Good Bunch

What a team we've got?

There are about ten advanced students at our Jiu-Jitsu school who are active at all. There are a few more that are off for the summer, and might be back soon. We all hold various levels of Blue Belt, but should have some Purple Belts soon

Every night that the White Belts train, there are at least 4 or 5 Blue Belts present to help out the beginner.

During the advanced class, every single person is a delight to work with. All are interested in getting the details right, and work towards that goal. Nobody is a jerk to roll with when sparring time starts.

There are almost always at least a couple of people working during open-mat time. People are forever asking each other for help, or offering it, or asking questions, or working together through review material.

Sometimes our instructor holds sessions where he is really isn't trying to teach, but is working on the advanced stuff he is learning himself. If we show up, we do learn, but not in a formal way. It is also totally optional. Even so, I don't think there has ever been less than three people there to work with him, and sometimes as many as a half dozen.

Seminars are valuable training opportunities, and very rare anyplace near our home. Two years ago there was one in Seattle, about four hours from here, and which requires overnight hotel stays. Four of us attended. This year there was another, and five us us were there.

The only one closer happened in Richmond, next to Vancouver. We could get there and back in the same day. Nineteen of us were there, including twelve from the advanced class.

Two of our students have also gone as far at Los Angeles to be involved in the Gracie instructor certification program.

All-in-all, it's a great bunch, doing a lot to take responsibility for their own learning. We have an excellent instructor, but expecting him to do or to arrange everything is counter-productive.

He provides us with a wonderful program. We could just learn it as it comes, one lesson at a time. The Gracies themselves say we can only expect to retain 10-25% of the material following such a system. To do better, we have to do better ourselves.

That's why I attend all our instructor's self-training sessions, as well as every open-mat session. I am one of those helper Blue Belts who attend the White Belt classes. If somebody of any level wants help, I'm right there. If a fellow advanced student wants to prep for an exam, I am ready to commit to do whatever it takes to help.

Many of the others are the same way, but perhaps to not quite so nuts an extent.

Being retired with heaps of time is wonderful.

Throws and Dumps

There is a Judo theme happening at Jiu-Jitsu lately.

At the last training day before our one-week summer shut down, we had a couple of new students give us a try.

One of these was a young woman who is pretty high level in competitive Judo. I bet she was finding the differences between what she knows and what we were training in that day interesting, and hope she returns.

Then the Judo theme recurred a couple of days later. Koko and I were on the mat working on her test stuff. Technically, as this was a day of the school closure, we weren't open, but she needed to train, and I have a key.

Anyhow, in walks a guy looking for information. We chatted with him a bit. He's an older gent, like me, who has trained in Judo and Karate. Being a long-time Karate guy myself, that part was just mildly interesting. My ears perked up at the mention of Judo. We gave him the information he was after, and he departed.

Two Judo people present in our building only a couple of days apart.

I would love both, or either of them to become regulars.

But why?

The answer is pretty simple. Every martial art or sport has strengths and weaknesses.

Want to learn to hit people with padded gloves? You should study boxing, but not if you want to learn how to strike bare-fisted. The exact opposite is true of Karate. It's great at striking without gloves, and sucks when wearing them. Wrestling is great at putting people on the ground, and sucks at finishing them off once you do. The list goes on and on.

I was interested in Jiu-Jitsu in the first place due to the massive holes in Karate regarding grappling. It has since become my primary art due to the fun factor.

So what are the holes in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu? It isn't good against multiple attackers. No art is really great, but Jiu-Jitsu is especially bad.

Another weak area in Jiu-Jitsu has to do with taking an opponent to the mat. It is great if the other guy doesn't know anything, but not if he is knowledgeable.

You see it all the time. A couple of Jiu-Jitsu folks start to roll. They happen to be standing. They might grab each others sleeve or collar, and make a few half-hearted attempts to accomplish something, and then one or both spontaneously proceeds to sit down. If only one does, and the other doesn't, the grounded guy often starts aggressively scooting forward on his ass.

Really? In anything like a real fight, or even a UFC bout, that would equal a nasty ass whooping.

In day-to-day rolling or point Jiu-Jitsu competition it is embarrassingly frequent.

So how to improve the standing/take-down phase? One can work harder on mastering the techniques within Jiu-Jitsu that handle that aspect, but that would still leave one limited. The other way would be to supplement things.

The two best styles to compliment what we do in Jiu-Jitsu in the standing/take-down phase would be freestyle wrestling, and Judo.

I am a technique-oriented guy, which means for me Judo would be the better choice.

So having a new Judo buddy or two would be super. There are exactly 67 throws in the traditional Judo syllabus. If you include all the take-downs I've learned in 4 years of Jiu-Jitsu, it adds up to about 20, and only a half dozen of those can be considered throws in any manner at all. That leaves a humongous heap of stuff I can learn from Judo.

There is also a style of training that Judo people do that I really like. Let's say one of the people joins, and agrees to show me one of their dozen or so hip-throw techniques. Judo people do really high numbers of repetitions when they work on things; really, really high numbers of repetitions.

