Innovation

It can be hard to be a good martial arts student.

There are just so many versions of everything, even within a clearly defined art.

For example, the Rener and Ryron version of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu has a particular grip that is used whenever double underhooks are achieved in a clinch. Their uncle, Royce Gracie, teaches the same movement with different grip. A difference, even within a single martial arts family. They even live in the same suburbs in LA, for Pete's sake.

Which is better? Which should we do?

Simple; you stick to one version, but be aware of the other. We are learning the Rener/Ryron version, and future movements that they teach may be predicated on the grip they expect us to be using.

We aren't learning a collection of movements, but an entire art as interpreted our head instructors.

If that argument isn't enough, how about this one. Suppose you like Royce's grip better, and start doing it all the time. Let's say you pick up what you think are better ways to do certain other movements. Then you do a belt-stripe exam. You can get away with a maximum of 20 “mistakes”. Let's say you do really well, and only do a dozen real mistakes. You also perform your version of other moves without thinking, and the examiner counts these as errors as well. You might just fail.

This is perfectly fair. They are quite up-front about their exams being aimed at exactly the material they teach, done in exactly the manner they expect you to perform them.

I find there to be more than enough material to master without going looking for extra versions of things.

This may sound funny being the guy from our school that trains in other places more than anybody else.

In 2014 and 2015 I have trained for a total of 3.5 months away from home. This does not contradict my philosophy at all, as every one of the 127 classes I attended were presented by my own organization.

Am I a robot, mindlessly following my leaders? Don't be silly. I learned this approach years ago in Shotokan Karate. I had to get good enough at doing things precisely their way. There wasn't anything left to dedicate to much else. I didn't avoid picking outside things up, but didn't hunt different stuff out either.

To me; it's a lot like learning to read English. When they teach you the alphabet, they expect you to learn it the way it's being taught. They don't want you deciding to use German vowel sounds rather than English, or adding in Cyrillic characters. Those are totally different things. Neither better nor worse, but not all that useful in learning to read English.

I like the Japanese version of fiddling with one's martial art. They believe that it's a job left to the highest of the masters. At a minimum, tinkering should be left to those with experience in an art that is measured in decades.

I was a 30 year guy in Shotokan, and still didn't consider myself advanced enough to tinker. In Jiu-Jitsu, I'm a baby with under four years experience.

I think Royce Gracie's version of the double-underhook clinch grip is great, and if I were his student I'd be happy to do it that way.

But I'm not.

Changes

There are interesting changes happening at our Jiu-Jitsu school.

Part of it has to do with age.

Take our advanced group. There are currently about a dozen of us. The absolute youngest Blue Belt is 20, and the oldest is me at 58. There is only one youngster, who is currently a few weeks too young to receive a Blue Belt, and trains with us wearing a White Belt. He is 15.

Our White Belt groups has been similar. Until recently everybody has been in their 20s or 30s, at least until I went off to Southern California and Arizona for a couple of months.

Let's call the average age to have been about 30 for the entire group.

The White Belt class has totally altered. A large group of new students has joined, all in their early teens. The average for the entire beginners' class is now under 20 years of age.

This will become even more noticeable when the old hands in the group get promoted up to Blue Belt, leaving only young folks behind.

I hope I don't sound like an old fart decrying the decay of our training environment with the arrival of the young folks. Quite the contrary. I think it's refreshing.

There is another change; this time to do with female participation.

For the longest time, our club has had exactly two female practitioners. That works out to only about 10% of our population. Both of them have been on the mat for years. One has a single stripe on her Blue Belt, and the other has two.

Sometimes a new woman will join for a while, but it has been rare, and they haven't stayed long.

Now, within the new group of young people, there are two girls. This has already doubled our level of gender equity.

They seem to be having fun, and usually partner either with each other, or with our two Blue Belt women. I don't know how they feel about training with gentlemen, but it doesn't seem to be a problem right now. Best get the hook in deep.

Again, a great development.

Sense and Not

The following is a tally of all the verified ranks listed on the Gracie University web site, from Blue Belt Stripe One clear up to the highest rank of Tenth Degree Black Belt. The ones at the top are the lowest ranks, and the ones at the bottom are the highest.

