The harder I work the luckier I get

"The harder I work, the luckier I get."
                                       - Samuel Goldwyn

I've been enjoying the Judo blog of Dr. AnnMaria de Mars lately. I found it a few days ago while looking for information on uchikomi. She was the first American to win a World Championship, and also just happens to be Ronda Rousey's mom.

Anyhow, the quote that I opened with today is from her blog. She writes a lot about success in top-level Judo, but what she says also applies to Jiu-Jitsu folks like me.

She is a big advocate of lots of training, and of not holding back while doing it.

This is pretty much the secret of my modest success.

In our school there are 8 sessions per week for adults. Three are for White Belts, three are for advanced students, and two are open-mat for anybody doing anything. I attend all of them.

Less than half of our advanced students ever attend the White Belt classes, and even fewer show up for open-mat.

If anybody wants to get together to work towards a belt exam after hours, or anything like that I'm always game to help them out. It gets me more hours of training.

Even when present, there are people who only want to do a couple of reps of whatever technique we're working on. Some of us try and do as many reps as possible within the allotted time.

During sparring, if there is an odd number present somebody has to sit out during each match-up. Some rush to be the odd person out. I try and avoid having a turn sitting doing nothing.

In short, I get more time training than anybody else, and try and squeeze more value out of each hour than most of my friends.

I also do something the others don't. I try and plan my progress.

Each time I've gone to the Gracie Academy in Los Angeles, I did so with recently awarded rank. The last time it was just chance, but the first time it was carefully planned.

I wanted to get as much out of the LA training as could. To do that I wanted to have as thorough a preparation as possible. If you know a bit about what you're being taught, it is easier to understand the more complex stuff.

I wanted to complete all of the BBS1 material before heading south. I would have been about 20% short of completion by trip time, and so went that much faster than the normal pace over the preceding year-and-a-half.

I could have done all that without also doing the BBS1 exam, but I wanted to know if I was good enough, and so earned a belt stripe along the way.

So what has all this extra effort gotten me?

I know the available curriculum as well as anybody here, and better than most.

I am also able to spar as well as any student in our school. This is actually pretty remarkable, as I am 59 years old. Most of the others are still in their twenties.

Going full out, there are three guys here who it would be a coin-toss to fight. I tap them sometimes, and sometimes they get me. I can pretty much tap the remaining dozen at will.

If I didn't work harder and longer there is no way that would be true.

How did I get so dedicated?

Well, I don't want to suck, and I don't delude myself. Without the extra effort, I would not be anywhere as good as I am. I could do less work, and tell myself some kinda justification, but it would be a lie.

It's just easier and more gratifying to push.

no one wants to see you naked

     Judo is just about the most fun you can have without getting naked.

     And, at my age, no one wants to see you naked. 

                                                                          - Dr. AnnMaria De Mars

I don't do Judo, but the quote works for Jiu-Jitsu just as well.

A typical Jiu-Jitsu day is pretty awesome. My drive down takes about half an hour. Most of the way there are no alternative routes, and any kind of snag is a big deal. They are pretty rare, but I allow lots of extra time.

I arrive at about 5:30pm, while the kids class is still running. After a bit of watching, I head to the change room to get all gi-ed up. The kids always finish with a dodge-ball game, and then the mat is turned over to the adults.

I stretch, perhaps chat a little, or sometimes roll with somebody. At 6pm, the Combatives class starts. This is the Gracies' fancy name for White Belt classes.

There are usually about a dozen White Belts, and maybe 2 or three Blue Belts who are there to help. This class runs for about an hour. If the number of White Belts is odd, I am often tagged as the extra partner. If not, I help with correcting the students.

At 7:00pm, the White Belts leave, and it's time for Master Cycle, which is the Gracies' label which means “Students Blue Belt and Above”. There will be about a dozen of us, and all are various levels of Blue Belt. Like the White Belts, we will be shown the day's material and we'll go off to work in it together.

After about 45 minutes of this, it becomes sparring time. Our instructor will let us know what the expectations are for that session (position start-up, intensity, or any weird rules <one hand>) and off we go. After about five minutes, we switch partners.

