Rollin out of 10 and in to 11

Cruised down to training yesterday for my last roll for 2010. Was a good open mat training session, had some good rolls and got some new stuff to work on. One of my training partners destroyed me. He's been on a tear lately. Training down the house and smashing peeps on the mat. It's so cool that he's picked up his intensity towards training. It really helps my game improve.

By him kicking up a gear and really dominating it's forcing me to look at what's going on a bit closer and work out a new strategy then try it out. Once i've figured out a way to slow him down a bit so he can't smash me so bad, I'm sure in return he will adjust his game and so on. It really speeds up the evolution of both our games. So when I'm getting smashed I'm also getting excited. 

Like today while he was on mount or sidecontrol and I was defending myself for about 5mins, all I was thinking about was how am I going to stop this dude from passing my guard in the first place.... then bam! caught in a Kimura. Damn I love Jiu-Jitsu.

I always find that as the year approaches it's end I start having a good look at myself as an individual and what I've achieved over the last year. Usually I don't like what I see. The years after I did my knee the first time playing footy, I let myself get very lazy and let time slip away. But the last two years since I've started BJJ have been awesome. I've achieved a lot on and off the mat. And my potential to achieve so much more inspires me to try harder to achieve more things and at a higher standard next year.
I'm going to compete at least 2-3 times next year. I have to get my weight down, increase my flexibility, increase my squeeze power and of course get my competition game technically and mentally tight. My game has lots of holes in it at the moment and I'm going to work real hard next year on getting it air tight. I'm going to set my self some bjj goals for next year.

I'm going to work on my takedowns at least once a week, compete in tournaments at least twice during the year at under 99kg. I'm going to do Yoga everyday, eat healthily and increase my functional strength.

Nothing to full on there but my weight is currently around the 110kg mark and the first comp could be in March some time. So I've got to drop 11kg in about 2-3 months. So after the New Years celebration I'm going to start getting the weight off. I'll let you guys know how I'm going with it and what I'm going to do to get it off and keep it off.



 Last 'Day Class' before Xmas

So thank you to all my Family, Friends and Team mates for helping me have such a great year and I'm super pumped for a massive 2011.

Stay Safe and Happy New Years!!

C u on the mat,

Rex.

Last Gradings For 2010

Last night was the last grading night for 2010. I really enjoy gradings nights, everyone rolls with a bit more intensity and it is a real test of fortitude for the team members going for belts and stripes. At our gym grading night consists of having some warm up rolls at the start of class, some of which are real battles, then we line up in belt rankings and our coach tells us which team mates are to step out to the middle of the mat.

It's a total surprise to the person and they better be warm because they are about to get put through the wringer.

Last night we had a 4 stripe white belt and 2 blue belts get called in. Before they started our coach told them that no one was going for a new belt but it was a night for them to feel what it will be like when they do go for there next belt.
So coach matches them up with lower ranked guys first and then works up to them rolling with the more senior dudes over about 8-10 rounds last night was not quite as many rounds I don't think.
I got the privilege to roll with one of our most senior blue belts. I believe he would have got his purple belt a while ago but circumstances has meant he hasn't yet. Our coach gave me the green light to really make him work.

So I went at him like he had stole my last donut. Really trying to push the pace and make him feel my weight. He's an excellent guard player and towards the end of the roll we had a leg lock battle and I've got little to no game in that department so I'm glad I walked away with all my ligaments still attached.

I then got to roll with the 4 striper for his last roll. He has really gotten good in the last month or so, and I reckon he'll be up for his blue real soon. He swept me straight up and got real close to a pass but I scrambled back on top and got a kimura. The kimura come on real quick and I think I hurt his arm. I felt real bad but he gritted his teeth and wanted to keep going. I ended up taking his back and worked for a collar choke until time went. He's getting real good and is an excellent training partner. He really deserves some big ups for his hard work this year.

It was one of the most fun grading nights I've been to. A lot of dudes got stripes on there belts, including a blue belt getting his first purple stripe. Lots of peeps will be stepping up for new belts next year. It's an exiting time on the mat.
C u on the mat,
Rex.

