Just Another Perspective On Life

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 20, Week 15, Month 4) and How I Sprained My Thumb

2010-06-30T16:29:00.002-05:00

Oh the joys of Jiu-Jitsu!

Last night was my first night back to training after a short break due to back pain. My back was/is at about 90% with some minor pain in my right shoulder and neck.

My MMA Fitness class went well. I worked pretty hard and the movement and activity was actually good for the pain. By the time I got to Jiu Jitsu I was feeling pretty good. We did a fair amount of stretching and then some rolling and shrimping before jumping into it.

Eduardo was out.

Shawn was out.

So, Sunny, a brown belt whom I worked with before and really enjoyed learning from, took the reins and began class. Helping him was Tom, a purple belt, whom I have also worked with several time. He was the one that slammed me onto my back last week and has a way of teaching correct technique through action, not words. He took class up in Clearwater yesterday so he knew what techniques we’d be working on this week. He demonstrated the first move with Pete, a purple belt whom I have worked with once or twice, and then we partnered up. I partnered with Pete and he did a great job of helping me learn the new techniques.

It was a small class and so Sunny was able to come around to give everyone personal attention. Between him and Pete, I feel like I got some really good instruction last night.

We learned a collar choke…

With your opponent in turtle position (basically on all fours, almost curled into a ball), hug their back, from their left side, your would have your left arm over their left shoulder, and your right arm wrapped around their back, tucked up under their right arm pit. Your hand will be clasped in the general vicinity of their chest.

At this point, with them on their knees and elbows, be sure to keep your weight down and in on them. So, your chest would be on the left side of their back, your right leg tucked in against their leg, your left leg sprawled out, out of reach of their left hand.

You’ll then use your left hand to feed the left side of their Gi collar to your right hand, grab the collar, thumb on the inside, and not too deep (remember, you are using their collar to choke them, not your arm).

Next, with your left hand, cup their left forearm and pull it in towards their knees so they do not have use of it. Sprawl your legs and begin moving to your left, around their head. Keep your hips as low as possible and put pressure on their left shoulder to keep them immobilized. As your are passing around them begin pulling, applying pressure to the choke. Drop your head down to your left, now the right side of their head, and wait for the tap.

Next, we learned a choke from the crucifix position.

I have seen this done before, but never had I been on either end of a crucifix. It really is a strange feeling not being able to do anything.

From the same position you started the last technique from…them in turtle, you hugging their back, hands clasped…

From the left side, bring your right knee up under their left arm, pushing it out and away from their body. Then bring your left leg around and pass it over top of their left arm, then under it, trapping their arm, with your legs now in a triangle position.

Cup your right hand around their right forearm, or grab the sleeve if you need to. You’ll now use your left hand for balance, as a brace, to kind of shimmy your way to your right so that your chest is over the middle part of their back.

Next, you will jump over their back and roll. Keep a hold of both of their arms. The left arm should be trapped in your left. Your right arm should now be wrapped inside of elbow to inside of elbow. As you come around be quick to grab the back of your head with your right hand. This will trap their right arm making it difficult to grab their own Gi and stifle the choke attempt.

Now, you are on your back, with their back on your chest. Keep a hold over everything! Shrimp out away from them a little bit so that their shoulder blades are resting on your chest and stomach.

With your left arm, reach around their neck and grab their right collar.

Pull the choke tight as your roll them back up onto your chest. Tighten and repeat if necessary. They aren’t going anywhere. Since they are being choked and won’t be able to talk or have use of either of their arms, it is a good idea for them to tap with their foot.

Our drills went well. I am surprised, however, my esophagus is not sore from being choked so many times.

Next we tried to take what we had just learned and put it into practice. I started in turtle and Pete tried to submit me while I tried to get him in full our half guard. He definitely improved since the last time I worked with him. He is getting really good and I gained a lot of respect for him not just for his Jiu Jitsu abilities, but for his patience and abilities to teach while rolling. He wasn’t trying to prove to me each time how much better he was. He let me try things. He told me when I did something wrong, and when I did something well.

Then, he got in turtle and I began trying to apply these new techniques. They never work out the way you practice them and there is, as I have said before, a big difference between step b step drills and full speed rolling.

My night ended early when I was taken off balance and tried to brace my fall by putting out my right arm. I landed thumb first, the point of my thumb straight into the mat. I heard a crack. I watched my thumb bend in a direction that was unnatural.

I think the shock of it got me more than anything at first, but then the pain set in and it was a lot to bare. I felt a little nauseous and a little dizzy and it took a while to catch my breath. Then the cold set in. I must have looked pretty bad because the receptionist, Kathy saw me and was immediately concerned. She gave me some Advil and after hanging out for a little while, drinking fluid, and calming down, I was able to drive to Walgreen’s to get a brace, and then head home.

On a side note…five minutes after my injury, Tom dislocated his pinky. It looked way worse than my thumb, but they were able to pop it back into place for him and I am sure he will be in class next week.

I was able to go to my strength training class this morning and plan to still make it to my kickboxing class on Friday. I just won’t punch with my right arm.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too serious. I got it checked out today and there was no bone damage or ligament damage…just a really good sprain. I am in a thumb brace now and will probably remain that way for a while.

This does, however, make me question my decision to do Jiu Jitsu. I know this is just one of many injuries that are going to happen over the years and I wonder if I am still willing to put forth the effort it is going to take and if I am prepared for the injuries. I’ve read other peoples’ Jiu-Jitsu blogs and they always seem to be just coming back from an injury. I don’t want that to be me.

Time will tell. I still have a strong desire to be good at Jiu-Jitsu, and be a part of the Gracie Barra Team. I just still want to be able to come home and play with my son afterwards. That’s hard to do when you are constantly having back pain, or toe pain, or hand injuries.

I think I will still go observe classes for the next couple weeks until this is healed. Perhaps I can still pick up some good training tips and burn a few calories through osmosis.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 19, Week 14, Month 4)

2010-06-28T16:11:00.000-05:00

I’m just now getting around to writing about last Tuesday’s class. Las week was an odd one for work and other things. My friend and I started out MMA Summer Small group at the youth group I volunteer for. We both have a martial arts background and so we are teaching some basic MMA/Self Defense moves to a group of middle schoolers on Wednesday nights and high schoolers on Thursday nights for the next 5 weeks. The MMA stuff is just to give them something fun to do and a way for us to get to know them better. We are also going through and doing a study on the story of Elijah…who I think would have been pretty bad ass in the octagon. I’d love to see Elijah vs. John the Baptist. Those guys were rough and tough.

Apparently, I need to be a little more careful though…not to keep from hurting the kids, but to keep from hurting myself. I did something, or something was done to me, that caused some pain on the upper left quadrant of my back. As the night progressed the pain spread across my back and down my spine. I spent Thursday in quite a bit of pain, but was able to make it to my chiropractor who popped my Atlas back in place and made some other adjustments. I thought it best to take it easy for a little while and skipped my Friday kickboxing class and Saturday Jiu Jitsu class. Now, it is Monday and I am itching to get back to the gym, but I still have some annoying back pain, this time on the upper right side of my back, mostly in my shoulders and neck, but it is slowly going away. I am hoping to be ready for class tomorrow night.

Anyway, last Tuesday’s class went pretty well, as I recall.

We learned/drilled the pendulum sweep and also a transition to arm lock if the pendulum sweep is blocked.

Pendulum Sweep

Perhaps it is good that I am writing this almost a week later. I really have to go back and remember now.

Starting in full guard…

Grab the opponents left Gi sleeve around the eblow. As your body turns, legs moving clockwise to the right, slide your arm through your oponents legs and hook the thigh with your left arm. At the same time, your right leg will will extend out to the right. Your left leg will move up under there right arm. Then, you right leg will move back towards the opponent, in a pendulum motion. Use the momentum from the moving leg to roll your opponent to your right. You should end up in full mount.

Key points to remember

Control one elbow and reach deep to the inside of the leg your opponent lifted up
Open your legs and move your head close to the knee on the same side
Bring the leg under the armpit and the other leg out wide
Sweep your leg down that is wide open and the other leg under the armpit down to the floor simultaneously and get the mount position

If, when you start to roll your opponent over, they block by bracing themselves with their left leg, then you already have their left arm, can throw your left leg over their back, followed by your right leg, extend thir left arm, squeeze your legs, and lift your thighs and you’ve got them in a great arm lock. Enjoy the feeling of them tapping.

Sparring

We finished up drill with over 30 minutes left in class so we sparred quite a bit. I started out on the mat and let a few guys pass my guard. I had trouble because I was more concerned with trying to do what we had just learned than I was with actuall stopping them from passing my guard. Regardless, it was a good workout. I spent a few round on the mat, then worked on passing their guard. Tom, a purple belt I have worked with before actually lifted me up as he was sweeping me, and slammed me on my back. As painful as it was, it was awesome to see how quickly he was able to move and how much power he was able to apply in such a short span of sapce and time. I was more impressed than I was beaten. I found myself matched against him again sohrtly after than and gave him a much more challenging roll…I think.

