Self Defense against Lawyers, Business Professionals and Hobos.

/4 Comments/in /by

Last night was our 2nd annual suit rolling session. Once a year around Halloween we don suits that we bought at a Goodwill or any thrift store and . . . we roll. During this style of rolling it is important to submit your partner, but just as important is to rip their clothing. This is just a silly thing to do together and we had a blast. It is a lot of fun to see hard core competitors laughing till it hurt during a “rolling” session. If you ever want something stupid to do with your gym mates, try suit rolling, and if you do, please send me pictures! Enjoy the photos from the students and myself here at Derby City MMA in Louisville, KY!  😀

 

 

 Before rolling

Image  

After rolling

Image

 

 

I’ll leave you with a mustachioed version of myself. Enjoy

Image1

10 years in BJJ and 10 lessons I’ve learned (Part 5)

/in /by

“Fortune favors the bold.” – Virgil

 

 

“Swift and resolute action leads to success; self-doubt is a prelude to disaster.” Joseph Addison

 

 

“Never mind about maneuvers, go straight at them” -Admiral Horatio Nelson

 

 

Image

There is more to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu than winning or losing; don’t be fearful of losing – Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is an amazing sport with a very competitive community. More and more tournaments and competitions pop up all the time. Even in the gym, practitioners roll hard to submit or out position their teammates. This healthy competition keeps BJJ an ever evolving and increasingly effective martial art. Despite it being labeled the “soft art”, in my eyes, true BJJ is rough. But its real and it’s honest. Without this competitive nature it would surely go the way of McDojo TMA’s where everything is linked to a hypothetical scenario that the instructor has never experienced (i.e stopping an armed gunman with a death blow to some pressure point).

This competitive streak is a double edged sword though. It can cause BJJ players to develop a fear of losing and make them shy away from opening up their game. Made a prisoner on the mat because of a faulty mindset and restricted to a select few techniques. I’ve personally been a victim of it and I’ve seen plenty of my students experience the same irrational fear. People will build up their opponent, and by the time the match comes around they are no longer focused on winning. Rather they are now concentrated on not losing. This misplaced fear and anxiety is detrimental to performance on the mats both in the gym and in competition. This post will focus on how it has personally affected me with some take away points at the end.

Unable to open up on the mat

Image

There are certain matches I can look back at where I was unable to open up with my game. These matches usually came as a result of a poor mindset walking out on the mat. The guy may have been a well-known competitor and I let it get to my head or maybe he had submitted me previously and I felt afraid of getting caught again. These matches, win or lose, are the worst. No matter the outcome I feel like I didn’t show my true self on the mat and that I didn’t perform to the best of my abilities.

Then there are those matches where I felt perfect. A strange sense of calmness took over my mind even if the match was going at a furious pace. I wasn’t worried about who my opponent was or the outcome of the match. Instead my concentration was completely centered on the moves I was trying to execute and the game I was trying to play. These matches are the best because, win or lose, I was able to display my game to the best of my ability because I wasn’t consumed by any inhibiting worry.

A few personal examples (I have so many more)

1. A few weeks ago was a match where I felt satisfied with the way the match played out even though I lost. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to come out with my arm raised, and I was close to doing so, but we can’t win them all. When the match started I was not worried about my opponent. I was just focused on engaging him and going after the win. The match between us was fantastic and at the end we were both exhausted. I was also able to see some of the things I need to work on leading up to bigger tournaments next year. It’s also worth mentioning that I received a sizable amount of recognition and admiration for this match even though it was a loss. People enjoyed that my opponent and I were moving and attacking the whole match instead of playing it safe. Granted I don’t think I could have played it safe against him even if I wanted! 

2. Last year I faced an opponent who had submitted me years ago as a purple belt. When we stepped on the mat I would be lying if I said the thought of being choked out years ago wasn’t running through my head. The match wasn’t anything to write home about. It was ugly, in the sense that neither of us really “went for it.” I ended up winning in overtime and I felt very disappointed with my performance. I knew I had more in me but I was being cautious because I didn’t want to lose again. Nothing worse than walking off the mat feeling like you lost, even though you had your hand raised. As luck would have it I had another match against the same opponent later on that day. This time I was not worried about the match that happened in 2008, instead I was solely focused on opening up my game to the best of my abilities. I didn’t want to feel disappointed after the match again. During this 2nd engagement I pulled guard, swept my opponent and secured a rear naked choke in less than 2 minutes. Nothing really changed between the two encounters that day except my mindset and my focus.  

