Grappling and BJJ tips by Liam The Part-Time Grappler Wandi: strategy

Showing posts with label strategy. Show all posts

BJJ Tips: Escaping the mounted position

Stuck?

In his fantastic book : Jiu-jitsu University: The Daddy of BJJ books!, Saulo Ribeiro tells a story about his meeting with Helio Gracie. The short of it is: Helio told Saulo that irrespective of the latter’s athletic ability and youth he (Saulo) wouldn’t be able to defeat Helio. Helio didn’t say that he could defeat Saulo: Only that he wouldn’t be defeated. Helio was confident that he would survive!

Before you start looking at escaping from side control (or any position for that matter) ask yourself if you are doing all you need to do to survive in the position:

Are you stopping him from anchoring his weight to you with his arms?
Are you stopping him from controlling your neck?
Are you stopping him from controlling your nearside arm?
Are you stopping him from controlling your farside arm?
Are you stopping him from controlling your hips?

Once you have answered yes to these questions, you should find yourself in a position where you can start bridging and creating space between you and your partner (the most important component of escapes). Follow that bridge with a good shrimping motion to connect your nearside elbow and knee and your more than half way to Freeville!

If you want a better (much!) description and more, I highly recommend Saulo’s book and, of course, all his DVDs. In the meantime, feast your eyes on this backdoor escape from the technical mount that I've been working on for a couple of months. It's demonstrated here by a hero of mine Mr Roy Harris with a much younger Mr Roy Dean/

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ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!

Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

Proudly sponsored by Predator Fightwear: Built for the kill and Brutal TShirt: Made By Grapplers For Fighters

BJJ Tips: The Science of Luck in Grappling / BJJ part III

After introducing basic Probability in part I and talking more about the interplay between “q” (probability of failure) and “p” (probability of success) in part II, it is now time to introduce the final* variable and the formula that ties them all together.

Central Limit Theory (CLT) states that if something consists of a whole bunch of independent random variables, the expected result will follow a Normal Distribution Curve.

What this means is that apart from a minority of uber-failures and another one of uber-successes, the majority of actions and results will be somewhere in the middle.

More importantly, a large enough sample of actions will give us a very predictable picture. Think about it, if you see enough comedy sketches, you can almost start seeing the jokes developing. If you see enough fights, you will start giving more and more accurate predictions.

Yes there will be surprises, but the rule is that the larger the sample, the higher the accuracy and this is the variable I’m introducing: N, the number of manoeuvres.

Central Limit Theory tells us that for a large enough number of manoeuvers, we can predict outcomes to a 95 – 99% degree of accuracy. THAT’S AMAZING FIGURES!! If I gave odds like that for the lottery we both know what you would do!

95-99% accurate odds!

Now how does that translate to Grappling / BJJ:

Drilling techniques more will translate in better results
Forget single attacks! Chain your attacks
Force your opponent to focus on one thing and one thing only (reduce his N)

And more. Let your imagination go wild.

Here you have your formula: Work hard to increase the value of P (attacking from better positions, better technical accuracy and ultimately higher attributes), decrease your Q (get your game tighter, work on your defences and escapes) and raise N (forget single attacks! Attack in combinations)
Numbers don't lie you know.

I hope you enjoyed this rant! I certainly did and it helped keep me motivated while my head was buried in the books and I couldn't roll as much as I want to! It's tough combining work, study and training but the rewards are endless!

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*Final for this discussion. There are, oh so many, many more :)

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Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

Proudly sponsored by Predator Fightwear: Built for the kill and Brutal TShirt: Made By Grapplers For Fighters

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BJJ Tips: The Science of Luck in Grappling / BJJ part II

In a previous post I introduced the concept of Probability and how it may relate to success in Grappling / BJJ. I briefly talked about how the interplay between “p”, the probabilities of making the right choice and “q” the probabilities of making the wrong choice, can ultimately effect the final result of the process (the sum of all decisions). I concluded with the advise that to move away from a grappling game of pure luck you need to focus your training on the technical aspects of Grappling / BJJ, thus increasing the value of “p”, decreasing the value of “q” and generally having a chance at taking the process of grappling with an opponent to a favourable absorbing state (a.k.a. a submission).

In this part I will tell you more about the interplay between “p” & ”q” and in part III, I will introduce to you yet another very important variable and give you a mathematical formula that will hopefully help you tie all these ideas together and provide focus to your training.

First, some rules.

In probability, p + q = 1. Always. In other words, the sum of the likelihoods of success and failure is 1.

So, everything you do to increase your chances of success will automatically also reduces your chances of failure and vice versa.

