• Search for:

• Links

  • 

• Blogroll

  • Blake Fluhart Blog (BlakeSparks)
  • Blog o' The Jimmy (Ben Olas)
  • Fighting Out Of
  • Georgette's JJ World
  • Heavy Judo
  • Jiu Jitsu Map (Jason Miller)
  • jiujitsusavedmylife
  • Logan BJJ (Dave Iles)
  • Master Pedro Sauer
  • Meerkatsu
  • Passion is the Purpose (Dutch)
  • Tap Often

• Recent Posts

  • The Dedicated are Always Tired
  • Finally Females
  • 11. Two-Handed Wrist Grab
  • The Rolie Polie Defense
  • Critical Eye

• Categories

  • 88 Techniques
  • BJJ Notes: The Book
  • Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory, Philosophy, and Technique
  • Jiu-Jitsu and the Universe
  • Uncategorized

• Archives

  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009

While in Boise, I went to a strip club, actually two. I went with some West Siders after a BJJ tournament. I hadn’t been to a strip club in quite some time and it’s pretty much like I remember—boobs, beer, and dollar bills. I always have the same thought after leaving the strip club, and that is, how does one end up as a stripper? What leads one to this line of work? But then I think about boobs again and I forget about the questions. It doesn’t really matter. They’re there for various reasons, all very unique and personal I bet.

Jiu-jitsu is nothing like stripping, but we all have our own varied, unique, and personal reasons for training. It doesn’t really matter why we do jiu-jitsu, how or why we find ourselves on the mat; the only thing that matters is that we do it. I’m not sure why strippers strip; I couldn’t tell you why jiu-jitsu people train, but what I do know is that we do what we do for a reason, whether it’s for exercise or enlightenment or dollar bills.

.
.
.
I like the same-side wrist grab escape; it’s kind of like holding hands in an aggressive sort of way. What I like the most about it is that it is a great example of always attacking the weakest part of your opponent’s technique–in this case, that would be the thumb. The escape is actually pretty technical, the whole idea of turning your wrist so you use the blade of your wrist (the skinniest, sharpest part) and the effectiveness of going against one digit (the thumb) as opposed to the four other fingers (including the dirty middle finger, who is really tough).

I hardly ever use this escape on my feet; it’s mostly on the ground, in the guard or on the knees. I like to have my hands free so I use it a lot, especially on the sleeve-grabbers—it works.

I’ve been really busy lately. I need to figure out a way to be consistent. It’s my oldest son’s B-day today, so my time is minute. I will figure out a way to be more consistent in writing. There are plenty of things I want to write about: The North West Submission Challenge (BJJ tournament), strippers, kids’ books, jiu-jitshoes, The DevilFish line, writing a second book, buying a new house, BJJ instructors, the list goes on.

I really like writing, it’s like jiu-jitsu; you need to keep practicing and doing before you really feel comfortable with it. Just like jiu-jitsu, it’s something I would like to do for a long time. Well, thanks for reading. Tomorrow it’s back to the blog.

Click title for FREE BJJ kids book PDFJiu-Jitsu Jack

Okay, I’ve been crazy busy for the last few days. It’s nice to get back to writing and getting things back to normal, but I really had a good time at the North West Submission Challenge in Boise–a lot of good guys and girls competed and everyone was super nice. It’s one of my favorite tourneys for sure.

On the five-hour ride back, The guys who rode with me and I had some cool conversations about jiu-jitsu and the internet and government conspiracies, and one of the guys found a book I wrote for my daughters about monsters. It made me decide that I should share my kids jiu-jitsu book Jiu-Jitsu Jack, so I am. here it is. I hope you like it.

Click title for FREE BJJ kids book PDFJiu-Jitsu Jack

This past Saturday I took my daughter to her soccer game; I also took my three year old son. He’s not much for watching soccer; he likes the swings. Luckily for him and me the playground was right next to the soccer field. I pushed and watched and cheered—a perfect situation.

Soon, another kid hopped into the swing next to my son, she was about the same age, pig-tailed and cute; she was pushed by her petite mother who looked to be in her mid-twenties. This story is about competition, and how although you think your competitive days are over, they never really are.