I really like sparring, and enjoy all types of partners. We currently only have two guys who are significantly larger than me, and I wish we had more. It is important to have people around whom you cannot beat with force.

You might think that rolling with a really bit, strong guy might be unpleasant, and it is for maybe the first dozen times. After that it becomes no big deal. They usually get on top, and squish down with their mass, making escape difficult. You just get used to having your face crushed between a chest and the mat. The part of this that I enjoy is defending, and waiting unconcernedly for them to leave an opening. Then it's bang, reversal.

We also have a few folks much smaller than me. I have been accused of using muscle on them, but really try not to, nor to crush. All are really fast when they want to be. Rolling with the very smallest is like trying to pin down an eel. Her movements are incredibly unpredictable, and she gets away with the strangest things.

All the rest or the students are vaguely my size, although only one is an old fart like me. OK, he's a decade younger, but still.

Anyhow, all of this is just wonderful fun. I have a friend, Pete, who plays rugby (non-contact) and is about a decade older than me. I think that for him, rugger is just as much fun.

There are lots of other, more suitable old-folks physical activities, but they just aren't as intensely fun. Golf? Tried that. Yoga? Pleasant enough, but not actively fun. Walking? Is anything duller?

Anyhow, that's why I so enjoyed Dr. De Mars' comment that I used as a quote earlier.

Meathead

There are meatheads out there, hiding everywhere; sharks waiting for the newby

I've trained at the Gracie Academy, and they have an atmosphere of care and cooperation. They do everything possible to discourage meatheadism by word, and by deed; by example and by direction. There are still meatheads there.

Meatheads are the guys who don't seem to care if their partners get hurt. They push, and crush, and try and brute things through.

I don't find them fun to roll with, or particularly challenging. Let's say Mister Meathead goes for an armbar, and I defend it properly. He'll keep on pulling, long after it is clear that the thing just isn't going to work, but he can't let it go. This is really common with Mister Meathead. You need to be really ready to tap when you're with these guys, as they go hard and fast, but getting “stuck” is a more likely scenario, assuming you know what you're doing.

Suppose you were a brand-spanking new student in a Jiu-Jitsu school. Would you want to roll with one of these guys?

At a lot of places, newbies roll on day one. They might get a lovely, gentle, helpful partner, or they might not. It will also be likely that they will rotate through several people.

They might get Mister Lovely, Miss Gentle, Billy Helpful, and then Mister Meathead. Through the first three partners nothing really goes wrong, but the newby will be getting rolled and swept all over the place without a clue as to what's happening.

Then Mister Meathead shoots for something hard and fast and bang.... injury. Likely it will be minor, but it will likely be scary; an arm a bit overextended, or a neck crunched. No way the newby will ever return, not if he's smart. What if the injury isn't minor? Then he can't come back.

Even if there is no Mister Meathead, would the newby still want to come back?

I am a retired teacher, and have spent many years trying to present educational material successfully.

Let's present math in the same way that Jiu-Jitsu is often taught.

A new student arrives, and is put in with a bunch of students of varying levels of expertise. The new student knows nothing about math at all. A lesson is presented about trigonometry. After the lesson, the students are given a number of problems to solve as practice. The new student cannot even begin to do them. Students are then paired up, and race one another to get problem solutions. The new student can't even begin to solve the questions. After the class, the new student is asked if they want to sign up and pay a significant amount of money in order to continue lessons.

It is remarkable that anybody ever comes back, what with the basic educational model involved; with a layer of meatheads layered on top.

There needs to be some kind of provision made for the new student. A successful school might hold separate beginner classes with a curriculum geared just to them. Many schools don't have enough new students to justify separate classes, so a tutor program might be employed.

The point is, to treat the beginners well. Give them a chance to experience success right from the very first day. Protect them from injury until they have been sufficiently prepared to protect themselves.

I am proud that this is something our school does well.

Learning Style Clash

Had a bit of an adventure last night.

My brother-in-law has had to put up with all my Jiu-Jitsu enthusiasm, and also reads my blog. Although he's almost as ancient as I am, he's been thinking of giving it a try.

