Painting

Eye on the prize. What's the goal?

Not the short term goal. Not the upcoming vacation, or the next wee course. The real goal.

Who is the person in the picture that I'm painting?

Long ago I wanted to be a teacher, so I went back to school, invested a few years, and became one. Got my first position in 1990, so I've been a teacher for 22 years. That is part of my internal resume and I'm ready to move on into retirement.

So I'm a retired teacher. What else?

I'm married to a wonderful woman. We've been together for 32 years and will be for a long time to come. I'm a husband.

What else?

The rest of my painting is the part that a person creates with their non-vital activities. The activities that normally reside outside of family or work.

I am a runner, and a biker, and a Jiu-Jitsu player, and a Karate Black Belt. I want to do all of these things for as many years as possible.

I am a geek for tech and history, and I also dance. Someday Helen and I will learn the Argentine Tango.

I love travel, and need a lot more of it under my belt.

I don't know if all this tells you who I am, but it helps me to define myself.

Trip

The general guideline for progress beyond Blue Belt is supposed to be about a level per year. I have been planning my future on this basis.

Turns out this is optimistic. It will take an absolute minimum of 60 weeks. I am returning to regular training in September. There are 16 week before Christmas. In the New Year there are 25 weeks before the end of June.

I am assuming we won't travel much that summer, so July and August will provide another 9 weeks.

The total is 50 weeks. Not enough, even if my attendance is perfect.

So what?

In the fall of 2013 Helen and I might just be heading south to LA for a few months. Clearly by then I will still be a Blue Belt working on my first stripe.

It matters. It means that while there, I can train enough to easily finish my requirements, and take my exam.

I can plan how much I want to train while in LA based on how much I want to learn. Learning for its own sake, not for how many stripes I can put on my belt. Train a reasonable amount, and I'll get my stripe. Work like a nut and learn a ton, and I'll get the same single stripe.

I'll train several times a day. They have a lot of classes down there.

There are hotels near to the Gracie Academy. I'll be able to walk to training. Poor Helen will have no training to do, and will be trapped in Los Angeles with tons of time and a car with GPS. I think she can keep herself entertained.

Together we will to all sorts of sweet touristy things. There is no training on the weekend after Saturday morning. I foresee lots of Disney visits, and day trips as far as San Diego and throughout the LA area.

It sounds like fun.

We’ve never, ever done an extended vacation like this.

Different

There has been a Blue Belt drought at Jiu-Jitsu lately. There are only five at the best of times, but with summer weather and other commitments we've been running with pretty much none.

This is hard on the instructor, as the Blues act as assistants. It has also rendered the Blue Belt classes moot.

Two of us just made the jump up from White to Blue, and both of us were there last night. Not only that, but three of the others turned up as well.

Tons of helpers, and the advanced class went on as scheduled. It was my first as a Blue and it would have been depressing if it had been cancelled.

The topic was a Guard technique, called Pass Prevention. It is a progression from the White Belt stuff, which you'd expect, but the teaching style is totally different.

It comes fast and furious, and you're expected to understand it immediately, and to apply it.

I managed to muddle through, but I don't think much of it got deeply rooted in my brain. Likely none did.

Need to figure out some way of taking notes, either during or immediately after.

Much more physically demanding, and on top of the exertions of the White Belt class.

Thursday will be different again. The White class is the same, but at Blue we do not wear uniforms. It is called no-gi training, and we wear shorts and t-shirts or rashguards. Not much to grab onto other than the opponent's body.

I won't be getting comfortable with any of this before I take my summer break. Going to cut off training in about a week, and it will be September before I'm back at it again.

Far Afield

Helen and I have plans to travel once we are retired. This is just a general ambition with only the vaguest destinations figured out.

What places will we hit in our first ten years?

We both love California, and go there quite often already. I'd guess there are a few trips there in the next decade. Particular targets will be San Francisco and the LA area.

Just one state over is Vegas, which we also get to fairly often. No reason for this to change.

Farther a field in the continental US is another favourite of ours; Florida. The entire state is fabulous, and we really enjoy both Miami Beach and the Disneyworld area.

We might get to Alaska again on a cruise, but maybe not.

We haven't been to Hawaii, and everybody says we have to go, so we will.