While I was pushing my son, he started yelling, “Higher! Higher!” so, the little girl next to him started yelling the same thing. Soon the little girl was going higher than my son, for some reason that bothered me. No little ninety-five pound soccer mom’s going to out push me, I thought. So, I started pushing my boy a little harder. And of course there’s no one more competitive than a suburbanite, soccer mom, so she upped the ante by pushing even harder, and of course I answered. Before we knew it, the kids were soaring above our heads. I could see my son’s white knuckles gripping the swing’s chain, but before I could slow him down, the little girl burst out in tears, “I’m scared!” she screamed, her mom reluctantly slowed her down and took her off the swing. Yes, I thought, that’s right lady; you can’t beat me and my boy, take your little ass back to the suburbs and leave the swings to the big boys.

Yep, that really happened. I’m forty-two; where does this attitude come from? I know I should be embarrassed, but I’m not. I guess we compete all the time, whether it’s on the mat or at the swings, we compete.

Creonte means traitor in the arte suave world, for jiu-jitsu it’s a guy or girl who leaves their current academy for another (at least that’s how I know it). It’s a curse word in the BJJ world. I don’t get upset if people leave my academy for another. If it happens, it’s probably because we’re not meeting their needs; just like I don’t judge the guys who have left other academies for mine. Train where you want; train where you feel comfortable, and when you find that perfect place, be loyal, but if you need to leave, then leave. I would suggest talking to the head instructor first and explain what’s going on, then do what you have to do, and no matter what happens, don’t let anyone bitch slap you.

.
.
.
I trained with a couple of rabbits this week, not bunny rabbits; think jack rabbits, think speed–think lightning. These guys moved way faster than my reflexes and consequently one of them got my back. No big deal, they are hares; I am tortoise. Tortoises have good defense.

Tortoises also have technique. Technique is something you gain with time: speed is something you lose. After a while the hare becomes old, and the arthritic rabbit cannot rely on its speed and then it has nothing–nothing but the memories of how fast it used to be. The tortoise on the other hand has his wonderful defense and his growing technical knowledge that only increases with time. It seems that the hare will never beat the tortoise, not even in jiu-jitsu.

.
.
.
I have had a hard time lately avoiding distractions, things that take me away from the important things I’m supposed to be doing; you could call it a lack of focus. It’s funny how when we train usually we aren’t distracted at all; we’re very focused on what needs to be done. I need to sweep this guy, right now or I need to finish this armbar. There is no procrastinating. Probably because of the consequences—the consequences for the most part are immediate. Unlike real life, if I don’t return an email right away there’s nobody there to make me feel pain or make me go unconscious. If there were, I’d sure get a lot more done.

That’s what I need, I need a jiu-jitsu monkey to follow me around, and when I get distracted or I procrastinate, it can jump up and apply an armbar or a rear-naked choke or anything that will get me focused again—that’s exactly what I need. Now where can I find a monkey, and how hard are they to train in jiu-jitsu?

Every jiu-jitsu school has a gatekeeper, that unassuming dude who can kick most anyone’s ass. Gatekeepers are usually small and tough and technical and they are the ones who go against the “tough” guys who come in off the street that think they’re bad asses. The gatekeepers represent the school and usually are responsible for destroying a lot of inflated egos.

Sometimes the gatekeeper takes abuse to protect the more senior students from having to go against meatheads. We have some gatekeepers at West Side. One of my favorites was a seventeen year old kid named Chris Kisner, a little, happy kid that looked like somebody’s little brother. Tough guys would come in the academy all the time looking to test jiu-jitsu. We’d put Chris on them and a minute later they’d be rubbing their sore arm and trying to figure out how this kid beat them. I loved to watch him go.

We still have gatekeepers at West Side, they just don’t know it, and our gatekeepers work a little differently. When new people come into the academy, going against me will not convince them of the effectiveness of jiu-jitsu. I am 6’1’’ three hundred and thirty pounds. If I make them tap, they’re going to attribute it to my size, no matter how technical I try to be, the credit will go to my size and not to the effectiveness of jiu-jitsu, but if one of the smaller guys puts a whipping on them then they start to see the power of jiu-jitsu.

The gatekeeper is an important member of the academy. They are invaluable in helping one see how effective jiu-jitsu can be. They’re the barrier that protects everyone else from the barbarians and they represent the school in the most honorable and tangible way.

« go back — keep looking »