Tapping My Way To Freedom

Training this week has been awesome. I'm flowing between positions nicely and having some great rolls. Worked on some stand up wrestling earlier in the week which was very good. It's something I enjoy and think is very important for a jits dude to get familiar with. It's a huge advantage to be able to take some one down or avoid a takedown in competitions. Also I feel it's important to make my grappling for self defence  much more effective.

I feel like I've really turned a corner mentally on the mat and my jiu-jitsu has really progressed quickly since this mental shift happened. It's a combination of a few things but at the middle of it all is that I've been able to let even more of my ego go.
Some dudes i think are a bit intimidated by me on the mat, I'm a 102kg bald dude with a red beard.  But anyone who has rolled with me knows that the fear is a bit unfounded. When i roll I'm not aggressive, I always play guard at the start of the roll and try to 'flow with go' but the moment I slap hands with some of my team mates I know they really want to go for the kill and tap my fat arse. Now this is cool and I still enjoy the rolls but they are missing out on so much jits fun by going down that road.
I usually try my hardest to not let anyone tap me. But tonight I thought fuck it, anyone who aggressively wants me to tap tonight I'm going to tap. I didn't just lay there and give it to them but if they got position and were going hard i kind of let the chokes slip in, then fought it off for a bit and then just before i went out, i tapped. Now this nearly back fired on one of the strong whitebelts, he pulled off a nice technique that we were working on at the start off class. I thought 'Kudus to you dude for going for the techniuqe' So I let it get deep before I started to fight the grip and then I tapped but I went out for a micro second. Was just like some one reset my computer. Weird feeling man. It's amazing that I haven't been put out before this considering I've been training for a bit over 2yrs. He knew I some what gave him the choke and was apologizing but it was all cool it was actually what I wanted. I wanted to get put deep in some chokes and tap.
After that tap I felt really good. It was like I'd just let go of some more of my ego bullshit. Tapping to guys who have not been training for as long as you is always something grapplers try to avoid. But I feel it's healthy for growth in jiu-jitsu. I get to feel how deep I can go with chokes before I tap and also it shows that I'm willing to tap every now and then.

One of our killer purples who I often have some awesome rolls with, really went at me as well. I was really trying to play some jits with him but I could feel he wanted my blood. So I didn't exactly give him anything but I definitely wasn't going to try and shut his game down with my size and strength. I wanted to play Jiu-Jitsu with him but he wanted to do fight Jiu-Jitsu with me.

After our roll, in which he tapped me like 3 times and tryed to crank my neck for a while. I had to say something. He's totally a cool cat who I have much respect for and probably the guy at the gym I have the most in common with. So I felt I could voice my opinion with him. I said that the roll was fun but if we just flowed a bit more we could have pulled off so much more beautiful Jiu-Jitsu. He agreed and we rolled again straight away. The difference was huge we got through so much more technique and I think if we had a couple more rolls that night we would have been able to put on a good display of technical Jiu-Jitsu and I would have learnt some cool shit from him. 

I'm not saying by any means that when you roll you should not look for the finish but the finish is just that 'the finish'. I would rather keep the roll going. Move to the next transition, give something else up, try the escape and so on but always moving, always connected and always trying to link all my techniques together. I really think that the beautiful Jiu-Jitsu is found in the movement not the finish.

C u on the mat,
Rex

Role Models

As a little kid growing up in a small rural town, I had heaps of heroes. Mr T, Monkey on Monkey Magic, Wally Lewis, Jeff Fenech. But these characters didn't make me who I am today. The fault of my ruptured personality lies with my childhood role models. My Family, my friends, my school teachers and my coaches. Weather I liked it or even if these people weren't aware of it, they were my role models.

Now that I'm a grown man I still think it's healthy to have hero's and role models. My modern day heroes are people like Ali, BJ Penn, Wayne Bennett, Shane Webke, Rickson Gracie, Saulo Ribero and the list goes on.
I'm always conscious of trying to improve myself as a person. I try to look at what the people I respect and admire do to achieve there goals. I try to read biographies on these people and pick up as many tips as I can. But it is the people that I have physical access to that can really help me improve myself.

