Sometimes You're the Hammer, Sometimes...

Hey man, get out of my head!

Sometimes You're the Hammer, Sometimes YOU'RE THE RANDOM PIECE OF FRUIT. Last night I was the random piece of fruit, but it was good (I learned some things).

As we started the evening's rolling, I was picking my partners to work specific things (primarily open guard against bigger guys) and things were going along pretty good - a decent amount of success and some "negative reinforcement" when I messed up (side control under someone who has almost 100 lbs on you is not fun :-o)

Needless to say I was already feeling pretty "hammered upon" as we wound down when Professor called out "...alright, against the wall. It's time for a Match of the Night!" The Match of the Night is something we do getting ready for tournaments - A full on, knock down, drag out, don't be "nice" tournament match with a referee scoring and the rest of the class split up to coach one contestant or the other (with tournament crowd noise blasting on the speakers). I was called out to match up against one of our guys who is fighting this weekend. I was tired after pretending to be a big guy in my earlier rolls but I thought I was up for it. How wrong I was!

In the moments before we got ready to square off, I realized I didn't really have an "A Game" to bring. The past few months I've been working on my C, D, and E Games trying to bring them up to a B level and I'm not sure what my "A Game" is morphing into at this particular moment in time. My opponent was someone that I have problems with most of the time unless I just really dominate on aggression and hustle. In other words, to win, I needed a full on aggressive A Game from the get go. So, I started trying to build a game plan on the fly.

When we shook hands and he started dancing around me with way more enthusiasm than my already squashed body was mustering, smashing him into submission was looking like wishful thinking. So, I decided to play defensively and pull guard. By strange coincidence, pulling guard happens to be my opponents A Game. Guess who pulled guard successfully? Yep, he did. I spent the next few minutes getting swept and defending submissions one after the other. I never mustered a sliver of offense the entire match.

And lest I sound like I'm making excuses, "I was tired, blah, etc., blah" - my opponent has been preparing well for his tournament this weekend and probably would have won handily anyway.  What I wanted to convey was my mindset and how it affected my attitude and choices:

1. I didn't have an A Game and so tried to create one on the fly
2. Because I wasn't committed to my game plan I abandoned it at the first whiff of difficulty
3. Once I adopted a defensive mindset, I was locked into defense - I might survive, but I would not win a tournament match
4. Even though I knew my opponent, he was one step ahead of me the whole time (because he was working his game plan from start to finish)

I haven't had a mental fail on this level in some time. It was good to have it exposed so I can make sure I can find my happy place and have confidence in it when it counts in the future.

"Accepting" the Pass

I have been working on improving one of my basic mistakes lately - I call this one Accepting the Pass.  What I mean by this is the situation where your opponent is working on passing and you are defending, he gets past your knees then your hips and any other "frames" you may have and you finally just "give up" and accept the pass letting him flatten you out. The same thing can be said for "accepting" knee on belly or mount, or other positional advancement. You never, ever, ever want to just "accept" a pass.

As soon as you feel your opponent gaining the advantage and passing it is imperative to get your grips/frames and start moving. For example, make sure you get a grip or frame in on the arm that wants to crossface you or on the hip or shoulder that wants to flatten you out and start your bridge or shrimp before he has a chance to settle into position - always test his base before he can settle in. Those first precious seconds are your best chance to recompose your guard. Create a scramble if you can't get back to guard.

From most positions I am too slow to shrimp and get my knees back into the fight. When I turtle I am to slow to roll. From bottom half-guard I am lazy getting to my side and getting a knee shield or underhook or going into deep half. If I moved in that "first second" my success rate would be much higher.

There is also a downside to holding frames too long. You become glued to your opponent and lose the opportunity to move effectively. It becomes a stalling game - it might be fine in the last moments of a tournament if you are up on points but it is not good jiu jitsu.

For the next couple of months I am really going to focus on my guard game. That means a lot of positional sparring and a lot of (for me) pulling guard. I certainly won't make it unpassable in that short amount of time but I should be able to make it much better.

I'll try and let you know how it is working out and any epiphanies along the way.

What Do I Really Know?

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."  ~Bruce Lee

We had a really good training session last night at Brentwood Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We started working from side control and went over the basic Americana/Straight Armbar/Kimura submission series. This is not the first time I've been through these submissions but each time we work them I definitely pick up new details as well as really internalize the "pieces" I already know. Every class I appreciate more and more the technical depth that Professor Jeremy brings to the mats.

This made me start thinking about what do I really know, and how well do I know it. Even though I enjoy learning a wide variety of techniques I am always struck by the fact that the more I roll and watch others roll (including tournament footage) I see the same things winning consistently. I firmly believe that mastery of a few techniques is much more valuable than a passing acquaintance with a large repertoire of techniques (even though they are nice to know).

