Ebb & Flow

Man, its been a while since I wrote anything. In the interim, I've been working on a few things. No, not my car, that would require mechanical knowledge beyond that of a toddler.

My base. My speed. My strength.

One word: Andre Galvao's book.

Ok, that was three words, so let me try again: Andregalvaosbook.

Or better yet, Andregalvaosbookisgreatandresponsibleformyrecentsuccesses.

If you don't feel like reading that, buy the book and it will explain itself.

I don't usually enjoy reading books about technique, or plugging something that will make someone else money. If it were up to me, I would be like this guy:

Feathers and all.

I would much rather watch videos, or take the hands on approach. This book is so much more than that. It takes common BJJ movements and turns them into exercises that relate to those movements. I have seen tremendous improvements since using these exercises.

So why the "Ebb" part of the title if I've been "Flowing"? Two words: Role Reversal (hey, that was the right number of words this time! My high school teacher would be proud!).



Nevermind.



After coming back from a three week BJJ layoff and working on the aforementioned aspects of my game, I was able to sweep/transition/defend very well, spending most of the session on top.

The week after that, I managed to continue to defend, only getting submitted twice during a two hour session.

Week three: Asskickery abound. I sucked. Therein lies the ebb to my flow.

What does this have to do with Andregalvaosbook? I did not continue my workouts as I had in the weeks prior. So this week, I am working it back in, along with not drinking the night before my grappling session. In general, getting drunk before doing something important is not a good idea, even if its the night before.

Just ask this guy.

So now its back to the basics, and working these drills until I'm flowing again.

Milestones

I remember the first time I ran a mile. It was early fall, and my friends had begun doing this sport called "Cross Country". They would amaze me with tales of their distance running between spitballs and throwing wads of paper to the front of the classroom. Not to be outdone, I foolishly laughed and told them I had been doing twice as much as them, and would school any one of them in a distance run.

After a few days of being called a bullshit liar, I started thinking one of them might actually see me run oneday. So, I figured I should put feet to the pavement and become the next world record holder in the mile. After school one day, I headed to the local park following my healthy afterschool snack of honey buns and Mountain Dew to begin my training.

After blasting around the track two times, I had done it. Running a mile was not as hard as I thought, and I had done it in 5 minutes! Surely faster than the times they were telling me they were running! The next day, I proudly informed them of my new mile time. They were impressed, but certain I was lying. "I ran around the track two whole times, I swear!"

"Dude, a mile is four times around the track."

Looking back at that moment years later, after I'd won my very first race in the mile, I was amazed at how far I had come. All the hard work I had been putting in for the last few years was finally paying off.

The same thing happened this weekend. After spending the majority of the past year defending submissions, turtling, and hip escaping my way back to guard, I landed an armbar on my uncle who also happens to be my teacher. It was a great moment, and showed me just how far I had come. The fact that he submitted me five times in two minutes immeditately after that did not matter.

I had hit a milestone.

Attribute Specific Training

Time is something we wish we had more of. I believe the same is true of money, women and beer, but that is a story reserved for a day when my wife isn't reading this. I'm only joking (seriously, honey). No matter how hard you train, time seems to go by like a rocket strapped to a cheetah.

So how do you take advantage of the precious moments you have? Attribute specific training. Yes, running and lifting weights are important, and no, reruns of Married With Children are not (ok, maybe they are, but you get the point). We tend to complain that we don't have enough time to do what we want, but then we sit on our ass watching our dog lick his balls (oh, I'm the only one? Nevermind...)

I have broken down what I believe are the six main attributes of a Level 10 Jiu-Jitsu Character (nerd reference, bite me). They are:

EXPLOSIVENESS
AGILITY
FLEXIBILITY
TECHNIQUE
CARDIO
MENTALITY

On a scale of 1-5, where do you rank yourself in each of the categories?

EXPLOSIVENESS ___
AGILITY ___
FLEXIBILITY ___
TECHNIQUE ___
CARDIO ___
MENTALITY ___

Where were you the weakest? Start there. Let's pretend you have a workout planned with 15 minutes dedicated to each of the attributes. In fact, better yet, don't pretend, fucking do it. Maybe you will do splits for 15 minutes, then work guard passes with the family dog, followed by explosively flipping the coffee table end over end until you are nimbly skipping your way to the divorce lawyer after your wife sees what you did to the house.

Or maybe you can think of some better exercises that don't result in losing half of everything you own. The point is, if your flexibility is lacking, spend more time stretching, and less time lifting tractor tires. If you are feeling winded recently, forgo your benchpress, and jog up Mount Olympus to kick Zeus' ass.

I want to point out one very important attribute that most people neglect to train: mental toughness. Yes, it is something that you are constantly dealing with while training other attributes, but I believe it should be trained seperately as well. Meditation, books, and positive thoughts all play their role in developing your mental strength.

Keep all of these attributes at the center of your training, and it wont be long before you are slaying dragons, and dethroning kings.