The safest of the JJ types would be good, old Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, but there are none of their schools in Victoria. Others might be equally grand, but no way to know.

I am visiting right now, so the two of us headed over to a place called Fierce Jiu-Jitsu, which has a great, downtown location. Their web page is far better than most, and actually makes clear that their emphasis is on competition; sport Jiu-Jitsu.

I like this, as many places claim to be all-things-for-all people, which is never the case. It would be as if somebody came by our academy looking for high-level competition training, and if we claimed we can prepare them for that. Our focus is self-defence, not sport.

So their online info is honest. Good. The next thing would be to eyeball them for real. If you ever want to try any martial art, and they won't let you have at least a single trial lesson, or won't let you watch from a sideline, politely walk away.

The friendly people at Fierce invited us to join in, but didn't mind that we wanted to just watch either. Full marks.

We were introduced to that evening's instructor, and he seemed very nice and professional.

We really scored big when an absolute beginner showed up to train. We got to see exactly how new people are treated. Can't get better insight than that. Right off the bat, he was assigned a Blue Belt student to be his partner for the session and to show him the ropes.

So start time rolled around, and for a warmup the more experienced students lay down on the mat. Each had a less experienced person kneel down within their guard, with a few people left over; who were lined up ready to take a turn.

The job of the person within the guard was to pass, and of the person on the bottom to prevent them, or to sweep, or to submit. If the person on the ground prevailed, their partner rejoined the end of the wait line, and another stepped forward to try. If the passing person succeeded, they took over the spot on the bottom, and their partner went to the end of the line.

All very well, but the new guy didn't know what a guard is, or what it means to pass, or how to pass. The activity also separated him from his mentor.

He always failed, he kept rejoining the line, and kept failing over and over. A few people tried to give him quick tips, but nothing seemed to sink in. I don't think he got anything out of the drill other than that he really, really sucked. He didn't, of course, but that's the feedback that the drill gave him.

After ten minutes of this, the instructor called everybody over and demonstrated the evening's new technique. He explained it well, demonstrated it slowly twice, and then told everybody to get to work. It doesn't matter, but it was all work from the position known as Triple-Threat-From-the-Guard.

Everybody partnered up. Our new fellow and his mentor were right in front of us. The new guy went first, with his partner trying to help him through, but something seemed to be wrong. When they switched roles the problem became apparent. The mentor couldn't do the move either, as it was brand new to him as well.

The instructor circulated about, and helped people who called him over. After about five minutes it was time for the next step. The only problem was that a portion of the class had not done the first move successfully.

He explained what to do if the move were attempted, and the target tried a certain counter movement. He demonstrated it three times slowly, then it was practice time. Great for those who had absorbed step one, but pretty useless if they hadn't.

After that, another variation was given.

By this point our new fellow had failed throughout the ten-minute warm-up activity, and spent almost half an hour trying unsuccessfully to perform the demonstrated material. Hmmmm.

This is nothing strange in a martial arts world. Old-school martial arts teachers usually presented perspective students with quite a daunting hurdle before acceptance. Having them stand for long periods of time in static stances, or repeating unexplained drills hundreds of times are just a few examples. It is quite likely that Fierce doesn't want people joining up who won't fit into their instruction model. This all might have been working just fine for their new student, I don't know.

I didn't think it would function well for my brother-in-law, and he agreed. Statistically, it doesn't work for most people. Imagine how it would be to try and learn math this way; it might just be a tad discouraging.

For my brother-in-law's learning style, a dedicated beginner program would be necessary, and Fierce doesn't have that. He needs to learn to jump from the edge of the pool, before going off the 10-metre board.

He has taken our Fierce experience quite seriously, and is scaling down his expectations. He is now leaning more towards taking Tai Chi lessons, but is still intrigued with Jiu-Jitsu.

This is great, as his building has an exercise room with mats. I can take him through a beginner-style private lesson or two, with no danger to either body or ego.

I bet we'll laugh a lot.

It's all about me

At Jiu-Jitsu, I'm pretty selfish. The kicker is that people keep thanking me for it.

