Sophomore blues

Last night after class I made a personal observation of my game, which in turn led me to Google the phrase ‘ego and bjj.’ I found a great blog post that hit what I was feeling dead on the head. The post is by Sam aka: AngryGrappler, and is fittingly titled ‘Ego and Jiu Jitsu.’

AngryGrappler says:

“A lot of academies have mat rules, "leave your ego at the door." You hear it all the time in BJJ. Have no ego. My ego gets in the way. No ego no politics. But the thing is it's very hard! Because it's not a switch that you can turn off. It's something you have to try to accomplish every day. And it's hard! Because Jiu Jitsu is a sport, competitive, and it has winners and losers. That makes it hard not to care, even a little. I told myself since white belt, that I won't care if I get tapped or not. And I change my mind as soon as I get tapped! Nothing slows down your learning curve than ego. And it seems like the lower belts have more pride than some of the higher belts. On average people stay in blue belt longer than any other belt because of ego. I think it's like being the sophomore.”

I think there’s a whole lot of truth to this. I’m at the tail end of blue belt after 5 1/2 years of training and I’m struggling with ego. When I roll with lower ranked classmates, the drunken desire to control, dominate and win gets in the way of fluid movement and executing the most basic techniques. This in turn blocks the facilities necessary to learn. I also realized that fear is definitely at play here. Is this what the long-haired dude in The Last Samurai meant when he said “too many mind?” I think so. I’m thinking too much about winning, not winning and everything else in between.

As I spend my last days as a sophomore and beyond, I’m going to work on cherishing the lessons over anything else.

BJJ for life.

Kids Attend Royce Gracie Seminar

It has been a while since my last post. Not to say that I haven't been training. I just need to muster up enough motivation to transfer my notes from notebook to blog. Maybe over the weekend.

The good news is my children have been more consistent than I have been. They recently attended a Royce Gracie Seminar in Modesto, California. The seminar was held at a Charles Gracie Academy a few blocks from the house. Here are some cool pictures:

Dayna and Devon with two BJJ Legends

Group Picture. Notice the two Samurai Kimono Gis!

Devon working out near the UFC Hall of Famer

 

Technorati Tags: bjj,brazilian jiu-jitsu,royce gracie,charles gracie

Slow Down!

Every now and then I just absolutely forget all that I've learned in the last 4.5 years, throw it out the window and give in to the urge to grapple with pure aggression. This past Sunday was a day of just that. Rather then focusing on movement and position, I thought I could bull my way through one of my instructors to eventually tap him. If you understand the nature of the BJJ belt ranking system and the skill level required to achieve each rank, you know how unlikely it is for a blue-belt to submit a black-belt. Unless maybe the black-belt has had several bottles of wine and is sporting a broken leg!

This primal desire to smash everything in sight is actually a common dynamic all BJJ practitioners deal with. It comes from the internal need to win all the time. This is one of the most fascinating components of BJJ in my opinion. Dealing with the victories and defeats on the mat challenge the very core of the practitioner. Chris Story calls it 'Soul Searching'.

So here's what I learned last week (this post is one week late!):

• Slow down! (discussed above)
• Ankle pick from open guard position
• Passing the guard using a knee joust
• Stuffing the under hook as I pass the guard
• Side control is about moving and adjusting
• Know when to abandon a position and move to the next while defending
• Slow down! (needed to be mentioned again)

The power of fatigue

I remember having lunch with my first BJJ instructor Orlando Waugh (2nd degree black-belt) at a local Chili's about a year ago. We were talking about the importance of physical fitness and its relationship to my level of performance on the mat. The bottom line was that my physical fitness level would not support the performance level I was hoping for at the time. I'll never forget what he told me - "fatigue makes cowards of all men." Wow! What a revelation. A simple concept yet not so simple. I've always felt relatively mobile and sensitive on the mat but 4, 5, 10 minutes into a roll, my ability to perform escapes under a higher ranked student would go out the window. Being less skilled than the guy on top of you also adds to the helpless, exhausting and fearful feeling [fear is another post all together]

This will change over the next few months. To support my 2009 goals, I'm purchasing a treadmill to add some cardio to my training. In addition to rolling 3 times per week, I'll run and work basic lifts to help me survive a little longer while rolling with guys like my current instructor Chris Story. 

Mat Log - No mat time this week. Still in California visiting my kids. Planning.

My kids inspire me to try harder

Here are a few competition and highlight videos of my two children:

Dayna San Nicolas (current age - 14)

Devon San Nicolas (current age - 10)

Round 2 - A New Beginning

This isn't the first time I've started to blog about my experiences as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. The truth is it is my second time. Through the course of my short 4.5 years of training, the one universal truth I've learned about myself is how inconsistent I've been with my training and representation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in my life. With 2009 upon me, I've recommitted myself to the journey to black belt and have enlisted the help of some very close friends and training partners. I've realized the mental commitment for me stands to be the greatest challenge as I live a busy life. This blog represents my desire to hold myself accountable to my renewed commitment to achieve the rank of black belt in a martial art I enjoy with my children. t does black belt mean to me?

The first step in a long journey to know myself. Facing fear head on. Learning and evolving.

Mat Log - Today I have two stripes on my blue belt. Here we go.