Razzano Academy Visit

So I took a trip back to Bloomington Indiana last week to visit my instructor, Dax Razzano.  I wanted to give him a chance to roll with me so that he could give me an honest critique on where I'm at, and what I need to do in order to progress to that next level.  

My sincere apologies to all of my non-Jiu-Jitsu friends in the area.  I didn't contact anyone outside of the academy while I was there. This trip was all about Jiu Jitsu. Nothing else. I trained, ate, and slept.  I'll have to hit the rest of you up on another visit. I hope you'll all understand.

It was a six day trip altogether.  Minus the two travel days gave me 4 days, boots on the ground for training.

And boy, did I get a lot of sparring in while I was there.  A LOT of sparring!  All I can say is, thank God for Motrin, Yoga, and the Hotel swimming pool!  I can only imagine what these old bones would have felt like without them.

It was good to see all my Razzano Academy friends again.  Some of the white belts I used to train with are now blue belts. Some of the blues are now purple. So on and so forth.

And Dax has a reputation for being notoriously slow to promote people.  So you know those blues that made purple are no joke! I couldn't just relax and play around with them anymore like I used to. If I let down my guard for one split second they would capitalize!

Which brings up an interesting phenomenon in BJJ. I had an old Calculus professor in college who put it like this, "I know for a fact that I'm getting smarter.  I study.  I learn. I must be getting smarter. But I feel like I'm getting dumber.  And I think that the reason I feel like I'm getting dumber is that I'm finally getting smart enough to realize how dumb I really am."

While you're progressing, everyone else is progressing right along with you.  If you've been training for 6 months you may not feel like you're getting any better.  You may even feel like you're getting worse because you're getting smart enough to identify some of the mistakes you're making.

You don't realize you're getting any better until a new guy comes in who knows nothing about the ground game. And then you can finally give better than you get.  Then you realize that hey, maybe you really are getting better. Maybe this Jiu Jitsu stuff actually works!

But in a little town like Montrose, you don't have a steady stream of new white belts coming in. That can make it tough to gauge your own progress.

To make matters worse, lower belts tend to improve faster than upper belts.  When you start your Jiu Jitsu journey, you make progress in leaps and bounds.  You're learning new moves and concepts every class.  

As you get better, the progress is more like an inch here, a millimeter there.  You refine and tweak things as opposed to learning new earth shattering moves and concepts every class.

When you're one of the top dogs in your gym, you're still progressing, but not as fast as a brand new white belt.

So if you're gauging your progress based on how well you do against everybody else, it can feel like you're getting worse. As the blue belts approach purple, and purple belts approach brown, it gets tougher to submit them even though you're getting better every day.

Which brings me to the last day of my trip. I really wasn't sure what to expect. I tried to go out there with the motto of accept, don't expect.  Don't expect anything out of the trip other than an honest critique of where I am, what I need to work on over the next few months, and a plan as far as how to work on it.  Stripes or a belt would be icing on the cake. A happy surprise. 

Still it was hard not to fantasize about getting some sort of promotion the last day of class.  It would be a big class.  All my buddies would be there. Everyone would congratulate me.  Shake my hand. Lots of pictures, etc.

But the last class came and there wasn't a big showing.  Just me, Dax, and a white belt.  Dax tried to organize a special class just for me, but everyone was busy. Hey, it happens. I had already trained more than I thought I'd be able to this trip.

No matter.  We rolled for hours and had an blast!  Afterwards, the white belt left, and it was just me and Dax.  

Then he got that look on his face.  Like you get when you're about to break the bad news to someone.  Then he said, "Well...," in that voice you use when you're about to break the bad news to someone.

Now I've always been my own worst critic.  And  for the most part, I've figured out how to harness that and use it as an asset.  It drives you to work harder.  Study harder.  Find new and creative ways to improve both on and off the mat.

But at that particular moment in time my inner critic went into overdrive... "Crap. Was I that bad?  Have I not progressed at all?  Have I gotten worse?  Developed bad habits?"

I thought I'd improved.  I thought my open guard game had really blossomed since I left Indiana, It felt like that two months of only armbars really improved my submission game.  Granted my leglock experiment never really took off due to the broken toe, but playing on my back due to the injury gave me a chance to improve other aspects of my bottom game. 

Was he unhappy with the direction my game was developing?  What could it be?

Dax continued. "I guess we'll have to do this kind of unceremoniously."

"What's that?"

"Well, I ordered you a belt.  But it hasn't come in yet."

"... um... A purple belt with more stripes on it?"

Dax laughed.  "No, a brown one. But it's not in yet. I'll have to mail it to you."

