Last Sat

Our LA vacation in the second half of February, 2015....

Day 02/28

Yesterday, Friday, the noon class was exhausting.

Add to that a mess of yard work, and a big beach walk, and I was pretty well done in. There was no way I could suit up and repeat the daytime training at the evening class. Therefore, I took to the sidelines to watch instead.

Interestingly, it was nothing like the daytime class at all. If anything, it was harder. I sat there, pleased at my decision to watch. Everything they did was old hat, and grueling, until near the very end.

Rener showed a cunning control/guard/sweep/escape thingee. I had to snap out of my stupor, and try and do some spectator learning, as well as get it all written down.

Now it's Saturday morning; the last Los Angeles Saturday; the last class of my two weeks of training.

Tomorrow, we pack up the car, hug Denise, and our holiday ends.

Card Flaws

Our LA vacation in the second half of February, 2015....

Day 02/25

About to do my last private session, and then a noon class. If anything at the noon class is lift-oriented I'll avoid the evening session. Tomorrow I only have one class and then we hit Disneyland. My back can rest, maybe.

I have just been looking over my attendance card, which is actually a whole package of them stapled together. Last winter I did 101 classes, but only 92 got recorded. For this visit I have so far done 13, and only 9 are recorded. Of the 3 privates completed so far, none are on the card. It isn't a perfect system.

The cards work better for locals as their cards are easily accessible. They keep the cards for visiting CTC students behind the desk, and I can't always get mine, especially for the 7 am classes. Luckily, my attendance doesn't count for anything down around here.

Week one I made it to 10 classes and 2 private classes in six days, or two per day. This week not so good, it will be only 7 classes and 2 privates in 6 days, or only 1.5 a day. Don't know how I managed to train 13 times a week for eight weeks straight last winter. Having no injuries at all must have been a bigger factor than it seemed at the time.

I will miss the private sessions with Jordan.

Loving It

Our LA vacation in the second half of February, 2015....

Day 02/24

I am loving this visit to Los Angeles even more than the one last winter. Adding on a few private lessons has taken things up a bit, fat notch. Also, writing down the techniques for each class is really helping me retain stuff. This is even if, as seems likely, I can't make heads or tails of what I've written down after we get home. The very act of writing forces me to think in a different way, and to not let my brain collapse the moment a class ends.

I came here with a few injuries this time, and am allowing myself to sit out sometimes. Yesterday I trained at the noon class, and we did stuff that was not great for my wrecked hand. I therefore sat out the evening class, which is always pretty much a repeat of what is done mid-day. My brain got useful repetition, and my hand didn't have to do any heavy lifting.

Was all smart avoiding a second lifting class, and yet got caught in one the very next evening. It was going well, except I pulled a muscle in my back.

Fate.

Weird Ranks

I was messing around with the numbers of registered Gracie Blue Belts the other day, and wrote a blog about what seemed apparent.

Today I looked at the numbers in the Purple Belt range, and things just keep getting stranger and stranger.

Here's what I found when I put the Purple Belt and Blue Belt numbers together.

208 Blue Belt One Stripe

73 Blue Belt Two Stripes

28 Blue Belt Three Stripes

8 Blue Belt Four Stripes

93 Purple Belt no stripe

17 Purple Belt One Stripe

3 Purple Belt Two Stripes

3 Purple Belt Three Stripes

1 Purple Belt Four Stripes

Weird. Only 8 four-stripe Blue Belts, but 93 no-stripe Purple Belts. This made me wonder about the numbers in the Brown Belt range.

45 Brown Belt no stripe

7 Brown Belt One Stripe

5 Brown Belt Two Stripes

2 Brown Belt Three Stripes

1 Brown Belt Four Stripes

Now I'm really confused. There is a clear pattern within each Belt color, with the lower-level students being more numerous than the higher-level ones, but no real order if the entire rank structure is taken as a whole.

Clearly something is going on here other than a simple linear progression.

I suspect that it has something to do with people joining the organization who hold existing rank from other groups. They would typically be welcomed, but their rank not recognized until they have been around for a while and received formal Gracie evaluation.

