Strength and Conditioning

One thing I've been adding to my training repertoire lately has been strength and conditioning.  I had never really done strength and conditioning outside of just training before winter of this year.  I saw many of the higher level belts at the school doing pull ups, sandbag exercises, and other lifts/exercises to help increase their strength for BJJ.

For a long time, I thought that just rolling a lot would help me develop BJJ-applicable strength.  However, most competitors are on some type of regimen.  I don't have access to a gym, so I've been working on developing my own setup without the use of a gym.  I thought about posting all the exercises here, BUT I am not a health/fitness professional and therefore don't feel comfortable posting my regimen in case it isn't the best one you can do.  I have, however, been using a bulgarian bag, which I've found VERY useful.  It makes you utilize your core to stay upright and you can work pretty much any and every muscle in your body using all the exercises.  I received mine as a present and it came with a DVD, so I've been working from that.

If you're interested in starting a strength and conditioning regimen, it's probably best to talk to your coach, as he/she has better knowledge about where to go, especially if he/she was/is a big competitor. I received most of my knowledge from my training partners, and have been satisfied with the results so far.  And as always, be very careful when starting a new exercise regimen, as taking it up too high too fast can cause injuries!

Revelation

Since I've stopped training at Shaolin's, I've noticed I'm much more prone to try out new moves and work on my weaknesses.  A friend pointed it out to me and it kind of confused me.  Shaolin is a great coach and I love the atmosphere at his school.  So why am I suddenly more calm, patient, and willing to try out new techniques?

I realized that during my time at Shaolin's, I was putting too much pressure on myself.  I wanted so bad to so well that I took every failed sweep and submission quite personally.  I got crushed A LOT at Shaolin's.  I would leave class distressed but with no plan on how to improve.  I was focusing more on the fact that I was getting crushed than the fact that I needed to  improve.  I had no process in place for fixing my mistakes, not a good one at least.  So why did my attitude change just from training elsewhere?

**I'd like to note that this is NOT a knock on Shaolin's school.  I enjoy training with his students, I like learning from Shaolin, and I'd recommend it to anyone.  The problem here lies within myself**

At Shaolin's school, there are beginner classes for white belts and advanced classes for blue belts and up.  Jason just has a mixed class, but will sometimes assign different drills for white belts.  Since I often pair up with the other girl in class who is a white belt and am more likely to be paired up with someone who is of my experience or a lower rank, I can work on similar weaknesses and am not thinking "oh my goodness, I'm going to get owned AGAIN".  Now don't get me wrong, Jason also has students that can crush me like a bug, but there is a larger gradient of experience available in any given class.  Whenever I roll with white belts, I'm more likely to work on my weaknesses, as you don't get much out of imposing your "A" game on someone who doesn't have the same experience you do.

I know my mindset shouldn't be limited to who I pair up with, so I've been working on just remaining calm during drilling and rolling.  I can't let a class format dictate how I act.  What I may consider doing is taking a couple of private lessons to really work on my weaknesses.

If I get a job in NYC, I will return to Shaolin's with a new and better attitude regarding my training.  And if I end up staying in NJ or moving anywhere else, I plan on carrying around this new attitude with me!

Transitional Drilling

As I posted previously, the grant for my job in NYC ended, so I've been training at Jason Scully's school until I can find another job.  Jason's a great teacher and incorporated a really cool drill this past week that I'd like to keep doing.

He didn't have a name for the drill, but it consisted of each person doing two different movements against the other person and alternating back and forth.  For example, if two people start from the knees, one person might grab the collar (one) and then grab the pants leg (two).  The person would respond by kicking their leg out to break the grip (one) and try to get an underhook (two).  If you fail to break/establish a grip or position, it still counts as one movement.  It's a good way to see how you do your transitions.  I know that personally when I roll, it's tough for me to remember why I was swept or what led to me being submitted.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to find someone else who is interested in doing this drill at Jason's or Shaolin's open mat.

Additionally Jason had us roll for 45 minutes straight yesterday.  He said that if at any point you got tired you could take a quick sip of water and come back, but for the most part it should just be straight rolling.  Each person stayed with the same person the entire time.  I was paired up with a 6-month white belt girl, and to my knowledge, is the only other girl who trains at Jason's school.  I like training with her because everything she does is somewhat calculated; there's no random pushing, flailing, or movement without any thought behind it.  Even when she makes a mistake it's not a frustrated and tense attempt to get out of something.  Additionally, we have similar competition games so it's nice that we work on the same weaknesses and have similar strengths. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more cover letters to write, the GRE to study for, and a personal statement to write. AHH!

