In this example we are looking at escaping side control. One 'method' is pushing away the opponent (bench pressing) and the other is making and holding a frame (max contraction) so you can move away from it.
Bench pressing is basically using strength to move the weight away from you whereas max contraction is being able to hold the weight at full extension for a certain amount of time.
It is essentially easier to lock out and hold weight than it is to move it. You want proof? If you are benching 75kg for example as your maximum then have someone hand you 100kg whilst you are laid on the bench with arms locked at full extension, you can hold it off you. This is true, I have seen it. This is a 33% increase immediately.
You can't move it but you can hold it.
So how does max contraction work? It works on the fact that your body is always in auto-protection mode, it only does enough to get you through. When you go to lift something your body quickly does a risk assessment to see how many muscle fibres it needs to activate and doesn't use any more than it needs to. By nature your body is lazy.
However, when you are handed something to hold that is heavier than you can lift the body employs more muscle fibres to carry out the task.
The strength of the muscle is in the contraction, when you lift a weight you don't get the same contraction as a lot of the lift is movement only giving you the contraction at the temporary finished position.
This is a real basic explanation but there is plenty of info out there if you want to research more. I know from experience working with personal trainer Gaz Vause that you can double your static strength in a matter of weeks using max contraction.
That is all well and good but we do Jiu Jitsu not weight lifting.
So, back to our side control escape, trying to push/power/bench the guy away will be too hard but using a frame/max contraction then escaping your hips will be a much better option.
Strength & power < strength & movement
Add to this making the frame before the opponent gets their weight down makes for a much easier life.
Hope this makes sense.
DC
Shout outs, quotes, thoughts, ramblings and so on
Monday, 9 July 2012
Friday, 6 July 2012
Take Ownership
Following a conversation yesterday it reminded me that a lot of people have asked me the same question, how does a black belt get challenged in training without other black belts to train with?
This also applies to if you are the big fish in the small pond at your gym.
The answer quite simply is to handicap yourself. If you smash everyone from top then play guard. If you are a guard player then develop your top game. If you always attack, then play defence.
Even more so in MMA; you have striking, clinch, wrestling and ground to work between. I have never seen anyone, not even high level pro fighters, that couldn't improve at least one of those ranges.
It's not rocket science.
If you don't feel like you are getting pushed, it is usually because you are doing the same thing over and over. If you want to get pushed then take your ego out of the equation and try something different. Expand what you do, don't just keep doing the same old thing because you are scared of tapping or the stupid notion that it is possible to lose in training. Try something, fail, tap. Try again, fail, tap. At some point you will stop failing and stop tapping and you are on your way to having another solid skill you can rely on.
What makes Marcelo so good? Watch him train and see how he gets great positions but lets the roll continue by easing off and seeing how his partner reacts and escapes then Marcelo attacks that. This is why he always has an answer and a lot of other guys don't. This is how arguably the best pound for pound grappler in the world gets pushed in training.
So if you are feeling a little stale, before you start blaming other people because you are not being pushed, take ownership of what you do and see if there is anything you can do to help.
The ultimate aim of any coach is to make their student, athlete, fighter take responsibility for their own actions. We can teach you, show you, coach you but we can not do it for you.
Take ownership, you can not fail to improve.
DC
This also applies to if you are the big fish in the small pond at your gym.
The answer quite simply is to handicap yourself. If you smash everyone from top then play guard. If you are a guard player then develop your top game. If you always attack, then play defence.
Even more so in MMA; you have striking, clinch, wrestling and ground to work between. I have never seen anyone, not even high level pro fighters, that couldn't improve at least one of those ranges.
It's not rocket science.
If you don't feel like you are getting pushed, it is usually because you are doing the same thing over and over. If you want to get pushed then take your ego out of the equation and try something different. Expand what you do, don't just keep doing the same old thing because you are scared of tapping or the stupid notion that it is possible to lose in training. Try something, fail, tap. Try again, fail, tap. At some point you will stop failing and stop tapping and you are on your way to having another solid skill you can rely on.
What makes Marcelo so good? Watch him train and see how he gets great positions but lets the roll continue by easing off and seeing how his partner reacts and escapes then Marcelo attacks that. This is why he always has an answer and a lot of other guys don't. This is how arguably the best pound for pound grappler in the world gets pushed in training.
So if you are feeling a little stale, before you start blaming other people because you are not being pushed, take ownership of what you do and see if there is anything you can do to help.
The ultimate aim of any coach is to make their student, athlete, fighter take responsibility for their own actions. We can teach you, show you, coach you but we can not do it for you.
Take ownership, you can not fail to improve.
DC
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Helen Interview
Helen's recent interview with Jiu Jitsu Style magazine for those that missed it or are too skint to buy it. Enjoy!
Q. Despite the considerable achievement of being the first woman in the UK to reach the rank of black belt, you don't tend to blow your own trumpet. With that in mind, what do you think of the kind of aggressive, self-promotion marketing style encouraged by BJJ academy owners like Lloyd Irvin, which seems to be getting increasingly popular in the US (judging by the response of various black belts on The Underground forum)?
Helen: I don't know much of it to be honest, I don't waste time on the internet but I guess it depends on your motivation for teaching Jiu Jitsu, are you wanting to make a business out of teaching Jiu Jitsu and want to get as many people training with you as possible? Nothing wrong with that by the way, it seems almost that making a living from BJJ is considered dirty but as with anything in life, you have to pay a decent price for a decent service.
But it also seems sometimes that success is measured by how many guys you have per class, you have a lot of students so you must be good, right?
Me personally, I don't need to make money from Jiu Jitsu so I don't teach to make a profit I just like having a small academy and teach Jiu Jitsu to the guys that want to learn.
Each to their own really, just do what you think is right.
Q. Do you believe there is any difference in the optimum way for women to learn jiu jitsu compared to men, or is gender irrelevant? Or indeed is jiu jitsu so individual that it isn't possible to generalise in that way?
Helen: No, not really, everyone learns the same way. The real roadblock for women especially in a predominantly male dominated art is the size difference. I train in the absolute division everyday.
It doesn't really matter what your gender is if you weigh 100lbs and have to train with people much bigger who just want to try and smash you. It's dangerous whether you are male or female but there are not that many 100lb males around so the problem seems to be with the female.
Some guys are great to roll with but others are just dangerous, they don't seem to care about making training beneficial for everyone as long as they can go all out to try and smash me. They are the ones that count wins and losses in sparring.
Optimum way to learn Jiu Jitsu? Have a great coach, have great training partners and put in a lot of hours.
By the way, Emily Kwok's new DVD set "Dealing With Bigger And Stronger Opponents" is awesome I picked up a ton of great material from it, check it out.
Q. People often point to BJJ as being particularly good for women's self defence, particularly an understanding of the guard. Do you feel that is a valid perspective, or is self-defence more about awareness, confidence and the like rather than a specific set of techniques?
Helen: Yes, it is definitely a valid perspective but before you even get to the self-defence side of things, which are the techniques and strategies designed to keep you safe, you have the self-protection mode, regardless of gender.