Breaking Down Your Game

Remember the VCR? You know, that antiquated slab of black plastic tucked away in your closet beside the golf clubs that your wife begged you not to buy? It's a piece of junk now, but at one time it was the coolest thing since Miles Davis' sliced bread. The only use it has anymore is boring inlaws with videos of your better days, and watching a ragged copy of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", wishing you were as cool as that dude.

The technology it represents is very useful, however. Especially to those who like to break down every facet of their Jiu-Jitsu game. Enter YouTube: the website that brought you the ability to view people pranking each other by creating new ways to damage their friend's testicles. That's not what I use it for though. I primarily watch videos regarding socially constructive things like how to survive a zombie attack.

It does have an even better use than watching funny Old Spice commercials. Lately, I have been taping my rolling sessions, and uploading them to a private YouTube channel, then giving access to my training partners so we can review/comment on each others game as well as our own. Note, I said private because I have no desire for me getting my ass kicked to be at the world's fingertips.

This is something I highly recommend doing. Video taping your sessions is by itself a great training tool, but once you place that video at the center of your crew, and begin methodically picking it apart, the options for growth are endless. I have yet to see the full benefits of this, but I know the potential is there for it to take my Jiu-Jitsu to the next level.

Then, I really will be as cool as Ferris Bueller.

Avoiding Mental Mistakes

Mental fatique is much worse than physical fatique. You can push through your body breaking down, but when your mind betrays you, weird things begin to happen. You make mistakes that you normally wouldn't, as in sticking your neck out to have it guillotined like a peasant in the renaissance.

One thing I have found helpful is to envision the worst thing in the world that can happen to you. Then stop being a pussy and realize this isn't that bad. After you've been through some hardcore shit, you realize getting choked unconscious isn't that big of a deal compared to having a bag full of scorpions tied around your head while being submerged in hydrochloric acid. In fact, if your Ambien hasn't been working lately, this could be your only chance for a few moments of deep sleep.

Injuries in Jiu-Jitsu do suck. Getting tapped to an armbar doesn't, however, not tapping to an armbar really sucks. Especially if your opponent introduces the back of your hand to your scapula. I tend to focus on the positive aspects, and don't really worry about injuries. Of course, it pays to take preventive measures. In training:

-Tap right before the joint is extended completely (with experience you will get better at knowing when you are actually finished, and cannot possibly escape).
-When your opponent raises his hand to tap, let go.
-Don't be a spaz.
-Don't jerk on (or off) your opponent.

Just a few ideas to keep safe. I usually hold out for a while on chokes, but I don't play around with joint locks. I need my limbs to do constructive things like play video games, drink beer and Google the meaning of life. All at the same time.

Mental fatigue can create injuries though. So when you are getting sloppy, remember to breath and relax, or your limbs could end up looking like this guy. Sometimes its hard to do this in the midst of getting choked out, as the blood supply to your brain is being limited. I don't really have any advice for that, other than don't get choked out. I never said I was an expert.

Kaboom!

I've never been a very explosive guy. My wife would probably disagree, after I eat beans and drink Acai berry juice, then trap her in my Dutch oven. I don't know why they call it that. I seriously doubt the Dutch cook their food by trapping hot farts in blankets, but they might. Ask Bas Rutten.

What I mean is that I'm not particularly powerful and quick. Years of LSD have turned my fast-twitch muscles into turtles. I'm not referring to the drug, if I was I would mention how that has turned my brain into scrambled eggs like the commercials from the 90s. Remember that? Also, I don't see how Fabio couldn't really believe it was not butter, it was clearly an imitation.

LSD (long, slow distance) has its place in BJJ, but it should not be used as a primary tool. For the past few weeks, I have been neglecting my anaerobic conditioning, and putting in 10-15 miles of LSD a week. Not a whole lot, I know. But when this is coupled with no explosive conditioning, you begin to feel slow when you roll.

Instead of 3 miles, I am now running 1. Instead of 5, I am running 3. Instead of standard weight training, I am busting this out.

Good stuff, and harder than it looks.

I recommend one good long run a week, but any more than that will make you like me: only explosive after bean burritos.

GPS - no, not GSP, I really mean GPS.

I just rode 30 minutes on my bike, and ran 1 mile using SmartRunner, a GPS tracking program that tracks speed, distance, time, etc. and even shows the exact map of where you ran. Its pretty cool in theory, but I don't know how long I can stomach carrying my phone with me on my runs.

The funny thing is, they have a few different sports you can track - hiking, walking, shopping (?), swimming, etc. I dont know why shopping is considered a sport, and I don't know how you can carry a phone on you while you swim. Whatever.

The point is, I noticed they had many options for non-sports, and sports you can't possibly track using a GPS device. Surprise, surprise, Jiu-jitsu was not an option.

This makes me realize how unpopular our sport is to the general public. While it is growing by leaps and bounds because of the popularity of MMA, it will never be a spectator sport. People who do not practice BJJ think it is boring to watch. Hell, I know some people who do train and they thought the 2010 Worlds were boring.

That is a shame. Unfortunately, not much can be done to change it. At least Fabricio Werdum showed us the guard is not dead in MMA. But we already knew that, didn't we?