Next Step

Today is the last day of September of 2013. It's a big day in my journey through Jiu-Jitsu.

I have just completed the last of the material required for the Blue Belt Stripe 1 exam. I have been working on this since earning my Blue Belt a little over 15 months ago.

I now slide into a period of study and review. The material now needs to be internalized so that it can be performed up to standard for the exam.

I have Madeline as a training partner. She is also working towards the test, but is not quite at the same spot I am.

When performing the exam, the candidate needs someone to be their opponent. This person needs to be someone conversant in the test material. Even better if the opponent has been working closely with the candidate.

You'd think Madeline would be the perfect opponent for my test, and I for hers. In many ways she would be, but there is a significant size difference. She's maybe a shade over 5 feet tall and about a hundred pounds. I'm 5 foot 9, and over 75 pounds heavier.

Some things are easier with her due to size, and others much harder. In a way it balances out.

The next road mark will be when the exam actually commences.

Test-O-Rama

My upcoming exam is very intimidating.

I'm not scared of the three sparring sections. They are just variations on rolling; each five minutes long. If a section is good, it is included in the exam package. If it's weak, the participants have a drink of water, a breather, and do it again.

It is the three 15-minute technical sections that are daunting. Each is at least as complex as the entirety of my last exam. Each must be precisely performed.

I am reviewing over and over to get these three parts ready, and then to keep them ready. I could do the first of these with maybe a day's notice and do about a half of my review time keeping it up to snuff. I'll be happy when it's done, if only so my practice time can be concentrated on the remaining two sections.

After the video recording is finished, it all gets uploaded to HQ for evaluation.

The scoring is harsh. In the entire thing, consisting of hundreds and hundreds of movements, a maximum of 20 demerits are allowed. A foot out of place, a hand following a wrong trajectory, an error in sequence, or even standing up wrong are all demerits. Don't even talk to me about hips, head placement, posture, or grip.

My last test had about a third as much technical material, and no free sparring at all. I had 11 errors.

So I've been plugging away to get ready. About a week ago another student committed to the testing soon, and therefore I have a training partner. We've been finding time to work together whenever we can. This is largely on top of my normal review.

I also just got home from a seminar covering part of my exam material.

And it's all a hobby. Sheesh.

Gracie Seminar

This weekend was my first Jiu-Jitsu seminar.

Rener Gracie was the big name instructor instructing. He's a grandson of the guy who started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and the son of the current head of the Gracie style. He's one of two Gracies who run the Gracie University program.

At any given time there were about a hundred people on the mat. It was held in a high-school gym where they must have a heck of a wrestling program. There were enough huge mats to totally cover the gym floor. Unfortunately, they hadn't been cleaned in a very long time.

It was interesting. He'd show us a movement in great detail, repeated several times. We then worked on it for a while with a partner. He'd then take it farther, and again we'd go work. This would be repeated about half a dozen times per topic.

This really worked for me, as the first slice was always exactly the material I'm working on at my level. The next slice would be the level above, and the rest were step-by-step progressively higher in level.

At each topic I got great coverage of one of my techniques, and the higher levels lent me a much deeper understanding. The progressive nature of the lessons had us practicing the first slice many, many times as it was always included in the subsequent slices.

By the end we were all doing the easy, first part mindlessly as we concentrated on the trickier, newer higher levels. This is exactly the kind of practice that makes a technique really sink in.

My hope going in was that I'd get great work on my own level. I certainly received this, and a bunch more that I consider a bonus.

There were four people from my Gracie school attending. Hopefully, between us we'll be able to remember the high-level stuff.

Even if we can't, I got what I was there for.

Pace change

I don't like martial arts exams, but am looking forward to this one.

Perhaps it would be more honest to say I'm looking forward to it being over.

Once the test is done, my next one won't occur for several years. There will be no pressure at all for me regarding rank.

We do very basic technique at the White Belt class. I enjoy attending these sessions, and work on the material along with everybody else. Most people have a side of the body they favor while training. I, myself, am very right-handed. I almost always train right-handed. I plan on switching this and making a point of working my basics on the opposite side. I don't do that now, as I want to be fully confident in my movement, and going left-side can seriously alter this.

For me, every Blue Belt technique covered in the advanced class will be the second time through. This will strengthen my movement and effectiveness greatly. I'm also going to make sure I'm not right-handed here, either.

If I pass, I'll also be learning the next level of curriculum. Although I quite enjoy training technique repeatedly, the new stuff will make my brain keep working and keep everything fresh. I'll likely be the only student at this level for a while. As I'm going to miss chunks of training due to travel, I can expect to go through all of this material twice before my next exam. I might be more-or-less alone for most the first time through, but by the second rotation I should have peers. Even the new material won't have a pressure feel to it.

