Grappling Tips Newsletter

Well here we are, roughly 5 weeks after New Year's Eve and resolution-making season. Have you made progress on your goals? If not, then here is a harsh but great quote by Merlin Mann on getting your ass in gear:

"Somewhere, a sad obese man in pristine ASICS scarfs cookie dough over an unopened “Runner’s World”, complaining that he needs more tips"

Labels: inspiration, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Some people are natural born competitors. Like Mickey Rourke's character in "The Wrestler" they love the limelight, the roar of the crowd and putting it all on the line...

... and the rest of us tend to have more of a love-hate relationship with competition.

I was recently asked if I had any good tips for people wanting to enter their first competition.

I do. In fact I have TWO tips:

First, remember to breathe. Breathing is more important than almost everything else, because if you get really excited you'll probably start holding your breath. If you hold your breath you'll either gas out or pass out. Neither is pretty.

Longtime readers will recall a previous post in which an anonymous grappler could roll forever with advanced people but quickly gassed out when rolling with newbies. We eventually diagnosed this as a breathing problem, which led to both the solution and a surprise tournament victory.

Second, go and read the article about competition tips by Jason Scully that I've just added to the Grapplearts reading list. He's put together a great list of tips that should help you on the big day. Even more importantly, he has a great attitude about tournament competition.

So if you decide to do it, happy competing. Hope you learn lots!
Stephan Kesting

P.S. At the risk of getting way off topic, "The Wrestler" has probably moved into my top five movies list, so definitely think about it the next time you're going to see a movie after training.

P.P.S. As always, please feel free to forward this to any aspiring competitors that you know. The link specifically to this tip is:
www.grapplearts.com/2009/01/some-people-are-natural-born.htm

Labels: competition, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

I remember seeing a small magic show at a local library when I was about 10 years old. At the time I thought that the magician had a pretty good act, but I had no idea that I was also about to learn a valuable jiu-jitsu lesson.

There was this other kid in the audience (really, I swear it wasn't me), who kept on yelling bonehead things like "I know how you did that," and "that trick isn't so hard." The audience was irritated, and I'm sure it was driving the magician crazy, but he kept his cool and prepared his solution to the problem.

Eventually the magician asked the kid if he would help him on stage. The kid was beaming - he wanted the attention after all - and ran up into the limelight.

The magician produced a short piece of string and asked him to hold onto it...

...and then turned his back to the kid and proceeded to perform his next three tricks. He never used the string or his helper for anything; he just left him standing there, expectantly clutching onto a stupid little piece of yarn. He then took the string back, thanked the kid, and watched as his humbled 'helper' slunk offstage. Not surprisingly there were no more comments or cat-calls from that direction for the rest of the show.

So to bring today's tip back to jiu-jitsu and grappling: the lesson is that sometimes you need to give your opponent something to hold onto in order to get what you really want.

By doing this you get his mind focused on something irrelevant - the illusion that something is bothering you (when it really isn't), or that he's making progress in some area (when you've actually got other plans for him). All the while you're setting up your own cunning evil plan.

You might, for example, 'allow' him to fight his way past your guard in order to get the position and momentum that you need to set up a half guard sweep. In order to set this sweep up you first have to give him something to hold onto, namely the illusion that he's defeating your guard.

Another situation might involve 'letting' him go from side mount to full mount, when your real plan is to push his trailing leg between your legs, achieve half guard and take his back.

We're coming to a season of giving and receiving. Sometimes you need to give your opponent a little something before you snatch it away and receive a whole lot of goodies for yourself.

Labels: the guard, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Recently I've been working like a madman on my latest project, which is the new website Beginning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (beginningbjj.com).

Ta Da!

This site is specifically designed for people just starting Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. At the moment the resources include my brand-new eBook "A Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu", and the Beginning BJJ eCourse.

The book contains many photographs, links, diagrams, and new written material. It is designed to give beginners (and their coaches) a 'big picture' of BJJ, so that they can figure out how techniques relate to each other and what they might want to learn next.

The course covers many of the little details that are so important in BJJ. The things that advanced grapplers take for granted, but might be huge revelations for beginners. Right now it's set up to automatically send out these lessons about every 3 days.

Did I mention that both the eBook and eCourse are free?

It's getting rave reviews, so if you want to see what it's all about, check out what you should know if you're just starting BJJ classes

Thank you
Stephan Kesting

P.S. Don't worry, Grapplearts.com isn't going anywhere, and this newsletter is going to keep on coming out as well. These websites are aimed at two separate niches, and both still very important to me

Labels: the mental aspect, training

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

I post a lot of articles on this site, but I also have no problem 'stealing' good material from other people (provided I can get their permission, of course)!

I recently added a new article to the Grapplearts library - check out guest author Tal William's interesting and informative article on "The Way to Train - Jiu-jitsu idealism"

Labels: the mental aspect, training

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

I recently did a remote interview with Marshall Carpenter from Lockflow.com on the topic of how the internet has changed the way grappling knowledge is transmitted, learned and modified. You can check out the interview at Lockflow, or in the text below.

Open Source Jiu Jitsu, Session 3 by Marshal Carper

Marshall says: In November of last year, I did two articles on the impact the internet has had on the way grappling knowledge is transmitted, learned, and modified. The first article discussed my humble views on the matter, and the second article was an interview with Björn Friedrich, the owner of Fighter Fitness, a championship grade grappler, and the publisher of multiple YouTube videos that have gained a following in the Jiu Jitsu community.

Just recently, I received an email from Stephan Kesting discussing the issue at length. Kesting owns the widely popular GrappleArts.com and has released some of the best rated instructional grappling DVDs on the market today. Though the articles are nearing a year in age, Kesting’s insights into Open Source Jiu Jitsu are relevant and too useful to keep hidden.

LOCKFLOW: On your site, you have a blog offering weekly grappling tips and you often link to YouTube videos and websites run by other grapplers. While your readers obviously learn a great deal from your posts, how much do you learn from producing these articles and videos?

STEPHAN KESTING: I learn a great deal from writing my articles and producing my DVDs and Youtube videos. Creating these things helps me to organize my knowledge in an organized way, so that it can be efficiently taught and easily learned. Like most skilled grapplers I intuitively do a lot of things without thinking about them. I can DO them but you can't TEACH these things unless you've thought about them. Writing an article or producing a video forces me to take a specific topic and really, really think about it, and I always learn a lot in the process.

LOCKFLOW: How has the internet impacted the way you learn and practice grappling, if at all?

STEPHAN KESTING: The internet has helped my own learning curve in several ways. Occasionally I see a technique, or a counter to a technique that I haven't seen before, and I then take it to the mats and try it out on a non-resisting partner. Usually it turns out that these techniques are either junk or not suited to my body, but a few of them have been keepers and I end up integrating them into my game.

