Fast Track

The Gracie Jiu-Jitsu program is the first distance martial arts program of its type. Students can attend regular schools, called Certified Training Centers, or learn totally from online material.

In either case, rank examinations are done in a very original manner. The test is broken into 5 parts. Each contain very particular material, which the student goes through with a partner. The test parts are recorded on video. When all are done, they are submitted for evaluation.

As it is quite possible to re-record any parts that are unacceptable as many times as desired, the standard is also very high. The feeling if that if you can't do it almost perfectly with unlimited do-overs, you shouldn't pass.

When I did mine, it took 51 days from the first pushing of the record button. That's over ten days per section. This is very typical.

Today, Tobias started the very first part of his exam recording. We started with the shortest one. The instructor declared it a keeper after the very first attempt. We went on to another. It also was great, first time. Two in one day is unheard of around here. Tobias went for a third.

This one was pretty good, but not as good. The instructor thinks Tobias could do it much better, and that it might be wise to record it again. The instructor is going to review the recording to see how it looks.

In one day Tobias did two, and possibly three, parts of the test in one day.

It is his goal to finish in just over a month. I thought he was being overly ambitious.

Shows how much I know.

 

 

Gender Issue Three

For about a year, the local Gracie Academy has been running women's self-defense classes. They usually run with over 20 participants, making them larger than the school's main Jiu-Jitsu class.

Several of the women have taken the course more than once. A very few have also made the transition to mixed-gender Jiu-Jitsu.

Clearly, there is an interest in women's martial arts. Why?

The class addresses the issue of self-defense. It is also an interesting martial arts activity. I have no data as to which aspect is the real draw, so let's assume it's half-and-half. For most of the students, it is probably a mix of the two.

If you add 50% of the students to the female students in the mixed class, magically the Academy is balanced in relation to gender. I find that assumption interesting. If I'm correct, there are a significant number of women who want to do martial arts without men around.

I guess this makes sense. There are women-only gyms, and women-only Yoga classes. I've never heard of a man-only exercise class, at least in modern times. There must be a significant number of women who just don't want to do physical activity around dudes.

I suspect this is even truer in martial arts, especially one that is grappling oriented.

It is no fun being the smaller partner. My friends Madeline and Coco routinely face guys who out mass them by over 50%, and the biggest guys out weight them by 100% and are over a foot taller.

That would be like me joining a wrestling class full of guys seven feet tall who weigh from 270 to 360 pounds. I can see how that might be daunting. Even if I had the guts to do it, I might find it less than enjoyable.

There is also the gross factor. The laws of thermodynamics say that big people have a harder time shedding heat than smaller ones. When this happens during vigorous activity; the bigger the person is, the more they sweat. Our big guys sweat significantly, and our biggest guys sweat like pigs.

It is not uncommon to have some guy's drenched chest hair being ground into my face. I suspect this is not a big draw for female participation. I could be wrong.

Is there a place for a Jiu-Jitsu class for women only? I believe there is. This would be quite different from the self-defense class structure. Self-defense runs once per week for a couple of months and then ends. Jiu-Jitsu runs several times per week on an ongoing basis. Self-def tries to give maximum effectiveness with techniques that don't require practice. Jiu-Jitsu involves many more skills. Self-def is done in sweats, while Jiu-Jitsu has uniforms and rank progression.

Jiu-Jitsu also has rolling round on the ground like monkeys for fun.

I don't normally advocate division by gender, but to me this makes sense. My ideal women-only Jiu-Jitsu class would be for the basic level only. When White Belts are about halfway through their program they normally add in a higher level class. I don't think these should be divided by gender. The students also continue attending their low level classes, so a participant who preferred the women-only class would still be doing most of their training there.

After attaining Blue Belt, students attend even more-advanced classes. These should also be mixed. Blues are also strongly encouraged to keep attending the lower-level classes. These could be mixed or not.

All we'd need would be a spare instructor with time on their hands.

Tiny Teacher

The Jiu-Jitsu club at the High School is going very well. The kids are all very eager, and cooperative. I am teaching them the best I can.

