Gi styles

It's funny how much martial arts uniforms are influenced by fashion.

I don't mean the people who wear Kung-Fu jammies, or even have gi in pretty colours. I am talking about folks who wear the traditional white uniform.

When I started Karate back in the early eighties, everybody wore gi that were white. The only adornment, would be a single, small manufacturer’s patch of maybe two square inches.

Even these simple garments went through cycles in style. The weirdest was when people started wearing them with jackets that went almost down to their knees.

In Jiu-Jitsu things are even more volatile. Even white gi tend to get all decorated with a plethora of patches, emblems, and writing. People seem to want to decorate more, but there is strong peer pressure to wear less. I prefer the cheapest and least decorated of the uniforms available through the Gracies. It has two small association patches on the upper arms of the jacket, and a couple on the pant legs.

This is all annoying enough, but there is also the actual styling.

Gi were invented by the Judo people in Japan, and when they did so they made them baggy. They were loose for comfort and for freedom of movement. It became a tradition, and they still like them that way.

I don't know if the newer type of styling in Jiu-Jitsu gi came from Brazil, of if it's an American thing. The new type is the same length as the old style, but much, much tighter to the body. Some people call them “skinny gi,” in reference to “skinny jeans.”

They are less comfortable, and have less freedom of movement. The pants are also cut with a low rise, and underwear shows out all over the place. Basically, they suck.

It's what the style conscious are all wearing, dumb as that might be.

There is even a technique, called an Ezekiel choke, that is much more effective with a baggy gi. It still works with a skinny gi, but is harder to sink, and is then only a trachea crush. With a looser sleeve it is easier to hide from the target, and faster across the neck. It can also be a trachea crush, but using the sleeve against the “other” side of the neck makes it a blood choke as well. You can put people to sleep.

Then, of course, there are the belts. They come in about a bazillion colours, but Jiu-Jitsu limits itself to five. These are white, blue, purple, brown, and black. So are there belt styles as well?

You bet. The three related issues are belt length, how it's worn, and what knot is used.

Length is usually a fluke. When we earn a belt with the Gracies, they ship one out from HQ. Our instructor guesses what size would fit best, but they seem to use a number of suppliers. It's a crap shoot. Most people end up with belts that have about 6 inches beyond the knot on both ends. My original blue belt was much shorter.

Overly-short belts tend to come undone more frequently, which is annoying. Mine was such a problem that I exchanged it for a longer one when I was in LA a couple of years ago.

There are three body locations to wear a belt on. It could go at the thinnest part of the waist, or below the hip bone, or just above. Only children ever wear their belts at the waist. This is due to parents dressing their kids. Located here, there is no slack, and breathing can be affected.

Below the hips avoids this, but the belt tends to move around a lot, which makes the knots loosen. Wearing the belt at the hips prevents the belt from slipping around, and doesn't impede breathing.

For some reason beyond my understanding, the same crowd that favours skinny gi seem to all prefer their belts down below their hips.

The knot can be tied several different ways. This doesn't even include all the many people who use incorrect knots. An incorrect knot is one that doesn't use a reef knot shape, or that fails to capture the inner belt wrap within it. It is remarkable that so many Jiu-Jitsu people (not Gracie students) cannot tie a knot. It's the first thing kids in Karate learn.

There are three basic knots. The first is a basic reef style. It is quick to do, but in grappling tends to untie. The second is a reef, with one of the tails routed between the two belt turns, rather than outside of them. This added friction keeps that end from slipping. Strangely, most people only do this to one belt end. The last method is the same as the second, but with both belt ends tucked inside. Mine has never, ever come undone accidentally.

This blog has gotten way too long, especially considering the topic. Therefore, I won't into the clothing options for underneath the gi jacket (bare chest, tshirt, sports bra, rash guard), or that are starting to appear hanging down below the pant legs (like a rash guard and called spats).

Perhaps another time.

Roads

What is the absolute best thing about being a student at the Gracie Academy in Los Angeles?

Just forget about the great instructors, full training schedule, first-rate facility, and even the training itself. The absolute best thing is that there are no promotion exams at all.

All the little levels have the same requirements that we have out here. A student must train for 8 months and have attended 100 appropriate classes to be considered for a belt stripe promotion. The one difference is that at Certified Training Centres like our school, those are rock-solid minimums. Down in LA they are not carved-in-stone. If the Gracies want to give somebody a belt stripe early.... well... they are the Gracies.

Two years ago while training in LA, I overheard a student congratulating another on a stripe promotion. The other student thanked him, and said he had been surprised as the promotion had come early.

I have been to LA twice, and on the second visit there were a few people wearing higher rank than strict adherence to the rules would have made possible. Far from the centre, it is 8 months and 100 classes or nothing.

This is how it should be.

Down there, when one is ready for the next Belt, it is awarded. It doesn't seem to matter how many stripes a student has on their current belt, if they are ready for the next belt it is given. No test needed, as they know all of their students very well. The one restriction on this is that they only hold two belt promotion ceremonies per year; one in June and the other at Christmas.

For Certified Training Centre students belt promotions are very, very different. To be considered, students must have the maximum number (4) of stripes on their current belt. They must also record their months of training and class attendance since receiving their 4^th stripe. No guideline is given as to how many months or classes this should be.

They must then arrange to do an in-person evaluation with the Gracies, or one of their authorized Black Belts. This can either be done at a seminar somewhere, or it might require a visit to Los Angeles.

Once under the microscope, they are subjected to a test of their general Jiu-Jitsu knowledge, and to extensive sparring. I suspect the process would be quite intensive, not to mention long. At the end, the student is either promoted to the next belt, or not.