Stuff on the web also helped give me a 'big picture', especially when I was starting out. It helped me place techniques I was learning, and training methods I was experimenting with, into a context. Having a context allows you to figure out what you know, and to identify what you don't yet know.

A lot of my articles and videos are produced with this whole idea of context in mind. I recently had a three part article on the different kinds of guards published in Ultimate Grappling magazine, and now they're online on my site. I wrote these articles to provide a context for learning about the guard position, and if I'd known what was in those articles when I started to grapple I think it might have accelerated my learning curve by about 6 months.

• Closed Guard
• Open Guard
• Half Guard
  

LOCKFLOW: Can you think of a specific example of how your grappling knowledge was impacted by the internet?

STEPHAN KESTING: Sure! I re-learned one of my favorite triangle choke counters from the internet, the first escape on this page.

I'd been shown this triangle escape years before, but then had let it completely slip from my arsenal. When I saw that technique series it reminded me about the escape, and I've since re-incorporated it into my game.

LOCKFLOW: How do you feel the internet has impacted grappling knowledge in general?

STEPHAN KESTING: The internet, combined with the availability of instructional DVDs, has hugely accelerated the learning curve in grappling. The skill levels of both competitive and recreational grapplers is a lot higher than it was 10 years ago. If someone invents a new guard pass and uses it to win the Mundials black belt division then everyone can see it on Youtube the next day and reverse-engineer that same guard pass for themselves. Things don't stay secret for nearly as long, and that drives the evolutionary arms race at speeds that were unthinkable in the past.

LOCKFLOW: Do you see this impact as negative or positive? Why?

STEPHAN KESTING: Almost entirely positive. Some people complain that the proliferation of knowledge draws students away from working on the basics. There is a grain of truth to that argument, however most students eventually figure that out for themselves. In the final analysis, for 99% of grapplers this sport is all about fitness and enjoyment, not necessarily winning their UFC debut or medalling at the World Championships, so they should do whatever it is they enjoy. If that's working on their upside-down guard, or the X guard, or whatever, before they've mastered the basic armbar from closed guard, then who am I to say that that's wrong?

LOCKFLOW: What advice would you offer to students using the internet to supplement their grappling knowledge?

STEPHAN KESTING: Just remember that if you see something on the internet it's only the first step in a 4 step process that some people call TRIG. Here is something I posted on my blog a while back:

• T = Technique. First you have to learn the technique. Where do your arms and legs go? How do you develop power? What do you do if your opponent counters your technique.
• R = Repetition. Now you have to go and repeat the technique until your body understands it as well as your mind does. This can involve doing hundreds of repetitions, so lets get to work.
• I = Isolation. Now you use the technique in isolation. Maybe you are working on escapes to a particular position, so start every sparring session pinned in that position. Another example might be deciding only to use one submission, say the triangle choke, when sparring people of lesser skill than you.
• G = Grappling. Now you can incorporate that technique into your grappling arsenal!
  

LOCKFLOW: Is there anything else you would like to add?

STEPHAN KESTING: Yes, I'd like to invite people to come and check my site at www.grapplearts.com. It's getting to be a huge site, with a ton of articles, techniques, videos, blog posts and photos that are exactly the kind of internet references we've been talking about in this interview. When I started Grapplearts in 2002 as a venue to promote my first video I had no idea that it would ever grow to be this large a site and so well reviewed by the grappling community.

Stephan's note: Thanks to Marshall Cooper for initiating this conversation!

Labels: Grapplearts DVDs, the mental aspect, training

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

I've just added a new article on how to become that great training partner that everyone wants to work with (and show all their secret techniques to). This article was written by Jason Scully from Grapplersguide.com.

Labels: the mental aspect, training

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

I don't remember too much from my first BJJ tournament other than that the place was packed, that there were lots of huge guys strutting around like they owned the place, and that I was nervous as hell.

One thing I DO remember, however, is an inadvertent bit of help I received in a match. I was fighting this big guy and managed to sweep and pin him. All of a sudden I heard his coach yelling "bridge him over! He doesn't have any base on that side". Although this advice was meant for my opponent he actually ended up warning ME of my vulnerability instead. I posted my head on the floor to compensate for my lack of base and he never did successfully bridge me.

This episode made a strong impression, and in subsequent competitions I always made sure not only to listen to my own coach, but also to my opponent's coach. There were many times that I had access into my opponent's brain by listening to what his coach was telling him, and sometimes those little tidbits of information made a huge difference.

Of course you should also listen to your own coach, but hopefully your coach is wording his advice in a way that isn't much use to your opponent. Little harm can come of your coach letting you know to protect your arm, or to put more weight onto your opponent, but if he's telling you stuff like "push down on his right knee and then pass to your left" then he might actually be helping your opponent instead of you!

So listen to you your coach, but also listen to your opponent's coach. It's a real life application of the old adage "keep your friends close but your enemies closer".

And if you coaching or cornering someone in a match take care what you say and how you say it. It can be a little hard to do, but try to give advice which doesn't give any useful information to the opponent.

Labels: teachers, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Acquiring new skill sets and polishing your existing skills is the very essence of training. When everything is working properly and you're surfing up the learning curve it is an exhilarating process. The learning curve isn't always smooth, however, and sometimes you run into things called slumps and plateaus. These two phenomena have some similarities, but are different.

In a slump your skills and performance deteriorate. Suddenly you have no gas, no coordination, and are always a step behind in sparring. Those sparring partners you usually dominate start dominating you, tapping you out with ease.

Oftentimes there is an obvious reason for the slump (at least in retrospect). Maybe it was because you were overtrained, or fighting off a cold, or emotionally drained from work, or sleeping badly, or not training enough. In any case, you usually figure it out and your learning curve starts to go head in the right direction again. Most slumps are fairly short, on the scale of days to a few weeks. It's very frustrating while it's happening, but at least it's over quickly.

A plateau, on the other hand, happens when you stop making progress and get stuck at the same skill and performance level for a long time. You might be training just as hard as you always have, but you're just not getting any better.

Plateaus usually last longer than slumps, especially as you become more skilled. Plateaus typically last one to several months, and sometimes as long as half a year. To make matters worse, during this time your highly inconsiderate training partners insist on continuing to make progress, widening the gulf and leaving you in the dust.

Plateaus are usually more demoralizing than slumps. Anyone can handle having a bad day or two, but training hard and not seeing any obvious benefits or improvements from training is hard on the ego and can make anyone question themselves.

The underlying cause for skill plateaus is hard to diagnose, and definitely harder than figuring out why someone is in a slump. Furthermore, without knowing the cause for a plateau it's hard to prescribe a cure, so often one is just left with a shotgun approach to solving the problem. Sometimes people have some success in ending a plateau by changing their techniques, training regimen, diet or the amount of sleep they get, but the fact of the matter is that most people's skills improve in little steps, not in a smooth line. You work and you work and you work and then, all of a sudden, BAM! Your game jumps up one or two levels overnight!