3. When I was a white belt of 6 months I competed in the 2004 Arnolds. Relson Gracie ran the tournament back then and it was an incredible display of BJJ. Minus the fact that was poorly ran and you had no idea when you were going to compete. It was a two day tournament with gi and no gi running on different days. The no gi day was done in a way where white-purple belts made up the “amateur” division and brown/blacks made up the “pro” division. I was stuck in a mixture of guys who had been training from 6 months to 8 years. I know this because I talked with many of the guys in the warm up area and casually threw out the question, “how long have you been training?” When I walked out to the mat I was greeted with the face of a grappler who had been training for over 6 years. I remember smiling, shaking my head a little and laughing while I was walking out onto the mat. When we shook hands before the match I grinned a bit and told him, “don’t rough me up too bad.” Again the lack of fear came over me. I whole heartedly expected to lose this match and so I went into it with the mindset of “if I am going to lose, I am going to make him work for it.” During the match I was able to score several takedowns and managed to escape a few leg lock attacks. For some reason my opponent kept trying to wrestle with me for the takedown. I was clearly the superior wrestler in this match so I was more than happy to trade takedowns. If he would have played more of a ground based game I’m sure I would have been in trouble. The match ended with the points being 6-2 in my favor. This was probably the best moment I experienced as a white belt, beating a purple belt.  I was able to execute a great performance in this match because I had nothing to lose. I believed in my mind that I was going to be beaten and so my goal was simply to perform my best. This clear-headedness gave me the ability to get myself out of some nasty spots during the match and out position my technical superior for the win.

 

If you are reading this I would like you to understand that the idea of this post is to illustrate how harmful the fear of losing can be to a grappler. How so many of us get so wrapped up with the idea of just winning or losing, that it hinders our abilities. This can even happen in the gym sometimes as well. A little anxiety and nervousness before a tournament is necessary, it keeps us on our toes and gives our gives our minds an ultra-focused state. The problem arises when we worry about all the things that aren’t in our control. Our opponent’s abilities, how our students will look at us if we lose, the way our instructor will view us if we lose, how our teammates will look at the match if we lose, etc. I speak from experience when I say I’ve experienced all of these. I also speak from experience when I say that if you lose the probability of any of these things being affected in a negative way is almost nonexistent.  Instead we should focus on the things we can control such as our training leading up to the tournament, our skills and abilities and how we plan to win the match. We train hard and we do ourselves a disservice if we allow worry to make us hesitant on the mat, because I believe that the best way to put your true abilities on display in a tournament is to be aggressive with your techniques.

 Image

Lose the fear

– Worrying about winning and losing too much leads to hesitation.

-Don’t build your opponents up. Before tournaments matches, be sure to focus on your strengths and abilities. Go into the match focused on using your game to the best of your abilities rather than worrying about simply winning or losing.

-Never be ashamed of a loss. But you should be disappointed if you were not able to engage your opponent to the best of your abilities because you felt worried or nervous.

-If you lose, learn from it. Figure out the mistakes you made and correct them. BJJ is about learning and self-improvement.

-Set up mock tournaments in the gym with teammates. Adding tournament style rules and points can make for highly competitive situations in the gym and can help prepare you for future tournaments. You’ll get a more mild version of that adrenaline dump you experience in actual tournaments.   

-Compete more often! The more you get out there the easier it will be to deal with the pressure of competing.  Just like any other game.

 

 

 

P.S. I’m sorry this post was so damn long.

 

Custom gis for my gym!

/1 Comment/in /by

Image

So after nearly 6 weeks of waiting our custom Derby City gis came in! I’m so happy about them. They came out really well and the gis are top notch. I’m normally suited up in either a Keiko or Shoyoroll but these gis are made by a Gi company called Da Firma. Their website is http://www.dafirmabjj.com . I’ll do a video review of their Gi in the next few days but for now, check out the new patches I had made for the gi!

Image

Image

 

 

I love teaching kids BJJ!

/in /by

Image

 

So something I was thinking about today, is the lack of effort some BJJ gyms put towards their children’s programs. I’ve seen many instances where a black belt will refuse to teach kids or will just grab a random blue belt to teach with no guidance whatsoever. They often cite their lack of patience or time as the reasons. I honestly think many people are afraid to teach kids.

This is unfortunate because I personally find teaching kids Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as an amazing opportunity. Being able to have such a direct impact on these youngster’s life is incredible feeling for me. Sure it requires more patience and sure it’s tough sometimes. But when a kid comes up to you and says they stood up to their bullies, that they’re not scared at school, that they don’t hate to look in the mirror anymore or that they finally feel good at something, none of that matters. All that matters at that point is that you changed a young child’s life. Knowing that I have a beneficial influence on my children’s lives is incredibly powerful and fulfilling. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t gotten a little teary eyed after some of the comments from my kid students. Maybe I’m just a little over emotional?

I think of the positive effects my youth leaders and coaches had on me while I was growing up. I hope that I’ll have a similar effect on my students. Also, truth be told. I’m kind of an overgrown kid, so my students and I get along just swell.