Now at the risk of sounding like a complete suck up, brown nose I don't think getting to roll with Rickson Gracie would have as great an effect on me as training with my coach Ryan Dunstan over the last few years. Now no offense to Ryan but Rickson is clearly the greatest BJJ practitioner to ever wear a Gi but i don't know Rickson and he doesn't know me. So as much Rickson is a hero of mine he can never be a role model to me. But I have seen Ryan in many situations in the years that I've known him, under extreme pressure competing, training, coaching, reacting to big wins and loses, partying and just hanging out and the way he carries him self in all these situations is what a role model should look like. Now I'm not saying he is a saint or anything like that, he has faults like all of us but that is just how a role model should be, real and accessible. I'm extremely lucky to have found the right gym and coach for me. I clicked there straight away and I've made some solid connections with some excellent like minded individuals. The quality of the instruction and the leadership from Coach Dunstan is in my eyes nothing short of world class and to not absorb that and try to put some of that positive energy back out into the world would be selfish of me. 

Cage door duties is a real privilege.
Especially when two true martial artists are in the cage together.

As a father, an uncle, friend, training partner, and sometime coach. I am fully aware that I myself have become a role model. I think about this a lot. I really want to conduct my self more as a martial artist and have positive affects on the people I come in contact with.

If I wasn't doing BJJ and had not met my coach and team mates I think everyone I come in contact with would not get the best of me. I owe alot to Jiu-Jitsu.

I'm very apprecitative of the art and the men and women I train with and especially my coach.

C u on the mat,

Rex.

Making Connections

I believe we are all connected. Or in the words of Genki Sudo "We Are All One". I think our sub-conscious minds are somehow all linked up. You know the feeling you get when you walk in to a seedy pub or club full of sus dudes and a wave of gloom just washes over you. Or when you are at a music festival and everyone is so in to the music and having such a rad time a wave of euphoria comes over you. I think those waves are the collective sub conscious of the group connecting with your own. Yeah it's official, I'm a hippie.  

I think we can somewhat recreate those positive connections consciously. When ever I get to hang with a new mate I always try to look for that connection. Usually it's music. I love metal but I also listen to lots of other shit. I like hip-hop, break beat, punk, grunge, 80s cock rock, blues, folk, even some country. It's all good except for heartless pop and mindless trance.

BJJ is another way to make connections. If you both have trained for a while then you have heaps in common. I think that's why my blog gets a lot of traffic. Any one who has trained for a few months can totally relate/connect with what I'm banging on about.

At a philosophical level I could talk to a fellow Jits practitioner for hours. But actually rolling is the best way to get on the same page and communicate. The moment I slap hands it's possible to make those sub conscious connections again. Sometimes in the roll the art of bjj takes over and guides the collective sub conscious towards being totally immersed. But in the same way as when you walk in to a seedy pub, the roll can go bad when the energy is just off.

My coach has been working hard on getting everyone in the gym to roll with control and flow through all of our techniques. His philosophy on BJJ is very similar to Roy Deans ideas in the video clip below.

There are some guys in the gym I have some great conversations(rolls) with, back and forth and very stimulating. Some times I listen too much and should be a little more ascertive and some times I get in to yelling matches. But as in life off the mat, it's always better to try to listen and respond in equal amounts with people if you want to make some meaningful connections. I try to use as much etiquette and decorum as possible but I also try to add a little bit of my own accent and cool where I can.

Jits is not only a great way to keep fit, stimulate your mind and learn one of the most effective martial arts on the planet. It's also a great way to meet some most excellent individuals and make some rock solid connections.

C u on the mat

Rex

Birthday Punches.

I just turned another year older.... so anyway training is excellent. Worked on ground n pound with one of team mates at Saturdays open mat session. That was super fun. I love testing out my jits under some pressure. Finding out what works and how I react to being punched in the face. I'm not a huge fan of being smacked upside the head but it makes me fine tune my game from the bottom. I found in closed guard I had success with an armwrap and head control. I'd wait for my team mate to strike with his free hand then control that wrist hip out a little and look to set up a triangle or omoplata. I found that the omoplata worked for me real well. I'd at least get a sweep out of it. Then transition to the sidecontrol crucifix position and drop some hammer fists then maybe setup an armbar.