Quit Hating!

June 29th was the last day at my job.  It was grant-funded so it only lasted until the end of June, and I am currently looking for another job.  Hopefully in NYC so I can continue to train with Shaolin; they have a good number of girls and smaller guys who train so it's a great training atmosphere for me.

Having time off work has given me a lot of time to think.  I've had a decent amount of changes in my personal and professional life since work has ended has also given me a lot to think about.  One big thing I think that has been holding me back is how I view my opponents and those around me.  And please note that this entry isn't targeted at any one person- I've met people like this at tournaments, at gyms I've trained at, and through friends.

I think some people just enjoy talking smack about other people.  Whenever I'm talking smack, it's fairly obvious that I'm joking around.  However, I constantly hear others put down other teams as well as individuals on those teams.  How can you BLAME someone for winning? Because they're lanky? Flexible? Or my personal favorite "just naturally talented".  Even sandbagging; I understand that sandbagging does occur, but I bet if the same person was promoted after winning, the same people would claim that the instructor promotes too fast!  And then the infamous "oh no, he switched teams! what a traitor!".

Well guess what.  Your complaining does nothing for you, it does nothing for your opponent, and does nothing for your progress.  Your best bet is to focus your own skillset and body type to craft a certain type of game you'll use in competition.  Try working as hard, if not harder, than your competition.  See how difficult it is to advance the position and avoid stalling when you go against a really great competitor.  And regarding switching teams, some people do it for a better training environment, some have tensions between their instructor, and some people just move far away!

I've been accused of giving my opponents too much respect, and that's absolutely been true in the past.  I'd see a big team name attached to them and get intimidated.  I'd assume they trained more than me, that they did extra training and had more time than me to work out and roll.   Now I just see my opponent as someone in my weight class who has the same belt around my waist that I do.  I don't care if they're taller and lanky, short and stocky, or where they train.  Their habits are irrelevant to my progress.  If they beat me, I give them credit for exploiting my weaknesses, but I try and remember what I need to improve on from the match.

But I don't walk around calling those who beat me one trick ponies, stallers, or sandbaggers.  They're people that train jiu jitsu just like I do.  They probably have the same goals as me, like winning at the highest level they can achieve.  I'm not saying I'm trying to be friends with someone I compete against, but there is no point wasting negative energy on someone else when I can be putting that energy towards my own progress.

Anyway, that's my rant for today.  I'm hoping this upset stomach goes away so I can get back to training ASAP!  Since I'm so far from Shaolin's gym (I'd have to pay for a 400 dollar train pass plus the monthly fee to train there), I'll be training with Jason Scully unless another job opportunity in NYC or elsewhere comes my way.  Even so, my training is going to be much more sporadic because of studying and job hunting.

Tough Times!

I've tried to write this entry several times, but figured I'd wait until I'd finished competing in a series of three tournaments. I competed at the Abu Dhabi Trials in NYC, the IBJJF NY Open, and the Big Apple Open.  I lost my first match in all of these tournaments.  The first I lost by an advantage, I lost by referee decision at the NY Open, and lost by submission at the Big Apple Open.

Needless to say, it's disheartening in some ways and enlightening in others.  Naturally, no one likes losing.  I don't care how well you take it, no one comes off the mat with a smile on their face. I'll be the first to say that I don't take losses well initially.  I'm fine when I am on the mat, but prefer to be alone once I leave the mat for a little while.  Quite honestly, if I could, I'd drill what I did poorly on right after I lose.  Of course that isn't really feasible, but after each tournament I try and go to open mat the next day to drill what I need to work on.

What made me upset was that I made the same mistake in the past four tournaments I've competed in.  I won't go into deep details, but it's something I need to work, it's something I've tried to work on, but I simply haven't been able to execute it yet.  Given that, I think it may have been a mistake to have competed in the NY Open and Big Apple Open if I knew that I hadn't really fixed that part of my game yet. 

Since Saturday, I've been refocusing; this is the enlightening part.  I'm a slow learner; it takes me a while to get a concept and apply it, whether it's school or jiu jitsu.  I'm now trying to apply some of the same concepts I used in school to help me understand movements and positioning in jiu jitsu, and even though it's only been a day or two, I think these methods are working well.  If I can break down each position into a set of smaller steps, then it's much easier for me to understand.  It's important to keep those smaller steps in mind while rolling for me so that I don't miss any details.  Prior to this, I think I was drilling somewhat mindlessly; I did the same moves over and over but didn't absorb the concepts or details.