Let's use me as an example. I have a Blue Belt with 3 stripes. If I were an LA student, and if the Gracies felt I was already good enough to be a Purple Belt I would have been awarded one this month (June) (fat chance).

If not, I should receive my next-and-final Blue Belt stripe in October (same here and in LA).

If I were a Los Angeles student, and good enough, I would then receive a Purple Belt at Christmas. If not ready, it would likely be awarded the next June. In all of that, no decision or action would be required from me. I would just concentrate on my training until the rank came.

As a distant student, I have to decide when my Purple Evaluation should be done. How long should it be after receiving my 4th stripe? How many classes should have been attended? Should I wait for a seminar near home, or go to LA? Failure would necessitate another, later evaluation.

This entire process would be bad enough if each student only had to do it once in a career. A long-time distance student will go through this process this three times; once for each of Purple, Brown and Black Belts.

For a distance student, if we assume 6 months to go from beginner to Blue Belt (very, very fast), and assume they are successfully promoted for each belt 6 months after receiving their last, previous Belt's stripe the total time to reach Black Belt is very daunting. The total comes to 12.5 years, and this should be considered an absolute minimum, and would include 3 difficult and stressful evaluations.

The shortest-ever time for anyone to go from beginner to Black Belt at the Los Angeles school is 7 years, and no exams were required at all.

I hate tests.

Septembers

September has been the most important month for me in Jiu-Jitsu. You wouldn't think so, as, for example, my promotions all happened in June, December, March, and February. It is true, nevertheless.

I started Jiu-Jitsu about halfway through September of 2011, as a somewhat casual student. That in itself is big enough, but before the month was over I already knew that I was hooked.

I was promoted to Blue Belt the following June, but was doing a lot of travel over the summer. That made my real start in advanced training to be September of 2012. That is a huge change, and many people quit about that time.

I started my time as a Blue just taking whatever came along, but soon realized that I wanted to progress faster than that. I started doing tons of extra training, and private lessons, so that I would earn my first stripe early.

September of 2013 was when this process wrapped up, and I started to actually prepare for the exam itself.

September 2014 is the only September that didn't have any big milestones attached to it that I can think of.

The one upcoming, in 2015 will see the attendance requirement for my fourth Blue Belt stripe completed. I won't receive that promotion until mid October, but there will be no more attendance requirements for quite a while. There are no specified totals for the following promotion; the one to Purple Belt. This could mean as little as 7 months, and as many as 19 months with no attendance requirements.

Can I see farther into the future than that? Nope.

Not really a pattern, in my opinion, but rather a coincidence.

50s

The Bellator organization put on a big mma promotion this last weekend.

The main event event featured a man named Kimbo Slice. He was a popular fighter a while back, but never really achieved a lot, and is currently 41 years old.

That's pretty ancient in the combat world, but he was by far the baby in the match.

The other guy was Ken Shamrock, and he's 51. That isn't a typo. This guy fought in the very first UFC event back in 1993. In UFC1 he lost to a guy about 50 pounds smaller, and the rest of his career ran about the same way.

He looked lousy on Saturday. His double-leg takedown attempts looked like he was moving in slow motion, and yet somehow, he managed to catch Kimbo Slice in a rear naked choke. He had the submission imperfectly locked in, and he managed to eventually lose it.

Kimbo got out, and back to his feet. A punch or two later and the referee called a halt to save Shamrock's life.

Sometimes old folks perform feats of magic, but sometimes they just plain fail. Keep in mind that this isn't a story of an old warrior losing to a young buck. It's an old warrior losing to a slightly-less ancient fighter.

How exactly did he fail?

He was moving really, really slowly in his attacks. Surely, if he was doing that during training, it would have been an obvious weakness, and his fight plan would have been modified. What was happening is that he was allowing nerves to cause muscle tension that robbed him of his speed.

That wasn't a failure of age. He just plain did not relax. It's actually a rookie mistake.

So he managed to catch Kimbo in a rear naked choke. I don't mean he had a half-assed choke, it was really, really good. However, again Shamrock didn't relax, and cranked that neck as hard as he could. Another rookie mistake. He should have calmed down, and worked to adjust things the little bit they needed to reach perfection; then he should have applied the pressure, but he didn't.

He yanked and yanked on that neck, and it wasn't working. At that point he should have switched gears, and gone for the readjustment he had foregone earlier, but he didn't. He just kept cranking, even after it was obvious that it wasn't going to work. He kept trying, until his arms couldn't hold on any more, and so Kimbo got away.

Back to their feet, and now Shamrocks arms were so heavy that it made Kimbo's punches much more effective, and Kimbo started to connect. Bang, bang and it was all over.

Old Man Shamrock lost by making stupid rookie errors. He looked so bad that many people are convinced the fight was fixed.

Old guys can't afford to make mistakes like that. I'm 8 years older than Shamrock, but I still roll with people in their teens, and twenties.

Perhaps I am deluding myself, but I don't think so.

Most Jiu-Jitsu schools are full of young people. People in their forties are considered geezers. People even older than that are extremely rare. Our school's advanced class has four members over 50.

One is our instructor, and he beats everybody. I am the oldest, and regularly tap out everybody other than our instructor. Another is perhaps the steadiest person around here, and has first-rate technique. The final one is the smallest person in the class, and yet rolls in the least predictable manner of anybody here.

I roll with everybody, and rate these other geezers are amongst the school's elite. The secret to our over-fifty-group's success is an emphasis on quality of technique.

I do, however, wonder what our upper age limit will be. There are many old folks doing martial arts, but normally they started when much younger. Training has given them bodies moulded over decades. Their skills are likewise conditioned by time.

