The belt

Last week Kevin promoted one of our BJJ brothers, Jaffer, to  blue belt. It was done so informally and casually, that I couldn't help but stifle a laugh as soon as Kevin mentioned it to the group. It was the tail end of the session as we were gettting ready to do handshakes, when Kevin mentioned for Jaffer to bring his blue belt the next time he trains. The reason for laughing is that myself and Kevin were having a chat as I sat out a sparring session. We were watching Jaffer roll with a guest who was sparring 100% (Keith mentioned that 100% usually meant a fight, not a spar!!). Kevin was commenting on how Jaffer was just riding the storm and just waited for his opponent to provide an opening. I mentioned to him that the last time I sparred with Jaffer, I commented on how good he was, and that he probably was a "fake white belt", as a way of complimenting his skills. Kevin laughed at this. Little did I know that he was already contemplating on promoting Jaffer. Wahey!

Had a chat with Jaffer afterwards and reminded him of the fake white belt conversation we had and congratulated him again for the achievement. I told him that I surmised that Kevin doesn't subscribe to the stripe system that I've seen other academies do. Jaffer and I agreed that Kevin's way of teaching is to instill the concept of BJJ and to concentrate on the art, not the belt, as the belt will follow soon enough. This is something that I have mentioned several times in my other posts, as something I have noticed with the way Kevin handles his classes.

This concept might sound lofty to some but I do think this is how a true martial artist should think like, as in the olden days - it was about learning, understanding, and living the art, I suppose, rather than the belt itself. The belt signifies achievement, a milestone in your journey. In BJJ, there are a few milestones and that the time frames set to achieve them are more loose, as opposed to other arts. I believe that is one of the reasons why so many fall by the wayside in their journey. I come from a background of Kali Escrima, where length of training can be a factor in a promotion. That, and demonstrating the prescribed forms during belt gradings. Of course, you have to be proficient with the forms and techniques, disarms and attacks from various angles and distance, but there is THAT time element. As there are numerous belts between white and black, there is a temptation to be a belt-chaser, which can impact on your true understanding of the art of stickfighting.

A belt is beneficial to us at times when we are hurting from training, when we think that we have plateau'd in our game, when it becomes an absolute nightmare trying to balance work and familial responsibilities with time spent on the mats - well, besides keeping our gi jackets closed and a place to hook our thumbs whilst listening to your intructor teaching a technique.

I would like to get into this kind of thinking -to study and understand the concept behind the art. Not just to learn the techniques, positions, submissions, escapes and reversals, but to get it to flow, almost unconsciously, as I practice this art we call Jiujitsu.

Apologies for the FRAT but I do get into this rambling mode at times...

Keep on truckin'...

Having Wednesday's class as a confidence- builder, I followed the same mindfulness to training I had the following day. Purple belt Steve took the class but little Steve was prepared to jump in in case none of the higher belts could make it.

Steve's class takes a different flavour as compared to Kevin's and Dante's class. His was more physical in nature, and spends time on cardio, conditioning, and sport-specific exercises, as well as techniques-drilling and sparring.

Steve taught three types of sweeps from the bottom, one involving push-pulls using legs from bottom guard, and two from being caught in side mount short base. One involves cross-facing your opponent while moving your body away from his to create space before you kick your inside leg to provide momentum. The other one involves securing a far underhook and grabbing opponent's shoulder with your near hand whilst moving in to nullify space between the bodies as preparation for a throw using hip bump. That last one was particularly difficult for me during drilling, as my partner keeps on leaving his arm across my back as he throws me. I then land on his arm and his knuckles press on my back ribs, which leaves me short of breath because of my injury. Oh well...

The theme for yesterday's class was about achieving positional dominance thru sweeps and taking the back whilst standing grappling.

I was fortunate that Keith was back in training so we paired up initially in sparring - getting chuckles from the class as some kind of Chuck and Larry. The thing is, myself and Keith had a chat several weeks ago about pairing up for light rolling due to our injuries, which actually went very well. It allowed us to focus more on techniques, rather than going balls to the wall in sparrng. Even in the subsequent sparring matches with others, I kind of set the tone in my mind, which was immensely helpful. Even rolling with purple belt Steve didn't seem too scary as before...