I was recently watching some tournament footage and one match in particular sticks in my mind. In this match I caught myself cringing as one purple belt lost several good positions early in the match looking for some sort of complicated "gi wrap" kind of submissions even though he physically dominated his opponent. Even when he finally came back to "simpler" techniques like a triangle or bow and arrow choke he had holes in his technique that allowed his opponent to escape.

On the other hand, his opponent never panicked, kept working, and used solid fundamentals - good frames and hip movement along with solid positioning before advancing the one time he got on top - and then secured the win with a solid collar choke from the back.

There is an old adage in the military that states "in a stressful situation (i.e. coming under fire) a soldier will revert to his training." Carlson Gracie used to say something along the lines of - "Punch a jiu jitsu black belt in the face and he becomes a brown belt. Punch him again and he becomes a purple belt." Being able to maintain grace under fire is firmly rooted in being able to revert to knowing a few things really really well.

I want to expand on the things "I need to know" and understand them deeply. I want to truly master a few techniques and make them so intuitive that my mind can be removed from the "moment" and allowed to focus several moves ahead. I want them to become so solid that they are almost irresistible - like Roger Gracie's cross collar choke from mount.

Daniel Coyle, in his book The Talent Code, puts forward the assertion that it takes 10,000 hours of fully engaged deep practice to master a complicated skill (like jiu jitsu) so it might take me a little while :-)

Shrimpin' Ain't Easy

Last week was a return to basics. For most of the week we spent the majority of the time on hip movement. Explosive shrimping up and down the mats, one-legged shrimping, top leg only shrimping, bottom leg only shrimping, shrimping with hip elevation at the end, etc., etc.

It was eye opening to me to realize how lackadaisical my hip movement had become. Small technical movements are fine but sometimes you need to move your backside from point A to point B with a certain amount of enthusiasm. After regular classes and some extra mat time I think my body is in a permanent curve and weekend barbecues make me strangely nervous :-).

All that shrimping was combined with some frame and grip basics to escape from side control and other "life sucks" positions as well as preventing the pass. The beauty of all this hip movement reeducation was it's immediate and almost universal applicability when rolling.

When I think about how much I got schooled this last week on something as simple as shrimping it makes me wonder if I will ever get a grip on this jiu jitsu thing and then I remember this quote from Roger Gracie ~ "Jiu jitsu is simple, you just gotta do it right." So I guess I'll keep trying to do it a little more "right" everyday.

Lessons Learned - Always Finish the Technique

The other night I rolled with a four stripe white belt that is new to our school. We had done some drills together before but this was the first time we rolled. At the start he shot in for a low single - good technique and fast (so he was beating my sprawl), BUT just as he should have powered on through and taken me to the mat he eased up. I was able to quickly finish sprawling out and turn him into side control. I normally don't like to stop a roll to talk about something until one or the other of us taps (or I'm working with my partner on a "teaching/learning" roll), but I could have easily finished from where I was and this was too much of a "teachable moment" - the dude shoulda had me.

So I tapped from top and told him, "dude you shoulda had me on that single leg, do you know why you didn't?"

He half answered/half questioned, "because I didn't control your sprawl?"

"No," I said, "because you didn't 'finish' the technique. You're kind of driving into me but then you're letting up, like you're being "nice" during drilling. You don't have to hurt me, but you do have to go all the way through and finish the technique. Let's try it again"

I had him shoot on me again and the same thing happened, just as he should have been able to drive me to the mat he loosened up. "Freeze," I told him. "You are exactly where you need to be, nothing wrong with your execution SO FAR, but the technique isn't finished. Push on through and don't let up on your drive until you come out on top."

One more shot and he almost had it. My balance was broken and I went down, but he didn't follow me all the way for control. "Almost, let's try one more time." The next shot was textbook and he came up in side control with a big grin on his face.

"Beautiful," I told him. "Now for the rest of the roll, think about always finishing." And he did, and I should have kept my mouth shut because I had to work way harder for the rest of the roll :-).

Now for the humble pie. Looking back on all my rolls that night, I must have had at least 6 sweeps that I didn't "finish".

Question: When is a sweep not a sweep?
Answer: When you don't finish on top and get your points. He may be sitting on his butt and not trying to pass your guard any more, but you're sitting on your butt too. Fine if you want to run away, but bad if you want to finish a fight.

I noticed this was especially true with my tripod and other open guard sweeps. You often land with a lot of distance or some strange angle out of these sweeps and so you have to really pay attention to maintaining grips and following your opponent up or hustling through the transition before your opponent has an opportunity to turn it into a scramble.

