45 seconds

So my private lesson with Jordan Collins was nearing its end.

We had done review, and then he showed me a few new things. After that we did some instructional sparring, with him teaching as we went.

We reached a logical stop point, but instead of restarting like we had, he said he was going to take my back, and get me with a right-arm rear naked choke. My job was to defend. We started on our knees facing each other.

I think I lasted 40 seconds.

He said next time it should take 45.

I'd be happy with 42.

Belts and Stripes Tonight

I got to Jiu-Jitsu about halfway through the White Belt class. Luca was wearing a Blue Belt for the first time. He's been working his way through the test, and it finally got submitted about a week ago. He passed. It's a big step.

The drills continued, and I warmed up. The session ended, and it was time for the Blue Belt class.

There were lots of us present, about a dozen. We sat in our usual circle, and Shawn started talking a bit about Luca's exam. He then announced there were a few more awards.

First was Scott. He was called up to receive his third stripe. Then it was my turn, also to a third stripe. The last promotion was for Elizabeth. She got her second stripe.

It's funny how important these belts become to us, and even the cute, little stripes.

The reason is that these little symbols represent a lot of time and effort to earn.

They are also linked. If you want a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt some day, there are 16 of these little steps along the way. Luca has done the first, and Elizabeth has just reached the third. Scott has made it to the fourth.

That entire road, from start to finish, takes a minimum of 11 years.

In my own case, the goal isn't quite so lofty. I want to make it to Purple Belt some day. I am four steps along a road with six levels in it. Baring injury, I should make it in two more years.

So four of us hit milestones tonight.

And left them behind.

Higher Reps

I have a stupid injury right now. My index finger has managed to get itself right racked up. It isn't serious, but with an upcoming visit to the Gracie Academy means I refuse to risk re-injury.

For a week or so I was off the mat, but still watching from the sidelines. I've been back in action for a couple of classes.

Starting to train again, I've arranged for safe partners to work with each night. Normally, we switch around every few minutes but I wanted to be sure and have people that I figure I can train safely with while injured. Last time, I arranged to work with Rob, and tonight Elizabeth. At rolling time, I've stuck to only working with Rob, or Elizabeth, or a couple of other trusted partners.

All has been well, and my finger hasn't gotten whacked, or squished, or hurt in any way.

That's good news, and exactly what was hoped for.

There has been another wonderful byproduct.

First let me explain how most people train. We get shown something, and get sent onto the mat to practice it for a few minutes. We take turns, and most run through about three reps each, and then stop, perhaps chat, and wait for the other people to finish.

That isn't my style at all. For me, repetition is the key. I like to keep repeating the drill until the instructor calls us back to the circle. Instead of maybe three reps, I'd much rather get in perhaps half a dozen. More, if there is time. It can be hard with a partner that runs out of steam much earlier.

When I was with Rob, there was no conflict between hi-rep me, and somebody low-rep. We both kept going, and it wasn't just that we are both hi-rep dudes. Maybe our first time through was slow, but all the rest were executed with increasing speed.

We didn't do anything creative, but just kept doing the drills, quickly, over-and-over.

I think he enjoyed it, too. I'd never noticed before that he is like me in this respect. Perhaps it was the security of us being partners for the entire time. We weren't just together for a few minutes.

I like working with everybody. For example; Scott is another hi-rep guy, but he likes to vary what he's doing each time. Elizabeth is very consistent, but is careful with her long-term shoulder issue, and is therefore low-rep. Everybody is different, and all are valuable partners for different reasons.

Rob was good for me, in a perfect-sync sort of way. Very good for me.

I look forward to working with him again.

We'll get us some drill done.

Booked Hotels

When we travel, I am not spontaneous. Everything is planned, for two reasons.

The first is cost. By setting up hotels and such in advance, I can get the best prices possible from Travelocity or hotels.com. We have friends who drive until they feel like stopping, then then look for a hotel.

