Jiu Jitsu Lessons

I haven't posted in a while.  Recent months, however, have been a rough patch for me.  Full of painful decisions and mixed emotions.  It is always these times that I feel I grow the most.  When things are going smoothly in my life I always talk positive.  I tell my self that I will always be positive and always have faith in God to see me through tough times.  When mildly challenging issues arise I stay positive, I have faith and I think, "Wow, I handled that well."

But then the really hard times come, and damn do I lose sight of things.  I've been fortunate in my life to have people who love me and a roof over my head.  I know I have it good, but every once in a while, I find my faith tested.  Every once in a while, I find my self in one of those times when something so big comes down on you that the outlook just seems bleak.  I think its these times, not the good times, that make us who we are.

The last few months have been tough, and I know I can't say I stayed positive though all of it.  While I never thought of giving up, I truly did not want to be where I was.  Being on the tail end of this trial now, I can look back and see the lesson that I am starting to learn, and it is invaluable.  As to what that lesson specific lesson
was, maybe I'll share it in a later post, but I just want to address this in a broader scope right now.  What I've learned is, what ever trial I'm going through, there is a purpose.  I should be thankful in those hard times, learn the lesson that they are teaching me, and them form me into a better, stronger person.

I think this relates back to Jiu Jitsu in many ways.  If you follow this blog you'll know that my life aspirations are in Jiu Jitsu.  If you don't, I think the message will still apply.  On the mat we face many opponents.  Some are better then us and can make us tap.  Others, we can over come with ease.  However, we never improve if we constantly train and spar with the noobies.  We have to get out there and swim with sharks, get our asses kicked,  and learn from it.  That is, I believe, how we get better.

I know I have many hard times in front of me.  I know there will be a lot of good too.  I don't think, however, that any of it will be bad times.  It's all a lesson.  I can learn from all of it, and while I admit that my lack of knowledge and the mass of knowledge to be learned is daunting.  I can't wait to learn it.  Time to do some Jiu Jitsu!

Thanks for reading,

Please help this blog grow by sharing this post,

Nick

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How Bad Do You Want It?

There's a story I heard by a guy named Eric Thomas, to paraphrase the story he told:


There was a young man that wanted to be success, and one day the man went to see a guru.  The young man said, "Guru, I want to be as successful as you are.  I want to accomplish what you have done." 


The Guru said, "okay, if you want to be successful meet me at the beach tomorrow at 6:00 A.M."


The man said, "The beach?  I want to make money.  Not go for a swim."


The Guru said, "If you want to make money, meet me at the beach."


So the young man gets to the beach the next day at 5:45, wearing a suit, and he sees the Guru out in the water.  The Guru calls for him to go out to meet him.  The young man walks out into the water and walks until the water is waist high.  and he says, "okay I'm here, now what?" The Guru tells him to come further.  So the young man walks until he is chest high and says, "okay I'm here, now what?"  The Guru tells him to come further.  So the young man walks until he is up to his mouth in the water.


The Guru grabs the young man by the neck and holds him under the water.  The young man kicks and scratches and fights but the Guru holds him under.  Not until the young man is on the edge of unconsciousness does the Guru lift him from the water.  He asked the young man, "when you were under the water, what did you want to do?" 

The young man said, "breath."

The Guru told him, "When you want to succeed, as bad as you want to breath, then you will be successful."

Make a list of things that would take priority over breathing in your life.  It's pretty short.

For more on Eric Thomas, check out his site.  www.etthehiphoppreacher.com/

Thanks for reading,

Nick

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GOOOOAAALLL!!

I'm pretty stoked tonight because I was able to put a check next to one of my goals.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, last week I wrote a post about setting goals to improve your Jiu Jitsu game.  My first goal that I set was to survive 5 minutes in a leg war roll with a guy that is one the best leg lock guys at my gym.  I was actually able to "one up" that.

I rolled with this guy and not only was I able to survive and not get leg locked, I actually ended up coming out of it with a full mount on him.  I didn't counter or submit him, but my goal was to survive and I actually did more than that.  Now,  he tapped me 3 consecutive times right before that, but like I said, I learn how to defend submissions by getting tapped, analyzing, getting tapped, analyzing, getting tapped, and then analyzing. 

Also, tonight I rolled with another one of our resident leg snatchers, who is a brown belt.  He did catch me in a toe hold once buuuut.... tap, analyze, tap, analyze.... the second time around he went for a quick succession of heal hook variations and I was able to fend them all off and secure the superior position.  I'm pretty exited that I reached one of my goals.  Ze Mario was right, achieving goals does give you a confidence boost in your game. Again, if you don't understand the reference go the post that I linked above.

Another thing that I was able to prove to myself tonight was that when you suck at something, just keep doing it.  Keep showing up every day and eventually you quit sucking. 