I hope we continue to work on guard techniques. I feel like I have gotten some great lessons the last couple weeks and I want to continue to work on these skills so that I can actually apply them.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 18, Week 13, Month 4)

2010-06-21T18:44:00.000-05:00

Class on Saturday was pretty good. It was challenging both because of the heat and because we were learning techniques from positions I have spent little to no time in. I’m not even sure if I can explain them in writing at this point. I am going to look for some videos online to illustrate the moves.

Basically, we learned a technique to get out of a choke from behind, when seated on the ground. We also learned 2 return to full guard techniques from the ground.

We did drills pretty much the whole class…all the way until noon when class was supposed to be over. Eduardo then randomly(?) picked people from the class to do a 5 minute roll. I had been holding up just fine to that point. About 2 minutes into the roll I was done! However, I couldn’t stop and after the 5 minutes was up I thought I was going to pass out. I did, however, make it all the way to the end of class, bowed out, and did the usual end of class routine. But, it was tough.

As far as my roll went, I think it could have gone better, but overall I was pleased with it. I do need to work on taking the initiative in the roll and become the aggressor. Too often I just wait to react to whatever the other person is doing which means I am rarely working from a dominant position. But, things are starting to happen a teeny-tiny bit more by muscle memory and I am excited about that.

On a side note, I got my official Gracie Barra Gi last week and was able to wear it to Saturday’s class. It fits much better than my generic brand cheap Gi and I think I am able to move around a bit easier in it.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 17, Week 13, Month 4) & Why I Am Studying Martial Arts

2010-06-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

So I am entering into my fourth month of Jiu Jitsu this week. It has been an interesting ride so far. I still feel completely out of my comfort zone every class I attend. If Jiu-Jitsu were a foreign language, I could say, “Hi, How are you.” “I’m fine thanks.” “My name is Rob.” “Where is the bathroom.” And, “My Jiu-Jitsu not so good.” I basically have to force myself to go and there have only been a few times that I really looked forward to being there. Thoughts of quitting constantly come up and it seems like it would just be much easier to start some sort of stand up training like Muay Thai or Karate. But no, this is the challenge I chose for myself. This is discomfort that I need to overcome and this is something that I need to prove to myself that I can do…and do well. After all, it’s only really been 17 days…that’s not even enough time to form a new habit. I will press on. I will get better. I will get good. And, I will pass on this knowledge to other people when the time is right. I’m still intrigued by the philosophy of Jiu-Jitsu. I’m still amazed at the physical and mental strength that good practitioners of Jiu-Jitsu possess. And, I am still attracted to the idea of the Gracie Barra team/family.

I thought it would be good, at this point, to share with you, and to review myself, why I am pushing myself to continue to do this; why I started this journey in the first place, and why I must continue to work hard; why this is a long journey and not just a passing interest. Below is an outline I put together early this year to really lay out the WHY of starting on this fitness/martial arts marathon. I needed to know the underlying reasons why I was going to commit myself to something and sacrifice time with family/friends, time I could commit to FUSE youth group or the church in general, and of course, the financial sacrifice. I try to keep these thoughts in my head each time I go to the gym or hit the mats. And, so far, it has helped to keep me motivated, focused and disciplined.

From February 2, 2010...

Why do I want to study martial arts?

Personal

physical fitness: to be in the best shape of my life
improved self-image and self-confidence
ability to focus
discipline

to do what is right even when it is not what is easy
to be willing to do what other people aren't even when it seems like it will hurt or be too difficult

Marriage

to be more attractive to my spouse
2, 3, 4 from 'Personal'

Parenting

to give my son a concrete example of how to work hard to achieve goals
to teach him the importance of taking care of your own body
to be something we can do together when he is older

Work

to learn how to deal with stressful situations physically so I can deal with them more easily in the work environment as well
to keep my mind sharp
to remember the importance of setting, striving for, and achieving goals
2,3, and 4 from 'Personal'

God/Church

to start a FUSE fitness class to teach youth basic martial arts skills and give them a place where they can learn physical fitness in a safe and fun environment
to build relationship with more youth through the FUSE fitness program
to help FUSE grow
to teach youth how not to fight

Now…last night’s class.

Eduardo was out. He was in New Port Richey “expanding the empire” as Shawn put it. One of his black belts has opened (or is opening) a new school and Eduardo was up there helping that to become a reality. It’s pretty exciting to see that there is a big enough demand for Jiu Jitsu that new schools are still opening. I think it continues to prove that Jiu-Jitsu is here to stay.

We started out with some light yoga to get stretched out for class. Then, we did a few minutes of guard passing to loosen up. We focused the whole night on working from the guard…thank God, because this is exactly what I feel I need to be working on right now. I don’t know if there are names to the techniques we worked. I will try to describe them the best I can.

The first sweep we learned, if you can call it that, is one that’s gotten me a few times. The first few times I sparred after learning a standing guard pass, I kept trying to stand and pivot my way around their leg. But, before I could get one arm around their leg and grab their Gi lapel, I would end up on the ground with them on top of me. I learned how to defend it, but never learned how to do it. When your opponent stands to try to break your close guard, open your guard slide your knees down towards each other so that they are together and the tops of your feet are resting on their back. Then, grab both their ankles, push your hips up so that your knees go into their stomach/chest, and pull their ankles up towards you. BOOM…down they go. It’s simple, and old school, and can be quite affective.
People tend to think that they have to keep the guard closed to do anything and if their guard gets opened then they are bound to get passed. One of the main things when working from the open guard is to keep control of the opponent’s hips. This can be done by simply placing your feet on their hips. But, this is Jiu-Jitsu, and no one is going to just let you control their hips with your feet. So, they are going to move from side to side to try and pass the guard. To combat this, keep one foot on their hip and the other foot behind the knee of their trailing leg. So, if someone is standing above you and your guard is open, your feet on this hips, and they begin to try to move around your right leg by moving to their left, then you would keep your right leg on their hip and your left leg behind (hooked) their right knee.
Knowing that they simply cannot run around your leg and into side control, they might try to grab one leg and throw it to the side. Let’s say they grab your right leg and throw it to their right (they aren’t going to throw it to their left, after all, because they put themselves in a position for you to close the guard on them again). When your right leg gets thrown to the left, and they consequently move to their left to get into side control, a quick swivel of the hips to bring your left foot to their left hip can stop them from taking side control and give you control of their hips again.
Being able to block someone’s advance around your guard is only going to get you so far. You’ve got to be able to do SOMETHING from this seemingly inferior position on your back. Using the initial technique from number 2 above, let the person come around you, keeping the one foot on the hip and the other foot securely hooked behind their leg. As they come around, let them get closer to you by bending the leg that is on their hip. You can then reach out and grab the leg at the ankle. Next, slide the left foot from behind the knee down to their right ankle. From there, pull in with your left leg and right hand (which is on their left ankle, remember), and push out with your right foot against their left hip. BOOM…they fall down. You keep hold of the right ankle, technical stand up, come around to their left side and securely hold their ankle; straighten their left leg and keep it securely against you. Now who’s in the dominate position?!
Using the technique in number 3 you can also successfully sweep your opponent using an ax sweep. After they throw your leg and you swivel your hips and get your left foot on their left hip, you are in perfect position to grab their left ankle with your right hand. And, you right leg show already be between their legs, or in a position where you can quickly get it between their legs. At the point, you can simultaneously push their hip, pull their ankle, and sweep their other ankle. BOOM…down they go. Keep hold of the ankle, technical stand up, come around to their left side and securely hold their ankle; straighten their left leg and keep it securely against you. You’re the man!

We drilled these techniques quite a bit. And, instead of straight up sparring we did a couple different things. The main point Shawn was trying to get across to us was that controlling your opponents hips is the main point of the guard. What you do with your hands is secondary. So, once person lay on the ground and defended with their legs, just their legs, while the other person tried to pass their open guard from a standing position with only one hand. Then, the person on the ground got to use one hand, and the person standing got to use both hands.

I feel like I did fairly well with this against the two guys I ended up drilling with last night. This was a good start to some focused guard passing/defending practice.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 16, Week 12, Month 3)

2010-06-09T19:38:00.000-05:00

I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but I guess until I get in Jiu-Jitsu shape, it’s going to keep happening that class is going to be hard and exhausting. I, again, ended last night’s class with the faint/puke feeling. I had a really hard time catching my breath. Including Jiu-Jitsu classes I work out 5 times a week and will occasionally run on Sundays. I thought, for sure, after a few months of this schedule my cardio would be up and I’d be able to make it through a sparring session without dying. But, Jiu-Jitsu isn’t running, and it’s not like my fitness classes either. It’s its own beast and I am starting to think that the only way to get in shape for Jiu-Jitsu is to do more Jiu-Jitsu…which certainly couldn’t hurt. Well, it would most definitely hurt, but it…well…you know what I am saying.

Eduardo is back from the World’s and teaching his classes again. We continued our work on the arm lock, omo plata and triangle. Adding the triangle was new for me, but those three generally go together in training.