I learn best that way. They wouldn't think it weird to have me do the lesson a zillions times over.

In any case, chances are that neither will stick around long if they return at all. The older gentleman seemed to find our schedule to be out of sync with his, so he's a long shot. The Judo woman made it to one class so far, but she might not find either us or Jiu-Jitsu to her taste. She had a friend try it out at the same time. This means that if either of them doesn't want to return, likely neither will. We shall see.

We shall see.

Hajime (that means to begin).

Grandpa

There are dangers in retirement.

One of the sneakiest has to do with ending up in a geezer ghetto, either literally or figuratively.

A literal example would be like the place we visited in Arizona for a month last winter. It is a lovely community set in an area with year-round sunshine. Prices are reasonable, and there are tons of activities like lapidary (rock work), quilting, tennis, pickleball, karaoke, hot tubs to soak in, and a pool. As newly retired, we were the babies of the place, just barely squeaking in past the mandatory minimum age.

A non-literal situation is one where an older person lives in a regular community, and partakes of activities full of like-aged people, and who also has friends who are of similar age.

There is an energy, and modernity in younger people. It is important to remain a part of that world. Younger can mean many things, from babies, to kids, to teens, to young adults, to parents with young kids, and on up to those nearing-retirement.

Some maintain contact through family. A person with kids or grand kids has a built-in youth contact system, assuming they get to see them fairly often.

I am a good example of an old guy at risk.

I retired a couple of years ago, from a job as a high-school teacher. Very large numbers of hours were spent in the company of many amazing kids. Every day I got to see how stupid all the worry about the coming generation is, and had the privilege of seeing things through the kids' eyes.

That is no longer true for me.

There are no young people on our street. I have family members who are younger, but who live far away. We have friends our age who live far off, too. The only people I regularly see socially are my wife's friends, and they are all at least our age.

So how do I get my fix of differently-aged people that I say is so important.

Simple; I rassle with them.

I train in Jiu-Jitsu, and at 59, am the oldest student attending our school, by quite at bit. I have no contact with the children's groups, and so only know the people in our adult programs.

Adult is a relative term. Perhaps they should be called an “adult-sized” programs. There are several in the beginners group who are in their early teens. Most are twenty-ish, and sometimes we get somebody actually in their thirties. Rarely older.

Our advanced class has students ranging from age 16 up to their early 50s, and me. The average age of everybody excluding me is mid-20s.

These are the young people I that I regularly hang around with.

It's very cool, as they pretty much have to treat me as one of them. They have no choice, or I'll choke them out.

We are a collection of peers, who just happen to be of widely-varied ages.

If I am away, and want to find out what we've covered, I turn to Elizabeth. She has the best detail memory, and just happens to be 20 years old. If I want to work with somebody really strong, I turn to Rob who is 50, not that it matters. Koko, who is home for the summer from university and a third my age, has been working hard on completing a technical Jiu-Jitsu exam, and I've been helping her out as I know the material, and have free time.

The only two that outrank me are in their twenties, and one of those is the only student who is also certified as an instructor (as is, of course, our instructor). Their relative youth is irrelevant.

Just a bunch of people training together.

I get to be the oldest.

Adulting, Fit, Confident

OK, so you've reached that part of your life where you should be adulting all over the place.

This isn't easy, and you can lose track of what's important. You've got to take care of yourself.

So, being out of school, you'd better learn be a confident person, and to be keeping fit.

If you like ball-related activities, the fitness thing is pretty easy to sort out.

Team sports are a bit tricky. It's hard to get large groups of folks together to play, for example, volleyball. It only gets harder with time. Small groups just work out better.

There's tennis, and golf, and stuff like pickleball. Lots of things like that. My good friend Bernie plays pickleball and badminton.

The only issue, is that you still need to join some kind of league, or group, or just to know a few people who share your interest to go play the front nine. Bernie's groups always want him to join their executive committee.

Or maybe you just might be like me and despise anything to do with team sports, or things played with balls, or birds, or pucks.

Running can work, or biking, or something less traditional. Our area has fencing. En garde!

Find your thing, get fit, and have fun.

But wouldn't it be cool to do something that increases your level of confidence at the exact same time.

Nothing I've listed so far are a-list activities in this regard. I think learning to speak Japanese or Spanish would do more for me in that regard than playing tennis. The only problem is, taking academic courses does nothing for the old bod'.

Here comes the sales pitch; consider martial arts.

Although a Karate guy for decades, I'm currently training in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, so will come at it from that angle.

You go to a class, receive instruction, and practise the material with some other people.

Before you get all worried and think somebody is going to beat you up, relax. There is nothing even remotely similar to fighting in the beginner class.

You get shown two techniques per evening; one while standing, and one on the ground. The ground one usually has a few variations.

The instructor demonstrates things one bit at a time, from several angles, and in great detail. Then you work on it with another new person. The instructor and a bunch of helpers cruise around and assist. After a few minutes it's time for the next demo of the next bit. Then you work on that.

Before you know it the hour is over. Nobody grabbed you and threw you about, making you feel stupid, or hurting you. You do this twice a week, for about a year.

