significantly better because I decided to channel my first BJJ coach, Steve Maxwell. I set and managed expectations much better tonight.

The warm up was challenging for a white belt class that included 15 people, and I set a fairly high standard as I did it alongside the class. At one point near the end of the warm up, we were doing mountain climbers for about 30 seconds. A couple people stopped, and I announced that we were starting back at zero seconds because someone stopped. Everybody kept going all 30 seconds.

I followed my lesson plan, which included the sweep from Tuesday. I announced that each person should pair off and drill this with a partner for a total of eight minutes. I explained that each person should drill it for four minutes and that I would tell them when to switch. Every body paired off and started drilling the sweep. I walked around for eight minutes and helped each group.

I brought them back and showed them the transition to the back that becomes available when the opponent defends this sweep. While I was walking around helping folks, one pair were sitting and chatting. I asked if they stopped drilling because they had specific questions. One of them said, "No. We got this technique now. We're good." I simply said, "In my own life, I've found that drilling makes less shitty. So it may be worthwhile to keep drilling."

Later when it came time to train, a couple pairings were sitting around chatting instead of rolling. I channeled Steve Maxwell's great line, "This isn't the YWCA knitting class, so let's get to work." And they did.

It's not really my style to motivate in this manner, but it certainly seemed to work.

A few of the white belts are having a really difficult time on the mat. One is small (about 140 pounds) and the other two are large (about 190 pounds). As class was ending, I told them that - if they wanted to stick around - I'd be happy to work with them individually on any issues they were having.

After class, I spent about 20 minutes with each one (for a total of about 60 minutes). Not surprisingly, I learned an immense amount working with them individually. With two of them, I spent a great deal of time talking about how they could use their weight more effectively.

The other guy was having a difficult time figuring out what to do after clapping hands. With him, I offered to play "Jiu Jitsu chess". Much like chess, we would each get a "turn" to make a grip or take a step, then we had to wait for the other person to make their next move. One step at a time, we worked through various scenarios of what can happen after you clap hands. This was the first time I'd ever done this, and it was incredibly helpful for me.

And so tonight concludes my substitute teaching. I hope to have the opportunity to do this again, and I'm sure my teaching skills will continue to improve if I do.

A Humbling Experience

2011-05-31T22:40:00.001-04:00

As I left the office to make my short two-block trek to Unit2, I started to get nervous.

I got there early and was the first person on the mat. By the time class was supposed to start, there were three others, and we started the warm up. During the warm up, five other people walked onto the mat.

Two of the eight were first-timers trying jiu jitsu. Thankfully, Shahrukh was present and I asked him to work with the two new guys.

Over the weekend, I changed my lesson plan to one of my bread-and-butter techniques: Two-on-one pendulum sweep from the closed guard today, and two-on-one back transition for Thursday.

I was actually pleased with how I showed the technique, and I used the Socratic method for one final review before drilling the technique. The six guys paired off and started two drill, and there were three very different pairs.

Pair 1: Picked up the concept quickly and needed very little help in understanding the core concepts.

Pair 2: One of the guys in this pair is not the most coordinated white belt, but he's always willing to keep trying and keeps coming back. Despite his 190 pound frame, he seems a lot like me when I was a white belt. The other one picks up the big-steps of a technique well but fails to notice the little details. When I walk over to see how they're doing, he's showing the 190 pounder a scissor sweep.

Me: I think you've got this sweep wrong." and start to explain how the sweep should be done.

Big picture guy: "Yeah, I was showing him something else because he couldn't lift his leg right for the pendulum sweep".

Me: Well, that's not the sweep we're working today. The trick to learning the pendulum sweep is to keep drilling it.

Big picture guy: I think the sweep would be easier if I added a scissor

Me: I get this sweep all the time exactly as I've shown it to you. Drill it the way I've shown it, and I'll watch and help you both get it down correctly.

Pair 3: Got the basics down but asked a question about the set up. It was an excellent question that others might have, so I asked everyone to circle up and answered their question.

My plan was for us to drill this same sweep for twenty minutes. It may seem like a long time, but I really believe in drilling a technique and learning it. Pair 1 wanted to stop after about ten minutes, and I told them to continue. Pair 2 wanted to stop after drilling it correctly for only three or four minutes, and I told 190 pounder "drill it for five more minutes, and you'll get a lot better at this sweep". Pair 3 just drilled it until told to stop - they get the star for the day.

On Thursday, I will do a better job of communicating my expectations regarding how long to drill the technique.

Providing six people paired off in three groups appropriate help and support was both demanding and humbling. With the exception of the first pairing, I could have spent all twenty minutes helping just one of the pairings better understand the concepts. I'll get better at it if I get the opportunity to teach some more, but teaching is definitely an art form unto itself.

When it came time to train, we just did a round-robin with the six white belts. Five rounds of 25 minutes each, and I think they were pretty much done for the evening. Just before the last five-minute round, I briefly lost control of the class. Folks were tired and really dawdling about clapping hands and getting started. That was frustrating for me, but I also think 25 continuous minutes of rolling is difficult for a lot of white belts.

Overall, though, a good experience. I look forward to teaching again on Thursday and maybe getting to fill in again in the future.

How do you make a jiu jitsu lesson plan?

2011-05-26T21:23:00.000-04:00

Traven asked me to be the substitute teacher for two of the fundamentals classes next week. I'm sure asking me to substitute teach was a process of elimination that went something like this:
Elimination Round One: All of our best purple, brown, and black belts are going to the Worlds
Elimination Round Two: The remaining upper belts don't get to Unit2 in time for fundamentals class
Elimination Round Three: I'm left!

I've never taught anything that involves physical movement in my life. Now, I've done a lot of public speaking in my career, and I've presented at a ton of conferences. But this is something entirely different.

While I obviously know the basic structure of a class (warm up ---> technique drill ---> training), I am feeling the need to create a lesson plan for each of the classes. So, here's my draft lesson plan. Critiques are appreciated.

BJJ Fundamentals Class Lesson Plan

Teaching Objective:

To teach proper triangle technique, with a significant emphasis on the knee tap set up and proper techniques for finishing the triangle.

Key points you want all students to remember:

After locking in the triangle, shift your hips, shoulder, and head so that you are perpendicular
Sliding a hand under your opp's free arm and over to your knee is helpful for the finish
Don't drop your hips at any point

Assumed Student Knowledge Base:

Assumes every student has been exposed to triangle technique through prior lessons but lacks mastery of triangle set up and execution. If a student has never been exposed to the triangle set up, I'll ask a blue belt to take them aside and help them learn the basic “one arm in, one arm out” set up.

Class Structure

Warm up: ten minutes of general warm up with technique-specific warm up to include shoulder stand with air triangles

Technique Instruction

Demonstrate grips and knee/shin placement for the set up, followed by jumping the triangle with proper leg placement. Folks pair up and drill this for five minutes each

Demonstrate correct torso, hips, shoulders, head, and arm positioning for completing the triangle. Folks drill this for five minutes each

Training:

Ideally pair up people in weight- appropriate groups of four. Train round robin within the group for six minutes (total of three training sessions)

Warm Ups: A Counter Point

2011-05-10T16:47:00.000-04:00

My friend and former Maxercise Teammate Andy offered an interesting counterpoint to my blog post entitled Should You Skip the Warm Up?. I'm grateful that Andy took the time to write a counterpoint to my perspective, and I'm sharing it with you below.

Hey Dolph. I love your blog, but I couldn't disagree with you more on this subject.

The first thing that you need to do is distinguish between warm-ups and physical condition. Warm-ups are great, but they should be just that -- something to just get your body warmed up. I've been to way too many classes at way too many schools, where the instructor is trying to run some physical conditioning class. The bottom line is I signed up to learn Brazilian jiu jitsu, not to attend some type of physical conditioning class. If I want to get into better physical condition, outside of what rolling will do for me, then I can go do that on my own time. I don't need to be treated like some child, and have that forced on me.

Good warm-ups should be BJJ related such as arm bar drills, passing the guard drills, etc. They should be done to get your body moving, but not to exhaustion. Physical conditioning is unrelated to BJJ with exercises such as running, push-ups, somersaults, etc. These exercises you can do from now till the end of time, and they will have close to zero improvement on your jiu jitsu game. Lets look at some of your reasoning.

1: warm-ups contribute to peak physical condition - you feel that in order to compete in BJJ you need to be in peak physical condition. That may be true, but usually 90% of your school is not competing. Most people train for the sheer enjoyment of it, physical activity of it, self defense, or many other personal reasons. They're not looking to become some type of aerobic specimen. Although I can only run a very short distance, I can roll with you for 45 minutes easily due to my experience and ability to relax while training. I've seen plenty of personal trainers in peak physical shape start taking beginners classes, and exhaust themselves in under a minute while rolling.

2: warm-ups help correct deficiencies in mobility, coordination, and physical skills -- although good BJ J drills should help with mobility and coordination when it comes to jiu jitsu specific movements, how does running with your knees or ankles high, push-ups, planks, and other physical conditioning exercises really help you with your jiu jitsu. Yeah, I can now do good backward rolls, but I've rarely ever seen anyone use a backward roll (inverted guard is different) in any BJJ competition and never in any MMA match. When people fall to their back, they are taught to protect themselves with their legs, not do a backward roll. So why are we doing these gymnastics?