208 Blue Belt One Stripe

73 Blue Belt Two Stripes

28 Blue Belt Three Stripes

8 Blue Belt Four Stripes

93 Purple Belt no stripe

17 Purple Belt One Stripe

3 Purple Belt Two Stripes

3 Purple Belt Three Stripes

1 Purple Belt Four Stripes

45 Brown Belt no stripe

7 Brown Belt One Stripe

5 Brown Belt Two Stripes

2 Brown Belt Three Stripes

1 Brown Belt Four Stripes

50 Black Belt no stripe

5 Black Belt One Stripe

3 Black Belt Two Stripes

3 Black Belt Three Stripes

2 Black Belt Four Stripes

2 Black Belt Five Stripes

1 Black Belt Six Stripes

2 Black Belt Seven Stripes

2 Black Belt Eight Stripes

3 Black Belt Nine Stripes

2 Black Belt Ten Stripes

There are a number of anomalies within this listing. The first would be any errors I made in counting them off of the online listing. A second would be that it is possible that the listings include a mix of both active and inactive members, with no way for a casual observer to know which is which.

There was also at least one Black Belt whose rank was listed as “Technical,” which is supposed to be a designation only for Blue Belts whose rank was achieved by online testing, and not for any higher ranks.

In addition, there are at least a few deceased persons on the list. The most notable are the only 2 Tenth-Degree Black Belts recognized by the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu organization, Helio and Carlos Gracie, the co-founders of the art.

So what does it all mean? Darned if I know, but there are a few interesting patterns.

Within every Belt color there are less registered as the rank within the Belt goes up. For example; there are 45 Brown Belts with no stripes, 7 with one stripe, 5 with two, 2 with three, and 1 with four stripes. This is what one would expect.

From Belt to Belt, there is also a clear progression. There are 317 Blue Belts (even with no-stripes not tabulated due to my laziness), 114 Purple Belts, 60 Brown Belts, 50 no-stripe Black Belts, and 25 above that. I consider it fair to divide Black Belts into the groups of lowest, and all above that. Every other level has a student resident at that level for about 5 years, while Black Belt ranks are much more long lived.

Taken as a continuum, it is a very weird pile of data. There are more than 11 times as many zero-stripe Purple Belts as there are four-stripe Blue Belts just below them. There are also 2 times as many zero-stripe Brown Belts as there are four-stripe Purple Belts under them and 50 times as many new Black Belts as four-stripe Brown Belts. What's up with that? Taking this phenomenon as a whole, and add all the zero-stripe Belts together and all the four-stripes together, we find there are 188 people sitting one rank ABOVE 10 others just below. This is very strange, and only happens at the transition between four stripes and the full-color-belt promotion just beyond that.

Anyhow, these are the figures. Make of them what you will.

Two Eyes

There were two interesting events I noticed during sparring time. I rushed to be out again to the spectators area as quick as I could after class.

They were doing 5 minute rounds, then switched partners. When I got seated, I noticed one of the regularly-attending, Purple Belt women rolling with the highest-ranked woman I've seen here so far. She is a Brown Belt, and was clearly in control, but the roll was gentle and instructive for her partner. I think they were the only women in a crowd of about 50 men.

The buzzer sounder to re-pair, and the Brown Belt partnered up with a big, teen-aged lad. He was wearing a Green Belt, which is a junior rank denoting skill level of about Blue Belt level. He must be just under the 16-year-old minimum for Blue, he was athletic, and considerably bigger than her. As expected, she was in control again.

The buzzer went again. With all those people pairing up, I found it strange that she ended up with nobody. This never happens to Brown Belts. People are always eager to roll with them, but not her. Did this mean something, or was it a fluke? After 5 minutes the buzzer sounded again, and still no partner. This was odd.

Granted, she didn't aggressively grab anybody, either. After about a minute into the round Alex, one of the instructors, grabbed her to roll.

I haven't figured out what this all means, but there are definitely some gender issues that happen on the mat.

While observing all this, I was also keeping my eye on the big cheese, Rener Gracie. He was with a top Purple Belt during the first round, teaching as they rolled.