Towards the end of that period, you will experience having an advanced student sort of attacking you, but only with a series of exactly the aggressive moves that you've been learning how to handle. They do it exactly the way you expect, and you will find that the “correct” response comes naturally to you. Don't worry about being unable. I've been training for four years, and every single person to have joined in that time has been able to handle this.

If you've made it through the program for that long, you will find yourself surrounded by people far less experienced than yourself. The only ones with more training are the teacher assistants, and other members of the advanced class.

Maybe you choose to do the exam to become one of them. If you do, you will be introduced to the intimidating world of free sparring. The cool thing is that your partners really want you to succeed, and will offer pointers, and go at a speed and intensity appropriate to your newby-hood. Soon, this too will become second nature.

So what do you get if you don't join the advanced class? For one thing, you'll be more fit. If you didn't increase your eating, your weight will have been dropping about 1/4 pound a week. You'll also have gained muscle. You will be stronger.

You'll also have participated in a year-long course focused totally on self-defence. You will have worked with folks of every size and strength, cooperatively. You will be quite used to handling big folks pretending to be aggressive and out to take your head off.

Perhaps you visit a pub with a few friends one evening. You look around and think, “I bet I could handle anybody here.”

That's a pretty cool feeling, especially if you're a smallish dude. It's even better if you are a 5', hundred-pound chick.

Keep coming and it gets even better. So you take the test, and earn a fancy schmancy Blue Belt. You'll be training even more, and your body will become even stronger, and if you so choose, thinner. You will learn infinitely more complicated material, but it will be introduced in a progressive manner.

You'll get even more confident visiting that pub, or in the mall, or everywhere. It's nice, and you don't get that from golf, tennis, or jogging.

So what else do you get that goes along having a better life? I had a friend in Karate who maintained almost perfect attendance. He was single, and had a decent job. One day at coffee, various people explained why they trained. His contribution was that if he wasn't at Karate, he'd be at the bar, which would be bad for him, and would cost a fortune over time. His conclusion was that he didn't care what it cost, martial arts were saving him a big bucks.

The downside is that you might miss out on some TV watching, or Facebooking, or Pinteresting, or even reading my blog.

Pick a Goal

I get tired of all the nonsense about how you should, "go for your dreams and everything will go your way."

It's a lie.

Every significant human endeavour contains a massive random component. That's right; I said luck.

Take my progress in Jiu-Jitsu. I am trying to get as high in rank as I can, as fast as I can. My age is pretty advanced for this kind of activity, and there are a limited number for years that I'll be able to do it at full speed.

I started training in September of 2011. My first promotion is one that should have happened around Christmas of the next year. I did extra private lessons, and solo practice, and finished in 9 months. I went for my dream, but luck was involved.

Early on in my training, I started repeatedly injuring my feet. It seemed to be something to do with my old toes not bending properly whenever they got slammed into the mat. Nobody else experienced this. It is certain that more than a few of these injuries involved broken toes. I just duct taped them together, and kept going. After a couple of months, it stopped happening.

If the pain had been more intense, or if my feet hadn't eventually adapted, my training could have ended right there. Logically, it should at least have slowed me down. It did neither.

Then I picked up a cracked rib at Karate. Hurt like a bugger, but like toes, there is no way to cast up a rib. Kept training, with great care. It took a very long time to heal, but eventually did.

If the crack had been a bit more severe, or if somebody had landed hard on it at Jiu-Jitsu, it could well have ended my training. It should have slowed me down, but it didn't.

Got my Blue Belt, and started working through the curriculum that would eventually earn me a stripe. It should have taken about two years. I did it in one-and-a-half. Again, I'd done extra lessons and tons of solo work.

Went and visited the Gracie Academy after that for 8 weeks. Trained for 101 classes with world-class instructors, and rolled with many, many people of every rank. Came home tired but uninjured.

By then, the promotion system was about to change in a manner that would be infinitely in my favour. Eight months per stripe would now be easily possible. It looked as if the new system would make my next promotion happen July, but that isn't how it turned out.

As soon as I got home from Los Angeles, my instructor awarded me a second stripe, which he made official at the earliest date that he could. I got to wear my new stripe in March, and it became “real” in June.

Luck had changed the system for me, and then my instructor's good will had given me an honorary promotion that became real one month ahead of the already-exciting official new system date.

The bad news is that days after my return, I hurt my knee while rolling, bad. This forced me to miss quite a few classes, and then to return while taking it easy. It got re-injured, and I ended up getting an MRI, a number of doctor visits, and a whole pile of physio therapy sessions.

If the injury had been slightly worse, it would have been all over. As it was, the medical advice, and physio, and everything I did to compensate, worked together and I healed up. It seemed to take forever, but I kept training. Major luck for me again.

Got my third stripe in February of 2015, exactly on time to-the-day. Slightly before that date, my hand went into the mat, end on, with both Scott and me on top of it. It got x-rayed, and poked and prodded, and had a visit to a specialist in the city. It didn't stop or slow me, and is also getting better.

I am now less than two months from my 4^th and final Blue Belt stripe promotion.