Our instructor is a Purple Belt, but the rest of our old-folks group are mere Blue Belts. We are still rookies in the Jiu-Jitsu world. Our bodies are not moulded by decades, nor our skills conditioned by time.

Will we still be advancing ten years from now; all in our sixties? Or in twenty years; in our seventies?

It would be nice, and only time will tell.

Lately

There are a lot of fabulous stuff happening at Jiu-Jitsu these days, at least around our school.

We have the usual White Belt Combatives classes handling the basics. In the advanced group, we continue to work hard on the first and second levels of the Master Cycle curriculum.

That's not what I mean. It's all the other stuff.

Our instructor is working on the third level of the Master Cycle material. He has a study group that is working through it all with him.

We have two guys who are just a squeak away from completing the cripplingly demanding BBS1 exam, and two ladies who are just starting to prepare to do the same thing.

We have 5 White Belts who have been working on their own exams to earn promotion to get their Blue Belt. Another young gentleman who is so eager to join them that he is doing extra private lessons with one of the assistant instructors.

There is also a Tai Chi Qigong group meeting on Saturday morning before open-mat time.

I can't say much about the Monday Women's Empowerment group. It's exclusive to females, and I don't qualify.

Anyhow, there's a lot going on around here. I, myself, am on the mat over eight hours a week.

The energy is really strong, and more than ever before people are taking control of their learning. The cool part is that it's all contagious.

A good time to train.

Phones

It's very cool to be old. People like me were raised in a totally different world than the one that now exists, but we get to live in this one.

Smartphones have been around for only 8 years, and Google has been present for 17.

That means that for anybody in their mid-teens, it is as if smartphones have always existed, and for anybody up to their mid twenties, there has always been Google

It also means that people my age managed to live their lives for 42 long years without reference to “The Google,” and for whom over 50 years were smartphoneless. (oh the horror)

This can be seen in how people use technology, especially the old ones.

Let's take an example. You see two people, both alone on a subway train or ferryboat. They are sitting reading. One is reading a newspaper, and the other is using their iPhone to access the same type of information. Which person is older? Which one has up-to-date news?

This is not universal, of course. I am an old fart, but haven't bought a newspaper in decades. Free ones get delivered in our mailbox, but it is an incredibly rare event that I crack one open. My age does show in that I do purchase a couple of print magazines a year. Did you know that the magazine industry totters on the edge of collapse? Twenty years ago it flourished, but I digress.

Old people also don't seem to understand what smartphones are for. They think such phones to be similar to those things that used to be attached by wires to the walls in our houses. They are not.

My old friends tend to use their phones to talk to people. These people do not text. Young people do not use their phones for speech, at least for quick messages. They text. They use voice on their phones for long gab fests only.

I got rid of my cell phone. I only rarely used it for anything, and that was only to text back and forth with my wife; which was expensive.

I don't like expensive, especially for such a limited device. As I only texted with Helen, and she had an iPhone, I got an iPad Mini that can hook up to cellular data networks. Doing so is amazingly cheap if one limits how much data gets used. Most months I pay the minimum, which is $10. With this I am able to send an effectively unlimited number of messages (texts) to other users of Apple devices, such as my wife. It has become my “phone” if you will, but it does not do voice at all. It could if I bothered to set it all up, but I don't because I'd never use it.

My sister and her husband are about our age, but they use technology in the manner of much older people, rather than younger. They each carry a phone, mostly to communicate with one another. They do not text, nor do they even know if their devices can text.

Texting is better. Let's say you are in the coffee shop, with a friend, and a call comes in. Normal procedure is to pull the phone out, and to engage in a conversation with the caller that interrupts your conversation with your companion, and generally irritates everybody nearby. You could have let the phone call go to voice mail, but nobody does that. When the phone rings it must be answered.

For me at a coffee shop with a friend, if a text comes in, there is no imperative to deal with it immediately. I will hear the alert sound, and can choose to ignore it. At a convenient moment, I can excuse myself if something important is expected, and glance at the text to see if it needs to be dealt with. Let's say it's my wife telling me where and when to pick her up. I can respond with a single keystroke, “k,” without being unnecessarily rude to my companion, or being noticed at all by the surrounding patrons.

It is true that many are unable to resist the siren call of an incoming text, or insist on composing long-winded responses, but this is not the failure of the technology.

We have a good friend who also carries an iPhone. She uses it both for talk, and for text, but her messaging skills are from another era. She tends to compose texts as if they were letters, and would never dream of sending more than a single text to any one person on a given day. Who would send more than one letter per day to anyone? Very annoying if somebody is trying to set up a lunch date.

When my wife got her iPhone, we found ourselves paying the phone companies for three devices; her phone, my iPad, and our home phone (called a landline these days).

We needed our mobile devices, but did we need our landline any more? The potential hassles that loomed were the loss of our main phone number, and an inability to dial 911 in an emergency. These two things stop many from switching.

Did you know you can switch your phone number over to your smartphone without any hassle at all? We still have the same phone number we've always had.

The 911 nonsense was in effect when we made our switch. As I had never, ever dialed 911 in my life, I figured we would be reasonably safe. Since then, 911 response has been introduced to cellular service, so even this is no longer an issue.

It's funny how many of our (older) friends know that Helen's cell is our only phone, but they'll still ask when we'll be home so they can call us. Of course, it doesn't matter at all where we are, as Helen's phone is always with her, so she gets every call whither at home, or out shopping, or riding her bike.

I still don't understand why landlines can't do texts.

Foot Deeply in Mouth

The coolest competition in Jiu-Jitsu is called Metamoris. The first event was put on in October of 2012. There have been 6 of them in total.

