So after nearly 6 weeks of waiting our custom Derby City gis came in! I’m so happy about them. They came out really well and the gis are top notch. I’m normally suited up in either a Keiko or Shoyoroll but these gis are made by a Gi company called Da Firma. Their website is http://www.dafirmabjj.com . I’ll do a video review of their Gi in the next few days but for now, check out the new patches I had made for the gi!
So something I was thinking about today, is the lack of effort some BJJ gyms put towards their children’s programs. I’ve seen many instances where a black belt will refuse to teach kids or will just grab a random blue belt to teach with no guidance whatsoever. They often cite their lack of patience or time as the reasons. I honestly think many people are afraid to teach kids.
This is unfortunate because I personally find teaching kids Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as an amazing opportunity. Being able to have such a direct impact on these youngster’s life is incredible feeling for me. Sure it requires more patience and sure it’s tough sometimes. But when a kid comes up to you and says they stood up to their bullies, that they’re not scared at school, that they don’t hate to look in the mirror anymore or that they finally feel good at something, none of that matters. All that matters at that point is that you changed a young child’s life. Knowing that I have a beneficial influence on my children’s lives is incredibly powerful and fulfilling. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t gotten a little teary eyed after some of the comments from my kid students. Maybe I’m just a little over emotional?
I think of the positive effects my youth leaders and coaches had on me while I was growing up. I hope that I’ll have a similar effect on my students. Also, truth be told. I’m kind of an overgrown kid, so my students and I get along just swell.
Let me add this. Should you ever get a chance to teach kids BJJ. . . Do it! Not only will it test your ability to simplify a movement and further develop your teaching. . . and patience. But it really is an interesting and awesome experience.
Definitely not my best work but it was a fun match. The Chicago tournament was a little rougher than usual. I won some and lost some, but all in all the day was pretty fun. I’ll post some of the wins I had later on after I post them on the mat. 🙂
When I first started competing as a black belt I had this funny problem. I would go into the match flat, and it wasn’t till being swept to mount that I would “wake” up. In fact, my first 3 wins as a black belt in competition started with me 6 points in the hole after a sweep to the mount. Here’s a mount escape that I, unfortunately, got pretty good with.
“The greatest wealth is health.” – Virgil
“To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” – Buddha
“Prevention is better than cure.” – Desiderius Erasmus
“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” – Plato
Mobility – One thing that I’ve learned just within the past year that I wish I would have focused on more in the past is mobility. Most of us focus so much on how many hard rolls we get in a training session, how many reps we’ve performed of a particular technique or if our lifts are improving in the weight room. However many of us also fail to focus on mobility. I’m talking about keeping our joints, muscles, and our body’s movement patterns healthy. By no means am I pointing the finger at anyone because up until this last year I gave mobility little to no thought. Sure I would stretch a little here and there, but this is much different than old school stretching. Let me give you a brief explanation of how I stumbled upon the idea of focusing on mobility and how it’s improved my BJJ and at the end I’ll give you some takeaways and resources for your own use. Alternatively, you can skip my story telling and fast forward to the bottom to get the resources and links.
How I found out about mobility work
Well first off, I was never blessed with ample amounts of flexibility. My muscles have always been a bit tight and wound up and in the last couple of years I’ve also began to “feel” my body much more after hard training sessions. I wrongly attributed this to getting older. I mean I’m nearing 30 which seems to be that magical number that people fixate on when they talk about their body breaking down and becoming more injury prone.
So . . . about a year ago my friend, student, training partner and fellow coach here at the gym, Brent Weedman, turned me onto the idea. He started weight training with a very competent trainer here in Louisville and would rave about the results. What struck me as different was that he didn’t just tell me about his PR’s(personal record) in the gym but he also made it a point to share the improvements he was making in his mobility. When he first started talking about mobility improvements I was pretty ignorant to the idea but as he explained more, it made sense. Brent, like any other high level athlete, had experienced his fair share of wear and tear on his body provided to him by long hours of training and fights. Couple this with a lack of concentration on his body’s movement health and you have tight muscles and joints and poor range of motion. I remember Brent telling me that before he revamped his conditioning program he wasn’t sure how much longer his body could take the rigors of fighting professional. If you were to ask him now he would tell you he feels like a new man. He fights like one too. By using the different techniques he was learning from his conditioning coach he was able to rid himself of problems like tight shoulders, hips and back all while making great gains in strength and power.