We went out for a few beers afterwards.  We sat there and talked for hours about Jiu Jitsu.  About running a gym.   Teaching classes.  How to progress when you're the top dog at your school.  And a whole slew of other topics. 

In the end he told me the brown belt was an easy decision.  And that's a huge compliment in my mind. Because like I said, he has a reputation for being notoriously slow to promote people.  He wouldn't give me the belt if I hadn't earned it.

All in all not a bad trip!  I got to roll with my old Razzano Academy friends.  And I achieved my goal of earning that brown belt!  

Oh yeah... by the way... I re-broke that pesky toe of mine.  But honestly, I think the whole experience was worth it.  If I had to do it all over again, I'd still re-break that toe if it meant getting to roll with everyone and get my brown belt!

Take care, and keep training!

- Big Mike

Summer Lull

 

I was talking to Jason the other day about class attendance.  It seems that there are certain predictable ebbs and flows throughout the year.  One of which is the predictable lull of attendance is the last week of school and/or first week of summer vacation.  

 

During the last week of school students are busy cramming for finals.  Parents are busy making sure their kids are studying for their finals.  All of which makes all aforementioned parties far too busy to make it to Jiu Jitsu class.

 

After finals are over, families want to take vacations.  Singles want to get out and about, blow off some steam, and... well... mingle with other singles.  Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean?

This usually lasts for a couple of weeks.  Then once everyone's gotten everything out of their systems, they come back to Jiu Jitsu class.

 

But during this time of cramming and post exam revelry Jiu Jitsu classes are pretty bare.  Not too many studs around.  

 

There is an upside however.  If you're one of the dedicated few to make it to class during this lull, sometimes you'll be the only one in class.  Usually when that happens, your instructor will ask you if there's anything particular you're having trouble with or want to work on.  It's basically like getting a private lesson for free!  

 

Other times it's just you and one or two other students.  Same deal here.  Your instructor asks if there's anything you guys have questions about or want to work on.  If you come prepared with an answer, it's the next best thing to getting a private lesson... and you get it for no extra charge. 

 

I've had some of my best training sessions during these lulls in attendance.  They've been a huge source of those aha moments.  You know, the ones where you come away saying to yourself, "Ooohhh, so THAT'S how it works!"  There's nothing better than a little one-on-one, individual attention from your instructor to get you through those sticking points.   

So my advice for you during these times of low class attendance is this.  Go out.  Have fun.  Blow off some steam by all means.  But do yourself a favor and make it to one or two classes when nobody else wants to attend.  Come prepared with some questions in mind.  I think you'll be glad you did.

 

Happy training!

- Big Mike

The Broken Toe Guard

So my broken toe has been healing slowly but surely... well at least slowly.  I THINK it's getting better.  Not wanting to miss too many rolling sessions, I've had to do what we all do when we're broken and still want to roll... modify.

 

I started out by teaching a whole lot of closed guard.  It turns out I get up on my toes a lot more than I thought, in a lot more positions than I would've guessed.  Turns out that kinda hurts even when you're just demonstrating moves with a broken toe.

 

I find that closed guard is relatively safe though.  I can keep my broken toe relatively out of play pretty well when my ankles are locked behind the other guy's back.  

 

I gradually eased into positional sparring from the bottom guard position.  Stayed away from getting too spider-guardy if my opponent opened the legs, and pretty much just allowed the pass for awhile.  

 

Once I became comfortable, I decided to start experimenting.  I pulled out one of my old instructionals, The 92 Double Sleeve Guard by Jay Wadsworth.  It's a snazzy little guard where you cross grip the guy's sleeve, grip around the tricep with the other hand, put one foot on the hip, and the other knee across the chest... or something like that.  It's great for frustrating bigger guys who like to smash you by the way.

 

Anyhow, when Jay demonstrates it, the leg of the foot that goes in his opponent's hip stays bent.  And his off leg stays in contact with his opponent's torso kind of like a knee shield.

 

Any time I'd try it however, would always end up canted outward with my off leg flapping in the breeze.  I was never able to bring it in like a knee shield like Jay does.  It worked well enough to keep my opponent off balance, but I was unable to use all of the moves Jay showed in the DVD since... I wasn't really in the 92 Double Sleeve Guard.

 

Anyway, since my injury I've found myself butt scooting around with the leg of my injured toe  way out to the side.  This naturally leads to my jacked up version of the 92 Double Sleeve Guard with me on my side, my hip checking leg ramrod straight, and my off leg (with the broken toe) straight up in the air mostly out of reach of my training partner.  

