During open mat one day, I noticed a blue belt at the beginning of the session practicing an advanced move. An half an hour later, he was still practicing this move. He must've been doing the same move at least 100 times, just within that session.
One thing I want to convey the importance of to new jitsu practitioners is the importance of drilling. Drill until your mind aches and your moves are second nature. I can't stress enough how important this is. There comes a time when you will realize that even though you've trained the mount escape 100 times, you really need to do it a thousand more times to really become good at it and to do it without hesitation. And I don't even mean to drill a move while rolling, I mean to drill a move with a good training partner.
In my opinion there are 3 different types of mat time, all of which are important for learning. The most obvious is hard rolling, where you roll with an opponent and you are trying your best to submit your opponent. Although in some cases this might seem more like defending with all you've got. Either way this puts everything you've learned and seeing if it actually works and is a good way to measure your bjj growth. This is a culmination of your skills as measured against another bjj opponent.
Another type of mat time is where you roll at half speed. This is the perfect time to practice something new, to see how a new move works and learning how to flow and move than it is to measure your own growth. This is a time to measure what you're doing and why. I like to consciously take this time and think about why I'm doing something and if it really is the best thing to do. If anything, this might be more of a time to learn and expand your game.
The last type of mat time is practice and drilling. In my opinion, this isn't taken seriously enough. If you drill enough, moves and other related moves should become second nature, quick enough for your body to react before your mind even realizes what its doing.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Time to think about white and blue belt
I've had a lot of time to think with my recent surgery (as opposed to learning and getting mat time). I've started thinking about what the different belts represent, and how that translates for the practitioner.
Most of my reading on the web has described what the belts means, but I think you can go further and distill the meaning from the beginning to the end of the belt. This is of course coming from a relatively new blue belt, so it will be interesting to see what I will think of this post in the future.
When I first achieved white belt, it was painfully obvious that I had no experience and zero knowledge about bjj. I was a novice, and as such clearly learning the very basics in moves, positioning, and just how to play the game was the starting point. I still believed if I were faster or could hold on for longer, I could win or overpower a person for position. Clearly this was not the way.
When I became a more "advanced" white belt, I began to focus on knowing the basics. I had a very limited set of moves as well as a very crude and inelegant way of execution (as opposed to a purple belt or brown belt executing for a similar effect). In my opinion an "advanced" white belt will begin to subconsciously be aware of the importance for certain hand placements, or why you must maintain a certain position. An advanced white belt might not UNDERSTAND why, but they should at least know its important.
As a white belt, practicing the basic moves became second nature. The price I paid for this muscle memory however was boredom. As a new blue belt, I craved knowledge and learning new moves. As such I think my main focus now is ingesting new moves and how to execute the moves I do already know with more efficiency.
I refuse to think that being an advanced blue belt just means knowing more advanced moves. One of my instructors, Alex (a brown belt), at first glance appears to have a very "simple" game (although I'm sure he's doing things I'm not aware of). I say this only because 90% of the time he is tapping people out with a basic cross collar choke, or an armbar. Without perspective and hindsight, its hard to say what it is that I need to learn to be a more advanced blue belt. As a white belt, it was enough to recognize that you were in side control or that you were in guard or mounted, and that you had a basic set of moves to escape with. As a blue belt there are a lot more moves available to you. As such perhaps to be a more advanced blue belt means to have the knowledge to apply the best move at my disposal in response to what my opponent is doing in order to be in a better position. Put another way, I believe developing a good STRATEGY for BJJ is the name of the game in becoming an advanced blue belt. From what I can see, this is what separates advanced blue belts from those blue belts that just know a lot of "advanced" moves.
Most of my reading on the web has described what the belts means, but I think you can go further and distill the meaning from the beginning to the end of the belt. This is of course coming from a relatively new blue belt, so it will be interesting to see what I will think of this post in the future.