There was a non-Gracie Brown Belt visiting from someplace, and when the partner-change sounded, Rener waved him over. He wasn't nasty about anything, but he proceeded to defeat everything the Brown Belt tried, and didn't attack much himself.

They stayed together for the entire rest of the roll time.

Rener is so nice that he wouldn't be doing it to, “put the stranger in his place.”

I don't think the Brown Belt was upset. If anything, it would be an honor to be taken so seriously by Rener Gracie on the mat.

I think Rener likes playing with strangers. It gives him a chance to see what is current with other styles of Jiu-Jitsu, and might present some different challenges.

So one eye on Rener, and the other on the female Brown Belt.

Pity I don't have more eyes.

Watch and Learn

There is a phenomenon that I have experienced many times, but that I haven't heard talked about much. This is a weird omission, as I used to be a teacher. I wish I knew what it was called, and if anybody knows, it would be super if they would contact me.

It might be a variation on visualization, but I don't know.

Here's how it works.

You have been working away training in an activity for a long time; perhaps Karate. Your progress is steady, but slow.

You go to watch some big tournament. You are fully engaged in the bleachers, exposed to performance by top-level competitors.

You return home, and go back to training, and discover you have improved. Significantly improved. Your movements are crisper, and you are reacting faster. It isn't that you've picked up a couple of technique ideas from the tournament, but that may of may not have also happened. You are just better, in an overall way.

This has happened to me many times over the years.

It has also happened to me in Jiu-Jitsu. Every time I've watched something like one of the televised Metamoris competitions, there has been a tiny, but noticeable improvement in my performance.

Most recently I've experienced this phenomenon again, but to the greatest degree ever.

I 've just come off of a month and a half of vacation. During the first two weeks I trained at the Gracie Academy in Los Angeles for 17 group and 4 private classes, and spread over the rest of the time visited training centers in Arizona half a dozen times.

I have a few injuries, and so barely sparred at all in LA. I maybe went with two or three partners in the entire time. In Arizona I sparred at every session. Altogether, I rolled for maybe 100 minutes, tops. None of it was particularly enlightening. That is less than a third as much rolling as I would have experienced if I'd stayed home.

Last night was my first time back on the good, old, home mat. I rolled with four partners. I was better, seriously better, fundamentally better.

It wasn't that I had a huge number of new techniques from the classes that I had attended, although there was a little bit of that. I was just better at everything.

While in Los Angeles, I watched whenever there was sparring going on that my injuries prevented me from participating in. I got to intently see everything from mediocre, to good, to outstanding sparring.

Somehow, that has rubbed off.

I wish I knew more about the process.

Stupid Weight

My weight, like that of many people, doesn't want to stay in an ideal range.

By last fall, it had gotten up around 190 pounds, which is not where I wanted it to be. I am very active, so it was pretty easy to get things under control by reducing my food intake. For me, my dieting amount of food is more than most people get to eat even when they aren't controlling calories.

By early February, I had it comfortably in the 173-175 pound range, which is exactly where I like it.

Then we were off on an extended vacation in California, Arizona, and Nevada. This meant a bit over 7 weeks of American-sized restaurant meals. I took my trusty fitbit scale along to monitor the situation.

The 2 weeks in California were no problem. I was training at the Gracie Academy, and this meant I would be burning calories like a bonfire. Then it was off to phase two in Mesa, Arizona.

I became hugely less active, but continued to eat like a little piggy. After a couple of weeks of this I pulled out the scale. I was magically 190 pounds again. That was an increase of more than 15 pounds, and quite unacceptable. If I'd managed to add this much in two weeks, what shape would I be in by the end of the month?

Cutting my intake to the bone was not an option. I was one of a group of four traveling together. I would not allow any reduction in our fun, which includes eating together. When I was on my own, ate with control. No boxes of random donuts for me.

I put regular running back into my schedule. Our days were structured such that the best times for me to run happened in the afternoon, when it was stinking hot.

Kept eating big meals, but usually once per day. Kept snacking with the group, but on a much smaller scale. Kept drinking pop and wine, but somewhat less.

My mass started dropping again. From 190, I was back to about 185 by the time our stay in Arizona wound down. This left just the trip home, which would include four nights in Las Vegas; the epicenter of over eating.