The self-protection stage is the awareness and confidence that you mention, trying to avoid you being in a situation when you need to rely on the self-defence; a little awareness goes a long way.
The other thing is that it is assumed that women only get attacked by men and will need to fight from guard; women will attack other women in today's society so you need to be able to fight from anywhere.
Q. In your 2009 KombatClinic interview, you said that you felt the attitude towards women training in BJJ was "a little behind" in the UK by comparison to countries like the USA. Do you feel that is still the case, and if so, what do you think can be done to improve the situation?
Helen's husband, Darren, intervenes. "Yes, we are still behind in this country where women are concerned. There are way more women training in the USA so maybe it is easier for women to train together rather than the UK but Helen is the only female black belt in this country and none of the female BJJ community outside of Combat Base have even attempted to come and train with her. Many no-gi players, Judo players and MMA fighters have, just not any gi players; maybe it is a team loyalty thing but then again the same people have done seminars with others that have visited our shores that weren't from the same team.
Maybe it is not the fault of the girls themselves, maybe they would like to train with her but are governed by the politics of their particular group.
One example and I don't want to put anyone on the spot so I won't mention names but there was one girl in particular, a good coloured belt, actually stood next to Helen at a seminar when the seminar host told us to partner up to roll. Helen turned to look at the girl but she turned away and went to the far end of the mat to train with a guy that she had travelled up with who was way bigger than her and avoided Helen completely.
Q. Talking politics then, what of the new IBJJF rule changes and introduction of the Gracie Barra model?
Helen: Whatever, if people don't like it then they won't do it but people aren't going to stop competing just because of a rule change. Judo has rules changes constantly and seems to be as popular as ever. People adapt their game to get around the rules anyway so in a strange sort of way changing rules could actually make people improve their games by taking them out of the comfort zone and make them focus on something else. It's just turning a perceived negative into a positive.
As for the Gracie Barra model, it doesn't concern me what other groups do but if you have to wear a club gi then wear a club gi. If you don't want to, then leave and go somewhere else. If that's the worse thing that happens to you in your Jiu Jitsu journey that you have to wear a club gi, then you got off lightly.
I didn't particularly like all the bowing and tradition when I trained Judo but had to do it just to train and compete, just one of those things. Stop moaning and do it or move on.
Q. How much importance is put on competition in the Combat Base group?
Helen: Competition is very important; I have competed in everything I have seriously trained in, it's part of the fun. I don't want to just work on theory, I want to know what works for me and what doesn't.
I always advise people to compete, especially the women as there are more opportunities now than ever before. I wish it had been like this when we first started.
We have had people represent Combat Base at all levels right from the local interclub up to the Mundials and everything in-between.
It is vital to try the techniques and strategies under pressure when you have to beat the person in front of you whilst dealing with the little voice in your head telling you that you can't do it and you will lose and be embarrassed in front of everyone etc.
As I tell all our guys that compete, no one will think any less of you if you give 100% and don't win, anyone who has ever competed at anything gives respect to the competitor not the outcome.
I have heard the silliness of people assuming that higher grades don't compete because they are scared of losing in front of their students and the students all leaving because they will think the instructor is no good, Darren has lost a bunch of times in front of our students and they all keep coming back. It's the 'Man In The Arena' attitude.
We don't enforce that people compete to get promoted yet I have actually promoted over 100 people to various belts and there has only been 3 of them that have not competed and 2 of those are older students that have long term injuries.
Q. What do you think of the current female competition scene, particularly the top competitors like Gabi Garcia?
Helen: I think Gabi's Jiu Jitsu is under-rated, I have heard people saying she has only won everything because she is way bigger than everyone else that she faces but that's ridiculous. Is it always the biggest guy that wins?
Yes, she has size but she knows what to do with it too and from what I have seen and heard she has dropped a lot of weight and trains so hard.
Other female competitors I really enjoy watching on the world scene other than the obvious are Leticia Ribeiro, Melissa Haueter and Emily Kwok. All 3 ladies are just awesome plus I am friends with Melissa and Emily so it's nice to see people you care about excelling.
Q. Did you see the recent ADCC in Nottingham? What did you think in general and of the women specifically?
Helen: Was really good and a better atmosphere than Barcelona 2009 I thought. I was gutted to find out that 2 female competitors had dropped out of the lighter weight group and the places had already had been offered to 2 other UK women. Would have loved a shot at that.
The UK girls were unlucky in the first round draw so probably didn't get to show what they were capable of especially Yas Wilson who had been on a good run.
I would have liked to see more weight groups for the women at ADCC as there was some real weight and size differences. Surely there must be enough women to do at least another weight group.
I have heard guys at competitions complaining about having to fight in a weight class higher than they are used to, you ought to try being a woman. A couple of my friends in Leicester even compete against men just to get more competition experience even though they always have a weight and strength disadvantage.
Really enjoyed the lighter men's divisions too, had many of my favourites in and guys I had trained with previously. Cobrinha was a little unlucky but I'm a big fan of Rafa Mendes so wasn't too distraught, great to see Robson Moura compete again and Jeff Glover's antics were quite amusing. Glover taught me a choke though that I tapped my husband with so he is one of my favourites right now.
Calasans impressed me as always but once again I think Marcelo stole the show other than Toquinho who was probably the most popular guy in the building by the time he left, don't know about 'little tree trunk' though, he's more like a bear.
Q. Did you have much of a competitive career?
Helen: Not as much as I would have liked, there wasn't really any BJJ comps when I started. Would have loved to compete more but always a lack of opponents so I just had to fight whomever in whatever and try to apply BJJ to the situation. Other than Jiu Jitsu I tried a few other different formats too and did an MMA match against a tough girl who eventually became my main female training partner.
Injury put paid to my competition career after fighting an open weight Judo match in the Yorkshire and Humberside Judo Championships, I was 100lbs and she was 220lbs, pretty stupid in retrospect but I just wanted to fight.
I still keep thinking about getting back in there, like I said I'd have loved a shot at ADCC.
Q. You're considering competing again?
Helen: Yeah, I keep thinking about it, I would have to travel to get matches and don't know if I can justify all the time and expense just to get a match; tried to combine a family holiday and doing the Mundials last year but after a bit of a mix up wasn't able to.
Considered doing the Euros this time but there was only 1 other female light feather so again a lot of expense for 1 match considering for the same money I can fly to LA, stay with our coach for a week, get some sun, surf and train with other black belt women.
Q. Do you think there is anything in particular an academy and/or instructor can do in order to attract more women to their classes?
Helen: I guess the only thing you can do is have women only classes taught by a woman, I know it takes a lot to be the only woman training in a room full of men. We only have a few women train in regular class so I just partner them.
I have just started a women only class so we'll see how it goes.
Q. You mentioned in an interview you did about five years ago that you stopped belt whipping at Combat Base HQ after one of the students wrote a piece on hazing. I'd be interested in hearing more about the specifics.
