David vs Goliath

Sparring the other day was good fun. I got the kind of scenario I like. Rolling with a guy that's twice my size but not quite as experienced as me. My opponent was around 6'5, easily had 50lbs on me, and he was fit...not fat. It's like my own little David vs Goliath moment. I see it as a good test to see if my technique can overcome a ridiculous size and strength advantage.

We shook hands and got to it. We started on our knees and he basically shoved me back, and yeah, he's strong so I went backward and he immediately jumped into side control. Okay that's fine, let's see what he can do. He got a good position and felt pretty damn heavy. Then he quickly attacked an americana and I tapped just as quickly. I don't like americanas. Okay, big guy knows what he's doing a little bit. I was curious of what he could do and a bit careless so I got tapped. All good. We reset, started again, and I was focused on not getting tapped again and mounting some offense.

We shook hands and began round 2. He shoved me again but this time when he pushed me back I slid to create more distance so he couldn't pounce onto the top position again. I figured I wouldn't be able to get him on his back so easily so I sat down to bait him into butterfly guard. It worked, he came close and I attempted an arm drag. That didn't work so well. He was strong enough to keep his posture, plus my angle was a little off, and I ended up in half guard on the bottom. Dude was heavy. He quickly tried to transition to full mount but I shrimped and regained half guard. Eventually I was able to recover into full guard. Time to go for a sweep...easier said than done.

I got control of his arm and attempted a pendulum sweep. Didn't work, I couldn't get my body angled properly. His neck was a little exposed so I attacked a cross-collar choke. My grips were in pretty deep but his chin was tucked blocking the choke. I could've cranked it hard but that would just hurt his jaw more so than choke him. I hate when people do that to me so I chose not to do it and let go. I fought to get control of his arm again and attacked an armbar but the guy was so strong he just literally ripped his arm out of my grip and immediately tossed my legs aside and got into side control. Dammit!

I kept my arms in tight, did not want to give up another americana. I bridged to create space and rolled belly down. Trust me, bridging and rolling under the weight of a guy his size took some effort. I got a grip on his legs and was in a good spot to go for a double-leg. I felt him start to sprawl and try to create distance to break my grips. Right then my mindset switched. It went from let's practice technique to time to get aggressive. Attack, attack, attack!

I bull rushed into him before he could sprawl, swept his legs aside and got the guy on his back. Now I was on top in side control driving my shoulder into his face to keep him facing away from me. Did not want this guy turning into me. I stayed aware of my body position because if I was off by just a little bit the guy could literally pick me up and toss me aside. I kept my shoulder in his face and shifted my hips to keep his arm out from under my body so he couldn't push or lift me.

With side control established it was time to advance my position. I wanted to tire the guy out so I transitioned to knee-on-belly (a pretty self-explanatory position). I drove my knee and shin down into his gut while pulling his body up into me. The cringe on his face told me I had it anchored pretty good. When he gasped for air, I drove my knee in harder. When he gasped again I transitioned to the full mount. I quickly dropped my chest into his face to close the distance (don't want him tossing me) and to make things uncomfortable for him. I could feel him tiring. Good thing because fighting for the top position took a lot of energy out of me.

His elbows were sticking out so I attacked an armbar again. In hindsight I should've attacked a choke since everybody is weak at the neck but in the moment I saw an opening for an armbar. The guy – did I mention he's really strong – easily yanked his arm back and rolled me over. Now I was on my back again. Dang it! Sure I had him in full guard but I didn't want to be on the bottom. The guy's heavy...

I broke his posture down and held him close to keep him from muscling out my guard. When he regained his posture he leaned back a bit...just as I was hoping he would. I attacked a situp sweep and got the guy on his back and I was in full mount again. Okay, no armbars this time.

This time the guy scrambled like crazy. He bumped, bridged, and pushed. I struggled to maintain the mount but didn't feel too stable so I got out of mount and went to side control. I felt a little more stable but he continued to scramble. I tried to pin his arm down with my leg but it wasn't happening. I was off balance and the guy basically lifted me up and rolled me onto my back. We scrambled. Somehow I ended up on my feet with a grip on his legs and he was on his back. I went for a bull-fight pass. The whole time I'm thinking stay offensive, pressure him, keep him working, get him too tired to defend.

