Weird Guy

At training, there is this one weird guy.

He gets to class early, and does all these weird warm-up exercises. During class he is never still.

Even when demonstrations are being done, he keeps bending and twisting. He is clearly paying attention, but never stops his perpetual motion.

That guy is me.

My back has been a problem lately, as has one knee. Together they have severely limited my ability to move.

The good news is that my warm up gets everything loosened up nicely. The constant bending and flexing keeps things bendy. If I stop at all, I seize up right up.

This week and next I'm off training. We are visiting with good friends.

After a week of relaxation things are feeling fine. This morning, I actually managed a short run. My knee didn't mind at all, and the run made my already-mending back feel great. I've pencilled in another run for tomorrow.

It looks as if I'll be back to 100% by the time I'm back on the mat.

The old carcass isn't done yet.

Balance

I have always been a defensive Jiu-Jitsu fighter. I'm pretty good at it.

Shutting down the other guy's attacks tends to cause frustration. They then  make mistakes I can exploit.

Some people find it uncomfortable having an opponent crushing down from  above them. I'm content to be there.

I have always been far less effective in the offensive role. It doesn't come naturally to me, and I usually revert to defence.

The Gracie Academy changed me.

When sparring there, I remained my usual defensive self when paired with other Blue Belts.

Facing higher belts, I couldn't do so. They usually go defensive when with a lower-level opponent. I had to get comfortable dictating the pace and trying to force submissions. It didn't work against higher-level partners, but there was no other option.

I am home now, and am a changed fighter. Against my peers, I am much more aggressive. I find My skills to be much better balanced. This makes me a much less predictable opponent.

Having learned a mess of technique hasn't hurt, either.

Games

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is well along the road towards becoming a competitive sport. It started as a method of real fighting, and is evolving into an activity that wants to be included in the Olympics.

I don't think turning into a competitive sport is a good thing.
 

Judo did the exact same thing long ago. It became an Olympic sport in 1964. Prior to this, Judo was a martial art that had a sports aspect. After this, many schools shifted towards the sports aspect.
 

What is the difference? In a martial art, the focus is life-long training. One trains in the most effective real-world techniques possible. One also trains within one's own physical limitation.
 

In a combat sport, there have to be rules for safety, and rules to make a measurable contest. Real-world combat does not.
 

Consider wrestling. The ultimate win happens when the opponent is held on his back. Short of that, points are awarded for execution of particular movements. This is the exact opposite of what would be desireable in real combat. Turning someone from belly-down to back-down is to take someone out of a weak combat position and force him into a superior one.
 

Judo awards points for throws. Landing an opponent on his back scores instant victory. It is also barely possible to defeat someone after both competitors are on the ground, but as the years have gone by this has gradually been eroded away to a mere afterthought. I dare you to watch a Judo world championship and try and understand what you see. It won't look like combat.
 

How is this bad? Many Judo clubs require tournament participation in order to progress in rank. Most stress training within the narrow parameters of tournament rules. All else is ignored. There are Judo Black Belts out there who've never worked on what to do if somebody tries to punch them. No punching in Judo competition.
 

How many boxers know what to do if somebody tackles them? How will a wrestler respond to facing a striker?
 

A lot of Jiu-Jitsu groups already work exclusivly on sport training.
 

My kind of Jiu-Jitsu does not do this. Most practitioners never get involved in tournaments at all.
 

One starts as a White Belt, and stays that way for roughly a year. In that time, everything that is learned is street-combative applicable. Most of this would be useless in a tournament. Students don't free roll at all.
 

After that year is over, and a Blue Belt is earned, the student starts training in the advanced class. Tons of free rolling here. The technique here is a mix of real-world and sport. We always stress which venue it's appropriate for. Some work well in both.
 

Some days we do a sort of self-defense free rolling. One partner wears padded gloves and assumes the role of a punching non-Jiu-Jitsu attacker. The other partner wears no gloves, as they do not punch. They have to try and handle their buddy's attacks.
 

You have to get past their swinging fists, and get them to the ground. Once there you have to control them and find a submission, all while still getting swung at. Leave an exploitable hole and a fist will quickly find its way in. It's a reality check.

I personally far prefer regular rolling, but do understand the value of the punching game.
 

If martial arts were all aimed towards competition, I would have no interest at all. They would be just another game, just the same as tennis, or golf, or soccer. Those have never interested me. I wouldn't sign up for boxing or wrestling either.

All of those are just games.

Twenty

In my real life, I don't think I'm old. I'm a mere 57 years of age. Running is no problem, nor is bike riding.

Martial arts are another matter. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of older folks involved in these activities, but generally they have been doing so for a very long time. They are the revered experts.

Trying to get involved in such things late in life are not easy. Unlike long-time practitioners, neither the bodies nor the neural pathways are prepared.