They will certainly find one, but price being charged what is called the “rack” rate. This is the price that they quote you when you walk up to the counter. It is not a good price. If you call ahead by even a few hours they will offer you a better deal. If you book like we do, the deal is better still.

Sometimes hotels have great rates posted on big signs. This always applies to only one or two rooms, and they are always already taken. All the rest are at the usual, rack rate. They figure that if you are already at the counter, you are very unlikely to walk out to do some shopping for a cheaper room. Even if you do, all the hotels are doing the exact same thing, so good-luck with that.

Try that with one of the big casinos in Vegas. They do advanced pricing so cleverly that they almost never have even a single room out of the thousands that they have for walk-up customers. We'll be in our luxury, mega-resort room for less money than an unbooked arrival will end up paying for spot in the Travelodge off the strip.

The last time we stayed near Disneyworld we were in a $81 room, that we got for $26 per night. Granted, this was exceptional, but getting half price is pretty common.

The second reason is that Helen and I know our driving psychology pretty well. If we are doing a big drive, like the one we did to Los Angeles last winter, we either want to blast through, or dawdle and explore. We don't do both at the same time. For us blasting through means doing the drive in 3 days. This is the fastest we can do it and still enjoy ourselves.

We also tend to do big drives asymmetrically regarding the length of driving day. If an LA drive is split into 3 equal days, we would have ended up stopping at Eugene, Oregon and Ukiah, California before reaching Los Angeles for the end of day 3.

Somehow, stopping at Eugene in the middle of the afternoon isn't very satisfying. I'm sure it's a great city, but we have no desire to poke around there. Ukiah, California even less so.

Therefore, we like to go much longer on day one, and end day two in the San Francisco bay area. Day three ends up with the shortest haul.

How could you know this if you were playing it by ear?

We barreled down I-5 until just just south of Eugene, then headed over to the Pacific Coast. We ended the first day at Coos Bay. It's a fine place to grab a bite and sleep. In the morning, we headed on down the west coast.

We ended the second day at Hayward, just east of San Francisco. This was a long day, too.

The last day we zipped down I-5 for a direct run to LA. We were finished driving so early, that we checked into our hotel, headed over to Disneyland, and had a lovely half day there.

With travel by air, early planning is even more important.

For fun, wander over to a website like Travelocity and look up a fantasy flight someplace. Pick the best flight on a certain date, something like ten months in advance. See how much it costs. Go back a month later and see what the price has changed to. Keep doing this every month.

You will see the price steadily rising. As you likely would have picked a great flight regarding time of day, and having few connections, you will run into another problem. Months before flight day, there will be no seats left.

If this happens, go back to the website, and try and find an alternative. Likely the time will be less than ideal, or you will end up with 3 connections instead of 1. Note that this crappy flight also costs far more than what you could have gotten the good one for if you'd booked it months earlier.

Yes, sometimes there are great last-minute deals. The trick to this is knowing how to find them. The problem is that there often aren't any when you need them the most. Go ahead, plan on going to Europe this summer. Don't book anything, and give last-minute deals a chance. Maybe you'll get to go, and maybe you won't.

Or you'll go anyway, and pay through the nose for a crappy flight.

Now, I'm not saying this will work for everyone.

You have to be willing to think things through in advance, and to consider all the alternatives. Will you be driving down the freeway past San Francisco, as we did last year, and suddenly decide that you simply must go to Chinatown. My kind of travel doesn't allow changes like that.

Not that it has to be Chinatown. If you think you will need some time in San Francisco, that can easily be blocked in. It can be utilized as you wish, but you can't jam entire days in later.

I like our way, but it just might drive you nuts.

Relax

So what is important in Jiu-Jitsu success on the mat?

I'd say the single biggest thing as a middle-level Blue Belt is relaxation.

Most people find that really hard to do, but Jiu-Jitsu is a battle of endurance. If you can't do it, you're in trouble.