Let me add this. Should you ever get a chance to teach kids BJJ. . . Do it! Not only will it test your ability to simplify a movement and further develop your teaching. . . and patience. But it really is an interesting and awesome experience.

Interview with David Avellan

/in /by

Interview with David Avellan

I did an interview with David Avellan right before the ADCC. I had planned to publish it before the tournament but sadly I was unable to upload the file while I was with Brent for his Bellator fight. Anyways, go to Matwind.com to check it out or click the link above.

 

 

Match from Chicago Open

/in /by

Definitely not my best work but it was a fun match. The Chicago tournament was a little rougher than usual. I won some and lost some, but all in all the day was pretty fun. I’ll post some of the wins I had later on after I post them on the mat. 🙂

Mount Escape To X Guard

/in , , , /by

When I first started competing as a black belt I had this funny problem. I would go into the match flat, and it wasn’t till being swept to mount that I would “wake” up. In fact, my first 3 wins as a black belt in competition started with me 6 points in the hole after a sweep to the mount. Here’s a mount escape that I, unfortunately, got pretty good with.

New episode of the Matwind Podcast

/in , /by

Image

 

My podcast project is still going strong. I recently did an interview with Saulo Black belt Ben Eaton.

In this episode I talk with Saulo Ribeiro black belt, Ben Eaton, and get some of his insights and experiences in BJJ such as. . .

– Starting his training in the midwest without highly skilled instructors.

– Leaving his job as a full time police officer to pursue BJJ.

– Dealing with acl tear that put him on the shelf for nearly 7 months at a time when he felt like he was at the top of his game.

– Tips on how to deal with our egos and frustrations during training.

and a lot more.

Click here! to listen to the episode

Check out the podcast website at www.matwind.com

Also if you are interested in buying a Keiko gi, head over to www.KeikoUSA.com. Use the coupon code “MatWind” and save yourself %15 off your purchase.

I received a great response from the first episode of the podcast so I hope everyone enjoys this one!

As always, thanks for thanks for reading and thanks for listening!

Chewy

 

 

10 years in BJJ and 10 lessons I’ve learned (Part 4)

/in , /by

Image

“The greatest wealth is health.”  – Virgil

 

“To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” – Buddha

 

“Prevention is better than cure.” – Desiderius Erasmus

 

“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” – Plato

Mobility – One thing that I’ve learned just within the past year that I wish I would have focused on more in the past is mobility. Most of us focus so much on how many hard rolls we get in a training session, how many reps we’ve performed of a particular technique or if our lifts are improving in the weight room. However many of us also fail to focus on mobility. I’m talking about keeping our joints, muscles, and our body’s movement patterns healthy.  By no means am I pointing the finger at anyone because up until this last year I gave mobility little to no thought. Sure I would stretch a little here and there, but this is much different than old school stretching. Let me give you a brief explanation of how I stumbled upon the idea of focusing on mobility and how it’s improved my BJJ and at the end I’ll give you some takeaways and resources for your own use. Alternatively, you can skip my story telling and fast forward to the bottom to get the resources and links.

 

How I found out about mobility work

Well first off, I was never blessed with ample amounts of flexibility. My muscles have always been a bit tight and wound up and in the last couple of years I’ve also began to “feel” my body much more after  hard training sessions. I wrongly attributed this to getting older. I mean I’m nearing 30 which seems to be that magical number that people fixate on when they talk about their body breaking down and becoming more injury prone.

So . . . about a year ago my friend, student, training partner and fellow coach here at the gym, Brent Weedman, turned me onto the idea. He started weight training with a very competent trainer here in Louisville and would rave about the results. What struck me as different was that he didn’t just tell me about his PR’s(personal record) in the gym but he also made it a point to share the improvements he was making in his mobility. When he first started talking about mobility improvements I was pretty ignorant to the idea but as he explained more, it made sense. Brent, like any other high level athlete, had experienced his fair share of wear and tear on his body provided to him by long hours of training and fights. Couple this with a lack of concentration on his body’s movement health and you have tight muscles and joints and poor range of motion. I remember Brent telling me that before he revamped his conditioning program he wasn’t sure how much longer his body could take the rigors of fighting professional. If you were to ask him now he would tell you he feels like a new man. He fights like one too. By using the different techniques he was learning from his conditioning coach he was able to rid himself of problems like tight shoulders, hips and back all while making great gains in strength and power.  