Helen: One of our brown belts, Rob Lawlor, wrote a piece on hazing for his Uni group as I remember and it made a lot of sense so we stopped doing it at our gym although most of the other affiliates continued to do it.
We have had it creep in a little again recently but only for willing participants. This was the major point that Rob was making, if people were being made to join in the 'ceremony' against their will it was hazing. If you consent, great but if you don't want to take part you don't have to.
No big deal either way.
Q. Future plans?
Helen: Just keep doing what we are doing. Combat Base has just had it's 10th anniversary, we are selectively growing our group, we have quite a few academies in our group, have some great people and have around 350 members so I guess we are doing something right.
Can I just publicly say thanks to Lee and Gareth at Tatami Fightwear for my personal sponsorship and for supporting Combat Base in general. They are really trying to help expand women's BJJ in this country from their women's fight wear range to their sponsorship of our ladies programmes and sponsoring goods for the charity fund raising that is done regularly, it's really appreciated and I feel honoured to be part of such a prestigious team of sponsored athletes. I wish them all the success they deserve.
________________________________
Q. Despite the considerable achievement of being the first woman in the UK to reach the rank of black belt, you don't tend to blow your own trumpet. With that in mind, what do you think of the kind of aggressive, self-promotion marketing style encouraged by BJJ academy owners like Lloyd Irvin, which seems to be getting increasingly popular in the US (judging by the response of various black belts on The Underground forum)?
Helen: I don't know much of it to be honest, I don't waste time on the internet but I guess it depends on your motivation for teaching Jiu Jitsu, are you wanting to make a business out of teaching Jiu Jitsu and want to get as many people training with you as possible? Nothing wrong with that by the way, it seems almost that making a living from BJJ is considered dirty but as with anything in life, you have to pay a decent price for a decent service.
But it also seems sometimes that success is measured by how many guys you have per class, you have a lot of students so you must be good, right?
Me personally, I don't need to make money from Jiu Jitsu so I don't teach to make a profit I just like having a small academy and teach Jiu Jitsu to the guys that want to learn.
Each to their own really, just do what you think is right.
Q. Do you believe there is any difference in the optimum way for women to learn jiu jitsu compared to men, or is gender irrelevant? Or indeed is jiu jitsu so individual that it isn't possible to generalise in that way?
Helen: No, not really, everyone learns the same way. The real roadblock for women especially in a predominantly male dominated art is the size difference. I train in the absolute division everyday.
It doesn't really matter what your gender is if you weigh 100lbs and have to train with people much bigger who just want to try and smash you. It's dangerous whether you are male or female but there are not that many 100lb males around so the problem seems to be with the female.
Some guys are great to roll with but others are just dangerous, they don't seem to care about making training beneficial for everyone as long as they can go all out to try and smash me. They are the ones that count wins and losses in sparring.
Optimum way to learn Jiu Jitsu? Have a great coach, have great training partners and put in a lot of hours.
By the way, Emily Kwok's new DVD set "Dealing With Bigger And Stronger Opponents" is awesome I picked up a ton of great material from it, check it out.
Q. People often point to BJJ as being particularly good for women's self defence, particularly an understanding of the guard. Do you feel that is a valid perspective, or is self-defence more about awareness, confidence and the like rather than a specific set of techniques?
Helen: Yes, it is definitely a valid perspective but before you even get to the self-defence side of things, which are the techniques and strategies designed to keep you safe, you have the self-protection mode, regardless of gender.
The self-protection stage is the awareness and confidence that you mention, trying to avoid you being in a situation when you need to rely on the self-defence; a little awareness goes a long way.
The other thing is that it is assumed that women only get attacked by men and will need to fight from guard; women will attack other women in today's society so you need to be able to fight from anywhere.
Q. In your 2009 KombatClinic interview, you said that you felt the attitude towards women training in BJJ was "a little behind" in the UK by comparison to countries like the USA. Do you feel that is still the case, and if so, what do you think can be done to improve the situation?
Helen's husband, Darren, intervenes. "Yes, we are still behind in this country where women are concerned. There are way more women training in the USA so maybe it is easier for women to train together rather than the UK but Helen is the only female black belt in this country and none of the female BJJ community outside of Combat Base have even attempted to come and train with her. Many no-gi players, Judo players and MMA fighters have, just not any gi players; maybe it is a team loyalty thing but then again the same people have done seminars with others that have visited our shores that weren't from the same team.
Maybe it is not the fault of the girls themselves, maybe they would like to train with her but are governed by the politics of their particular group.
One example and I don't want to put anyone on the spot so I won't mention names but there was one girl in particular, a good coloured belt, actually stood next to Helen at a seminar when the seminar host told us to partner up to roll. Helen turned to look at the girl but she turned away and went to the far end of the mat to train with a guy that she had travelled up with who was way bigger than her and avoided Helen completely.
Q. Talking politics then, what of the new IBJJF rule changes and introduction of the Gracie Barra model?
Helen: Whatever, if people don't like it then they won't do it but people aren't going to stop competing just because of a rule change. Judo has rules changes constantly and seems to be as popular as ever. People adapt their game to get around the rules anyway so in a strange sort of way changing rules could actually make people improve their games by taking them out of the comfort zone and make them focus on something else. It's just turning a perceived negative into a positive.
As for the Gracie Barra model, it doesn't concern me what other groups do but if you have to wear a club gi then wear a club gi. If you don't want to, then leave and go somewhere else. If that's the worse thing that happens to you in your Jiu Jitsu journey that you have to wear a club gi, then you got off lightly.
I didn't particularly like all the bowing and tradition when I trained Judo but had to do it just to train and compete, just one of those things. Stop moaning and do it or move on.
Q. How much importance is put on competition in the Combat Base group?
Helen: Competition is very important; I have competed in everything I have seriously trained in, it's part of the fun. I don't want to just work on theory, I want to know what works for me and what doesn't.
I always advise people to compete, especially the women as there are more opportunities now than ever before. I wish it had been like this when we first started.
We have had people represent Combat Base at all levels right from the local interclub up to the Mundials and everything in-between.
It is vital to try the techniques and strategies under pressure when you have to beat the person in front of you whilst dealing with the little voice in your head telling you that you can't do it and you will lose and be embarrassed in front of everyone etc.
As I tell all our guys that compete, no one will think any less of you if you give 100% and don't win, anyone who has ever competed at anything gives respect to the competitor not the outcome.
I have heard the silliness of people assuming that higher grades don't compete because they are scared of losing in front of their students and the students all leaving because they will think the instructor is no good, Darren has lost a bunch of times in front of our students and they all keep coming back. It's the 'Man In The Arena' attitude.
We don't enforce that people compete to get promoted yet I have actually promoted over 100 people to various belts and there has only been 3 of them that have not competed and 2 of those are older students that have long term injuries.
Q. What do you think of the current female competition scene, particularly the top competitors like Gabi Garcia?
Helen: I think Gabi's Jiu Jitsu is under-rated, I have heard people saying she has only won everything because she is way bigger than everyone else that she faces but that's ridiculous. Is it always the biggest guy that wins?