All have featured 6 matches, except for the most recent event, which had 8. That makes a grand total of 38 fights.

37 have had male competitors, and only one was between women.

Recently, the head of the event, Ralek Gracie tried to explain just why this is, and managed to stick his foot into his mouth several different ways in his short statement.

The basic premise of what he was saying is that he didn't think that women grapplers are a big enough audience draw. In this, he may or may not be right.

It was all the other stuff he said. He mentioned something about some people wanting to watch female grapplers if they are cute. He also said that female grapplers are into the pull-guard mentality, and that they don't fight in a manner that fits Metamoris's submission-only style.

How dumb is that?

I won't go after him just letting his mouth run, but will go after something that he must really believe; that women Jiu-Jitsu are into pull-guard tactics and would bring that along to Metamoris.

The 38 matches he has put on have overwealmingly consisted of top sport Jiu-Jitsu competitors, with a smattering of UFC fighters.

Every single one of them is tainted with the pull-guard mentality of sport Jiu-Jitsu. When fighting for points, and within short time limits, it's a viable strategy. Ralek doesn't seem to think this is a problem for the male sport Jiu-Jitsu competitors, just the women.

The single female bout that Metamoris did put on featured two top point Jiu-Jitsu competitors. I recall them going at it like manics, neither fighter exhibiting any hint of a defensive mind set. I tried to refresh my memory by re-watching the event. All of the fights used to be available on YouTube. All six of the matches from that event used to be there, but the Mackenzie Dern versus Michelle Nicolini bout is one of two that have been pulled down.

Anyhow, I'm going to label their match as a fully aggressive one. Therefore, 100% of the women fought for the submission.

In contrast, a significant number of the male bouts featured fighters who did not. Therefore, less than 100% of the males fought aggressively, and for submission.

Logically, the evidence would show that the women proved to do a better job.

This doesn't mean that they draw enough audience for inclusion. Personally, I would be more likely to watch an event which included female matches than if it didn't. I don't think I'm alone in this.

I suspect that Ralek is expressing what his own viewing decision would be if he were a consumer of Jiu-Jitsu programming, rather than a producer. He doesn't want to watch women's Jiu-Jitsu. Not good enough for his tastes, I suppose.

Do you remember what UFC president Dana White used to say about women's mma. He said women would NEVER fight in the UFC.

Now, a few short years later, Rona Rousey is just about the biggest drawing card in the UFC.

I love watching her fight, and it has nothing to do with wither or not she is “cute.” I've seen her training in real life, and consider her more terrifying than attractive.

She was the first American of either gender to ever win an Olympic medal in Judo. In all of her 3 amateur mma bouts, she won by armbar. The matches were 23, 24, and 57 seconds in duration.

She turned pro, and all of her subsequent opponents knew she was coming at them planning and to rip their arms off.

She won her first 4 pro fights, by armbar. None lasted even one minute.

This got her a shot at the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship. The champ did better than anyone else up to that time, lasting until 4 minutes and 27 into the first round, before Ronda snapped her arm.

Rousey defended that title once, winning by armbar in under a minute. The UFC, having bought Strikeforce, then created their own Women's Bantamweight Title, and awarded it to Ronda.

She has since gone on to defend her UFC title 5 times. Four ended in the first round, 3 by armbar, and one by knockout. The other fight lasted until a minute into the third round, and ended by....drum roll....armbar.

How could a fan of the UFC not want to watch Ronda Rousey fight, especially a fan of grappling?

To his credit, Ralek did mention that he would love to have Rousey fight at Metamoris, but that there is no way he could pay what would be necessary.

I consider this another nail in his coffin. He's had one very successful female bout, and would certainly include the world's dominant female fighter if he could get her, but that somehow other female fighters suck.

Now he's ignited a storm of hate from female Jiu-Jitsu practitioners.

The Gracies are known for being outspoken.

Zombies

I have been doing a little thinking about the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse. Hollywood is bravely doing all that it can to help up prepare, and to provide quality information about the “rules.”

It seems that zombies want to rip us to shreds, consuming all of the yummiest bits.

It would also seem that the way a normal person gets turned into a zombie is by some kind of infection inherent in a zombie bite.

This would mean that most of the people killed upon exposure to hordes of zombies do not, in fact, become zombies themselves. The zombies' behaviour would make sure of that. The only people who can change over are those that survive an attack intact, and yet who have been bitten.

I live on a fairly inaccessible section of Pacific coastline. We are protected by many miles of mountains on one side, and by ocean on the other. One cannot travel here by car.

There are about 25000 to 30000 people who live here. For the sake of argument, let's say a couple of hundred uninfected survivors are still around after the first week or so. How many zombies would they be facing?

What percentage of the remainder will have turned? I can't imagine that very many would have gotten close enough to the business end of zombie teeth without being taken out altogether. Let's call it a quarter who join the undead.

That would have this area occupied by up to 7500 walking dead. That's quite a few, even though I suspect it would be somewhat less.

The good news is that their number will cease to grow. Even if they wipe out our hypothetical 200 survivors, that would only add about 50 to the horde.

With an effectively non-growing number of zombies, attrition will begin to take its toll.

Being only nominally intelligent, they likely won't take common-sense precautions in preventing accident and injury. I suspect they will fall off of and into things on a regular basis.

If you've ever watched zombie shows, you will see that they just don't take care of themselves. They shamble around, bumping into things. They also seem to decay.

How long would an average zombie manage to keep shambling? Assuming they don't heal, friction alone would eventually wear them down to nothing. How long would this take?

Granted, they are a determined lot. If one should walk around until one leg or the other gives out, they would continue to crawl, and eventually claw themselves around.