Probably, they receive the starter rank for the belt that they are evaluated at. That would explain why the number of no-stripe Purple and Brown Belts is so high, both in terms of the rank below it and also the one above it.

Unfortunately, I cannot confirm that this is the case. Although I've spent several months at the Gracie Academy, much of what they do is a mystery to me.

There is also a known phenomenon where people have a particular Belt as their goal, and work diligently towards it, and then lose direction after attaining it.

Let's say your dream is to reach Purple Belt, and to train 3 or 4 times a week for years. Eventually you get there. What now? Your attendance drops to maybe a class once a week or so. You stop really progressing, and your steady rank climb effectively stops. Maybe you still count as “active” but your drift-like training artificially inflates the numbers of Purple Belts with no stripe.

Maybe this is a part of the cause of the weird rank structure.

It is also typical that students spend less time at the four-stripe level of each Belt color before moving on. All the other levels have a mandated 8-month minimum period. Four-stipers can move on more quickly, and normally do.

So, there is a weirdly uneven progression through the ranks. Possibly incoming non-Gracie students skew the numbers, as might the “achieved goal” syndrome, or possibly shortened four-stripe training times. Perhaps it is none of these things, and the cause is something else altogether.

Maybe it's all of them.

Crunch it

Today I was trying to look up somebody who trains at a different Gracie certified training center than myself. Along the way, I noticed some stuff about the rank structure of the Gracie system.

The first earned belt is a Blue one. Each colored belt has five levels associated with it. These are no-stripe, one-stripe, two-stripe, three and four.

The Gracie distance education program is so new that it's promotion scheme has only had an effect on Blue Belt ranks at this time. All Gracie students with higher rank that that are those who train at the Gracie Academy in Torrance, or who live very close to it.

For the purposes of this evaluation, I will ignore no-stripe Blue Belts. My reasons are that such students are still pretty new to the system, and I am too lazy to try and count how many there are registered online with the slow internet I have access to right now.

That leaves the lowest rank of this evaluation to be Blue Belt Stripe One. There are a total of 208 listed. I am leaving out any whose rank is listed as “unverified.” 7 of them are from our school in Gibsons, or roughly 3.5% of the total. Of these, 3 are currently active, either at home or on Vancouver Island. The grand total of 208 includes both current and inactive students, unless they have been promoted.

There are three ways that these 208 students could have earned their rank. It could have been awarded directly at the Gracie Academy, or at any of a number of certified training centers. It also could have been received without direct contact by students of Gracie University through taking an online video exam.

That takes us to Blue Belt Stripe Two. There are 73 folks who've earned their second stripe. Gibsons is responsible for just 1 of them, or a shade over 1%. This is the absolute highest rank that can have been reached by Gracie University students, while Certified Training Center and Gracie Academy students can be still higher. This will change as time goes on and more Gracie University exams become available.

The highest rank that it is possible to have reached under normal circumstances through a Certified Training Center is Blue Belt Stripe Three. There are 28 of this rank that have been produced at either CTCs, or at the Gracie Academy itself. Gibsons has 2 three-stripers, or just over 7% of the total.

All ranks above that have been awarded directly by the Gracie Academy, or at a very small number of other, special locations. At the rank of Blue Belt Stripe Four there are currently 8 listed.

None of the numbers available are perfect. I suspect that the main Gracie Academy removes their local students from the list if it is known that they have become inactive, but I don't know this for sure. How could they have produced only 8 four-stripe Blue Belts that have not progressed to higher rank? That 8 number would have to include all currently active four-stripers, as well as all who have reached that level and then quit. Possible, but unlikely.

The list does include all CTC and Gracie University to have achieved a level, inactive or not.

The numbers do show a bit of a trend.

There are about a third as many two-stipers as ones, and about a third as many three-stripers as twos. The trend continues with roughly a third as many four-stripers as threes.