That will be almost exactly 4 years after I stated training.

If the system hadn't changed, I would be a Blue Belt Stripe Two. I was very lucky that they changed things radically, and I will instead be a Blue Belt Stripe Four.

Any of a myriad of injuries could have stopped or slowed my progress, but I was super lucky in that none of them did.

I am also darn lucky that my old body didn't pick up any injuries of a more significant nature. I figure I'm fortunate to still be training at all.

Am I plowing forward expecting that because I'm pursuing a dream, that things will continue to go my way.

I am not a fan of magical thinking. One bad back roll or foot lock, and I could be done.

Did I push through my injuries with grit and determination? Nope. At every class that I train while taped up, I decide if I should be training that day. The answer is usually "yes." If not, I sit on the sidelines and watch. It was dumb luck that I have had to actually sit out very few times.

What I've done is to work with what I've been given. I did the best I could out of the old rank system, and continue doing the same with the new. Avoiding injury is always in my mind, and when I get one, do the best possible under the circumstances.

I call myself a realist, both in my original goal of getting as far in rank as I can, and in my bumpy road towards attaining it.

If my goal had been, “to get a Black Belt,” it would have been dashed already. The math says that the absolute fastest one could be earned would have me in my 70s. That is just not realistic. I didn't know that when I started, but knew that the road to Black would be very, very long.

If a goal becomes impossible, it's too easy to get discouraged.

So my goal is, “to get as high in rank as possible.” I also have a shorter-term objective to get a Purple Belt. That's only a year or two off, and is therefore almost in my lap, and wouldn't be the end of my road.

And who knows, maybe the winds of luck will blow my way again. Perhaps it will turn out that the Gracie's have a modified standard for geezers, or that they will introduce one.

They have awarded Blue Belts to people much older than me, but I am unaware of any belts of Purple or above being given. Such students face a comprehensive exam process if they are from an outlying school like ours. Students at the Gracie Academy in LA are awarded rank when they are judged ready; no test. Under those test-free rules, old folks can progress to the stars.

For my goal, this isn't necessary. If I cannot get get Black, or Brown, or even Purple then the level below that will be the highest that I can reach.

In any case, the threat can lie in the attainment of the goal.

Take Ronda Rousey. Before her UFC and mma days, she was a high-level Judo competitor. She worked like a fanatic for most of her life leading up to the Holy Grail; the Olympics. She brought home a silver medal. Then what?

She lost direction. She ended up rudderless for a year or two. She drank, and even took up smoking....an Olympic athlete smoking? It took her a long time to find a new dream and regain a sense of stability.

A lot of people have the goal of earning a Blue Belt. They get it, start training half-assed for a while, and then quit.

The phenomenon repeats at Purple, as many make that their goal. Instructors say that this doesn't happen at Brown. It seems those shooting that high, shoot a bit higher to Black. I wonder if it happens at Black, but really have no idea.

It also really helps if your goal just happens to involve something you really like to do.

I really enjoy going to Jiu-Jitsu. If there is something dandy on TV, and some part of me hurts, and I'm tired, and my big chair is soft, I still get up and go to Jiu-Jitsu. JJ only happens during certain hours, and there are lots of other times for all the other things.

Even when I'm training like a nutjob, like I've done for the past week, it only adds up to 14.5 hours. That's about 12% of my waking hours. Normally it's significantly less. That's about the same as a few rounds of golf with lunch afterwards. My wife spends that much time sewing and quilting.

Whenever my body is wracked up, and all I can do is sit on the sidelines and watch, I do that, too. People seem to think this displays some kind of super dedication. Not really. If I stayed home I would just be watching TV or Facebooking, and I enjoy Jiu-Jitsu more. If I can pick up one previously elusive detail, it is worth it.

However, Jiu-Jitsu isn't the ultimate attraction in my life. For example; Helen and I love to travel, and that is something that we can do together, and with friends. The biggest retardant to my Jiu-Jitsu goal is all the holes that travel punches into my attendance.

So here are my thoughts that I think are much better than to, "go for your goals and then everything will go your way."

"Pick a goal that is realistic, and open-ended, and is in an activity that you find to be a hoot, but keep it in perspective, and keep doing it unless something more important pops up, and try to not let injury or illness stop you, but don't be all crazy, and don't let attaining your goal leave you rudderless."

I guess that is a bit too much of a mouthful to make a motivational slogan.

Judo Girl

It was a cool night at Jiu-Jitsu.

A normally hot summer evening, with a normal turnout of regular students, but with two new faces in the beginner group.

One was a tall, athletic guy. He seemed nice, but very ordinary for a beginner.

The other new person who showed up was his friend. She already had a gi, as she has significant Judo experience. Somebody said she is a Brown Belt, and somebody else said she had competed nationally. Very cool.

If she is, in fact, a Brown Belt, that would make her about equivalent of our most senior students.

However, Jiu-Jitsu is not Judo. She wore a White Belt, and seemed happy to do so. When I started, I put aside my Shotokan Karate Black Belt and also put on White. Our instructor is a 5^th degree Black Belt in Hapkido, and he also started Jiu-Jitsu as a White.

