Late Year

The calendar claims that the year starts on January 1^st. The reality is that the beginning is in September.

That's when the school year starts, and so that is the reality for everybody who has kids, is a kid, or who works in a school.

When I used to be a salesman, things were slow most of the year in comparison to the fall and early winter seasons. The kick off for all the activity came in September. People just seemed to have made the shift from the laziness of summer, to focusing on everything they'd been letting slide. It was a fresh start.

I've been in Martial Arts for over 30 years, and September has always been the time when the vast majority of people would start their training adventure. Well over half of everybody start in September compared to a similar number spread over the other eleven months.

This year, in Jiu-Jitsu, I was getting scared. September had ended, and we had absolutely no new students. This is a big deal, as our school is situated in a fantastic facility. The rent isn't cheap. There were still a good number of non-new students, but failing to get more in September was daunting.

It is now October, and the situation has changed. In the last week or so we have had four new White Belts on the mat. Why are they arriving now, and not a month ago?

I think it has to do with the school year, more so than the month. The kids going back to hitting the books is a huge societal signal that summer is over. This year, the school year started late.

There has been a nasty labour dispute between the government and the teachers that delayed the start of the school year significantly. Hot, beautiful weather reinforced further the perception that summer wasn't over.

Now the kids are back in school, and the weather has shifted to cold and rain. Fall has started by every definition, and people of every age have started selecting their year's activities.

Things seem OK after all.

Test or No Test

We are presented with a lot of material to learn at Jiu-Jitsu.

It takes about 15 months to cycle all the way through the curriculum. Currently, we are working through the first two levels of Blue Belt material. That means that we average about two new technique variants per class.

Let's say you learn something cool. Four weeks later somebody asks you about it. Since then you've “learned” dozens more. Just how well will you be able to remember that one? How well did you really learn it? How well will you recall it six months later?

The idea is that you pick up just a few techniques that become your own, and experience the vast majority without internalizing them the first time through.

Jiu-Jitsu is the long game. Over the years repetition will occur, and more will become internalized.

There is an alternate track where mastery is expected. You learn the same material in the same classes, but with the goal of taking extensive examination at each level. To make this possible requires a great deal of additional, self-directed practice.

Once you feel ready, you video record the examination drills for the 60 techniques (about 180 variants) of your current level. To make this do-able, the test is broken into 3 chunks for recording, each of which is about 15 minutes long. There are also 3 sparring sections that also have to be submitted. Do well enough and you pass the exam.

Passing doesn't really change your rank. All that happens is that one of your current rank stripes gets replaced with a slightly snazzier one from Gracie University.

What does change with all that preparation is that you really know that level's material.

This is good in itself, but there is a hidden benefit.

Take me, for example. I have completed the first-level Gracie University exam. We are working on level one and two in class. When a technique is level one, it is review for me. I do it, and enjoy it, and become better at it, but I already know it. As we receive both level-one and level-two techniques intermingled, I can focus more on the stuff that's new to me. As a result, I seem to be learning the level-two stuff better than those folks who have to try and absorb it at the same time as they are learning level one.

This is even true when it is somebody who has “done” the level-one material before. They have absorbed it at a superficial level, and pretty much have to re-learn it. They are only a little ahead of the total newbies. Putting myself through the exam prep and process is very different. I don't have to re-learn the old stuff at all.

This effect is all that is tempting me to do the level-two exam. In about six months, our school will be done the entire cycle, and starting again. The difference will be that instead of being just levels one and two, we will be adding level three.

It would be nice to go through without having to re-learn level one and two. I'd be able to focus on learning just level three.

Let's take a pair of hypothetical twins, both earning their Blue Belts on the exact same day. They join a class that is working through the first two levels, and that will be adding another each time the class goes all the way through the cycle.

Twin one, Mary, puts in the effort to follow the exam route, while twin two does not. She puts in extra study on top of what the class does. After each time through the 15-month cycle, Mary does the appropriate additional preparation for examination.

At cycles end, her brother Larry has retained about 25% of all the material he was presented with. At that time his sister is sitting at 100% of level one and 25% of level two.

Going through the cycle again, Larry becomes 50% at level one, 50% of level two, and 25% level three. Mary is able to focus more on the higher levels and already knows level one. She would end the period at 100% level one, maybe 60% level two, and 35% level three, but again she trains for mastery and the exam. Mary actually ends at 100% for both level one and level two, and 35% of level three. As she already knew part of level two from her last time through, she finds this exam easier than it was last time. This is good, as the exams are a bitch.