The implication is clear. Zombies will begin to die out, so to speak, or at least break down.

The game for the survivors becomes to last long enough until the zombies have become extinct. Can this be done?

With no statistics on the rate of zombie demise, it is impossible to tell.

What is clear, is that the number of zombies would be finite, and subject to decay. One of the roles of the terrified survivors should be to speed the process along.

I am always astounded by the tendency of survivors to traverse the post-apocalypse world on motor cycles. Large, durable vehicles should be the order of the day. Survivors should travel in groups, in such vehicles, on their assorted food or ammunition-gathering runs. Zombies should be ruthlessly run down.

Traps are another option. In an early episode of “Walking Dead,” one enterprising survivor had built a large number of clever zombie traps outside of the building he was inhabiting. These were not put up to protect the building, but rather to eliminate zombies.

Such traps would not need to be particularly complex. Wooden frames could be set up that would gently funnel the undead into the trap zone, and into large, sharp objects, or perhaps big, barbed hooks. Shambling into a very-sharp and well-angled blade might just see Mister Zombie cutting himself into pieces. Pits would be good, too.

Sometimes somebody in a zombie movie sets up on a rooftop, from which they use firepower to pick off shufflers. This would be a viable strategy, assuming the shooting platform is safe enough.

These are just a few methods.

Could our 200 survivors outlast the 7500 zombies? It would seem daunting, but not really. Avoidance would also be an effective strategy.

This area of coast is about 85 km long. The second biggest town is at one and, and the biggest is about 30km from there. These two are where half of all the people live, and most of the rest are located in between. This would be where almost all the zombie would be.

Merely by driving up to the less-populated end would put one well away from the majority of the zombies.

It would also be possible to hide out on any of a large number of nearby islands. Many of these are habitable, but uninhabited. That would mean camping in a zombie-free area. There are also islands with small numbers of inhabitants, and therefore very few possible zombies. It is also likely that these spots would be areas that already contain survivors, as zombies might never have made it there at all.

This all applies only to this particular area, but analogies exist in every area. Cities would suck. Los Angeles, for example, contains 18,550,000 people, which would mean a heck of a lot of zombies. The message for survivors should be to, “get the hell out of town.”

In rural areas, the message should be to avoid population centres, set up traps, and play sniper if so inclined.

And to not ride motorcycles.

Swampy Ranks

I use my powers to see into the future and to predict our Jiu-Jitsu school's upcoming round of promotions.

Gonna ignore people getting three or four stripes, as that won't happen until October at the earliest. That's too far off to worry about.

However, we do have 3 people ready to roll from a single stripe into having two.

The first of these has near-perfect attendance, and will fulfill the minimum attendance requirement today. She only has to keep training, and to wait until the minimum period of 8 months is up, which will happen in July.

The other two have had a harder time getting on the mat sometimes. They have careers and lives that conflict. Promotion for them is long over due. If they can manage 3 classes a week, they will finish up in mid summer. If not, it will take longer still.

One of them has had a job change that will remove him from shift work. This means that he will be able to become the mat rat that he's always tried to be. He should be done by early August.

Rank progress is difficult in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It is pretty hard to see change.

Let me explain with reference to a more typically structured martial art; Shotokan Karate.

In Karate, every little gradation in rank is denoted with a different colour belt. People work together on most things, but each level has it's own unique curriculum that must be mastered. Pass a test, get a new belt, and work on different stuff.

In Jiu-Jitsu it is very different.

Come and watch our advanced class. You will see a bunch of people all working together on EXACTLY the same material. All of us wear Blue Belts. The only difference is that our belts have from zero to 3 little white stripes down on one end. The maximum number of stripes is 4, but we don't have anybody with that many yet.

Unlike Karate, you don't get a belt when you progress in rank, or work in different material. You just smile at your little white stripe, and get back to work in the same, big group.

In Karate, rank seems like steps to be climbed.

In Jiu-Jitsu, rank seems to be a swamp to be slogged through.

In Karate, you earn a new Belt every 3 or 4 months.

In Jiu-Jitsu, a new Belt takes at least 4 years, and even a stripe takes as long as several Karate Belts.

In Karate, a Black Belt takes about 4 years, which is about how long it takes to get a Jiu-Jitsu Purple Belt.

In Jiu-Jitsu, a Black Belt takes about 12 years, by which time a Karateka would have reached about third-degree Black Belt rank.

In Karate, a Black Belt is considered a beginner.

In Jiu-Jitsu, a Black Belt is considered a master of the art.

It's a slow road.

Brother

The other day I was surprised by one of my brothers, and I didn't have the right response ready.

He said he was thinking of joining a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, and was asking me for advice. I told him to go watch a class before he joins in, and to see how they treat their White Belts. I also said that if they won't let him watch, to walk away from that group. This is good advice, as far as it went, but it left out more than it included.

If my brother was a young dude of twenty or thirty, he would do fine whatever happened, but the poor old guy is almost my age. For grappling, that is incredibly ancient.

There is a real risk of serious injury. A younger guy could get his neck cranked, and as uncomfortable as it would be, he'd likely be fine and dandy again in no time. With somebody like us, a neck crank could easily do damage that would never heal, ever. We're not talking about black eyes and busted noses here, but spinal disks and bones.

If he were starting to train at a Gracie school, that wouldn't be an issue. There is a very specific curriculum that gets taught in a highly structured manner. He wouldn't be free-rolling with anybody for about a year, minimum. That would get his old muscles and reflexes ready for the activity, or maybe he wouldn't stick around that long.

Free-rolling, or wrestling, is where the bad stuff can happen really, really fast.

