My BJJ Journey

I have to say I have had a lot of fun over the last 3 mnths or so watching Jason Scully’s videos. Some really cool stuff and he explains things so well without any hype and in a very practical and down to earth manner.

I particularly like the series of videos which show you x number of guard passes, submissions or escapes etc.. The most recent one http://grapplersguide.com/guard-sweeps/ – its a lot to take in- too much in fact and ruins your game if you try to implement everything. Had some great advice yesterday “take one thing and perfect it” something I haven’t really be doing rather I’ve been watching a full DVD without even trying any of the moves and then expecting them to come easy and disregarding the technique “since it doesn’t work for me”. Rather naive I know but need to keep this lesson in the forefront of my mind.

Jason’s approach is excellent – he’s doing a much more softer sell than Lloyd and it would be interesting to know which one is more effective. I suppose in BJJ we say don’t muscle it it’ll come naturally……

Was feeling under the weather during my last training session and once again found myself passing my opponent’s guard only to be reversed into side mount which sapped all my energy trying to escape. The hatmaker’s DVDs had overloaded my brain and all of a sudden my standard escapes didn’t work. Hadn’t eaten meat in the afternoon – found it slowed me down immensely … strangely I’ve found too much eating ends up making me feel weak and drained. Looked into this and found various thoughts on what to eat and when to eat but the overall lesson was listen to your body since only you know it.



Wisdom for this week is don’t become a “jack of all trades master of none”.

Let’s be honest most people hate a salesman and I’m no exception. They make promises and come out with a ton of claims which to some extent aren’t totally true.

I know I’ve spoken about the marketing strategies of Lloyd Irving in the past but I have to give credit were credit is due. Check out his bio at the http://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/lloyd-irvin.

Much of his stuff is hyped up but you have to admit the man has a knack for producing winners. He must be doing something right to have created champions like JT and Fowler. I love the mousetrap video and am impressed with the general professionalism of his gang.

As an individual he really has gone for it – can you imagine going up against the likes of the Gracies to create his own brand of BJJ and managing to totally obliterate them through shear hard work and discipline.

His investment in himself is probably his greatest strength – if he’d just hold back a little on the hype and bravado he’d be all the more impressive.

I never really believed it… “those blues and purples just want to keep me down. They don’t want to give me their real secrets – they want to stay on top.”

Strangely enough now I’m saying the same thing “You need to understand each position and control your opponent before you’re going to be able to submit them”.

‘I have seen too many blue belts begin their journey into submission too soon and often become frustrated because they just can’t finish their opponent. They get so close, but they often fail at finishing their opponent. This usually leads the blue belt to seeking out more and more submission techniques. He thinks that the “new” and “sneaky” techniques will make him more skilled at submissions. ‘ (Roy Harris)

All the fancy stuff, all the learning of new techniques, all the counters etc.. aren’t worth squat if you can’t hold a position. Getting a position is one thing but keeping it is another. I’d love to tap everyone but I’ve found time and time again that I end up losing a dominant position only to be dominated myself. Here’s the point – if I’d understood how to hold the position and stop my opponent from escaping I would have got a submission.

It’s difficult to know if this is the one reason why I don’t get as many submissions as I’d like to but it definitely contributes to me losing opportunities for taps. Until the next time – Take care on your journey from White to Black – Happy Rolling !!

Each year I’ve been training has had a theme.

• Year 1 – The year of rolling and being used as a wrestling partner !!
• Year 2 – The year of Youtube and being used as a wrestling dummy !!!
• Year 3 – The year of having a coach and going into temporary wrestling retirement !!

I’m not quite sure what this year has to hold but looking around me I’ve noticed for everyone else its the Year of Muscle. But me, I believe Jujitsu is not about strength or else you wouldn’t have a 68kg individual submitting opponents of over 100kg – the whole idea behind BJJ is to beat a bigger stronger opponent due to your level of skill.

Training does require strength no doubt about it but to waste your efforts on simply muscling up will hinder your game especially if your techniques are only working due to your extra strength.

Black belts roll in a relaxed fashion – more like a dance than a fight – many of them do Yoga or Pilates or Tai Chi to counter the hardness of BJJ. BJJ is a sport of thinking not forcing. If you know how to move well you can quite easily overcome size and strength to submit your opponent with ease. If you want to progress to purple, brown and black this evolution in thinking and rolling needs to take place.

The other issue with strength training is “overtraining”. Training BJJ three times a week and then doing weights three times a week along with work and a family is a very tough schedule and is almost certainly going to end up in an injury which will in turn mean you’re off the mats for a few days, weeks and possibly months.

You need to recover from training just as much as you need to train and the older you are the longer you need !!! My motto is stay safe and stay fit !!!!