In the beginner's class, we worked on “Establishing the clinch with an aggressive opponent” and “arm bar from guard”.

The clinch technique is something that a Judo person wouldn't know. In Judo, there are no punches, so why would you have to prepare from somebody trying to knock your block off?

She tended to stand too close. Perfectly normal for somebody who is used to opponents who walk up and grab. She corrected when told, but tended to revert to closer range. Interesting.

The forward movement to grab the puncher is done very quickly, and she did that very well. However, there is a hell of a chance of eating a punch while doing so. Therefore, we do the blitz in with our arms covering our head as much as practical. Judo girl shot forward with her arms outreaching to clinch immediately.

We shoot forward, hands up, impacting the puncher's chest with our elbows, then clinch. We get close before the grab, protecting the entire way, and with a big of a football style impact into the opponent's chest. Her instinct was to shoot in, arms wide, and clinch immediately.

After one correction, she did it perfectly.

She did our “arm bar from guard” move perfectly on the first try. I bet we do it a tad differently, but nothing earth shattering.

I don't know if either or both will return. I sure hope they do. Likely she will be able to absorb the beginner curriculum very quickly.

Besides gaining two new people, why do I care?

Before class started, she did a few flying break falls to warm up. She does them better than anybody in the joint, including our instructor. I suspect that her Judo skills are darn fine.

I would really, really like to become good at throwing. If you rate arts on their ability in this area, Jiu-Jitsu rates as maybe a 5, and our instructor's other art maybe a 7. Judo is a big old 10.

For example; we have a hip throw. Judo has 11 versions of hip throw.

I hope she keeps coming, and that I can talk her into Judo-ing up my throwing. It's also just cool to refer to moves with Japanese names. Calling it, “O goshi,” instead of “hip throw,” is neat.

No Blurred Line

There are lines.

Not fuzzy lines. Not areas of grey.

Lines.

There is a responsibility inherent in being a part of the gender responsible for the vast majority of violence, domination, and rape.

I'm not saying that every man needs to accept responsibility for these things, but he must be aware of being unavoidably painted with the same broad brush. By not acting appropriately, he will make himself part of the problem that he might indignantly claim he has nothing to do with.

There was a recent incident where a man ran up to a female reporter on camera, planted a big kiss on her cheek, and ran off. She later filed a police report, and was soon contacted by a very contrite fellow claiming responsibility and who made a heartfelt apology. She is getting slammed for over-reacting. Interestingly, all she did was react. The man who “acted” inappropriately in the first place is not facing anywhere near the same condemnation. If he had not acted, she need not have reacted.

He kissed her on camera. What if he had approached her in a dark alley? How about on a quiet trail in a sunlit park? What if it wasn't a kiss, but he had grabbed her boob? What if it wasn't a boob grab, or kiss, but rather a bear hug from behind followed by a humping action? What if it was a bear hug, followed by a body slam to the ground similar to what actor Emile Hirsch did recently to a female film executive at a Hollywood party?

The solution is quite simple. There needs to be a line, and the line is called assault. It is the act of intentionally putting another person in fear of an imminent harmful, or offensive contact. In law, touching another person in a way they don't want is usually taken as a clear indication that an assault has occurred.

For a man to touch a woman, in ANY unwanted way, is unacceptable. Period. Full stop. No ands. No ifs. No buts.

To do so and then argue that it meant nothing is to be an idiot.

There is no way of knowing the history and experiences of any person you have assaulted.

Touching a stranger is incredibly stupid for any man to do. What if that woman is being physically abused at home, and you walk up and grab her shoulder? Were you unaware that such a thing could be possible? Are you surprised to feel her spasm of terror? What if that woman that you've run up behind and playfully kissed has been a victim of rape? What if it's happened to her more than once? How dare you make her feel that again?

There are lines.

You do not wantonly touch. You do not grab. You just do not. Ever.

And when you do touch, and it creates a reaction, you always back away and apologize. It was your horrid mistake. You were an ass. She is not over-reacting. She is reacting to what you never should have done. It is your fault. It is your error. Own it, and if others criticize her, you must defend her. You crossed the line, and everything that happened because of it is a product solely of your behaviour.

Do not whine that this is all so unfair. It is what it is.

If you are in a room of with a dozen men, and everybody is talking about how fed up they are for being held responsible for rape in our culture try applying a few statistics.

Studies show that between 20 and 25% of American men self-report that they have committed sexual assault, and 5 to 8% have self-reported having attempted or committed rape. Likely the actual figures are higher.

Of the those same dozen men claiming innocence, three have committed sexual assault, and one is a rapist.

Walking across a university campus, or in a mall, or in a park, every 12^th guy you pass is a rapist.

The problem is huge, and it isn't enough for any man to claim they aren't part of the problem. They need to accept the fact that the problem is there, and that it is large enough that there is no possible way to avoid the label.

You do not touch.

You are a walking threat, especially to the shockingly large percentage of women who have been damaged by some piece-of-crap man. That isn't your fault, but it is your burden. Your very existence is a challenge for some. Don't make it worse.

