Tournament Mentality

If you have never competed before, I think its worth noting the vast difference that exists from just rolling at the gym with your friends. At a tournament the people you go up against turn up the intensity 100%, winning is the goal, whereas in class I’d like to think learning is the goal, with winning being secondary. You see these people at a tournament paid good money to be there, their friends and family might be there watching, it might be being recorded, they want to bring home a medal and tales of victory. This fosters a new level of aggression than is ever seen in a gym setting. The fact is that most people you compete against in a tournament setting will absolutely not tap unless you put them in real fear for their safety. In the gym you might take an armbar for example, to a certain limit, a limit where you expect someone to tap from experience. Right at the sweet spot where it is slightly painful but not dangerous, even though you could go farther. In a tournament the person will stack you, roll, hop and twist like a fish on a hook. They most certainly will not tap unless you get within centimeters of breaking their arm. Sure there are people like me that want to train the next day, and will respect a good submission, but if you have competed before you know that what I’m talking applies to 90% of the people at those things. With that being said I am willing to bet the rate of injury is massively higher at a tournament than at your own gym. This is the reason. So if you are ever competing in your first tournament take my advice and when you get a submission on someone do not let go until the ref stops you, and do not let up. You really don’t want to lose a match because you were trying to be nice. At the end of the day it is their fault not yours, so you shouldnt feel any guilt. If they are being stubborn, refusing to tap, that is their choice I feel. I don’t think it’s crazy, its just a choice. If winning means that you are willing to take some tendon damage or what have you, I can’t hold that against someone. But I’m not going to hold back on you either. In a gym setting I would usually back off if I think someone is being like that, but not in a tournament. I’d be curious to hear from fellow grapplers about how they approach opponents like that in a tournament. Do you let go, or do you break it?

My first class

I thought I was pretty tough, being a serious weight lifter for a while until I became bored with it. I was a stocky 250 lb guy, probably a half human, half bulldog looking person when I first walked onto the mats of my first jiu jitsu class. After drilling a few techniques that didnt really make any sense to me yet, we were paired up to roll. The entire time we rolled I don’t think I even got close to putting anyone in a bad position once. It was then that I knew without question that not only was jiu jitsu a martial art that actually delivered what they all promise, but that I would happily dedicate years of my life to learning it.

Now I have met black belts in certain martial arts, and sparred with them, and always come away disappointed. Many of them (not all), including Judo and Tae Kwon Do, surprisingly couldn’t really do anything to me, and it was so apparent that many of these people were simply paper tigers. The mystique of the “black belt”, the master who was so dangerous, someone who had mastered the art of unarmed combat, that I had thought so highly of as a child, was usually just a really fit guy who knew a few flashy moves, but lacked substance. So naturally when I checked out jiu jitsu, I was skeptical, and thought it was probably more of the same. When rolling, I was rolling with not just high level players, but many beginners, all of which tooled me. Something these so-called “black belts” never were able to do. Im really glad I had that experience because if I wasn’t dominated so badly, as a regular guy off the street, then I wouldn’t have respected the art at all. But there was no excuse to be made, only the glaring fact that jiu jitsu was the most legit thing I had ever experienced as far as martial arts styles go. I had tried other martial arts when I was younger, but never really fell into any of them.

In my opinion, no matter what size a practitioner of a martial art is, if they are highly skilled they should be able to beat a regular person. Regardless of if that person is larger, faster, stronger, whatever. I mean isn’t that the whole idea behind martial arts? And not only should they beat them, they should beat them with the ease and grace that you might expect them to. If they cant do it, then I have serious doubts in their ability to really teach me anything of substance. So I will always be grateful for my first class, it is through that initial beating that I came to find one of my biggest passions.

Advice for the new guy

Over the years I’ve seen many of people come into the gym for their first lesson. Some are awesome people who stick around long enough to become friends, some are there for a week or two and are never seen again. If you train you have probably had similar experiences with new members. You also might have seen a couple of “that guy” come into the gym. The guy who wants to fight ASAP, within a month preferably. They have no previous experience, unless of course you count his undefeated street fight record. They “knock dudes out all the time”, or “don’t need to learn grappling because they can’t be taken down”. If you get them in a grappling class they flop around like a fish without any clue what to do. They might admit they suck at grappling, but boast about their awesome stand-up game. That is until the next day when they get their heads knocked off, all the while claiming they are really a ground fighter. They are completely naive about what it really takes to be a fighter, and because of a couple of bar fights they get the idea that they are the next Anderson Silva.

Now I don’t want to mock “that guy” too hard because while I was never that oblivious, I will admit that when I first started I was naive too. I thought I’d train for a while and maybe become a professional fighter. Luckily I knew that when I walked in everyone in there could destroy me if they wanted, but I was delusional about the massive commitment it takes to actually be a fighter. I had no clue. After about a year of training I won my first and only MMA fight. I realized even before the fight that I was hooked on jiu jitsu, but didn’t really get too excited about MMA. Even so I was committed to get in the cage at least one time, just to see if I could really do it. Afterwards I stuck to competing in numerous grappling tournaments, and am happy I was able to find something I truly love to do.

If you are serious about getting into MMA, consider some of the following advice. Since I am not a fighter and merely a grappler, feel free to tell me if I’m full of crap.