I worked with purple belt Tom again last night. We started out with some standing hip throws then got down on the mats and worked the “three wise-men” (I think that’s what it’s referred to as). I’ve pretty much written out what each of the techniques are so I will just say that we went from the arm lock straight into the omo plata, then right into a triangle. It was cool to do it that way. Not only do you get the feeling for each technique, but you get to practice stringing submission attempts together. This, I imagine, is what I should be doing when I spar…and what I will be doing when I have enough techniques readily available in my head and all this stuff moves from my conscious mind to muscle memory.

I did ok in sparring. I ended up on the mat for about 4-5 different people in a row and was extremely tired after that. Some purple belts whooped up on me. Then I spared with Rob, another white belt, and after that I was done. I was laid out on one of the mats just trying to get air in my lungs and oxygen to the rest of my body. Good times!

It’s weird going back and forth from the confident to humble feelings. I feel very confident in my MMA fitness class and I know I am one of the strongest, hardest working people in the class. I’m also pretty confident through warm-ups and drills in Jiu-Jitsu. As soon as I get to sparring though, I lose all confidence in myself and it doesn’t seem to matter how hard I try; I, many times, end up on the losing end of things. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not getting down on myself. I understand that it takes time to feel comfortable on the mat and I know there are no losers in training. After all, we are all one GB team and we are all there to help each other get better. Perhaps in my “losing” I am giving someone else the confidence they need to continue their training? Maybe! And, if so, then that’s a good feeling.

I know that if I stick with this that someday I will be good. And, I know that I can do a lot of good with these skills and the knowledge/philosophy of Jiu-Jitsu…and that’s why I keep going back for more pain and bruising and humiliation (seriously, I must have 6-10 new bruises on my arms and legs right now).

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 15, Week 11, Month 3)

2010-06-07T16:46:00.000-05:00

Saturday was HOT!!!

If Tuesday was one of the toughest classes I’ve had thus far, Saturday was, by far, the hottest class I’ve had. I’m starting to understand why people wanted to start learning Jiu-Jitsu without a Gi. But, I’m a traditionalist, or something, so I have to stick with the Gi.

Eduardo was away at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships in California so Mike taught the class. Mike is a Brown belt and also holds a Black belt in Judo. He teaches Judo classes at GBC as I’ve mentioned before.

For drills, we continued, as promised, with arm lock drills. I don’t know why, but I really like this move. I guess because it just feels like a very fluid movement from start to finish. We practiced it slow for 5 minutes each. I worked with a 4-stripe white belt named Lennon who I have worked with before. This guy is awesome! He is very technically proficient. You can tell he takes pride is doing Jiu-Jitsu the right way. Anyway, we each went through it slow, then again at a faster pace. The idea was to go the full 5 minutes at a good speed, back and forth from left to right, without stopping. So, while practicing the move, we were also getting a bit of an ab, leg, and cardio workout. I enjoyed it.

Then, we stayed with our partners and did two 5 minute sparring sessions. The person on bottom would stay on bottom the whole time. We would roll until someone tapped, the person on top passed the guard, or the person on bottom took the top position. Lennon kicked my butt from both sides. I felt pretty helpless, and convinced that I really need to work on my guard. Running through it later on, I realized I knew some techniques that I should have been practicing, but completely forgot at the time. I need to really sit down and start mapping out what techniques can be used from what positions because, at this point, my brain still isn’t processing everything fast enough.

After sparring we were done and I was totally done! I couldn’t even bow out, I thought I was going to pass out or puke. Why was it so hot? Well, besides the fact that GBC lives in a garage in a small industrial park, the fans that normally circulate the air around the training room caused the breaker box to start smoking at the beginning of class. So, we had one fan over by the observation area and it wasn’t moving the air around to well on its own. 32 ounces of water was not even close to enough to last the whole hour.

It was a good class. And, just as before, despite a tough class, I am looking forward to the next one.

There is also a Sunday class in the works so I might be able to get some extra work in that way…but it would mean leaving church on Sunday right after the service ends and I really enjoy taking our time getting out of there; talking to friends, building relationships with our church family. So, we shall see how it works out. Despite my excitement for Jiu-Jitsu, I have to remember to keep God, and my faith, my primary focus. I also need to remember to keep inviting God into my Jiu Jitsu training. Part of the reason I am learning this stuff is so I can then teach it to youth as a way to teach them respect, and discipline, and to prevent them from getting in fights, but also to teach the correlation of physical warfare versus spiritual warfare. It’s going to be a long road to get there and that’s why I need to continually remind myself why I am putting myself through this.

On a side note, I should be getting my GB Gi soon and I am very excited about that. I’ll feel like more a part of the team.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 14, Week 11, Month 3)

2010-06-02T16:29:00.000-05:00

I.Am.Tired!

Last night’s class was one of the most physical classes I think I’ve had to date. But, it started out so nice.

I was already pretty beat part way through my MMA Fitness class and was pondering whether I should even go to Jiu-Jitsu last night. Obviously, I had to. And, I am glad I did, but, man! what a night.

Most every Jiu-Jitsu practitioner will agree that the techniques I am about to describe are must have/must know techniques. Because of this, I think we are going to be drilling them for the next couple weeks, at least. The more you drill the techniques, the better the chances you’ll be able to actually use them. Eduardo said he practiced these for 30 days straight when he was learning them and was sick of them by the end of that time. But, he could do them without even thinking from that point to now.

Here we go…

1. Arm Lock: This is pretty much just what it sounds like. You are locking your opponents arm and applying pressure to the joints (shoulder, elbow, wrist). In this instance, we used our legs to lock our opponents arm. From the full-guard, take the opponent right sleeve (at the wrist) with your left hand. Your right hand reaches under their left arm and hooks the outside of their right tricep. You then pull their right arm down and towards you, ideally in the middle of your body so that their elbow is on the middle of your stomach and the hand is just below your chin. Next, your left leg will drop to their right hip, your right leg will come up over their left shoulder so that your shin is perpendicular to the rest of your body (toes pointed to your left). Then, reach up with your right hand to pull their head down toward your body (to stabilized them and hopefully keep them from escaping). Now, swivel your hips around so that your butt is pointing to the left. At the same time, your left leg will come off their hip and go over the back of their neck. Now, both your legs are over the opponents and should be parallel to each other. Their right arm should still be in the same position running up the middle of your torso. Squeeze your legs together to lock the arm in, move both hands to their wrist and apply pressure.

In this drill we took it pretty easy. We went back and forth to each arm just practice the movement into the arm lock. We did not apply pressure to the joint so I can’t really describe the pain, but I am pretty sure it’s going to hurt like hell if done correctly.

I felt good doing this drill. The movement felt fluid and I actually enjoyed the repetition of doing it over and over. My partner, Lance, a blue belt, was easy to work with. And, though it isn’t much fun being the recipient of the arm lock, I would gladly do it in order to get equal time applying the arm lock.

2. Omo Plata: This technique is a little more difficult to describe. It is basically a shoulder lock where you use your body as the lever to apply pressure to the shoulder. Getting into position to apply this technique has a lot of little movements. I am not 100% confident in my ability to describe them at this point. So, I am going to refer to someone who does. And, hopefully in the coming weeks, I can write my own description. Here is a good article on the Omo Plata.

I think I got it, but there is way too much thinking involved for me to actually attempt this move for real. Someday, though, I believe it will come in handy.

After drills, we sparred. This wasn’t our usual sparring session where we kind of practiced what we learned. This was all out sparring starting from our knees and ending when someone tapped. Everyone in the class got a good workout. Personally, I got absolutely beat up. We started with the higher ranking belts on the mat. I may have sparred one other white belt, but he is about 2 seconds away from his blue belt. And, there was a purple belt in the class who I had not seen before that was really good. Usually the higher belts will take it a bit easy to let us white belts practice a bit, but I didn’t feel that was the case last night. I got hit with arm bars, triangles, chokes, and maybe a couple other things. All I know is that if I counted up all the times I’ve been choked in my life, it would be less than the number of times I was put in a position where I was unable to breathe last night. On the bright side, I was able to keep my cool through most of those chokes and at least attempt to escape before tapping. I did escape one choke and almost escaped a triangle. So, there is that.

I walked out of there tired. And beaten. And bruised. But, you know what? I’m really looking forward to Saturday’s class. Last night was good motivation to really focus on learning these new techniques. I’m looking forward to the day when I am the one making other people tap out. It’s coming. I’ve got to believe it’s coming.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 13, Week 10, Month 3)

2010-05-30T08:25:00.000-05:00

Saturday classes are fantastic!

I'm really glad I've been able to make it out to the last couple Saturday classes. As you recall, last week we got to roll with Eduardo which landed one guy his blue belt. This week, though a frustrating class for me, I walked out with my first stripe one my white belt.

I got to GBC a little early and there were a couple guys there hanging out. We sat and talked for a bit; both funny guys. I ended up partnering with one of them, a purple belt, named Ray.