The Caribbean? Likely we'll go there again on a cruise out of Florida.

We both want to really "do" Europe. We've been there once before, but it was a visit focused on family in Germany. Our only non-family stop was a few days in Vienna.

We need to see London, York, Edinburgh, Brussels, Paris, Carcassonne, the Cinque Terre, Rome...well...you get the idea.

Japan would be fantastic, with a mixed Karate and tourist vacation.

These are all the easy destinations to figure out. All the rest we have to decide on the appeal. We both have to want to go or it makes no sense. Luckily we match pretty well in this respect.

For example, neither of us is drawn to Australia. Many are, but we aren’t. That saves us an entire continent. Neither of us are drawn to painfully poor countries.

The only African local I’m drawn to is Egypt. In the Middle East, only Turkey holds appeal. Parts of Asia are interesting, as are parts of Latin America.

With one or two trips a year, I think we can see a lot. It also means we cannot see everything.

We are both the kind of people that like revisiting our greatest hits over and over. I still find fascinating new stuff exploring Vancouver.

Imagine how long Rome will hold my interest.

Talent is Overrated

I've recently been reading a book called “Talent is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin.

He presents evidence to reinforce the value of focused practise.

We all know what that is. It's working on only the skills you need for a particular endeavour. It also involves working on the parts you suck at, rather than more generalized practise.

You've likely done this, especially if you play a musical instrument. You have a performance coming up, and have three pieces to play. Two are no sweat, but the first part of that third piece is giving you fits. Where does 90% of your practice need to go?

Sports are pretty much the same thing, although for some reason it's harder to get people to not practice the things they're good at and to focus on their weaknesses.

It is long, slow, often done solo, and is unpleasant.

It also accounts for why there seems to be an entire generation of athletes pushing the bounds of old age.

One of boxing's all-time greats was Larry Holmes. He held the heavyweight title and had a record of 48-0. He was considered an ancient, old man clinging on by his fingernails. Starting in 1985 his next three fights were all embarrassing losses, and his career never recovered. In 1985 Larry Holmes was 35 years old.

Randy Couture was the UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion. He has recently retired in 2011. While no longer top of the sport, he was still competitive with the best. His age at retirement was 47.

Every sport currently has examples of dinosaur athletes that would have been unheard of a generation ago.

In every case the individual involved continues to do focused practise, working only on the skills their sport requires, and concentrated on their weaknesses to the exclusion of all else. It doesn't keep you any younger in general, but it does keep you younger within your particular activity.

It is what we do in Karate, at least in part. If the class sucks at Kata, we do Kata. If they can do a particular Kata properly, except for the last sequence, we work on the last sequence. If somebody can't do a decent side kick, they have to work on side kick.

In Jiu-Jitsu, my weakest technique is the triangle choke. I am lucky that it's also my favourite. When it's, "grab a partner and do some review" time, I usually ask my partner to help me work on the old triangle choke.

It won't keep me from wandering around malls with my fly undone, not knowing why I went to the mall in the first place, but it means I'll still be able to kick in your chest if you tease me about it.

Passed

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu HQ has only had their hands on my Blue Belt exam video for less than a week. My instructor said it takes from one to three weeks to find out how a grading has gone.

Today, suddenly my results showed up. Somebody down there was working on evaluation on Sunday. I don't know who they are, but I like them a lot.

I passed, and am thrilled. The news is all over Facebook, and the congratulations are pouring in.

The test has taken over seven weeks to complete. It will be good to really get it out of my mind. I can also get back to cycling to work. My bike has been in the shop.

Back to normal.

I get to start attending the advanced Jiu-Jitsu classes. This doesn't mean that I'll give up on the White Belt class. I'll go to both.

When I started Jiu-Jitsu back in September, I didn't know if my old body would hold up to the strain. It has performed in a sparkling fashion. I have managed to complete the path to Blue Belt in nine months. This is pretty fast, as people usually say it takes a year.

I believe I've also broken a minor record in another way. There are only three Gracie Jiu-Jitsu schools in Canada, and two of these are under a year old.

I might just be oldest guy in the country to get a Gracie Blue Belt.

Hold the applause.