I didn't seem to have this problem with butterfly or closed guard sweeps (where the sweep puts me directly into mount or side control without much thought). So I think it is a combination of being mentally lazy and not paying attention to the "finish" AND being physically lazy and not wanting to hustle through the transition.

So that first slice of "practice what you preach" pie was pretty tasty, but it was nothing compared to the second slice of "lazy" pie with extra whip cream.

Don't Believe You're Own Hype

After all the "I make them work for the tap" rhetoric in my recent "Just Tap Already" post last week, I felt the need to really represent and make sure I walked the talk this week. "How's that working for you," you might ask? Well, good and bad. I was very aware of making everyone really work for the tap this week and nobody got any freebies (so far so good).

My last roll of the week I'm working with one of our guys who is getting ready for a tournament this next weekend. I'm giving him a lot of pressure and trying to diversify my pass attempts so he gets to work against some things he doesn't see from me all the time. Not my "A game" technique wise, but like I said a lot of pressure. This had me out of position at several points and my training partner definitely tried to take advantage and go for the submission. In true "walk the talk" fashion I defended vigorously and if he didn't get the submission sunk he had a fight on his hands.

Toward the end of our 10 minute roll I once again found myself with an arm out of position in bottom half-guard and he jumped on a americana. Again I defended, he needed to adjust and pull my arm down and into my body just a little bit more. He adjusts and because I'm being very conscious of making him get it "perfect" I take a moment to have this inner dialogue. "Hmmm just a little bit more and he's got it...almost there....yes that's it...are you sure?...what do you mean are you sure, of course I'm sure...ok then you better tap." In a perfect storm of bad timing, just as I'm tapping, he gives it a final crank and there is a really sick squishy popping sound that comes from my elbow and shoulder. Bad, bad, bad.

So what did I learn from this little escapade?

1. Don't have an inner dialogue with yourself in the middle of fighting a submission, that moment's hesitation can be asking for an injury.
2. I should go back and read the entire "Just Tap Already Post." Especially the part about JUST TAP ALREADY and "represent" that for awhile.
3. Remember that there are some "fights" that can be more costly than others: lose a blood-choke fight and you just go to sleep (3-5 minutes to recover), lose an armbar fight and you get a popped elbow (6-8 weeks to recover), lose a kimura/americana shoulder lock fight and you get BJJ game over (loooong to possibly no recovery without surgery).
4. And finally never-ever-ever believe your own hype.

Fortunately, he let go immediately and I can move my arm but there are several degrees of shoulder rotation that bring a lot of pain. We'll see how it feels after a weekend rest.

Just Tap Already

The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on the list...

There is a time to fight a submission and a time to tap. I will ALWAYS FIGHT to keep an opponent from SECURING a submission and work to get back to someplace safe. If he is not deep enough into my collar for the choke, if he is not controlling the rotation of my arm and using his hips on the armbar, if he is not getting his elbow around to the front of my chin on the rear naked choke - he is going to have to really work those details to get me to tap.

Even if it's someone that is just learning the technique they don't get a free ride. What they get instead is me loosening up a little bit and talking them through the details, even moving their hands/arms or whatever for them if they are not getting it (unless they have their arm over my mouth, then they get a "mrmphhhumphumph"). This gets them used to putting together all the details and gets me used to being uncomfortable and really feeling when a sub comes together.

One of the guys at the gym was laughing the other night because I was working through a rear naked choke with someone. "Man, that choke took 2 or 3 minutes and each time you had him adjust something you turned a little more purple and bug-eyed, ha, ha, ha." That same guy got caught in the newer guy's rear naked choke a couple of nights later and it didn't take 2 or 3 minutes for the new guy to get the tap. Ha, ha, ha back at you brother.

I do this because there is nothing worse than being in a situation where you are playing your "A game" (especially in a tournament) and you think you have something and it is just not working. Think GSP/Dan Hardy. Details matter. In the heat of the moment with adrenaline pumping and fatigue setting in we get sloppier and sloppier. If we don't train all the details when we have the chance we won't stand a chance when we really need it.

BUT once an opponent has it sunk with all the appropriate grips and body dynamics resistance becomes futile and a recipe for injury. Being "too tough to tap" means a short career in the sport.

"Nice" training partners won't want to roll with you or won't treat you seriously because they don't want to really hurt you and your game will stagnate. "Not so nice" training partners will get you injured and you will spend weeks or even months off the mats and your game will stagnate.

Even in the UFC, professional fighters tap rather than go unconscious or get their arm or leg busted up. Why? Because a tight submission fully applied can end a career in less than a second. Being "too tough to tap" may win you some respect among the armchair warriors but it is generally not the smartest part of a game plan.