I hold a great deal of respect for Brent so I began using a few different techniques he shared with me and started looking deeper into the whole mobility thing. When you type in “mobility” into an internet search or Youtube you will be bombarded with information from a guy named Kelly Starret or MobilityWOD, and for good reason. Kelly Starret is the leader of a mobility movement that is gaining momentum in the athletic world. He works most closely with the CrossFit community and uses his mobility techniques to keep athletes who are doing tons of volume healthy and in the gym instead of being sidelined due to injury. He is also helping tons of people, including myself; restore proper movement in their body. After watching videos and reading through some of his literature I found myself buying his book, Becoming a Supple Leopard which in my opinion is fantastic. The book literally goes through and shows the proper movement mechanics to many basic and advanced lifts. The book also goes through helping its readers identify what problems they may have based on some easy to follow tests. Then the best part! The last chunk of the book is loaded with tons of corrective exercises, stretches and techniques that will help you improve range of motion, get rid of tightness and help you alleviate pain you may be experiencing. I was also lucky enough to meet with a woman who was an FMS trainer as well as a physical therapy student and she helped me identify specific areas of my body I needed to focus my attention towards. After a month of solid effort and focus on improving the mobility of my rust bucket body I began to feel some noticeable differences.
Alright so let’s get to the part you are actually interested in hearing about, How it improved my BJJ and training.
1. My range of motion improved. My squats were getting deeper, I was able to maintain better thoracic extension when doing particular exercises, and my shoulders were moving smoother during overhead presses. I was also less sore after hard lifting sessions.
2. Tight areas that were chronically in pain began to feel much better. Most notably my hip flexors. I remember constantly struggling and having issues with them. Which as you can imagine hindered my ability to train or compete at 100%. In addition injuries have since become less common.
3. I was able to warm up quicker. As I’ve gotten older it seems like it takes longer and longer to get my body adequately warm for BJJ training and competitions. One of the most noticeable changes after the mobility work was how fast I was able to get my body loosened up and ready to compete. What used to be nearly a 20-25 minute ritual was now condensed into about 5-10 minutes. While this may not seem like a big deal to some. Being able to get warmed up quickly on the fly is a valuable. If you’re a competitor. I want you to think about an experience you may have had where you had a tournament match and were not properly warmed up. Either due to a screw up on the tournament coordinators end or your own. Competing without having your body revved up is not a good thing, so it’s nice to be able to get warmed up on the fly.
4. I could train harder and at higher volumes without being utterly destroyed the next day. Doing a heavy lifting workout, multiple hard rolling sessions and being active during my 4 hours of teaching classes a day can definitely take its toll. What a great feeling it is to be able to maintain that kind of training load and still feel physically able to do it again the next day. The mobility work enables me to keep up high volumes of training and still not “feel” it like I used to. Don’t get me wrong, I still get sore and fatigued but I don’t find my body being completely shot.
After reading above the takeaways for you, and why you should consider investing your energy towards mobility should be clear.
1. It will improve flexibility and range of motion
2. You can decrease frequency of injury. Yes injuries will still happen but you can still decrease the amount, especially those that would be a result of muscle tightness and imbalance.
3. You will be able to warm up faster for class or competitions.
4. It will improve rehabilitation after hard training and you can maintain a high level of training for a long duration of time.
If you’re interested in learning more check out http://www.mobilitywod.com/about/faq/ or go look up Kelly Starrett on Youtube. Checking out the supple leopard book that I mentioned earlier wouldn’t be a bad idea as well. Lastly, if you’re able, get in touch with a competent conditioning coach who knows about mobility. If this is not available then use what resources you can gather to help identify areas of your body that need help. Heck, it may not be that hard in some cases. I mean after all, you are probably aware that your shoulder range of motion sucks or that you can’t get into a deep squat to save your life.
Good luck on improving your body and your training! I hope it helps you preserve your body and helps reduce the damage caused by training.
As always, thanks for reading!
Chewy
Oh and be sure to check out the podcast on my other site at http://www.matwind.com
So I received a lot of positive feedback from the last few posts I’ve done with the 10 years in BJJ series. I apologize for not having the next part in the series posted. I’ll have the next post up later this week. I’ve just been super busy with a little side project I’ve been doing. The side project is a podcast and I’ve been interviewing tons of black belts from all over. The purpose of the podcast is to interview different high level BJJ practitioners and draw inspiration, motivation and advice from their own experiences. I just released the first episode today and I chose one of my interviews with a black belt from the midwest. I did this for a few reasons. Mainly because he is a highly skilled black belt and the fact that he has personally faced a fair amount of adversity and did not have the ideal starting conditions. Even with these sorts of obstacles he has still managed to become a skilled black belt and is able to do BJJ full time. I knew James previous to this interview but even with that I personally learned about him as a person and a BJJ player. The interview gave me some perspectives on things and when you listen to it I hope it does the same for you and that it gives you something you can use for your own BJJ journey.