Let me give you an illustration. Let's say you are rolling in class, and some big, strong guy gets you down and holds you there. If you respond by going nuts trying to get him off, you have about 2 or 3 minutes before you are so tired you can hardly move. You might just have to bide your time, surviving his aggression, avoiding submission, and relaxing; saving energy.

Most of the time it is quite possible to tire out a bigger opponent who pushes hard to submit you from above.

Let's look at another common occurrence. A new member of the advanced class is rolling with an old timer like me. Their typical response to every move I make is to clamp down hard; their entire body rigid with effort. Their bodies are so tense that they are actually restricting their own breathing.

It doesn't take long for them their faces to turn bright red, what with all the extra energy their muscles are consuming, and with restricted airflow.

We get reminded about relaxing for energy efficiency all the time, and sometimes also about remembering to breathe. I don't think I've heard a Jiu-Jitsu instructor mention the connection between muscle tension with chest constriction.

I don't think anybody in Jiu-Jitsu has ever brought up the third big advantage to relaxation. In Karate they talked about it all the time, perhaps to excess.

Let's say you need to move, and move quickly. Your muscles are very tense. You will move slowly.

Try it again; the situation is the same except your muscles are relaxed. You will move more quickly.

Do tennis players tense all their muscles as their opponent starts their serve, or do they bounce around relaxed? An image from combat that springs to mind was Ali in his prime. He was so fast that many other fighters literally could not touch him, and he moved without single constricted muscle.

So, in summary I know of three advantages to relaxation in Jiu-Jitsu. The first is energy conservation, the second is free breathing, and the third is greater speed of movement.

Relax your way to superior performance.

To bad is isn't as easy as it ought to be.

Wash

It's almost big-laundry time.

When training at the Gracie Academy in LA, the expectation is that students have a fresh gi for each session. For most people this is not a problem. A typical student attends 2 or 3 classes a week.

In my two-week period there, I will be attending 26 classes. If I don't want to have two dozen uniforms, I'll have to do laundry; lots of laundry; all the time.

I have 5 uniforms. That will last the first two days.

The last time I was there, laundry got done every day. The hotel we stayed in had a weird little laundry room only accessible from the parking lot. It was sort of outside. This meant that when my weird internal alarm would go off at 5am, I could start the wash without bothering any of the guests.

This visit we'll be staying with Denise, our friend. I seriously doubt that dawn laundry will be an option. An opportunity will have to be found at a more normal time of day.

I have my eye on a new extra-baggy gi, so I will actually have more uniforms than needed for any two days of the training.

That means I can get away with twice a week. It would be more, but 2 classes each week are no-gi, which means shorts and rashguards instead of big, white suits.

That might seem organized, but it really isn't. We are not just mellow folks who will sit around Denise's place chatting, drinking tea, and doing laundry on a controlled schedule. Every spare moment we're out, checking out new areas of town, or going to malls, or to the beach, or our activities, or Disneyland, or maybe Hollywood.

That means that if an opening for a load of washing or drying happens, I'll grab it. If I don't, we may want to be out having sushi or walking Venice beach when my supply of uniforms has run out. I have to try and keep the fluffed and folded pile up to date.

There is even an emergency backup. The Gracie Academy has a system of renting uniforms for $10. If Disneyland or Outlet Malls cause me to run out of suits, I can break down and go that route. It would be over a couple of hundred bucks to do the entire trip that way. I find that unacceptably high, but a day or two using that route is an option.

I suppose I'll have to squeeze our normal laundry in there somewhere.

Picky

I've become an unremitting elitist.

I have a stupid injury. My finger went point-on into the mat with a body on top of it.

It gives me no pain, but it's still very stiff after two weeks. Slow progress is being made.

The only reason that it's an issue is that I have a couple of weeks of training at the Gracie Academy in Los Angeles coming up. I want to be as close to 100% as possible for that.

I been off the mat since it happened, but also itching to be training.