In many Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools, beginners are doing it on their very first day. Danger on day one. This is risky enough with a gentle, careful partner. Imagine the danger if the partner is an overly-competitive jerk. There are a lot of them out there. Many, many meat-head jerks.

Recently, at a seminar in Seattle, I had a string of jerk partners. We weren't even rolling, but were supposed to be doing very specific movement sequences. My meat heads insisted on doing their turns with speed and power every time, and to defend the same way when it was my turn. We were doing guillotine chokes, which are a really good way to get injured by an idiot. Luckily, I'm no rookie. I managed to move myself in such a way to minimize trauma, and tapped out really, really early. All that was bad for me was that the entire drill time was wasted. If I hadn't known how to handle it, or been slow, I'd still be walking funny and rubbing my neck, or worse.

A beginner who is also an old guy should not be rolling at all; period. Not even a little bit.

Maybe I should have listed all the injuries I've had, even with the best of partners. Let's see. Just about every toe has been hurt, at least once. Had a thumb pulled way back the wrong way, and had it taped for months. Had my neck over twisted a bunch of times. Had a knee hurt so bad I thought I'd have to give up running forever, and had to have it investigated with fancy medical mri stuff. After months of physiotherapy it is finally settling down; a year after the original injury. Have also been to the doctor over a jammed finger that still won't straighten out.

If he lived near me, I'd take him to class with me and all would be well.

He already does Yoga, and that's much safer.

Maybe I should have told him that.

Four Gone

Two years ago (June 2013) it was a different time for the big boys in the UFC.

Every division from 170 pounds on up had a dominant champion.

The welterweight titlist was George St. Pierre, and he'd held the spot since 2008. The middleweight king was Anderson Silva, and he'd been there since 2006. Light heavyweight had Jon Jones, who took the belt early in 2011, and heavyweight had Cain Velasquez, the rookie who had come in six months earlier in 2012.

Since then all have fallen. St. Pierre won another defence, then retired. Silva lost two title fights, and after a minor win since is still trying to regain former glory. Jon Jones won 3 title defences, but was stripped of his championship after a run-in with the law.

Cain Velasquez, the heavyweight king, defended is title once late in 2013, but due to a rash of injuries didn't fight at all in 2014, or in the first half of 2015. Last night he took on Fabricio Werdum in Mexico City, and was stopped in the third round.

There still are some dominant champions in the lighter weight classes. Demetrious Johnson has ruled the flyweight division since 2012 in 6 title defences, while Jose Also has held the featherweight belt since 2010, and has made 7 title defences.

Interestingly, Ronda Rousey, the female bantamweight champion is the third-longest-reigning title holder. She got her belt in 2012, and has defended it 5 times.

Don't get me wrong. I do like a division with a bunch of gifted fighters all vying for top spot. The boxing heavyweight division in the Ali/Frazier/Foreman/Norton days comes to mind, but that's not what we've got.

The situation in the 4 heaviest male divisions is not exciting. Each pretty much has a knot of fighters who were never good enough to rise to the top while the dominant champions were around. They are getting pretty long in the tooth. The younger crop are having a hard time getting past them. Quite possibly, these older guys might end up in a champion role that they were unable to earn in their prime. Alternately, some younger fighters might manage to get passed them, and be just good enough to hold off their challenges. In either case, the champions could end up being the best of a sorry lot.

This is even assuming that a “best” fighter emerges at all. It could be that the titles rotate rapidly between these guys. This is about the same thing.

Perhaps this is unfair. There are a couple of interesting prospects coming up, and the middleweight champion, Chris Weidman, has already made 3 successful defences, although all of his challengers were pretty long in the tooth, being 38, 36, and 38 at the time of their fights. In his most recent fight, Weidman was 29.

None of the other men who has held any of the 4 heaviest division's belts since the fall of the dominant champions has made a successful defence.

I'm Cheap

I can't believe how many people don't understand what cruise travel is all about. They think of it as some kind of confining, hoity-toity rich people vacation.

One of the most common responses we get from people about our cruises to Alaska is they'd, “much rather travel to Alaska on our own.”

Really?

We just did a ten day Alaskan cruise for $2534 dollars American. That's for two people. Let's compare that to a drive from Vancouver to Prince Rupert (with 2 nights in a hotel on the way), followed by a ferry trip to Ketchikan, a night there, a ferry trip to Juneau, a night there, and a ferry trip to Skagway and a night there.

From Skagway, I made two versions of the trip. Trip A goes back the same way it comes, while Trip B drives back with 4 nights on the way.

Both end up taking 9 days in total.

In both cases I allowed $100 a day for the two hypothetcial tourists to eat, drink, and pump gas into their car. Trip B is the cheaper at about $2900, while Trip A's cost is $3600.

Both are considerably more money than we spent on our cruise. Likely it would be much more than my hypotheticals allow, as nobody would do all that travel to get to places like Ketchikan and only stay one night in each. It would seem that our richy-rich trip is actually cheaper than one done on a shoestring budget. Must be that only poor people are being forced by cost to limit themselves to cruising.

Even at that, I left a lot of stuff out of my hypothetical trips to keep the cost down. On our cruise we saw all those places, as well as Sitka and Hoonah. They both have very limited schedules of ferry service. Hoonah only gets two boats a week. We also got to see all the places that we visited without doing multi-day mega drives. Every minute on the boat is wonderful.

But isn't being on a ship confining? In both hypothetical trips, day after day is spent crammed into cars, or onto small Alaskan ferries. I'd much rather be trapped on our 91,000 ton ship than on a 1,492 ton ferry, or a one ton car. I suspect that the Alaskan ferries don't have swimming pools at all, let alone the two we had (one indoor and one outdoor) or the gym, or the plethora of places to eat, to the bars, or the walking decks, or the shops, or the two-deck theatre.