This year so far has been one of improvement. I’ve changed the way I think of BJJ immensely. This sport is more than going head to head with another man its about going head to head with yourself – you really do need to reflect on yourself rather than your coach or your partners only then will true enlightenment come – in the words of Roy Dean “the game changes” and he didn’t say this just once so I’m pretty sure I’m only on the first stage !!!

Short post I know but something I felt I needed to share…..

This is a question that has haunted me for erm… years now – yes I’ve been trainingin BJJ for about 2-3 years on and off.

Why is it I can’t submit easily?

• I’ll occasionally catch a newby in a submission.
• I find I’m too “one dimensional” with my submission attempts.
• I don’t really train submissions that much. I just like to roll around, sweep, defend, escape, etc…
• I feel scared of losing an advantageous position.

We know that competing pushes us to be in better physical shape and whether we win or lose we always learn more about our jiu-jitsu.

The question in the headline was posed as part of the poll at Podcast Poll and is a very valid question. A good instructor is not always good at competing – if your instructor is over 50 for instance he may have the technique but the sheer stamina and power required to fight a 25 year old may mean he’s decided to abstain from competition – even if his game is at a signicantly higher technical level.

Your instructor is almost certainly a black belt- so is almost certainly going to be matched up with very, very atheletic individuals who probably train twice a day – if instructing is not his only job he’s going to be pushed to prepare well. Be aware of his limitations and don’t judge him without empathising with his situation.

Generally students are motivated when their instructors compete – just think about the way we learn BJJ – it’s pretty much modeling the instructor’s movements during the demo and then drilling them with any details or obvious problems being pointed out by the coach. If the instructor doesn’t have any awards or prizes from their personal BJJ Journey  or is unable to compete now we obviously won’t have anything to emulate.

BJJ is unlike other sports that can get away with coaches who simply instruct their pupils; it’s much more hands on and requires a feel for the move. It’s a lot more than just directing students rather its getting students to adapt a move to their own particular body and the body of their opponent – pretty impossible to teach if you aren’t able to do or don’t know the move yourself.

Recently met up with an old training partner one who as always given me awesome advice on how to move my game up. You always find there are a few people you meet who are worth their weight in gold – you ask them a question and they respond in terms you understand – if you come across a BJJ practitioner like this listen very carefully and you’ll get some of the detail that you’ll miss during your normal training sessions with your instructor.

One piece of advice which I’ll share is how strength and power eventually will meet its match so your technique needs to be so much better than your opponent. Also don’t assume or be led to believe – muscle is being used when really its technique – which you are yet to master.

Be careful of listening to the nay sayers who claim anyone better than them or generally fitter than them is only using strength – judge each individual from their interaction with you and the advice they give to you – if you can’t do a technique well don’t immediately blame it on your lack of stamina or power.

Creating openings and getting positions sets you up for the submission – I now realise that and retract on my critiscm of “position before submission” as my understanding of BJJ has developed I feel I’m starting to “get” what the more advanced guys used to say…. I stand corrected !!

Be mindful of what others say and take benefit from the good traits of all those around – be they white belts, purple, brown or black. Take the good and leave the rest !!!! Good rolling to your all !

A lot of people think of protein shakes as magically adding mucles and facilitating weight loss.  However it may actually increase your calory intake especially if you’re taking the protein shake on top of your meal. Worse still if you’re not training you’ll gain weight instead !!! Protein shakes are not a magic potion.

One problem I’ve suffered in the past was problems with my digestive system – having too much protein and not enough fibre will contribute to constipation or possible lactose intolerance.  To make matters worse extended periods of time eating protein shakes make it more likely to suffer from diverticulitis or an elevated risk of colorectal cancers. Add fibre to your diet to reduce these risks.

Heart Disease chances will also rise due to the full-fat dairy productes that are used.  It’s recommended to adhere to  a high-protein diet for a maximum of three months. Liver and Kidney damage is much more likely though since they have to work overtime to eliminate protein by-products. This may over a period of time damage the liver or kidneys.

Came across a fantastic site 365 days of BJJ. Just imagine that being able to train 365 days a year !! With all our commitments and the like it really is difficult just getting 2 days a week – I can see a lot of similarities with me and the person in this blog and feel I need to make some fundemnetal changes to be really successful. I’ve been training possible 2-3 years over the last 4 -the lack of consistency has held me back – something I hope not to allow happen again.

I thnk I’m just like the person in the blog – I hold back ! Hopefully I will try to change this in the future – if I know a move or submission I need to try it – past instruction has not helped since it seems very much an individual development stage that one has to break through with the instructor simply as a guide.