When I first achieved white belt, it was painfully obvious that I had no experience and zero knowledge about bjj. I was a novice, and as such clearly learning the very basics in moves, positioning, and just how to play the game was the starting point. I still believed if I were faster or could hold on for longer, I could win or overpower a person for position. Clearly this was not the way.
When I became a more "advanced" white belt, I began to focus on knowing the basics. I had a very limited set of moves as well as a very crude and inelegant way of execution (as opposed to a purple belt or brown belt executing for a similar effect). In my opinion an "advanced" white belt will begin to subconsciously be aware of the importance for certain hand placements, or why you must maintain a certain position. An advanced white belt might not UNDERSTAND why, but they should at least know its important.
As a white belt, practicing the basic moves became second nature. The price I paid for this muscle memory however was boredom. As a new blue belt, I craved knowledge and learning new moves. As such I think my main focus now is ingesting new moves and how to execute the moves I do already know with more efficiency.
I refuse to think that being an advanced blue belt just means knowing more advanced moves. One of my instructors, Alex (a brown belt), at first glance appears to have a very "simple" game (although I'm sure he's doing things I'm not aware of). I say this only because 90% of the time he is tapping people out with a basic cross collar choke, or an armbar. Without perspective and hindsight, its hard to say what it is that I need to learn to be a more advanced blue belt. As a white belt, it was enough to recognize that you were in side control or that you were in guard or mounted, and that you had a basic set of moves to escape with. As a blue belt there are a lot more moves available to you. As such perhaps to be a more advanced blue belt means to have the knowledge to apply the best move at my disposal in response to what my opponent is doing in order to be in a better position. Put another way, I believe developing a good STRATEGY for BJJ is the name of the game in becoming an advanced blue belt. From what I can see, this is what separates advanced blue belts from those blue belts that just know a lot of "advanced" moves.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Shoulder surgery
Its been about 19 days after shoulder arthroscopic surgery for loose ligament and for rotator cuff repair. I've been dealing with a damaged shoulder since September which has hampered my training/bjj life. Glad I've done it, although I'm very sad I can't continue training. I fear the most from the atrophy and loss of conditioning, but I'll probably be okay given a few months of cardio/strength training when I'm healthy.
First week was really really painful. Hard to sleep and do anything. Drugs helped but definitely still incredibly painful. This was mostly me sitting around doing nothing.
Second week was more tolerable but still very painful to move in the least bit. The follow up at 10 days was very encouraging, as the doctor tells me things are looking good and are going as expected. He said 3 months I'll feel fine, but at 4 months the tendons will be healed up. I hope this is true!
This week is starting to be more painful again since I started physical therapy yesterday. Shoulder is quite sore and tired from all the stretching and isometric moves. I really need to make sure I stay on top of the physical therapy that I need to do at home. My PT told me to start moving/using my arm more, and not worry about minor aches and pain. My body will tell me whats acceptable through PAIN, so I guess I'll try to use my arm a little bit more. I still have very little range of motion, but hopefully in the coming weeks this will all change. I'll let you know how things go in a few more weeks!
First week was really really painful. Hard to sleep and do anything. Drugs helped but definitely still incredibly painful. This was mostly me sitting around doing nothing.
Second week was more tolerable but still very painful to move in the least bit. The follow up at 10 days was very encouraging, as the doctor tells me things are looking good and are going as expected. He said 3 months I'll feel fine, but at 4 months the tendons will be healed up. I hope this is true!
This week is starting to be more painful again since I started physical therapy yesterday. Shoulder is quite sore and tired from all the stretching and isometric moves. I really need to make sure I stay on top of the physical therapy that I need to do at home. My PT told me to start moving/using my arm more, and not worry about minor aches and pain. My body will tell me whats acceptable through PAIN, so I guess I'll try to use my arm a little bit more. I still have very little range of motion, but hopefully in the coming weeks this will all change. I'll let you know how things go in a few more weeks!
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