Some things are kind of hard for me to convey. I can say and I can tell, but any teacher can tell you that isn't often the best method.

Non of the kids are very massive. Some are pretty tall, but quite slender. I am by far the biggest person there. When I show them a technique, it looks like it should work as I'm significantly larger than whoever I demonstrate on. I stress that size and strength doesn't matter. They believe me, but it would be better if I could show them.

Therefore, I have invited the smallest Blue Belt from the Gracie Academy to be a guest instructor at the High School Club. She is choosing to do two techniques when she comes on Thursday. They are Twisting Arm Control and Rear Takedown. These are perfect choices.

They are interesting enough in their own right, but will be just right for showing the effectiveness of precision and physics over size and strength. When she demonstrates Twisting Arm Control on me, they'll see a tiny little lady holding someone twice her size with apparent ease.

With Rear Takedown, they'll see her throwing me from a standing position with alarming violence.

Why is this good? A couple of our boys are pretty small, as are all of the girls. Even our big guys aren't really big. They will all get to see how an excellent smaller person can easily handle somebody much larger. They will see how well Jiu-Jitsu works.

This will hopefully inspire them, and also help them to learn future technique. They'll know how critical precision is. They'll understand they have to get the details right.

It isn't strength.

 

A Little Problem

My wife has perhaps the worst sense of direction in the world. You have no idea. She has improved fantastically over the years to the point where it is just weak in a normal way.

Her confidence in her ability to navigate has also grown to maybe 2 out of 10. It used to exist only in negative numbers.

Usually, this is not an issue. Either she is on familiar ground, or we are together.

Early in 2014, we will be off of familiar ground, and not be together all the time.

We will be spending several months in Los Angeles. I will be off training at several classes a day. Helen's original thought was that she'd be stuck our room waiting for me to come back.

Wouldn't that be a horrible waste? In LA with time on her hands, and unable to venture out.

She has come around. I've used Google maps to show her several malls within a stone's throw of where we'll be. I've also pointed out several times that our car has a GPS, and will happily bring her back if she gets lost. It also knows the way to every address in the city.

She also wants to be able to contact me anytime. This is no problem with all the phone options around. It would also be nice if we could track each other on our devices, and have it all work flawlessly. We have such right now, but not with my phone. All our other stuff is Apple, and are perfect for messaging each other and tracking one another. I need an Apple device to replace my phone before we go.

I don't want to replace my current Android device with an actual iPhone. It's a silly for us to both pay hefty monthly fees for two phones. Helen has an iPhone and loves it.

The solution will be an iPad Mini 2 with cellular data, and to dump my phone. The Mini won't be a phone but will message to Helen's phone and be perfect for tracking. When in Canada, my typical monthly bill will be $5. This is a huge saving from what I'm paying now. The only thing we can't use it for is actual voice calls.

So what's the problem? Ditch the phone and get going. The problem is Apple. They refuse to let anybody know anything about their plans. When will the iPad Mini 2 come out? No clue. I don't want to buy the current Mini, as if the new one comes out soon I'll have seriously overpaid. Experts' best guesses on the new machine's release date vary from soon to late fall. Either extreme, or something in between, will work.

Gender Issue Two

Demetrious Johnson is currently champion of the flyweight division in the UFC. This makes him the smallest title holder in that organization. He stands 5 foot 3 inches tall. He has to weigh in at 125 pounds, although his walking-around weight is likely up to ten pounds more than that.

Why doesn't he fight the Heavyweight champ, Cain Velasquez? Granted, he's a bit bigger at 6 foot 1 inch and 240 pounds.
 

OK, that would be silly. How about if they were to just train together? Would that work? Which would be more likely to get accidentally injured?
 

That is exactly the situation women in Jiu-Jitsu face every day.
 

Take Madeline or Coco, our two female Blue Belts. Both are much faster and more skilled than I am, and yet I'm often able to bull my way through a poorly executed technique to make it work. Often they execute something on me perfectly, and due to size I can keep it from being effective.
 

They press down on me with all their weight, and it's no big deal. I press down on them under control, and they can't breath.
 

Put Madeline with our biggest guys and she's literally facing over double her body weight, and over a foot of height.
 