3: warm-ups are an opportunity to demonstrate that you're serious and committed to BJJ -- I don't always make its warm-ups, I don't compete, and I've only taken two privates in my life. Does that make me not committed? For the past decade I've been training 3 to 4 times a week, drilling moves, helping out other students, paying my tuition, and helping wash down the mats after class. What more do I need to do to show my commitment? If you're at the classes then you are committed, unless your mom is making you go.

4: warm-ups build a sense of camaraderie -- if warm-ups never existed, you would still have just as much camaraderie at your school. Training and rolling together, along with just hanging out at the end of class will build a tight group of students without ever having to do one single warm-up. This shouldn’t be some type of fraternity pledge class hazing to bring you closer together.

5: warm-ups can minimize injuries -- there studies today that show that warm-ups have absolutely no correlation with injuries. Most BJJ injuries but I've seen are ACL's, cranked necks, dislocated fingers and toes, or getting something cranked way past the point that it should be by not tapping quick enough. Physical conditioning is not going to stop those injuries from happening. The few times that I've been hurt all occurred on days with extensive warm-ups.

6: warm-ups get you in the right frame of mind to learn technique -- the jiu jitsu is what gets the clutter out of my mind, and helps me forget about work and other life related issues. I don't need to run around the gym to get into that frame of mind, the jujitsu is all I need to unclutter my brain. That's why I'm there!

For the record, if I miss warm-ups it's due to the fact that I have to work late. It's not so that I can be less tired when it's time to train and have an advantage over someone else. That's just stupid. Anyone who does that is trying to be the toughest guy in the gym, and usually doesn't last very long. They usually disappear quickly. Also I've heard plenty of instructors say, “when you're tired you are forced to use technique.” The problem with this is that I've been to some classes where the instructor exhausts you before training with his warm-ups, and at that point I just lay there and defend, because I'm too tired to attempt any technique. When you're exhausted, it usually leads to sloppy technique or no technique at all. This accomplishes nothing in the learning process.

Finally, there are schools that have separate classes for their competition teams with a focus heavily on physical condition. That's the proper place for physical conditioning -- with the competition team, not with the 90% of students that are there for recreation only. Back in the early days, they didn't have warm-ups at the beginning of class. Places like the Torrance Academy, Renzo's Academy, and Maxercise would just start class with techniques. To this day you can go to Brazil, and schools like De La Riva’s don't do any warm-ups either. All of these schools do extremely well with the caliber of jiu jitsu players that they produce.

Sorry to rant on for so long, but your blog entry struck a chord with me. My bottom line is that some BJJ drills to get a sweat going are a great way to start off class and improve your jiu jitsu. But exhaustive physical conditioning exercises serve no purpose to help my jujitsu game. I signed up for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, not an LA Fitness aerobics class!

The Lyrics In Your Head

2011-05-04T23:29:00.002-04:00

Does music play in your head while you're rolling?

I've never been someone who's heard songs in my head while training, but it's started happening in the past few weeks. It tends to be a few verses from just one song for a whole day of training, but the next day it's a few verses from a completely different song.

In the past week, I've had the following songs play in my head:

1. Sympathy For the Devil by the Rolling Stones
2. Who Am I? from Les Miserables
3. Reunion by the Indigo Girls
4. I Am Ireland by Wild Colonial Boys

It's nice to have a soundtrack in my head while training.

Oh yeah, finally took my post Pan Ams private with Traven tonight, and I already noticed a real difference it made while training tonight.

Should you skip the warm up?

2011-05-01T14:23:00.000-04:00

Have you ever realized that you're running late for jiu jitsu and thought, "Oh well, I'll only miss the warm up" or perhaps "Great! Now I'll miss the warm up"? If you have, then this post is for you.

There's an interesting debate about skipping warmups over on the sherdog forum. The thread begins with a video of Jason Scully berating folks who just show up late for class and skip the warm up. Before the thread devolved into tangentially related arguments, several folks justified being late for the warm up with variations on the following arguments:
1. I pay for this service, so I should decide whether to come in time for the warm up
2. I want to take jiu jitsu classes, not physical conditioning classes
3. I'm in such awesome shape that I don't need warm ups

Interestingly, I've always been a fan of warmups that are both sport specific and physically challenging. And so, like so many other topics, I've decided to write a list of the reasons to not skip warmups.

#1: Warm ups contribute to peak physical conditioning
In order to compete in BJJ - or help your training partners prepare to compete - you need to be in peak physical condition. Both your cardiovascular and muscle endurance need to enable you to train appropriately for an extended period of time (30 - 45 minutes).

#2: Warm ups help correct deficiencies in mobility, coordination, and physical skills
Regardless of athletic experience or ability, everyone comes to BJJ with deficiencies in mobility, coordination, or physical skills. Good warmups are designed to drill the physical skills and coordination necessary to learn and execute technique. When I started BJJ 8 years ago, for example, I couldn't do a backward roll with ease. If I hadn't done thousands of backward rolls in my first few years, a significant number of BJJ would be off limits to me today.

#3: Warm ups are an opportunity to demonstrate that you are serious and committed to BJJ
Showing up early and actively participating in the warm up indicates to your instructors and your teammates that you are serious about learning and training BJJ. While this may be painful for some to accept, all gym "customers" are not treated equally. For some the guy running the class is just an instructor, while for others he is a coach who provides additional attention to some students. The more serious students identify themselves by showing up for warm ups, coming to multiple classes each week, competing, and taking privates.

#4: Warm ups build a sense of camaraderie
Groups coalesce as a result of challenging experiences, and the warm up is an excellent opportunity to participate in a team-building experience. In jiu jitsu, we compete individually but train as a team.

#5: Warm ups can minimize injuries
Warmups start off gentle (jogging, skipping, etc) and move toward more challenging sport specific (sprawls, shrimps, etc) or cardio-related exercises (mountain climbers, sprints, etc). This progression is designed to stretch your muscles, tendons and ligaments in order to minimize the possibility of injuries.

#6: Warm ups get you in the right frame of mind to learn technique
I may show up at my gym thinking about a work issue, an argument I've had recently, or a task I need to complete. But the warm up sweeps all of this "clutter" out of my brain so that I can focus on learning and drilling technique.

Pet Peeve #24

2011-04-25T22:57:00.000-04:00

If you want to train like your life depends on the outcome, I can live with that.

If you want to use your extra 50 or 60 pounds to smash me when I'm on bottom, I can live with that.

If you want to cross face me or choke my jaw with all your might, I can live with that.

But if I survive long enough for you to gas out and me to start getting dominant positions, don't tap when I'm on top simply because you're "too wiped out to continue".

Working from Weak Positions

2011-04-20T23:20:00.000-04:00

At the Pan Ams, my opponent did a stellar job of exploiting my weaknesses, which was an inability to escape from a very specific position. For this reason, I returned from the Pan Ams painfully aware that I needed to work on the position I got stuck in.

For nearly four weeks, I've started every roll from this weak position. Whether the person is a black belt, brown belt, purple belt, blue belt, or white belt, I would ask to start from this weaker position. Whether the person was 225 pounds or 125 pounds, I would ask to start from this position.

Here's how I've progressed over the past four weeks:

Week 1: Smashapalooza. I got smashed again and again and again. I found myself tapping a lot and doing a ton of pushups.

Week 2: Smashed but not so badly. I was still getting smashed a lot, but not nearly as much as the prior week.

Week 3: Did I just escape? I started to develop a better ability to escape from this weak position.

Week 4: Am I getting better? While I still need to work on escaping from this position, I am getting to a neutral or top position more and more.

I plan to continue starting every roll from this weaker position for the next few weeks because I'm truly amazed at the progress I've made in just four short weeks by focusing on this.

Title IX and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

2011-04-13T23:17:00.000-04:00

Tonight at Unit2, the women outnumbered the men 6 to 5. One of the guys even remarked that this may be a first in Unit2 history.

One of the things I love about BJJ is the egalitarian nature of the sport. 99% of the people in this sport don't care about your gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, or political bent. If you're willing to step onto the mat, be serious, and train hard - you'll be accepted regardless of who you are.

But this environment is not the primary reason we have a rapidly increasing number of women in the sport. I also think Title IX deserves the credit.

If you're not from the U.S., you may be asking yourself, "What is Title IX?"

Title IX (Title Nine) is an additional amendment to the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964. This amendment was passed in 1972 and makes it the law of our Land that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..."

Since most public schools, many private schools, and nearly all colleges receive Federal Funding, they must comply with this law. In terms of high school and college athletics, the law has been interpreted to mean that each gender's athletic participation should be proportionate to their enrollment.

As an example, if a school is 52% women and 48% men, than approximately half the student athletes should be men and approximately half the student athletes should be women. Since most women don't wish to try out for traditionally male teams (such as the football or baseball team), it also means that schools have to create athletic opportunities that women will participate in (such as women's basketball, softball, gymnastics, cross country, etc).