First, dont think you are going to fight in less than 6 months unless you have a background in wrestling or martial arts of some kind. The reason I say this is because back in 1993 you might have gotten lucky with so little experience, but now everyone is so well-trained, that you will most likely get smashed and it could ruin the sport forever for you. You might either be too ashamed to try again, or you will have a chip on your shoulder and become a douche. Either way that’s not good, and you will rob yourself of a rich experience the way it should be, which is 2 well prepared fighters facing one another in equal combat. Any gym that promises you such a thing in such a short time is probably not very experienced, full of shit or doesn’t really care about what happens to you. An exception might be if your opponent also has little to no experience. But in my opinion I’m not sure fans would want to watch that.

Secondly be humble. I guarantee you if you have never trained MMA before, you will get absolutely destroyed for not just the first few classes, but probably the first few months. It will be a true test of how healthy your ego really is. Stick with it and don’t get discouraged, you will get better. For the love of god though don’t tell stories about your street fights. I hate hearing them and nodding politely. Maybe it’s just me?

Lastly be patient. With the growing popularity of MMA there are events every couple of months, so don’t worry about rushing before you are ready. You will regret fighting before you are ready. It will be much harder than you picture it in your head, and you need to be 100% confident before you agree to do it for real.

There is a quote by Joe Rogan I really like that I think puts things into perspective for people who are thinking of trying MMA. he said:
“Very few people actually want to fight, they just want to kick someone’s ass. They dont understand, that that guy can kick your ass too. This is not going to be an even exchange..if you are not willing to take big shots and be in pain and push through, you are never going to do this.” – Joe Rogan

Ryan Hall 50/50 Guard DVD Review

I recently had a chance to get a copy of Ryan Hall’s 50/50 DVD, and thought I would write a short review on it because I havent found many out there. I’ve been very interested in leglocks for some time now, but they are not taught very often at my gym, hence why I went looking for a good instructional. Now I have bought several DVD instructionals in the past and own countless books on jiu jitsu. I am usually able to see something and be able to apply it in the gym. A lot of people simply can’t and thats why good old fashioned mat time will always be the best teacher. But in my down time I like to sate my hunger for more jiu jitsu by doing what I can at home. My experience with DVD’s in the past have been hit and miss at best. Most have been pretty awful to be honest, but some are alright. I had actually decided I probably wasnt going to buy anymore, but I had read some really positive things about Ryan’s DVD, and the fact that it was all about leglocks eventually won me over. I’m very glad I decided to take a chance too.

I have been focusing on leglocks on my own for some time now and its kind of become my thing. I consider myself pretty proficient with them, but I also know that with anything, there always much more to learn. This DVD proved that very thing to me. I don’t know why I had the delusional idea that I “knew about the 50/50”, but it became clear after watching the first DVD out of the three, that I had no freaking clue how awesome this position could be. The first DVD called “the 50/50 illuminated” goes over the fundamentals of the 50/50, the positioning, the defenses, different attacks, how to gain the advantage, and some broader concepts. It is very informative and really gives you such huge respect for this position. As Ryan states in his DVD, the 50/50 guard is a physically mirrored position, hence the name 50/50 but really it is a position of skill. If two people wind up in 50/50 usually whoever has more skill in the 50/50 will win, as with many other positions in BJJ. The truly amazing part though for me, was his ideas about defeating a superior grappler using this position, something I have found to be 100% true. Notice he says whoever is more skilled in the 50/50 will win, not whoever is the more skilled grappler. There is no passing this position if you do not understand it. You can’t just stack into the guy, as Ryan shows many options for this when it happens. You also can’t run away, because your leg is so securely wedged inside your opponents. You essentially are forced to deal with the 50/50.

Ryan does something unique in this 3 DVD set that he starts with the position itself instead of the entries. At first this bothered me and I thought it was an oversight, but he actually addresses this in his DVD at some point. He says that he purposefully did this because its more important to understand the position before you get yourself into it, for your safety and your opponents safety. This makes sense to me, I’m not sure if I like it but his reasoning is sound.

The second DVD covers entries for the most part, which are very cool. They are highly complex looking but Ryan makes them look so easy. A lot of them are from an upside down or inverted guard, which I have never really played, so unfortunately I probably wont be using those anytime soon. There are however other entry options, as well as entries during transitions which will be more beneficial to me. It all depends on your style.

The last DVD has some more entries and some advanced heel hook finishing tips, which are amazing. I don’t want to give anything away, but the tips are an absolute must see for anyone who fancies themselves a leg lock aficionado. I have been very successful with heel hooks and get taps all the time with them, so you can finish them with sloppy technique, but once I saw some of these advanced finishing tips my finishing percentage with heel hooks went even higher. Anyone who has been learning BJJ for a while will know what I am taking about. You can think you know a technique and even be successful with it, but then one day when you drill it again you pick up some small detail you somehow missed the first time, that makes it even easier. This happens multiple times for the same technique in my case.

In closing this DVD set is amazing. All the positive things I read before purchasing this were true, the production value was great, the details were game changing, and the techniques were shown from several angles so you didn’t miss a thing. I honestly felt like I took a college level course on this position after watching it a couple of times. Its one of those DVD’s I’ve watched at least 4 times now, and keep picking stuff up because there is just so much to learn. Over 4 hours of instruction total. If you are interested in leg locks at ALL, you should grab this DVD, or equally important, if you don’t want to be someone’s plaything inside the 50/50 you also need this DVD. As far as instructional DVD’s go this is by far the best one I’ve ever owned. 5 stars.