Check out the interview here: Interview with James Clingerman
Hope you enjoy listening to it and feel free to send feedback to Chewy@matwind.com
“Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.” – Vince Lombardi
“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.” – Napoleon Bonaparte”
(I like to think to interpret this quote with “courage” replaced with “mental toughness.”)
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Fun video of Cary Kolat sharing a story of mental toughenss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjzVVT8JTeM
10. Mental Toughness- I often talk to my students about the pesky voices that will present themselves when they find them in bad positions, when they become tired, or when they are nervous. Do you know what I am talking about? Have you ever been exhausted and stuck under someone’s crushingly heavy top pressure, having a conversation inside your head about whether or not to give up the fight? I have. The situation reminds me of the old cartoons where you would see a devil and angel sitting on top of the character’s shoulders. Except instead of urging me to do something nefarious or kind, part of me says “keep fighting” and the other side says “He’s so heavy. Just give up position, its ok”. If you’ve never experienced these sort of thoughts, then you are tougher than most. Over the years of training I’ve been able to minimize and for the most part extinguish that voice that tells me I should give up. Early on it was very tough for me and required a lot of mental focus not to succumb to those mental suggestions caused by frustration and fatigue.
One of my favorite aspects of competitions or extremely competitive rolls is that they can definitely help bring out the best in us. They can also bring the worst out. If I may, I’d like to share a story of a tournament match I had years ago.
One very insightful competition match that I experienced came from the days when I was a blue belt. I had finished finals for school and came down to a tournament in Tennessee. I did not cut weight nor did I pay much attention to my weight. I had been busy with school, barely trained for the tournament and just figured, “what the hell, I’ll just compete.” I ended up winning my division fairly easily, but the real fun came in the open division. As luck would have it, I fell right at the weight cut off. The weight divisions were 193.9lbs and under and 194lbs and over. I weighed in at 194.5lbs. . . go figure.
My first match pitted me up against a bruiser wrestler. His name escapes me but I do remember that he weighed around 225lbs with a substantial amount of that being lean muscle. I also remember that he had wrestled in college for 4 years. I also recall being a bit intimidated by his much larger physique. Once our match began the first few minutes went very poorly for me. I was taken down several times and the point spread was up to 12-0 in his favor. Then he mounted me, and this is where things got interesting. See, this tournament had a skunk rule. Meaning if he was up 15 to my 0 then he would receive a technical win. The mount being a 4 point move, meant that he was 3 seconds away from securing the win and thus making me look like I didn’t belong on the mat with him.
This is a moment where I personally had this conversation with myself. I remember this moment vividly. I was so angry for letting him get so far ahead on points. He was strong and had used his wrestling to deny me my usual comfortable top game position. I was just frustrated. Somehow I dusted away the frustration and turned it into determination. I thought to myself “I can’t give up this easy! I need to at least make him work for his win.” Fun Fact, when I compete I am not always worried solely about winning. Yes, winning is high on the priority list, but win or lose I want it to be a good competitive match. Anyways, after having these thoughts rush through my head I manage to escape mount and rally back. Once I made it out of mount he never scored another takedown or a single point for that matter and I was able to rack up 10 points. With about a minute of the match left and the end closing, he shot in for the takedown, I sprawled and attempted a guillotine choke and pulled guard. The choke didn’t stick and my arm slipped off his sweaty neck. Then I attempted a kimura sweep. He stuffed the sweep but I caught a snag on his arm, transitioning to the kimura, I desperately tried to crank the arm to finish. This moment in the match was kind of neat because it was only a few seconds but I remember noticing everyone in the crowd around us, minus his teammates of course, cheering for me. I was the smaller BJJ guy trying to topple the larger wrestler. I also remember looking of my shoulder as I held onto the kimura lock. I could see his face getting redder by the second as he flexed his arm, keeping it stiff and denying me the finish. Lastly I remember looking at my arms shaking as they were fully flex and fatigued from the long match and a voice in my head encouraging me, “Come on!”.
Sadly I was not able to finish the lock and the bruiser wrestler had his hand raised in victory. I suppose the silver lining was that I wore him out during our match. Because in his next match he was finished in 30 seconds via armbar by a guy we all called Brazilian Mike. Strangely enough Brazilian Mike wasn’t from Brazil or Brazilian. If I was able to wear him down that much, in my mind, meant that it was a good match. The best part about this particular match was that it gave me a clear example of how powerful the mental side of things can be. After reflecting on this match, I realized how valuable it is to have the ability to deal with frustration and uncomfortable feelings while being under heavy physical and mental pressure.