A quick tangent - back in the mid-80s when my sister and I were in high school, she tried out for the boy's baseball team. She didn't want to play on a girl's softball team because she believed she could compete on a level playing field with guys. She took a lot of razzing from guys and gals at the school, and she didn't make the team. While I'm biased, I think she was better than many of the guys who made the team, but the redneck baseball coach couldn't fathom a girl on the "boy's team".

As opportunities to get involved in sports have grown for young women, we now have a couple generations of women who grew up playing sports. Sometimes they played traditional female sports (such as softball, gymnastics, etc) and on rare occasions traditionally male sports (such as football, baseball, and wrestling).

Having grown up participating in sports and being bound by fewer stereotypes about how a woman should act, this new generation of woman doesn't look at BJJ and ask herself "Why?" She looks at BJJ and asks herself "Why not?".

And she steps on the mat as a white belt and sees blue, purple, brown, and black belt women who can train effectively with much bigger guys. She once again asks herself "Why not?" Unlike other traditionally male sports, she has the chance to see women go to practice with men on a regular basis.

Now BJJ isn't for most women, but it also isn't for most guys. After all, the vast majority of guys who take the introductory week never complete their first year. While there have been no studies on this, I'd be willing to bet that a higher percentage of women make it to blue belt then men.

One last note - I'm sure someone will respond to this post to say that Title IX "killed" some of the smaller guys sports (such as gymnastics and wrestling). And it's true that GA Tech ended their wrestling program to have greater gender parity among athletes, and UGA ended their guy's gymnastics program to achieve the same goal. But Title IX didn't kill these sports, the schools killed them. The schools decided that the Athletic Budget had a fixed bottom line, and they didn't look hard enough for outside donors and foundations who would support new athletic teams for women.

I would also argue that the cessation of many smaller college wrestling programs has probably resulted in more BJJ practitioners. Unable to practice their chosen sport after high school, I'd be willing to bet that a lot of wrestlers graduate from high school and choose BJJ or no gi grappling instead of picking up an adult league basket ball or baseball bat.

BJJ Nicknames

2011-04-03T01:09:00.000-04:00

I was recently surprised to learn that the nicknames I give some folks in my blog have been catching on at Unit2. Obviously everyone knows who Ranger Rick and Purple Belt Jeff are, but apparently many also have a good idea the identity of Chewbacca, Weeble Wobble, The Engineer, and others. Traven has even started calling Ranger Rick by this nickname at the gym.

Recently, Ranger Rick informed me that he was going to give me a nickname. He planned to start calling me The Punisher and tell others that is now my nickname. I asked him the origin of the name, and he explained The Punisher was a Dolph Lundgren movie from the 80's. Thanks to IMDB's one sentence summary I can share a fairly straightforward synopsis: "When Frank Castle's family is murdered by criminals, he wages war on crime as a vigilante assassin known only as the Punisher."

I wanted to say, "Dude - I share the name Adolph with a man responsible for killing 6 million people and starting a world war. The Punisher kind of pales in comparison, dontchya think?" But instead I smiled and said, "Let's see if it catches on".

Personally, I think "The Punisher" has too many syllables.

Why I Train

2011-03-30T23:39:00.003-04:00

#1. BJJ is great exercise.

Training is a full-body weight and cardio workout. In my late teens and early twenties, I was a long distance cyclist. I loved my time on the bike and wouldn't trade the lessons of patience and endurance that cycling taught me. Having said that, I would rather train in BJJ then lift, run, cycle, rock climb, swim, or throw/kick/hit a ball.

#2. BJJ satisfies my competitive nature.

I'm a very competitive person, and the act of training gives me a constructive outlet. My recent decision to start competing again makes me train with even more intensity so that I can do well at tournaments.

#3. BJJ is difficult for me.

I have to work - really work hard - to get better at BJJ. I think about it, train hard, and give it everything I can. There are many things I have a talent for and have come easily (academics, business skills, public speaking, etc), but BJJ reminds me that struggling to improve is an important aspect of life.

#4. BJJ accommodates my body type.

As someone who is middle age, standing only 5'4" tall and weighing about 118 pounds, I'm not likely to succeed at football, basketball, or most other sports where I'd compete against people 5" - 12" taller than me and 50 - 100 pounds heavier. BJJ has age and weight divisions, making it perhaps the ideal sport for small guys.

#5. BJJ teaches me patience and perseverance.

I was a blue belt for over five years, and expect it will take at least as much time to get promoted to brown. I completed my undergraduate degree in less time than it took to go from blue to purple! It requires patience to keep coming to 3 - 4 classes a week and "plod" the road to greater skill and accomplishment.

#6. BJJ removes my anxiety.

All my life, I've had anxiety and obsessive compulsive behavior. I found early on that I can moderate this anxiety and OC behavior with extreme physical activity leading to exhaustion or I can medicate it. I prefer extreme physical activity.

#7. BJJ forces intense focus and concentration.

I love those life experiences where everything drops away and all I focus on is the task at hand. I'm not distracted by a work issue, not thinking about a conversation I need to have, not thinking about a home renovation. In my life, I've only experienced such intense periods of focus on a regular basis through three activities: training BJJ; cycling; and taking exams.

#8. BJJ makes me a more interesting person.

Everyone has hobbies: reading, playing video games, working out, etc. But BJJ is one of the more unique hobbies someone can have. Looking at the rest of my life, it is a hobby most folks would not expect of me.

#9. BJJ introduces me to more interesting people.

I don't recall a time when I've met a more eclectic and interesting group of people in one room. At my BJJ gym, you'll find people who have Ph.D's training alongside people who dropped out of high school after getting just D's. You'll find liberal peace-niks spending time with gun-toting conservatives. Law enforcement officers, convicted felons, business owners, government bureaucrats, construction workers, and doctors can all be found at my gym. And they all get along!

#10. BJJ overcomes my petty biases.

Because of the great diversity of people BJJ exposes me to, my stereotypes are silently challenged and I find greater commonalities with all types of people now. My world view has broadened significantly because of BJJ.

#11. BJJ fills the time.

Assuming a life expectancy of 74.5 years (http://www.faqs.org/docs/factbook/print/us.html), I have 652,629 hours to enjoy. Of these, I've used aver half my allotment of years. Between now and death, I will hopefully enjoy a little over 302,000 hours and I need to find a way to use these hours. These hours can be meaningful or meaningless; boring or exciting. I'm going for meaningful and exciting.

Note: I originally wrote this at 37 years old – the half way mark. I realized that I was actually about half-way through this journey called life. I experienced a small existential crisis, similar to the feeling I get when I'm on vacation and it's halfway through the week.

#12. BJJ could extend that time.

Fit people live longer. I'd love to make it past 74.5 years. Each year I can add gives me an additional 8,760 hours of life to enjoy!

#13. BJJ teaches me that skill beats raw power.

When I go up against a white belt who's 50% heavier than me but has no skill, I'm in awe of the fact that skill beats raw power. This is true throughout life: a genius who's never trained his mind is of less use than a person of average intelligence who has pursued education.

#14. BJJ makes me aware of my body.

Most people walk around without any aches or pains, and they fail to think "I'm lucky nothing hurts today". With BJJ, some days I'm sore, some days I'm not. Some days a joint hurts, some days it doesn't. Regardless, though, I'm always AWARE of whether I feel pain on a given day.

#15. BJJ teaches me respect for the human body.

What a magnificent and beautiful machine the human body is. It can roll, flip, throw others, etc. But move one joint a few degrees in the wrong direction and it's out of commission.

#16. BJJ helps me feel young.

At my twentieth high school reunion, I walked up to the bar and this really fat dude says, “Hey Adolph”. I looked at him and said, “I'm really sorry, and I don't want to be a schmuck, but I don't remember you.” Turns out it was someone who was in my home room class for 12 years, but he was so out of shape that he was unrecognizeable. Doing BJJ not only keeps my heart, lungs, and muscles young, but it also keeps me looking young. Someone who knew me 20+ years ago can still recognize that I'm the same person.

#17. BJJ is primal.

The word primal comes from the latin "Primus" (nominative, singular, masculine) for "first". BJJ, like all combat sports, was "first". Before we had bats, balls, frisbees, sticks, pucks, bicycles, etc, we had just our own bodies. Therefore, testing ourselves against another human could only be done through some form of combat sport.

The Jiu Jitsu Blues Cuts Weight

2011-03-29T22:36:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I copied my blog onto my hard drive and "slimmed down" the public blog by about 75%. The number of posts has gone from 406 to less than 100, and I will probably cull additional posts over the coming week.

As part of the process, I accidentally deleted a few very popular posts (such as the "10 Commandments of BJJ Hygiene", "Why I Train", and "Book Review: Grapplers Guide to Sports Nutrition"). Over the coming days, I will repost these accidentally deleted and popular posts.

My intention is to continue blogging, but I plan to keep a private training journal. My public blog will primarily include the occasional essay, school review, book review, tournament recap, rant, etc.

