Injuries report: Star date July 31, 2011

Here are the BJJ injuries since I started training, Aug. 2010.

1. Hyper-extended elbow (left).
Out of training: 2 weeks.

2. Thumb (left) sprained/tendon.
Out of training: 2 weeks.
Urgent Care visit: Yes.

3. Current injury: Neck (left upper side)/pains shoulder and elbow. Numb index finger (left hand).
Out of training: 1 week and counting.
Urgent Care visit: Yes.
Chiropractor: Yes.

Belt: White, 4 stripes.
Total taps: 167.

Injury Rest Day, July 28

Injury: Shoulder and elbow painful, index finger a little numb and painful.

After much thought, decided to skip class today. Must been the all Kimuras I got caught with on Tues. They were yanking and muscling and I wasn't feeling anything, so I fought it. As soon as I felt even a little bit, I tapped. Should I tap even sooner?

Feel a little wimpy missing class, but I don't want to make it worse and miss even more training. As it is with my schedule and family activities I don't knew when I can train next. Tomorrow (Fri.)? or Sunday? Next Thursday night?

Status: White, 4 stripes.
Total taps: 167.
Working on:
a. guard
b. passing guard.
c. side escapes
d. submissions - choke from mount; armbar from mount.

1,000 Rep Project

I heard a judo guy say you need a 1,000 reps to own the move. He did a certain throw a 1000 times so that when he stepped in the cage for his MMA fight he did it without even thinking about it.

With that in mind, I'm going to log a 1,000 reps in different BJJ moves, drills. I need to solidify my Attacks from Guard, so first up: Bump Sweep.

1. Rotate to side.

2. Post up to elbow, then up to the hand.

3. Sit up to get over his elbow. Control that elbow.

4. Hip up, and sweep.

I'm making a 10x10 grid and checking a box after every 10 reps.

Tues, July 26, 2011

Tech 1: Standing Clinch to Pull Guard, Armbar.

1. Put my leg on hip, pull him into guard as I swivel.

2. Get my leg over for armbar.

Tech 2: He defends above, pulls arm out -- Scissor Sweep.

Tech 3: Hip Throw. Some grabs neck from behind.

1. Grab arm with both hands, defend the choke.

2. Change level, drop my hips by bending my knees.

3. Swivel hip, throw over shoulder.

Taps: 4 -- Kimura, Bow and Arrow choke, armbar, kimura. Total: 167.

Tapped to a different lower White. The Whites must love me by now. I didn't suck completely, but there were definitely pockets of suckitude; sucky eggs laid my me. Getting passed easily. I'm gonna see if turtle instead of letting him pass to side control. Side escapes.

A Blue did show me a Mount escape, which I'll call the Hip Push: 1. Both hands on either side of hips. 2. Push away one way as I hip escape the other way. Similar to Purple Jack's move, which I'll Jack Rabbit -- because he does a double push. One small push one way and as he comes down, a big push the other way. Second push before he has any base or weight.

I guess the hope is that I'll suck less and less and eventually I'll be sort of competent? Well, I'm not too worried. As long as I've got things to work on and I'm slowly progressing, I'm happy.

A Smile

Monday night, I'm lying in bed about to fall asleep. Wife next to me still reading. I must of had my eyes closed with a smile on my face because the wife says, "You're thinking about jiu jitsu, aren't you?"

Funny thing is I was. I was looking forward to next day's class. Must be hooked.

Sat, July 25, 2011

Purple Vince led the class, and he showed a lot of techniques.

From Guard, against:

Rookie move 1: He tries to choke top Guard -- swivel hip and Arm bar.

Rookie move 2: He puts hand on mat -- Kimura.

Rookie move 3: One hand put high on chest -- trap it and Armbar.

Then he showed a whole series of Knee on Belly (KoB).