Yes, she has size but she knows what to do with it too and from what I have seen and heard she has dropped a lot of weight and trains so hard.
Other female competitors I really enjoy watching on the world scene other than the obvious are Leticia Ribeiro, Melissa Haueter and Emily Kwok. All 3 ladies are just awesome plus I am friends with Melissa and Emily so it's nice to see people you care about excelling.
Q. Did you see the recent ADCC in Nottingham? What did you think in general and of the women specifically?
Helen: Was really good and a better atmosphere than Barcelona 2009 I thought. I was gutted to find out that 2 female competitors had dropped out of the lighter weight group and the places had already had been offered to 2 other UK women. Would have loved a shot at that.
The UK girls were unlucky in the first round draw so probably didn't get to show what they were capable of especially Yas Wilson who had been on a good run.
I would have liked to see more weight groups for the women at ADCC as there was some real weight and size differences. Surely there must be enough women to do at least another weight group.
I have heard guys at competitions complaining about having to fight in a weight class higher than they are used to, you ought to try being a woman. A couple of my friends in Leicester even compete against men just to get more competition experience even though they always have a weight and strength disadvantage.
Really enjoyed the lighter men's divisions too, had many of my favourites in and guys I had trained with previously. Cobrinha was a little unlucky but I'm a big fan of Rafa Mendes so wasn't too distraught, great to see Robson Moura compete again and Jeff Glover's antics were quite amusing. Glover taught me a choke though that I tapped my husband with so he is one of my favourites right now.
Calasans impressed me as always but once again I think Marcelo stole the show other than Toquinho who was probably the most popular guy in the building by the time he left, don't know about 'little tree trunk' though, he's more like a bear.
Q. Did you have much of a competitive career?
Helen: Not as much as I would have liked, there wasn't really any BJJ comps when I started. Would have loved to compete more but always a lack of opponents so I just had to fight whomever in whatever and try to apply BJJ to the situation. Other than Jiu Jitsu I tried a few other different formats too and did an MMA match against a tough girl who eventually became my main female training partner.
Injury put paid to my competition career after fighting an open weight Judo match in the Yorkshire and Humberside Judo Championships, I was 100lbs and she was 220lbs, pretty stupid in retrospect but I just wanted to fight.
I still keep thinking about getting back in there, like I said I'd have loved a shot at ADCC.
Q. You're considering competing again?
Helen: Yeah, I keep thinking about it, I would have to travel to get matches and don't know if I can justify all the time and expense just to get a match; tried to combine a family holiday and doing the Mundials last year but after a bit of a mix up wasn't able to.
Considered doing the Euros this time but there was only 1 other female light feather so again a lot of expense for 1 match considering for the same money I can fly to LA, stay with our coach for a week, get some sun, surf and train with other black belt women.
Q. Do you think there is anything in particular an academy and/or instructor can do in order to attract more women to their classes?
Helen: I guess the only thing you can do is have women only classes taught by a woman, I know it takes a lot to be the only woman training in a room full of men. We only have a few women train in regular class so I just partner them.
I have just started a women only class so we'll see how it goes.
Q. You mentioned in an interview you did about five years ago that you stopped belt whipping at Combat Base HQ after one of the students wrote a piece on hazing. I'd be interested in hearing more about the specifics.
Helen: One of our brown belts, Rob Lawlor, wrote a piece on hazing for his Uni group as I remember and it made a lot of sense so we stopped doing it at our gym although most of the other affiliates continued to do it.
We have had it creep in a little again recently but only for willing participants. This was the major point that Rob was making, if people were being made to join in the 'ceremony' against their will it was hazing. If you consent, great but if you don't want to take part you don't have to.
No big deal either way.
Q. Future plans?
Helen: Just keep doing what we are doing. Combat Base has just had it's 10th anniversary, we are selectively growing our group, we have quite a few academies in our group, have some great people and have around 350 members so I guess we are doing something right.
Can I just publicly say thanks to Lee and Gareth at Tatami Fightwear for my personal sponsorship and for supporting Combat Base in general. They are really trying to help expand women's BJJ in this country from their women's fight wear range to their sponsorship of our ladies programmes and sponsoring goods for the charity fund raising that is done regularly, it's really appreciated and I feel honoured to be part of such a prestigious team of sponsored athletes. I wish them all the success they deserve.
________________________________
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Could a blue belt beat a brown belt?
Just using the blue and brown as examples as it could be any belts really but the shocking answer is YES, it can happen.
Even taking away age, weight, strength, chi force, no gi etc it can still happen and I'm not talking about the higher grade trying something new or taking it easy or whatever, I'm talking about both guys going as hard as they can at that specific time.
As I am a nerd, please see the chart below;
The blue column indicates the % potential of that belt, the brown belt can operate at 90% maximum whereas the blue can operate at 70% maximum, figures just used to illustrate point.
The red indicates the actual performance level during their roll.
The brown belt is not having one of their better days and is performing around 55% whereas the blue belt is having a great day and is operating around 65%, almost their maximum level.
In conclusion, if you are having a bad day and your partner is having a good day, you are probably going to 'lose' (if there is such a thing as losing but that's for another blog post) so don't be too hard on yourself, accept it, come back again tomorrow and carry on.
Henry Ford, pioneering car manufacturer said "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again"
That's Jiu Jitsu baby!
DC
Even taking away age, weight, strength, chi force, no gi etc it can still happen and I'm not talking about the higher grade trying something new or taking it easy or whatever, I'm talking about both guys going as hard as they can at that specific time.
As I am a nerd, please see the chart below;
The red indicates the actual performance level during their roll.
The brown belt is not having one of their better days and is performing around 55% whereas the blue belt is having a great day and is operating around 65%, almost their maximum level.
In conclusion, if you are having a bad day and your partner is having a good day, you are probably going to 'lose' (if there is such a thing as losing but that's for another blog post) so don't be too hard on yourself, accept it, come back again tomorrow and carry on.
Henry Ford, pioneering car manufacturer said "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again"
That's Jiu Jitsu baby!
DC
Thursday, 17 May 2012
How To Make Friends And Influence People
Believe
me when I say that I am not trying to prove superiority of one ‘style’ over
another in yet another tale from my critically acclaimed “Old Man Rambling” series
so if it comes over that way, I apologise. Different people do different martial
arts for different reasons and I respect that; within our group we have
practitioners of a multitude of styles, I love that fact and think it is
healthy. Ok, disclaimer out of the way, onto the story.
I
believe Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) was maybe onto
something when he stated “Once
in a while you will stumble upon the truth but most of us manage to pick
ourselves up and hurry along as if nothing had happened”
This was definitely the
case when my ‘mixed’ martial arts training was questioned by the chief
instructor of the Taekwondo (TKD) group back in the late 90’s. I was already
blending my TKD, Hapkido, Judo and Jiu Jitsu with a little Muay Thai, Luta
Livre and wrestling being inspired by Ruas Vale Tudo after training with Marco Ruas a few times.