Gender issue

Martial Arts can be so sexist.

I suppose that's no secret.

My Karate club is pretty even. There are five of us who're fee paying members. Two are male and three are female. Other than dividing a person in half, I think we can call that 50-50.

The local Jiu-Jitsu instructor teaches a very non-sexist class, and there are a fair number of girls and women there, too.

So what's the problem? It's in the unavoidable details.

Looking at the new Jiu-Jitsu schedule for the fall the problem appears. Let's say someone is really keen, and wants to come to as many classes as possible.

Let's say he's a guy. If a White Belt, he can attend a total of 5 sessions a week. If a Blue Belt, he can come to 8.

Suppose she's not a guy. A White Belt will have 7 classes to attend, and a Blue Belt can have 10.

Why the difference?

The plan is that there will be a Women's Self-Defense class. This will be open to all the female members, as well as those that sign up for just that one course. This makes sense. It is also closed to all the male members. This also makes sense, for all the obvious reasons.

Perhaps some of the guys will sometimes be invited there to act specifically as training aids (evil male attackers, and punching bags), and the instructor is male.

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu also provides a course called Women's Empowerment, which is basically self-defense. It is also a women-only class. Upon successful completion, the participants can earn a Pink Belt. (I find that tacky, as do all our current female members)

The Pink Belt is the only one awarded by Gracie Jiu-Jitsu that is gender specific. I can never earn one.

That course is only ten classes long. The material looks interesting, and if it wouldn't make some of the female participants uncomfortable I'd probably take it. I've taught women's self-defense classes several times and like to keep up to date.

Of course, none of this is done to be deliberately unfair to male practitioners. It is just the realities of gender that necessitate the separation of people doing women's self-defense, and that make the course valuable at all.

Otherwise the pushing, pulling and sweating has nothing to do with gender at all.

NotEvenBlueYet

Our Jiu-Jitsu Instructor has trained 13 Blue Belt students. Lately several have moved away or left for other reasons.

We are down to just 5. Their role in class is to be helper teachers, as well as to be training partners for one another.

The plan is for the club is to significantly increase the number of classes available. To do this, at least a couple of assistant instructors are needed. The Chief Instructor just can't do it all.

Of the 5 Blue Belts, one is moving to Australia soon. Two others are entering their last year of high school, and will likely head off to college or university after that. That leaves 2 who have no looming plans to leave.

One of those says he has no interest in teaching. That leaves one Blue Belt guy who just might work out.

The club needs more Blue Belts.

Two of us have just completed our exams and are awaiting our results. A couple more might be ready in the fall.

Are any of the Blues or future Blues ready to be instructors of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu?

Two already act as teachers quite often and hold Black Belts in Hapkido. Both are amongst those moving away in 2013.

Of the rest, none have teaching experience or significant training in other arts, except me.

I've been a school teacher for decades, am a Shotokan Black Belt, and have taught Karate since 1983. Will I end up in the assistant role?

If so, will it fit into my own plans? It would be a hoot whenever I'm in town, but Helen and I want to travel significantly once retirement kicks in.

It's all very interesting.

Last Summer Vacation Ever

I love summer vacation, and I always have. My last one is about to start.

A year from now, July will arrive again. It will be much the same as the one about to start this year, and much like all those that have gone before.

It will, however, be profoundly different.

It will not be summer vacation. For millions of school children, and for teachers it still will be, but not for me.

The sun will be as warm, and the beaches as inviting. There will be swimming, and bike riding, and maybe even camping, but it won’t be summer vacation.

It will just be....summer.

It will not be followed by a return to school in September. No more long weekends eagerly anticipated. No Monday blues.

Every day will be a day of pleasant freedom. Every day will be life not bound to a work schedule.

I shall be a gentleman of leisure.

My bike rides won’t be back-and-forth to work. They will be rides to anywhere.

I want to draw, and photograph, and make movies but I never do. There are just not enough hours. There soon will be.

I don’t read enough, but I will.

Vancouver needs exploring, but I never go. I need to ride the skytrain for no reason at all. There is a cheap train trip that runs from Vancouver as far as Portland, Oregon. Why am I never on it?

There are places I need to see again, and new ones to add to my acquaintance.