1. He tries to push off my knee, get Underhook, spin, put my other knee behind his arm and fall to Armbar.

2. He defends the Underhook, pull up sleeve of near arm, my knee against that armpit, fall to Armbar.

3. KoB maintenance -- a. my foot tight against his hip, knee falls where it falls; b. switch knees if he turns in; c. spin to other side, side control.

4. If he pushes my knee into Half Guard -- make sure he gets leg, ankle but not my knee; get knee down onto mat; flatten him, get neck collar grip and same arm sleeve grip, pull up and get to Back.

Taps: 2. Total: 163.

Need to work on: Kesa Gatame Escape -- 1. Frame and get leg over for armbar; 2. Elbow to mat; underhook; get to side.

Rolling: trying to intentional roll, instead of mindlessly rolling for win or lose; roll to work on stuff.

Slightly Off Topic: Learning/Teaching

Cane Prevost over at his Gentle Art blog talks about the 3Ps of learning/teaching BJJ: Posture, Pressure, Possibility. He got it from Matt Thorton's 2I and Aliveness training. But 3I (Introduction, Isolation, Integration) has a more wider application and I'm going to try it on my older daughter.

I'm teaching her multiplication and this is the plan.

1. Introduction.

2. Isolation: Drills.

3. Integration: real life problems. Find square area of garden, our room that needs carpet, etc.

I'm going to try this in other areas, too.

BJJ Sangha

I've been reading many BJJ blogs and I like to start their story from the beginning and read all the through to the present. It's like a good book. And I like to read about their journey and hopefully learn a thing or too.

I know that BJJ is a life style for some, and some treat their academy and training partners like family but I'm starting to realize what that means. They've tapped into a "community", what the Buddhists call "sangha" -- one of three jewels of Buddhism.

Some people have that community with youth soccer, book clubs, their church, or their bowling league. I'm hankering for something like that. Why? I guess it's true, that whole no man is an island thing. Man needs friends, man needs community.

Outside of my family, I don't have much in the way of personal relationships. Also, I may have to start putting more effort into people if I want anything in return. What a change for the lone old wolf.

As we get older, as we move on from college, it gets harder to connect with people, to find that community, but I'm starting to realize it's vital that we need to find that community.

Thur. night, July 20, 2011

Tech 1: Standing Bullfighter Pass.

1. Grab both grips on his pants at knees.

2. He sits up, and you go one side to pass, bring shoulder down to get him back on mat.

3. One hand still on knee grip; other comes up for the cross face in Side Control.

Tech 2: Standing Bull Pass 2.

1. Grab both grips at pants.

2. He sits up and gets his two grips on my sleeves.

3. I let go knee grips and grip his sleeves.

4. Pull up on his sleeves, get his body off the mat a little and hip forward right into Mount.

Tech 3: Standing Knee Slide Pass.

1. Standing, hand on both his knees. Shoot right knee in between his legs, at an angle, right over his right pelvis.

2. As I slide down, get under hook with my right hand on his left arm.

3. Slide down knee to mat, left leg straighted out, in Side Control.

Then on to the Positional Drills down the line. I love these isolation drills. I made an error in the Mount/Escape Mount, where a Blue upa'd me. I figured out the morning after the class what I think I did wrong. I was going for the Roger Cross choke and got swept going for the second grip. I thought I was too fast, too greedy. But I know I did everything right up to that point, then I lifted my body up too high and I forgot to base with my forehead.

**I tried to practice all these during rolling, but hard to do since I rolled with the Brown who taught it to us. Also, it wasn't too efficient a learning process for me because he basically shut me down, with really fast tap tap tap tap. I couldn't work any of my game, I couldn't really find any chinks in the armor.

Then rolled with a lower belt White who tapped me with a RNC. I think i made his night.

I really like the Night White Belt classes. Although it's a little scary as a four-stripe White.

Taps: 7. Total. 161.

Outliers and 10,000 Hours

The 10,000 taps thing comes from Pedro Sauer Black Belt Keith Owens. I just finally got a copy of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, and read about the 10,000 Hour rule to mastery.

