Where I'm Calling From

"The worst is a look you expect - and don't get - from a face you thought you knew."

--Jeffrey Skinner

For the past 10-11 weeks I've been responsible for teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Gracie Barra Seattle two evenings a week while our head instructor recovered first from an experimental knee surgery and then, almost immediately afterward, from a challenging and painful infection of the finger that left him similarly and additionally sidelined.

Teaching classes this summer - fundamental, all levels, Live Training - has probably been one of the most significant experiences in my jiu-jitsu life -certainly since I stopped competing after earning my black belt in late 2011. And while the opportunity to focus on, explicate, and share many of the basic techniques of jiu-jitsu was awesome, the challenge of working with students from a variety of backgrounds and with widely differing skill levels was probably what I appreciated most. I am at root a solver of problems, and there are few greater chances to practice my problem-solving vice than by working to find the simplest way to explain the gentle art to those eager to learn it.

I'm going to leave it at that. I'm looking forward to both continuing to work with students - especially white belts, older students, and those who think they don't have the physical attributes to do jiu-jitsu - as well as working on my own jiu-jitsu game, which has taken a bit of a back seat this summer as the obligations of teaching the best class possible took center stage. I've spent a lot of time thinking very hard about what I want to do with my jiu-jitsu as I enter my 12th year in the art (August 18th, mark the date!). Tonight was the first night of putting some of that thinking to task. Here's to many, many more.

Why I (Still) Love Eddie Bravo

If you aren't a 40-something black belt on the verge of becoming a 50-something black belt, then you might not appreciate the beauty of truth here. Indeed, no one has a better sense of their own limitations than a middle-aged grappler.

Eddie Bravo: I go with everything, man. I'm like 'You wanna go that way? Let's go!" And let me see if I can hold on and get a little clinch and then go back this way "Bam!" You know? I'm too old to force my way through anything.

Joe Rogan: That's probably the smart way to do it, though, right? That's the traditional way of jiu-jitsu-

Bravo: It's the survival way of jiu-jitsu! My jiu-jitsu is becoming very survival now. My guys are fucking me up, now. I'm getting tapped out all the goddamn time, now. The only way I can tap out certain purple belts is if I have gas. If I'm tired and I take a round with one of my purple belts, I'll be fucking on survival mode the whole time, man. My guys are coming with fire, now.

Metrics: Aug 30 - Sep 5

Training Days: .

Tue / Thu 

Four Week Training Average: 

2.0 / week

Techniques of the Week

GB Curriculum Week 3

Strength & Conditioning

Tue pm - (pre-train) 5x5 vertical jumps; 5x20 hipscapes

(post-train) 5x10 breakfall/techlifts

Thu pm - (pre-train) 5x5 vertical jumps; 5x20 hipscapes

(post-train) 5x10 breakfall/techlifts

Weight (w/gi)

159.6 lbs - Tue pm

157.4 lbs - Thu pm

Live Training

21 min - Tue pm

8 min - Thu pm

Metrics: August 23 - 29

Training Days: .

Tue / Thu 

Four Week Training Average: 

2.0 / week

Techniques of the Week

GB Curriculum Week 2

Strength & Conditioning

Sun noon - 3x60s ISO deadlift / ISO overhead press

Tue pm - (pre-train) 5x5 vertical jumps; 5x20 hipscapes

Thu pm - (pre-train) 5x5 vertical jumps; 5x20 hipscapes

Sat noon - 8 min BoxSteps; DB row circuit 3x10

Weight (w/gi)

158.0 lbs - Tue pm

157.4 lbs - Thu pm

Live Training

8 min - Tue pm

8 min - Thu pm

Metrics: August 16 - 22

Training Days: Tue / Thu

Four Week Training Average: 2.0/week

Techniques of the Week

GB Curriculum Week 1

Strength & Conditioning

Tue - 100 hipscapes 

Thu - 100 hipscapes

Sat - LSD (treadmill); DB circuit row

Weight (w/gi)

158.8 lbs - Tue pm

157.4 lbs - Thu pm

Live Training

12 min (specific) - Tue pm

Metrics: August 9 - 15

Training Days: Tue / Thu

Four Week training average: 1.50

Techniques of the Week

GB Curriculum Week 16

Strength & Conditioning

Tue - 100 hipscapes 

Thu - 100 hipscapes

Weight (w/gi)

158.0 lbs - Tue pm

157.0 lbs - Thu pn

Live Training
12 min

Metrics: Aug 2 - 8

Training Days: Sun / Tue  

Four Week training average: 1.50

Techniques of the Week

GB Curriculum Week 15

Strength & Conditioning
Tue - 100 hipscapes
Sat - Matwork/Berardi

Weight

159.2 lbs - Sun noon

158.0 lbs - Tue pm

Live Training

60 min (specific training - Sun)
34 min (Live Training - Tue)

The Six Things You Need to Compete in Your First (and Last) Jiu-Jitsu Tournament

I was talking with a white belt after class the other evening. He had only been training for a few weeks, was curious about competing, and wanted to know what I thought.

As someone who competed in his first jiu-jitsu tournament less than a month after his first jiu-jitsu class, I was more than happy to help.

Below is a summary of what I shared:

The Six Things You Need to Compete in Your First (and Last) Jiu-Jitsu Tournament

1. A way to get the fight to the ground
2. A way to reverse from the guard
3. A way to pass the guard
4. A way to get to your dominant position
5. A way to finish from your dominant position
6. A way to recover your guard if you lose it

That's it. It is very easy to overthink things. But if you boil down any sport into its essentials, you'll find a breakdown that's comparable.

What makes the sport beautiful are the near-infinite variations on these goals that individual competitors pursue. But make no mistake: these are the goals, and if you have a sound, practiced way to achieve them, you'll be surprised at how successful you are when the referee shouts, "Combate!"

Bottom-to-Finish, Bottom-to-Top, Top-to-Finish Jiu-Jitsu

I'm having a great time teaching old school jiu-jitsu every other Friday morning at Gracie Barra Seattle.

If you want to learn how to control without holding, how to wear down your opponent by making him or her bear your weight, how to convince your opponent to submit rather than endure your gravity any longer, you could do much worse than to have been training at GB Seattle over the past few Fridays.

No "Twister Jiu-Jitsu". And no "Hokey-Pokey Jiu-Jitsu", either. Just that good old bottom-to-finish, bottom-to-top, top-to-finish jiu-jitsu the way the Gracies invented it.

Join me.

Gratitude

One of the great joys of jiu-jitsu after almost nine years of training is rolling with white and blue belts. Many times, white belts and blue belts are the only ones I feel like training with.

There is something incredible at the nexus of knowing no jiu-jitsu (beyond a basic introduction) and knowing a little jiu-jitsu. If you teach, nothing is a better guide to future lessons than to spend as much time in this universe as possible.

I wrote awhile back that the key to being a happy black belt was keeping your "blue belt self" in mind at all times. This is a version of that.

"Better Fewer, But Better"

After not posting training diaries for a little over a month, I think they are gone for good.

At the end of the day, the posts were never especially popular. And you have to write one for every training session or the point is lost. And since I'm not training with competitive intensity - see the Monkey Bar Gym folks for that - I just don't see a reason to maintain intimate logs of day-in, day-out training.

Instead, I'll post a weekly digest of what was most meaningful out of a week's training, some theme or concept that seemed to best characterize what jiu-jitsu is all about. I'll also have a post talking about whatever it is I'm teaching and why.

So fewer lists of techniques in odd shorthand. But I'll try and keep the cool pictures and drawings of ancient grappling combatants going all the same.