I felt really good in the drills, as usual. We were, again, working from the mount. We practiced taking the arm bar. Then, we worked a variation of the same drill where the person on bottom turned to one direction and the person on top had to decide, quickly, the correct arm to take for the arm bar. From the mount, the movement to the arm bar is the same. It was good to practice since the person on bottom isn't generally going to just lie there, stretch their arm straight up, and let you take the arm bar.

The next variation of this drill had the person on the bottom rolling completely to one direction so they were on all fours underneath the person mounted. Taking their back, the person on top put in the hooks on their legs, clasped their hands in a gable grip around the person's chest, then rolled them over, ending with the person who was mounted on their back, with the person who was on the bottom sitting in front of them unable to do anything.

Next, we sparred, four people on the mat, everyone else taking turns starting in the mount. On Tuesday night I felt really good starting in either position, but yesterday, I was over thinking the whole thing and consequently could not do anything from the mount. I missed opportunities for submissions and I got rolled over a couple times. In one sense I was really frustrated because it seemed I had forgotten everything I learned on Tuesday. In another sense, I was kind of glad to be frustrated because that meant I knew I was better than my performance. In the past, I would just except the fact that I suck and move on. But, yesterday, I was able to walk away from each roll thinking about what I did wrong, or rather, what I could do better the next time.

I took my turn on the mat and after a couple disappointing rolls, I was able to redeem myself with the last 3-4, rolling my opponent off me and, therefore, accomplishing my goal. So, it wasn't a total loss, but I was hoping for a better day.

When we all lined up to bow out, Eduardo grabbed the tape and started giving out stripes. I was beating myself up in my head a little bit, because I knew if I had done better, then I probably would have gotten a stripe too. I wished Eduardo had been there Tuesday night. But...he got to the guy next to me who was also a no stripe white belt, which I couldn't believe because he is really good and gave him a stripe...and then another stripe, which I thought was well deserved. Then...me...he gave one to me too. It was bitter sweat because I was excited to get it, but I didn't feel like I deserved it. Which is apparently normal.

Anyway, it was a good end to a good week of Jiu Jitsu.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 12, Week 10, Month 3)

2010-05-26T20:35:00.000-05:00

What a great Jiu Jitsu class last night!

Eduardo was out again so Shawn taught the class. I realize more and more each class I take of his that I like his teaching style.

He broke the class into white belts and higher belts. The higher belts worked one on one with each other pretty much the whole class. We white belts worked from the mount. We learned all about how to work from top mount. I worked with a guy (Rob, I think), who is a no stripe white belt, but very knowledgeable and passionate about Jiu Jitsu. We learned how to defend against someone trying to escape from the bottom. I learned how to use my weight to basically paralyze the escape attempts. It’s odd just dropping your full weight on someone. But, that goes along with the whole making them feel uncomfortable thing. The point of working in the mount is to eventually work your knees up into their armpits making their bridge useless and giving yourself an opportunity to work attacks (i.e. chokes, the Americana, arm bars…that’s all I know at this point).

So after working on this stuff on our own for about an hour we sparred. Starting from the mount, the goal was to either escape the mount (from the bottom), or get the submission (from the top).

Sparring felt good. I think I had a pretty good night. I lost 50% of the time and accomplished the objective 50% of the time…it felt like (from both positions). I was able to escape the bottom mount using techniques I learned last week; flipping the guy over ending up in his full guard. And, I was able to apply an Americana on a guy from the top mount. That felt good.

After class, Rob and I worked on a few things. I had some questions about working from the bottom when someone has side control. We worked on that a bit, then rolled a couple times. I think we will be pretty evenly matched in the next few months and I definitely feel comfortable working with him. I admire his love for the sport and I am looking forward to seeing him progress. He did pretty well at keeping me on the defensive last night, but I felt I was able to stifle a lot of his attempts at submissions. He got me in some position last night where I was practically inside his Gi top and couldn’t breathe. That’s the first time I’ve had to tap due to claustrophobic type feelings, but it had already been a long night and I was done.

It was a full night and I was glad to get home after a tough MMA fitness class and 2 solid hours of Jiu Jitsu. I dragged myself through my 6am weight training class this morning and am just trying to stay awake now. It was tough to calm my mind last night so I am running on about 5 hours of sleep. But, it was all worth it and I can catch up sleep some other time.

I find myself looking forward to Jiu Jitsu more and more these days, and especially rolling.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 11, Week 9, Month 3)

2010-05-22T21:56:00.001-05:00

Today I finally made it back up to Clearwater to take a class at Eduardo's school. He stopped in to let everyone know that he was going to the Orlando area for the Florida State Championships and wouldn't be teaching class today. I was kind of expecting he wouldn't be there, but didn't mind because I knew I needed to be there.

So we went on with class and two brown belts kind of tag team taught. We went over two techniques. The first was very much like the escape from mount we did on tuesday, but the arm grab was different. I felt pretty comfortable doing this and despite working with a fairly hefty guy, I was able to roll him pretty easily. My bridge must be getting stronger.

The second technique was another escape from the bottom mount, but I didn't really get it, nor did the blue belt I was working with and we didn't really get enough time to figure it out. But, basically, if the opponent blocks the attempt to roll them over then you use a combination of a push on their leg and a hip movement to kind of shimmy out into half guard, then shimmy the other side out into full guard.

We took turns rolling, starting from the top mount...4 guys on the mat, everyone taking turns, then another 4 guys. This went pretty well. I got to practice from top and bottom. I was rolling with one guy, from the bottom, who was quite a bit bigger than me; a 4 stripe white belt, I think, who works in the medical profession (Frank), who stopped at one point to remind me to breathe. I was trying to bridge from side to side to escape his mount and apparently didn't think it was important to breathe. I was glad he pointed it out. I know I need to breathe more while rolling, but never seem to be conscious of it in the moment. It's always afterwards when I am trying to catch my breath that I realize I must not have been breathing while on the mat.

When we were finishing up with rolling, Eduardo came back into the class. He had apparently changed his mind about driving to Orlando since only one of our guys was competing. Which sucks for that guy, but turned out to be good for us and really good for one guy in the class.

Eduardo had us all line up on the back wall and took turns rolling with all of us. I was first. Since, I'd never done this type of thing before, I didn't really know what to expect. It was pretty cool though. He took it pretty easy and purposely made mistakes to see if we would catch them. I was able to catch a mistake leaving an arm open for an arm bar. I felt like I failed a little because he got in side control and I had no idea what to do and he seemed like he was waiting for me to make a move. He ended up getting me in an arm bar and that was it.

He repeated this same process with everyone in the class. After rolling with one guy, he informed the guy he had just earned his blue belt. That was pretty awesome.

All in all it was a great class on a great day. It is starting to get a little warm in the garage, but I think it will all be worth it. I really need to make the Saturday class a priority if I can.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 10, Week 9, Month 3)

2010-05-19T15:52:00.000-05:00

Last night was officially my 10^th class. I don’t know if that means anything other than after 3 months of training, I should probably be more than 10 classes deep.

Eduardo was out so Shawn taught the class. After warm-ups, we did drills for the entire class which was cool. And, we learned a lot. I will attempt to put into words all the techniques we did so that I can reference them later and perhaps writing them might help me to remember them and do them for real when the time comes. All the techniques we did were fairly easy so we got to drill each of them a lot. I worked with a purple belt (Tom), and he was quiet, but very good about teaching me in what position I needed to be in order to stop him from countering. If I wasn’t holding something in the right place, or tight enough, he would let me know by starting to escape. It was a good way to learn the right and wrong way while kind of in the moment.

There are 6 techniques and I don’t know the proper names for all of them so stay with me. Also, for these explanations, I am doing everything from one side. But, be sure to drill each of these on both sides.