My wife and I need to find places and times to dance. We’ve danced on ships, and in halls, and even in the heart of Disneyland. There must be more.

I am not sad my last summer vacation is about to start.

Not sad at all.

Make it fit

Things should just fit, but they don’t.

Jiu-Jitsu is changing over the summer. It is moving to a new location where the mats don't have to be set up and taken down every evening. There will also be more room, which will be nice.

Currently, classes are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, but nobody much attends on Saturday.

It will soon be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday there will be an open-mat time, and another on Saturday morning.

Some weeks I'll be going five days in a row.

For most families this wouldn't work. We have no kids, so I'm not going to be neglecting them.

My wife, Helen, has a pretty full schedule of her own. She goes to ukulele on Tuesday, folk music on Fridays, and often is playing somewhere on Saturdays and Sundays.

Karate is changing, too. Unlike Jiu-Jitsu where none of the decisions are mine, I’m the center of the Karate club.

Can’t have class when I’m working, although it would be cool if we could. I’m also unwilling to miss out on Jiu-Jitsu.

This means our two adult classes a week have to fit into Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Friday is possible, but would rather not, as it would cost me an open-mat class.

This means in practise that we have to meet Saturday and Monday. That’s what we do now.

We are starting a kids’ class. I’m not crazy about the idea, but have turned it around. I’ve agreed to teach one time per week if my senior students will step up and teach another. They seem keen.

Now we have to fit a couple of kids’ classes in someplace. I can do anytime Monday, hopefully back-to-back with the adults. If that can’t happen, I can do any other afternoon at 4:00pm. Such won’t work for adults, but maybe will for kids.

We’re all sitting down this week to try and hammer it all out. Then somebody, likely Cody, will have to try and get us space.

This all makes me realize how lucky I’ve been in the past. When I’d set up clubs before I always got the first location I went after, and the times and days. Once set up, there was never a reason to change and they ran consistently like this for years and years.

I’m sure it will all work somehow.

Spry

Honda makes a hybrid version of its well-loved Civic. It has a pretty normal turning radius of 35.4 feet. As a regular road is about 22 to 24 feet wide, that means a u-turn cannot be done without a fair use of reverse gear. Most cars are similar. The Ford Escape's is 36.7 feet, and the tiny Mazda 2 is 32.2 feet.

Even toy-sized cars all have a big radius for turning. The Mini Cooper is 35.1 feet and the Smart Car is 28.7 feet. None of these can do a turn-about on a normal, narrow road without some zigzagging.

We, however, bought a Toyota Prius. One thing we got that we didn't know about was a very spry turning radius. It is a mere 31.4 feet. This is by far the best of any car I'd previously driven. The only car I've listed above that turns tighter is the Smart Car.

I loved driving my Prius. It seemed to turn on a dime compared to most, making parking and such a breeze.

Our new car is a strange and tiny beast. It is a Scion IQ, and is a dandy toy-sized car in every respect. The magic part is the turning radius. She can zip about in a ridiculously tight 12.9 feet. You read that right. It's less than half the radius of a Smart Car. It is no sweat to pull 180 degrees even on a narrow road, with cars parked on both sides.

I have been spoiled.

Now driving the Prius feels like an elephant, or even a brontosaurus.

Nothing like a Ford F150 (regular cab) at 41.7 feet. How do people drive things like that?

Old and Proud

Old is really working for me.

As a kid I wasn't interested in any sport, and so didn't play them much. The result was that I wasn't as good at sports as most kids. Not the last guy picked, but always in the last half of those selected.

As a young adult I identified myself as being non-athletic. In the army reserves I'd run all day hauling around heavy equipment. Pretty good for a non-athletic guy.

In my late twenties I started Karate. Didn't know how well I'd do, not being athletic and all. I got a Black Belt.

What I had been as a kid was trying to define me for my entire life, and I was letting it.

Helped coach wrestling. Now there's a workout.

Picked up running, and biking, and Jiu-Jitsu.

I turned 56 today, and have finally left the "non-athletic" label behind. For a guy my age, I'm a fitness machine. Nobody I know who is anywhere near my age is doing as much physical stuff as I am.