I had gone training with
the intention of joining in the TKD class as was the case on those Saturday
afternoons before I had any life obstacles, sorry I mean family :0) but once I
got there I didn’t want to do the usual training, I was getting bored with it
to be honest, so found an empty room at the sports centre and started working
out on my own.
10 minutes in and the TKD
instructor walked into the room, I greeted him as is the tradition but he
walked straight by me and started pulling some mats onto the floor. He then
said he wanted to spar to see what all the fuss was about with this ‘new’ type
of modern martial arts.
I mistakenly thought that
he was genuinely interested in doing some extra curricular training to round
out his 25 years of TKD so was glad to share the meager knowledge I had.
As we started sparring, I flicked
out a couple of little kicks and open hand strikes a la Royce Gracie circa UFC1 before he launched a kick at
me that made me re-evaluate his motivation for doing this. Damn, he wanted to
prove a point, maybe he didn’t want to think that he had spent 20+ years
training something that was less than the ultimate fighting style and was going
to beat me like one of those step-children with a particular hair colour that
is neither blond nor brunette.
Ok, game on. I faked a
slap, slipped in to clinch, simple body lock and hook put him onto his back and
I took full mount. He thrashed around a little and I managed to lightly slap
him a little whilst maintaining my mount on this bucking bronco, isolating an
arm then sitting back for an armlock. He was stuck so I let go, stood up,
pulled him back up and was going to explain what I had done when he just said
“again”
We went again, he went
harder this time but the same outcome.
“Again”
Ok, time to make my point.
As he threw a strike, I level changed shot a ‘baiana’ straight to side control,
took his back and started to tighten my ‘mata leao’. I held it a little longer
than usual then let go and stood up.
He stood up a little
groggily then walked straight out without a word, never mentioned it again and
went back to teaching his class.
Sad really that something
had been proved conclusively but he chose to ignore. When I started TKD I got
smashed so had to learn it. Then I went to Judo and got smashed so I had to
learn it. Then I started Jiu Jitsu and got smashed so I had to learn it. See
where I’m going with this?
I don’t think there are bad
styles, everything has something to offer, and maybe not even bad practitioners
of those styles, maybe just bad attitudes towards other styles.
So in conclusion, I refer once
again to Sir Winston “the truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is”.
DC
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Process > Result
"Don’t solely focus on the results, focus on the process too. I completely understand that everyone wants to win but in a tournament only 1 person can win therefore I don’t want the other guys going away feeling as though they lost because if you compete you don’t ever really lose. You may not get the "W" but you get something more precious than that".
Here's a personal example.
Back in my Taekwondo days (obviously I'm the little dude in the red protector in the photo) I turned up at a local TKD tournament and went to get weighed in. Believe it or not in those days I was light so got off the scales after reaching my massive 63kg feeling damn good.
I had really trained for this; TKD everyday, extra cardio, some weight training, extra stretching, everything just perfect.
As I crash out to rest and get some calories imbibed, someone comes over to me and says "hey well done, you've got gold" I assured them they were mistaken but they said there was no one else my weight so I got a default gold.
According to Homer J Simpson, the best 2 words in the English language are de-fault but not in my world, it sucks.
Off I trot to find the organiser and was told there is no one in my weight group or the one above so I would potentially only be able to go in -78kg which they did not want as they thought it dangerous (they have no absolute division in TKD as far as I know).
I threw a fit and said I was an adult, had trained, take full responsibility blah blah blah so to shut me up they put me in that weight group. Fast forward to the final as there is little me playing the playing the part of David versus Goliath who they said made 78kg but standing at 6' 8" was a little doubtful.
Anyway, as it was before the golden Youtube era where everything makes it online I thought "what the hell, what's the worse thing that could happen"
The match started and I buzzed around him like having a wasp in the car, I was real fast in those days and dragged him into playing my fast game instead of his big game. We threw some shots with me landing the better ones (I thought) and he gassed so bad that he dropped to his knees and had to get St John's to administer some oxygen. I am sitting there pretty damn smug that I slayed the monster when the ref called us to the middle to restart.
I protested that the match should be over but had to fight on (fighting officials is something you get used to if you are not a franchise). In my head I had done enough and finished the round with a cool back kick that landed solid.
What the picture above doesn't show is that 5 seconds later the referee declared the big guy the winner which drew some derision from the crowd but that's (martial arts) life.
The moral of the story? I'm glad you asked.
I could have taken the default gold and sat at home admiring it but knowing deep down inside that it wasn't for fighting, it was for dieting whereas my hard fought silver from a hard weight group and a dubious decision was much more rewarding.
Don't focus on the result, focus on the journey.
Another lesson from this? Sure, I'm full of wisdom.
A couple of weeks later, nobody remembered or cared. If you are worried that people will all talk about you for not winning, don't worry, you're really not that interesting :0)
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Submission Only Competitions
Big congrats to Danny Mitchell and Adam Simpson on winning brown belt and purple belt divisions respectively at Absolute Submission Championships on Sunday, Adam even claimed the fastest submission for a 37 second triangle which is awesome work.
There had been some concern that extended time limits and submission only would drag the tournament on too long but quite the opposite happened. Out of all the divisions only 1 match went to time. Compare that to how many matches went to time at Manchester Open.
Are we competing with the wrong mind set?
Are people too happy to sit on points and run the clock out for the W?
I guess this all comes down to your motivation for competing, JJ Machado always looked for the sub and at times would lose on points because of it whereas other guys will happily get an advantage and stall out a win. There is no right or wrong way to compete to win so it is all down to personal choice.
A couple of years ago an invite dropped through my letter box to compete in a submission only tournament in Derby (I competed in Derby but never got to Abu Dhabi) and as I had never done a submission only tournament before I decided to enter.
I trained my ass off just trying to submit everyone as quick as possible in training and felt pretty good. Even though to start with I was getting great positions but trying to sub someone who is purely defensive is still tough to do.
We got to the event and had the rules meeting where they decided to NOT do submission only but a regular tournament with points and advantages etc. I was pretty gutted until I realised that the change in rules would not effect me and I would just go all out to submit everyone or die trying. (Well, maybe not die but lose which is nearly as bad).
First match I was a little reluctant to charge straight in but danced around a little then got the takedown, pass and sub. Maybe this mindset would get me through after all.
Next match an even quicker sub by omaplata arm bar.
Semi final match even quicker sub by triangle to arm bar.
Final was even quicker sub by footlock in 22 seconds.
If I had not had the submission only mindset, I maybe wouldn't have had such success, I would have played more conservatively and accepted a win on points rather than pushing the action.
Ask yourself, is submission only the rules of the tournament or the mental attitude you have towards competing?
DC
There had been some concern that extended time limits and submission only would drag the tournament on too long but quite the opposite happened. Out of all the divisions only 1 match went to time. Compare that to how many matches went to time at Manchester Open.
Are we competing with the wrong mind set?
Are people too happy to sit on points and run the clock out for the W?