My advice for dealing with plateaus: maybe try shaking things up in your training or conditioning routine, but mainly try not to get too discouraged and remember that everyone goes through this at some point. Definitely hang in there: everyone gets better eventually!

Labels: Injuries, overtraining, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Grappling is problem solving, and part of improving in Brazilian jiu-jitsu is maintaining enough awareness during sparring to figure out precisely what your problems are. Let me explain.

An opponent in grappling is always presenting different problems to you: he won't let you separate his hands when you're trying to armbar him, he holds your leg when you're trying to pass his guard, he bridges out of your mount: all these are 'problems' to be solved.

As you grow as a grappler you will accumulate many solutions to these sorts of problems. These solutions are the counters and re-counters (counters to the counters) that transform grappling from a mere strength and endurance contest into game of physical chess.

No matter how knowledgeable and experienced you are, you will eventually going to run into problems that you don't currently have a solution to. This is normal, because you simply can't anticipate every jumble of limbs and body parts that is ever going to occur on the mats.

When facing one of these unanticipated problems you can sometimes solve it right there in the heat of the battle. This on-the-fly problem solving, if it works, is very gratifying: some of my nicest jiu-jitsu moments were the result of creatively and spontaneously finding a solution that solved an unusual problem posed to me by an opponent.

Not all problems can be solved on the fly however: sometimes you need to take the problem away with you, digest it, work on it, and try to solve it in a cool and systematic way. Here is where the awareness I spoke of earlier comes in: it is often too easy to get frustrated by a problem, curse under your breath, and then move on with the sparring match. Instead of forgetting about the problem, make a mental note to work on it later.

Sometime after sparring is finished take the time to figure out some solutions to the problem you encountered earlier. Some approaches to finding a solution include:

• Re-creating that position with a training partner, and seeing if you or he can think of a technical solution
• Asking your instructors and other training partners for input
• Checking your DVD and book collection for ideas
• Going to the internet, looking on Youtube, and/or asking a question on a training forum
• Dwelling on the problem for a while and letting it ferment to see if your unconscious mind can come up with a better solution than your waking brain
  

For some reason I've had a lot of luck with sleeping on a problem, or rather, brainstorming about a problem as I'm trying to go to sleep. Some of my signature moves were created during semi-lucid daydreaming just before bed. Of course that approach is also a fine way to set myself up for insomnia, but that's the cost of coming up with a great move!

I recently noticed that one of my main training partners has been consistently escaping from my sidemount using the same unconventional escape again and again. When I successfully solve this problem, using one of the methods I talked about above, both his and my jiu-jitsu will grow a notch, and we'll both be better grapplers for it.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Last weekend I had the pleasure of learning from Dan Inosanto at a seminar. As he often does, he stressed the importance of adapting techniques to make them work for you, regardless of whether those techniques are Filipino stick disarms, Jun Fan kickboxing or BJJ submissions.

Your teacher might have a great triangle choke, and if you pay attention you will learn most of the small details that make it work for him. Before you can make the triangle choke your signature move, however, you are probably going to have to adapt it, because it is very likely your physical and mental attributes will differ from those of your instructor.

Physical attributes are very important in determining which techniques will work best for you. Most of the time your physical attributes won't actually make it impossible for you to do a specific technique, but they will affect the ways in which you need to tweak the technique so that it works optimally for you.

It is also important to recognize that your physical attributes will change over time. I recently talked to a fighter who said that he could never quite finish the triangle choke when he weighed 155 lbs, but that this technique started working for him when he got over 170 lbs. This fighter was quite tall (6' 2"), and at 170 lbs his legs had become a bit more muscular, just large enough to fill up the room around his opponent's necks.

Mental and emotional attributes are also important. An MMA fighter who is willing to stand and trade punches - Wanderlei Silva for example - needs a lot of pain tolerance and aggression for that tactic to be successful. A more patient and calm person might have a difficult time pursuing such a strategy, and might be better suited for a counterattacking style of fighting.

All this dependence on attributes can make life difficult for instructors. It's easy to teach students when their physical and mental attributes are similar to your own, but this changes when the people you're trying to teach are very different from yourself. This is one reason why you should pay attention to techniques and variations that you don't like: you may need to teach them to someone some day.

Consider how you would have to modify your bread and butter techniques to make them work for:

• a 110 lb woman who wanted to learn BJJ
• a group of senior citizens interested in self defense
• Bob Sapp (a 370 lb MMA fighter) looking to improve his MMA game
  

Great competitors know what works for their own bodies and temperaments. Great instructors know that too, but are willing and able to show variations, explore options and find solutions to the unique challenges of each of their students.

Labels: older grapplers, teachers, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

I recently came across a great quote on marketing by Seth Godin, but it is equally true for grappling training:

"Persistence isn't using the same tactics over and over. That's just annoying. Persistence is having the same goal over and over."

So if your goal is to armbar your training partner but he's always countering you, don't change the goal - find different setups and techniques to achieve the same goal. Your armbar technique will thank you for it.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Stephan's note: The following tip is courtesy of Roy Dean, who is a black belt in BJJ under Roy Harris, as well as a third degree black belt in Seibukan Jujutsu. Today he shares with us a refreshingly different perspective from the ‘thug-jitsu’ that has become the norm at many schools.

There are many ways to view things, and the most popular viewpoints are not always correct.

Many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and submission grappling students look down on tapping to your opponent. Surely, it signals submission. Some see that submission as losing- a loss of face, a diminishment of your stature in your academy hierarchy, proof that the person you just wrestled is "better than you."

In the beginning of your training, tapping others is the goal. Later, generally at purple, brown, and black belt levels, tapping other people (especially lower ranks) becomes easy. What was once so difficult to do, and took so much struggle to attain, becomes boring and routine. Just "doing it" no longer thrills you, and how you do it becomes much more important. The quality of experience takes precedence.

BJJ is a dance, a sophisticated martial interplay where warriors jockey for position and leadership. One person may lead, and in an even match, the dynamic will switch back and forth between the two partners. After dominating the dance a thousand times, allowing others to lead refreshes the dynamic of the game. And if you're really good, you can guide your partner into submitting you gracefully, without tipping them off on how you opened that door for them to walk through.

Every time I tap to my students, I share a little more of the art, and empower somebody else to experience success. During my blue belt tests, I am the last person to spar with the candidate. At that point they are exhausted, and although I may tap them once or twice in the last 5 minutes of their exam, the challenge is to have them dig deep and conjure that warrior within. I create a genuine struggle for them to not give up, to stay mentally strong, and seize the opportunity to finish the fight that will eventually present itself.

True martial arts is about service: to the art, to your students, and to your teacher. Part of my service is to teach those that train with me how to lead, and how to follow. This creates a much friendlier, safer, and open training environment, where experimentation is encouraged and another's success is equal to your own. Ultimately, this will accelerate the moral and technical development for all participants.