On a typical work week, I run a minimum of 10 kilometres, and bike 50. I go to Jiu-Jitsu 3 times a week, and teach Karate twice.

Being an older-type jock can be tricky. Injuries are a real bitch. I hurt my Achilles tendon a couple of months ago and it's still a problem. My running has had to be put on hold, but Karate, Jiu-Jitsu and biking are all still full speed ahead.

A real injury could put me out for a very long time, so I have to train smarter than the youngsters. They don't break as easily, and heal faster when they do.

But I'm not broken yet.

Food

This summer we have a couple of short camping trips planned. One is just Helen and me. As I don’t really like the tenting experience the deal is we eat restaurant meals

The other camping trip is with Helen’s brother and his clan. No restaurants, but they do campfire food right.

We are also going to visit friends for a while in Vernon. That will be back to restaurant meals, and they know everywhere good to eat. Wine, too.

There will also be some Victoria time. That will be a more normal mix of eating, but we have a few places we love to go, so the theme still won’t be health oriented.

The last time away from home is an Alaska cruise. That will entail epic amounts of yummy food.

The net result will be about a billion extra calories. 3500 calories equals a pound of weight gain. Therefore we divide a billion by 3500 to see that this summer will bring a potential weight gain of only a quarter of a million pounds.

I wonder if I can burn that off.

or Yoga....

Suppose you want to start a new physical activity. You want to jump in and go to several classes each week.

Your friend suggests Yoga, and you sign up. You pick the monthly plan, which is $105 for unlimited sessions. You decide to come twice per week.

That works out to an average cost of $13 per class.

If you'd signed up at the local Gracie Jiu-Jitsu class, the monthly fee is $85. New White Belts attend twice per week, giving an average cost of under $11 per night.

After a few months the White Belts can attend a third class, bringing the price down to about $6.50. Thrice weekly Yoga runs $8 a class.

Turn into a Blue Belt, and you can hit 6 classes. That brings it to a mere $3.27 per time, as opposed to Yoga at $4.04.

Maybe this is the wrong way to look at it. Maybe it is the total per month. OK, Yoga is $105 while Jiu-Jitsu is $85.

The benefits of Yoga are exercise and relaxation. People who do it for any length of time describe it as enjoyable.

Jiu-Jitsu has exercise, and learning a self-defence skill. It isn't usually called relaxing. It is also enjoyable, and sometimes is just plain fun.

I assert it also teaches a better form of relaxation than Yoga. During Yoga you relax with calming music, seated on a comfy mat, doing a pose surrounded by calm people under gentle lights. In Jiu-Jitsu you learn to relax when somebody is trying to hold you down, in a noisy room, when your every instinct tells you to do anything other than relax.

I've never enjoyed exercise classes. I found Yoga boring and weight training even worse. I used to do aerobics, which at least has catchy tunes and is a form of dance.

I like classes where I learn things.

Clearly martial arts are not for everybody, and grappling arts more so than most. You work a lot with a wide range of partners, and they will be sweaty. If you can't stand that it won't be for you.

If that’s the case, you should try Karate. It’s $60 a month, and there is no rasslin’ around. You are normally working solo in a room of other people, punching and kicking the air with precision and power.

And the uniforms are cheaper than stuff from Lululemon.

Master cycle

My Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt test is over. I finished the last part on Thursday. It has taken over 7 weeks.

Today the instructor reviewed that last part, and announced, "that's a keeper".

He says he'll upload it on Monday.

He says the fastest results have returned in about a week, with some taking as long as three weeks.

Assuming I pass, that would make me a Blue Belt sometime between June 25 and July 9. Even if Helen and I are on our first short summer road trip I'm sure that news will be either emailed or facebooked to me.

If we're still around, I can start coming to the Blue Belt classes.

The White Belt classes have a fancy name that is OK. They are called Combatives. That just means fighting. The Olympics group Judo, Wrestling, TKD and fencing all together and call it Combatives.

The Blue Belt classes have an unfortunate name. They are called Master Cycle. I'm sure it means something like "cycle through the techniques over and over until they are mastered."

The word Master in martial arts has a different connotation. It means a person with a true and deep understanding of the art. People will scoff if they hear I've been training for 9 months and am about to start taking Master's classes. That isn't what is meant, but it's what it sounds like.