Blogger Breakfast

2011-03-29T07:59:00.001-04:00

A few years ago, Caleb of the fightworkspodcast (www.fightworkspodcast.com) started coordinating a blogger breakfast at the Pan Ams. Grateful thanks to Georgette (www.georgetteoden.blogspot.com) for coordinating this year's breakfast.

Pictured (L-R): Caleb, me, Katie (http://skirtonthemat.wordpress.com), Georgette, Mike of MMA Labs in Phoenix, and Rich (Georgette's husband Mitch).

We had an interesting conversation, which ranged from the cost of BJJ related travel, the Fightworks Podcast polls, to each of our experiences at the 2011 Pan Ams.

One and Done

2011-03-27T02:13:00.002-04:00

Let me start with the exciting part (or not so exciting, depending on your perspective). My division got called right on time at 12:15 PM, and the four-person division was fighting by 12:20.

My first and only match was against a guy who really outclassed me. I lost by submission in the last 15 seconds, though I was also down on points when he got the submission.

Before folks start posting comments like "you won by stepping on the mat", let me add that preparing for both the Houston Open and the Pan Ams has caused my jiu jitsu game to improve dramatically.

Someone from my gym thankfully taped the match, and I can identify several positions that I need to be working on.

Having watched the match a few times, I've noticed two or three places where I could have turned the tide but didn't. I honestly didn't see them during the match, but did see them when watching the video. Hindsight is truly 20/20.

Not surprisingly,Houston and the Pans have shown me that I compete the same as I train the gym. The same scenarios that are issues for me in the gym are also issues for me in competition.

I plan for 2011 to continue to be my year for competition and will register for either the Phoenix or Dallas Open if there are folks in my weight class. I've also decided to not register for the Worlds because I need to test my skills and my competition game on regional levels more.

36 Beat Downs in 28 days (or 40 is the new 20)

2011-03-14T23:00:00.000-04:00

Exactly one month ago, February 14, I returned from the Houston Open and began preparing for the Pan Ams. In the past twenty eight days since then, I've gone to a total of 36 classes. On average, I've trained five days a week, which means I've gone to at least two classes most days I train.

Each day, I've gotten seriously smashed by at least one or two of the higher belts, but my defense, resilience, and overall attitude has gotten significantly better. Of course, I've also trained with white and blue belts in the fundamentals class, which has served as a refreshing reminder that technique works!

My cardio is better than it's been in years (I do the warm up in both classes each day), and some techniques are clicking in a way they hadn't before. I have never trained with this intensity and frequency, and the training has definitely improved my game.

Most importantly, I've been working the weaker side of my game in one class and the stronger side of my game in the second class. As a result, I've minimized some of the bad habits I've developed over the past eight years, and I feel much more comfortable in positions that aren't part of my typical A-game.

Tangential note:

This is the year I turn 40, and I understand my decision to compete this year is a futile attempt to stave off middle-age and the declining decades that will follow it. Competition prep has been great transition to my mid-life crisis: I sleep more, train more, eat more, and work less.

I frequently think to myself, "40 is the new 20"!

Poop Pants Police

2011-03-02T23:44:00.001-05:00

This post will start with (what I find to be) a very funny story, and then give a short update on my training for the Pan Ams.

First, the funny story:

During tonight's warm up we each paired up with someone about our size to do wheel-barrows. Of course, I paired up with the lightest other person on the mat who was a long and lanky guy just shy of 6' and probably 160 pounds or so. Well, when I grabbed his ankles so he could do a set of wheel barrows, I notice it:

A long, wet, wide swath of brown oozing all over the seat of his gi pants.

My first inclination was to vomit. Instead I looked straight ahead and tried my damndest not to see the obvious brown stain and feeling thankful that his legs were long enough to keep the ooze at a safe distance.

The next warm up drill Ranger Rick called out was "Around the World". You know the drill - jump guard with the person standing, move around their back, and continue your 360 rotation. Of course, I jumped guard high and kept my legs well above his waist the entire time.

After the warm up, I couldn’t bear the thought of his brown stained gi pants touching the mat, so I approached him. Here's my verbatim of the brief conversation:

Me: Dude, you may not know this but you have a nasty brown stain on the

back of your gi pants {Poop Pants twists his head back while pulling his

pants toward the front so he can see it}

Poop Pants: Dang! I just washed these.

Me: Well, it's kind of nasty. You may want to take care of that.

I tried to be both diplomatic and forgiving by not saying "Dude, it looks like you shit yourself", but my diplomatic approach didn't quite work. After about ten minutes, I notice that Poop Pants is still on our mats in his brown stained pants, so I suggest that he ask the front desk for a loaner pair because his dirty pants were really disgusting.

He leaves the room, and comes back still looking at the back of his pants often. For this reason, I wasn't sure if he got a loaner pair from the front desk or if he just tried to wash off the stain.

Later that evening, he cycled into a king-of-the-hill drill we were doing from our feet. We just trained live and kept going until someone tapped. The person who tapped was out, and the person who didn't tap stayed in. Well, Poop Pants cycled in to start from his feet with me, and I think it was the fastest submission I've ever gotten (likely in less than 20 seconds). I jumped to spider guard, shot for a triangle, and swept him (so his poop pants would face down).

Now for my training update:

My Pan Ams training is going well. I'm currently training a total of 15 hours a week, which means a lot of double classes. My cardio is going through the roof, I can't keep weight on despite eating like a pig, and my weaker game is significantly improved.

I leave for Irvine, CA three weeks from today and have 15 days of classes left before I leave. 7 of those days are double classes, so I have a total of 22 classes left. I have a game plan laid out for each of these training sessions (including an "easy" week starting Sunday of the Pan Ams week), and I'm feeling good about my progress.

Quite honestly, the weaker aspects of my game have improved more since January than in the six months before that. Competition is definitely good for me.

More Pan Am Prep

2011-02-20T20:53:00.001-05:00

Having registered for the Pan Ams last week, I'm not blogging nearly as much as I'm training. Figured I should focus more on my training and not really give potential competitors insight about what I'm working on. Here's my update from the past week and a preview of my upcoming week:

~	I created a five-week training calendar that will take me up to the Pan Ams. The training calendar indicates the number of classes I will attend, as well as what I will work on in the fundamentals class and the advanced class.
~	Last Week I active participated in seven classes (two classes each on Monday and Tuesday, and one class on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday). I also went to the cross-fit style class to work on cardio. I'm giving myself at least one day off this week – and sometimes two.
~	I'm working on the weakest side of my game when rolling with white and blue belts, and my A-game when training with purple, brown, and black belts. I'm already seeing tremendous improvement in my weaker game!
~	My cardio is getting much stronger. I didn't really have any issues with my cardio capacity at the Houston Open (I'm a very calm grappler), but it's cool to see cardio improvement when I step the training up a notch.
~	This week's schedule includes a total of eight classes and/or open mats over a period of six consecutive days (multiple classes on Tuesday and Thursday).

I can honestly say that Pan Am prep is taking my game to an entirely new level, and I feel even more enthusiasm for training and improving than ever before.

Unicorns, Rainbows, and Fluffy Clouds

2011-02-15T23:58:00.001-05:00

Can't talk a lot about what I'm working on in class because my training is entirely focused on the Pan Ams. Whenever possible, I'm going to the 6:30 class (beginners) to work on a specific hole in my game while rolling, and I'm going to the advanced 7:30 class to work on my A-game while rolling.

Got to lead the 7:30 warm up, and tried to make it tough to strengthen my (and other's) cardio. I think it worked. In my second to last training session tonight, the guy I was training with had to stop due to a bad cramp (really?!#). Anyway, I did crunches, burpees, and deck squats for the last few minutes to stay active while he walked around and tried to make the cramp go away.

After class, I went home and ate like a mad man - a salad, a pork chop, a cup of ice cream, and a pb&j. Despite eating everything in sight last night, I still woke up weighing only 114 pounds (that's 51 kilos for the rest of the world).

That's about all I really care to blog about tonight - oh yeah and Unicorns, Rainbows, and Fluffy Clouds.

2011: My Year for Competition Travel

2011-02-14T23:52:00.000-05:00

Spoke to Traven about doing the Pan Ams tonight, and he gave the green light. He told me to register for Senior 1 again, and drop down to the Masters or Adult Rooster weight division if no one else was in Rooster Senior 1.

So I came home tonight and registered for the Pan Ams, booked my hotel, and just set up a Kayak alert for airfare! Looks like 2011 is going to be my year for competition travel.

Since I'm planning on competing in the Pan Ams, I'm not going to blog in depth about my preparations, frustrations, or small injuries that might occur between now and then. I certainly googled each of my potential competitors from the Houston Open, and this blog has left enough of a trail that I'd rather not follow me into competition. Unfortunately, this probably means fewer blog posts for the next six weeks, though the ones I do write during this period will probably be more philosophical in nature.

I have decided that I need to focus more of my energy on the mental side of the game and timing. I've also identified a real hole in my game, that I will be working on mending between now and the Pans (this keeps with my tradition of one technique/position and one attribute each month). What is that hole? Tell you after the Pan Ams and the hole no longer exists!