I figure that I could train without hurting it again, but that I'd need a very consistent and predictable partner. If I know where they are going to be and what they will be doing at every step of training, I can move in concert with them and keep the finger safe.

It's quite possible that any of the newer people in our advanced class are perfectly consistent, but I don't know them well enough. That left only the old hands as prospective partners.

Scott and Cosme are the most senior, and have the deepest understanding of what we are working on, but they also sometimes move very quickly. They like to try slight variations as they work through material, which is exactly what I don't need right now.

That left only 3 or 4 to choose from. All are very good, but I need more than good right now. What is needed is consistency, and therefore predictability; in addition to general skill.

I therefore messaged Rob and Elizabeth to see if they would agree to being my partner all night. Normally we rotate from person to person. Rob responded, and agreed to my request.

During class it went wonderfully. No injuries, nor even a bump or bang. I had to be at least as consistent as he was. We weren't moving slow, just sticking precisely to the drills.

Then along came sparring time. The instructor called for a less-than-full-intensity type of sparring. By then Rob and I were so in-tune, that I stayed and rolled with him. No problems occurred. Then time came to switch partners.

Leave the mat, or stay with somebody else? I grabbed Elizabeth, and off we went. She was fully aware of my injury. It was the same kind of roll, and went just as well as the one with Rob did.

Trained for the full class, with not so much as a jostle to my cranky digit. Things are still on-track for Los Angeles.

Now if I can just keep things going exactly like that night was, I might be able to both train here, and be fit for travel.

And then I'll likely hurt it while packing.

Belt Giggles

I don't like the people who try and cut down the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu distance program, but I also get a kick out of them.

This does not refer to the boneheads, who think you can buy a Black Belt online from the Gracies, but those that complain about the system as it actually exists.

If you want a Purple Belt, or Brown, or Black, you have to have gone through all the previous steps, and have an in-person evaluation by Ryron Gracie, or Rener, or an authorized Black Belt evaluator.

That's vary arduous. You would have to start out with a Blue Belt, then do 4 kick-ass video-recorded stripe exams, get a live evaluation for Purple, do 4 more video exams, get checked out for Brown, yet another 4 exams, and finally be judged in-person for Black Belt. So far only about 1/6 of the structure for all this is place.

The current highest that an “online” student can reach is Blue Belt with two stripes.

The program detractors still seem to get all bent out of shape, even if they are aware of all this. Their complaint is that you can earn a Blue Belt without an in-person evaluation. A student need only submit the required videos for judging. If they are good enough, BAM, they receive a Gracie Blue Belt. The Gracies call it a, “technical,” Blue Belt, but that is just fine print.

Yes, you can get a Blue Belt online. Yes, it would be possible to cheat. It isn't really possible to cheat the videos, but you could arrange from somebody already conversant in the Gracie curriculum to do the test for you, I suppose. Interestingly, people who suggest this could could be done don't seem to realize that the same could be done with an in-person exam. Get your buddy to go to a seminar for you, and do the test claiming to be you. I've never seen any martial arts student asked for picture ID.

Some don't suggest cheating is happening, but rather that it must be easy to score a passing grade with a video evaluation. I'd say the opposite is the case. I am not an online student, but am fortunate enough to have a Certified Training Center, which has an authorized teacher, with a Purple Belt, who has gone through the Gracie's instructor program. I did have to go through the same exact same video test procedure as an online student.

I trained for 9 months, and never missed a class, and took a number of private lessons in addition. My Blue Belt exam received a score of 11 errors. That's over half way to a failing grade.

So maybe my view is skewed. Maybe the online rank is too easily earned? Maybe they are right and I am wrong?

So what? Blue Belt means nothing. It's like a Yellow Belt in Karate. It's just the first non-White Belt that you get to wear. Nobody says, “Wow, there's a Blue Belt.”

All it means is, “Welcome to the club. You've jumped the first hoop.” No awesomeness is implied. It means you started, and didn't quit right away.