I guess this all comes down to your motivation for competing, JJ Machado always looked for the sub and at times would lose on points because of it whereas other guys will happily get an advantage and stall out a win. There is no right or wrong way to compete to win so it is all down to personal choice.
A couple of years ago an invite dropped through my letter box to compete in a submission only tournament in Derby (I competed in Derby but never got to Abu Dhabi) and as I had never done a submission only tournament before I decided to enter.
I trained my ass off just trying to submit everyone as quick as possible in training and felt pretty good. Even though to start with I was getting great positions but trying to sub someone who is purely defensive is still tough to do.
We got to the event and had the rules meeting where they decided to NOT do submission only but a regular tournament with points and advantages etc. I was pretty gutted until I realised that the change in rules would not effect me and I would just go all out to submit everyone or die trying. (Well, maybe not die but lose which is nearly as bad).
First match I was a little reluctant to charge straight in but danced around a little then got the takedown, pass and sub. Maybe this mindset would get me through after all.
Next match an even quicker sub by omaplata arm bar.
Semi final match even quicker sub by triangle to arm bar.
Final was even quicker sub by footlock in 22 seconds.
If I had not had the submission only mindset, I maybe wouldn't have had such success, I would have played more conservatively and accepted a win on points rather than pushing the action.
Ask yourself, is submission only the rules of the tournament or the mental attitude you have towards competing?
DC
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Pressure And The New Belt part deux
Trust your coaches judgement, if they say you are a particular grade then that's it, you are. We do this all the time so we know!
One of my old 'Traditional' Jiu Jitsu coaches would say "Would you pass your driving test then argue with the examiner that you aren't ready to drive?"
One of my old training partners Varqa was training his butt off, competing and improving at such an alarming rate I was going to charge him double to train.
Although he hadn't been a blue belt that long I recognised that he needed to go to purple to continue challenging him so we went over to Manchester when SBGi head honcho Matt Thornton was there who was doing our belt promotions at the time. He saw Varqa and awarded him a straight purple. I hadn't told Varqa he was going to get graded otherwise he would have been horrified and wouldn't have gone.
So a few days later I am explaining to him that he deserves to be at that level and when he mentally catches up with his physicality he would make even more massive improvements. I then told him I had organised a purple belt super-fight for him against Gracie Barra Newcastle head instructor Dave Eliot actually in Newcastle so I could prove to him that he was indeed a purple belt and could handle fighting a local hero in his home town. Dave was a really good competitor, tough as nails and really skilled too.
I started training harder with Varqa knowing Dave would attack him constantly with arm bars and triangles from guard so I replicated that over and over. Varqa got so good in that dynamic that the last time I rolled with him prior to the match it took me 45 minutes to triangle him and still remains to this day one of my favourite rolls. One of those times where we are both in the zone and time doesn't exist.
Fast forward to Newcastle and the superfight, Dave pulled guard and attacked just the way we practiced, Varqa remained calm, remembered the drills and stayed safe starting to work to pass guard. As they were looking to go out of bounds the ref stopped them, brought them back into the middle and let Dave have a full triangle position for the re-start, this was a little naughty as he didn't have that before the re-start.
If anyone disputes this, I still have the video somewhere!!
Anyway I just told Varqa to stay calm, escape and pass which he did. He settled into side control as time elapsed and he won 3-0.
What does this prove?
Whatever you may be feeling inside, your coach knows best.
What is your part in this process? Roll, experiment, tap, experiment some more, tap some more.
Just keep doing what you are doing, ignore the colour around your waist, after all that is your coach's job so don't worry about it.
DC
One of my old 'Traditional' Jiu Jitsu coaches would say "Would you pass your driving test then argue with the examiner that you aren't ready to drive?"
One of my old training partners Varqa was training his butt off, competing and improving at such an alarming rate I was going to charge him double to train.
Although he hadn't been a blue belt that long I recognised that he needed to go to purple to continue challenging him so we went over to Manchester when SBGi head honcho Matt Thornton was there who was doing our belt promotions at the time. He saw Varqa and awarded him a straight purple. I hadn't told Varqa he was going to get graded otherwise he would have been horrified and wouldn't have gone.
So a few days later I am explaining to him that he deserves to be at that level and when he mentally catches up with his physicality he would make even more massive improvements. I then told him I had organised a purple belt super-fight for him against Gracie Barra Newcastle head instructor Dave Eliot actually in Newcastle so I could prove to him that he was indeed a purple belt and could handle fighting a local hero in his home town. Dave was a really good competitor, tough as nails and really skilled too.
I started training harder with Varqa knowing Dave would attack him constantly with arm bars and triangles from guard so I replicated that over and over. Varqa got so good in that dynamic that the last time I rolled with him prior to the match it took me 45 minutes to triangle him and still remains to this day one of my favourite rolls. One of those times where we are both in the zone and time doesn't exist.
Fast forward to Newcastle and the superfight, Dave pulled guard and attacked just the way we practiced, Varqa remained calm, remembered the drills and stayed safe starting to work to pass guard. As they were looking to go out of bounds the ref stopped them, brought them back into the middle and let Dave have a full triangle position for the re-start, this was a little naughty as he didn't have that before the re-start.
If anyone disputes this, I still have the video somewhere!!
Anyway I just told Varqa to stay calm, escape and pass which he did. He settled into side control as time elapsed and he won 3-0.
What does this prove?
Whatever you may be feeling inside, your coach knows best.
What is your part in this process? Roll, experiment, tap, experiment some more, tap some more.
Just keep doing what you are doing, ignore the colour around your waist, after all that is your coach's job so don't worry about it.
DC
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Pressure And The New Belt
Jiu Jitsu is a simple process stripped of the typical BS of the "traditional" arts (for now); you train long and hard, you improve, you get a new belt then repeat the process until you are a black belt. Simple, right? Or is it?
You have heard the phrase 'invisible' Jiu Jitsu for pressures etc of the techniques that you do subconsciously but they are other 'invisible' elements of Jiu Jitsu that aren't as helpful.
I understood how the belt system worked but no one told me with each new belt comes more responsibility, a bigger target on your back and worse of all, pressure. At a time when you should be giving yourself a huge pat on the back for improving to the point that it is recognised by your instructor instead you are about to hit a downward spiral if you are not careful.
If you let any negative thoughts in then you will start to question in your own mind whether you are ready to be promoted, you will put extra pressure on yourselves to perform which can actually hinder your performance and worst of all, you will stop enjoying Jiu Jitsu.
So let us put a stop to this right now before it gets a hook. If we use the same thought processes that we used in the previous Competition Nerves And Anxiety blog post we can win and continue training relatively uninterrupted.
I will use myself as the example, use my thoughts for the analysis and show you that if I can beat it, anyone can.
The background is that we travelled to the USA in June 2009 and as always had gi and trusty brown belt packed with me to take advantage of the infamous Garage sessions when we stayed over with the Haueters.
I taught a class on the Thursday night and ended sparring with a really strong brown belt, he attempted a triangle but didn't quite have it in right but pulled down on my head so hard I felt my neck pull, not wanting to risk injury because of ego I tapped and called it a day.