Roy Dean
www.jujutsujournal.com
www.roydeanacademy.com

Labels: teachers, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

If you are a longtime reader of this newsletter you know that I think very highly of running as a conditioning method. Long runs, sprints, hill runs - as you can see from the following articles I think that they are all great.

• My Default Cardio Workout
  
• All Else Being Equal, Work On Your Endurance
• There Can Be Only One: Running vs. Swimming
• A HIIT of LSD
• Some Sample Anaerobic Routines
  

What you might not know is that I used to have a love-hate relationship with running, and I had a long list of excuses to prevent me from just doing it.

Excuse #1: "I'm not fast". I used this excuse up until I graduated from high school. If you sent me around a track with a bunch of my peers I usually ended up towards the rear of the pack. What I didn't realize at the time is that your relative speed is completely, utterly beside the point if your primary goal is martial arts conditioning. What matters is getting your heart rate high, your lungs burning and your legs fatigued. Even though I don't possess enough fast twitch muscle to ever come close to a 4 minute mile, any running I do will improve my cardio and that will improve my performance on the mats.

Excuse #2: "It hurts too much". In my late teens, inspired by Bruce Lee's ardent advocacy of cardiovascular training, I decided to give running a second try. I didn't like it this time either. My lungs hurt, my legs hurt, and when my knees started to ache after a few weeks of regular running I decided that I just wasn't built for running. "I don't want to blow out my knees", I thought, and my running program ground to a halt.

In retrospect I probably tried to go too far too fast - had I started with a walk-run program and been properly fitted for running shoes to compensate for tendency of my feet to pronate (roll inward) then I probably would have been able to continue pain-free.

Excuse #3: "It's boring". Ten years later, in my late twenties, I suddenly had two very good reasons to start running again. Firstly I had just started this intense new activity called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and it was obvious that better cardio would equal better BJJ sparring and competition performance. Secondly I had set my sights on becoming a full-time firefighter, and just about every department I was applying to had some sort of timed run, 1.5 miles in less than 12 minutes typically being the minimum requirement, but added points being awarded for faster times.

This time when I started running again I was equipped with more knowledge and professionally dispensed running shoes. My problem wasn't pain, but rather boredom, especially on runs longer than 15 or 20 minutes. I tried to compensate for this by listening to music on my shockproof Walkman (this was pre-iPod) and by running in scenic locations. As I persevered for month after month, driven by the goal of becoming a firefighter, a curious transformation occurred: the boredom started to fade away and really started enjoying my runs. I'm not exactly sure how or why this change occurred - perhaps it had to do with my cardiovascular system becoming conditioned enough so that my mind could focus on things other than pain and discomfort - but it was a very welcome change nonetheless. Although I still sought out scenic running trails I no longer needed (or wanted) music very often - I began to appreciate the sound of my breathing and the slap of my shoes on the dirt.

Excuse #4: "I'm injured". In 2001 I sustained a serious foot injury while doing Judo. At first I thought my running career was over. Several surgeries later I was back on the trails, gratefully plodding away.

One year later a severe case of ITB (Iliotibial band) syndrome, resulting in severe pain on the outside of my knee, stopped my comeback dead in its tracks. This time the solution was going to orthotics, custom footbeds to correct your foot's rolling and twisting on the ground. These were 'silver bullet' solutions - my ITB pain went away the day I put them into my shoes and returned only when I took them out.

A note about orthotics: these devices DO work for a lot of people, alleviating foot, knee and back pain while running or walking. You could try an over-the-counter insert first: two popular brands are Sole and Superfeet inserts, available at most running shoe stores. If the generic inserts don't work and you want to upgrade to custom orthotics I strongly recommend that you go to a qualified podiatrist to get them: orthotics are dispensed by lots of doctors, massage therapists, chiropractors and running shoe stores, but only podiatrists spend 100% of their time dealing with feet, and the depth of understanding they bring to the table isn't matched by anyone else. Be prepared though - custom orthotics are EXPENSIVE! Be prepared to pay $300 to $500 for your first set.

Labels: conditioning, Injuries, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

I don't do a lot of competition these days, and I do miss it (and the wonderful focus it adds to your training). One thing I DON'T miss, however, is the stomach churning anxiety that accompanied competition. Basically on the day of a competition I became an emotional wreck: moody, grumpy, nervous, and asked myself again and again "why am I doing this". All these emotions dissolved pretty quickly once the matches started and I had to focus on grappling with a real opponent rather than with my fears and worries. After the competition, if I'd performed up to my potential, I was usually deeply satisfied and eager to do it all over again.

Interestingly there was a period of time when I felt considerably less pre-competition anxiety. This was a two year span when I was competing fairly often: I participated in submission grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments, but I was also competing in Firefighter Combat Challenge events (www.firefighter-challenge.com). Although the Combat Challenge was a very different event than a BJJ tournament I definitely felt that there was a carryover effect; there were still crowds, cameras and the potential to screw up royally.

Somehow with competition being a more regular feature of my life, as opposed to something I maybe did once a year, I started feeling less nervous. I can't say I ever felt normal while waiting to compete, but it started to become a bit less stomach-churning, and eventually it started feeling a bit like it was just another day at the office. I attribute my decreased anxiety purely to the desensitization which results from repeated exposure to a stimulus. Get out there and do something often enough and eventually it will start to feel normal.

Interestingly enough this desensitization doesn't last forever (or at least not in my case). When I started competing less regularly the nerves came back just as strong as always

It's not that I think everyone has to force themselves to compete - many grapplers are happy to only 'compete' on the mats of their club via regular regular sparring. Some people just don't like competitions and this is perfectly OK. If you WANT to compete, however, and if you find your performance impaired by nerves and anxiety, you might want to see if you can break through the anxiety barrier by competing more, not less. Additionally, consider competing in any other sport that appeals to you, be that 10 kilometer runs, rugby tournaments or fly fishing contests. Like me, you may just find that there is a carryover anxiety-quelling effect from these other sports to your grappling competitions.

Good luck
Stephan Kesting

P.S. for another approach to dealing with competition nerves you might want to read how this grappler learned to breath while competing.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

There's one at almost every club. The guy who can't lose. The guy who always goes 100%. The guy who applies every submission with speed and power. The guy who fights as if his life depends on it. One sure indicator that someone is a grappling berserker is that he is always injuring his training partners and/or himself.

A favorite trick of a berserker is to say something like "I'm feeling tired (or sick, or injured) today, let's just go 50% and flow". Usually it takes less than 10 seconds of sparring for them to go into turbocharged berserker mode. Now you've got to make a decision to get crushed or to play his game and match his intensity.

There's nothing wrong with hard-fought, high intensity rolling, especially if you have competitive aspirations. Making EVERY sparring match a battle to the death, however, is suboptimal for several reasons:

First of all, the chances of injury increase, both for you and your opponents.

Secondly, since everything is tense, tight and explosive it limits the development of that elusive attribute 'flow'.