Come with me on a typical ship day. That's one where the vessel doesn't visit any ports at all. There must be nothing to do.

I awaken early; dunno why, but I do. So that Helen can sleep on, I quietly get dressed and head up to deck ten. There I would meet with my friend, and we'd chit chat while drinking coffee. About 7am, we would head back down. Our entire party meets up at 8am and heads off for breakfast in the dining room. That is a leisurly affair that might drag on a bit as we enjoy our surroundings and companionship.

The next step is usually several people heading off to activities put on by the cruise line; painting lessons, kitchen tours and things of that ilk. I would normally hit the gym for about a bit. Bernie often goes to read in a comfy chair, next to a massive window, of which there are plenty.

Being traditionalists, we do lunch at noon, either in the dining room or in the kick-ass buffet.

The pool always gets a visit sometime later. I also like to take naps, and I often get too busy when at home. Around 4pm or 4:30 we meet up at the pre-designated cabin for happy hour. There we share a glass of wine or two. Did you know that most cruise lines allow 2 bottles aboard per cabin when passengers first embark? That becomes our stash. Of course, more can be purchased on board but at painful prices.

On this last trip, our dinner time was always 5:30. This was always a multi-course affair, but if that's not to somebody's liking, the buffet is always waiting. We would finish around 7-7:30. Most nights we'd all do to the show in the magnificent, two-story theatre. Afterwards some would visit the cassino, or go dancing or to a movie. We are not go-out-drinking folks, but there are dozens of venues for people that want to go for a snort or two.

And everything, everywhere, is always scrupulously clean and first rate.

Oh, yes. I almost forgot. The ship takes also you places.

That's a bonus.

Dominoes

We slowly chug into Vancouver. Our cruise is about to end.

They took most of our bags last night. We shall see them next on shore.

The vast majority of the passengers will be hauled to the airport on fleets of buses. Lola and Bernie pick up their car on the dock, drive The Momma home, and then continue on for five hours to Vernon.

Helen and I cover far fewer miles, but it is quite complicated.

We'll pull our bags a dozen blocks through downtown to catch a particular city bus. It will run us about half an hour out of the city, where we pick up a ferry north.

On the other side of that trip two more bus rides await. The final will deposit us a kilometre or so from our door.

So for us it will be walk, bus, ferry, bus, bus, and again a walk. If it all connects perfectly, we may be home within five hours. Taken together, it is a great buffer between our time aboard and our real lives.

Snags can add to the travel time considerably, but are unusual. I fully hope to make it to Jiu-Jitsu. I always miss that greatly when we travel.

***

We have hit a snag already, and we're not even off the ship yet. Our predicted departure time was around 9am, but things were already 40 minutes behind on offloading even the very first batch of passengers. I would guess this means we'll end up a bus or two behind, which will have us missing our ferry, which adds two hours onto our arrival at home. Oh, well.

***
A miracle. We finally got off the boat, very late, and rolled our bags through down town. I think we looked quite strange. Helen is a shade taller than her bag, but it is both thicker and wider. We reached the bus stop, and the exact right type was there waiting for us. On we hopped, and fares were being waved due to some big transit kerfuffle.

Got into the ferry terminal with moments to spare, ending up on the exact same boat we were shooting for before experiencing the cruise ship unloading delays. The only problem is that the ferry is well behind schedule, so we'll miss our bus on the other side, which will make us also miss the next. This whole trip is a shakey construct made of dominoes.

***

I can't believe it. Many times Helen has managed to magically produce rides home for us in the ferry. She knows tons of people, and they are always ready to help her out. I get to tag along.

This time, there were no friends on the boat.

So what happens? She meets a professional driver that is heading through to Powell River. After chatting to Helen for a minute or two we are in his vehicle being given a ride almost to our door. I am gob-smacked.

Home on time.

White as Snow

Read a blog recently by a Purple Belt who moved from the UK to the US and her experience in finding a new school. Very briefly, she mentioned that she chose to wear a White Belt again.

That unleashed a storm of controversy. People said she shouldn't have been "demoted," even though she clearly stated that it was her own decision. They countered by saying that her "demoting" herself was disrespectful to her old teachers.

When I walked into my current school I, like her, wore a White Belt. I left my decades-old Black Belt at home. Granted, it is a Shotokan Karate Black Belt, but why didn't I wear it. Simple; in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu I was a raw rookie.

Before you start saying that that isn't the same thing at all, how about my next example.

After receiving a Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt, my wife and I made an extended visit to be with family in Victoria. I indulged a long-time wish to train at the renowned Victoria Judo Club. What belt do you think I should have worn; my beat up old Black Belt, or my shiny, new Blue one? I wore White. They made it quite clear either of my others would have been acceptable. I thanked them, and explained.

If I'd worn Black, students with much higher Judo qualifications would have been bowing to me. Some might even have asked me to help them with technique, which would have been ridiculous. It wouldn't have been quite as bad with a mere Blue Belt on, but I think you see what I mean.

I wore a White Belt on the Judo mat, as that was the most appropriate rank. I wore a White Belt when starting Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, because it was the most appropriate rank.

The woman who changed schools wore White as that was the most appropriate choice. Her new school is a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu one, and they have very specific ways of doing things. You have to be able to do things their way.

Let's say you have a kick-ass Kimura. You join one of their schools, and wear a Purple Belt earned at a different type of school. Some White Belt asks you for help with their Kimura, and you proceed to show them your way. You aren't really helping. They were asking you for help in how they need to do a Kimura for their upcoming exam, not for any other variation. If you'd had a White Belt on this wouldn't have happened.