Based on the fact that there was no one in Rooster weight adult, masters, or Senior 1 last year at the Pans, I think it's likely that I'll come up against one or two of the guys from the Houston Open. They were both blue belts last year and competed in the Adult Blue Rooster weight division. And 3/4 of the registrants made plans to fly into Houston for the tournament - indicating they were using this as a warm-up for the Pan Ams.

And so now the serious preparation begins. Lots of double classes and cardio work between now and March 23.

1 Tournament Recap; 4 Tangential Stories; and 1 Crazy Observation.

2011-02-13T22:39:00.001-05:00

First the summary:

My opponent in the first match was DQ'd, and there were only four people in my division. I fought the winner of the other bracket and lost that fight by two points. I had hoped to be able to fight the other guy who lost to him (for second place), but that's not the way IBJFF works. So I took home silver and the other guy took home bronze.

And now for more detail:

This was a great experience for returning to competition after a multi-year hiatus. I decided to compete several weeks in advance of the tournament, so I had time to prepare myself mentally and physically. For this reason, the Houston Open is the first competition at which I didn't feel stressed out, tired, and unprepared.

Starting a month before the tournament, I began training more from my feet and I got comfortable starting on my feet (even though my takedowns are still awful). Additionally, I started thinking about my "A" game, and really focusing on how to impose it on others. Finally, I had a few good weeks of "clean living" with less alcohol and less ice cream. While I normally walk around well below my competition weight (this morning I weighed in at 120 pounds with the gi), I just didn't want to be feeling unhealthy while training harder for a competition.

I arranged to fly into Houston Friday night, even though purple belts weren’t scheduled to compete until Sunday. This allowed me a day to relax and a good night’s sleep before competing.

Tangential Story #1:

During the Boarding process on my trip to Houston, I was surprised to look up and see Ryan Hall on my flight to Houston. Since I knew he was coaching one of the guys in my division, I looked around to see if I could identify my potential competitor, too. He had a Vietnamese name, and I saw a small, younger Asian guy walk past me with a gi sticking out of his bag. Once we were in the air, I approached him, introduced myself, and said we would probably be in the same division. He looks at me incredulously for about 15 seconds and replies, “I’m 23”. I laughed and said, “Yeah, there were no other rooster weight guys in Senior 1 so I dropped down to your age division.” We shook hands, and I saw him next at the competition. I walked away thinking, "wow - I must really look OLD to a 23-year-old"

Emotionally, this tournament was a great experience for me because I had done a lot more physical and mental prep work, and also because IBJJF tournaments are so well organized. I checked out the venue the day before the tournament, so I wouldn’t stress out about finding the venue in a strange city or understanding the logistics of the tournament. Additionally, IBJJF tournaments run on time, which means you can show up, compete in your division, and leave. No sitting around for hours waiting to compete. No warming up, waiting, and warming up again because of delays.

My mental preparation included some visualization work, as well as making sure I got a good night's sleep and decent breakfast before the tournament. I didn't eat a ton for breakfast but probably had 350 - 450 calories about two hours before my division was supposed to be in the warm-up area.

Including me, my division had four guys. The other guy in my bracket was disqualified, which meant that I would progress to the winner of the first bracket. The 23 year old guy coached by Hall (tangential story #1 from the plane) was the winner of that bracket. I had the advantage of seeing him fight his first opponent, and he immediately jumped guard. He also had an excellent ability to slip around to the back, and did this multiple times to really rack up points against his first opponent. For this reason, I’d decided it would be best for me to beat him to the guard jump when we competed.

After the first match in my division, Hall came up to me and introduced himself just saying, “Hi, I’m Ryan”. I found him to be a really nice guy and also very humble. We had a brief conversation about the guy I was scheduled to compete against in the first bracket, and apparently the dq’d guy is also a formidable competitor. There will be another tangential note about Ryan Hall in a minute.

{match details deleted}

At the end of seven minutes, he won by two points.

I was very pleased with how calm and composed I stayed, perhaps the calmest I've ever been in a tournament. But I should have tried to estimate the minute of the match and tried to go for "all or nothing". Go all out on a sweep - with a possible payoff that I might get six points for a sweep and mount, and the possible risk that he might get three points for passing my guard.

I was also surprised to see that now I compete the way I train. In the past, I was really nervous and kind of spazzy. I exhibited neither characteristic today! Of course, this is an argument to train a little more aggressively and with more physical power.

After the match, I asked if I could fight the other guy for second place, but unfortunately that wasn't to be. I felt bad for him because we both lost to the same guy, but I "got" second while he got third.

Tangential Story #2:

After the match, the guy I lost to me asked "Did you have trouble cutting weight to get into this division?". I was able to say "I walk around at about 115 - 120, and weighed in with my gi at 120 this morning. I know there aren't many old guys as small as me, but jiu jitsu really keeps my metabolism up".

Tangential Story #3:

Had a nice conversation with Ryan Hall after my match, and it confirmed my initial impression that he's a good guy. He said a few nice things about my game and suggested that I work on my grips. I told him that I read his girlfriend's blog and asked if she was at the tournament. She wasn't. I asked him to tell her how much I liked her post about doing pushups for tapping in class, and that I adopted this practice myself. We had a brief conversation about why we each find it beneficial, shook hands, and parted ways.

Tangential Story #4:

I met the blogger Georgette! She was actually keeping score on my mat. Told her how much I enjoyed her blog - - - especially the recent donut blog! Super nice person.

Crazy Observation #1:

When I saw the guys in my division I thought - "Wow! Those dudes are tiny. They're like miniature adults". Then I thought "Dang! I'm that small too". I don't think of myself as that small, but I am.

Division of One

2011-02-08T23:08:00.001-05:00

Many folks at Unit2 are getting ready for NAGA in Atlanta this weekend, so this is definitely a good week for me to be doing the Houston Open. I got to the gym last night (didn't blog), as well as both classes tonight.

Purple belt Ranger Rick was running the fundamentals class,and black belt Armand ran class. Ranger had us working on some sweeps, and Armand had us drill some take downs and a couple chokes from the back.

Started training from the feet with a number of guys tonight and overall had good training sessions.

At this point, I'm the only person registered for my age (Senior 1) and weight division (Rooster/Galo), but three guys are registered in the adult purple Galo division. The Houston Open organizers said they would move me to the adult the division if I made the request on Change Day, which is tomorrow.

I can think of nothing worse than flying half way accross the country to collect a medal by making weight. My goal of competing this year was to (a) have a reason to push myself more in practice and (b) assess what I'm doing well and doing poorly when under the pressure of competition. The former sort-of happens in a division of one, but the latter just doesn't happen with a division of one.

Change Day edit: Email requesting to switch to the adult division has been sent.

Quick Post

2011-02-03T23:12:00.000-05:00

Got to the advanced class at Unit2 a little bit late because of a work meeting.

Traven is out of town for a tournament, so Ranger Rick was running class. He started class with the technique portion, and I'm actually not really trying to learn a lot of new stuff this close to the Houston Open. I'm primarily fine tuning what I do well and fixing a couple holes in my game.

We had a brief warm-up, followed by round robins. Six people were there, so I got to train twice with each of the other five folks there. While training with purple belt Ranger Rick, he stopped to show me a couple cool refinements to my A-game.

Another double class tonight

2011-02-01T22:44:00.001-05:00

Showed up in time for the 6:30 fundamentals class but not in time to mop the mats . This especially bummed me out because I have a wound common to many bureaucrats – a small manila folder cut on my finger. I tend to be paranoid, but I was worried about an infection getting into the cut even with generous coatings of liquid skin.

Got to lead the warm up in the first class, and it probably wasn't the best warm up ever seen at Unit2. Following the warm up, we drilled two ways to open the guard and one guard pass. I was working with a newer white belt, and realized that I have a lot to learn about helping someone learn a new technique. He was having difficulty with one of the setups (specifically, which leg to post first depending on which arm you've captured).

I could tell it was flustering him, and I tried to be reassuring with this comment, “Relax, this is really easy you just need to concentrate on it.”

I almost immediately corrected myself and said, “you know what, I lied and I'm sorry. It really isn't all that easy, and it probably took me three or six months to actually learn how to do this well. But relax anyway and try your best.” He relaxed, tried his best, and was really getting the hang of it by the end of the drilling period.

Following the technique drill, I trained with white belt Anna and blue belt Phil. Phil is a big guy and can use a ton of muscle, so I was grateful that he had just trained with someone who really sapped a lot of his energy.

We didn't have a warm up for the second class, and we divided into two groups. One group had big guys, while the other group had bigger guys. I, of course, ended up in the group with the big guys (they were probably really only 175 pounds or so, but that's big to me). Two of them were white belts, and then purple belt Chewbacca.

We started from our feet, which is good practice for me but slightly less meaningful when I'm going against 50% more weight and a much better reach. Chewbacca tapped me several times, and one of the white belts caught me a couple of times as well.