This is so important that it's worth repeating:

You cannot spend any time improving your chances of success without it trickling over into reducing your chances of failure and, vice versa, you cannot reduce your chances of failure without it increasing your chances of success.

because their sum is constant,
if you affect "p", you affect "q".
Always.

I know I know it may sound dead obvious but it isn’t, at least not to the majority of beginners (and some not-so-beginners)

Translating this to Grappling / BJJ speak:

Everything you do to improve your escapes will ultimately improve your positional dominance and submissions*.
Nullifying your opponent’s guard game will raise your chances of passing.
Denying your mounting opponent control over your neck will raise your chances of escaping his mount.
Working on your guard pulling will help you improve your guard passing

The list goes on. It's your job to sit down and figure out the rest of the list. It's your homework. Here's an example of how to work on the technical parts of using and turbo-charging your closed guard:

Never mind learning a new guard pass or mount escape. Focus on reducing your “q” (probability of failure) and I (and the Gods of Probability) promise you that your “p” (probability of success) will take care of itself.

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*This is of course when, as described in the previous post, you focus on the technical aspects of your training. Focus your energy on putting your body in the best spot to do what you need to do rather than on escaping/submitting your opponent at all and any cost from a less than optimal positioning.

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Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

Proudly sponsored by Predator Fightwear: Built for the kill and Brutal TShirt: Made By Grapplers For Fighters

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BJJ Tips: The Science of Luck in Grappling / BJJ part I

As some of you know, one of the subjects I studies at university was Probability (otherwise known as the science of luck) and one of the topics my course covered was called random processes. These are random sequences of random variables*. An example is a man very-drunkenly walking home from the pub. There is a:

1. Probability “p” that he will take a step in the right direction and a
2. Probability “q” that he will take one in the wrong direction, taking him further.

The sum of these is called the Probability of success and alternatively the Probability of failure. Further, his home is called the absorbing state. It is called that because once there, the process comes to an end. He stops walking. Another example is a gambler at a casino. There are definable probabilities behind success and failure and if/when he goes broke, he leaves. You get the drift.

The way I see it, this is very much how Grappling / BJJ must feel to beginners. When you watch the experts roll (BJJ or Grappling, doesn’t matter), you can see them making small (even tiny) gains on each other and quick recoveries. When you watch two beginners roll, you can see them passing guard. You can see them get to side control or even mount sometimes, but you can also see them lose these positions just as easily.

IT’S FRUSTRATING AS HELL! It really looks like a game of luck. The above-mentioned probabilities of reaching a position “p” and losing it “q” are equal and you can see the frustration on their face and how they try to tip the scales by using attributes (speed, strength, agility..etc.) or even sometimes hurting their partner (elbow pressure guard opening…etc.). I suppose the elusive submissions represent the absorbing states: the end of the game.

Do you want to get better? Do you want to move beyond this game of luck? Then focus your training on the technical side of Grappling / BJJ and remember that training doesn't give guarantees. It just raises the probability that you will keep the position long enough or change it to a better one until you reach an absorbing state**.

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*The reason I used random twice is to emphasize that both the direction AND number of steps is random

**In Part II I will go into more details of how to raise your odds in Grappling / BJJ

BJJ Tips: How do you define success in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

Our advanced BJJ sessions at the Labs - BJJ always include a huge chunk of sparring / rolling. The objective is not to win every grappling sparring bout at the gym. That would be ridiculous. Not only will you run into several athletes of a similar if not higher level (especially if this is at a big, healthy BJJ academy / gym), but you are constantly swimming against the current of resistance. After an hour and 30 minutes or so, the semi-dead grappler will easily get tapped by a stronger / fresher* / more skilled opponent. So what does that mean in the grand scheme of things? Well, nothing naturally!

That brings us to the question, how do you define success on a BJJ mat?

I have asked this question to a number of athletes** / BJJ enthusiasts and here are a few of their suggestions, please remember that none are more right than the others:

Number of rounds won in a row against equals in skill (irrespective of size, gender…etc.)
Winning is not losing (made famous by Helio Gracie)
Keeping someone stronger at bay
Keeping someone more technical at bay
Positionally dominating someone stronger (with or without a submission)
Positionally dominating someone more technical (with or without a submission)
Doing what you used to do but with less energy expenditure (efficiency)

Add to this specialisations within the Grappling-orientated game (Gi v No gi – v MMA) and the multitude of brackets that the Sport (an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively) bring to the table (such as age, weight and round durations) and the question becomes very big. Answering these questions is important to outline your progress in the grappling game but more importantly to stay happy and motivated.