While in Vegas, I did an early morning run of about 8km each day. Helen and I would then cover as much distance again just walking around and looking at stuff. We also did some light eating, plus one no-holds-barred buffet per day. The scale was buried in the very bottom of the car.

Got home yesterday. Before bed, I wanted to see where my weight was. The scale was set up, and on I climbed.

179.5 pounds. Not bad at all.

I'll be back under 175 in no time.

Well Stacked

I've rolled with some crazy people lately.

First, let me explain the two ways of rolling.

The first is the fun way where it isn't considered as a life-or-death exchange. If you get caught, you tap, they release and you keep going. If you go for something and don't get it, you don't keep trying to bull through, hoping to do with strength what you couldn't with technique. In this mode, stuff happens fast.

The other kind is where nobody gives an inch. If somebody goes for a submission, and it is defended, they hang on anyhow like they are clinging to the edge of a cliff. Usually, nothing much happens, and the two bodies get locked in stalemate, immobile.

Type one is fun and educational. Type two is dull, boring, exhausting, and hurts.

I've run into quite a few type-two guys lately.

I can understand it somewhat. You really want to win, and so you go like a lunatic for every submission or advancement. Of course, if you're doing that, you'll also go full out in defence and refuse to tap until there is no hope left.

Maybe you like it that way.

The reason I call these guys nuts can best be illustrated with an example.

I'm with this big strong guy with two stripes on his Blue Belt. He's pushing hard, but I'm playing soft. Rather than take it easy, he goes even harder. The longer we go, the weaker he is. I'm relaxed and resting while he's tense and grunting with exertion.

I end up in his guard. At our rank, this gives him a slight advantage, but I don't mind. He shoots for a triangle, and I let him get it without defending. This is a chance to see if I can get out of a lockup by a guy I have no experience with. He locks it up.

I move to defend by stacking him up a little. This means that with his legs all wrapped up around my neck, I stand up and lift his hips up over his shoulders, and then apply my weight and his onto said shoulders. He maintains the triangle setup with his legs, while his arms switch to try for an armbar. Not a bad move, but my defense is to stack him higher and heavier.

My arm is in no danger, nor is my neck. From the position he is in, it is impossible to finish either submission. Not merely difficult; impossible. He doesn't release his grip.

If I let my defensive stack go, my arm is in danger. Real danger, if my opponent wrenches it in desperation. No way I'm letting go with a partner so determined to get the armbar at any cost.

His situation is inverted, both literally and figuratively. I was slowly increasing the stack, causing an increased pressure on his neck. He was in danger of injury, permanent injury. If he would release his grip, I could release my stack, or he could slide out of it, but he just wouldn't let go.

We reached a point where the pressure on his neck must have been quite unpleasant. He could gain nothing by hanging on, except an increasingly dangerous situation.

Wouldn't let go. I stopped increasing the stack as I didn't want to injure the guy. He still didn't release. We became a two-man statue for a while; him unwilling to give up an impossible attempt, and me unwilling to squish him like a bug to force him his release.

The instructor called, “time's up,” and we disentangled.

The stupid thing is there is no prize at stake. There is no winning. It's just practice.

Just as there's no winning, there is also no losing. What would it have cost my partner to have released his hopeless armlock? Even if I'd wanted to continue the pressure on his neck at that point, I couldn't. The moment his grip would release, he would have been able to slip his hips down and away. Likely, I'd have ended up on top, but so what?

Even if he somehow managed to submit me, would it have felt even like a victory? He's at least 20 years younger than me, and maybe 30 pounds heavier?

The entire idea of learning Jiu-Jitsu is to prepare to fight bigger, stronger guys. What happens if you train for a few years, and spend the entire time forcing through bad technique, and then you get into a fight with somebody stronger and larger than yourself? You'll try and fight the way you always have, and it just won't work.

Not only that, but using strength rather than technique doesn't even work well against a weaker, smaller person if they can use superior technique rather than strength. I run into people smaller than myself that can dominate me easily with their skill. I use these events as chances to try and keep up, rather than to try and lock them down.

Lock somebody down, and you practice not moving. Let it go, and you get to exchange submissions, defences, escapes, and much more in the same amount of time.

Good sparring is too rare to waste on stalemate.