When I had one of the white belts in mount, he reached down and started twisting and turning my foot. I couldn't see what he was doing because it was behind me, but it felt like he was trying to do some kind of toe lock or foot lock. After class, I asked him what he was trying to do, and he indicated it was a calf slicer that only works on people who aren't very flexible.

While his calf slicer wasn't a success, he did catch me in a triangle and an armbar setup. To his credit, his arm bars were incredibly technical and tight – and I really had to pull and twist my arm to try to get it out of danger.

In the second class we trained for about an hour. I felt totally wiped by the end, and sat on the bench for about ten minutes while dripping sweat and drinking water. Water in. Water out.

Mopping Mats

2011-01-31T23:18:00.000-05:00

A few folks at Unit2 have gotten staph in the last few weeks, so I inquired about the mat cleaning schedule last Friday. Apparently, they are cleaned in the morning and again before the kids class in the afternoon. I asked Traven if I and others could volunteer to mop the mat again before either the fundamentals or advanced class. He ok'd it, so I got the mop, bucket, and bleach to clean the mats before class.

Went to both the fundamentals and advanced class this evening, and got a lot of good training in.

In the beginner's class, we drilled a very basic triangle set up and a kimura from the guard. I worked with a guy taking his first class tonight, and he was definitely trying hard to learn the technique. I remember how difficult it was to grasp concepts like the triangle when I first started. It seemed that such techniques were incredibly complicated, and I doubted my ability to ever pull them off in training.

Having said that, I'm still an incredibly slow learner when learning a new technique, and it often takes me months or even years to be able to really learn a technique.

In the advance class, we worked a cool z-guard pass, that I definitely need to drill, as well as a z-guard pass transition to the full mount.

I spent some time working on my stand-up game plan, which I'm not going to spend a lot of screen space delineating because my weight division will never have a lot of competitors and it's a small blog world. Started from the feet with blue belt Ben and blue belt Demarco, and it's good to work with them on take downs because they each have very different take down styles.

Also got to roll with Traven today. While training, I could tell that he'd put me in positions I've been working on in privates, to see if I was using the technique correctly. I think one of the benefits of deciding to compete is that Traven will spend more time helping me evaluate and improve my game. It's understandable because I'm competing under his flag, and he wants to make sure that he is well represented.

Registered for Houston

2011-01-27T00:22:00.000-05:00

Immediately following class tonight, I took a few minutes to register for the upcoming IBJJF Open in Houston, book my flights, and reserve my hotel room.

Deciding to compete again has really charged my training. Much like spending $100 on a private, I feel a strong need to “get my money's worth” when flying across the country to compete.

While I've always enjoyed training, I have renewed enthusiasm to work on my cardio and fine tune my game over the next couple weeks (the tournament is two weeks from this weekend). I'm also hoping this will be a diagnostic for the Pan Ams and help me identify what I need to have fixed before LA.

I went to Unit2's 360 class (a circuit-cross fit style class) immediately before BJJ, and then to advanced class. Class tonight was good, though there was no warm up and no technique drill.

Trained with a number of high level guys including a brown belt and at least three purples. While rolling with Ranger Rick, he gave me a good pneumonic device for passing the open guard: Back on the mat – feet on the mat. Back off the mat – feet off the mat. I find pneumonic devices helpful, and I know this one will be, too.

I did a very good job of countering ankle locks that would have caught me ten days ago. So I'm slowly making progress!

Competition Prep Pep Talk

2011-01-25T23:09:00.002-05:00

I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night and had an early morning meeting. Sitting at my desk at 6:00 PM tonight, I thought “I am kind of tired, maybe I should skip the first class and only do the second”

Gave myself a quick pep talk that went something like this:

“Dolph, you may not get a great night's sleep before an upcoming tournament. Does this mean you'll wake up and decide to not compete? Of course not. So if you're serious about competing you need to stick to your weekly training plan regardless of whether you feel tired.”

And so I walked the short two blocks from my office to Unit2 for the beginner's class. I think there was maybe one blue belt, myself (purple), and a ton of white belts in the first class. Following the warm up, we drilled an armbar set up based on your opp standing up in your guard incorrectly. I drilled with Anna, who weighs almost exactly what I do.

Training in the white belt class was fun. Rolled with three white belts and had a great time. With one, I worked an de la riva on the arm sweep. Didn't get the sweep even once, but my setup kept getting better and better. With another, I worked getting to cross side from half guard. And with the third, I worked sweeps from guard.

The second class started, and the warm up was, thankfully, not terribly difficult. Following the warm up, we did positional sparring from the guard and then half guard. I was in the group with brown belt Davi, purple belt Chewbacca, a blue belt, and a white belt. We did the usual drill – one guy sits out while the other four spars. Whoever gets swept / submitted goes to the wall, and the guy who was sitting out comes back in.

I didn't seem to be working my game with much pizazz, and was getting passed and swept a lot. At one point, while I was sitting on the wall, I realized that we had about an hour left and I was feeling wiped. I then gave myself the second pep talk of the night. It went something like this:

“Okay, Dolph, you're tired. You aren't playing as well as you'd like. But you came here to train. So are you going to train or are you going to lay down?”

The pep talk worked for about 20 or 30 minutes, and I found myself training with more intensity and more on my game.

Also of note, while I was sitting on the wall, I saw Chewbacca neck crank and injure the white belt's elbow. I just don't get why he keeps injuring people. You would think that a purple belt would know better, but he just doesn't seem to get it.

When it came time to roll with this white belt, he told me that his elbow was injured. I did everything I could to avoid his elbow, but he needed to stop training after about a minute.

Chewbacca was sitting out on the wall, so I asked him if he wanted to train (positional sparring was over). Having just seen him injure the white belt, I rolled super cautiously and tapped whenever he set anything up. Each time he'd submit me, I'd do my 25 pushups, While I was doing them, he'd turn to the while belt sitting on the wall (who he injured) and explain how he was able to get the submission. Cognitive dissonance!

When training with a blue belt close to my size, we started from our feet and went for take downs. He kept hitting single leg take downs and the white belt (mentioned above) had a conversation with me about it after class. Turns out he was a college wrestler and offered me some good tips for shooting a single leg. We worked on this for about ten minutes, and I thanked him for his advice and counsel.

Overall, a good class tonight.

Well, I'm in a rush tonight because I'm volunteering for Atlanta's biennial homeless census (counting all the homeless people in the metro area). I'll be up all night, but will take tomorrow off to sleep.

Since I'm in a rush, tap tracker will return in my next blog post. Today I tapped 14 times and did 350 pushups.

150 Minutes of Jiu Jitsu

2011-01-24T22:45:00.000-05:00

Since I can only train Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week, I went to both the 6:30 “beginners class” and the 7:30 “advanced class”. The beginners class had at least 25 people, with only one brown, one purple, and one blue (me). The brown belt was visiting from Raleigh, NC, and he was light (about 145 pounds).

In the beginner's class we drilled a couple armbar setups. At first the brown belt and I paired up to drill technique, but Traven assigned us to each work with a newer white belt. All things considered, that definitely made sense.

When it came time to train, I rolled with the visiting brown belt and Ayanthi. When training with the brown belt, I could tell that he was playing his “polite visitors game” and not going for the kill.

The next class started with drilling technique (some sweeps from a de la riva hook on the arm). I was drilling these with Ayanthi,and she offered a couple suggestions on one of the sweeps that definitely improved my technique. Specifically, I need to remember to pull the person toward me when I go for the sweep.

We did the “warm up” in the middle of the advanced class and then trained for about an hour or so. I rolled with the visiting brown belt twice, a blue belt (about my size), three white belts (two huge, one my size).

Except when rolling with smaller white belts, I'm trying to step up my game in preparation for competing. I'm definitely pushing my cardio, trying to execute techniques with more speed, and being more aggressive.

Doing What It Takes to Return to Competition

2011-01-18T23:43:00.000-05:00

I gassed pretty quickly tonight. Though it's unusual for a warm up to really wipe me out, the sprints in the warm up killed me.

Thankfully, we drilled something that gave me the chance to catch my breath and rest: three chokes and one armbar from the mount. We drilled this for a total of 12 minutes (6 minutes per person), and then started training.

I trained with two blue belts (one twice) and two white belts. Each set was about ten minutes.

My first and last training session was with the Weeble Wobble, and we started from our feet. My takedowns still suck, which is a sure sign that I need to be drilling them and not just training them.

The other blue belt is a big guy who doesn't use a lot of muscle when training with me. Nevertheless, he tapped me five times, while I think I got maybe one or two sweeps tops.

The two white belts were actually pretty tiring to train with. Both wanted to use a ton of muscle and my goal was to gas them out and then use technique to get a sweep and play more of a top game. I was able to achieve my goal.

Toward the end of one set with one of the white belts, I noticed something strange on his face. On closer inspection, the wound looked more like an infection than an abrasion. I asked him about it, but he insisted that it was just an abrasion from Team Training on Saturday.

I suggested that he at least use hydrogen peroxide on it to try to thwart an infection, and he mentioned using some on Saturday but didn't like how it dried the sore out. I said something like, “I'm not a medical professional, but you want to dry it out. And if it's an infection you want to stay off the mat.”