It seems to me that the healthiest way to look at this is to keep an open mind and rotate your priorities in line with your progress. Someone just starting may have self-defence and general health at the top of their list but after 6-7 months of rolling, they value the mental challenge that grappling provides. Suddenly, they don't try to muscle out of mount bottom but patiently look for the technical solution. The attractant is different, but the game is the same. Keep your goals fresh and you will be able to enjoy this wonderful game your whole life***.

*Not everyone can / wants to train the full two hours so some people only manage to attend the second hour, which does mean they are much fresher and fuller of energy
**and athletes from other sports
***that's my only goal: to actually continue training BJJ my whole life (or until I no longer want to). Funny thing is, every time I step foot on the mat, I can tick that goal :)

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Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

Proudly sponsored by Predator Fightwear: Built for the kill and Brutal TShirt: Made By Grapplers For Fighters

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BJJ / Grappling Strategy: Attacking v Stalling

Learning from the masters: Here with John B Will

In a recent post, I highlighted the importance of sticking to strong fundamentals. That is the heart and soul of BJJ / grappling. What is important, and often difficult, is striking the right balance between maintaining a good advantageous position (such as side, mount, back...etc.) and going for attacks. We want to attack and make our opponent / training partner submit to a choke, arm or leg lock but we know that by opening up our grappling game we might open a door that allows them to escape the positional dominance we have on them. A simple example is the BJJ player who passes your guard then holds side control so tight that you can't escape (nor can they attack with anything except pressure). For years I called this attitude "stalling" but I now realise that when I shout out loud "position before submission" to beginners that they may indeed interpret that as "be risk averse and don't go for too many attacks!"*

I came to think of this recently when reading (well, I was listening to) Richard Dawkins' THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. There is a ton of gems in this book but one bit really caught my attention as a link to the beautiful game of Jiu Jitsu: Flight Distance...

Click Here To Read the Rest!!

BJJ / Grappling in Self Defence: My cousin Ali 1 - Robber 0

Actually, this could be titled Jiu Jitsu 2 - Idiots 0. I'm sure you're one of the 165,000+ who have seen the recent Ryan Hall video where he controls a very angry and offensive drunk at a restaurant. The man is totally unharmed and ends up apologizing and paying for Ryan's and his friends' dinner. If you've missed it you can check out the interview with the video on the Fightworks Podcast. But that's Ryan Hall. He is an awesome Black Belt and competes for the Marcelo Garcia Team. You expect him to do well.

A few weeks ago, I called my mother to check on her. She told me she was on her way to my aunt's house to check on my cousin Ali. Ali, she told me, had caught a robber in the house and restrained him until the police arrived. This, I thought, I had to go see! Below is a short interview I did with the man of the hour.

Does Brazilian Jiu Jitsu work in real life self defence?

Let's start with a short introduction:
My name is Ali, I'm 22 years old and I live in Manchester.

How long have you practiced jiu jitsu?
Haha, I have had 2 private sessions with you. One on mount escapes and one on mount maintenance. That's all.

Cool. I believe you've recently been involved in an incident. Tell us in your own words what happened.
I was at home from uni having a nice afternoon nap. My room is upstairs and no one was supposed to be getting home for a couple of hours so I was very surprised to hear noise coming from the living room. I got up from bed and, still sleepy and not quite with it, I headed for the staircase but when I heard the sound of steps on broken glass I hurried down thinking a family member was home and had fallen or something. I was very surprised to see two strangers standing in our living room. The floor was covered with broken glass from the window they had broken in thru and a glass table they had accidently smashed making their way in. Not the cleverest of robbers.

As soon as they saw methe one nearer the window shouted: "FUCK!" and ran out the same way he came in. The other guy, which I recognised as a local lad, froze in his steps. That's when I lunged at him, tackled him down and held him down. I was still not sure what I was doing, why I was doing it or where I expected any of this to lead. I just saw a robber in my house and I reacted.

He struggled under me and almost got to his feet once or twice and that's when I suddenly remember your advice and mounted him with both hooks under his thighs and kept a wide, low base with my arms. He really panicked here and started to thrash me around but hugging his head, I didn't let him roll me off him. I could hear your voice: "Find a comfortable position where he's using too much energy and you are not!" and I was so happy it all worked. I somehow managed to rach the phone and called 999.

Wow, you held him down AND called the cops?
Yeah, well it gets better! When I managed to call 999, I was still in shock and full of adrenaline. It was a huge head rush. They kept asking me all kinds of weird question and wanted me to give them details of what had happened. I was shouting at them that it WAS STILL HAPPENING! so the operator hung up on me! I decided to wait until I had calmed down a little then called them again, all while still controlling the thief.

Jeez! How long from start until the police arrived?
45 minutes.