Right now, I do extra training at least twice a week. I enjoy this, but won't really need the time for review. I've already invited a student who is about to receive his Blue Belt to join me. He has a work schedule that precludes regular attendance at the advanced class. I've offered to work with him at open-mat time on whatever he has missed.

If I don't pass, I'll have to keep cramming and reviewing until I get it right. This will delay all my lovely new training expectations.

But I'm hoping to pass.

This Week

This week is going to be a minor landmark for my Jiu-Jitsu.

It starts today, Monday. Madeline and I are getting together on the mat to work over exam material. It's the first time we've really done this, and shows just how close the test is getting.

In regular training this week, we'll be covering Back Mount Frame Escape. This will end a chapter for all of us, but for me it is more. This is the last technique I need to complete in the group class. The next unit that the group class starts is one that I completed back in May.

On Friday and Saturday there is a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu seminar being held down in Seattle, a mere three-hour drive away. Several of us are heading down. Six training hours with Rener Gracie will be outstanding.

I hope that this will all help me make the transition from “guy training,” to “totally focused on training.”

The exam looms.

Jon to Ronda

It is a good time to be a UFC fan.

Over the last couple of months, two dominant champions have already lost their titles. This has already shaken things up quite a bit.

Tonight there is a Light-Heavyweight Championship fight. The undercard is pretty lackluster, but the main even is interesting. Jon Jones is the champ, and has been so since 2011. He's had 6 title matches, 5 of them against current or former champions, and won them all easily. The contender doesn't really have much of a chance, but he has earned his shot honestly. He has a puncher's chance.

In October, the Heavyweight Champ Valesquez's belt is up for grabs. His opponent is Dos Santos. The first time they met, Dos Santos took the crown from Valesquez by knockout, and the second time Valesquez took it back. This will be their third battle over the crown.

In November, the longest reigning-champion Georges St. Pierre will be taking on the number one contender. St. Pierre has been the welterweight champion since 2008 and has a string of 9 successful title fights under his belt. He is the favorite, but it should be interesting.

Just after Christmas, two titles are up for grabs.

The middleweight champion, Chris Weidman, takes on the man he took the title from earlier this year, Anderson Silva. Silva had been champ since 2006, and had a string of 15 title wins, broken by his loss to Weidman. He wants his belt back, and I don't think Weidman is inclined to give it up easily. This will either be a blowout win for Silva, or an example of a champion finally defeated by age.

The same night the UFC's only female champion, Ronda Rousey, will be taking on a woman she destroyed the last time they fought. This should be another blowout, but Rousey is always interesting. She has a perfect professional mma record of 7-0. Add in her 3 amateur bouts, and you can see a definite pattern. She has won all ten in the first round, and all by arm bar. She is so far above her competition that it will be a big deal if any can survive into the second round or manages to lose by any method other than arm bar.

I hope the the intensity continues into 2014.

Dancing with the Stars

The new season just started on the popular show, Dancing With the Stars.

Those folks face a difficult task. They have a week to learn a complicated dance routine. There are a ton of moves that all must be done in sync with their professional partner. I timed a couple of the dances they do, and they run just over one minute.

An expert partner and a one minute routine.

How much harder would it be if the routine were 15 times longer? What if all the repetitive movements were removed? You know; no sets of step step step kick, step step step kick. Every move has to be unique.

How about losing expert partner? Have a teacher spend one day teaching the given sequence and then the contestant has to practice all the movements alone.

And then it's performance night, and the contestant tries to do the dance with an unprepared partner.

Suppose they have to have three of these 15 minute routines ready to go.

That's what the first half of my Jiu-Jitsu exam looks like.

It could look a lot better. What if it could all be done with a single partner who is also learning the exact same set of routines, and who will also be there on test night?

This suddenly becomes much more manageable.

I have been without a consistent partner. There are about half a dozen Blue Belts that I train with. Some attend quite rarely, and others are nowhere near to being ready to test. The one closest to testing is soon going to be moving far away. There has been really no point in her working like a crazy person with no possibility of completing the exam.

She was supposed to be leaving this week. A pity, really, as she is just about to complete the fifth of seven chapters of material. Only two more to go.

Suddenly, her departure date was moved back two or three more months.

Our instructor jumped on this. Could she be ready to do her own test within that time? Probably impossible, unless she has a training partner who already knows the material. Gee, that sounds like me.

She is really quite gifted at this sort of thing, and already has a Black Belt in Hapkido. She could probably master the Standing Chapter within a couple of days. The Leg Lock Chapter would be harder for her, but that is quite doable within the time she has if she works like crazy. She feels motivated, and wants to go for it.

So I suddenly have a partner to help me through my exam, at the price of practicing with her to get ready for her test. Every minute of practice for me is a minute for her, and vice versa.

This will get both of us through the three technical parts of the exam. We might also partner for the three sparring sections, but any of the other Blues are quite competent to perform those segments.

And we don't even have to make it all fit to music.