Escape from bottom mount: From your back with your opponent in the mounted position you will raise your hips to throw the opponents balance off, forcing them to put one or both hands on the ground above your head. From there, you can grab either hand. If you are going for the left arm, reach up with the right hand and grab the left wrist, then grab their left elbow with the left hand. Be sure to leave your thumbs out to create a hook with your hand, rather than trying to grab like a baseball bat (which they can easily escape from). Pull their left arm in to the space between your chest and theirs. Then, with your left hand, grab their Gi around the left bicep to control the arm, hook, their left foot with your left hook, arch your back, raise your hips, and turn to look behind you, roll them over. You should end up in their full guard.
Full guard escape to side control: Starting in the opponents full guard, go to your right foot, then stand up with your left foot, lifting the opponent off the ground by their legs. Be sure to keep your knees close to your opponent. With the left hand, grab their right pant leg at the knee and place your left elbow on your left thigh as your force the leg down and off of you. Then, without letting go of their right leg, shoot your right arm back and under their left leg. As you do this, force your weight forward and over them so that their left knee is going towards their face. When your right arm comes around, grab their right lapel with your right hand (thumbs inside), and pull them up towards you. Your legs at this point should be sprawled out. Then, simply start turning your body towards your right, spinning on top of them. Naturally, their legs will drop out from beneath you leaving you in a side mount on their left side. Be sure your left hand ends up on the ground next to their left hip and your right arm hugs their right shoulder, legs straight out, knees off the ground, your chest on their left chest, pushing forward and down so that you can put as much downward pressure on them as possible making it harder for them to move and breathe (make them as uncomfortable as possible).
Side control to mount: Starting from where you left off from the previous technique, you will kind of flip your hips and legs. Your legs are now crossed, knees still off the ground, hips still low, right arm still hugging their right shoulder. Your opponent puts their left leg up (left ankle to right knee). You grab their left knee and push it forward to create space, and control their knee, while moving your hips back to create more space, then drag your left shin across their belt until it pops out on their right side and your are now in a mount position on top of them.
Attack from top mount, Americana: While mounted, push your opponents right arm to the floor next to their head using both hands on the forearm. Their arm will be in an L shape, hand pointed in the same direction as their head. Drop your right forearm to the space between their head and wrist and hook their wrist with your right hand. You can now push their head out of the way. Slide your left hand under their right bicep (near the elbow) and hook your right wrist with the left hand. Make sure to keep their wrist on the ground. To secure it, you can pull their arm down toward you. Then lean your weight forward for leverage, paint the floor with their hand (thanks for the visual Tom), and at the same time, lift their elbow off the ground using your left arm (which is still under their arm). Take this slow when practicing. It takes very little force here, because of the leverage and position of their arm, to create a lot of pain.
Attack from top mount, Arm Bar: This technique is useful when fighting someone not familiar with Jiu Jitsu. The idea is that the make the mistake of trying to push you off them when you are mounted by pushing up on your chest. While their arms are extend upwards, you can simply use the mistake to cause a great deal of pain. Place your left hand on their chest between their extend arms. Then, put your right hand on top of your left hand, but around their left arm. Push against their chest and lift yourself up. Your body will naturally spin to the right. Bring your right leg the rest of the way around and drop yourself next to their left shoulder. At this point you need to make sure you are hugging their left arm which should be extended and against your chest now. Your butt should be as close to their left shoulder as possible. Your right leg should be bent so that your knee is pretty much right above their mouth and your heal is pressed against the right side of their neck, pulling them towards your thigh. Your left leg should be draped across their chest. Put downward force on their chest to control their body. You can also use your left foot to control their free arm (right arm) if need be. With your right hand, grab their hand/wrist as you grab their elbow with your right arm. You should have total control of their arm now and can make sure it is extended out. Point their thumb away from you, squeeze your legs together around their arm and slowly start to lean back. If done right, your back shouldn’t even touch the floor before they tap. This is another you should take very slowly in practice to avoid causing serious damage.
Attack from top mount, Choke: From the mounted position, slide your right hand up their left lapel (fingers inside their Gi, thumb out, until your hand hits the floor and your knuckles are against the back of their neck. Your right hand can give a quick tug on their left lapel to insure that everything is tight. If need be, brace yourself by putting your right hand on the floor above their head. Then, with the right hand, reach behind your left arm and slide your hand to their right lapel, again getting as deep as you can. Both hands should now be secure on their lapel; fingers in, thumbs out (palms would be facing up if your hands were open. Keep your elbows in close to your body as you lean over them and place your head on the ground for support just to the right of their head (your left). Now, simply push your thumbs away from each other causing your forearms to tighten around their neck. At the same time, lift them up towards you. As with the other submissions, go slow. If done right, it does not take a lot of pressure or strength to stop them from being able to breathe. If they are smart, they will tap as soon as they can tell you’ve done the technique correctly.

Whew…I got through it all. Hopefully, I explained them correctly because that’s how I am going to remember them going forward. I will try to walk through each technique we learn from now on. I think it is good to have them on record so I know when I learned what. And, I can always refer back to these posts if I need a refresher. And, maybe some of this information will be useful to someone out there.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 9, Week 8, Month 2)

2010-05-12T18:00:00.000-05:00

God is good!

I really wasn’t looking forward to class last night. After last week’s frustration and still trying to catch up on sleep from a long weekend, I just wanted to be at home resting. I knew I had to go to my MMA Fitness class, but felt that maybe Jiu-Jitsu was optional. The time came to make a decision and I decided it was in my best interest to take the class. I knew I needed the work out, and I knew that if I skipped this week, it would be easier to skip next week, and even easier the week after that, and so on.

Eduardo seemed in a good mood last night. He ws joking around, sharring some interesting stories about fights he’d seen in his past, and generally having a good time. The point of class last night, he said, was that if you are going to have to fight naked, you’d better win, because it is better to win fighting naked than to lose. You had to be there.

We went over some different moves from full guard. We started with the other person in full guard, grabbed their sleeves, then moved their arms out of the way with our knees. One knee went to the inside of the elbow (foot on hip), while the other foot went into the other arm, extended fully. From there we learned a couple different moves including a sweep, a leverage movement to kind of roll the person off you then up to knee on belly, and a triangle choke.

I got to work with one of the brown belts, and older guy (Sunny?), who talked a lot about why we were doing what we were doing (i.e. to set up for another technique, to be ready for a counter move, or to simply put the person in an uncomfortable situation), and some Jiu-Jitsu concepts about leverage. I really enjoyed working with him and felt like I learned quite a bit more than just the techniques.

Then we sparred…I didn’t get a chance to be on the bottom so I didn’t really get to practice what we learned…my fault. But, I felt very good on top and was able to pass guard once or twice, and give a few guys a really good challenge.

Coolest part…at the end of class two guys got belt promotions. One guy, who is leaving for college soon, got his blue belt. And, another guy got his purple belt. They were both very deserving of the promotion, I thought, and I was genuinely proud of both of them even though I hardly know either of them.

One thing I really took away from this class was a better understanding of why I might have a mental block towards Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu is about leverage and putting people in uncomfortable situations. In short, Jiu-Jitsu is about manipulating other people. I am a very laid back kind of person. I don’t get stressed out easily. I don’t let things or people bother me all that much. I avoid confrontation and I don’t like uncomfortable situations. I will sometimes go to great lengths to make sure other people are comfortable around me or to avoid potentially confrontational situations. So, this sport of Jiu-Jitsu is counter intuitive to my personality. Perhaps I could say it is the Yin to my Yang. And so while it may be difficult, it is also necessary for my development into a fuller, more well rounded individual. If I can learn how to deal with being uncomfortable; if I can learn to deal with confrontation on the mat, then I should be able to transfer that skill to my everyday life. And so instead of being manipulated or backing down from confrontation or bottling up emotions, perhaps I can learn how to manage those situations to my advantage.

So yeah, God is good. He rewards faith. When you do the thing you know you need to do, but don’t necessarily want to do, that’s when God has your back; that’s when you are going to get more out of something than you thought possible. I went into class not wanting to be there and thinking it was going to be like last week’s class. I came out satisfied with my performance and with a deeper knowledge of myself and where I need to work to become a better person. Now if I could just apply more faith to other parts of my life, I’d be doing pretty well.

Bottom line, I got a great workout, felt like I made some progress, and learned something about myself. I know there will be frustrating times ahead, but I also know that there will be a lot more days like this as well.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 8, Week 7, Month 2)

2010-05-05T15:57:00.000-05:00

Frustrating! I think this word best describes my experience in last night’s jiu-jitsu class at Elite Training Center.

We learned a few more escapes from half guard. I felt really confident while doing the drills. There are a lot of little steps to some of these techniques so my brain was working to remember each little movement, but I thought I was doing pretty well in practice. Then we sparred and I couldn’t remember anything. It’s like your mind goes blank as soon as the other person stops letting you practice the move. Imagine that?!?

From both bottom and top I was having trouble doing anything. I couldn’t keep anyone in half guard and I couldn’t escape it either. Frustrating! I’d get started on a technique, then go blank. Frustrating! By the time I’d think of the next thing, it was too late. Frustrating!

I guess I will keep saying this every class for a while…it just takes time. I’m cramming so much new information into my head that I can’t expect to “get it” right away. So, I am not frustrated…but last night was frustrating. If that makes sense.

On the brighter side…no new injuries. So that’s a plus. And, I am feeling more and more a part of the GB family. The “regular” white belts in the class are starting to get to know each other and form a bond. It’s cool to be a part of that, and I hope that we all stick around to progress through the levels together.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 7, Week 6, Month 2)

2010-04-28T11:13:00.000-05:00

Last night, I guess, was probably one of the more uneventful classes we’ve had since I started training. Eduardo was out so one of the purple belts (Tom) taught the class. He went over 2 different escapes from half guard.

They were fairly complex, from my current knowledge base, and kind of hard to work through. There were a lot of small movements, hand and feet changes, that made it difficult to follow. I worked with a blue belt and we were both having trouble getting through the drills, but we finally got to step through both the techniques and I felt fairly confident that I could do it properly…in drills.

The class ended a bit early and so I stuck around for a while. I worked through the half guard escapes with another white belt for a bit which was good for both of us. Then one of the other purple belts (whose name, I think, is also Tom) asked if anyone wanted to spar. Knowing, that I need to not be afraid to do this, I jumped right in and we went at it for a little while. I was quickly reminded of the huge gap in knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu between white belt and purple belt. But, I kept at it, got a few good tips from the guy, and a great little workout. At that point I was gassed and decided to call it a night.