I found my self  having trouble pulling the trigger and punching my team mate in the face. The grappling gloves we train with have some padding... but not much. So even those little hammer fists do some damage. It just feels a bit awkward but once your team mate cracks you a few times and the adrenalin gets going it becomes a bit easier. The trick is to keep the punches hard enough to make them have to react but not that hard that u risk hurting or splitting a guy open who's getting ready for an upcoming fight.

I don't think I have ever hit anyone with my full power, ever. Even in the few street fights I've been in. I always pull my punches a bit and try to hit them often and fast.

Would be very interesting to get in the cage and let it all hang out one time. I've worked a lot of boxing technique over the years with my old man and brother and I think my boxing is at an ok level. Wow, listen to my self. Who am i kidding? At the weight i am at the moment i would have to fight dudes the size of Brock Lesnar... no thank you. Also the amount of time and effort I see the guys put in to prepare for a fight is crazy. Time I don't have right now. I wonder what my actual fighting weight would be if i got super fit though? I'm about 178cm tall but I've got big legs and I've got a deep core(fat arse) and chest(man boobs). I always thought it would be around 93kg. But it may be as low as 85?? hmmm.

Last nights training was mainly free rolling. Getting through all our positions and techniques. We also drilled the low butterfly pass, a transition from butterfly to x-guard and an x-guard sweep. Was a good session and i had some real nice flowing rolls with a couple of my fellow blue belts.

I've got a couple of my mates from Gympie in to BJJ, which is cool. They have both come down with me to train at advance now and are both real keen to keep it going. So see how it goes but hopefully it mean I'll have some local dudes keen to train and travel with. They both have picked it up real fast and will get good quickly, as long as they train 2-3times a week at least. Hopefully they get the jits bug like me.

C u on the mat.
Rex

Flow Rollin', Some Coachin' and Tummy Rumblin'

Trained twice last week and I'm happy with how I'm rolling at the moment. I'm flowing a lot better and getting through a lot of techniques. Mainly due to the way we are rolling in class. Coach has been trying to get everyone to roll with control and going almost go for go with your training partner. This really helps to make the roll much more enjoyable. Instead of the roll getting to certain positions and both training partners clamping down. Both not willing to let the other person get any advantage. Not willing to try something in the fear of getting submitted or swept. As I've blogged about before Don't Let Fear Hold You Back! Once you let go of that fear the game really opens up and becomes something really special. Rather than a game of who has the tightest grip.

Been helping my old footy team with there wrestling/controlling the ruck. Nothing to full on, just how to pummel, how to maintain side control and how to escape to the knees. It's a good chance for me to work on my teaching skills. I really enjoy helping out. Before I discovered BJJ footy was the sport I was passionate about and I still think it's a great game that can really bring the best out of people. Hopefully I can help them out in someway and may be get some new people interested in trying some jits one day.

Training at home is underway. I did a session with a young mate of mine. He's a keen ufc fan and was keen to try out some bjj. We did some circuit training which consisted of 8x2min rounds of gi-pullups, g n p bag, heavy bag and tyre chops. Then I gave him his first lesson in jits. Taught him to hip escape. How to come to the knees, Upa, the posture when in closed guard, how to break the closed guard and the double under pass to side control. Sounds like a lot but he was soaking it all up really well so I kept it going. He must have enjoyed it because he wants to come down to training with me at AdvanceSC tonight.

Teaching jits is definitely a technique in it's self. I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job or not. But as with any BJJ techniques it requires reps to get better at. I want to make sure I'm teaching correct techniques that I actually use and have a depth of knowledge on. I really want every technique that I teach to connect easily and flow together nicely. This is the way I was taught and it has helped me a lot.