Today, I was the only student present. The teacher took me through a bunch of more advanced stuff. That was interesting. We then rolled about for a while. I got nothing on him, but he only submitted me a few times. Unable to attack, I defended. Afterwards he said he could see my wrestling background, which I took as a compliment. We then chatted for a while and then headed out.

It was my first training day in quite a while without a test looming over everything.

It was swell.

4 minutes

I need 4 minutes.

I have 7 evening Combatives classes and 3 Reflex classes to fit those four minutes into. No sweat.

Most likely I'll get my 4 minutes tomorrow evening.

If I get it done, and if it's good enough, my Blue Belt exam will be over.

The video of the five sections gets uploaded to the Gracie website. They then look it all over and start counting up errors.

Use the wrong grip, and it's an error. Wrong knee position, and it's an error. That sort of thing. A first 20 errors are not a problem. They let you know exactly what you did wrong. Over 20 errors and the exam is a fail. Don't want that to happen.

One thing I learned from Karate is that I hate exams. I have hated this one more than most as it has taken a month and a half to complete. That's a lot of exam there to hate.

If I train with great regularity, I might be ready for the next test in about a year. Not really a reward if you ask me.

If everything goes well with the Gracie distance education program the material for the level beyond that will be ready by the time I get there.

If it does, and things keep rolling along I could conceivably crank out a level a year. That would put a Purple Belt about five years away. I'll be in my sixties by then. Brown? Middle sixties. Black? Early seventies.

OK, that likely will never happen, but Purple is a viable long-term goal.

Short term? Finish those 4 stupid minutes.

Old Backs

I normally have a couple of times a year when my back gets nasty. It’s some kind of muscle spasm thing. When it kicks in I have to take things really easy. I walk like a zombie for a few days, and might have to take a day or two off work.

When I started Jiu-Jitsu in September it was a bit of a concern. Everything else I do that's physical can be the spark that sets the back off. Running isn't too bad, but I can't do it if I've had the slightest twinge. Karate is full of very fast twisting movements that can be a problem. Biking for any distance involves prolonged exertion while somewhat doubled over.

How much worse would grappling be? It involves bending, twisting, lifting, torquing, and more lifting.

Determined to keep my eyes open for trouble, I plunged in.

Magically, my back held out. Never felt a thing.

It's now nine months later. My back hasn't been a problem at all. My normal pattern would be that it should have gone out a couple of times in so many months, but it hasn't.

My conclusion is that Jiu-Jitsu has strengthened the muscles in my back enough to lesson my problem. I do have to lift and torque and twist, but normally it's done slowly. Once in a while we go faster, but I didn't experience that at all for my first few months.

It's as if I've had a regime of back exercises designed to work every back-related muscle in every possible way. My risky behaviour has actually turned out to be therapeutic.

Not only hasn't it hurt my back, it seems to have prevented my usual problem.

Bad E-bikes

Electric bike manufacturers are just as bad as regular bike makers.

They all tout their electric or electric-assist bikes as being aimed at the commuter market. The idea isn't to replace ordinary bikes but rather to replace cars. Good idea.

But they don't have a clue. Take the new Smart E-bike. It has had infinite resources poured into its design due to the fact the papa corporation is Mercedes. The thing look magnificent, the motor and controls sound wonderful, and it can take all sorts of smart phones into its operation. Cool. It is freakishly expensive.

The perfect commuter bike? Hardly. The bloody thing has only got 3 gears. What's with that?

It also has no fenders, and the frame is unable to take any ordinary after-market ones. Why is that? A commuter bike that a commuter can't ride with wet roads unless he wants to wear separate bike clothes. Don't you think commuters want to wear their work clothes and have them arrive without mud tracks all over them?

This is particularly irritating as they are so proud that their bike has a belt drive rather than chain. They boast that a rider won't get his pant cuffs all greasy. Really? No grease on the cuffs but mud splatter up your back is OK?

What would a commuter want in the way of casual extras? How about a cup holder, or a bottle cage that could double as one? None on the Smart E-bike and no place on the frame to mount one. How about on the handlebars? They are so artistic that there is little real estate there to take anything beyond maybe one light.

Here's what I think a commuter/electric bike should have.