Sparring with Tom was a good reminder of how much there is to learn in this sport. I am having trouble thinking while in the moment. I guess it just comes with practice. At some point you have learned enough techniques and done them enough times that it just happens naturally. I can’t expect that after 7 classes I am going to have any of this stuff down. I just have to keep going, keep working, keep learning, and keep motivated.

Day 7 injuries…

I’m pretty sure I re-injured my big toe. If it wasn’t broken before, I am pretty sure it is now; or at least dislocated. It definitely doesn’t look like my other big toe anymore.
Bruises. I seem to find new bruises on my arms and legs after every class now.
My collar bone is feeling better…maybe it got popped back into place at some point last night.

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 6, Week 5, Month 2)

2010-04-25T08:42:00.001-05:00

I'm now on a two class per week schedule; taking a class on Saturday up in Clearwater at Eduardo's school. So, yesterday, Saturday, I drove up to Clearwater for probably the toughest class I've had so far. It was only an hour long, but what an hour it was.

We worked on the same guard passing technique that I learned last Tuesday. And then, we added a variation to that technique where we stood up to help break the guard. The guy I was working with was great. He's tough and really knows his stuff. He was there for the Judo class when I got there and stayed for the All-Levels class when I was leaving (which means he was there from about 10am-2pm, at least). I hope I can work with him again soon.

After doing drills for a little while, we sparred. Usually, as I have said before, a few people lie down on the mats and the rest of us line up to take turns sparring with those people; giving time to rest and regain breath while in line. But on this day, we just moved from one person to another doing 1-2 minute sessions. So, everyone was sparring the whole time. We were exhausted and I was glad to see I wasn't the only one feeling the heat. Pretty much everyone was breathing heavy and the last couple rounds were pretty sloppy...at least for me.

One thing I really liked was sparring with Shawn, the black belt who also teaches classes at ETC. He was able to give me some good direction while we were sparring; things that I could try right then and there that were actually effective offensively and defensively. Those few little things were much easier to remember as the next people came around.

There wasn't any one thing that was super difficult. Although, getting worked on by just about everyone in the class doesn't help one's ego. But, I made the decision when I first got started that I wasn't there for my ego. I was there for Jiu-Jitsu. At this point then, when I get beat, I consider it a learning experience. And, I had a lot of learning experiences yesterday. The most difficult thing was just the amount of work we did. It made me appreciate Jiu-Jitsu that much more. You have to respect something that looks so easy, but in actuality is so difficult. The entire time you are sparring you are flexing physically and mentally. It is exhausting. But, in the long run it makes you that much stronger. Not only am I getting physically stronger, but mentally as well. And, that is one of the big reasons why I chose Jiu-Jitsu.

After class, I had to sit and re-hydrate for a little while before I could even think about getting in my Jeep to drive home. While pushing fluids I was able to watch some of the All-Levels class that goes from Noon-2pm. It looks like a great class and I am looking forward to the day when I can take both Saturday classes. I'll give it another month or so and then add that class in to the mix. That will take my weekly Jiu-Jitsu training up to 4.5 hours (not counting stuff outside of class). Hopefully this will speed up my progression and make these techniques I am learning stick a little better.

Stay tuned...

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 5, Week 5, Month 2)

2010-04-21T20:05:00.001-05:00

Success! Last night in my Jiu-Jitsu class at Elite Training Center I was actually able to successfully apply the techniques we learned in class. Well, one of them anyway, but it was the important one…the passing the guard one.

So, last week, when trying to pass the guard with no knowledge of how to do it, I was successful exactly 0 times in passing anyone’s guard.

This week, after spending a few hours with a friend on Saturday going over some fundamentals, guard passing techniques, and a few submissions, and then learning another guard passing technique in class, I was able to pass the guard of 3-4 different people (out of 6-7 attempts). It was good feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I still got my butt kicked a few times and was submitted once, but whatever, that’s all part of the learning process.

Jiu-Jitsu, they say, and I agree, is like chess. There are so many different things to think about while sparring and it is hard to keep everything straight. You are trying to figure out where you are and what your options are while, at the same time, trying to figure out where your opponent is and what his options are. All this is happening while your body is twisting and contorting in several different directions. Oh, and don’t forget to breath. At this point in the learning process, everything is happening at the conscious level. I have to think. And remember. And do. But, when you watch more experienced people, you can see that at some point it starts to really make sense. And these little movements and set-ups and everything becomes second nature and you just do them without thinking. But, that’s a ways down the road. The idea now is to focus on 3 things: fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. And, I suppose you could add a fourth thing: breathing.

But it is continuing to get less suck and more fun. So I am looking forward to more and more classes. I have also realized that one class a week isn’t going to cut it so I am going to start going to a Saturday class up in Clearwater at Eduardo’s school. This will not only double (or more) the amount of Jiu-Jitsu I get each week, but will also give me a chance to meet more of the students who are a part of the Gracie Barra Clearwater family. After all, the white belts I am in class with now, are the people that I am going to be progressing with over the next few years. It makes sense then, to make the effort to get to know them now and start building those bonds.

Day 5 Injuries

no major injuries, just lingering pain in my back, neck, and collar bone area

I'm pretty sure it's time for a massage.

Until next time…

Jiu-Jitsu (Day 4, Week 4, Month 1)

2010-04-14T16:52:00.002-05:00

Another double header at Elite Training Center Last night, MMA Fitness from 5:45-6:45, then Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu from 7:00-8:30. It was a tough class, to say the least. We did no warm-up and no drills. We sparred. We sparred the whole class. And, one might think I would have hated it. I think I would have hated it. But, we would all be wrong. I actually had a pretty good time. I got my butt kicked. I couldn’t breathe. And I am in pain today. But, I had a good time.

Eduardo was out. He’s off in California for a Jiu-Jitsu tournament so one of his black belts, Shawn, taught the class. His first words were, “OK, guys, it’s going to be a pretty physical class tonight so get a drink now” – or something to that affect.

The first half of class was spent working from the full, or closed guard position. Four guys went to the mats and we took turns getting in their guard and trying to pass the guard. If you passed, you took their spot on the mat. This sounds simple enough, but I have no experience passing the guard, no training, and no techniques to even try to practice. So, I did the best I could, put up as much of a fight as I could, and basically tried to defend whatever they were trying to do. Fortunately, most of the guys on the mats were higher ranking belts which meant they had nothing to prove to me, the new guy. It wasn’t some other white belt trying to let me know he was better than me. It was blue, purple, and/or brown belt letting me try different things before they flattened me. And, I have to admit, I enjoyed finding out what it felt like to be arm-bared and choked. And, in my own defense, some of those guys were pretty winded when I walked away from them. I’ll take that as a small victory until I learn some actual techniques on how to pass the guard. And, I learned a valuable lesson in how, someday, to let beginners try things. Leave your ego at the door!

The second half of class we sparred until someone tapped. So, again, 4-5 guys went to the mats and we all took turns, starting from a knee, and going straight into sparring. Again, I have no training, really, in this and so just kind of went with it. I was able to try a couple of the techniques I learned in previous classes, but it’s always different in actual use scenarios. No one just let’s you put them in a choke hold or an arm-bar. But, again, the higher belts let us beginners try different things before putting an end to it. I was put in some positions I had never even seen before and my body manipulated in ways I didn’t think possible. I heard some cracking in my neck I have never heard before and felt my spine stretched like never before. I suppose it is good that I just started seeing a chiropractor.

I went home defeated, and hurt, but not discouraged. In fact, I think the opposite is true. I am learning to enjoy Jiu-Jitsu and if anything else, last night was motivation to start working harder at learning the art. Yesterday, I ordered the Gracie Barra fundamentals DVD and a friend and I are going to start working through the 4 DVD, 16 week course. Since I only get one night a week to train, I need to be working on my own at learning things that I can then apply in class.

Day 4 Injuries

collar bone pain
sore neck
overall back pain (mostly soar muscles, i think)

Jiu-Jitsu Day 3 (Week 3)

2010-04-07T11:13:00.001-05:00

I had my 3^rd Jiu-Jitsu class last night which means I am now on a once a week schedule. I know I need to kick it up if I am going to make any progress on learning the art and getting over my fears and discomfort.

Last night’s class was a bit different. Recently, Eduardo lost one of his best black belts. I don’t know how it happened, but apparently the guy passed away within the last week and, as one can imagine, it has thrown everything off a bit for Gracie Barra Clearwater. Eduardo spent a couple minutes talking about the guy and how good he was, then we all shared in a moment of silence to remember him. It’s a tragedy that the guy passed away, but one positive thing we can take from it is the lesson of family, and brotherhood. The Gracie Barra team is a close group who always has each other’s back. I know I am still new, but even I can feel it already. That’s one thing that keeps drawing my interest back to the sport.