What Nietzsche said...

Gone back to training this week after missing out several sessions due to injuries picked up in the last couple of classes. Turned out to be that at least 5 others were injured at some point since then. Keith had a possible broken toe, Jack came last Wednesday to say that he tore his rotator cuff muscle, and Brummie Sam injured his groin muscle playing footie tge other day. Kevin was concerned at the rate of injuries this past couple of weeks, though claims that this sport has got a high rate of injuries due to the nature of the classes.

So, bearing that in mind, I decided to focus more on the techniques and be mindful of how I roll later. Fortunately, Elliot was there and we were able to drill techniques, him being considerate of my tweaked shoulder and back.

Kevin took the class and explained the concept of BJJ thru the techniques. Buttterfly guard and sweeps, pummelling, and takedowns. The concept of sensitivity, tactileness and fluidity thru the use of the above techniques. Again, as before, it is not about waiting for the perfect moment to execute the technique, but to be consciously aware of your opponent's position with regards to yours. Through this, you then can formulate actions that take advantage of that position. He said that he likes using the butterfly guard as it works well wiwith his body frame and limb length. Generally, asians and orientals are average in height and reach, so this technique works well in this regard. Something very relevant to me, me thinks...

Transition drilling

Training yesterday with Dante doing the class. Quite personable – makes it a point of chatting to everyone individually and making introductions to new students.

Because of his judo background, he always would have judo techniques as part of drilling. On this class it was over the shoulder takedowns and “the thing where you cross the arms before you trip them backwards” takedown. With the first one, the tip is to lower your centre of gravity as you turn around then connect your hips to your partner. With the second one, it’s about controlling the posture thru crossing your partner’s arms across his body, as pointed out by George, my drilling partner. George is a massive guy but uses technique, rather than strength in sparring.

Afterwards, we did transition drills. This starts off from turtle position, then into closed guard or butterfly guard, then reversal into mount. The transition from turtle to guard is interesting. The key is to immediately control the far leg/knee by grabbing cloth using your inside hand. Afterwards, extend the inside leg and scoop hips to feed through the outside knee, going into either a closed guard or a butterfly guard.

To drill the movement, the one being mounted needs to get his elbow in between partner’s knee and your body. The key is to scoot your hip on the opposite side as you dig your elbow/push the knee away to create space and force your partner to spread his legs more, making the mount unstable. Once this is achieved, bring the knee into the space and rest foot on your partner’s hip. Then scoot to the other side to get the other knee out. You can now choose to implement closed guard or butterfly guard.

Sparring came next with Dante, Jaffer, and Steve. I survived most of the time and nearly got caught in a tight arm bar by Steve but thankfully time ran out. Whew. I did attempt the Ezekiel upon gaining positional dominance but wasn’t successful again. I managed to employ the Scoop and the Turtle defense from Saulo Ribeiro’s JiuJitsu University, so I was able to thwart any attempt to RNC me – good thing as my throat is still sore from last week.

Towards the end, we played King of the Circle, where we made a small circle on the mats from our gi jackets rolled and placed side-by-side. The object of the game is to move your enemy out of  the circle, sumo-style, or if any part of  his upper torso touches the area inside the circle. Good game and we had fun. The morale of the game is aggressiveness if you manage to find yourself in a street fight. Your martial art would not save you if you get pushed onto an oncoming vehicle. Aggressiveness and using your environment to your advantage is the key in a street fight, where no rules apply. Or fast legs for running away.

Good training all in all but I have niggling injuries that have been bothering me for the last couple of weeks. My dodgy left shoulder is acting up again, and a localised upper back pain. I was complaining to my doctor colleague about the pain I feel whenever I have deep breaths or a sudden sharp intake of breath such as sneezing or coughing. He said it could be pleurisy, wherein the outer lining of the lung is filled with air or fluid and is inflamed. That or I could have a busted rib. Either way, DAMN.