Eight to ten gears with some type of gear system that doesn't require frequent mechanical adjustment. Decent range and the ability to extend this with easily removable batteries. A frame or handlebars with a normal amount of room for add-ons. A cup holder. FENDERS!!!!

A puzzlement

Saturday is when us White Belts are supposed to do more advanced training. Sadly, the attendance sucks.

I've been to Saturday class 15 times. The most White Belts who have been there has been four. The most common number showing up is 2. I've been there a couple of times when I've been the only White Belt.

I would say that our club has a dozen people who've reached the point where they're allowed to come to Saturday training but have never showed up.

They're crazy. It is by far the best training that we do. It is also mandatory to complete at least 12 of the Saturday classes in order to test for Blue Belt.

The start time is 9am. Maybe this is too early, but everybody either has a job or is a student and clearly could be up and about. They are choosing not to.

They pay their monthly fees, they come two evenings a week, and they train hard. Somehow it's too difficult to do a Saturday morning once in a while.

People mystify me sometimes.

The cunning plan

It is almost summertime. There will be a cruise, and some camping, as well as visits to Vernon, Victoria and Powell River.

My ankle has healed, so I can run everywhere we go. When at home or in Victoria we will have our bikes.

We also have folding bikes that are going with us on the cruise. The cruise line has said they are fine, but I won't be surprised if they don't let us take them. Of course, we would find that out on the dock, but we'll see.

My martial arts take a beating in the summer. I can only do Jiu-jitsu when at home. My Karate club is shutting down for the season. In Victoria I can train in Karate at the university club, and in Judo at the venerable Victoria Judo Club. When anyplace else, there will be no martial arts for me.

If I add up all the bits of training it works out at 8 weeks worth. At home I can do one week per week, and in Victoria I can to two weeks worth per week (Judo and Karate).

This assumes I'm able to drag my sorry ass off to train.

If I am unable to do that, I will run or bike a lot more to make up for it. It's only fitness with no skill, but it's an option.

New Place

My Jiu-Jitsu instructor is all excited. We are getting a new location that is currently under construction. He says it is likely about two months until moving day.

There is going to be room for about 50% more mat space. It will also be a spot where we don't have to set the mats up every day and tear them down again at the end.

There will be real change rooms, and a front desk area, and storage. It all seems very nice.

The training timetable is also going to change.

Currently we have White and Blue Belt classes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Few people come to the Saturday classes.

The tentative new schedule is White and Blue Classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This will work better for most people, including me.

There will still be a single Saturday morning class, and another on Friday evening. Both of these will be open-mat classes. These will be kind of free-activity days with lots of rolling around. They will also be totally optional.

This means that we can do Jiu-Jitsu five times a week.

I wonder if that's enough.

Blues

Our Jiu-Jitsu instructor has produced 13 students who've reached Blue Belt rank. Some had already quit by the time I started, and some have moved away. Another is moving away soon.

At that point, we'll only have 4 Blue Belts left.

There are two of us currently working through our exams. If we pass we'll bring the Blue total to 6.

I think the extremely long road to promotion in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu has a lot to do with the low retention rate.

Five levels per coloured belt. Three coloured belts to work through. 15 levels in total, and I'll be happy to complete one per year. That's 15 years to get a Black Belt. In most martial arts five years is normal.

Suppose I'd joined Judo instead of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. The Judo version of me would be getting his Black Belt the same time that the Jiu-Jitsu me would be earning a 4th stripe on his Blue Belt.

Anyhow, I will be one of 6 Blue Belts. Blues work on more advanced material in one-hour classes held after the White Belt sessions. They also attend the White Belt class to help teach, and also to keep their basic technique fresh.

I look forward to all of that.

There is currently a plan to add two open-mat sessions per week to the timetable. People will work with each other, or they can just roll around if they want to.

I also look forward to that.

Start

So you've finally decided to try a martial arts class.

You arrive at the training place. There are people already there, wearing funny white suits, and wearing coloured belts. They are talking, and stretching, and generally getting ready for the class to start.

Somebody greets you with a smile. Maybe they are the instructor, or maybe they are not. You are welcomed, and a few of the class's procedures are explained.