I've decided not to compete again until I feel like I've really made strides in my weaknesses.  I'm hoping to use this summer as a time to focus on improving my weaknesses; during competition time, I often focus on how to implement my strengths and gameplan, but not so much on overall improvement.

Mistakes

Really? I haven't posted since January 30th? Shameful!

February was an incredibly busy month for me. At work we had two big grant applications, which means 50 hour work weeks, and on top of that I was training 3-4 times per week, 2-2.5 hours each time. Not to mention I would miss dinner some of those days because I would run straight from work to the gym without even a small snack. This did not end well! I ended up getting sick and being completely under the weather for a couple of days. Even though I'm not sick anymore, it's only today (about 2 weeks later) that I finally don't have a runny nose. Bottom line is, don't kill yourselves people! If your body is overworked, listen to it and take some time off. Get some more sleep, and make sure you fuel your body correctly. It's pretty scary to see your own actions manifest themselves in your own body and well-being.

I competed in the Long Island Pride tournament last Saturday. I lost both of my matches by one advantage. The first person I went against immediately pulled guard. I was able to get to half guard twice but never able to fully pass. The stupid thing I did was that I kept leaning forward to stack instead of posturing up, so she got an extra advantage for a submission attempt (triangle) and one for an armbar attempt. So if I had not leaned forward, there is a better chance that I would have done better in that match. No excuses, she won fair and square, and I'm not saying that if I postured that I would have won the match, but it's something I've been working on like crazy now.

My second match was against a teammate, and we decided to go all out. I lost this match by an advantage as well, and also kept leaning forward in her guard. Needless to say, I was really upset at the end. I've never competed and lost both of my matches. A friend of mine who was coaching me took me aside and calmed me down a little, and reminded me that getting angry wouldn't help anything. I lost both my matches in VERY close situations and that if I made small improvements that there is almost guaranteed better results for next time.

The next day I hiked back out to New York City and went to open mat, where I started every matched from inside my opponent's closed guard. I was surprised at how well I was able to keep my balance by simply posturing up, which gave me a lot more confidence in my balance and base. I ended it with a 30 minute roll with a 185lb blue belt guy who was really good as using his technique and not his weight.

I'll be competing at the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials on Sunday, the New York Open on April 21st, and then at the Big Apple Open in May. My wallet hurts just typing that!

Math and BJJ

So apparently when you go on vacation from work there is approximately 100x more things to do than when you left ten days ago. This has been the story of my life since January 3rd, but thankfully I've been able to train relatively consistently.

Shaolin has added a new BJJ drills class on Tuesday nights for the new year. It is largely a conditioning class based off of functional BJJ drills, like arm drags and takedowns. It serves a few purposes as it'll improve strength (I had to drag someone across the mat by their belt last time), conditioning, and drilling necessary techniques. There is no live rolling in this class at all.

I think drilling is a really underrated part of jiu jitsu. Many people (naturally) want to get as much rolling in as possible but I think it's really important to drill techniques your instructor shows you, especially since techniques often build off of and into various sequences and positions. In this way, I think jiu jitsu is a little bit like math. When you first start taking math, you learn what numbers are, followed by addition and subtraction. Slowly you learn addition and subtraction with double/triple digit numbers and move onto multiplication and division. This spirals you into Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus, statistics, and other realms of math. However, you can't learn algebra without first learning how to add and subtract, and without algebra you certainly can't do trig or calculus. Similarly, in jiu jitsu, you start off with learning a few basic things, like what guard, mount and side control are, and moves like the americana and armbar. Then you learn how to use and manipulate open guard along with its extensions like spider guard and the de la riva. From there you have more sweeps and submissions which all build off of one another. But how could you have ever learned that spider guard sweep if you couldn't even figure out how to get there from closed guard?

Sometimes I think that's an issue with jiu jitsu. People want to learn fancy sweeps and submissions without first mastering the foundations. This is not to say that you shouldn't learn things like the berimbolo or inverted guard or even that you shouldn't eventually base your game off of them; I just think it's important that those things come after you've really understood the concepts behind more basic moves like closed guard, the triangle, etc. And even if you don't ever use something that intricate in your entire jiu jitsu career, it's important to have knowledge of them, because you will probably have to at least try and counter those moves at some point. I train with a few people who love the berimbolo and even they that's their go-to move, I still can't do smack from their closed guard.

I just registered to compete in the Long Island Pride tournament in the beginning of March. I'm anxious to compete again because even though the last tournament of 2011 ended on a high note for me, I know I can do much better and really want to redeem myself from my losses. Since I'm having a really tough time making the nogi classes, I'll be entering only the gi division.