Thirdly, it limits your pool of training partners. People will start avoiding you on the mats, either because they don't want to get injured or simply because they aren't in the mood for an all-out dogfight.

Finally, it can stop you from becoming well rounded, because if winning every sparring match is the only thing that counts then you probably won't willingly put yourself into bad situations or positions you need to improve at.

If you have a berserker at your club I'm not saying that you shouldn't spar with him; in fact they can be very useful training partners depending on what aspect of your game you are working on. The main thing is that you have to know what you are getting into and be prepared for a battle every single time. Don't get sucked into starting out light and easy and then, without warning, having the intensity escalated on you.

Labels: Injuries, the mental aspect, training

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

At first I thought that this particular question was going to be simple. Someone, let's call him 'Bob', wrote me about extreme claustrophobia when trapped in a bad position:

"I am hoping that you can help me with problems of extreme claustrophobia while grappling. For some reason, I just become anxious and begin to panic if I feel like I can't escape. Being under side control and feeling like I can’t move or breathe is the worst."

My initial reaction upon reading this was that I was talking to a beginner, and that my counsel should go something like this: don't worry, many newbies get freaked out at first when they find themselves trapped. Just keep on concentrating on the following things and everything will work out in a month or two:

• keep breathing when you are on the bottom,
• get on your side a bit instead of being flat on your back,
  
• keep his weight off of you with your elbows and forearms (i.e. defensive posture)
  
• learn to survive the smother
  

But then I read on and found out that Bob was actually a 3 to 4 year grappling veteran at a reputable school and has had claustrophobia issues since day one on the mat. OK, he probably already knows the things I was going to tell him; what else can it be?

Aha - I thought - it has to be conditioning!!! He might be technically skilled but is grossly out of shape. He might be losing the will to fight as soon as he gets into a bad position simply because he is tired!

Wrong again! He went on to tell me is very fit and that he does extensive, intense conditioning sessions.

He closed by saying

"And I do know my escapes. It’s just that I’ll try a couple of times and if it doesn’t work the panic starts to rise. I try visualization, which helps. I try to consciously relax and breath (easier said than done) and this helps to a degree."

So all my easy answers seemingly didn't apply. What was worse, is that I had no intuition about what he should do, mainly because I have never experienced claustrophobia (on or off the mat). I know I'm supposedly an 'expert', but being at loss for answers prompted me to put out an appeal to the Grapplearts readership. Answers, suggestions and stories soon flooded in, and I compiled them into an article on Combatting Claustrophobia While Grappling.

I am very grateful to everyone who contributed, and think this will be a great resource to both claustrophobes and their coaches. Thank you for your help.

Stephan Kesting

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Last week I talked about how you sometimes have to bail out of a planned training session. Well let's turn the situation around and talk about motivating you to get your butt back on the mat.

I once read an article in a running magazine in which the author was talking about building motivation. She said that, like everybody else, she had days where her motivation was low and she didn't feel like running. Her 'trick' was to give herself permission not to run, but only AFTER she put on her running clothes and laced up her running shoes. On most days the act of putting on her gear built enough momentum that going for a run didn't seem like such a chore after all.

I've often used the same technique - giving myself permission not to train if I still don't feel like it once I've gotten on the mat. At least 95% of the time I find that I DO have the energy to train at least a little bit, and little bit of training is a heck of a lot better than no training at all.

So the next time you feel like cocooning in front of the TV rather than training, try going to class and putting on your gi (or board shorts or speedos). If you still don't feel like training, that's OK, at least you gave it a shot. But I'll bet that most of the time you'll find that putting your gear on was the hardest step, and that training will seem like the easy next step!

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Most instructors, motivators and 'experts' will tell you to train, train, train. Today I am going to tell you the exact opposite: there are some days when you shouldn't go within a hundred yards of a mat. The trick is figuring out which days those are.

Let me start with silly story time: a few years ago I got invited to a sparring session with a couple professional MMA fighters (don't ask me their names - I won't tell). I had had a really crappy night's sleep, but accepted the invitation anyhow. During my trip the gym, however, I had this feeling of doom: it wasn't nervousness per se, I was just not happy about the upcoming sparring session and was sure that something was going to go wrong.

As we were lacing up the MMA gloves I mentioned that I wasn't really well rested and that I had a premonition that I was going to get injured. Both fighters laughed and told me they'd been out partying the night before so they had probably had less sleep than I.

The sparring went OK at first: I was getting hit a lot, but sort of holding my own. In the fifth round my opponent tried to kick me: I caught his leg and charged forward, knocking him down. I followed him down to the ground in order to stabilize the position, and planted my nose directly on his knee: CRACK!

As the blood trickled out of my broken nose and down my face I told myself: "I knew I was going to get injured!"

As it turns out, the broken nose was actually the LESSER of two injuries. A few minutes later I went to the washroom and was surprised to see the toilet bowl turn red: at some point I had gotten punched, kicked or kneed so hard in the kidneys that I was actually peeing blood. Lovely!

Since that day there have been several times when I was about to go to training but didn't because I had the same feeling. On these days my unconscious mind took stock of my physical and mental condition, the training environment and my likely training partners and came to the conclusion that training was not the right thing to do. I'll never be able to prove that taking a break on those days prevented disaster - perhaps I could have trained and been perfectly OK. On the other hand, if I can avoid an unnecessary injury then I will get more, not less, mat time in the long run.

Learn to recognize and respect your spider sense telling you that something isn't right.

Labels: Injuries, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Several years ago I posted excerpts from a Peter Gzowski book that took research conducted on chess grandmasters and extrapolated it to sports performance. This article was called The Mind of a Champion.

A recent issue of Scientific American took this analogy much further. In an article called 'The Expert Mind - Become Good at Anything', the author looks at how studies on chess grandmasters have revealed how people become experts in other fields, including music, mathematics, and sports. If you are interested in the science behind becoming an expert, check out the August 2006 issue of Scientific American.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Sometimes a strength can be a liability, because it impedes the development of other areas. Let me give a personal example:

A little while ago I decided to work on my rear mount escapes, so I let a lighter and less experienced grappler start on my back. My goal was to escape to a better position, his goal was to maintain position and try to submit me. We did this 8 or 9 times in a row: I got out a few times, but 6 times he blocked my escape attempts and tapped me out with the rear naked choke.

This was a humbling experience: I was heavier, stronger and more experienced than my partner. In addition, I consider myself to have a good rear naked choke myself, so it seemed reasonable that my defenses would be fairly good as well.

Upon further reflection I realized that part of what happened is because I have a good turtle position; I can defend myself well when I find myself on my hands and knees, and it is hard for most opponents to get rear mount from there. Consequently I had actually spent very little time in the previous year(s) rearmounted, and hadn't gotten any quality sparring in that area at all.

The strength of my turtle had been hiding several weaknesses, namely my weak rear mount escapes and weak rear naked choke defenses.