There is an interesting feeling that happens during a tournament match or competitive roll in the gym. That feeling is when you feel someone’s body relax and give up, even if it is just for a second. Think back to your own experiences. Have you ever had a good roll with someone and were trying to secure a pass, sweep or submission, and eventually after a struggle you felt their defensive hand positioning and body positioning give way to your attempts? You may even know this sensation from being the one who mentally broke and allowed the person to pass, sweep or submit. During this match I was almost the one that mentally broke. I was fortunate enough to have the resolve to wipe away the defeatist mindset and come back strong in the match. This was a result of hard training and preparation.
The Take Away
After reading this I want you to think for a second. Have you ever let your own personal demon get the better of you during your training? Have you ever found yourself rolling in the gym or in a competition having a conversation inside your head contemplating giving up when things get a little tough? Have you ever been training and just got frustrated because you were in a tough spot and ended up making tons of mistakes as a result of your own frustration? Maybe you just find yourself not pushing through a little discomfort caused by fatigue and sitting out a round during training. If you do any of these things, like most of do, then I have a simple challenge for you. Push through it. Developing mental toughness is very much a personal thing. I can’t develop mental toughness for you and you can’t develop it for me. Your coaches and training partners can help assist, but ultimately, it is up to you to push yourself past your perceived limitations.
5 Tips
*Note that training hard and pushing yourself past your limits is not necessary day to day, all year round. However, if you are experiencing hangups anywhere or are preparing for competitions, its definitely worth doing.
As always, thanks for reading!
Gis in the wash
(me on the far left. 2007)
“A black belt is a white belt who never quit.” – Unknown
“A black belt only covers two inches of your ass. You have to cover the rest.” – Royce Gracie
I don’t chase belts, I chase techniques – Tony Spencer (when asked about when he would receive his black belt)
2. Don’t worry about belts or stripes – Something I’ve never understood is the obsession people have with their belt rank and stripes. I can honestly say I never cared about the speed at which I received my promotions. From the beginning I was just concerned with getting better. I enjoyed the training and loved being in the gym with my friends, and I figured the belt would come when it came. Although there was a time once, when my first instructor told me that I was getting close to purple belt. He did this to provide motivation so that I would push myself in training, and I did. This was a huge deal for me. You may not know this but I started my training under a purple belt, and in the beginning I felt like that would be a level of skill I would never reach. The thought of closing in on something that originally seemed unattainable was quite the mental boost. When he told me this I bought a purple sweatband and before class I would slip it on my ankle. Looking down at the purple band would help keep my mind focused during hard training sessions. But even with the sweatband and the thought of snagging the level of purple belt I did not once actually care about how soon I received the promotion. I was focused on my training and my progression, not the piece of dyed cotton that is supposed to represent my abilities. I was probably more nervous about being promoted than excited. I felt like I needed to really push myself in order to be worthy of wearing the belt. I would rather be a white belt with black belt ability, instead of a black belt with white belt skill.
I guess understanding my relationship with belts is maybe different than others so I will explain. First off, I didn’t receive a single stripe until I was a purple belt and had switched to a new gym. My first gym didn’t offer them. On a side note, I think that not having stripes for so long is one of the reasons I am so sporadic with striping my students. If you’re one of my students reading this, I’m sorry.
My outlook on belts was also altered by the fact that I started under a purple belt. I mean I suppose becoming a black belt was one of the goals but try and put yourself into my shoes for a second. My teacher was a purple belt, which means I would have to ascend to a level of skill that wasn’t visible to me. Then, you hardly ever saw black belts at tournaments. If you went to a tournament, the coordinators might be lucky enough to scrape together a brown and a black belt for a super fight. Back then seeing a black belt, for me, was like looking at some super hero or mythical creature. NOW, almost every BJJ gym around has at least 1 black belt with many schools boasting numerous black belts. The new wave of students coming in can look at their instructors and know they have a guide to the top. I didn’t have a black belt to train under consistently until the later stages of my purple belt. I think that starting in these circumstances really affected my mindset on rank and made me care less about it. I didn’t believe that I would become a black belt, so I simply focused on training and improving myself
I did finally achieve the promotion to black belt on July 9th, 2011 from Master Renato Tavares under the approval of my coaches Kyle and Colin Cannon. Though, I didn’t actually feel like a black belt until October of that year when I went to the Miami Open. This was my first big tournament as a black belt and it was intense. I remember warming up in the bull pen staring at all of the other black belts around me. I would fixate on their belts and think “man. . . black belt. . . bad ass” and then I would stare at my own waist with the same color tied around it. I was a black belt but I didn’t really feel like one. In some ways I still felt like that white belt from 2003. Then I had my first match which I won by submission after playing a dominant game. That match made me feel like I was where I belonged and made me realize that I was in fact a quality black belt.