It is a great activity, but it's pretty difficult to do very much alone. Motivated partners are vital. I want to be as good at Jiu-Jitsu as possible, and that requires lots of practice, and that demands partners. Where to get them?

Recently, Cosme has been trying to prepare for and to film the final technical drill segment for his BBS1 exam. To do this, he needs a partner. We are the only two people who regularly show up on Saturday mornings. I offered to help.

The drill takes about 15 minutes when done full speed, and consists of a series of specific techiques, done in response to specific actions and reactions by the drill partner. Kinda like a very complex dance. I like training for this. More training makes me better.

He then asked if I would be his on-camera partner as well. I readily agreed. Doing more makes me better, which is my goal. We completed it last night.

All along, Cos kept thanking me for all the help. I should have been thanking him, but I didn't.

Koko also wants to complete her own BBS1 exam, but is nowhere as ready as Cos. She usually lives on-campus in the big city. She Is only home for the summer. I have been helping her in any spare time during class but it just isn't enough.

We therefore met for two evenings this last weekend so she could do extra drill. I am both tutor and partner as she brushes things up. She does the moves over, and over, and over.

I have agreed to be her on-camera partner as well, but things aren't at that stage yet.

Like Cosme, she keeps thanking me, and thinks it was all for her. I was even given a bag of blueberries out of gratitude. I should have been thanking her for the four hours of intensive drill and review. Again, I let my partner think I'm nicer than I really am.

I would therefore like to officially thank both Cosme and Koko for their recent help in making me better at Jiu-Jitsu. I am also glad that it was useful to you as well.

...and to anybody else that needs help. Please, feel free to ask, and I'll selfishly accept.

Water

The worsening drought in California, as well as in many other places is bringing water awareness to the forefront.

It blew my mind to learn that through all the years of shortage, there have been no residential water restrictions on most California residents. Isn't that crazy? They have instituted their first rules, and residential water consumption has instantly dropped from 30-40%.

People have also started freaking out about beverage companies in the drought zones continuing to bottle water. I don't quite understand what that is all about, but am loving the awareness. Citizens are saying to boycott products from those corporations. Others are saying to stop using bottle water altogether.

By whatever route, opinion is finally swinging into sync with my own.

Bottled water is stupid.

I came from a time when drinking water came from taps. Around me, it still does.

My first exposure to ordinary water in bottles came during a visit to Germany over 20 years ago. Nobody there drank tap water. When we asked why, nobody seemed to know. They admitted that tap water was perfectly safe. I, therefore, tried some and it was absolutely fine. It tasted exactly like water.

Even back then, if you wanted water in a German restaurant, they brought you the bottled stuff and charged you accordingly. You had to be specific to get tap water, and even then got looks like it was something they'd never even heard of.

Our second exposure was also pretty far back. We were in Disneyland near Los Angeles. For the first time, we saw vendors at the Disney parades selling bottled water. There were all the usual sellers of balloons, soda, snacks, but also ice-cold bottled water. I thought this very stupid, as the soft drinks were both larger and less expensive. Folks flocked to buy water.

It has since grown like madness.

What do I have against it?

There is the cost. We pay less per day for unlimited water to be supplied to our home that we would pay for a single bottle of water. It is mid-morning, and I have so far I have made a pot of coffee, done a load of laundry, washed my face, flushed a couple of times, and run the dishwasher. All this at less than the price of one bottle of the exact same liquid, and the day has hardly begun.

There is also a massive environmental cost. All our household water comes from the municipal supply at a minimal environmental cost. None of it is hauled around on trucks from place to place. It is also not packaged. Bottled water comes in those lovely plastic container. This would be bad enough, even if every single one were recycled, but only about 30% ever are. The remaining 70% end up in landfills and scattered around the countryside in general. In heavily populated areas it's a huge concern.

There is also quality and safety. Municipal water supply is incredibly safe, and held to the highest standards of purity. Some North American cities had the safety factor, but had stuff that could only be described as yucky in taste, but even this has changed. Los Angeles used to have the worst-tasting water anywhere, but no longer. On our most recent visit I was merrily guzzling it like it was, well, water.

