To many times, competitors get focused on a single opponent rather than focusing on the big picture.  A common situation would be as follows: Adam loses to Bill.  Adam then focuses all his efforts on beating Bill.  He trains with Bill in mind. . . . → Read More: Go After Titles, Not People]]> Some of the best advice I ever received from Lloyd Irvin was regarding rivalries.

To many times, competitors get focused on a single opponent rather than focusing on the big picture.  A common situation would be as follows: Adam loses to Bill.  Adam then focuses all his efforts on beating Bill.  He trains with Bill in mind.  Studies film on Bill.  Formulates a gameplan to beat Bill.  Finally, the day of the rematch comes and Adam wins.  Sounds great, right?

Now what if both matches were in the first round of the novice division?

When a competitor focuses on a personal rivalry, he becomes defined by his rival.  In some cases, both individuals rise to the challenge and it creates epic battles such as Ali vs. Joe Frazier or in current BJJ, Rafael Mendes vs. Cobrinha.  On the other hand, it can sometimes limit the competitor by taking the competitor’s eye of the final prize.

Now in the examples above, both guys were at the absolute top of their sport – but that is often not the case.  A White Belt should not be focusing all his efforts on defeating the White Belt from the last tournament but rather focusing on developing the skills necessary to face and defeat the multitude of blue belts that await him at the next level (and who most likely are better than his white belt rival).  Would you rather be the BJJ World Champion or the guy who beat the returning Champion and then was eliminated next round?  Set your sights on the end goal, and don’t worry about the little speed bumps on the way.

This is one of the reasons I send my Baltimore Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitors to different tournaments all over the United States rather than have them fight the same guys over and over in the Mid-Atlantic.  Because we were competing so much, a lot of the competitors started to focus on facing so-and-so from another local school – which was pointless.  I want them to focus on developing the abilities and gaining the experience to win the big international and national IBJJF tournaments rather than being the best team in Baltimore.  After all, constantly producing IBJJF champions would lead to that title but that title doesn’t lead to IBJJF champions.

That is why we make a solid effort to send the team around the United States.  Next up is the Houston International Open!

See everyone in Houston!

Tweet This Post

In the beginning, I could not watch Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition videos and preferred instructional videos; nowadays, its the other way around. . . . → Read More: How to Watch Competition Footage]]> Since everyone is snowed in and is supposedly working out at home and watching a lot of film, I thought I could provide some tips on watching competition footage that have helped me out over the years.

In the beginning, I could not watch Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition videos and preferred instructional videos; nowadays, its the other way around.  These old videos were the old Paqueta ones that used to have matches edited to take out the boring parts and I still would have a hard time watching them.  I would only like matches with a lot of drama behind them or matches that were very high-scoring.  Basically, I watched the matches as a fan rather than a student which brings me to tip#1.

1. Don’t be a fanboy.  If you are caught up in the excitement of the match or can’t get beyond “wow, so-and-so is so good”, watch it again later when you can watch the match more studiously.
2. Watch the same people over and over.  You need to watch to see what is NOT happening just as much as what is.  If Fighter A hits his Omoplata on everyone but then against Fighter B, he can not – you need to figure out why and what Fighter B is doing.  And the only way for you to know that Fighter A loves Omoplata is to have watched plenty of footage on him before.
3. Watch everyone.  One thing that always impressed me about Team Lloyd Irvin Black Belt, Brad Court, is how he knew the games of so many different competitors not just the famous ones.  There are techniques that the guy who lost early does better than the guy who took 1st.  At my Columbia MD martial arts school, I have noticed this a lot where students will watch less qualified “internet-famous” guys vs. guys with better credentials.
4. Always ask yourself what you would do in any particular situation.  I remember when I was a Blue Belt, I was watching some camcorder footage of some other Blue Belts from my team, and I noticed that both of them were doing the exact same thing from the top of butterfly guard – and I was not.  Now I had seen that footage at least 2-3x before that instance but that particular point had never jumped out at me.  So always ask yourself, even when watching mundane positions, what you would do in that position?  If they are doing something different, ask your instructor later.

I uploaded a bunch of video from the 2010 European Championships onto the Crazy 88 fanpage so make sure you watch (and analyze) the footage.  Lots of good matches on there including some of our guys as well as some Black Belt action.

Tweet This Post

I think another similar aspect is the preparation required for each.  There isn’t any training manual or book you can read that will prepare you for what you will encounter when you get on your first bull or fighting in your first advanced no-gi . . . → Read More: Bullfighting & Jiu Jitsu by Brian Neal pt 2]]> Continued from yesterday’s post by one of Children’s Martial Arts coaches, Brian Neal…

I think another similar aspect is the preparation required for each.  There isn’t any training manual or book you can read that will prepare you for what you will encounter when you get on your first bull or fighting in your first advanced no-gi division; its just OJT!  But there is a method to the madness.