Now the concept of strengths hiding weaknesses can apply to a number of different areas, in grappling and in life in general. Restricting the conversation to solely to grappling for the time being, some examples of this might include:

• a good closed guard hiding a weak open guard
  
• a difficult-to-pass open guard hiding weak pin escapes
• a strong neck hiding weak technical choke defenses
• good athleticism hiding weak knowledge of techniques
• a good sprawl hiding weak takedowns
  
• etc

The list goes on and on, so it is worth asking yourself "what strengths are preventing me from finding out what my weaknesses are?". If you are honest with yourself you might be able to think of a few areas where this concept applies.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

In the last week I have added two new articles to Grapplearts.com. The first article is a selection of breakthrough stories sent in by the readers of this newsletter. Andreh Anderson contributes the second article, where he shares a revelation about relaxation, prompted by a private lesson with possibly the best pound-for-pound submission grappler in the world, Marcelo Garcia.

As I was preparing these two articles I was struck by a seeming contradiction. One guy (Andreh) says that his game jumped when he became LESS relaxed on the mat, whereas several other people said that they had breakthroughs when they finally learned to become MORE relaxed while sparring. How can this be?

Well first of all it could be a case of: "Dosis facit venenum." which translates to "The dose makes the poison" (Paracelsus). Perhaps Andreh, being an advanced brown belt, was too relaxed, whereas the other guys were too tense. Perhaps each person needed to find their optimal state of relaxation, and that meant that one guy needed to dial it up whereas the other guys needed to dial it down. This issue was addressed in a previous tip of the week (Optimal State of Arousal)

It is also possible that people mean different things by "relaxation" and "aggression". Some beginners might think that being aggressive means tensing every muscle in your body all the time. Obviously this is different from what Andreh is talking about, which is more a focused intention to control the flow and rhythm of the game. Various limbs may or may not be tense at any given moment, depending on what he is trying to accomplish, but he isn't draining his gas tank by spazzing out for the whole match.

I hope that you have fun looking at other people's breakthrough stories. I am sure you will be struck by the diversity of physical and mental realizations that propelled these grapplers to a new level. Some breakthroughs may seem completely obvious, whereas others may seem rather esoteric; this reflects the diversity of skill levels, training backgrounds, and physical gifts of the contributors. I hope that somewhere among all this advice you can find the right "dose" for what ails you.

A sincere thanks to all who sent in their stories!

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Breakthroughs on the mat are very exciting times for grapplers: you work, sweat, toil and labour for the longest time and your game does not improve. Then, without warning, something happens and your game jumps to another level, making all that work worthwhile.

Sometimes it is possible to know exactly what caused the breakthrough. In my own development, for example, my no-gi guard game lagged behind my gi-based guard game for the longest time. Try as I might, my closed guard would get opened, my open guard would get passed, and my training partners were rarely in any danger from my submission or sweep attempts.

The breakthrough happened rather suddenly, when I finally realized that I wasn't controlling my opponent's head in no-gi sparring. When I started controlling, holding, shoving, stuffing and pushing the head it became much more difficult for opponent's to make good posture and to pass my guard. Anytime my opponent tried to pass my guard on his knees, for example, I would push his head up, sideways or down to the mat, creating the room I needed to reguard and block his guard pass. My no-gi open guard game probably jumped a full belt level in less than a week as that revelation, and its implications, sunk in.

More on the topic of grappling breakthroughs can be found in this article, exclusively on Grapplearts.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Last week I promised to discuss some methods and techniques to raise your arousal level and get some serious adrenaline flowing in your system. If you haven’t figured out why you might want to do this then check out the discussion of optimal state of arousal from the previous 3 weeks of tips

There are different approaches to raising your arousal level: in no particular order they might include:

VISUALIZATION

The term ‘visualization’ is an over-used, misunderstood term, but it CAN be very effective both to lower and raise arousal level. Let me illustrate this by talking an extreme use of visualization. Some years ago I met a world-renowned rugby player, known for his extreme intensity and superb conditioning on the rugby pitch. I asked him what he thought of when he was playing, and he surprised me by telling me that he imagined that the ball was his infant son, and that all the other players were trying to take it away from him. Not surprisingly he played as if his life depended on it.

Now at the risk of sounding like a total Star Wars nerd, I should say that dragging your infant children into your visualization is perilously close to using the dark side of the Force. Nevertheless, this rugby example illustrates how powerful visualization can be. With a little imagination you might be able to develop a less extreme visualization that is still capable of engaging your fight or flight reflex to the desired level.

MUSIC

Music is a path to the unconscious mind, and as such it can also be used to raise arousal level. A friend of mine got to watch a world class boxer warm up before a title fight in Montreal. The boxer in question listened to the extremely loud, extremely heavy metal music for 3 hours before the fight, all the while talking about how he was going to decimate his opponent. By the time he stepped into the ring he was almost beside himself with rage.

Unfortunately this boxer ended up running out of gas and LOSING his match. In the post-mortem after the fight his coach figured that it was because he had been too angry for too long before the match. Being enraged is very emotionally and physically fatiguing, so he didn’t have enough gas left in the tank for the actual fight.

The take-home lessons are: a) that music can certainly raise level of arousal, and b) that you want to be careful not to exceed your optimal state of arousal

BREATHING

To use the breath to calm down one should breathe slowly and deeply, relaxing after each exhalation. To use the breath to become more aroused you still want to breath deeply, but a little faster and a little bit more ‘deliberately’. Try to become more and more focused on the task at hand with each breath. Be careful not to hyperventilate.

FOCUS

A characteristic of a low state of arousal is a diffused focus – an ability to relax and to concentrate on everything, and nothing, at the same time. A highly aroused person, on the other hand, has a very narrow focus. In a combative context he will usually only focus on his opponent, and not really see or hear any other distractions (the crowd, the coaches, the noise, the fighters in the next ring, etc.).

To a large extent focus is a consequence of arousal, rather than something you can use to manipulate your arousal level. Attempting to focus in on your opponent if you need to raise your level of arousal can’t hurt though, especially if used in conjunction with some of the other techniques mentioned.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

OK, so you’ve examined your performance on the mat and realized that you are probably too tense and have too much adrenaline in your system for optimal performance. To use the terminology we’ve been developing over the past few weeks, your arousal level is exceeding your optimal state of arousal (OSA).

So what can you do about it?

There are many different techniques out there used by athletes to calm down. With experience you will figure out which, if any, work for you. With practice you will be able to modulate your level of arousal so that you are exactly where you want to be.

Visualization: many athletes use visualization to calm their nerves. Some imagine being in a place that has calming and relaxing associations for them – hanging out at their favorite fishing hole, for example. Other athletes simply visualize using the techniques they may use in the match, calmly escaping from bad positions and working towards victory in a step-by-step methodical manner. Both methods of visualization interrupt the debilitating run-away anxiety cycle that is so counter-productive to optimal performance.