Bottled water is not regulated in the same way. Patrons are trusting corporations to keep them safe by providing good tasting and safe water. Personally, I don't trust corporations any farther than I can throw them. I like water that has been sterilized by local authorities under the direction of higher government regulation.

There is also the sucker factor. Customers are told one thing, and given another. Bottled water is always presented as coming form clear mountain springs. It very rarely is. The most common source for bottled water is municipal water supplies. Sometimes it gets filtered, but this is totally up to the corporation involved. It is perfectly legal for them to fill their bottles from city water, name it something attractive, put pictures of mountain streams on the label, and sell it in the supermarket on the same street where it was produced for over a thousand times higher price.

I should perhaps harp more about taste. Let's say you buy a bottle of water that some corporation has actually brought it from some huge factory that actually uses dandy mountain water. To get it to you, they hauled it a thousand miles in a big stinky truck, and packaged it for you in a clear plastic bottle that likely will end up in some landfill. By the time it gets to you, there will have occurred a tiny bit of chemical leeching from the bottle. If you were drinking cola, or juice, this would be undetectable, but water has no masking flavour of its own. On the few times I've had water out of a bottle it has always tasted like plastic. Yum. My tap water tastes of nothing.

My wife carries a water bottle. It is made of glass, and lasts for years.

Purple Glass Ceiling

There are a lot of old guys in Jiu-Jitsu.

Take the most famous of Helio Gracie's sons. Royce is 48, Rickson is 56, and the oldest, Rorion is 63.

There is, however, a big difference between an old guy who has been doing Jiu-Jitsu for his entire life, and a beginner of similar age. The experts have bodies and minds that are shaped by many decades of training. A beginner is just like you or me.

In fact, I am just such a beginner. I started four years ago at the age of 55.

I only know of two Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Black Belts who started anywhere near my age. The late John Boyd was one who helped Rener and Ryron Gracie form many of their ideas about older students. He received his Black Belt at age 51. The other was the actor Ed O'Neill, who earned his at age 61.

As I said, I started at 55, and according to the Gracie's rules for distance students, the earliest I could possibly earn a Black Belt would see me being 70 years of age. That's a whole other kettle of fish. I won't even see a Brown Belt until I'm 65. Purple isn't so far off, being possible when I'm only 60.

It is a difficult road for an old student like me at an outlying school. At the main Gracie Academy in Los Angeles, students train, and when the instructors deem them ready, they are promoted. No tests are involved. For a distance student, the minor stripe promotions work that way, but the jumps from belt to belt are very different.

We have to arrange for an in-person evaluation with the Gracies. These exams are very extensive, lasting up to an hour. Saw a few video clips of an exam done by a visiting student from the UK, which was only for a stripe. It was so demanding that he ended up puking.

I don't think it would be realistic for me to expect to pass any sort of physically demanding test at age 70 for a Black Belt, or even at 65 to earn a Brown. If there are any delays due to injury, illness, or even long vacations these ages will be even higher.

I think that I am facing a purple-coloured glass ceiling due to age.

I would still be earning belt stripes after getting Purple occasionally based on time and attendance. Once my upcoming Purple Belt is filled up with four such decorations, my rank climb will be done.

I will certainly keep training as long as possible.

That's OK.

It does make me a little jealous of the younger folks in the class. Even Rob, the next oldest gentleman student, who will be facing all the same promotions as me, will do so a decade younger. For him, Black and Brown are quite doable.

Although there will be a cap on my ultimate progress, it will remove one nasty ongoing worry. For a long time I've been working to get myself as far along in rank as possible, as quickly as practical, which has been causing me to obsessively tally attendance. Each stripe requires 100 classes, which I've been trying to collect within each minimum 8-month period. Sometimes, like now, it's easy; other times it's impossible.

If I have no reason to try and hurry anymore, it ceases to be an issue. For my upcoming stripe promotion, I will have plenty. For the next to Purple, it is irrelevant altogether. That leaves just the four stripes that I can expect to eventually collect on my Purple Belt. They will each require 100 classes, but if the gathering of these takes an extra few weeks, or months, or years, it will have no effect on my eventual rise.

Counting classes becomes a thing of the past.