45 minutes! How did you manage to hold him down for 45 minutes?
Well we were both getting tired, but he was getting a lot more tired than me and the more we stayed the more confident I felt while he was screaming for air and space. He kept shouting: "Nah man please don't choke me man. Please let me go. Just open the door let me have some fresh air man." I wasn't choking him. I wouldn't know how to. I was just controlling his head like you showed me.

What happened when the police arrived?
He started lying. He claimed I saw him in the street, dragged him and started beating him up. Luckily, the police took our statements and then called in another officer. I didn't know this then but the other officer had been trying to nail this robber for the past 7 years! He was very happy to see him and called me a hero. I'm not a hero, but jiu jitsu really works.

Did either of you get any injuries?
Nothing too serious. A few scratches and bruises from when he was clawing at my face to get me off him and I got cut a little fromt he broken glass but once I had him controlled there wasn't much he could do.

What a story. I hope you have a speedy recovery and I also hope to see you on the mat soon for some more jiu jitsu.
Thanks Liam and thanks for the lessons.

I thank Ali for taking the time to re-tell me his story. I respect his choices but I hope next time he stays upstairs and dials 999 from his room. It is only lucky that, in 2012, they weren’t armed with knives or worse.

BJJ / Grappling Tips and Strategy: What’s Your Core game?

I just read two blog posts back to back and they inspired me, in two separate ways, to write this one. First, I read Rob’s article about BJJ and The Butterfly Effect and then I read John’s Making the Connection (I recommend you read those two articles first. Click on them and they will open in new windows so you won’t lose this page)

For those of you who don’t want to read the two articles first (shame on you!) I can summarise that Rob was talking about how Jonathan Torrez’ near fanatic focus on set-ups and grips in the beginning of his BJJ / Grappling career helped catapult him to his current level of slick smoothness in a mere 4,5-5 years. John’s article on the other hand talks about how having a solid core game will make learning new moves easier and remembering / recalling them becomes faster if they are attached to a pre-existing core game. But seriously, read the articles as the guys express it way better than I do.

I’m happy to say that I do have a core plan. I shamelessly stole it from the BJJ positional hierarchy as outlined in Renzo’s Mastering Jujitsu (Co-authored by the amazing John Danaher) and Royler and Renzo’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory and Technique Co-authored by Kid Peligro. It’s the same plan outlined by BJ Penn in his No-Gi 101 video.

This is always, always what I’m working to do. I’m always looking to survive, escape, pass, secure, advance, secure, advance, secure, lather, rinse and repeat.

If I learn a submission along the way, it needs to fit in this BJJ / Grappling pattern. I.e. I will not go to triangle from mount if it means I need to roll back to guard to finish it. I seldom go to armbars from guard unless I have a quick detour back to the core game waiting (always combine my armbars with sweeps) and my favourite attack from side control is always, always to mount.

But that’s just me. I roll with a number of different people who play a different core game. Only this morning I was watching a short video of me rolling with fellow purple belt Mr Graeme Kidd and his triangle transitions straight from falling (after I bridge him off me) are nothing short of lethal. He is very sharp with catching them.

Here's a Time Management Tool you can use to help filter thru your moves:

And here's a BJJ adaptation* of that:

What’s your core game? What is your BJJ / Grappling backbone?

*Naturally, this is not for everyone and it's not extensive by any measure. Go do your homework :)

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First Competition at Purple!

Yesterday saw a large team from the BJJ LABS hit the mats at the Manchester BJJ Open.

The team had a great day, winning a bunch of medals and a number of great matches. More importantly, it was a huge TEAM-EVENT. We met many old and new friendly faces and were at each other's mats shouting and supporting each other. Ian -our Le Big Boss- was tirelessly there chasing everyone with his camera and keeping the competitors updated with times and brackets. To top it all, we finished the day with a few beers (and many, many more laughs) at Odder Bar on Oxford Road.

I had the pleasure of finally meeting Mr Mark Andrew Bottom (a.k.a. Monkey) from EKBJJ North and his crew. What an awesome bunch of people. I look forward to meeting them soon on their own mats in Rotherham. I also spent some time talking about my dreams of merging Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and live music with top BJJ Purple Belt and NME Music journalist Mr Adam Adshead, chief coach at Factory BJJ.

I quickly want to thank Sam my 14 year old brother for being there all day with me, being my camera man and for laughing at my lame jokes and to Ste for helping with my warm-up roll and for just generally being an all around awesome dude.

I love my crew. I can't wait for the next opportunity to spend this much time with them.