The next day we went over to San Pedro for the open session at Harbor Kickboxing where Chris was teaching. Had an awesome session and towards the end I was paired with Justin, a big brown belt. He pulled guard, reached over my shoulder and pulled my gi right up exposing my back then the next thing was a massive WHACK where Haueter had hit me with my new belt. He threw the black belt to me then put me to train with Tony Pacenski who kicked my ass but showed me how he kicked it too.
We finished training then went to Redondo Beach Cafe where the promotion started to hit home. I was being congratulated on a job well done but already I was starting to question in my own mind if it was too soon.
Ok, fast forward to the part where I have the thoughts and deal with them;
"It's too soon, I'm not ready yet" - other than being disrespectful to my coach by questioning his judgement, I don't think you feel ready to be a black belt. I started training do-it-yourself BJJ in 1994 after watching UFC2 then expanded to take in seminars and started to put it all together. I met Haueter in 1997 and really got into training. By 2009 i had been involved in BJJ for 15 years, was it too soon to be promoted?
"I got tapped by a brown belt the night before" - the guy was good and just because I got tapped doesn't mean anything just I got caught in something and couldn't get out.
"But I got promoted and he didn't" - just because he tapped me doesn't make him a black belt and just because I got tapped doesn't mean I am not a black belt. He is a black belt now by the way.
"As soon as I got my black belt I then got tapped by a black belt" - I can't believe now I seriously thought this. The guy was a very good black belt already and I had been a black belt about 5 minutes. Just because I got promoted to black belt doesn't mean I am any better than I was 5 minutes ago as a brown belt!! You have to understand that the belt is totally insignificant at this point, a certain belt does not bring magic powers.
"I'm feeling more pressure than I was before" - Good, that shows that you are taking Jiu Jitsu seriously, nobody wants a belt that doesn't fit. You just have to work through it and not let it affect you. Thursday I was a brown belt, Friday I was a black belt, a lot more pressure but little improvement if any, it's only 1 day difference.
No matter what belt you are it is still ok to tap. Higher grades will sometimes tap to lower grades just not too often. If a higher grade taps to a lower grade then great, it means you were trying something and it didn't work and you got caught. If it happened every session then it would a problem but sometimes you will get caught.
If you are a new blue and get tapped by a white belt, no big deal, just get on with it. Please do not let it affect you to the point you end up quitting. I have seen it so many times and believe the highest mortality rate is BJJ is at blue belt. It is your first taste of pressure, some handle it, some don't. Stay the course.
Every grade has it's own trials and tribulations, even the black belts feel pressure, possibly even more than the other belts but remember always, a black belt is just a white belt that didn't quit.
You have heard the phrase 'invisible' Jiu Jitsu for pressures etc of the techniques that you do subconsciously but they are other 'invisible' elements of Jiu Jitsu that aren't as helpful.
I understood how the belt system worked but no one told me with each new belt comes more responsibility, a bigger target on your back and worse of all, pressure. At a time when you should be giving yourself a huge pat on the back for improving to the point that it is recognised by your instructor instead you are about to hit a downward spiral if you are not careful.
If you let any negative thoughts in then you will start to question in your own mind whether you are ready to be promoted, you will put extra pressure on yourselves to perform which can actually hinder your performance and worst of all, you will stop enjoying Jiu Jitsu.
So let us put a stop to this right now before it gets a hook. If we use the same thought processes that we used in the previous Competition Nerves And Anxiety blog post we can win and continue training relatively uninterrupted.
I will use myself as the example, use my thoughts for the analysis and show you that if I can beat it, anyone can.
The background is that we travelled to the USA in June 2009 and as always had gi and trusty brown belt packed with me to take advantage of the infamous Garage sessions when we stayed over with the Haueters.
I taught a class on the Thursday night and ended sparring with a really strong brown belt, he attempted a triangle but didn't quite have it in right but pulled down on my head so hard I felt my neck pull, not wanting to risk injury because of ego I tapped and called it a day.
The next day we went over to San Pedro for the open session at Harbor Kickboxing where Chris was teaching. Had an awesome session and towards the end I was paired with Justin, a big brown belt. He pulled guard, reached over my shoulder and pulled my gi right up exposing my back then the next thing was a massive WHACK where Haueter had hit me with my new belt. He threw the black belt to me then put me to train with Tony Pacenski who kicked my ass but showed me how he kicked it too.
We finished training then went to Redondo Beach Cafe where the promotion started to hit home. I was being congratulated on a job well done but already I was starting to question in my own mind if it was too soon.
Ok, fast forward to the part where I have the thoughts and deal with them;
"It's too soon, I'm not ready yet" - other than being disrespectful to my coach by questioning his judgement, I don't think you feel ready to be a black belt. I started training do-it-yourself BJJ in 1994 after watching UFC2 then expanded to take in seminars and started to put it all together. I met Haueter in 1997 and really got into training. By 2009 i had been involved in BJJ for 15 years, was it too soon to be promoted?
"I got tapped by a brown belt the night before" - the guy was good and just because I got tapped doesn't mean anything just I got caught in something and couldn't get out.
"But I got promoted and he didn't" - just because he tapped me doesn't make him a black belt and just because I got tapped doesn't mean I am not a black belt. He is a black belt now by the way.
"As soon as I got my black belt I then got tapped by a black belt" - I can't believe now I seriously thought this. The guy was a very good black belt already and I had been a black belt about 5 minutes. Just because I got promoted to black belt doesn't mean I am any better than I was 5 minutes ago as a brown belt!! You have to understand that the belt is totally insignificant at this point, a certain belt does not bring magic powers.
"I'm feeling more pressure than I was before" - Good, that shows that you are taking Jiu Jitsu seriously, nobody wants a belt that doesn't fit. You just have to work through it and not let it affect you. Thursday I was a brown belt, Friday I was a black belt, a lot more pressure but little improvement if any, it's only 1 day difference.
No matter what belt you are it is still ok to tap. Higher grades will sometimes tap to lower grades just not too often. If a higher grade taps to a lower grade then great, it means you were trying something and it didn't work and you got caught. If it happened every session then it would a problem but sometimes you will get caught.
If you are a new blue and get tapped by a white belt, no big deal, just get on with it. Please do not let it affect you to the point you end up quitting. I have seen it so many times and believe the highest mortality rate is BJJ is at blue belt. It is your first taste of pressure, some handle it, some don't. Stay the course.
Every grade has it's own trials and tribulations, even the black belts feel pressure, possibly even more than the other belts but remember always, a black belt is just a white belt that didn't quit.
Monday, 7 May 2012
Competition Nerves And Anxiety
If I had a £ for every time I spoke to someone about this I would have...well, more than I have now but is a serious topic that can kill even the most well trained athlete.
When I first started martial arts, Taekwondo actually, I started competing right off the bat. The last thing I had competed at was whilst at school I was in the chess team, I was told that chess and fighting are very similar but I quickly worked out only mentally, no one tried to kick me, punch me or choke me out playing chess, as much as they might have wanted to.