The Take Away
When you train do you care about the belts and stripes over your training? If you roll with a person who has more stripes than you do and you submit them, do you think you should be promoted to a higher level than them?
If you do, then you’re missing the whole point of the BJJ journey. First off, if you are training at a school that keeps with the tradition of BJJ, expect to put in no less than 7-12 years for a black belt with the average being closer to 10. Are you not up for 10 years to get a black belt? Well then you have two options.
Now assuming you’re up to the task of investing a nice chunk of your life into this art like so many of us, then let me give you a piece of advice. Don’t worry about the belts and ranks. I promise, if you focus on your training, build relationships, immerse yourself into the community and improve yourself on and off the mats. The belts will come and you will achieve mastery, and just as important, you will receive the countless benefits that BJJ offers. Remember BJJ is a martial art and like any martial art, it’s about improving ourselves and helping us become a better version of ourselves. As an instructor I’ve seen students become frustrated and upset over belts to the point that it negatively affects their training. By allowing yourself not to get so caught up on the belt, you allow your mind to concentrate its focus on yourself!
Thanks for reading!
I feel like it was yesterday that I took my first BJJ class. Sadly, that was over 10 years ago. That’s right; I’ve been training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for over 10 years! Just being able to say this makes me feel proud and super old. In honor of my landmark I came up with 10 solid lessons and experiences I’ve personally learned and share them. Each lesson will have a personal story to accompany it and then I’ll give a take-away. I will share highs and lows as well as some embarrassing moments in my BJJ career. I hope that you get something out of the stories and the lessons that go with them.
“Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.” – William Temple
“There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.” – Henri-Frederic Amiel
“Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble.” – John Madden
“Arrogance invites ruin; humility receives benefits.” – Chinese Proverb
1.Be a humble person to those around you – When I started training BJJ I was 18 years old. After about 6 months of constant training and competing I received my blue belt. At the time of receiving the belt, there were not many high ranking belts in the area. Most of the “higher” belts were purple belts. My streak of tournament wins combined with how quickly I acquired my blue belt as well as my 19 year old immaturity made me feel like a total “bad ass”. In addition to this, my instructor at the time wasn’t the best for putting a lid on this disrespectful attitude, instead he encouraged it. When I competed, especially at local tournaments, I felt like I was some sort of fighting animal that he could brag about after a win. Sadly, I kind of enjoyed it when I was in my “bad ass” phase. I was still a nice person, but I definitely had an obnoxious streak especially when it came down to winning, losing and competing.
3 examples of my antics
1. After being submitted I would smack the mat and drop the F Bomb.
2. I would gloat about winning constantly.
3. I would talk down about others and their BJJ.
Fast forward to early 2007 I had a conversation with my friend who would eventually become one of my BJJ coaches. He and I met up for lunch and he informed me that I could no longer train at his gym because of the negative associations that came along with my current instructor. At this point I had trained with Colin here and there for a while and considered him a friend. I didn’t want to be unable to hang out and train with my buddy! That moment made me realize the path I was on, and if I continued my path I would end up being like my instructor. He was someone who was isolated in the local BJJ community because of their brashness and poor attitude towards others. I knew deep down that I was not that kind of person, so soon after I separated from my instructor and began the “humblization” process under my new coaches. I am a confident person but I’ve done my best to rid myself of that my previous cocky, egotistical edge. I don’t think I would be a successful instructor, competitor or even liked in the community if I hadn’t done that. This was one of the best lessons I ever learned through BJJ and has definitely carried over into other aspects in my life.
The take away
No one wants to be around a cocky jerk that is full of him or herself. One of the best parts about this sport is the amazing communities, and you cannot be a part of these communities if you don’t lose your ego! If you do not lose these negative traits you will find yourself more and more isolated. People will shy away from training with you. You won’t fit in with your academy because you will be “that guy” everyone loves to tap because he has a big ego. If you somehow manage to retain this nasty quality into your higher ranks you will most certainly be shunned by many of your peers and will have a hard time finding people to cross train with and share knowledge. To top it off, it will severely hinder your ability to learn and grow in skill. Trust me, you don’t want this. Take it from someone who was once “that guy” in the gym. Just be humble to the people around you.