Okay well thanks for reading everyone,

Nick

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Sick Days

Well, I'm sick.  I guess it was just meant for me to be off of the mats for a little while.  I had been grappling with my injured arm a little bit, this looks like God's way of telling  me, "hey slow your sh** down, before I bust your elbow up again."  Sucks not being able to train.  I stopped by the gym today and watched every one else roll.  I can't help but think about how all the guys that I will compete against next month are training right now and getting better while I stay stagnant.

This is why I don't ever take days off for any other reason but illness or injury.  I get sick relatively often, for whatever reason.  In the long run though, everyone will get sick or get injured, but not everyone can say they trained on every holiday, every birth day, and every time there was a big party that they had to miss out on.  That's how I get ahead.  If you train every day that you can train, the days that you can't train will be canceled out. 

I hope this doesn't set me back on reaching my goals that I set a couple posts back.  I think they are still reachable though. I'll just pick up the pace when I get back in a few days. 

Well!  Time to say goodbye to this little shot of NyQuil and pass the out!  I want to include this video that relates to the point I made above.  I've watched it a bunch of times; I used to play this in the beginning of my work outs when I felt super tired.  Take some truth strait from the mouth of Al Pacino!

Thanks for readin' guys,

Please, help this blog grow by sharing it on Facebook or Twitter!

Nick

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My Ego | Leg Locks| Jiu Jitsu

So once again I'm humbled by Jiu Jitsu. Any time you let your ego get ahead of you in this sport your bound to get thrown back down to earth real quick. Since my arm is still non-functioning I have been working alot on my leg lock defense, like I have mentioned in previous posts. However, I have had a reality check in the last few days, and it has been frustrating, I have to admit. I have learned a few things though.

I thought I could learn to defend leg locks in a matter of weeks. My progress in this area, however, is coming pretty slowly. What I realized is learning leg locks in Jiu Jitsu is a completely different bread of the sport. It's not like learning one move, its a huge range of moves, and you have to know them all. If you do Jiu Jitsu you are probably thinking that I'm stating the obvious, but like I said I guess I got ahead of myself.

There are so many different intricate positions when it comes to leg locks that there cannot be just one defensive move for every submission type. Every detail, every angle, and every foot position changes the game up. It takes more than just practicing a few escapes, you have to be in the situation in a live senario, learn each detail of the position, and learn how to react to them. A lot of it, I think, is specific to you and the way you grapple, so you have to learn them yourself, through experience. So i think after a week of asking everyone I know for leg lock defense moves and scouring every leg lock video on YouTube, I'm changing my game plan. I'm just going to do leg wars (since I still can't roll) and learn how to defend leg submissions from my own experience. I feel like, I was tought a million ways to defend against a choke, but none of them worked for me, it wasn't until I got choked out 10,000 times that I figured out how to stop it my own way. There's no way around the need for mat time.

Thats the great thing about Jiu Jitsu though, you can spar over and over, loose to your sparring partner, but be able to learn from it and improve the very next day. In boxing, when you do bad in sparring you leave with a massive headache and a need for 2 Aspirin, and 3 days to recover. In Jiu Jitsu, you get tapped, you learn, you go righ back at it. Soooo.... let the tap-out-fest begin. Because I expect to be heel hooked, ankle locked, and kneed barred about 100 times each this week. Time to let that ego go and get back to square one!

This has been a pretty big reminder of what I long road it is to try to master this sport. You hear it all the time though, it's just a matter of time. If I put in the time then I'll get the results. So any ways back to the gym tonight for some leg wars. Over and over and over!


Thank you all for reading,

Please help this blog grow by sharing it on Facebook or Twitter.

Nick

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Training Injury: Couldn't Stay Off the Mats

  I have to say, pick a career that you can't wait to get there and work.  It's a great life to have.  Imagine if you were legitimately bummed out when your boss gave you a day off of work.  Except.... I don't make any money doing Jiu Jitsu right now... but I will soon!  I'll be sure to post about the first Jiu Jitsu dollar that I make.

I wasn't suposed to roll today because of my elbow injury but I couldn't help it.  A brown belt from 10th Planet Headquarters came down to Riverside this morning though, so I couldn't resist the chance to roll with someone new that was high ranked. It was actually cool though, because I had to do everything with one hand.  If you can keep someone from passing your guard with one hand then you can do it with two.  I wish I had pictures of the roll.  I just have this one though.

I gotta say, my arm hurts a little bit more than it did before!  That's okay though it was worth being able to roll.  I missed it :'-).

Any ways even though my arm is a little sore now, I'm recovering at such a fast rate I'll still be back on the mat when I planned to be.   I'm off to do electrical stimulation therapy on my arm.  I highly recommend this by the way.

Thank you all for reading,
Please, help this blog grow by sharing it on Facebook or Twitter

Nick

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What is Jiu Jitsu?

I'm just going to leave you guys with this tonight.  It made me laugh and I had to share it.

Please, help this blog grow by "Liking" it on Facebook or sharing it on Facebook or Twitter!

Thanks guys,

Nick

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