Breathing: the rate and depth of breathing has a strong influence on an athlete’s mental state – that is why it is the central focus of so many meditation methods. To lower your arousal level make sure that your breathing is slow and deep, and that you relax fully at the end of each exhalation.

Lying down: if you get the chance try lying down and putting a towel over your eyes to block out the light - now you can concentrate on visualization and breathing, just like we discussed above. The most extreme example of this tactic is MMA fighter Caol Uno, who has a trademark ring or cage entrance when he fights. He enters the ring and then lies down flat on his back, sprawled out like a starfish (a classy alternative to standing in the corner, glaring at the opponent and punching himself in the head).

Music: This is a widely used technique to modulate mental states. Bring your iPod and a headset to your next tournament and listen to something that puts you into your ‘happy place’. If you are trying to lower your arousal then you might want to listen to something on the mellow side, but everybody is unique: if you find that speed metal relaxes you and makes you happy then go for it!

I should make the point that, just like your grappling techniques, these relaxation techniques require practice too. If you are serious about modifying your level of arousal then you would be well advised to do a ‘dry run’ BEFORE you are waiting for your match to start at the Mundials…

Now it IS possible to be too relaxed – I have made this error in my competition career at least once. It was my first match in my weight division at a tournament and I was very relaxed: consequently I underestimated my opponent and swiftly lost that match. Losing this match REALLY pissed off. Being pissed off raised my level of arousal (and my blood pressure) and I ended up somewhere near my optimal level of arousal. As a result I won my next three matches, and collected gold in the Absolute division as a consolation prize.

Next week we’ll cover some methods to RAISE your level of arousal (other than losing your first match).

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Last week we introduced the concept of there being an ‘optimal state of arousal’ (or OSA) for martial athletes in general, and grapplers in particular. The point was made that OSA varies from sport to sport, situation to situation, and also from athlete to athlete. The question now becomes how to determine what your OSA is and how to achieve it.

The short answer to this question is that EXPERIENCE is the key to determining your personal OSA. Figuring out your OSA is usually a trial and error process, and you are unlikely to figure it out on your first couple of tries. With repeated exposure to the stress of the situation you WILL eventually get a better idea of where your comfort zone is and where you function best.

One thing I should make clear is that every situation is different. Sparring in the club is NOT the same as competing against Wanderlei Silva in mixed martial arts: consequently your OSA will change as the situation changes. Take a look at this list of scenarios - I have arranged them from lowest to highest stress, and also lowest to highest OSA:

• Grappling in class with a familiar sparring partner
• Grappling in class with an unfamiliar sparring partner
• Competing in a submission wrestling or BJJ tournament
• Competing in an MMA event
• Defending yourself in an all-out street fight

Let’s look competing in a submission wrestling or BJJ tournament. Most fighters usually overshoot their OSA in their first couple of competitions: they are simply too excited and/or too scared and/or have too much adrenaline in their systems to perform their best. With experience it becomes easier for them not to be so tense, and the level of performance goes up. What these competitors are doing is figuring out what their optimal OSAs are, and modulating their level of arousal accordingly (whether they put it in those terms or not). How much more relaxed should they be? Well that is where the trial and error comes in – there is no simple formula because everybody has a different optimal level.

In contrast, some competitors undershoot their OSA and are too relaxed and too passive. This is more common after a competitor has some competitions under his belt and is beginning to feel semi-comfortable (complacent?) about the whole thing. Being at a low level of arousal is also common when competitors underestimate their opponents: they should remember that in competition EVERY opponent is dangerous, and that every person they face has at least one match-ending technique up their sleeves.

So hopefully now you understand the concept of OSA, and have perhaps begun to figure out if you personally need to modulate it up or down for maximum performance. Next week I’ll talk about methods I’ve used, and have seen used, to lower your state of arousal if it is too high.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

When I talk about “optimal states of arousal” I usually get one of 2 reactions:

1. disinterest because it sounds too academic, theoretical and boring; or
2. snickering because it sounds like a vaguely dirty-minded topic
   

If you stick with me for a minute I think you will see how this sports psychology concept can actually be very useful and practical, ESPECIALLY if you compete.

Arousal is a psychological term used to describe how mentally and physically stimulated an athlete is. If someone is highly aroused then his heart is pumping, lots of adrenaline is flowing, and the ‘fight or flight’ reflex is going full bore. If someone is at a low state of arousal then they are relaxed and possibly even lethargic.

Each competitor, and each sport, has an optimal level of arousal – at this state of mental and physical excitation the athlete will have his best performance. In some sports the level of arousal should be fairly low: target shooting for example. Most target shooters want to keep their heart rates low and their breathing under control. On a scale of 1-10 target shooters probably want to be at a 2 or 3 (since being at 1 would mean that they are asleep).

In other sports (such as powerlifting) the level of arousal should generally be high. You can see powerlifters psyche themselves up before lifting: slapping themselves in the face and body, screaming loudly, and so on. Some lifters function best in a white rage (which would be 10 out of 10 on the arousal scale). In this state intensity triumphs over finesse, emotion over reason, and tunnel vision replaces keeping an eye on the big picture..

In combat sports (grappling, jiu-jitsu, judo, wrestling, etc.) the level of arousal should be high but not too high. I would guess that most combat athletes perform best at an arousal level of 5 to 7. To use an analogy, you don’t want the general of an army to be in a white rage when he makes strategic decisions: he could walk his troops right into a trap. In combat sports the competitor is simultaneously general AND trooper, responsible for making and executing decisions, so both rational thought and intensity are both required. If a fighter is too aroused then his technique, strategy and endurance will suffer. On the other hand, if a fighter is too relaxed then he might underestimate his opponent or fail to seize available opportunities.

Next week we will look at determining your own personal optimal state of arousal, as well as looking at some ways competitors increase and decrease their arousal for maximum performance.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

It's very common for new grapplers to become discouraged at about the 2 or 3 month mark. In the beginning this person sort of expected to get his ass kicked, but now (after a few months of classes) he is still STILL getting his ass kicked. His grappling game largely consists of lying there pinned while frantically defending submission attempts.

This style of purely defensive and purely reactionary grappling isn't very satisfying. This new student is learning all sorts of cool offensive techniques, but never getting to apply any them himself, so why bother training at all?

What this person has forgotten is that all his training partners have been getting better as well. Everybody is improving at the same time, so it can take a long time to close a skill gap between himself and and someone who has been grappling longer.

It is only when newbies show up at the club and the former beginner gets to do some ass kicking of his own that he realizes how much he's learned. All of a sudden he finds out that he HAS been learning stuff all along, and that he isn't a complete failure at this grappling stuff after all.