I honestly don't understand why folks would risk making an infection worse and spreading it to others. I just don't get it.

By the last time I rolled with Weeble Wobble, I was completely and totally wiped. Quite honestly, I didn't want to train anymore. But I have a private with Traven tomorrow, and at the end of the private I plan to ask his advice about returning to competitions this year. Figured quitting before the last training set is probably not the best decision before asking someone if you can compete under their flag.

So I sucked it up and tried not to die that last set. Good news: I didn't die. Bad news: I shot for a takedown and took a finger in the eye (totally my fault – I just didn't see it coming). Result: + 1 for heart; - 1 for clumsiness.

A quick word about competition:

I competed some (a couple times a year) as a white belt and early blue belt. About five years ago, my life got hectic with a complicated long-distance relationship and a hectic work travel schedule. As a result, I was lucky to be home one or two weekends a month, and I was no longer around for most of the local tournaments. Additionally, I also lost the desire to compete because other things took priority in my life, and I stopped competing.

Flash Forward Five years:

I turn 40 this year and am looking to really push myself physically and mentally. I have more time because my relationship is now local, and my current job doesn't require as much travel or weekend social obligations.

As a result, I'm in the area almost every weekend – which gives me the time to train for competition and to compete.

Mentally and Physically Challenging Myself:

The lightest purple belt weight division for most local tournaments is under 155 pounds (about 70 kilos), while I currently weigh about 120 pounds (about 54 kilos). There are a few guys at my gym in the 150 – 160 pound range, so I need to train with them more and figure out a game plan that works against that weight range.

Tap Tracker:

The Chewbacca Mystery

2011-01-15T16:47:00.000-05:00

Today was Team Training at Unit2, which means many of the regional gyms affiliated with Roberto Traven came to train: I think Spartanburg (South Carolina) and Augusta (Georgia) were definitely represented, and I'm not sure which other gyms were there.

Black belt Arman ran most of the Team Training, and he showed a couple half guard passes and one open half pass. Perhaps the most important think he said was this: "If you only remember one thing from today - remember to keep your hips low when passing the half guard." Also of note was the reminder that you can walk toward your opp's back or head when passing the open half guard, and that it may actually be easier to walk toward the back if you can collapse your opp's legs.

When it came time to train, Arman divided us into two weight divisions. I, of course, was in the lighter weight division (under 160). I was fairly psyched about the weight divisions because I'm thinking about doing some tournaments this year, and I would enter the lightest purple belt division at these tournaments (under 155 pounds). My main concern about this is that I'm not sure how many folks would be cutting weight to get into this division because I'd be gving up 35+ pounds to folks at the top of the weight division.

For this reason, I saw this as an opportunity to get a sense of what type of game I should bring to the under 155 division. I trained with a ton of folks today, and honestly don't remember each roll. But I trained with at least one brown belt, one purple belt, four blue belts, one white belt. One of the blues, the purple, and the brown caught me in submissions - and I found myself getting caught by the same loop choke multiple times with the purple belt.

If I do end up competing against someone 35+ pounds heavier than me, I think it's very clear that I should launch my offense from the closed guard. It is my strongest game, and where I'll be best able to neutralize the weight difference. My fallback position should be half guard (again going for sweeps and back transitions), but being vigilant for chokes.

I had an interesting conversation with four people who train at Unit2. Apparently all four have been following my blog and are very curious about the identity of Chewbacca. They assumed it was someone who was really hairy (like Chewbacca), but I noted that's not how he got his nickname. Here's the story behind the nickname.

As promised, Tap Tracker is back:

I Survived the Great Crash of 2011

2011-01-15T16:16:00.000-05:00

My blogging has been sporadic this week because my computer (only 20 months old) has been acting up during the past week. Specifically, it would only run for about five or six minutes and then crash. I tried several things to fix it and finally decided that I had to reformat my hard drive and return it to the "out of the box" state. Since I hadn't backed up my hard drive for a couple of months, I spent hours and hours backing up my hard drive five-minutes at a time because the computer kept crashing.

The computer is now fixed, so blogging continues!

Went to two classes two nights ago, giving almost three hours of jiu jitsu! The first (6:30) class at Unit2 is designed for beginners, so I asked the instructor if I could jump into the class.

Purple belt Keith was running the class, and he's got a strong Judo background in addition to his BJJ background. For this reason, I was really psyched that he had us drill a fireman's carry take down and work on the scarf hold.

Blue belt Ben has shown me the fireman's carry takedown a couple times and recomends it as a great takedown for smaller people (he's maybe 135 pounds). I've had difficulty pulling it off, and Keith showed several techniques that will improve my ability to make this take down work for me:

Step deep as you go for it
Pull opp's captured arm over
Once you have leg and arm control, keep your head UP
Once you have leg and arm control w/ your head up beside the back of opp's shoulder, then "windmill" your opp to the side instead of trying to "dump" him over your neck/head

In showing the scarf hold, Keith had some good reminders about scarf hold / cross side:

Ride high (on the chest) or low (on the hip) to have the best possible position
Keep opp's shoulders off the mat
Remember - at least three points of contact (near hip/far hip/near shoulder) (near hip/near shoulder/far shoulder)

In the 6:30 class, I rolled with Anna and Ayanthi , as well as two very large white belts.

Ranger Rick ran the 7:30 class, and he started with an excellent warm up. Frequently folks who also attend the beginner class skip the 7:30 warmup, but both Anna and I jumped into the warm up.

RR showed a couple cool transitions from de la riva hook of an arm to omapalata and triangle. I don't recall who-all I trained with in that class (it was two days ago). After class, I stuck around and worked 4-point take down drills with Craig. Essentially, we'd restart from the feet whenever one person got four points. This seemed to make more sense than a 2-point drill because one gets two points for the takedown. The real questions are (a) what does the person who gets the take down do with it; and (b) how does the person who gets taken down respond/deal with it in a way that is productive. I am starting to get bolder on my feet, which is a good step in the right direction.

Snowpocalypse Open Mat

2011-01-11T22:21:00.000-05:00

Atlanta had 3 or 4 inches of snow yesterday, which pretty much shuts the city down. Apparently, the city only has eleven snow plow attachments for its trucks, and they hadn’t contracted with a private firm to plow the streets until the second day of the storm.

As part of the snowpocalypse, the roads around Unit2 were icy and class was replaced by open mat. I left work at 5:00 PM and was at Unit2 from 5:30 – 7:15. Pretty much spent the entire time training with the blue belts Craig and Jason.

I asked to start from the feet so I could work on my takedowns, sprawls, and guard jumping. Of course, I didn’t get a single take down, but I got close several times. I also sprawled very successfully a couple times. That’s definitely progress.

Tomorrow is my private with Traven, which will function as “leg locks 101”.

The Annual Quote Post

2011-01-05T20:17:00.000-05:00

Every year for my annual BJJ review, I re-read each post. As I go through them, I copy and paste some of my favorite sentences from each blog post. So here are my favorite quotes from my blog posts in 2010:

Muscle is finite; BJJ is infinite

Preventing a grip is better than having to break it.

Don’t stop in the middle of a sweep to think or strategize.

Note to self: make a point to be cordial to newbies. They keep the gym in business.

He who hesitates is last.

But I will never succeed if I don’t work through the failure

I’m telling lower belts to chill out.

Everyone is vulnerable when you have their back.

Let sweep attempts open other possible transitions.

Avoid letting opponent control your head or wrist.

I may get tapped out more, but I’ll learn more and improve my skills.

Always look for the opportunity to return to the full guard if you can’t get a sweep. It’s not as good as a sweep, but the full guard is better than being stuck half guarding someone.

The brown belt pretty much just beat the crapola out of me for about ten or twelve minutes. Afterward, I ask him what I should be working on and he replies, “no, your game is coming along well”

Doh! Sweep in the direction of opponent’s weight.

My chokes from cross side and mount are so painfully bad, that I sometimes think I should hand in my purple belt until I get better at them.

Head control is essential in preventing a sweep

Training in the academy is about improving my game – not about “winning” or “losing”.

Making someone feel off balance is critical to a good sweep. Doh!

My guard should be a swamp that wears out my opponent.

…not only was the governor off the engine, but The General Lee was flying through the barn with its doors flying off!

I’m really psyched to read that my blog encouraged someone to start jiu jitsu.

I got one interesting sweep, but she pretty much controlled the pace and direction the entire time. She has a great way to bait me to give her what she wants.

I really like warmup drills that build the skills used during grappling.

My guard was a dark swamp today.

This was one of those days when I looked back on my jiu jitsu journey and realized how far I’ve come.

$14,515 Well Spent

I really strive for a Toyota Corolla kind of game. I want to get really, really good at a few dozen basic techniques that work for me often. They don't have to be flashy, but they need to get me where I want to go.

Practice Makes Less Shitty

I've apparently spent most of July breeding the next super-bug on my chin.

“Dude, no one dies at the end of this so relax”.

It’s easy for me to have great cardio when I’m playing a bottom game, but a lot more difficult when I’m on top.