I tried to pass his guard and the guy rolled away from me onto his side. His back was exposed to me and I sensed that if I could take his back he'd be mine. If I could get his back I could sink in a choke. I attempted to step on his hip to take his back but as I didn't have the right leverage and the guy just grabbed me and rolled. I was on my back again. Dang it!

The guy was in side control and put his weight on me. At this point I'm feeling pretty damn tired. I realized something. When a guy is strong as hell and not tired he's strong as hell, but when he's tired and I'm just as tired, he's still strong as hell.

I felt my gas tank nearing empty. It was becoming a burden to breathe. I had to get out of his side-control and regain the top position. I bumped, bridged, and scrambled. We ended up in a weird position. He was still on top sort of in side control but I had a grip on his legs, similar to a bull-fight grip, and I was still on my back. I couldn't move because I was exhausted. My gas tank was pretty much empty. But so was his. I could tell because we both lied in this awkward position for about 10 seconds catching our breath.

With the few drops left in my gas tank I had to make a push to regain top position. I had a grip on his legs, he was on top, but lying more on my hips than my chest and he was off balance. I did the only thing that came to mind and sat up. Lemme tell ya, doing a sit up with a big guy sitting on you trying to hold you down is difficult as hell. But the grip on his legs helped. As I sat up I lifted his legs as best I could hoping to roll the guy off even more off balance. To my surprise, it worked. It took every ounce of strength I had left but it worked. The guy rolled onto his back, I regained the top position and I was in side-control once again driving my shoulder into his face. The guy was more tired than I was and the voice in my head told me to attack. Ignore the fatigue, suck it up, and attack.

I transitioned to full mount, which was pretty easy telling me the guy was exhausted. I drove my chest into his face and looked for options. I wanted to attack a choke. At first I thought arm-triangle but I'd have to move his arm and I didn't want to battle against his strength. Simply didn't have the energy for that again. Then I thought of a collar choke. A good option. Then I had the idea to bait him into turning over so I could take his back and attack a choke from there. Rear naked, collar, bow and arrow, any of those would work. I figured I'd feint an americana just to get him to roll a little so I could take the back but just as he started to move the way I wanted him to, time was up. The sparring session was over.

Damn, what a roll! Even though I didn't submit the guy I felt in control for most of the match...ya know, excluding that first 30 seconds when I was careless and gave up a submission. If we were keeping track of points that second round, I would've won by a healthy margin. I gained a lot of points with a few sweeps and advancing to the full mount. I probably had around 20 points. He gained points from passing my guard a couple times and a couple sweeps. He probably had around 10 points. It was an utterly exhausting roll, but damn fun.

Next time I need to focus more on maintaining the top position and not getting reversed onto my back. Even though I prefer to play from the bottom, I should get better at maintaining top position and setting up submissions from there. Something to keep in mind for next time.

CJJF @ UFC

Today several people from the Caveirinha Jiu-Jitsu Family met up to roll at the UFC gym. There was over a dozen of us and we took up almost the whole mat room. It was great to see so many people show up, some I hadn't seen in quite a while. Clinton got things started by playing coach. He paired us up for a 5 minute flow roll. For those who don't know, a flow roll is when you go at about half intensity and just go through the motions of different positions and techniques without trying to submit your partner. It's a way of warming up.

Next, Clinton partnered us up for sparring. 10 minute rounds, a new partner every round. I don't think I've ever done a 10 minute sparring session so things were going to get exhausting. And somewhere around round 3, I was feeling exhausted. No problem though, we only did about 6 rounds...actually I have no idea how many rounds we did. I just know we were there for about 2 hours.

It was good fun. I caught a few submissions, got caught in a few submissions, learned a few techniques, and nearly passed out. That was a new one actually, the nearly passing out part. I was rolling with Cyrus and he attacked a choke at the same time I was trying to advance my position. I figured if I got to the better position it would lessen the pressure of the choke. I eventually did get into a better spot but I was so caught up in gaining position that I forgot I was getting choked. There wasn't much blood getting to my brain and things were starting to look hazy. I tapped out, Cyrus let go, I don't remember moving but when I became aware again I was sitting on the mat and Cyrus was off his back sitting up too. When did he do that?? I think I winked out there for a second which leads me to believe if I tried to hold off any longer I would've fully gone out.

