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