Women have to learn to cope with all of this whatever their history.

I am involved with martial arts. Our instructor runs a wonderful self-defence course for women. He runs across women all the time who want to learn to protect themselves, but who are clearly uncomfortable when he is anywhere near them. They can work with other women, but will never be able to train with men, ever.

The gym has a popular exercise program. It is female-only for a couple of hours, and then open for everybody. During the time for women, there are a lot of ladies present, and they leave when the men start to arrive.

This is just how it is. It has nothing to do with how great a particular guy is, or how safe. It has to do with potential threat.

Statistically, Black Bears are safer for me to encounter, than men are for women. Far less than 1% of bears have harmed people in any way whatsoever.

When on a run, if I encounter a bear, I become wary. I notice them, and modify my behaviour. Why?

Usually they lumber away as soon as they see me. Rarely, they hold their ground. Never have they approached me in any way whatsoever.

The reason that I become cautious is that they could destroy me if they so chose.

I feel uncomfortable around pitbulls for the same reason. It doesn't matter to me how nice a particular dog might be, or how reassuring their owner is trying to be. I don't trust dogs in general, or dog owners for that matter, and if a pitbull were to decide to rip me up he is quite able to do so. I am wary around them.

If either a pitbull or a bear were to run up and touch me in any way, I fully plan on having a significant reaction. If you think it is an over-reaction, then you can just go to hell. Whatever my reaction, it was the bloody animal that caused it.

If I run up and touch a woman, and she reacts in a way that I interpret as an over-reaction, it is my fault, and I can just go to hell, too.

My fault. Totally.

No blurred lines. No grey area.

A line, clear and visible, that every idiot should be able to understand.

No Unwanted Touch.

Ever.

Technique Cramming Solutions

There is a crunch coming.

It won't be here until the middle of April, but it will be have a significant effect on how we do things at our Jiu-Jitsu academy. The good news is that April is still 8 months away.

We used to go through a body of curriculum that contained a total of 60 techniques, along with their variations, in a 81 week cycle. That meant we covered each of the 60 items in an average of just over 4 hours of class time.

Now, in addition, we have a second level of technique to cover. That means 120 techniques. Besides more to cover, the amount of time to cover it all has been reduced to 54 weeks, down from 81. That has all conspired to change the average amount of time for each technique down to 1 hour and 21 minutes.

This is a huge change, but it is still working very well, even though some of our newer Blue Belts describe it all as feeling overwhelming. I would say that there is no slack left at all.

In April, we will be incorporating a further 60 techniques into the cycle. The number of weeks to cover it all will remain at 54. That will bring our average amount of class time for each of the 180 items down to 54 minutes.

About a year after that, the number of techniques will go up again, reducing average class time per technique down to 40 minutes. That's crazy, and it will just keep getting worse.

A logical short-term solution would be to add in some more weeks of training. We work on the curriculum in bundles that each get two weeks of time. If we added in a third week, that would increase our 54 week cycle into one of 81 weeks. Strangely enough, that is exactly how much time the cycle used to take when we did it the old way.

That would change the 54 minute crunch that's coming in April quite a bit. The average time per technique would increase to 1 hour 21 minutes. Strangely, that is exactly how much time we currently spend on each technique, and at that pace, things seem to be OK.

When the next level after that kicks in, the pace would be exactly 1 hour per technique, which could be too tight, but still far better than the 40 minutes we were looking at.

The only way I can see it working beyond that would be to switch from the current total-coverage system into one more similar to what is done at the Gracie Academy in Los Angeles.

They don't have 120 techniques like we currently do, or the 180 that we are facing in April, or the 240 of the year after. They literally work on thousands.

Like us, they also do theirs as a cycle broken into little bundles. Like I suggest would be better for us here starting in April, they invest 81 weeks on each time through the cycle.

I have been at the Gracie Academy when they worked through several of these bundles. Mixed in with everything else, there was some of the material we cover here, but not all of it.

They cover as much as they can in 3 weeks, and then move on; the idea being that the other stuff will eventually get covered in later repetitions through the cycle. They try to provide something for every one of a dozen levels, even if they can't do it all.

So my ideas are to add more weeks, and eventually to give up on the idea of being able to cover everything each time through the cycle.

Tawha thinks that perhaps we could divide the class into two groups, without adding weeks. If we are a big enough group by April, that might make sense, too.

Perhaps the newer people would work on the first levels of material, and the more experienced work on the higher-level stuff. The only problem with that is that our instructor would have to do twice as much teaching.

We are sort of doing this informally right now. The first two levels get addressed in the regular class, but the new, third level won't be rolling into the mix until April. To get ready, our instructor wants to work through the stuff as much as he can ahead of time. Therefore, we have an extra class once a week just to work on level three. This is optional, and most people don't attend, but there is a little core of regulars.

Doing this only adds one hour to our instructor's workload, but gets the higher material out to those who want it.

Most likely no one of these suggested methods will do the trick. Probably it will have to be a mix of several, along with other things that have not yet suggested themselves.

Strong Week

It's been a splendid week at Jiu-Jitsu, and it ain't over yet.