All of us were there to roll and have fun but some had the extra incentive to train for the upcoming Abu Dhabi Trials on Feb 2. For those who don't know, Abu Dhabi is a world renown grappling tournament held in...you'll never guess where...Abu Dhabi. Those who do well enough in the trials get an invitation to the main event. There are a handful of CJJF members that have signed up to compete in the trials, and I believe there are a few more to come as well. I will not be competing myself but will be there to watch and support CJJF. In the meantime, I hope there are more rolling sessions like today. It was exhausting but damn good fun.



CJJF rolling session at UFC Gym

Rolling on 2 Years

About two years ago I began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and what a journey it's been so far. In that short time I've seen training partners come and go, trained at 3 different places, seen a handful of drama (luckily I've never been in the thick of it), experienced losses, more bruises than I can count, mat burns, aches and pains, and have come into contact with another man's sweat in ways I hope to never ever have happen again. Despite all that, walking into Gracie Barra University and training with Caveirinha two years ago has been the best thing I've ever done.

 

Gracie Barra (GB), where it all started

I still remember my first day. Walking up the stairs to Gracie Barra, not even sure if I was in the right place, nervous out of my mind about what was to come. I got tossed around and tapped out like a true rookie that day. I was partnered up with Dustin and Jojo, who were really friendly and helpful, and I learned how to do a kimura (a type of shoulder lock). It was awesome, I was hooked, and I had to learn more. I've tried to keep up with training and learning BJJ ever since.

 

But as oh-so-subtly hinted at in the first paragraph, training has been anything but just training. Issues arose which strained the relationship between Caveirinha and Gracie Barra management and naturally that tension was transferred onto the mat. The once affable atmosphere wasn't the same, and there were several awkward moments where arguments between management and Caveirinha were well within earshot and eyesight of everybody there.

 

Those issues combined with some financial strain left me with a decision to make. Training at GB was always on the pricey side but learning under Caveirinha and rolling with the people there made it worth it. But Caveirinha was there less and less, and a lot of training partners disappeared. Reluctantly, I decided to stop training at Gracie Barra early this year.

 

I went a few months without rolling until the UFC Gym opened. And what d'ya know, all of those training partners that disappeared from GB showed up at UFC. Financially, UFC made sense too (thanks to that employer discount) and I had a new place to workout and roll. Leandro Nyza teaches the BJJ classes and he's really good. Everything was, and still is, very fundamental but he offers some unique details about techniques and I like getting his perspective.

CJJF has arrived!

 

After a few months at UFC, a buzz began to grow about Caveirihna breaking away from Gracie Barra and opening his own school. Rumor of it spread and anticipation skyrocketed but it never left the realm of rumor. It was always have you heard...somebody told me...and things like that. But then just over a month ago rumor became reality and the Caveirinha Jiu-Jitsu Family Association opened in Honolulu. I joined right away. Don't get me wrong, Nyza is good and the UFC gym is great as a gym, but to really advance in BJJ Caveirinha is the man to follow.

 

Nowadays I train at both UFC and CJJF (gotta love all the acronyms). I've come a long way since that first day. In addition to that first kimura I learned, I now know armbars, triangle chokes, ankle locks, americanas, various chokes, and techniques to move an opponent twice my size in ways that make them feel lighter than me. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's so much more to learn, both in regards to technique and the mental approach to BJJ.

 

The day Caveirihna gave me a blue belt.
I forgot I still had a beard then.

So the techniques are cool and all, and training is loads of fun but what else has BJJ done for me? Why, after 2 years, is it still the best thing I've ever done? When I boil it all down, basically it's made me better. In almost every way. I'm more fit. I'm more flexible. I've learned to better keep my composure in difficult situations on and off the mat. My confidence has increased by leaps and bounds. It's turned me from a shy, timid, quiet person that would frantically avoid everything outside of a limited comfort zone into somebody who's finally realizing a solid belief in himself. It's like every time I successfully pull off a technique or catch a submission or defend a submission, it's a little personal victory. And those small victories seem to add up and resonate within me and build up my overall character. That's the best way I can describe it. It's crazy and it's only been 2 years!

NAGA 2012

It's that time again! The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) tournament came to town yesterday and it was on. I didn't compete but I was there to support my friends and teammates. There were plenty of competitors from Gracie Barra and I recognized a few people from the UFC gym. Gi chokes, triangles, armbars, sweeps, and take downs resonated in the air. Some nice jiu-jitsu was on display. Here's a rundown of two matches that stood out.