Again into the cycle. This time Larry ends up 75% level one, 75% level two, 50% level three, and 25% level four. Mary, again testing, ends up 100% for levels one, two and three, and is 35% level four.

Larry's total is 225, while Mary is at 335. Her Jiu-Jitsu is about half again as knowledgeable as her twin brother's is.

These figures are, of course, subject to subjective interpretation, but the implications are clear. The superior progress would be just as possible without the exams, but I can't imagine anybody doing so year after year without some kind of framework. The level exams provide a yardstick and a from of motivation.

Nothing magical about if, as she will have put in a lot more drill and study over the years.

Baggage

The newest trend in air travel is paying to have luggage. There is no longer even a one checked-bag allowance. There are fees on all of it.

As a result, almost everybody maxes out what they are allowed to take as carry on.

Helen and I used to travel this way, even when checked bags were free. It means zipping past the baggage area and getting through customs before the crowd hits. It is a huge time saver.

So we are back to carry on. Airlines used to be pretty lax as to what was allowed with you, but that has changed as well. There are getting to be regular checks, and fees for oversized or overweight carry on stuff that make the regular, checked-bag fees look like a bargain.

We are making sure we are within all the parameters.

Item one that you're allowed is your actual carry-on bag. The maximum dimensions are 9 inches by 15.5 by 21.5. These are the Air Canada figures, but other airlines are pretty close. The thing also cannot weigh over 22 pounds.

You are also allowed an additional “personal item”. This can be something like a laptop, purse or camera bag. It must be able to be squeezed to fit 17 inches by 13 by 6 and must be under 10 pounds.

I cheat this a bit by wearing my travel vest, made by SCOTTeVEST. It has 24 pockets, including a big momma that can take both of our iPads.

Even maxed out, it makes for limited carrying capacity. When cruising, formal night is out of the question.

My latest great find is vacuum packing bags. You stuff things in, and then suck all the air out via the bag's built-in valve. The results can be amazing. The biggest single item we took on our last trip was Helen's special pillow. I turned it from a pillow into a pancake. It doesn't even take much suction. For the return trip we had no vacuum, so I just sucked the air out manually, so to speak. It was easy and worked just as well.

The only drawback is that they make a pile of clothes into something that looks like a truck ran over it, and that is as stiff as lumber. The best method is to put the bag inside the suitcase, and pack normally inside the bag. That way when the air is removed everything will conform to the shape of the bag. Using these things I can pack twice as much; remembering to be careful about the weight restrictions.

Getting searched at security or customs could be interesting. The bags would all have to be breached for the search, and then carefully repacked and mouth-sucked back down to size. Quite a show, but it hasn't happened yet.

When we travel next, I'm going to go very minimalist. I like to pick stuff up on vacation, and will need some bag real estate to accept the acquisitions. When we step onto the plane, my only shoes will be the ones on my feet. I'll have a single pair of long pants and one collar shirt. Both of these will also be worn in the air. No electric razor for me, just a disposable. Underwear? Several pairs of old ones, that won't be coming home, if you get my drift.

My goal is that my pair of tiny carry-on cases will be half empty on the initial flight, and will come back filled to capacity with stuff from abroad. Helen's bags will be going maxed out (with a little slop over into mine), so I'll need room for her purchases as well.

Last time, my bigger bag came back with a wee hernia from over stuffing.

Must be careful.

Why?

I have another reason why somebody might want to take up Jiu-Jitsu.

Let's say, like many of us, you find weight control to be a bit of an issue. Maybe your weight has snuck up and you want to get rid of it. Picking a number out of a hat, let's say you have 30 pounds you want gone.

You should get yourself any of a number of apps to calculate what your food intake should be to maintain your weight at it's current level. Use the app to record what you consume. Don't diet to lose pounds, just to stay your current, tubby self.

Start training at a school like ours that is very friendly and safe for newcomers. You'll be attending 2 one-hour classes per week. You'll be burning about 900 calories by doing so. Your weight should start a gentle decline of about a pound a month.

Five months later you'll qualify for a third, more advanced class per week. You will also have lost 5 pounds by that time. At this point your weight loss will increase by 50%.

Another four or five months in and you'll have earned a Blue Belt. Your weight loss total should be over 10 pounds at this point.

As a Blue Belt, you'll start attending the advanced classes which happen immediately after the White Belt classes. Like about half of the Blue Belts, keep coming to the White Belt classes on top of your own. Start attending open-mat times, too.