Finding Inspiration

Training is going good(when i can get there), working on stuff from closed guard. Coach has shown me a couple of closed guard techniques that have really increased my options in that position. I'm loving the set up that he showed me for the armbar. It's all about keeping tight, keeping my opponents posture broken down, keeping my hips free and waiting for the right momentum to go for the sub, the sweep, take the back or if I stuff it up keep closed guard. I've found that if I use my entire body efficiently I can bring my opponent tight to me and work for the sub. Remembering to use my legs, my core and my arms all together is the key for me to pull it off.

It's amazing where we can find inspiration. During the week I had the absolute pleasure to have dinner with one of my mother in-laws family friends visiting from England. He's here to watch the Ashes cricket series. He was an officer in the Royal Navy and was Knighted for his service. The way he carries himself is quiet inspiring. He truly is an English gentlemen and in this day and age we very rarely get to meet such men. I had the pleasure of reading some of his family history. He had transcribed out the history of his Australian relatives. The story tells of how his relatives were sent over to Australia on the early fleets. Reminded me of how lucky we are to live in this day and age. It was extremely well written and made my blogging efforts look like a 2 year old had posted them.

Although in his late 80's he has a terrific memory and a very impressive general knowledge on most things. We also spoke about family and friends. He kept saying how lucky I am and how I must be very pleased with my life. Sometimes it takes someone else to point it out, or you don't acknowledge what is great in your life. I am truly blessed to have the family, friends and team mates that I have. The advise he gave me was pure gold. I really hope I get to speak with him again one day soon.

Keeping inspired or motivated is an on going battle for me but not when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu. I would train everyday of the week if I could but it's not possible for me right now. Why do I have so much motivation to roll but at times I have trouble getting myself out of bed to go to work. I easily slip in to chill/procrastination mode at home and at work and achieve bugger all for extended periods of time.
Passion is what gets me to training, even though it's a 2 hour round trip on a dodgy stretch of highway and takes me away from my family I love for 2-3 nights a week. Even when I talk to someone about Jits the passion starts flowing out of me and I get pumped up. I also think it has to do with the fact that I'm not good at Jits. I really have to focus when I'm on the mat or I'll get my arse handed to me. That feeling of having to strive harder to achieve the level I want to be at, also motivates me to keep at it. I have to find that passion and feeling of wanting to be better in the other areas of my life and apply it.



My son was so pumped when he saw this rainbow. not as much as that double rainbow guy on YouTube though


P.S.
Please check out my mates blog at http://underhookindustries.blogspot.com/
He's a top bloke and a wizard on the mat.

Connecting The Dots

I always try to to use the technique we are shown at the start of class during sparing at the end of class. I find that if I go for those new moves and especially if I pull the move off with some success, it's then in my bag of tricks for ever. Sometimes it leads to me getting tapped or being put in to shit spots but I really believe this helps to progress faster. The techniques our coach showed us my last training session slotted straight in to my tight game from side control. This is no fluke either, due to my coach not just teaching us random techniques. Every move we are taught connects to a series of moves we have been shown before. Having coaching like this also helps to progress faster. I stunted my growth at the start of my training by trying to collect too many techniques from everywhere. You tube, dvd instrutionals and even magazines. I was collecting a massive amount of info. This only confused me more and made me think too much while I was rolling. I've spoken about this in a previous post, thinking while you roll leads to death.

I also pulled off the very elusive triangle from closed guard last night while sparring and the feeling of getting it was very gratifying. I even went from triangle to omoplata back to triangle to finish. The triangle is elusive to me for a few reasons. One is I have short and large legs with low flexibility. The other is that I've never really drilled it in class.

One part of my game that I feel is lacking is my submissions from the closed guard. The game I play with the different guards I use, all revolve around sweeps. The only sub I pull with any real success is the Kimura from closed guard and half guard. The half guard kimura usually leads to a sweep then a pass. I do throw up the ocasional triangle, omoplata or armbar from closed guard but I would say they are very low percentage for me and if I really try to get it I often get my guard passed. 