As for my two matches, they didn't have enough in the Masters so I went with the Adults. I followed my strategy and fought really hard for the grips, especially in the first one. My goal was to not pull guard and to not get taken down. So far so good. Unfortunately, once I got the other fighter to pull guard, I took too long inside their guards and lost the first fight by armbar and the second by advantage.

Here are the links to the fight vids on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qifLj93S3y0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kYWfUTappE

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Tips For Smaller Female Grapplers

That's the title of Stephan Kesting's last Newsletter email (which in it's own right is awesome and should be made compulsory reading!)

You can read the article itself on Grapple Arts, and you can (and should) visit the original author (Krista Scott-Dixon)'s own blog.

While we're on the subject or reading, here is a fantastic little article called the Jiu Jitsu Triangle (but it has nothing to do with the famous choke!)

Happy reading!

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BJJ Tips: Position before Submission

We've all heard this countless times but what exactly does mean or, more importantly, how do you interpret it?

Here are just a few of the ways I interpret Position before Submission (Pb4S):

Learn positional escape before submission escapes.
Master positional escapes before submission escapes.
Learn positional dominance before submissions.
Master positional dominance before submissions.
Treat every submission as a control position before seeing the finish value in it and practice it from that respective.
Focus on transitions between positions before transitions between submissions.
Never sacrifice a good position for a chance of submitting someone.
Always ensure you are in the best possible position before launching your submission.
Always ensure your opponent is in the worst possible position before launching your submission.
When mid-submission you sense your positional dominance slip away, abort the submission and work on regaining your superior position.
What I learn from positional dominance will translate in gi, no gi, MMA, self defence...etc. better than submission knowledge which may work under one set of rules but not another.

Remember: Every time you go for a submission*, you narrow your options (not always a bad thing, as long as you understand it!)

While the superior position will always give you a number of options

Do you want the best of both worlds? Work hard on making your positions so mechanically superior that you don’t have to actually make the choice. Here is a clip of a newfound heroine of mine Hillary Williams demonstrating a wicked Americana from mount in perfect form.

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*I’m not saying don’t go for subs or that you can't transition from one sub to another. That’s too simplistic. I’m a deep, deep man!

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BJJ Strategy: Riddle me this…Riddle me that…Who’s the cleverest on the BJJ mat?

Here is a statistics-influenced riddle (ok ok I may have seen it on an old NUMB3RS episode!)

You are asked to rig a room. The room has 4 doors and you are given 4 identically designed traps that can be attached to the doors. Each trap, however, only has a 25% chance of working and 75% chance of failing. Your victim wants to go into the room and there are no windows so she has to choose one of the 4 doors. What’s your best strategy?

If you want to see the answer, scroll down. It’s past the silly (or clever, if you believe Georgette!) cartoon.

Ok it’s a bit of a trick question as it has a piece of information missing. The doors are lockable. But then again that’s an important part of today’s post theme.

All other factors remaining equal, your best bet is to lock three of the doors and attach your entire arsenal to the 4th one. Your victim needs to go into the room, and you’ve just stacked the odds heavily in your favour.

BJJ / Grappling is, or at least should be, the same. It’s a series of traps and mazes and the beauty of it; your opponent WANTS to go into the room. They WANT to SWEEP you. They WANT to pass your guard. They WANT to go to mount…etc. But how does the analogy above ink into this?

Two ways:

1. In any situation on the mat, each player will have a number of options. A number of possible manoeuvres. How many depends on the situation: When someone is inside your guard you have many more possible things you could do than when they have go back with hooks on you with one of your arms trapped by their leg. Statistical analysis advises that to increase your chances of success, limit your opponent’s possible options. Don’t give them a room with 4 doors, give them a room with 3 locked doors and one unlocked door, with a small bag of cookies dangling from the handle and a trail of crumbs leading into the room.

Offensive example: When someone is in your closed guard (for example) they can place their hands in a variety of postures and positions, offering them a spectrum of support levels. Why not open your lapels, eliminating the(double lapel grab). Also work to control their wrists or at least push them off your chest/ribs area but keep pulling their torso into you with your knees. Effectively, you have given them only three options to pick from: To tuck their pelvis under them and remain upright (in which case you can sit into them and work the hip-bump/Kimura/Guillotine series), to place their hands low on your torso (which shouldn’t stop you from breaking their posture and possibly wrist locking them) or to post on the mat which just opens up a can of whipass of attacks. Place your traps only where the open doors are.

Defensive example: You’re in someone’s closed guard and your tuck your pelvis in and remain upright, hardly really touching them with your hands (use them to deflect their grips. That narrows their options to either opening their guard and sitting up for the hip bump/Kimura/Guillotine series or start playing open guard. You just zipped what you need to defend against from several unknowns to a few knowns.