This sounds like a lot, and it is, but Jiu-Jitsu is a little like a drug addiction. You'll probably want to do it.

Instead of dropping a pound or pound-and-a-half each month, now you're losing a pound a week. Another 5 months and you've reached your 30 pound weight loss goal without cutting back on food at all.

Now comes the unpleasant part. To maintain your dream weight while doing all that training you'll have to start eating more. About 30-40 slices of bacon a week more. Or perhaps you fancy Breyers Cookie Dough ice cream. You could scarf down 10 to 15 cups of that stuff. Or 45 cups of frozen peas and carrots if that's your thing.

The point being, you can live life at your chosen, ideal weight while eating considerably more than you do now. You will be fit, strong, and nicely able to defend yourself should you ever have to. You'll have new friends, and get to roll around on the padded floor with them like a herd of puppies.

It's fun.

Tech

I've got a lot of tech projects going these days at Jiu-Jitsu.

The first is that I've started wearing a heart monitor during training. I'm learning all sorts of interesting things about energy expenditure and such. I need more data, but it looks promising.

It seems that I burn about 300-350 calories per hour during general training, and 900-1000 per hour during sparring. It also seems that I'm relatively relaxed during sparring.

So far I've only worn the thing for part of two training nights. This week I'll have that baby strapped on for every bit of training.

My other tech project is movie making. I can't do it during regular class, but will have it ready to go during the two open-mat sessions. Normal practice will take precedence if anybody wants to work on anything else. If not, it's movie time.

It involves a remote-control GoPro camera that will be strapped onto somebody during sparring. I am guessing that it will probably have to be choreographed combat, but maybe not. We'll see. If it doesn't start this week, perhaps it shall next.

Heart 2

We've got great visitors from out of town with us right now, so I'm taking a wee break from training. I've been to the classes for my level, but have skipped three White Belt and two open-mat sessions.

Besides all the beach walks and restaurant eating, I've been thinking about the results recorded by my heart rate monitor from Thursday's sparring.

The device divides heart activity into a number of zones. These are determined by a person's age, weight, height, and resting heart rate.

On Thursday, I rolled for 2 five-minute rounds. As I wanted to do it under maximum stress, I chose the two biggest guys as partners.

How would my body react? Subjectively, I think I handle it well. I judge myself as very able to relax even when being crushed under an opponent and under imminent threat of submission. Would the monitor agree? Have I been fooling myself?

Well, the numbers are in. As expected, during sparring my heart rate went up. Surprisingly, it was only in my top zone for 83 seconds. This fits in very well with my subjective self-evaluation.

I look forward to playing with my monitor during bike rides. How much effort goes into those, and is it really a great form of exercise? With my bum knee running is still out of the question. I'd love to get some figures to compare biking and running.

The investigating continues....

Hearts and Minds

Did something a little different at training last night.

I wore a heart monitor, and had an app on my iPad recording how things went. It is strictly for fun and interest.

I've been investigating fitness monitors for a while. Seems there are two general categories.

The first are devices like the Fitbit. You wear it on your wrist, and it acts like a space-age pedometer. It has an accelerometer that keeps track of how much your arm is moving about. These seem to work really well for walking and running, but not much else. They interpret bike riding as no exercise at all, as the wrist barely moves. They would also be useless for Jiu-Jitsu.

I was hoping that some of them would allow you to switch them to some similar activity and that they would compensate for this lack of movement, but none do.

The other type of monitors are heart rate based, or use accelerometers and heart rate combined.

The expensive ones look like wrist watches, but apparently can only measure pulse when the wearer isn't moving. They don't typically do a record of a session, but are used rather to gain an immediate snapshot. Workout, stop, check heart rate, go back to workout.

The device I chose is a chest-strap heart rate monitor. All it does is measure heart rate, and sends the data via low-energy Bluetooth to a phone or tablet. Entire sessions get recorded. This is what I was doing last night.

The class was 1 hour, 9 minutes and 43 seconds long. My average heart rate was 99 beats per minute (my resting heart rate is under 50), and I burned 326 calories.

I didn't stay for sparring, so these figures are about what one would expect.

Cool.

Tonight I'll be packing a monitor again. There will be less sitting time, as it is a review night. Things won't be getting demonstrated. I predict more calories burned, and a higher average heart rate.

This time I'll stay for the rolling, and here there should be some really significant changes. I expect that my heart rate will spike when we're sparring. My heart rate just might max out in spurts. It should be interesting.

At least to me.