Maybe you begin right there, or maybe you sit and watch.

It doesn't matter. You've done the hardest thing on the road to Black Belt. You've taken the very first step.

About half of those that start like you just have fails in the face of the next obstacle. They don't return.

Of course, I don't mean you should keep coming if something seems wrong.

The internet is wonderful. If the instructor explains that he teaches "Tai Chan so".....Google it when you get home. If the art isn't the first hit, and fails to look legit in print, avoid it. By the way, I just made up Tai Chan so.

Also, does the instructor seem to be somebody you could learn from? If you keep training, they could be your teacher for a very long time.

If this is the Adult class, are there adults in the class? If all the adults are teens, something is wrong. If the entire class seemed like one big exercise fest, something is wrong, especially if the main instructor is a tubby middle-aged man who does not participate in all the sweating.

Keep in mind, the instructor is also checking you out.

To impress the instructor and your new classmates here are a few tips. First mention any serious physical limitations. Do you have a bum knee? Tell them, but very briefly. They don't want details, just a heads up.

Also, don't bother trying to gain status by mentioning any other martial arts you've been in unless somebody asks. If you keep coming, they'll find out later. If you don't, who cares? When I joined Jiu-Jitsu last fall, I showed up wearing a White Belts. I did not mention my Black Belt in Karate except to the instructor, and only because he asked.

Also, do not mention any movie martial artists you think you have some connection to. Even if Chuck Norris is your second cousin, saying so will cost you status instead of gaining you anything.


...and be proud you've started. Well done.

Fun day

I am looking forward to this morning's Jiu-Jitsu class. It's going to be improvised rolling about.

We stick to the curriculum techniques, and take turns being the bad guy. The bad guy attempts all the things we learn to counter using the approved techniques.

Let's say the bad guy is on top, in guard, and sticks out his left leg. What do you do? A standard elevator sweep, of course.

It is fun and quite challenging. If it goes well, Cody and I will record the final section of our tests. This last part is exactly this stuff.

There is a huge "trick" in martial arts. Many people find it incredibly difficult to master. The Japanese call it Mushin. It translates as, "without mind".

When fighting, it is best to stop thinking. You trust your body, and your training to do the fighting for you. You react much, much faster.

MMA outfits

Fedor Emelianenko is a very successful heavyweight MMA fighter. He fights in all sorts of organizations that have all possible variations of rules. Most are pretty standard.

I've seem him fight a few times under ordinary MMA rules.

Recently, I got to see one of his bouts that had very standard rules except in one area. The two combatants came out wearing Judo uniforms.

You may think that this would be a trivial difference, but it's really huge.

Usually, fighters come out wearing only a pair of shorts. In no time both guys are glistening with sweat. All that sweaty skin makes grappling incredibly difficult.

Wearing Judogi changed this. The two guys came out, threw a couple of punches and kicks and then grabbed each other. No slippage occurred. They were able to toss each other around using classical Judo throws.

With sweaty, semi-naked guys this doesn't work. Without clothing the best takedowns are the much simpler and direct wrestling moves.

I enjoyed it much more, and it invoked memories of the early UFC tournaments when Royce Gracie dominated while wearing a gi.

I’d love it if the UFC permitted competitors to choose either gi, or no-gi. Grapplers would surely wear the uniform, as it would act as a non-skid surface against the skin of no-gi participants. It would also act as a tempting handle which would encourage their opponents to try and grab as well.

It would add flavour, colour, more grappling, more throwing, and more strategy into the game.

Punchers would hate it.

Shocking

I just shocked myself....twice.

I just went through the various parts of the Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt exam syllabus and counted up all the techniques.

The exam has 71 separate techniques. Each of these has a sequence of movements within it. For example a triangle choke has 11 movements within it. This was shock number one.

71 techniques seem like a lot to know.

Somehow this made me wonder about how many techniques I've learned in Karate, specifically in Kata.

There are 25 Katas. In total there are 923 movements. I only know 23 of the Katas, so have memorized a mere 808 moves. Shock number two.

My Orange Belt students are doing well, and have learned 3 Katas with 67 moves.

The trick in Karate is that you work on one at a time, and accumulate them slowly.

It's funny. I didn't know I knew so much.