It makes Demetrious Johnson versus Cain Velasquez seem fair in comparison.
 

But of course, not all women are that small. We have one who is about my height. I only out weigh her by 40 or 50 pounds. She still is at a disadvantage.
 

Sometimes people wonder out loud why there are so few women in Jiu-Jitsu. About one third of our class is currently female, as is the high school club.

I find it surprising there are actually so many.

Gender Issue One

There isn't a lot of style in martial arts. When at Karate or Jiu-Jitsu, the attire is universally the standard, white gi. The only gender difference is that women all wear something like a tshirt or rashguard under the gi top. At Karate, men wear no shirt, and at Jiu-Jitsu a rashguard is optional.

There is nothing stylish, or fashionable, or provocative about this gear.

When the high-school Jiu-Jitsu club started up the standard outfit was shorts or sweatpants, and tshirts.

The guys clothing was fine, but the tshirts of the girls didn't really work very well. It wasn't an issue for the girls, but rather for the lads. The girls' tshirts were kinda tight, with thin material, and with low-scooped necks. That's just what girls' tshirts are like these days.

When grappling, you have to grab your partner. There is no option.

Wearing gis, everybody acts as if the person inside the lumpy, baggy suit has no gender at all. That didn't happen at the high-school club.

The girls were fine, and expected to be treated genderlessly. About half of the guys could do this with no problem.

The other half were doomed. They were so afraid of doing something inappropriate that it seriously effected their technique. Some blushed a lot.

I asked the girls to stick around after class for a short chat. I explained what was happening, and asked for ordinary, non-female shirts. They have all complied since.

The next day, the boys with the problem were visibly relieved.

Small passages

There are a bunch of little Jiu-Jitsu milestones about to pass for me.

The first one is almost comical. There is a requirement that a student must attend at least 100 Master Cycle classes to qualify for the right to test for Blue Belt Stripe One. As there are 60 techniques that each require three lessons in order to cover, the 100 class rule is kind of silly. Anyhow, I will reach 100 classes in about a week.

The second milestone is more significant. The material to be covered at any level is divided into 7 chapters. It has been almost a year since I earned my Blue Belt. In all that time I've completed only chapters 1 and 2. In two weeks I'll finish off chapter 3, the longest of the lot. By coincidence, in my private lessons I'm also about to complete chapter 7. Chapter 7 is the second longest.

Only chapters 4, 5, and 6 will be left, and they are the shortest units by far.

When I was a White Belt, we only trained in four chapters of material. The four chapters I'll be finishing off are the same; Mount, Side Mount, Guard, and Standing.

I am about to move into totally unknown territory, at least to me. This is another milestone as I move from the familiar into the novel material of Half Guard, Back Mount, and Leg Locks.

 

 

Pooped out

Tonight the training was open mat. It is a non-structured time. I am there when the instructor opens the school, and usually a few more wander in later.

I worked on reviewing my level's techniques. When I finish the last of them in the fall, I want to be ready to start the exam process immediately. I don't want to have to relearn stuff. I am not a natural at Jiu-Jitsu, and the extra drill really helps me learn.

Along wandered Coco, Rob, and Tobias. They all usually practice a mix of Jiu-Jitsu and Hapkido, and then attend as members of the Hapkido class that starts later. Recently, Coco has been working exclusively on Hapkido, as in one week she'll be testing for her second-degree Black Belt in that art.

I then ended up free-rolling with Tobias; his idea. He desperately wants to improve. He is improving, but his biggest drawback is that he finds it very hard to not wrestle at full speed and power all the time. He's half my age, and has good endurance, but he always ends up beet-red and exhausted. I mostly just relax, let him try stuff on me, and then counter.

It gives me a chance to practice my stuff. I also give him clues when he hits a roadblock. I also try and get him to relax. Much of grappling is conserving energy. At twice his age, I should be the one to burn out first, but it's always him.

Last night in the Blue Belt class we mostly rolled. There were four of us. The smaller two stayed together, as did the larger two. That meant I was partnered with Ryan, our brand-new Blue Belt. He's the largest guy in the club, and strong as an ox, and half my age. He used to be one of the can't-relax guys but has come a long way. He still tires faster than me.