I am not by nature a fighter, have no aggression and have no 'natural' talent if there is such a thing (read The Talent Code) so to start to compete in a full contact martial art was daunting. I did the first competition and lost by 1 point so of course I wanted to try again.
The first time is great, not knowing what to expect or fear, all the excitement but the second time I was so nervous. The voice in my head telling me I was going to die or at least fail miserably and everyone would think I was no good.
The damned voice in my head wouldn't leave me alone so I figured that the more I competed the easier it would be to ignore. I set myself a target of 50 matches spanning a bunch of different martial arts, some striking only, some grappling only and some combining both then I would be cured.
50 matches came and went and I wasn't cured at all so the nerd in me rose to the surface and decided to research the whole nerves thing.
I enrolled at Park Lane College in Leeds to take a qualification that was called Peak Performance, that entailed exercise, nutrition and more importantly sports psychology. I aced the qualification and started to get more of an appreciation of the mental aspect of training.
My next 10 matches after that were a little easier, I was putting into practise the things I had learnt. I spent a load of cash and tons of effort continuing to study and research the way the mind can affect your performance. I went through all the questions and scenarios that I felt had affected me before and compiled feeling and action tables to offset any anxieties I had.
The following is an excerpt of my findings and subsequent practises;
"The guy looks way bigger than me" - I am a short-arse anyway, it's not like I haven't faced bigger people than me (in fact the only guy shorter than me I faced in competition looked like Harry Potter and things didn't end well for me that match)
"The guy looks way stronger than me" - can't be any stronger than some of the guys at our gym, I spar with Ryan and Karl etc, this guy is nothing compared to them
"The guy has got massive arms" - good job it's not a body building competition then
"Look at the guys belt, it's all faded and raggy" - obviously not his from new, it's a hand-me-down
"I've won 2 matches all ready so if I lose this one it doesn't matter I've still won more than I've lost" - don't believe it, I came here to win not start making excuses for if I don't
"It's really noisy, the crowd are really on his side" - good job I'm not fighting the crowd as well then besides it's just white noise, it doesn't mean anything
"The guy looks really good, he just won 3 matches to get to the final" - so did I, dumb ass
And so on..................
I took every opportunity I could to visualise my performing under pressure and winning, right from the start of the match to the point where the ref holds up my hand, this proved to be so effective that I once lost a match by referee's decision (because I was playing 1/2 guard and the opponent was therefore on top) and couldn't believe it, I had visualised winning the entire tournament but was now relegated into fighting for 3rd place, gutted I believe the word is.
I took this lesson, one of the most valuable I have learnt, the result is not the important part it is the process. I had entered the tournament with very little nervous feeling (I don't believe it ever truly 100% leaves you but that's good) and performed to the best of my ability.
What I do now when faced with a stressful situation and I hear the voice, I imagine it is a little guy stood on my shoulder whispering in my ear so just give him the brush off Usher-style. Literally pretend to brush the guy off my shoulder which stops me and makes me focus.
Remember, whatever you are feeling, the other guy will be feeling it just the same.
Final tip I got from listening to an interview with Chris Moriarty "just smile, when you smile the body can not differentiate between whether you are really happy or not so it assumes you are and makes you relax. Plus the opponent will see you smiling when he is nervous and either think you are supremely confident or totally unhinged, either way you get into his head"
Really hope this helps you as much as it helps me.
Darren
When I first started martial arts, Taekwondo actually, I started competing right off the bat. The last thing I had competed at was whilst at school I was in the chess team, I was told that chess and fighting are very similar but I quickly worked out only mentally, no one tried to kick me, punch me or choke me out playing chess, as much as they might have wanted to.
I am not by nature a fighter, have no aggression and have no 'natural' talent if there is such a thing (read The Talent Code) so to start to compete in a full contact martial art was daunting. I did the first competition and lost by 1 point so of course I wanted to try again.
The first time is great, not knowing what to expect or fear, all the excitement but the second time I was so nervous. The voice in my head telling me I was going to die or at least fail miserably and everyone would think I was no good.
The damned voice in my head wouldn't leave me alone so I figured that the more I competed the easier it would be to ignore. I set myself a target of 50 matches spanning a bunch of different martial arts, some striking only, some grappling only and some combining both then I would be cured.
50 matches came and went and I wasn't cured at all so the nerd in me rose to the surface and decided to research the whole nerves thing.
I enrolled at Park Lane College in Leeds to take a qualification that was called Peak Performance, that entailed exercise, nutrition and more importantly sports psychology. I aced the qualification and started to get more of an appreciation of the mental aspect of training.
My next 10 matches after that were a little easier, I was putting into practise the things I had learnt. I spent a load of cash and tons of effort continuing to study and research the way the mind can affect your performance. I went through all the questions and scenarios that I felt had affected me before and compiled feeling and action tables to offset any anxieties I had.
The following is an excerpt of my findings and subsequent practises;
"The guy looks way bigger than me" - I am a short-arse anyway, it's not like I haven't faced bigger people than me (in fact the only guy shorter than me I faced in competition looked like Harry Potter and things didn't end well for me that match)
"The guy looks way stronger than me" - can't be any stronger than some of the guys at our gym, I spar with Ryan and Karl etc, this guy is nothing compared to them
"The guy has got massive arms" - good job it's not a body building competition then
"Look at the guys belt, it's all faded and raggy" - obviously not his from new, it's a hand-me-down
"I've won 2 matches all ready so if I lose this one it doesn't matter I've still won more than I've lost" - don't believe it, I came here to win not start making excuses for if I don't
"It's really noisy, the crowd are really on his side" - good job I'm not fighting the crowd as well then besides it's just white noise, it doesn't mean anything
"The guy looks really good, he just won 3 matches to get to the final" - so did I, dumb ass
And so on..................
I took every opportunity I could to visualise my performing under pressure and winning, right from the start of the match to the point where the ref holds up my hand, this proved to be so effective that I once lost a match by referee's decision (because I was playing 1/2 guard and the opponent was therefore on top) and couldn't believe it, I had visualised winning the entire tournament but was now relegated into fighting for 3rd place, gutted I believe the word is.
I took this lesson, one of the most valuable I have learnt, the result is not the important part it is the process. I had entered the tournament with very little nervous feeling (I don't believe it ever truly 100% leaves you but that's good) and performed to the best of my ability.
What I do now when faced with a stressful situation and I hear the voice, I imagine it is a little guy stood on my shoulder whispering in my ear so just give him the brush off Usher-style. Literally pretend to brush the guy off my shoulder which stops me and makes me focus.
Remember, whatever you are feeling, the other guy will be feeling it just the same.
Final tip I got from listening to an interview with Chris Moriarty "just smile, when you smile the body can not differentiate between whether you are really happy or not so it assumes you are and makes you relax. Plus the opponent will see you smiling when he is nervous and either think you are supremely confident or totally unhinged, either way you get into his head"
Really hope this helps you as much as it helps me.
Darren
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