2. The Doors are lockable. I didn’t tell you that in the initial riddle for a reason. I wanted to make a point about this strategy: Not many people know it!

Not many people I know actively use this strategy and it’s, I’m guessing here, because no one ever told them that the doors are lockable so they keep searching for more traps to buy/learn/download.

There are postures in BJJ / Grappling that eliminate certain attack opportunities for your opponent and I’d rather spend my time learning/working at those than learn 1-2 counters to each of these potential attacks. To me, that’s the essence of great BJJ.

The wild buffalo cannot butt its horns against him, The tiger cannot fasten its claws in him, And weapons of war cannot thrust their blades into him. And for what reason? Because in him there is no room for death.

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BJJ Tips: If you're under the guard, consider yourself losing

I don't have my book infront of me but the concept is echoed around Renzo-Danaher's book Mastering Jujitsu

Yesterday saw the first session at the BJJ LABS, and Martyn couldn't have chosen a better topic: The Guard.

The reason I like the choice of topic is for two reasons: the way he taught it and the reason behind why he did it the way he did. Martyn treated the guard as a transitional position between being under someone in a disadvantageous position (mount, side control, knee on belly) and having the upper hand in a scramble.

The way he focused the session was on the get-up strategy. Get the hell up and out from under your opponent. If along the way they give you a present (an arm or the neck) then take it. It's a great strategy that we just didn't drill at all before, which leads me right into the second reason I really like it.

On the same mat we had white, blue, purple and brown belts rolling and learning. Some had their main interest in MMA, some in gi/no-gi BJJ and also some just do the art for fitness and health purposes AND THEY ALL GOT IT! The principle of getting off your back and out from under someone in a fight is universal and Martyn captured that perfectly in our first session at THE BJJ LABS.

Yes you can sweep from the guard. We covered three options off the get-up.

Yes there are some excellent submissions. We covered two of these as well.

Did everybody pick up the same details? Of course not. It’s ridiculous to expect white belts to pick up the same details of techniques as the brown belts. They just haven’t developed the awareness for it yet.

Did everybody pick up the strategy and the postures, pressures and possibilities available from that strategy? Hell yeah!

We all learned something new about the art of BJJ, and we also got the chance to conduct our own mini-experiments within the session.

Do you see where I’m going with this last bit?

THE BJJ LABS just made their mark on the map.

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Dave Meyer Interview - How to Get What You Want in BJJ / Grappling

I listened to a great interview on Stephan Kesting's podcast with Dave Meyer. The interview had several highlights but one point jumped at me that I immediately made a note of it.

Towards the end, Dave says: There are 3 ways of getting what you want in BJJ or life in general. You can either take it, put the opponent in a position where they have to give it to you or put them in a position where they want to give it to you. Dave supports this with a number of BJJ-related examples.

All good. Now the old, goal- oriented, me wanted to say “Ah that's an awesome analogy” and it is, but it assumes a very static, black and white picture of reality.

You are zoned in on ONE thing, negotiating it back and forth with your partner/opponent and hence missing the hundred other ones they are giving you, hell even throwing at you, for free. BJJ / Grappling is not a sequence of frozen pictures but rather a fluid circle or movement.

Examples?

How many times have you worked so hard to go from Side Control to Mount and completely ignored a number of Kimura opportunities the opponent gave you?

How many times have you worked so hard to get your hand or foot inside someone’s very tight and defensive turtle posture, totally ignoring the opportunity to topple them over or stick your far hand in for a clock choke?

Yes you can use the analogy and intently attempt mount expecting the Kimura opportunity, and that’s an excellent way to get it. But how do you think it came about the first time around?

Thru experience. Thru being totally in the moment and just seeing what-happens-if.

This is what I’m suggesting. Write your own book. It’s a lotta fun!

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BJJ Tips: More on Goal Setting in BJJ / Grappling II

Wow. What an amazing response the last post on goal setting received on Facebook and via email. I opened my inbox and had 30 emails waiting. I didn’t get that when I got married! Thanks peeps.

Firstly, let me define goal setting so we are all on the same wavelength: The goal setting I’m against (in business, sports, relationships…well, life!) involves establishing specific, measurable and time-targeted objectives (as is suggested in Wikipedia).

An acronym often associated with goal setting is SMART, standing for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant/Realistic & Time-framed.

I used goal setting for many years. It worked. That was the problem. Allow me to explain.

I set a goal, usually a SMART one, and then built a gradual plan that lead towards the realisation of that goal. I overcame hardships and kept my eyes on the prize and got it in the end. Unfortunately, that was all I got. I missed out on a million beautiful experiences. I literally got what I asked for and an inescapable sense of hollow victory that was always casting a shadow like a dark cloud over my parade.