Everybody says the dropout rate lowers significantly above Blue Belt, but even so a single belt-color inference can be drawn from what we have. For every 243 students to attain a Blue Belt under this mix of routes, only one will continue training long enough to earn a Purple Belt.

Start of Week Two

Our LA vacation in the second half of February, 2015....

Day 02/23

Training week two will begin in a few hours. This week they are hosting a cops-and-military course. That means a canceled class for me mid-day Tuesday. It also means that the mat will sometimes be full of big guys doing everything awkwardly.

...
Dropped Helen off at the beach on my way to my Monday Morning private session. She says being on the beaches around here is her favourite LA activity. Her pickup will be about four hours later, after my private class and a mid-day group session. I wonder if she'll get her fill today.

Our  time here is pretty weird. We do some stuff together, and some with Denise. Other times, I'm off doing my Jiu-Jitsu gig. Sometimes, Helen just wants to do things on her own like her beach trips when I'm training.

It all seems to work.

End of Week One

Our LA vacation in the second half of February, 2015....

Day 02/21

Private lesson two was outstanding. Reviewed everything from last time, and added some more new magic. Jordan saw my ipad and suggested we video next time. Very generous for somebody who makes his living teaching this stuff. Will bring my tiny tripod along.

***

Saturday class was great. There was only one class, and it was taught by Rener Gracie. It was all side mount from the bottom, and all new to me. I really want to remember all of it. A really sweet part was how well it all meshed with what I've been doing with Jordan in my private lessons.

After class, Helen and I went for lunch with our good friend Denise, then we were off for a big, long walk along Hermosa Beach. LA has great beaches, but there are little tar blobs that escape from offshore oil rigs. They got on our feet, and are difficult to get off.

Tomorrow is Sunday and there is no training at all. What will I do with my time?

Private Lessons and Handshakes

Our LA vacation in the second half of February, 2015....

Day 02/20

Am all gi-ed up and waiting for my second private lesson with Jordan Collins. In the hall Ryron and Rener were posing in the new sweatshirt taking a selfie. Ryron said the wording is based on the old saying, "only the strong survive." The shirt says, “only the efficient survive.”

Got hand shaken again by both brothers. I think they are here for more technique recording. That must be a real grind, with the end being many years off in the future.

Doing private lessons here is a little tricky. I have no place where I can drill the movements an extra million times to really get them down. Take today; we'll start with some review, but I haven't been able to practice at all.

Jordan Collins is the Black Belt I'm taking lessons with. He is tailoring things to exactly what I have requested. I highly recommend this way of training for anybody who wants to quickly improve.

Gracie Land

The Gracie Academy in Torrance, California is a wonderful place to learn. The programs and instructors are all first-rate, but the physical location is also top-notch.

Outside, they have a parking area. It isn't really all that big, but it is well laid out. There is a hedge of bamboo planted to soften one side that is a concrete wall. There is a steel fence protecting things, and a gate that they close at night.

Good, but not really enough parking by any stretch of the imagination. Being a detail-oriented family they do not leave their students scrambling out on the street for parking, and making enemies of the surrounding neighborhood.

Up the street there is a church. It also has a parking lot. Being a church, they don't need this area except on Sundays and for special events. The Gracies have made some kind of arrangement with the church for the use of their parking lot. Likely, this significantly helps out the Church financially, and Gracie students always have a place to park nearby.

The building itself isn't huge either, and is a strange, five-sided shaped.

Inside they have managed to pack everything that they need without cramping things up.

The reception area is nicely designed, and give a very good first impression. It is all stone counters, nice flooring, and other quality materials and aesthetics. It gives off a spa-type vibe rather than a boxing-gym aura. Along one wall is a display of some of the Gracies' clothing line. Rather than coming across as tacky, it seems impressive that a martial arts school would have such an extensive line of quality goods.

Hidden away behind the counter is the office zone, where the entire Gracie on-line presence is managed, along with the organization of their merchandising. I suspect that this is the one area where the Gracies scrimped on space, but none of it is in public view.

Off to one side is a small museum display of Gracie awards and memorabilia. They are a proud bunch and this is where their history is explained.