You learn from day one that every day in the training room is just that — training!  You work on positions or submissions that you are weak in or you tweak your game plan, but the idea is to get better here.  I can remember my first day in class and being allowed to spar… I had no clue what to do, but I figured out pretty quickly what NOT to do!  There is a significant advantage to the person who can get over the mental block of putting himself in a “combat sports” situation.

Rodeo Brian used to think this was a good idea!

I think a perfect summary to my comparison is a saying we had in bull riding and during my time at Crazy 88.  We used to say “People don’t pick bull riding, bull riding picks people.”  I believe the same is true for Jiu Jitsu.  Only a certain type of person would be willing to come out day in and day out and get choked, kicked, punched, elbowed, and still want to come back tomorrow… you should be proud of yourself.

PS – Congratulations to Team Lloyd Irvin’s Phil Davis who won his UFC debut last night by unanimous decision!

Tweet This Post

My teammate and friend (Julius Park) asked me to write down a few things that I wish I’d known when I was a white belt starting out in BJJ and though I’ve been training for almost 14 years, I had to think about what key things . . . → Read More: Paul Greenhill’s What I Wish I Knew as a White Belt!]]>

Paul Greenhill with Dustin Denes, Lloyd Irvin, and Mike Fowler!

My teammate and friend (Julius Park) asked me to write down a few things that I wish I’d known when I was a white belt starting out in BJJ and though I’ve been training for almost 14 years, I had to think about what key things to write because they’re so much I wish I would’ve known.

So, here’s my “short list” of The Wise Grappler’s “I wish I would’ve known…”

List:

• 90% of the folks that you start with at white belt will never make it to black belt.
• You will be one of those 90 percent that never reaches black belt unless you really want it.
• Injury is 100 percent guaranteed at each belt level.
• Family members will try to talk you into quitting after each injury, especially if surgery is required. and if you really don’t want to be a black belt, their comments will make sense and you will quit.
• Listen to your body and rest when you’re hurt. BJJ is a marathon race, not a sprint.
• There’s a thin line between being hurt and injured. Don’t ignore the warning signs.
• BJJ is ALL EGO, regardless of the old “leave your ego at the door” mantra.
• Keep a flower pot at the office large enough to soak my sore wrists, hands and elbows during the day.
• Never train hard without a good warm-up first. if you’re intentionally skipping warm-ups so you can save energy for your matches, you’re going to pay for it someday.
• To not listen to training advice from other white belts over my instructor.
• Everyone online sounds smarter and better equipped to teach you than your instructor.
• Too much bjj info (e.g. DVDs, books, magazines, etc.) is just as bad as not enough bjj info.
• Good grapplers are training, not spending all day posting about who’s the best grappler or where they train.
• If you don’t have training goals in the beginning, someone will give you their agenda for what they want you to be and you may not like it.
• The grappler that thinks “drilling is a waste of time” will be an average grappler at best.
• You don’t have to be at the gym to train.
• Competitions will reveal all your bad habits that you can either hide or ignore in the gym.
• Start learning takedowns as a white belt. that way, you won’t be a blue/purple/brown belt that can only jump guard or butt scoot.
• The paintbrush and every other basic technique that you think is useless will work if you take time to learn how to set them up and execute them correctly.
• If you have to think about doing a technique, you don’t know it.
• Drill at least 10-15 mins after class every day on the technique you just learned to help reinforce it in your muscle memory.
• Trust your coach to build you as a grappler, not strangers that you only talk to online.
• White belts don’t have a style, regardless of what they think.
• Never let anyone intimidate you on the mat.
• Remember to breathe when sparring. if you run out of gas too quickly every time you roll, you’re probably holding your breath.
• Never be afraid to tap with a partner, it’s really not that important

I’m sure that I could’ve gone on forever, but I have to get up in the morning! Meditate on these “wise grappling” tips and feel free to send me your feedback at paul@thewisegrappler.com

Thanks for the opportunity to share my experience, Julius. Ayyyy!!!

Dedicated to improving your mat experience!

Paul Greenhill (aka The Wise Grappler)
www.TheWiseGrappler.com

Tweet This Post

A first-time competitor will oftentimes be unable to perform to his or her full . . . → Read More: Do You Perform Better or Worse with People Watching?]]> One piece of advice I tell all the first-time competitors at Crazy 88 JiuJitsu is to not worry too much about winning or losing their first competition.  The first time you get out there is really just to get the psychological kinks outs.