But how can they get any rank if they've never rolled yet? Simple. A Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt promotion has nothing to do with rolling. This is true whither earned online, or at a Certified School, or at the main Gracie Academy in Los Angeles, or as a private student of the Gracies themselves.

Their Blue Belt rank means you are proficient in the basic, Gracie's self-defense curriculum that they call Combatives. It is their program for White Belts. You practice technique drills with partners, or against a partner presenting certain behaviors, but you do not free roll. You start doing that after you get your Blue Belt.

One of my many partners for free-rolling at the Gracie Academy told me he was a brand-new Blue Belt. I many have been his very first partner, certainly one of the first. I controlled him easily, and submitted him a couple of times, then eased off and let him do better. He was young, and huge. Within a couple of months, I am sure he would be cleaning my clock. Funny that nobody has an issue with the main Gracie Academy producing Blue Belts who can't roll effectively on the day the receive their Belt.

So shame on the Gracies for having an online program and awarding the least significant belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to their students who have passed a comprehensive test of the specific self-defense skills that they want their students to have.

Here's my challenge.

Drop by Coast Martial Arts in Gibsons, BC, Canada. Ask for Gordon. I'll go over the Blue Belt exam requirements with you for a while. We'll then have you perform the 5 recordings. If you really think a Gracie Blue Belt is easy to get, you can then register online, pay the evaluation fee, and we'll upload your grading. Best of luck to you.

If you don't want to shell out the cash, I'll go over the videos with you, and run a deduction tally. I am pretty good at this, but always miss more than the real evaluators do.

T'ain't easy gittin' a Ba-lew Belt from them fellers...

Focused Training

Let's get thing straight. I am not awesome at Jiu-Jitsu, but neither do I suck.

Must of rolled a hundred times at the Gracie Academy down in LA with people my own level. I was better than some, and others were better than me; all just as It should be.

I'm proud of that, as the vast majority of Jiu-Jitsu people are half my age.

As an ancient roller, there is no way that I can match most opponents with strength or endurance. I have to husband my physical resources, and use them in short spurts; resting, while picking my shots. I have to be more technically skilled in order to seize the initiative and set up quickly for submissions.

Most of the time I'm on the bottom, hopefully with my opponent in my guard. Often they are not and I have to make the best of a bad situation. All the while I have to remain calm and economical.

I think what I currently need the most in order to improve is work on escapes, and sweeps.

My plan is to analyze just what generally useful moves along that line would help me the most, and drill extensively on those few movements. After that, the plan would be to drill, and drill, and drill. Then it might be time to re-analyze, perhaps change things up a bit, and return to more, massive amounts of practice.

Geoff Colvin makes a convincing argument in his book, Talent is Overrated, that this single training method is responsible for most or all of the high achievers our society has ever produced.

This isn't how most people practice. Let's look at a typical week for Blue Belt training around here. There are 3 one-hour classes. In those 180 minutes, perhaps a third is devoted to instruction, and the remainder to practice. Of the 120 practice minutes each week, half goes to each participant. The other half goes to the partner.

So there are about 60 training minutes per student, which is then split up among the 5 to 10 movement techniques worked on. That equates to only 6 to 12 minutes devoted to each technique.

How good can you get at something in 6 to 12 minutes? What if you added another hour of practice, and devoted it all to the single most-applicable technique? What if you could identify a single, trainable component in all of the week's many techniques and devoted your extra hour to that one component? Clearly, that single extra hour per week would be a significant way to improve.

That's the basic idea, anyhow. In my own case my extra practice will be going towards the area I've identified I would see the most benefit from rather than something from a week's lessons.

So where would the time come from? I already do it, sort of. We have 2 sessions a week called open mat, when the facility is available for any student to work on whatever they want. I am always there, but the time has been getting taken up with helping other students, light rolling, or just chit chat. It can hardly be called practice at all. I need only look at open-mat time to reclaim two serious training hours.

That could be two hours a week going into sweeps and escapes. I just might become a very annoying person to roll with.