I couldn't figure it out at the time. I did some research into it and found that it was a common phenomenon, (1 and 2) so I convinced myself that it came with the territory. I convinced myself that it was simply time for new, bigger goals. Nicer, shinier trophies and the cycle continued but alas achieving a bigger goal brought with it a bigger let-down. A bigger, darker shadow. When was I to be happy? When was I to feel contended?

That is when it hit me: Now.

I can either be happy now or never. The verb "to be" can only describe the now. That was the first clue. The first card that fell, and the whole house followed soon after.

I was refusing to live in the now and hence committing the following mistakes:

Making decisions based not on facts of the now but rather part my emotional knee jerk reactions to my perception of the now and part some imaginary future state of mind I had convinced myself coincided with the planned goals.
Kept my eyes on the prize and totally missed a gazillion opportunities to be happy.
Most importantly I started identifying with either the goal, the mission, the obstacles, past memories, feelings and reactions and even sometimes with other people.

Can you have a game plan? Yes.
Do you need one? No.

Q. Without some kind of game plan for getting out from under the mount you're just lying on your back covering your head and feeling sorry for yourself until you get armbarred.

A. When an untrained person is mounted, they will do something to get out from under the mount. The person on top will react to that. That will change the dynamics and geometry of the two bodies.

Will the person on the bottom get armbarred and otherwise subbed a few times? Yes. But there will come a time when the penny will drop and they will learn not to stick that arm out.

Will the person on top get reversed? Yes. But there will come a time when the penny will drop and they will learn how to distribute their weight.

How soon will the penny drop? As soon as they each live in the moment. No later and no sooner* and the lesson will be theirs forever.

Think about it. Mount bottom is not that horrible, in the grand scheme of things. How many people have died or got permanently injured from being under someone’s mount for 2-5 minutes in training? Most likely zero. What’s the worse that could happen? You will get frustrated and bothered. But what if you decided to suspend judgement? What if you decided to experience the position rather than label it as horrible/pleasant/frustrating/elating/sweaty/tight…etc.? You start living it. You start feeling it.

Krishnamurti said once: "If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation." Apply that to everything, starting with the mount-bottom.

Setting a SMART goal by default means you are going to invest in it. Commit to it. Hence, you WILL put the blinkers on and you WILL get caught up in it.

Q. What’s wrong with seeking a “better” position/job/life…etc.?
A. That’s not SMART goal setting. Actually, most coaches will tell you that’s not goal setting at all. “Better” is a judgement. Something is good/better/best is only so in comparison to something that is deemed bad/worse/worst which comes directly out of not living the now. That’s another story that I won’t go into here.

Q. What’s wrong with having a focus in training?
A. Absolutely nothing. I’m a huge proponent of focus. You can’t live the now without having a focus. Focus and Goal are not the same though. Focus is a healthy tool and I find that putting my focus on living in (not for) the moment puts me in a happier and healthier state of mind. An excellent example of that is when passing the guard.

Passing the guard is getting past the legs and they aren’t usually static. By taking that to heart, I’m always moving forward with pressure and soon passing.

Q. Isn’t this reactive? Doesn’t a proactive approach give you more of an advantage?
A. It’s alive. It’s a film, not a picture. The way I see it, “reactive” and “proactive” are photograph-like descriptions of a fluid reality and they depend on when the shutter closed. Going back to the guard passing, I’m always keeping in posture and putting pressure. I don’t need a goal or a plan to tell me to press the action. Half the time when people are doing nothing in someone’s guard, it’s because they are trying to think of what to do and that’s the opposite of living the moment.

Here is another example. You feel hungry. You can make a goal and plan: to go to the Supermarket to get something to cook/eat. This is of course because you have judged the feeling as negative and you must get rid of it. But things change. Feelings and sensations, such as hunger, are in constant movement. Understand the urges by living the now and feeling them. You will soon notice that your hunger will either go away or you won't oversee the 5 healthy snacks you walked by.

Once again though, thanks for reading.

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*(unless someone from the outside tells them to!)

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BJJ Time Management: More on Goal Setting in BJJ / Grappling

Graeme, one of our toughest guard players in the blue belt gang, made a comment yesterday about my aversion to goal setting. His comment was along the lines: if you're under the mount, it is important to set the goal to get out of there. Not his exact words but I believe he felt the goal helped give focus.

Now, while I agree that being under someone's mount is never a great day at the office, I still disagree with Graeme and here is why.