You are actually allowed to take the exam demonstrating your proficiency in their requirements anytime. Why not eliminate any confusion by wearing White until then? Of course, that would only make you a Blue Belt. So how does one get a Gracie Purple Belt or higher? Simple; you need to be evaluated in person by one of the Gracies, or by one of their designated Black Belts.

What's the big deal anyhow? Are you so proud of your belt that you can't put it aside? I'm pretty proud of my Black Belt, but wore White when starting Jiu-Jitsu and Judo.

I also didn't try wearing it when I did some Iado (Japanese swordsmanship) either.

Even within an art, every variant has different ways and standards. My Karate is Shotokan. I sometimes train at a nearby Shitu-Ryu dojo as a guest. If I should ever choose to really join them, I would have to pretty much re-learn everything from Katas to basic movement. That would see me putting on a fresh, new White Belt yet again.

Bonus stoop

Contrary to what most people think, the ports that cruise ships visit don't matter at all.

Take this trip. We start and end in Vancouver, and in between that stop at Sitka, Hoonah, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Victoria. There are also three "sea" days.

On the port days, many if the ship facilities are running in a reduced fashion, and there are hardly any activities at all.

On sea days, everything is in full swing. Every venue is running and fully staffed, and there are activities galore. Although the little towns are fine, I prefer the fully-operating-ship experience a great deal more.

*****

Disaster on board at 5am. No coffee. These people are dead to me. A failure of epic proportion.

Today it's Ketchikan, which vies with Skagway as my favourite Alaskan stop. It all depends on my mood.

They have the finest tourist junk-n-tshirt shop. It's really big, with an equally big upstairs where none of the stuff is tourist related at all. It's all sporting goods, quality clothing, and workman's wear.

The old downtown is nice, and we walk through it both ways getting to Creek Street. That's where the hookers used to be, but it's all gussied up for tourists now. The buildings are on pilings over the local river, which is usually packed with salmon.

A fun town, and all accessible right off of the cruise ship dock. No busing required.

On a normal, one-week cruise we would already be unloading back in Vancouver. We still get a full day here in Ketchikan, then a ship day, and a day in Victoria. This 10-day trip is much better. I'm not ready for things to be over just yet.

Thalassotherapy

We've been on a lot of cruises, to Mexico's west coast, Alaska, the Bahamas, down the American West Coast, and in the Caribbean. On every one, the largest group on board has always been Americans. Not on this trip.

The largest bunch is Canadians. On an Alaska run this isn't too strange, as it originates in Canada. Canadians usually are the second largest bunch on these trips, but it isn't that we've just exchanged the number one and two spots with the Yanks. They are only number four on this trip.

Pretty much tied in numbers are Australians and Brits. There are about 575 Canadians, and about 400 of both these nationalities. There aren't many of any other single nationality after the 375 Americans, but collectively they make up 400 or 500 souls. For example, there are two people from South Africa, and two from Argentina.

As a result of our unusual mix, Alaska is unknown territory to most of the passengers. More than usual walk around dressed as if for arctic expeditions.

Just how would an Australian or Brit have any idea how to dress for Alaska? Americans and Canadians do it badly enough, and should know better.

Today, I've been wearing shorts, with a tshirt and hoodie. If it was any colder I could have switched to long pants and added a jacket as a third layer on top. If that still wouldn't do it, I would have stayed on the ship. I used to live in a northern area and am not doing parka weather ever again.

Never did go for a run. After breakfast we headed into town. It was Helen's day, and let her take us as she willed. We stayed in town until about a 1pm return to the ship. We poked a bit into museums, and stores, and generally wandered about. Then it was lunch onboard, after which I crashed into a nap and Helen went to the pool.

I woke up when she returned to the room, and wanted to go back into town a bit more. I went along, still a little bit drowsy and dopey. We went fast, as she had a planned meet-up with Phyllis for a crochet fest. Then it was supper time.

No time left to squeeze in a jog. My Skagway runs all go between one and two hours and there wasn't a block of time remaining that large available.

After supper, it was time for the show; a repeat of our first few evening's headliners doing encores. They were all fine, but hadn't blown me away. I headed to the pool instead.

It is a very hot pool in a large space enclosed with glass. They call it a "Thalassotherapy" pool, which seems to mean a "bubbly pool with hot salt water". Problem; some of the windows can be opened. Normally they are shut, but for some reason strollers had opened them all up and left them that way. The lovely warmth was gone. I zipped around and shut them. What is wrong with people? It didn't take long for things to start warming up again. The pool is very hot, and that heat gets convected into the room, and I suppose it radiates out as well.

Boating

When I was a kid, we did some pretty great holidays. We did everything as a family, which had both its good and bad aspects. I liked being with my family, but sometimes the things we did together were horrid.

I remember one trip to LA where we did our usual single day at Disneyland, followed by a day visiting Forest Lawn Cemetery. Are you kidding? A cemetery rather than a second Disney day?

Cruises are nothing like this. You can be together or apart as much as you like. Our group of 5 does a lot together, but not everything.

Last night 4 wanted to go to the show, and 1 felt he would prefer sitting in a comfy chair, listening to music, and reading. We all did what we desired. Afterwards, one of the show goers wanted to hit the hay, and the rest wanted to go find the reader, which we did. For a while we were a new group of 4, and then split evenly as 2 wanted coffee, and 2 went dancing.

This morning, one stayed on board, one went running, and the other three went ashore to poke around and walk the forest trail. One of the walkers returned to the ship, and picked up the stay aboard for a short jaunt ashore in the shopping area. The runner, (me) returned to the ship, had a swim, and ate his first lunch. No idea what the other two are up to.