Zhoozhitzu do Graugardo blog also had a 1000 Flight Hours project -- rolling for 1000 hours and see where he's at.

I did the math and at the current rate of taps, in 10,000 hours of rolling I should tap about 1250 times. So technically, I should be aiming for 1250 taps, but that goal seems too near and too achievable. I'm going to stick to 10,000 taps.

Here are some more notes from the book.

• the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.
• But what truly distinguishes their [Beatles, Bill Gates] histories is not their extraordinary talent but their extraordinary opportunities. [opportunities to get to the magic 10k number.]
• A basketball player only has to be tall enough -- and the same is true of intelligence. Intelligence as a threshold. [after a certain IQ level, other factors come into play.]
• Only two parenting "philosophies" [rich and poor]. Rich/middle class parenting -- "concerted cultivation" -- an attempt to actively "foster and assess a child's talents, opinions and skills."
• Poor parents follow a strategy of "accomplishment of natural growth." They see as their responsibility to care for their children but to let them grow and develop on their own. So the poor kids don't know how to "customize." While the rich kids are taught a sense of entitlement, an attitude perfectly suited to succeed in modern world.
• This is backed up by Terman studies of kids. All the super-successful A kids were from the "cultivated" parenting styles.
• Since we know that outliers always have help along the way, can we sort through the ecology of Joe Flom and identify the conditions that helped create him?
• The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents. It comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our particular place in history presents us with. [it matters what era they were born in.]
• Meaningful work: autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward -- the three qualities that work has to have to be satisfying. Work that fulfills those three criteria is meaningful.
• Success arises out of steady accumulation of advantages: when and where you are born, what your parents did for a living, and what the circumstances of your upbringing. And cultural legacy?
• Who we are cannot be separated from where we're from.
• Airplane crashes -- usually involve seven consecutive human errors. Also in concert with bad weather, pilot fatigue and being behind schedule.
• Asians and math: Chinese four-years can count to 50; American kids only 15.
• Being good at math is not an innate ability. It's an attitude. Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard.
• We should be able to predict which countries are best at math simply by looking at which national cultures place the highest emphasis on effort and hard work. ... all the cultures shaped by wet-rice agriculture and meaningful work.
• Success follows a predictable course. It is not the brightest that succeed. Nor is it the sum of decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It's a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities -- and those who had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.
• the myth of the best and brightest and the self-made.

Crappy Class (Attitude), Promotion, All's Well...

Night class, Thursday, July 14.

I really should try to make more of the White Belt Night Classes. And I really need to take ownership of my training and learning. Be more efficient. Less ego. Fundamentals. Basics. Principles. Concepts.

With that in mind, no taps. Total still at: 154.

Tech 1: Standing Pass (shown before).

1. R. hand grabs both lapels and press down on sternum.

2. L. hand gets a sleeve grip/control.

3. Left side/left knee up; both legs up.

4. Both hands on same sleeve grip and posture straight up.

5. Right hand on his knee, shake/push to open legs.

6. Get single under for the pass to Side.

Tech 2: Side Control Elbow Lock

1. Get far side underhook, grab my own gi for control.

2. Other hand moves from under his neck to other side of his head.

3. Knee across belly, head down on mat.

4. Swing leg over his head, then under his head.

5. Grab my own wrist, pull up tight near his elbow joint for finish.

Crabby/Cranky

We had our usual Guard/Pass Guard drill and I couldn't do jack -- couldn't pass and got passed by a few times. There were five or six lower Whites, one Blue, two Purple. I was pretty pissed off at myself that I didn't do better against the lower Whites. Also, I felt I was using more strength and not enough technique.

And it didn't help that I got my fourth Stripe (White), and I felt it was not earned; I was unworthy of it.

But things ended well after I worked with Purple Rain. He was saying how no one was using the Standing Pass that Coach Chris just showed us. My thought was: he just showed it to us, so it's not going to work, and I just learned it so I'm going to be crappy at it so it's not going to work.