For the rest of class, we did drills. I learned four new moves (a sweep from my back, two different chokes, and anew transition to an arm bar) and got to practice them with a purple belt which I very much enjoy. I really like how Eduardo teaches multiple moves from the same position. I guess most people like sparring. Me…I like drills. I like practicing these little moves over and over, thinking about each body movement and making sure I am doing it right. It was also kind of cool to practice Gi chokes over and over. I had a couple pretty good ones and I think the guy was legitimately tapping and not just tapping to start over. If Jiu-Jitsu was just drills, at this point, I would like it a lot better. But, the drills have to be for something…and that something is sparring. So, as much as I’d prefer not to, I know I need to spare to practice the drills. Make sense?

On that same note, class ended a little early and a few of the guys stuck around to spare on their own. I knew I should have jumped in with them, but I wussed out and went home instead. I used the excuse that I was tired from taking two classes in a row (MMA Fitness and Jiu-Jitsu), that I was coming back the next morning for a strength training class, and that I needed to spend time with my son who had spent the afternoon/evening with my mother.

As my technique gets better, I am sure I will want to spare more often…hopefully. Otherwise, I really need to start pushing myself out of my comfort zone and get cracking.

Jiu-Jitsu Day 2

2010-03-31T22:20:00.003-05:00

Well, day 2 was not so very different than day 1. This time, however, I took class at Elite Training Center where Eduardo de Lima teaches a couple days a week. It is a much more comfortable environment for me as I have been taking fitness classes there since January. I also decided to take my MMA Fitness class just before Jiu-Jitsu started so I was already sweaty and worn out by the time class started. Warm-Ups were a bit different because there is less space at ETC, but were still fairly straight forwards. We learned two more techniques during the one-on-one time that were pretty cool. The guy I worked with is a Jiu-Jitsu fanatic despite only being a white belt. He is a huge UFC fan and practices the things he sees in TV with friends. He is definitely all about learning the art. We worked from a 100 kilos starting position and learned how to either move into an arm-bar submission, or up to a full mount. I felt very comfortable during this time and like I was doing pretty well. Then, Eduardo split the class, white belts on one side and everyone else on the other.

While he worked with everyone else, one of the black belts in class watched us while we sparred. This session was much like the previous where some people lie on the ground and the rest of us take turns on top of them…then we each take turns on the ground. It was during this sparring session that I realized how much I suck at Jiu-Jitsu right now. Not that it is a bad thing, but it showed me how much I have to learn. And, again, at one point, while I was lying on my back and a big guy was on top of me, I felt the claustrophobia set in and I freaked out, just a little, trying to get this guy off of me. We worked on sparring for quite a while and while I thought class was over at 8pm, it was closer to 830 before we were finally released. One big thing I need to work on is to remember to breathe while sparring. I was “gassed” after each turn and it generally took me until my next turn to get my wind back and my breathing under control.

At this point, I don’t like Jiu-Jitsu. But, I will continue. I figure I don’t like it right now because I am not good at it, because I don’t understand it, and because I cannot relate it to anything else I have ever done. Just because it is hard and uncomfortable, does not mean I am going to quit. I want to give this a real go before I make any decisions. It would be much easier to jump into a Muay Thai or a Karate class when I am comfortable on my feet and understand the basics of each. But, I feel the need to push myself, to get out of my comfort zone, and to learn something completely new. So I will stay. I may only take 1 class a week for a while, but each class is 1 class closer to being comfortable and conquering this claustrophobia thing.

On the bright side, when I got home, I weighed about 2.5 pounds less than I did earlier in the day. Most of it was probably just the loss of water weight, but the weight held this morning. I still made it to my 6am Strength Training class and I am definitely feeling the pain of taking 3 classes within a 13 hour time frame.

Jiu-Jitsu Day 2 Injuries:

Hit in the nose – total accident, but I think someone’s elbow met my nose
Charlie horse – kneed in the thigh while blocking someone attempt to mount
Shin pain – kicked someone’s leg trying to get into a full mount
Ankle pain – not sure where that came from
Thumb pain – not sure where that came from
Big toe pain – I kicked the ground trying to grab someone’s leg with mine

Jiu-Jitsu Day 1

2010-03-27T07:23:00.003-05:00

Jiu-Jitsu

Chances are I will be writing more about Jiu-Jitsu from now on. My grand plan for this year was to start out taking fitness classes until I felt I was ready to start training in the gentle art. The time finally came, and this past Wednesday (03/24/2010), I dawned my Gi for the first time and jumped into a Jiu-Jitsu fundamentals class at Gracie Barra Clearwater. I purposely avoided learning techniques from friends and family who study. I want all my training to start with the head Professor and owner, Eduardo de Lima.

When I started martial arts as a kid there was a kind of easing in process to make you feel comfortable and know what to expect…granted, I was 7 when I started Tae Kwon Do, but I never felt uncomfortable. Not so with Jiu-Jitsu. I was basically thrown into class after a brief, very brief, introduction with Eduardo. After that, I basically had to watch what everyone else was doing and mimic it. I felt ok, more or less, and held my own through the warm ups and one-on-one drills. The discomfort started when we lined up to take turns grappling. 5 people lay down on the mats and the rest of us took turns trying to keep them from putting us in a full guard position. I have no idea, at this point, how to do that from either the top or the bottom position, so I did the best I could. Being on top felt alright. I had no idea what to do from there, but I got to feel the other person move beneath me and try to escape. Then came my turn to be on bottom, the one trying to escape, and here is where the true discomfort started.

I have, since my earliest memories, been claustrophobic. My brother and his friends used to roll each other up in rugs and I, being the little brother, wanted to do it too. I finally convinced my brother to roll me up and instantly found out that I did not like being in tight places. I freaked out, yelled, cried, and he could not get me out of that rug fast enough. Ever since then I have been mindful of my fear and tried to avoid those types of situations. However, they always seemed to creep into my life. For example, we all got into white water kayaking when I was 10, or so, and I found out through trial and error that being upside down, head under water, in a kayak, is a lot like being rolled up in a rug. But, over time, and by learning how to control my kayak, I was able to overcome that fear.

I knew going into Jiu-Jitsu that I was going to have to confront this fear. But, I didn’t think it would be on my first night there. As I was on the ground, and different people came to hold me down, I found myself getting increasingly panicked, but still in control of my panic. Then a guy, probably 200+ pounds and experienced in the art came to me and it did not feel like he was taking it easy on the new guy. Every which way I tried to turn only got me into a worse position. He grabbed my Gi, he controlled me. I began to panic. The air got hot, I couldn’t breathe, my heart began to pound and I wanted out of there right then! But I stayed…for a moment, and tried to deal with it. I figure the only way to get over the fear is to face it head on. Finally, I tapped, and was free. The air cooled, my heart slowed, and everything was ok. Fortunately, I only had one more person to face before the time was up, and he was nice enough to treat me like I had no clue what I was doing. The bell rang and we were done with that exercise and the class.

On the drive home I was able to think a bit more clearly. I thought about what I liked about the class, the brotherhood the guys seemed to have, the pride they felt in their instructor and their school, the respect they had for each other, and how welcoming they were of me. I went into this martial art for the challenge of it, because stand up would have been the easy thing to do since I have a background in it, because I wanted to learn something new and useful, because I wanted to build the mental and physical toughness of a great Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. So, I will continue on the journey and see where it leads me. But, the whole experience was tough, and humbling. I think we all need to be humbled from time to time in our lives to remind us that we are human.

2007-06-27T10:32:00.002-05:00

A Walk Around Camp Keystone

There were a handful of cars in the dirt parking lot. I pulled in next to a VW Bug, rolled my windows up, and shut off the engine. I think there was always a VW Bug in the parking lot, though it was never the same one. I think it’s the preferred mode of transportation for camp counselors. This one no doubt belonged to a female. There was lots of stuff hanging from the review mirror and a scrunchy around the stick shift. Ted’s car wasn’t there yet. I was hoping we could walk around together for a while. I sat in my car for a few minutes and just looked around.

To my right was the actual horse ring we used to ride in. It was a lot smaller than it used to be, but just as run down. Still, it served it’s purpose. My favorite horse was a little black pony that was super fast. I used to just let her run all around that ring, then wash her down and groom her. Directly in front of me was the old swing set. The metal pools secured deep in the ground. It has survived multiple hurricanes and hasn’t budged an inch. I once got a bloody nose racing another kid for the last swing and spent many nights as a kid trying to see just how high we could actually go and try to prove the myth that if you swing all the way around you will indeed turn your self inside out. I am still right side out. I never made it all the way around.

Past the swing set was a playground, sports shed, and a giant oak tree that I assumed was their since Adam and Eve were in the garden. But, I found out later that the land where camp is used to be cow pasture and the original owner planted all the trees. So, it was about sixty years old, but still, to me, it had been there for forever. To the right of the oak tree was the office, flag circle and house that the owners used to live in. I always wanted to live in that house, to be right out in the middle of everything all the time. I still wonder what it’s like out here during winter. It must have been an odd feeling to live out at camp when there were no kids there. I couldn’t even imagine how that would be.