A first-time competitor will oftentimes be unable to perform to his or her full ability – the nerves of competing for the first time will make them act crazy and cause their body to react nervously (adrenaline dump, etc.).  Luckily, all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments divide the brackets by experience so first-timers are usually facing other rookies.

One of the reasons for this nervousness is the fear of being observed and therefore evaluated by others around you.

Oh No! I have a tournament this weekend!

Social psychologists discovered that social facilitation (“the phenomenon where performance is altered due to the presence of another person or other people”) could have both positive and negative effects on performance.  For example, cyclists had better race times when observed or racing with other cyclists than when cycling alone.  However, individuals who were forced to perform new, more complicated tasks actually did worse when others were present.

What accounts for the difference is Dominant Response.

Social Facilitation enhances Dominant Responses and inhibits Subordinate Responses.  So… if your natural reaction is to do “ABC”, people watching will make you “ABC” even better.  However, if you are not good at “ABC”, people watching will make you do “ABC” worse.  What this means as well is that if your natural reaction is to do “ABC” but the situation requires “XYZ”, people watching will make “XYZ” worse.  In other words, if its something you already do well, you’ll do it better.  If the task is still new to you, you’ll do it worse.

This is one of the reasons, drilling and maintaining a clear mind are so important in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:  Drilling to create the proper Dominant Responses to situations and Clear Mind to know when to stop yourself from doing Incorrect Responses (i.e. a wrestler who forces himself not to turn to his stomach when on his back despite his natural reactions telling him to). So don’t neglect your drilling!

PS – MERRY CHRISTMAS from everyone at your favorite Howard County Martial Arts school.

Stay Safe This Holiday Season!

Tweet This Post

However, Roger is . . . → Read More: Undefeatability – Master Submission Escapes!]]> Submission escapes are an integral part of being “unbeatable” in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Grappling matches. A good example of this is Roger Gracie. The most striking aspect of Roger’s game seems to be his insanely “simple” insanely “basic” top game that allows him to pass and finish mostly everyone he faces.

However, Roger is also a master of escapes and has had to exhibit them quite a few times in his early Black Belt days.  According to Gracie Magazine, Roger has not tapped in a tournament since he was competing in Juvenile Blue Belt but lucky for students of Crazy 88 BJJ, he has been put in quite a few hairy situations that we can learn from.

A few memorable ones include having his back taken by Marcelo Garcia and Terere; to this day, the # of people that have escaped Marcelo taking their back is probably two (I can’t remember anyone other than Roger but there probably is one).  He also escaped a tight triangle choke by Xande Ribeiro at Abu Dhabi and also a nasty choke at this year’s Mundial put on my “Demente”.  He came back to win all those matches.

There is some truth to the old Gracie Jiu Jitsu adage that the longer you are in the match, the more time you have to submit your opponent!

Note: All Children’s Martial Arts Classes are cancelled for Wed, Dec 23, 2009.  HCPSS is playing it super-safe with the snow.

Tweet This Post

Winning ability is how capable you are of defeating your opponent while undefeatability is the how capable you are of . . . → Read More: Winning Ability vs. Undefeatability]]> I think as each student develops their Jiu Jitsu “game” its important to focus on two separate and equally important aspects of his grappling: winning ability and undefeatability (yes, I know this is not a real word).

Winning ability is how capable you are of defeating your opponent while undefeatability is the how capable you are of not losing to your opponent.  The strange thing is that being good at one, does not necessarily make you good at the other.

Roger Gracie - Damn Near Unbeatable

To use an example from my Children’s Martial Arts program: I have one boy in the class who LOVES the UFC and has been watching it for a long time and is very fast / explosive.  He does not care (or does not understand yet) about points and positioning but he knows a guillotine and an armbar and is not afraid to jump for them!  He has probably tapped all the other kids at least once.

On the other hand, he also “loses” a lot in the room because he does not understand positioning yet so the other kids are able to control him and rack up positional points (when they are not caught in armlocks).  So while he can beat anyone, anyone can also beat him (High Winning Ability vs. Low Undefeatability).

Its important when working on your game not to neglect the aspects that make you “hard to beat”.  These aspects are often less obvious than just learning new or flashy techniques.  Its often about not being out-of-position or distributing weight properly or maintaining mental discipline i.e. “the boring stuff”.

Not What You Should Be Working On, White Belt!

NOTE: Crazy 88 BJJ Schedule has been updated with changes for weather and holidays.

Tweet This Post