Started as normal on Tuesday; White Belt class followed by advanced.

Koko is getting ready for a fancy pants exam, and so worked on that every spare moment of the White Belt time. I like helping the beginners, but this was a chance to work on stuff my level with a highly motivated partner.

The advanced class was normal except for the sparring, that I'll talk about later.

Tuesday was the same deal. I worked with Koko, and then had a normal advanced session, again with interesting sparring.

Wednesday there was no Koko, so a more normal White Belt class. The advanced class wasn't normal at all.

Our curriculum is in three parts, called BBS1, BBS2, and BBS3. There are about 150-200 techniques and variations in each of BBS1 and BBS2. The last section consists of only about 25 as it is only partially released.

Instead of churning ahead on a couple of items for the evening, the instructor had us partner up, and then he called out chunks of BBS1 in rapid succession. Less experienced people were partnered with old timers.

We started with the knowledgeable folks performing the material, while their partner acted as the bad guy (or victim, depending on your viewpoint). We got through the Mount chapter, then reversed roles, did Mount again, reversed roles, worked through the Side Mount chapter, changed roles again, and did Side Mount again.

In hour we did about a third of BBS1, or about 60 to 70 techniques, for each partner. That's about 130 moves total, or about 30 seconds each. Quite remarkable, considering some students were doing things they'd never seen before (with a lot of partner assistance).

By the end we were all dripping with sweat.

We've never done this before. I loved it.

Time was up, so there was no sparring in-class, but Tobias wanted to roll with me afterwards, which we did. Like crazy people; we went for well over 20 minutes.

Which brings me to this week's interesting sparring.

I had about 10 rolls total, for a total of over an hour. This is more than we get in a normal week.

Also, abnormally, I only rolled once with a small person, and once with a less-experienced guy. All my other match-ups were with people of approximately my size and experience level. In every one of those even rolls, both partners went hard.

I learned a lot, and none of it was about technique.

Those guys move faster than me, and on-average are stronger, and they push harder.

Had two roles with Scott. The first was on Tuesday when we were both pretty tired, and the other was the next day, when we were both fresh. When tired, it was pretty even. I suspect I conserve energy better than Scott, but he's generally in better shape, and only in is 20s. I bet he started our roll more tired than I, and burned his remaining fuel faster.

During the roll when we were both fresh, he dominated me. I could feel his heart pounding away as he did so. He was still burning faster than me, but it didn't matter. He easily had enough gas for the length of time we were partnered. In a longer fight, my only chance would be to defend, and let him burn faster. The only problem is that he's gotten too good technically, so that survival for so long a time would be a tricky matter indeed.

My extra-long roll with Tobias yesterday further illustrated the endurance aspect. We started moderately tired, but equal. We've roll a lot together, even before Tobias got his Blue Belt. I am very comfortable with him, and hope he feels the same towards me.

We roll fast, and strong, but are not afraid to try out some goofy shit. Normally nothing good comes of it, but we often laugh without interrupting the roll at all.

Anyhow, I was really getting incredibly tired, but didn't want to stop. Tobias seemed to be slowing down even more than me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nathan. He's a White Belt who comes back late to do private lessons with Tobias. I stopped, and pointed the waiting Nathan out to Tobias. We bumped fists and I headed off the mat. Tobias looked near dead with exhaustion, and was a colour that is only healthy in a tomato.

Again, my manner allows me to conserve more energy than an opponent half my age while still pushing hard. Cool.

Against all the rest of the big and skilled Blue Belts I faced, my big awakening was that I have no technical advantage left. I used to be able to beat them pretty consistently, but no longer. They know everything that I know; the rat bastards.

If there had been a round-robin competition held at our club a year or two ago, between the guys that I'm talking about; me, Scott, Tobias, and Rob, I would probably have beaten all of them.

If we held the same event right now, I would likely end up rock bottom in the pool.

I am still competitive against them, but am definitely the underdog.

I also noticed a few things about my damaged hand. I hurt it a while back, and it turned out it was broken. Since then, I've injured another part of the same hand, and the first injury still isn't better yet. It's at a point now where the hand is fine for regular training, or for a light roll.

In a hard roll, where people resist tapping, it's useless for any form of choke; just can't crank on it hard enough to get a submission. That's a pity, as I like using every sort of collar choke. I still got them, but couldn't finish. Trying probably hurt it more. I learned that I really shouldn't try to finish hand chokes until things are back to 100%. I think I'll still go for them, but then release without applying pressure.

So a week of good training, and a great BBS1 review activity, and rolling that told me to protect my hand by not forcing chokes, and learning that I am solidly surpassed in the free-roll food chain.

All that, and the week is not over yet. It's not even quite the weekend yet.

Tonight there is an extra class devoted to the new BBS3 curriculum. There is a good chance that Koko will want to work out Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. There is also an open-mat session Saturday morning.

I picked the right hobby.

Secret to my weightloss

People have expressed great surprise that I have lost 8 pounds (8.8 actually) in 3 days.