I'm still watching what I eat very closely and cutting back on the amount of crap I stuff in to my pie hole. It's not easy some days... well actually everyday. Right now I'm feeling a bit weird. Headaches, bad moods and tummy rumbles. I think it's due to my body craving sugar. I'm definitely not starving myself, but my body is used to having a constant stream of sugar and carbs being put in to it. Now it's not getting that, it's freaking out a bit. On the days I train jits it's not so bad because my mind is on the upcoming session on the mat and then afterwards I think about what I got done and what I'm going to do next time I roll. My brain's not thinking about food. But on a day like yesterday where I worked in the morning then chilled in the arvo on my couch watching the UFC, it gets real tough. I crave junk food real bad kfc! nachos! chips! coke!. But I've held strong..... so far.... but I'd choke my own mother for a Beefy pie and a 600ml coke right now.

C u on the mat,
Rex

Damn! I'm Part Of The Obesity Epidemic

So in keeping with the spirit of my blogs brutal honesty, I'M OBESE. Clinically obese according to my BMI. Now I don't put to much stock in BMI's due to it not taking in to account peoples body type. But i think it's a good indicator of how fat my arse is on a world recognized scale.



BMI 34 = OBESE



One of my goals this year is to get my weight down under 100kg. But now looking at the BMI I may have to tighten that number up to under 95kg so I'm only just overweight and not obese. I think it's a realistic goal. It will greatly improve my BJJ game and also help in lots of other areas of my life.



My weight loss so far



My first step in shedding some lard has been to keep track of what I'm eating. This has already given me some results. I've found that if I keep a diary of all the food I'm inhaling I tend not to eat as much. I've been using a free app I downloaded for my iPhone to track it all. It also counts the calories and tracks any exercises I do. I've been doing this for a bit over 2 weeks and I've lost about 2kg.

I'm trying to keep the philosophy of "energy in, energy out". BJJ burns quiet a lot of energy and if I had better access to my gym I would train everyday but I can only make training 2-3 times a week. So I really need to control my energy in on the days I'm not training.

Part of this years goals is to get my weight under 100kg for the first comp but the first comp of the year clashes with my son's birthday. So I can't compete. But I'm still going to prepare with the team like I am competing and I'll also cut the weight as if i was still competing as well. That gives me just over a month to lose 8kg.

With some determination and hard work I'll get it done.

C u on the mat,

Rex

Purple People Eaters

On Tuesday night this week one of our assistant instructors, an excellent training partner, good mate and fellow blogger at UnderhookIndustries graded to purple belt. His promotion has been coming for quite a while and as our head black belt instructor from Advance Brisbane said, all belt promotions in Jiu-Jitsu should be over due by the time you receive it.

The grading stuck with the tradition of our ironman style continuous hard wrestling. He was in the middle fighting off fresh guys for 60mins!! Amazing he didn't pass out. Not only did he not pass out, he was still pulling off beautiful jiu-jitsu techniques right up to the final roll against a Black Belt.
In my roll with him he had already faced 4 or 5 of our top white belts and I was the first blue belt to punish him. There is a very different feel in the gym grading night. It's almost that nervous kind of energy that you get at competitions. We are expected to really push the person grading no matter how tired they are. It is almost the only time that I go full tilt at my team mates in the gym. It's a weird feeling, kind of like fighting with your own brother. I felt bad pushing him so hard while he was clearly starting to wear out and feel the intense aussie heat but I did what I hope he will do to me when or if I ever grade to the next belt. Make me earn it.

With only one small break to run outside and have a chuck, he pulled through the best I have seen any one who has been through an AdvanceSC belt grading. He's the first purple belt to be graded to that level at AdvanceSC  and in my opinion he sets an excellent example of what an advance purple belt should be like.

In Australia, especially out side of the major cities, purple belts are few and far between. So much so that it is the rank of most BJJ gym owners and instructors in those areas. As time goes on though the rank of all the dedicated guys is getting higher and higher. When I first started 2 years ago, I thought purple belt was an unattainable goal for my self, because of the level those dudes are at and the dedication required to get there. But BJJ gets in your blood and becomes a passion and before you know it that distant level of ability doesn't look so far away. My mate the Purple People Eater gives me so much inspiration that I'm now sure I can reach my own BJJ goals. Congrats again MiniJitsu!!!
C u on the mat,
Rex