I got out of my car just as some campers started making their way, in small packs, to the flag circle and began mingling amongst each other. I few of them looked my way, but they probably assumed I was one of the day campers’ parents there to pick my kid up. It was a strange feeling not knowing the group of kids standing there, and even stranger that they didn’t know me. I walked past them to the office and walked in as if I owned the place. It looked practically the same. The counselors mail boxes were still there, the old blue cushion still sat on the bench lining the wall. Even the little bronze looking bell that resembled an apple that was used to signal the change of classes still sat next to the PA system that was, no doubt, the same. Straight ahead of me, through a set of open wooden doors was Connie, sitting at her desk writing something. As the screen door slammed shut behind me she looked up, probably expecting to see a camper.

“No way!” she exclaimed.

“Yes way.”

“It cannot be.”

“It is Connie, it’s me.”

“Well God in Heaven, I never though I would see you again.” She said as she came around the desk to give me a hug. We embraced. She was thinner than I recall and her body felt brittle. She was old when I was a camper; even older when I was a counselor. Now…now she was just…really old.

“How have you been?” I asked.

“Well, still getting along, but not as fast as I used to…still getting along.”

“That’s great Connie, that’s really great.” I didn’t know what to say. I looked down as I spoke, searching for words, but all I could find were Connie’s Camp Keystone socks. No doubt, they were the same socks she wore when I was a kid. “I talked to Ted last week. He told me about camp. I wish there was something I could do to help.”

“Having you here helps…Little Buddy.” she said as a grin came across her face. I don’t think she thought I would remember the name. I laughed with her.

“If you don’t mind Connie, I was going to walk around a little bit while it was still light out. Is that OK?”

“Absolutely, but first, you have to join us for flag lowering.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

We walked back through the screen door and again it slammed behind us. The kids were pretty much gathered and almost formed into a semi-circle when they saw Connie. As always, that signaled it was time for flag. They quickly straightened the line around the flag. I was facing the whole camp now, boys on the left, girls on the right. It was almost sad that this was all of camp. There were maybe thirty kids where there used to be one hundred and thirty. These kids barely made it around the flag circle. We used to stretch all the way out to the riding ring. Flag lowering was a special time. On the first day of camp, at the first flag lowering was where everyone got to see each other for the first time. When I was a kid I was just trying to figure out what the heck was going on. When I got older, I was checking out the girls across from me. Since we stood in cabin order, youngest to oldest, the girls standing straight across from you were the girls who were your age. So, we all played the game of trying to look without looking. I had never seen so many eyes darting around trying to check each other out without actually making eye contact. During the two week sessions of camp, flag lowering was more about getting information…what was happening after dinner, what counselors were covering what areas during free time, what the evening activity was, which counselors weren’t going to go out that night because they had to stay back and watch boy's camp, and girl's camp. Of course, Ted and I rarely heard what was going on, we were usually cutting up in the back and making plans of our own for that night.

The American Dream

2007-05-26T20:57:00.000-05:00

Some of the comments I have been getting regarding my novel have made me question just what the American Dream is.

I think that I have always pictured the traditional American Dream...the house with a white picket fence, and wife and mother, husband and father, two kids, and some kind of pet. It's the picture I think most people carry in their heads. It's the dream that has brought hundreds of thousands of people to this country...if not millions.

But what is the America Dream now? What are we all working so hard towards? How many people out there actually stop to consider what their dreams are and take the time to figure out if they are working towards them?

I know I have a clear vision of my dream. I know exactly what I want to be doing with my life, who I want to be doing it with, and where I want to be doing it. I also know it is going to take time to get to that place with those people doing that thing. So...am I working towards that now? I don't know. I mean, I'm working. But, I don't know if it's towards my dreams or just to pay the mortgage (...another coat of paint for the white picket fence).

I know people...I have met people...I have seen people who are working towards their dreams every hour of every day. Their American Dream consumes them and they cannot go a minute without thinking about it. What makes their dream so important that they HAVE to reach it? Why aren't we all working that hard towards something?

There are also those people who have accomplished their initial American Dream only to realize a bigger dream along the way. And so they continue to work. Which brings up another question...can one ever actually achieve the American Dream? What would happen if you did? Would you just stop? Or, would you continue to work towards a new American Dream; a bigger American Dream?

What do you all think? What's the American Dream? What's YOUR American Dream?

An Experience Worthy of Life (Chapter 1 - excerpt)

2007-04-20T17:17:00.000-05:00

I am living the American Dream, or rather, what the American Dream has become. It used to represent a certain amount a freedom, the ability to buy a house, a car, and still have enough left over to feed your family, go on vacation, and even put a little away for a rainy day. I am living the American Dream. I have a job, a mortgage, two cars, a wife, and two kids...in that order. How did I get this way? I did what I was supposed to do. I did what was expected of me. I worked hard through high school to get good grades and get into a decent college. Then I worked my butt off in college to get my degree in Business Management. Along the way, I met my wife, fell in love and got married just after we graduated. We immediately found jobs after college and bought a house. Within the course of two months I went from practically zero debt to being almost a quarter of a million dollars in the whole. But, that's what everyone else was doing...that's what was expected of us all. The funny thing is, when I was doing all this, when I got married, got a house, and started working a job, I was proud of it. I liked getting up everyday and going to sit in my cubicle. I loved the office chatter about what went on over the weekend. I marinated myself in the office culture. I bragged about how many hours a week I spent at the office. And though I loved my wife and would never be unfaithful towards her, I joined right in with "the guys" when they made comments about the women in the office. I had been force fed what society wanted me to be for so long that I actually thought I was successful, because in their eyes, and by their standards, I was. I am thirty-five now. I am living the American Dream, and I hate it.

An Experience Worthy of Life (synopsis)

2007-04-18T15:06:00.000-05:00

By Robert Vanasco
Some men feel as though they are living out their dreams; taking each day and living it to the fullest. Most men look back on their life and wonder what happened to all that time. Where did their life go? What happened to all the goals and dreams they looked so forward to accomplishing in their lifetime.
This is the story of one man who has lost his way. He, like so many men before him, had big plans for life. He was going to go to school, meet the woman of his dreams, get married, have a great job, live a fantastic life, travel, see the world, and money would be no issue. There wasn’t going to be a care in his life. But somewhere along the line reality struck, college wasn’t what he thought it was, his wife wasn’t the same vibrant beautiful young woman she once was, his job became nothing more than a daily chore; one that he dreaded daily. And, his kids took whatever money he may have ever had to travel. It seemed his life was not worth living. Between his jerk boss, his demanding kids, bills, the mortgage, the debt, and what was once the American dream, owning a home, he saw no reason to go on with life. There was no reason to see what the next day would bring because today was just the same as yesterday. But there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t kill himself, that wouldn’t solve anything, and there was no money to do anything significant anyway. He was a slave to his life and he couldn’t break free on his own.
A phone call.
One phone call from an old friend brings a flood of happy memories and the opportunity to make a change in his life. Though he doesn’t know it, he is about to live out his childhood dreams, find life through loss and victory through struggle.
The lost sheep is brought back to the flock and finds success waiting for him at the end of a long, worthwhile, road.

35 Days

2006-07-13T13:50:00.000-05:00

So, here I am, 35 days out from my frist child. I've been surprisingly calm, I guess I am always surprisingly calm no matter what the situation, but in this case, one would think you would be anxious or nervous or SOMETHING. I feel content with the whole thing thought. I mean, obviously I question my ability to provide for another human being, and wonder what kind of dad I will actually be...but for the most part, I am ready. I get waves of anxiousness that come over me...moments of wonderment where I realize that my whole life is about to change. I am 28 years old and now I have to grow up. It's a weird feeling, knowing that you HAVE to grow up; it's no longer a choice, but a necessity. I've never had to care for the life of anothr human being out of necessity. The wave reminds me that I am a man now, in some sense of the word, and that freaks me out a little bit. I can't sit on the couch and watch the World Cup without being aware that someone needs my attention. I can't take a whole day to my self to just be by my self...that opportunity is gone. But then the wave passes and I see he and me at the beach, playing catch, swimming in the surf, or building a sand castle. I see us going out to Camp Frontier, or Camp Keystone (hopefully) and hanging out with the other kids and everyone saying how cute he is and how much he looks like his parents and I smile and all those thousands of diapers I am going to change and all the times he is going to pee on me, or worse, don't seem so bad.

He's got great parents that's for sure. What do you say at a time like this? What do you do? We've read the books. We are taking the classes. We know our route to the hospital. We are planning on packing the bag at some point. Everything seems to be taken care of. But, really, what do you do when you walk through the door, and he is home for the first time, and you realize that it is all up to you now...no nurses, no doctors, no grandparents to take over for you...nothing...just you, your wife, and your son. I guess you figure it out. So many others have been in the same situation...people love to tell you their stories when they know you are about to go through all this. They love to tell about the time he peed on them, or the time he pooped and it got all over the wall and dad and everything, or the time he just wouldn't stop vomitting. I suppose it's all normal, but right now it seems so foreign.