This is true of younger beginners, too, but very, very different. Their bodies and brains adapt rapidly to the new movements. They also get injured much less than older beginners, and heal a hell of a lot faster.

This is especially true of grappling arts.

So here I am at 57. I started Gracie Jiu-Jitsu at 54. The average age of my fellow Blue Belts at the local academy is about 25. They are much more flexible than I, and faster. They shake off injuries that would lay me up for weeks.
 

My only advantage is that I am an old guy, and retired, and can do as much training as I want to and that my body will allow.

On a typical week I attend all three White Belt classes, as well as all three Blue Belt classes. Other than Elizabeth, I'm the only one to regularly do so. I also attend both open-mat sessions to get in extra drill. Even Elizabeth doesn't do that.

I also trained at the Gracie headquarters academy in Los Angeles for two months recently. Retirement is quite sweet.

What I'm saying is that I keep up to my peers with hard work and extra training.

But I'm still very, very old for Jiu-Jitsu.

Right now, my old body doesn't want to play. My back is giving me problems, as is one of my stupid knees. For the last couple of weeks I've had to do a lot of limbering up exercises just to be able to train.

So here I am all crippled up, rolling around with the young folks.

And then after class, Scott gave me a great complement. He described me as, “moving like a twenty-year-old.”

Not precisely accurate, but I'll take it.

Tobias

It can sometimes be hard to measure any progress that is achieved during an intensive training period.

My recent two-month visit to LA was just such an intensive training period.

I learned a lot of technique, and got lots of practice, but did I actually get any better.

I am fortunate that there is a pretty scientific measure that can be applied.

At our local training centre before my trip, there was another Blue Belt named Tobias, who was almost exactly my match in free rolling. He's younger and stronger, but I had a bit more experience and training. I used to regularly beat him, but he was catching up fast. Around Christmas he had caught up and the tide was definitely about to turn.

While I was gone he continued to train. In LA I got over four times as much training as Tobias did. I was also rolling with a very wide range of partners, including every rank from Blue Belt to Black.

Since getting home, I've rolled with just about everybody. It seems much easier than before, but Tobias is my measuring stick.

Against him, I'm ahead again.

At least for a couple of months, and then he'll catch me again.

New Rules

I train in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. They have three types of training.

You can train directly with Rener and Ryron Gracie down in Southern California, or through their online distance program called Gracie University. My situation is sort of half way in between.
 

I train at one of their Certified Training Centers.
 

All of their programs are great, but their system of rank progression has left a lot to be desired.
 

Most martial arts award their practitioners a Black Belts after about five years of training. Down in LA, it is possible to earn a Gracie Black Belt in about 11 years. It's a long road.
 

Being away from the center meant an even longer journey. To earn a Black Belt took 24 years. That isn't a typo.
 

The program, however, is only five years old. The Gracies chose to err on the side of progression that is too tough, rather than too easy. They've now had a chance to see things in operation for a while, and have decided to change the process somewhat. Rank progression has become more in line with what happens at the main academy.
 

Under the new system, a distance Black Belt can be earned in about 14 years. This is still longer than if one can train directly with the Gracies, but is much closer than it was.
 

My rank was Blue Belt Stripe One under the old system. Under the new rules, I was already qualified to receive a second stripe. I received this promotion earlier this week. I am now a Blue Belt Stripe Two. This leaves two stripes left to go, and then the jump up to Purple Belt.
 

Under the old system, a Purple Belt was so far off as to seem unattainable. Now I can see it waiting for me about three years away.
 

The big jump from Blue to Purple, or from Purple to Brown does have one new requirement. They can only awarded after an in-person evaluation by the Gracies, or any of their authorized Black Belts.
 

This would have to occur at a seminar somewhere, at the Gracie Academy in California, or by bringing an evaluator in specially for the purpose. This is no biggie for me as Helen and I often visit the Los Angeles area.
 

A much improved system, in my opinion.

Home Mat

Quiet night at Jiu-Jitsu. There were five Blue Belts, and an even dozen White Belts. A cool feature was that five of the White Belts were new faces to me. That's what two months away will do.

I was only there to watch as I've picked up a crummy virus. I couldn't train last night either, but observed at the Blue Belt class. There were seven present then.

So why not stay home if I'm a bit under the weather? I don't want to miss the new material that the Blue class is covering. I'm sure I could pick it up later, but want to use all my free time on the mat to review what I did in California. I figure that will be my most efficient use of time.

The Guard Sweeps stuff is all quite fresh, but I haven't done Guard Submissions in a month and a half. They have faded greatly. In Torrance we moved away from Guard Submission Counters three weeks ago, so they are somewhere in between.

I intend suiting up on Friday and Saturday. There are free mat times on both days and I want to get reviewing and remembering. There will be other people there. Maybe they'll want to work with me, or maybe not.

I hope someone does help. They would learn the techniques they assist me with and there would then be two brains to retain the knowledge, and not just one.

Two is better.