I hold a great deal of respect for Brent so I began using a few different techniques he shared with me and started looking deeper into the whole mobility thing. When you type in “mobility” into an internet search or Youtube you will be bombarded with information from a guy named Kelly Starret or MobilityWOD, and for good reason.  Kelly Starret is the leader of a mobility movement that is gaining momentum in the athletic world. He works most closely with the CrossFit community and uses his mobility techniques to keep athletes who are doing tons of volume healthy and in the gym instead of being sidelined due to injury. He is also helping tons of people, including myself; restore proper movement in their body.  After watching videos and reading through some of his literature I found myself buying his book, Becoming a Supple Leopard which in my opinion is fantastic. The book literally goes through and shows the proper movement mechanics to many basic and advanced lifts. The book also goes through helping its readers identify what problems they may have based on some easy to follow tests. Then the best part! The last chunk of the book is loaded with tons of corrective exercises, stretches and techniques that will help you improve range of motion, get rid of tightness and help you alleviate pain you may be experiencing. I was also lucky enough to meet with a woman who was an FMS trainer as well as a physical therapy student and she helped me identify specific areas of my body I needed to focus my attention towards. After a month of solid effort and focus on improving the mobility of my rust bucket body I began to feel some noticeable differences.

 

Alright so let’s get to the part you are actually interested in hearing about, How it improved my BJJ and training.

 1.       My range of motion improved. My squats were getting deeper, I was able to maintain better thoracic extension when doing particular exercises, and my shoulders were moving smoother during overhead presses. I was also less sore after hard lifting sessions.

 

2.       Tight areas that were chronically in pain began to feel much better. Most notably my hip flexors. I remember constantly struggling and having issues with them. Which as you can imagine hindered my ability to train or compete at 100%. In addition injuries have since become less common.

 

 3.       I was able to warm up quicker. As I’ve gotten older it seems like it takes longer and longer to get my body adequately warm for BJJ training and competitions. One of the most noticeable changes after the mobility work was how fast I was able to get my body loosened up and ready to compete. What used to be nearly a 20-25 minute ritual was now condensed into about 5-10 minutes. While this may not seem like a big deal to some. Being able to get warmed up quickly on the fly is a valuable. If you’re a competitor. I want you to think about an experience you may have had where you had a tournament match and were not properly warmed up. Either due to a screw up on the tournament coordinators end or your own. Competing without having your body revved up is not a good thing, so it’s nice to be able to get warmed up on the fly.

 

4.       I could train harder and at higher volumes without being utterly destroyed the next day. Doing a heavy lifting workout, multiple hard rolling sessions and being active during my 4 hours of teaching classes a day can definitely take its toll. What a great feeling it is to be able to maintain that kind of training load and still feel physically able to do it again the next day. The mobility work enables me to keep up high volumes of training and still not “feel” it like I used to. Don’t get me wrong, I still get sore and fatigued but I don’t find my body being completely shot.

After reading above the takeaways for you, and why you should consider investing your energy towards mobility should be clear.

1. It will improve flexibility and range of motion

 

2.       You can decrease frequency of injury. Yes injuries will still happen but you can still decrease the amount, especially those that would be a result of muscle tightness and imbalance.

 

3.       You will be able to warm up faster for class or competitions.

 

4.       It will improve rehabilitation after hard training and you can maintain a high level of training for a long duration of time.

If you’re interested in learning more check out http://www.mobilitywod.com/about/faq/  or go look up Kelly Starrett on Youtube. Checking out the supple leopard book that I mentioned earlier wouldn’t be a bad idea as well. Lastly, if you’re able, get in touch with a competent conditioning coach who knows about mobility.  If this is not available then use what resources you can gather to help identify areas of your body that need help. Heck, it may not be that hard in some cases. I mean after all, you are probably aware that your shoulder range of motion sucks or that you can’t get into a deep squat to save your life.

Good luck on improving your body and your training! I hope it helps you preserve your body and helps reduce the damage caused by training.

 

As always, thanks for reading!

Chewy

 

Oh and be sure to check out the podcast on my other site at http://www.matwind.com

Sorry for being slow with posts and check out my podcast

/in , /by

So I received a lot of positive feedback from the last few posts I’ve done with the 10 years in BJJ series. I apologize for not having the next part in the series posted. I’ll have the next post up later this week. I’ve just been super busy with a little side project I’ve been doing. The side project is a podcast and I’ve been interviewing tons of black belts from all over. The purpose of the podcast is to interview different high level BJJ practitioners and draw inspiration, motivation and advice from their own experiences. I just released the first episode today and I chose one of my interviews with a black belt from the midwest. I did this for a few reasons. Mainly because he is a highly skilled black belt and the fact that he has personally faced a fair amount of adversity and did not have the ideal starting conditions. Even with these sorts of obstacles he has still managed to become a skilled black belt and is able to do BJJ full time. I knew James previous to this interview but even with that I personally learned about him as a person and a BJJ player. The interview gave me some perspectives on things and when you listen to it I hope it does the same for you and that it gives you something you can use for your own BJJ journey.

Check out the interview here:  Interview with James Clingerman

Image

 

Hope you enjoy listening to it and feel free to send feedback to Chewy@matwind.com