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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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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Setting Goals for Jiu Jitsu

I read an article in Grapple Arts that talked about how it's important to set goals. Ze Mario Sperry, former three time world champ and former time ADCC champ, was talking about how he used to set goals, write them down, then post them all over his house so that he saw them every where he went. The article talked about making them reachable yet challenging. This way you can evaluate the quality and progress of your training. Also, achieving a goal of any kind will help you feel confident in your ability to accomplish things.

So, these are the goals that I'm setting for my self...


1. Survive 5 minutes in a leg-war roll with a particular guy in my gym that has an excellent leg lock game by the end of February. (Leg-wars is when you start in 50/50 guard and go only for leg leg locks)

2. submit or sweep 10 fellow blue belts using Rubber Guard by March 20th. (I can't start working on this until I'm fully heeled from my injury so hopefully that will be March 1st).

3. Get my purple belt by my 22nd birthday. My birthday is December 18th.

I think all of these are pretty reachable.  At the moment the first one is probably the most important thing to me.  Since leg locks are the weaker part of my game, achieving that would show significant improvement for me.  I challenge all of you guys to set goals of your own!  Don't take it from me, take it from Ze Mario. 


Here's the article I was reading.  It actually has a lot of other good stuff in it.

Thanks for reading guys,

Please, help this site grow and "like" the Facebook page or share this article on Facebook or Twitter.

Nick

A blessing in disguise: Leg Locks

I think that there are always good times and bad times in everything that you do, but I believe that there is a positive side to every negative event. It takes practice, but if you cant find a way to turn set backs into opportunities, your going to be a hard force to stop when you set your mind to something.

As I shared earlier that I got hurt last week; partial tendon tear in my elbow.  Its improving at a surprisingly fast rate, thanks to acupuncture and God! But the doc says that I need to stay off of it for another three weeks even if it doesn't hurt any more. When I first got hurt, I can't lie, I was super frustrated. I didn't want to take time off. So I decided that I wouldn't let my injury stop me from improving my game.  I realized that my elbow getting blown out of commission could possibly be exactly what I needed to take my game to the next level.

I've noticed lately that the biggest weakness in my game is my leg lock defense.  I've been getting tapped with ankle locks, heal hooks, and toe holds more than any thing else.  Now normally, I don't enjoy practicing leg locks or leg lock defense.  I think its boring.  However, with my arms in a useless state, I got nothing but time to hone in my leg lock defense.  I'll be doing nothing but that for the next three weeks.  When I can finally get back to my real rolls, I'll be unleglockable! Not really, but I'll have made a serious improvement.

This is perfect timing too because NAGA is coming up in Las Vegas and all leg locks are allowed in this tournament.  Its funny how things always tend to work out.  These things always assure me that God has a plan for me.  Even the worst things in life can turn out to help you with something that you never saw coming in the future.  I'm telling you, there is a positive inside of every negative, you just gotta find it.

So I'll be doing more leg locks in the next few weeks than I ever have before.  I'll try to get some videos up here and share the moves that I learn.  There's even a leg lock seminar coming up that is being put on by a Gene Le Bell black belt.




Thanks for reading guys,

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Nick