Most likely, Tobias will soon join us in the Blue Belt class, as will Wan, our mma fighter.

As soon as their cohort of new Blues really figure out how to relax, my biggest edge will be gone.

This will be a good thing. My knowledge is considerably ahead of their's. To remain competitive, I'll be forced to rely on skill, rather than just letting them burn out.

This will make me a better grappler, and in turn readier for the three free-sparring segments of my exam.

And just more awesome in general.

Robbery

I've been robbed. It's over a month since I've retired. I was supposed to be running and biking every day, but it hasn't happened.

I've put in a floor, and painted a bunch of walls. Baseboard trim was removed, painted, and replaced.

Tomorrow I attempt replacing a doorknob. It doesn't sound like much but these things never go how either the instructions or youtube says they will. You'd think a doorknob would take 20 minutes, but I bet it will be several hours of fudging and swearing. Assuming it actually goes smoothly there are other walls waiting for paint.

I don't like any part of projects like this. I want them all done and gone.

I want to get biking and running.

Maybe I should make myself a deal. Finish the knob job before 10am, and I get to bike to town for coffee or something. I'll save painting for Friday.

The problem is the list is very long. There is the knob, and two bathroom walls to paint different colours, and a living room wall. Everything we moved out of that bathroom has to be replaced. Mustn't forget the baseboard trim. The yard needs cleaning up after the roofers. The basement has to be re-ordered, and another heap of new flooring. It seems never-ending.

Robbery, I tell you.

Bump cluster

From Tuesday until Friday, which is today I normally train in Jiu-Jitsu for about 9 hours. Normally, my training week goes for one more day for another couple of hours but this week is different.

We are heading in to the city to get the car serviced and to do some shopping. This means my Saturday training is canceled.
 

Normally I'd be unhappy about this, but not this time.
 

Sometimes I go for months on end without the slightest injury, but this hasn't been the current reality. I've had a nasty little cluster of things happening. I've hurt both elbows. One might actually be something, but the other is only bruised, swollen, and scraped.
 

This week's technique had us pulling heavy ground friction, and I've got several annoying floor burns on my legs.
 

I also managed to get head-butted in the nose in a way that made a most alarming noise. My partner was sure he'd killed me. Didn't hurt then, or swell up, or bleed, but when it gets bumped in just the right spot the pain is very nasty. Of course, it's been getting bumped all week.
 

My body can use the almost-four-day-period-off to mend. By Tuesday, my lesser elbow injury, the floor burns, and the nose should all be right as rain. The other arm might remain an issue longer, but I'll keep using elbow pads to help protect it. That elbow just might take a little longer to heal.
 

My plan is to stop getting hurt. I haven't quite figured out what strategy to use to achieve this goal. I don't now what causes the long periods of no-injury, or what causes a bump cluster.
 

It's probably random.

A fresh coat of Blue

It's official; one of our members gets to start wearing a brand-new, snazzy, Blue Belt.

It will take a while to actually arrive, of course, but he passed his test.

He is eligible to start attending the Blue Belt classes starting tonight.

We started on this week's technique already yesterday, but it's a pretty straight-forward one. There should be no problem bringing him up to speed on it.

He should be only the first of a group of White Belts making the move up over the next couple of months. There are three more who getting close. One might start testing in a couple of weeks, another by the end of June, and one somewhere in between.

It was starting to look as if we'd be down to 3 Blue Belt students by the fall. If all the possibles test successfully, we could instead have 7. That will make a much better group to work with.

With more people, you get to have more training partners. Each reacts differently, and is a different size, strength, and speed. Having more rather than less means learning more about how to apply each technique. It means even more when we're doing free-sparring drills, or semi-free. Each will have a style their own, and we'll have to learn how to handle each.

There is even more good news. There are a couple more White Belts who should be ready a couple of months after the current crop. It's still too far off to start predicting their commitment, but they seem keen enough. We might start getting a slow but steady stream of new Blue Belts as the year rolls on.

I hope it happens that way.