I've studied tons of high level nogi grappling tournaments and by far the 3 most common submissions are the RNC, Triangle, and Armbar. Now I've been thinking a lot about this, and I would be crazy not to use this information and try to make my self a better grappler. I have been working on taking the back and getting the rear naked a lot. And I also work on my armbars from the doninate top positions. But I need to focus on my submissions from the guard a lot more.

I've always blamed my low flexibility and fat legs for my shit triangles and armbars but I think it is more poor technique. Not enough drilling the triangle and the options off the triangle and not enough working on my flexibility is the problem. To rectify this I'm going to focus on my flexibility and really start throwing up Triangles when I'm free rolling. I find if I really focus on getting the triangle I can normally get the position. But finishing it off is a whole other story. I'm missing a couple of things. One i think is keeping there posture broken down. The other is getting the right angle and distance. And the last is hooking the leg if they try to stand up. The Triangle is such a great move and is available from lots of different set ups. I think it's the submission i'm going to focus on over the next few months.

I've also been using one of the techniques from the Perosh seminar when I'm turtled and the top player goes for the under over control from the side. I clamp the far arm with my armpit then roll in to them pulling them over the top of me and me ending up in side control. I've also been getting a move when someone is just about to pass but I go to my knees then roll out to replace them in my guard. Lovein' that one.

C u on the mat,
Rex

Anthony Perosh BJJ Seminar

I arrived at the gym a little bit early and had a quick no-gi warm up roll. Which sure warmed us up, it was a hot day as it was. Add the fact that the fight night was the night before and we had celebrated the teams performance well in to the night. I was feeling the heat.

There was a decent roll up of about 20. This is actually the second seminar I've done with Mr Perosh, he is a 2nd Degree Black Belt under Carlos Machado. He is also 10 x Australian Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion, 3 x Bronze medalist at the Worlds and a UFC veteran fighting big names in the sport like CroCop and Jeff Monson. So it goes with out saying that when he walks on to the mat the dude has some serious room presence.

The bulk of the seminar was on attacking the turtle position and then defending from that position. We also went over some half guard stuff. There was quiet a few techniques that he showed that I really liked and can add to my game almost immediately. We did some competition style training isolating the turtle position. It was a great way to put the new techniques to the test and add them to my game. I was going to go in to detail of the moves that Mr Perosh taught us but like I've said before describing bjj techniques in words is very difficult.

He spoke about the importance of Gi training, keeping notes and using a flow chart of options from all the different positions. He said that his students fighting mma are not allowed to fight unless they do at least 2 advanced BJJ classes a week in the Gi. He believes that it is very important to train each area of mma individually.

When he spoke about keeping notes and having a flow chart game plan I was extremely interested. I've always taken notes ever since i started. At first they were just a list of all the techniques i was learning and it wasn't really helping me out to much. When i started to use it as more of a journal on my rolls and what i was pulling off in training and what i was getting caught with and why, it became much more useful. It helped me to figure out what i was getting better at and what I needed to work on.

I also have a flow chart of the moves I use in all the different positions. I try to have at least 2 no more than 5 options from every position. My flow chart is still under work and changes all the time. I'm still trying to build a good foundation in all the different positions and I often try something for a while then try something else from that same spot. It takes a lot of mat time to develop a solid game in all the areas but It is defiantly great advise to start trying to build one early in your jits journey. A shitty plan is still better than no plan at all, as they say.

So I got a lot out of the seminar and at $50 it was an absolute bargain. Anthony Perosh is a world class instructor and I feel privileged to have had that access to his wealth of BJJ knowledge. I really look forward to the next time he's up this way.