My guard is a swamp

I've been training seven years or so and I've just finally worked up the courage to stop rolling when someone wants to be an idiot. Honestly, I wish I would have done it sooner because I probably would have avoided half my injuries.

I need to work on my scramble

I shake everyone's hand after class. This is not a formal ritual at Unit 2, but I think it's respectful to say thanks to the folks I was just training with.

Omapalatastic !

The best violinist in the world simply fixes his mistakes faster than the other violinists

I'm definitely coming back to NOLA BJJ next time I'm in New Orleans!

This, of course, led to a conversation about the 200+ pound spazzy white belts, and I was reassured to hear that no one else really enjoys training with them either.

Product Review: Lean Mean Gi Washing Machine

2011-01-05T00:00:00.001-05:00

Tonight was a rough class, so I decided to write about class at the end of this much lighter post about our new Lean Mean Gi Washing Machine.

Our New Washer/Dryer Combo Machine

You know you’re middle-aged and married when you look at your spouse three weeks before Christmas and you both say, “Let’s buy a washer/dryer and just call it Christmas”. The stackable washer/dryer in the house we bought this summer was sounding like an airplane taking off, and it wasn’t doing a good job of drying our clothes. To make matters worse, the washer vibrated so much that the neighbor in the town house next to us could feel his floor shake when we did the wash.

While we were in Thailand, we saw single unit washer/dryer machines, and were impressed by this innovative little machine. We liked the idea of having just one piece of equipment to both wash and dry our clothes. Open one door, press a few buttons, and the clothes come out both clean and dry. Its construction is more environmentally friendly (less raw materials) and we get the space above the washer/dryer unit for additional storage.

While I think these units may be more common in the EU and Asia, you can still get them as a special order in America.

While we purchased the LG All-In-One / Washer Dryer Combo (LGWM3987HW), it isn’t as simple as ordering a regular washer/dryer. The big box stores (Lowes, Best Buy, etc) didn’t have any washer/dryer combos on the floor or in the warehouse. This meant we had to research the various combo units on the internet and order a product sight unseen. It also meant that delivery took a couple of weeks.

The control panel is cool! You choose your wash cycle, spin cycle, soil level, and dryer settings when you load your clothes. It's literally "load and go".

Here are the pros for washing gis:

No need to transfer my gis from the washer into the dryer, which also means soaking wet gis don’t sit overnight or while I’m at work because no one is awake or at home to transfer them to the dryer
Three gis fit in the machine, and the machine does a good job of washing them
The machine has a “sanitize” setting, which is great for washing the stank and staph out of my gis!
The machine doesn’t use as much heat to dry clothes – which means less heat-related wear on my gis
Delayed start allows for gis to finish as I’m getting home from work or training
Uses a 110 volt plug and doesn’t require venting (moisture is condensed by the drying unit and pumped down the drain). This is ideal for an apartment dweller who doesn’t have the venting or 220-line required by most dryers
The unit plays a nifty little song when it’s done drying your clothes
The Energy Star label says it will only cost $14 a year to run this machine (Doubtful, but that is what the label says).

Cons:

\ \ While the LG WM3987HW will accommodate and wash three gis, the dryer component doesn’t have the capacity to dry such a big load. As a result, the gi pants come out a bit damp and need to be hung over chairs.
Oddly enough, the gi tops get dryer than the gi pants
Long cycle time(4 – 5 hours), though the delayed start helps with this
Expensive

And now for the news of the class:

Tonight was Chewbacca’s first night training after a 10-day holiday break. I was the lucky guy to be the first person to roll with him since his short break, and he apparently brought all of the anxiety and spazziness he’s been storing up for the past ten days.

Within the first couple minutes, he locks on a key lock and pops my elbow before I could tap (only one pop, thankfully). I lectured him briefly about calming down, but my elbow felt good enough to continue training. For the rest of our training set, he was visibly frustrated because I’d tap whenever he’d even come close to setting something up. At least I got to work on my pushups!

While my elbow feels okay, it’s slightly stiff. So I chose not to do pull-ups today.

Otherwise training was good.

How many visitors did my blog have in 2010?

2011-01-01T17:03:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Google Analytics I know the answer to this question (and many others I didn't ask).

I close my year by (a) reading every blog post from the past year, (b) drafting an annual review and goals for the upcoming year; and (c) analyzing the analytics for my blog. The three year analysis of my blog follows (1/1/10 – 12/31/10), and I will publish my annual review shortly.

Item	2008	2009	2010
Total Visitors	1,904 visitors	5,945 visitors	13,089 visitors
Number of subscribers	unknown	67 people	131 people
Direct hits	400 Visitors	988 Visitors	2,787 Visitors
Total page views	2,117 page views	9,935 page views	20,955 page views
Average page views per visitor	1.46 pages per visitor	1.67 pages per visitor	1.6 pages per visitor
Top Keyword Google Searches used to find my blog)	jiu jitsu blues BJJblues Omapalata BJJ Blues Jiu Jistu Blues Jiu Jitsu Mental BJJ escapes Passing the Guard Passing the Half Guard . Passing the open Guard	Jiu Jitsu Blues BJJ Blues 50/50 guard Bjjblues Pink gi Bjj neck hurts 50 50 guard Bjj purple belt path Easton BJJ Grapplers guide to sports nutrition	bjj blues jiu jitsu blues bjj quotes jiu jitsu quotes pink gi jiu jitsu gi pink toronto bjj review bjj nutrition easton bjj grapplers guide to sports nutrition
Top Referral Sources	Blogger (129 visitors) Slideyfoot blog (84 visitors) NHB Gear (32 visitors)	Sherdog.net (465) Blogger (356) Bjjblogs (305) Slideyfoot blog (215) Devbjj blog (73) Georgette Blog (65)	Blogger (951) Devbjj (558) Sherdog (503) Meerkat (486) Reddit (300) Slideyfoot (245) Stevebjj (223) Nhbgear (203) Surviving Training (201) Facebook (177)
Total U.S. Visitors	1,084 visitors	4,456 visitors	8,643 visitors
Top 5 States	Georgia (187 visitors) Pennsylvania (129 visitors) Maryland (9 visitors) California (5 visitors) Massachusetts (4 visitors)	Pennsylvania (1,123 visitors) California (737 visitors) New York (477 visitors) Georgia (289 visitors) Virginia (189 visitors)	Pennsylvania (1,914) California (1,257) Georgia (999) New York (857) Texas (406)
# of countries visitors represent	50 countries	75 Countries	93 Countries
Top 5 Countries	United Kingdom (105 visitors) Canada (70 visitors) Australia (46 visitors) Finland (12 visitors) Netherlands (11 visitors)	United Kingdom (384 visitors) Canada (319 visitors) Australia (165 visitors) Japan (66 visitors) Finland (48 visitors)	Canada (1,723) United Kingdom (781) Australia (155) New Zealand (155) Finland (123)
Bounce Rate	80.33% Bounce rate	78.2% Bounce rate	76.42%

First Time in Eight Years of Training

2010-12-18T23:42:00.000-05:00

For the first time in my eight years of training BJJ, I had a class where I didn’t tap at all. Not once.

If you read about my post-class conversation from my last blog post, I talked about the many variables that go into the Tap Tracker. I noted that a class full of bigger guys with really good technique means more tapping for me than a class of white belts.

Well, today, Traven only paired me up with white belts while training today. Some had a year or so of experience, some had only been training for a month.

Before I get flamed, let me say that I’m not bragging about my skill against white belts. But it was neat to walk out of the gym for the first time in my life and realize that I didn’t get submitted at all that day.

I took this opportunity to practice some closed guard sweeps I’ve been working on and maintaining mount after the sweep.

And so, here’s the updated Tap Tracker:

‘Tis the Season!

2010-12-14T23:24:00.000-05:00

We got back from a relaxing vacation last week only to find Holiday Madness in full swing. In the past five days, I’ve had four holiday parties. And in the next four days, I will have at least three more.

While I got to Unit2 for class on Saturday and open mat on Sunday, Holiday madness has kept me from blogging as much as I usually would. Nevertheless, Tap Tracker at the end of this post includes the past three times I've been at Unit2.

Black belt Armand led the class tonight and he started with two point positional sparring. We did five or ten minutes each from the closed guard, half guard, and mount. In each of these, it was painfully obvious that my bottom game is twice as good as my top game. Whenever I “lost” in the two-point drill, I did pushups (as if I had tapped). As a result, I did a lot of pushups tonight.

Following about half an hour of two-point drills, he showed us a very cool sweep from the closed guard when your opponent puts a knee through:

Starting from	Opponent in your closed guard with his right knee through your legs
Step 1:	Drop your left leg and re-lock your feet (so that you have his right ankle in your guard.
Step 2:	Using your right hand, pull his right hand across your torso
Step 3:	Sit up on your left elbow and sit all the way up toward your left side (not straight forward)
Step 4:	Keep going until you’ve swept your opponent

We drilled this for about ten minutes, and then did trained some more. There were only five folks in class, and Weeble Wobble was the next smallest guy in class (so the other three were pretty big).

Overall, though, good training interspersed by more pushups.