Firstly, you don't need* a plan or goals to tell / remind you that getting out from under the mount is your focus when you get put there. All you need is to BE there, to live and experience the MOMENT. Mount-bottom will tell you that. It sucks!

Secondly, the goal setting process as it widely used both in both sports and business presumes full, or at least sufficient, knowledge of the options at hand and potential outcomes and turns of the situation. You're not supposed to pick a goal out of thin air, but unfortunately that's what you end up doing most if not all the time. I'll build on Graeme’s example. Let's take someone who's only been training a short while and as for mount escapes, he's only familiar with the upa. Now he knows the upa. He really knows the upa. But the problem is, you and I know that the upa isn't perfect. No technique is. Techniques have counters. A very simple but effective counter is shifting your weight to the opposite side and raising your weight about half an inch.

Now the goal-setter will probably set his SMART goal to be: Upa as many times and as hard and technically as possible to get out from under the mount in 10-15 seconds (Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-framed). The problem is not whether or not this will work; it is the detrimental effects it may have in either case!

-If it DOES work, it will take too much energy but the player will think he did the right thing!
-If it DOESN’T work, it will take too much energy and the player will get very frustrated and may lose faith in the technique or even think (s)he has been miss-taught.

By living the moment, by just being under the mount and performing the upa and getting countered, the player will sense the change in weight distribution. If they don’t, a good coach will tell them to slow things down and focus on that feeling. Once they get that connection, that feeling, learning the elbow-knee and shrimping escapes, becomes a much easier and more natural progression.

Don't think, feel! It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.

- Bruce Lee

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*Yes goal setting can work. No disagreement there. It’s just neither healthy nor necessary.

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BJJ Time Management Tips: You Must Always Do Something!

I found this gem of an article on The Cage Warrior forums. All the points are very much valid and you will do well in incorporating them into your practice.

Please feel free to drop me a line with what you think

(PS. Thanks for all the Xmas gift suggestions I have been receiving! I will be setting up that list before the end of this week.)

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BJJ Interview with Ryan Hall. Great BJJ Tips and Advice.

Every now and again an article, review or interview will come out and change my perception of the BJJ / Grappling game. This is one of such piece.

http://twurl.nl/v2s0u8

It's kinda taking things back full circle to Fight-ready BJJ.

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If you want to ready more about Ryan Hall and the Fifty/50 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy please click here

Success Secrets & Tips: Choosing Your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques

I'm reading a fantastic book called Comedy Writing Secrets (best £10 I’ve ever spent!).

It's an awesome book for anyone who enjoys comedy in all its forms. In it, the author talks about the MAP theory of how to write:

It makes perfect sense. Jokes that could kill an audience of OAPs (excuse the pun) will probably bomb with college students and vice versa. And it hit me how this applies to all performance, not just comedy, writing or even just art.

This is perfectly applicable to BJJ / Grappling.

MAP: We (Performers) often try to force techniques (Material) on partners (Audience) and get so frustrated when they don’t work (but it worked yesterday on so and so!). The material suited the performer, but not the audience (or at least was not done within the right context).

MAP: Sometimes we see a technique being done effortlessly on person A by person B. Then we try to perform it on the same victim (I mean partner) and it doesn’t work or feels very awkward. That’s because although the material suits the audience, it doesn’t suit the performer’s style or attributes. (Just because Eddie Bravo pulls off the Rubber Guard
so smoothly doesn’t mean that Roger Gracie or Marcelo Garcia should switch to it!).

MAP: Finally, we may have an excellent guard pass or submission that has always worked against a particular partner (or style of BJJ player) when wearing a gi but we just can’t pull it off when grappling without a gi. In this case, the performer and the audience are the same, but the technique is no longer suitable.

Keep this in mind, as it will save you a lot of frustration. If you are trying to work this closed guard sweep with someone and all they are doing is hugging your hips and stalling, don’t give up on yourself or the sweep…just acknowledge that the audience wants something different and…reach inside his lapel and choke him!
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PS. The MAP theory can easily be applied to other fields too such as instructors choosing material for a special course (e.g. rape-prevention) or group of students (Children, military..etc.)
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BJJ Tips: 100 things you should do before reaching black belt

BJJ / Grappling is a long, beautiful journey. We all appreciate some good tips along the way. There are many details and intricacies to learn and remember in BJJ / Grappling and every help is appreciated.

I stumbled upon this article and thought I would share it with you guys. I hope you like it.

Here is a quote from the opening paragraph:

"GRACIE Magazine went after 40 Jiu-Jitsu instructors and asked: If you could go back in time, what would you do differently in your career before reaching black belt? "

To read the rest just follow the link below:

"100 things you should do before reaching black belt"

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