C u on the mat,

Rex

The Best Seat In The House

So the boys fight night was last Friday night, and it went off!! I travelled down early in the arvo before the fight night to show my team mates support and help out if I could. The venue was awesome. The Events centre in Caloundra is the perfect set up for a fight show. The teared seating had a mad view in to the cage and the place had big screens every where with a live feed of the fights so you wouldn't miss any of the action.
I went down to the changing rooms and a couple of my mates arrived not long after. They were both so chill it was ridiculous. I hung out for a bit, then one of our clubs lead cornermen asked if I could stay in the dressing sheds and help the boys warm up before there fights. Hell yeah! But by the time I ducked back to get some shorts and a training shirt the dressing shed was chokas. With 6 of our guys 2-3 of our cornermen and then all the other fighters and crew fighting out of the same corner as us in the same room. It was a bit full. So I looked for another job.
I was asked to open and close the cage door. Hell yeah! So my job was to let the fighters and officials in to the cage and hand the super hot ring girls the round number cards. Sweet deal. It was with out a doubt the best seat in the house.

One of my boys getting the W, I'm fist pumping in the background.

 The team all performed outstanding going 4wins 1draw 1loss. The atmosphere in the place was amazing especially when one of the local boys fought. At one stage I had one of my mates ground and pounding his opponent about 10cm in front of my face. I noticed his opponent was working for a submission so i was telling my mate to posture up and push his hips in, but the ref told me to shut up. Opps... i guess the door opener dude can't give advise. But my team mate didn't need any advise from me. He slammed his way out of a few triangle attempts and escaped a deep armbar to ground and pound his opponent to victory. It was one of the fights of the night. All the fights on the card were entertaining, but when our coach Ryan Dunstan got in the cage the place was going ballistic. He dominated his oponent standing, even getting of a huge flying knee, and the moment the fight hit the floor it was a wrap son!! He got the ref stoppage early in the first via more nasty G n P!!!


Now that's entertainment!

The after party was epic, it went for two days. I had some great yarns with my head coach, had some huge laughs with my mates especially the mate who's place I crashed at and I met a super cool cat from the brizy gym that is as crazy about the sport as I am. Also on the Saturday we had a BJJ seminar with UFC veteran and 2nd degree black belt Anthony Perosh at our gym. It was excellent. I'll post up a bit of a review later this week.

C u on the mat,
Rex

Leverage & Feel Concept



I think one of the most important concepts in BJJ is Rickson Gracies ideas on leverage and feel. I still don’t have a good grasp on this theory. Hopefully I'll gain some insight when I attend Ricksons seminar early next year.

When I roll I try to keep leverage in mind rather than brute force and strength. I'm 110kg right now so I'm along way from a little dude but I try to play the roll of the smaller guy in training. I nearly always start on bottom when sparring. I worked out early on in my journey that battling on the knees is a bit redundant. So I play guard a lot, and try to use leverage to get a sweep or sub.

My knowledge of leverage is very small but if I keep it in my mind while I roll it helps me out a lot. I often gain an easy sweep by just thinking of the angle where my opponent has no post and simply pushing or pulling in that direction.

Every time that I can't make the technique work that I'm going for it is nearly always due to not having the leverage. I can try to muscle it and may be I'll get it but only because I was a bit stronger or bigger than the dude I'm applying it to. Which is really poor form, and will lead me to not doing well in comps when I'm up against dudes my size.



“Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious”
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Japanese Zen Buddhist Scholar



I also try to use feel and sensitivity to help my flowing game. I try to preempt my opponents’ movements by feeling what his body wants to do next, but sometimes my body goes to react and then my mind stops it. Which sounds stupid, but it really happens.

Either my mind tells my body that I'm too tired to move or it might even tell it to move a different direction then I was going in. I'm kind of second guessing my self.

Saulo Ribeiro has a saying

"If you think, you are late. If you are late, you use strength. If you use strength, you tire. And if you tire, you die!"

I think that nails what I'm doing; thinking too much. I strive to roll with no mind and only reaction.

I reckon mastering these concepts is the key to becoming truly fluent in jits.

C u on the mat,

Rex.

P.S. Six of my team mates are fighting this Friday night in Caloundra. I'm so pumped up for it I think a little bit of pee just came out. They have all been training like animals in preparation. The sacrifice that they go through to be ready for there fight and even to just make weight is inspirational. One team mate is even taking a fight on 3days notice. They all deserve the glory of victory but they all already have my up most respect.

WAR ADVANCESC!!

This is the fight card.