This is the COMPLETELY WRONG attitude to have. It's totally "be good" thinking and not "be better" focus that I should be having.

Who cares if it doesn't work? It's not supposed to work, right now, for me. But, but, after a bunch of reps, after much practice, after a few months, after I get all the details and make it my own, IT WILL BE AWESOME. It will work and I will be better. So I have of been practicing it, getting out of my comfort zone, so to speak.

Purple Rain suggested I work on that for a week. So whatever is shown in class, so focus on that for a week or so. He also gave me some Concepts tips:

1. Use pockets of energy: don't just grab and hold with all my might. Find the pockets, the angles, grab and relax; when I see the timing, the mini-opportunities, grab then relax.

2. Always threaten. Even if I'm defending, I have to threaten something to distract him, to deflect his attack.

Side Escape detail

*Get in prayer position. When I frame and push up, don't push straight up. Push up and down towards my feet, at an ankle, while at the same time, I rock my head back for momentum. Then bridge at angle and get my knee in.

Focus on:

1. Guard/closed.

2. Opening closed Guard/Passing guard.

3. Side Escape.

Cross Collar Choke - Detail

This was one technique that was covered in the last two classes. Some people call it the Roger Gracie choke from mount.

One detail I have to remember to do: After I get the first grip in, bring my elbow down on this chest with pressure. I keep forgetting to do that.

The other detail, which I've figured out, really has helped me, is to turn my palm up, making sure my thumb and blades along there is against his neck. They always tell you to it's key to get a deep, deep grip on that first grip. The reason is the deep grip helps get a tight choke on the neck, on the carotid artery.

The other higher belts I was drilling with didn't do this and they were crushing my windpipe, coming down on my neck but they weren't doing a choke; they were not cutting the blood supply squeezing the sides of my neck.

Mount Survival Checkdown

Someone gets my Mount, I have to:

1. Elbows tight; Frame/brace with my arms, hands clasped together, against his hip. (This prevents: a. riding his knees high into High Mount; b. getting close enough for chokes.)

2. Bridge and get on my side; one leg flat, other one up. Get rid of hook on the flat leg side.

3. Shrimp out and try elbow escape.

*** Constantly, every five count, bridge to keep him off balance and don't give him time to get settled in to try any subs.

Usually, as I get almost out with the elbow escape, they will transition to S-Mount (if they don't, I can easily get Half Guard, and may even get full Guard.)

So for S-Mount Survival, I try two things:

1. S-Mount Escape from Saulo's JJ University book, page 62.

2. Eddie Kone's escape shown here, via PT Grappler blog.

I've pulled off the Saulo before, but haven't been able to get the Kone to work for me yet.

Sat. July 9, 2011

Tech: same two from Thursday night. Instructor must do same techniques throughout the week.

Taps: Triangle, triangle, omoplata, defend triangle but tap to armbar. Total: 154.

Talk about my rusty defense, sheesh.

Trends: new Blues like Spider Guard. Many Purples controlling my elbow from Gable-like grip right over the elbow in Side Mount. Been seeing that a lot lately. Also, Triangle from Mount.

In other news, ordered a new gi -- Padilla and Sons, baby, yeah! White Gold Weave. Finally, another gi besides my HCK, which is about 10 years old, and a little on the tight side, fading a bit, but I still like it a lot. Just thought I'd give another brand a try.

Night, July 7, 2011

Forgive me BJJ gods, it's been almost three weeks since my last class ... man was I rusty, and I'm really pissed that I stunk up the joint. Wanted to give one of my stripes back. Maybe in my day classes, I'm become comfortable and all the other guys are going too easy on me, but I just felt like it was day one for me.

Taps: 2. Total: 150.

It was a White Belt class, with a couple of higher colors.

Tech: 1 -- Kimura from Guard.

Tech 2 -- Failed Kimura from Guard / go to Bump Sweep.