If you are a beginner and find yourself at this two month mark then take heart! Things will improve. If you are in a coaching or mentoring position in your club then keep your eyes open for this phenomenon. In my experience it often occurs after about 2 months of training. Take that person aside and explain what is happening - it will cheer him up and may even stop him from dropping out altogether.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

It is important to know when you can't improve on something. This is the position I find myself in this week as I ponder a quote about fear by the author Dr. Michael Colgan. Without further ado, here it is:

"Fear does not exist in any object or situation. It is constructed by you alone, a barrier to progress, imposed solely by your mind."

I can't say it better than that, so I'll keep it short and sweet this week!

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

For the past two weeks I have been talking about breathing, concentrating on unusual situations, like hyperventilation and the Valsalva Maneuver. I should probably have started out by talking about something that is a bit more universally applicable.

Let’s talk about this: no breathing equals no oxygen equals total exhaustion.

It's storytime: a few months ago I was talking with a very frustrated and discouraged grappler. For the sake of this story, let’s call the grappler ‘Fred’. Anyway, ‘Fred’ was a fit guy who did lots of cardiovascular conditioning to help him with his endurance, but had an unusual problem with his grappling. In his own words:

“The situation seems to occur when I train against new people who are very aggressive, usually wrestlers. I try to relax, but it doesn't seem to be working. I still seem to tense up and gas out. But when I fight guys who are so much better than me I can train for a long time and even roll for 30-40 minutes at a time with minimal breaks.”

In other words he had MORE endurance when he was sparring advanced people who kicked his butt than he did when he was grappling aggressive beginners.

It took some experimentation and discussion, but what we finally discovered was that he was holding his breath while fighting certain types of opponents. When he grappled beginners he tensed up and held his breath because he did not want to tap, or get schooled, by a beginner.

Against advanced grapplers he knew he was going to tap: he could accept that they were more skilled than he was, could concentrate on putting up a good fight and doing his best on the mat.

His anxiety was causing him to hold his breath. No breathing equals no oxygen equals total exhaustion.

The solution was fairly simple: he had to concentrate on his breathing before all else. He started to focus on inhalation and exhalation while doing pushups, while doing Yoga and especially while grappling.

Fred also used a fairly simple tool to ensure he wasn’t holding his breath while grappling: every 5 or 10 seconds he would check in on his breathing and ask himself if he was holding his breath. Submissions, body positions and techniques were all secondary to focusing on the breath, making sure that it continued to flow in and out during the heat of the battle.

Here is what happened in Fred’s words:

“When it came time for sparring, I picked one of the heavier aggressive guys to go against. I did what you said and kept reminding myself to breathe. Every 5-10 secs I was just saying to myself breathe, breathe, and breathe. I wasn't even thinking 'too hard' about my attacks and defense, I just wanted to relax and flow.”

“But you know what happened, I was thinking so clearly. I subbed this guy 5 times in 5 minutes! I have never subbed anyone that many times before in that amount of time. I hit triangles (I suck at triangles, trust me) twice, two of your kneebars, and then the ‘Minotauro’ choke.”

“The important thing was I wasn't even trying, it was weird. I mean I wasn't lying like a log, but I was just focusing on breathing rather than just trying to 'fight'. And everything was so clear. I even let this guy take my back and pass my guard, but I recovered easily.”

“The next rolling partner I had was a solid blue and I asked him to just smash me. He did smash me, but I wasn't gasping from escaping. I kept breathing and just trying to remember good posture. It was really good. I gave him a tough time and he really had to work to get me.”

“The next partner was probably the same level as me. I kept the breathing concept in mind and I nailed some more moves I don't easily pull off normally in sparring.”

Things went really well for the next couple of weeks. So well, in fact, that he decided to enter a NAGA tournament:

“Well since everything has been going so well thanks to you I am gonna put my money where my mouth is and compete in NAGA in 2 weeks. My wrestling is something that needs improvement but I feel confident enough that my other attributes will even things out.”

Shortly thereafter I received an email from Fred: below you can read parts of it:

“Stephan! I won my division in NAGA. Thanks so much for all your help. I was doing well with my breathing until the finals, where I left it all on the mat. I did not notice I was breathing a lot until they called time and I felt the exhaustion. But no one scored any points on me and I got some nice armbars … Throughout my matches I did the breathing check every 10 seconds. If you told me to compete in NAGA 2 months ago I would have laughed and thought you were crazy.”

If you find your endurance fading unexpectedly, be it when fighting certain types of opponents or in certain situations (competition at tournaments, sparring at other clubs, etc.) the FIRST thing you could do is to ensure that you aren’t holding your breath. Ask someone to watch you, and/or do an internal breathing check every 5 or 10 seconds. Think a little bit less about technique and constantly remind yourself “breathe, breathe and breathe!” You may be pleasantly surprised.

Labels: breathing, conditioning, the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

When an uninitiated person sees grappling in action for the first time it seems very chaotic and confusing. There are limbs and bodies all over the place and then, all of a sudden and for ‘no reason’ someone taps out. This can be a very intimidating activity for beginners to launch themselves into.

Here is the roadmap that I offer beginners interested in learning how to grapple on the ground. While there are many variations of positions, 90% of your time on the mat is going to be spent in one of the following positions:

1. Mount position,
2. Rear mount
3. Sidemount / North-South position
4. Headlock / Kesa gatame
5. Closed / Open guard
6. Turtle position
7. Knee mount

What I usually tell beginners is that they should first learn the basics of each of these positions. Then should then learn 2 or 3 attacks from each of the positions when they are on top, and 2 or 3 escapes or sweeps from each of the positions when they are on the bottom.

Once they have learned these positions, attacks and escapes they will have a bit of context for whatever position they end up in while training, and roll around without being totally lost all the time. They will have a rudimentary idea of what to do (and not do) in these 7 positions and will be able to relate to what is happening to him on the mat. This is very empowering and is a great way to introduce someone to the sport and art of grappling.

Labels: the mental aspect

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon

Training slumps can be very, very frustrating. Maybe your training partners are all kicking your butt, and guys who you used to manhandle are giving you a run for your money. If you’ve ever had this experience, and it lasted for any length of time, then you know what a slump is.

Slumps are due to different things.

Sometimes it is because you are overtraining and are burned out. In that case you should take some time off and relax.

Sometimes it is because you haven't been training enough and/or hard enough. In that case you should get your ass in gear and train more often, longer and harder.

Sometimes it is because your game has become stale - your training partners have all figured out your game and the counters to it. Time to start working on a different game, or find new setups for the techniques that have always worked for you.

Sometimes it is because your game is all over the place and without focus. You are trying so many different things that you have become a jack of all trades and a master of none. Time to focus your game and concentrate on only a few sweeps or submissions.

As you can see it is impossible for someone who doesn't know you to diagnose why you are in a slump. Be honest with yourself and try to figure out why it isn't all working for you. Once you understand why you’re having the problem the solution will be obvious.

Good luck

Labels: the mental aspect, training

bookmark this!  del.icio.us |  Digg it |  reddit |  Yahoo MyWeb |  Google |  StumbleUpon