Clinton on top in side-control

First up was my friend Clinton. He's a purple belt at Gracie Barra and was one of my instructors when I was first learning jiu-jitsu. He competed in both no gi and gi tournaments. In no gi he took 3^rd place in his division and in gi he took the gold. A huge accomplishment for a guy that's had his purple belt for less than a year.

Clinton in full mount setting up a finishing move

In his 3^rd place match for no gi, Clinton rolled very well. He pulled guard at the onset and quickly went to work for a sweep. It wasn't long before he got it and gained the top position. His opponent didn't just lie there though. He kept busy and was able to reverse the position at one point but Clinton kept just as busy and scored with another sweep. A scary moment came during a scramble when Clinton's opponent attacked his leg with what looked like a heel hook. Clinton rolled with his opponent and was eventually able to kick his leg free and get back to the top position. It looked close though. His opponent kept busy trying to recover his guard but Clinton shifted his hips and adjusted his weight to control the position. His opponent wasn't going anywhere.

Clinton submits his opponent with a smooth armbar

Towards the end of the match Clinton was well ahead on points and maneuvered into the full mount position. He could have rode out the clock and taken the victory but instead he attacked and secured an armbar. Clinton tapped out his opponent to claim bronze. Congrats!

Next was my friend Kim. She's a blue belt, has been training just about as long as I have, and this was her first competition. Throughout training she's endured broken fingers and torn ligaments in both ankles. But she's healed strong each time and has remained dedicated to training jiu-jitsu. Her technique has improved a lot in the past few months and she trained hard for her first tournament. Here's how her first fight went.

Kim on top keeping her opponent down

When the match started Kim wasted no time pulling guard and transitioning from full guard to spider guard. She worked for a sweep and kept her opponent off balance. Her opponent did well to avoid getting swept but was forced to stand and Kim caught her with a pull-feet sweep. A technique where you pull a standing opponent's heels toward you while pushing their hips away with your knees or feet. It usually sends your opponent sailing onto their back, which is exactly what happened to Kim's opponent.

Kim was dominant in side-control

Kim took the top position in half guard. It didn't take long for her to pass the guard and move into side-control. Her opponent worked to regain her guard but Kim deftly spun to the opposite side and established a dominant side-control position.

Kim's pressure was relentless. Her opponent bumped and bridge but there was no escape. Kim began to work towards the knee-on-belly position and her opponent found an opportunity to to regain full guard. Her opponent quickly attacked an armbar. Kim defended well and got her arm free then quickly passed her opponent's guard and regained side-control.

First tournament, first gold! Congrats!

Kim kept her opponent controlled for the rest of the match. When time expired she won with a dominant score of 11 to 0. With the victory Kim claimed gold in her division. Congrats!

The NAGA tournament was great to watch. It moved pretty smoothly with 10 mats set up so there was always some rolling to watch. Many of my Gracie Barra teammates rolled and did well. Some claimed medals, others came up short, but all deserve praise and respect for challenging themselves in competition. My hat's off to all of you!

White Stripes

9/1/2012

Considering I've been training for over a year it feels odd to be wondering what the stripes on my belt actually mean. But after thinking about it, it was never really explained to me. It just seemed like, hey you've been training for a while have a stripe! Yay! A round of applause, a handshake from the instructors, bow, and you get to stand further up the line. It feels nice, gives a sense of accomplishment, but really...what's it mean?

It is a measure of skill? A mark of experience? A symbol of dedication? Or a mark of praise given out when your instructor deems it's warranted? I've heard so many different meanings for stripes it's become confusing. So here's how I figure it.

I don't think it's a measure of skill simply because there's people with less stripes that are clearly more skilled than people with more (admittedly, I'm often one of those with more stripes that struggle against some with less). Belt color is more a measure of skill than the amount of stripes on it. I don't think a stripe should be given as a form of praise. That just seems a little base and it allows for bias. Feels like praise should be a result, not a reason. I side with a stripe being a sign of experience. The last person who gave a reasonable explanation of what a stripe is explained it as a sign of one's position, they've been there longer, they're more senior and have more experience.

So why not dedication? Well, just because somebody's dedicated doesn't mean they've been training. For example, at the beginning of the year I was completely dedicated to Gracie Barra but I wasn't training. Feels like a stripe should be awarded for time and effort on the mat not from some sense of attachment. Not that there's anything wrong with dedication, just feels like that shouldn't be a main reason for awarding a higher rank.