The change rooms are adequate, and continue the spa-like atmosphere. Everything is scrupulously clean. There is almost always somebody cleaning something. The shower is large and towels are provided.

There are two or three small, private lesson rooms. They measure about 12 by 15 feet, which is perfectly adequate.

The main mat is where they have tried to direct every inch of possible space. It is where the magic happens. I have paced it off to be about 50 by 90 feet. The floor is well padded, as are the wall up to about 8 feet. Along the shortest wall is a series of carpeted benches for spectators.

I don't know who is responsible for the design, but they have done an excellent job.

The end result is a classy, enticing facility that also perfectly fulfills its function as a training centre.

Why Pass?

Our LA vacation in the second half of February, 2015....

Day 02/19

I have not been enjoying the 7am Tuesday and Thursday training times much. The classes are good, but the time isn't. I wake up plenty early, but in my "real" life I just sit around with the iPad, computer, or Xbox. More a time for coffee than takedowns.

Today is Thursday, and I trained at the early class. I'm sitting out the noon session, and after that class (I'm not attending the evening session) we're heading for for Disneyland. My hand is stiff and tired, so I'm going to watch today's mid-day class rather than participating. In a way the distance from the mat makes it easier to understand the lesson, but only in a way.

I am shocked by the small number that showed up for the class I'm watching. Only 8 students at starttime; by FAR the smallest advanced class I've see here. One Brown, one Purple, and the rest all Blues. The instructor, Ryron, doesn't seem to mind. Late arrivals fluffed it up to 16 by the end.

He started with a normal lesson, but I think something tweaked along the way. It turned into messing with what everybody thought they knew. He was showing how to win from within somebody's guard, and kept saying, " why pass?"

By the end they were all so confused that it was funny. Everything in their fundamental Jiu-Jitsu structure got turned backwards. I went through the same thing, but from the comfort of my bench.

Arrival

Our LA vacation in the second half of February, 2015....

Days 02/16 and 02/17

We arrived in Torrance on Sunday, and I headed into the Gracie Academy on Monday. Jackie at the counter knew who I was, which isn't astounding. She helped me set up my lessons before I arrived.

Rener Gracie arrived while I was at the counter, said ,"hi," and shook my hand, but there was no hint of recognition in his eyes. No reason he would remember me. Jillions of people pass through here all the time.

I think they check with the desk to see if anybody interesting is around and get fed a little info. During the class he greeted me warmly, and knew details about my last visit. It was pretty slick, and it makes a great impression.

The topic for all of my time here is supposed to be Mount Escapes, but the first two days have all been clinch takedowns. I don't mind that at all, as it's an area I consider myself particularly weak in.

After each class I record what we've just done. Much of my last visit blew away in the wind, and I don't want that to happen again.

I bought two gi in the size larger than what is supposed to fit me. As expected, it looked like I was swaddled in bedsheets, but after an initial hot water wash they are merely spacious. I love the fit, and wore them on Tuesday (day 2) and was wishing all my uniforms fit big like that.

Was at the counter again, and somebody started speaking to me from behind. It was Rorion Gracie, the patriarch of the Helio side of the clan. He asked it I was having fun, and I told him I that loved the place. Last time I spoke with him he called me, " young man," which is funny. We're the same age.

Resting

My last class at the Gracie Academy was on Saturday morning, and we drove out of LA early Sunday morning.

Now it's Tuesday, and there are no big drives in our immediate future.

That makes today my third day of zero Jiu-Jitsu training.

It has been a healing time. I pulled a back muscle doing stupid partner lifts, but it seems all better now. My wonky hand still isn't perfect, but it's doing well. The knee? If I didn't already know which was the bad one, I wouldn't be able to tell.

It will be best to give everything more time, so I will stay off the mat for all of this week. Itching to go for a run, even though the weather here is nothing like it was in California.

I will use part of my rest time to review my private-lesson videos and make sure I remember all that we covered. It was very nice of Jordan to suggest that we video them. I'm sure that otherwise, my brain would forget something.

I'd better get back to resting.