Logically, that should be impossible given;

A) My start and end weights were accurate

B) I am not currently dehydrated

C) I did not experience any truly epic bowel movements

Let me explain. To lose 8.8 pounds of tissue with A, B, and C all being true should be quite impossible.

There are only two ways to lose weight. One must either cut caloric intake, or burn lots of calories up. At my size, if I cut my eating to nothing, that would total a hair under 7500 calories in three days. I ran yesterday and the day before for about 1500 calories, and used up about 2000 at Jiu-Jitsu class.

That would add up to 6000 calories. As each 3500 calories burned uses up about one pound of tissue, that means that even without eating a thing, I could only have dropped about 1.7 pounds. What gives?

However, my actual totals are not as impressive, and so should have produced a weight loss of only 1.2 pounds as I didn't cut my eating anywhere near that much.

There has to be a magic trick.

There is, but not one that is under my control.

While away with friends, we ate a lot of yummy food, but it wasn't calories that got my weight so artificially high. Our meals at their home were bigger than any of us eat normally, but they didn't do much. It was our many, yummy restaurant days eaten over a ten day period. There were a lot of calories, but again that wasn't the issue.

It was salt. Neither my wife, nor Lola, nor Bernie are salt junkies. I am attracted to it more than them, but only on certain foods we prepare at home.

Yesterday, for example, I fried some pork. I added salt as I cooked it, but as the meal wasn't large, not much salt was consumed.

Our friends didn't cook with salt at all. It was the restaurant chow.

Salt is what controls our body's signals regarding fluid. If our bodies get too salty, receptors interpret this as meaning we are dehydrated, and cause our bodies to retain fluid. Most people's issue with this if the effect it has on blood pressure. My pressure is freakishly low, so no problem there. I do, like anybody else, retain fluid.

That means I was very well hydrated when I weighed in at home three days ago. You could call it super-hydrated.

My secret has been to diet and to exercise to handle any real weight gain from our trip, and to let time leak out all the extra juice I accumulated. Salt doesn't stay in the body terribly long.

I'm back to normal.

Weight is Up

Ten days in Vernon with dear friends; what could go wrong?

For the most part, nothing. They are great people to go out with, or to stay in with, or to do projects with, or to just sit about with.

They are our cruise ship buddies. We've been shipboard with them over a dozen times. Most of the fun of that revolves around the dinner table.

...and the breakfast table, and the lunch table, and the in-between table, and assorted yummy snacks.

We kinda act the same way when we get together for a land vacation as well.

So after ten days of yumminess, my mass was up 8 pounds. Not worried, as that was my “arrive home” weight. Whenever it has shot up that quickly it tends to drop just as dramatically for about two days after things are back to normal.

People who don't know, or who are just gross, always think that it must be due excess material exiting the digestive tract. Nope.

Since my “arrive home” weigh in last night, I've eaten a bit, drank a bit, and slept. A little urination happened, but nothing special. No pooping at all.

My weight right now, which was up 8 pounds about 12 hours ago, is now only up 5.4 pounds. I predict this will drop as much as another pound tomorrow.

After that, it gets slow and normal. I'll have somewhere around 4.5 pounds to get rid of the old fashioned way.

My secret? I eat less than a person my size would consume to maintain weight. Nothing dramatic, but a few hundred calories per day. I also get much more active.

Today, there will be a bike ride of at least 10 km, and a similar length of running. The kicker will be over two hours of Jiu-Jitsu tonight.

The diet might shave enough calories to shrink me by a tenth of a pound a day, and the activity will be enough for up to half a pound more.

That, of course, assumes a perfect day. I only get two hours of Jiu-Jitsu a few days a week, and some days Helen is too busy to go bike riding, so I drop it. Sometimes I run daily; sometimes not.

Some days something yummy happens along, and I eat it.

Dick

I try and be a nice guy, and I think I usually do pretty well. Sometimes, I don't succeed.

I'm by far the oldest student at our Jiu-Jitsu school, and realize that some people might not want to roll with me. Most of the time I let other people do the picking of partners. That way anybody can easily avoid me. It is pretty rare that somebody doesn't grab me to work with.

I seem to attract partners smaller than myself, and take that as a compliment. If they don't pick me, one of the more skillful and larger guys does. Being with either a smaller partner, regardless of skill, or one who is my size and similar in ability I take seriously.

On occasion, my partner is my size or bigger and is not yet up to my skill level. That's when I sometimes behave in a way that I'm not proud of.

If they are on the attack, I counter every one, and turn it into a reversal. If they defend, I move quickly from attack to attack. Sometimes I launch no actual submission attempts, but it's pretty clear that I could.

Sometimes I catch myself, and knock it off. I would hate it if some Purple or Brown Belt did it to me.

It is never in my mind to frustrate or humiliate my partner.

It's more like I'm having fun dancing, and my partner just happens to be the dance floor.

With partners of similar skill, there is no way I could get away with it, and breakdancing on a smaller person would be dangerous.

This is probably why I am rarely grabbed as a partner by lower-level folks who are my size or bigger.

I'm a dick.

It is my resolution is to eliminate this behaviour.

Pity that it's so fun.