That's how I figure it. What do you think? Really, if your understanding of what a stripe is is different please let me know. I'm just guessing here.

Rolling Over

8/7/2012

Haven't done a blog for a while but the urge struck tonight. I've been able to train jiu-jitsu about twice a week at the UFC gym. It's not a whole lot and I still feel pretty rusty but it's getting better. I've been taking a few judo classes here and there to compliment BJJ, learn a few techniques to get an opponent to the ground. Only thing is I haven't been able to apply anything from judo because when we spar in BJJ we start on our knees...and I kinda suck with the whole judo thing.

Anyway, I was thinking about my last roll session earlier tonight and it feels like the BJJ demons of last year are back. My posture and balance feel unstable and I feel like I'm getting swept more than I should. More often than not I find myself being put onto my back. It's like I just roll over for my opponents. So tonight I wanted to work on maintaining a solid base in my opponent's guard. Keep things simple, just maintain a strong posture when they try to sweep or go for a submission. Defend and stay solid. No problem right?

Well...

Maybe not. I rolled with one guy and he really yanked and pulled at me. Just relentless at trying to break my posture. It worked. Any stability I had was quickly shaken and before I knew it was in serious danger of being swept onto my back. I had to collapse my posture and basically hug the guy to prevent the sweep, then I had to work to posture back up again. I tired to hold him down but that wasn't happening. As soon as I got my back straight and my posture up the guy was yanking and pulling again and there went my balance...again.

This time the guy opened his guard to attack a situp sweep (we drilled it earlier that night). Now, I could see it all unfolding: his guard opened, he was controlling one of my arms, his hips were positioned to bump me onto my back. I saw the whole thing coming and something in my head clicked and said I should not get caught by this. Now I don't mean I'm so experienced that I shouldn't get caught in a situp sweep, I mean there was something about this guy's sweep that was off and I shouldn't get caught. Part of my mind recognized that his leg was out of position and all I had to do was push down on it and not only would I defend the sweep but I'd also have a wide open door to pass his guard. But another part of my mind just went duurrrr and I got swept.

So I guess there's a good and bad here. Good that my mind worked fast enough to recognize a flaw in my opponent. Bad because my body didn't respond. Guess I'll have to work on that...somehow.

I'll keep practicing on my weak areas: maintaining a strong base when in an opponent's guard, practicing sweeps when on the bottom (I realize I need a lot of work on these but that's a different blog), keeping heavy on the side mount, and maintaining a full mount. Notice none of these things include submissions, which is about right because I need to work on the fundamentals of controlling the position for a while. I'll only attack submissions if people really give it to me...or if they're being a little too overeager.

Rolling Uphill

7/12/2012

Finally caught a few submissions today in training. Feels like some of my jiu-jitsu game is returning. Just some though, I still have a lot of catching up to do. While I'm beginning to feel more comfortable rolling I'm still keenly aware of the mistakes I make. And I feel like I'm making more than I should. Well, more than somebody wearing the color belt I have should.

I find myself having the same problems I had when I was a white belt. I struggle to escape from side mount, when I'm in side-control my partners recover guard fairly easily, and I feel off balance from every top position. For example, today when I got to full-mount my partner reversed it within 3 seconds. If it was a tournament, that's not worth any points. Luckily though, I had a choke set up and was able to finish it from the bottom. So at least I got the submission even though I was actually trying to control the position.

Another example from today came when I was rolling with a white belt. He's a little bigger than me but I still didn't mind pulling guard and working from the bottom. I had the guy in spider guard and was controlling him well. Really well. I wasn't quite able to sweep him but I was never at risk of having my guard passed. Then for some odd reason I decided to let go and scoot back, creating a lot of space between us. Enough space for the guy to easily step around and get into side-control and attack a choke. Big mistake, a pretty dumb mistake, and I still don't even know why I did it....??

Interestingly, when I was partnered against another blue belt I actually did better than when I was partnered with white belts. Not really sure why. But I moved more fluidly, I passed my partner's spider guard, and actually controlled the top position and even got to knee-on-belly and attacked an armbar. My guess is I'm more cautious with white belts. Not because I'm worried about hurting them but the other way around. But I use them to practice on my weak areas. So when they get into side-control I don't get upset, I just look at is as an opportunity to practice from that position. When they attack a submission I see it as a way to work on escaping. I figure it's a good thing to train from bad spots. Like I said, still have a lot of catching up to do.