 

I've found that people want to grab that leg, usually at the knee.  When they do, it's relatively easy to swivel my shin up over the top of their forearm, and wedge my heel in their bicep.  My toe stays relatively safe when I do this.  From there I kick into his bicep and my leg falls naturally between their neck and shoulder forming the one arm in, one arm out positioning which happens to be the fundamental prerequisite for a triangle submission.

 

It's a ridiculously goofy looking guard... but it seems to work well enough so far.  In fact I'm not sure what people are more frustrated by... the fact that it seems to be working so well, or the fact that it looks so dumb.  But hey, if it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.  Right?  

 

I've dubbed it "The Broken Toe Guard."  Perhaps one day I'll release an instructional on BJJ Fanatics, and become rich and famous because of it.  Well, maybe moderately well off and Jiu-Jitsu-famous anyway.

 

Until then, happy training!

-Big Mike

Broken Toes and Closed Guard

So I broke my toe a couple of weeks ago.  We were in the 50/50 position going for leg locks, and my toe got caught in my buddie's gi.  

Snap!  

"Dude, I'm sorry.  Are you okay?"

"Yeah.  I'm fine."

"I thought I broke it."

"Nah.  It'll be fine."

"I'm pretty sure I heard it snap."

"No, I think that was just the snap of the gi.  It'll be sore tomorrow.  But it's not broken.  It'll be fine."

It wasn't fine.  The next day it swelled up... swelled?  swole?  The next day it was swollen pretty bad.  Black and blue.  Puffed up and painful.  The whole nine yards.  

I've been walking with a limp for the last two weeks.  My plan of only going for leg locks for the next two months is pretty much kaput thanks to this little injury, but that hasn't stopped me from making it to class.

Figuring out what to teach with a broken toe was somewhat challenging.  We had been working through our tournament strategy, but it turns out I use my toes a fair bit for those techniques.  

I figured I could teach some techniques off my back.  Maybe some escapes.  But it turns out I use my toes a lot when working escapes as well.  I like to bring my toes to my butt when I bridge, Marcello Garcia style.  It usually works really well for me... but not so much with broken toes.

So I settled on going old school with little closed guard.  My broken toe stays pretty safe locked behind my training partner's back for the most part.  Depending on what submissions or sweeps I go for, I can keep myself out of trouble pretty well.

Closed guard is one of those things I feel like everyone needs to know.  But I also feel like I have to be sneaky about teaching it.  Everyone wants to learn the flashy new guards out there.  And there are so many of them now.  I worry sometimes that people will find the good ol fashioned closed guard... well... too old fashioned.  

Thing is it still works.  I was reading the other day how Gordon Ryan was using it after his leg injury to dominate everyone in the blue basement.  I figure if it's good enough for the King, it's worth teaching every now and then.

Back in the late 90's/early 2000's I played a lot of closed guard.  Back then I had trouble hitting submissions from closed guard and mostly went for sweeps instead.  But my understanding of the position has improved since then.  

Instead of just going for random techniques from there, I start by attacking my opponent's posture.  Basically, I grab their head and pull it down.  Once I've broken their posture, I'll go to work on their structure, isolating one of their arms from their body.  I'll trap their other arm as well if possible.

It turns out that once you've broken your opponent's posture, isolated one arm, and trapped the other one, it's relatively easy to sweep or get a submission from there.   

So far the response has been pretty good to what I've been putting out.  Everyone is having success with breaking posture and structure from closed guard.  And from there even our white belts are able to improvise techniques once they achieve these goals.  I love it when white belts are able to apply what I teach while sparring.

Lock up closed guard.  Break posture.  Break structure.  Then everything's easier.  Give it a try and let me know what you think. 

- Big Mike

Here's what BJJ will NOT do for you

 

It's always been my dream to open up my own gym.  I'm not in a position to do it just yet, but that doesn't stop me from researching, planning, dreaming, etc.  Every once in awhile I look at BJJ school websites to get an Idea what I want mine to look like someday.

Number one, some of the best gyms I've trained at have had the worst websites.  Barely more than some contact info and a little about the instructor.  The schedule pages were often outdated or broken.  Some websites don't even give you enough info to be able to find the gym.

Some of these guys are top notch instructors, but a lot of people out there will never know it because they take one look of the website and figure that a second rate website equals second rate instruction.

There are also plenty of professional looking websites out there put up by less than professional instructors.  You obviously can't judge an instructor by his website any more than you can judge  a book by it's cover.  That's why I always like to try out all the BJJ schools when I move to a new area before I decide where I want to train long term.

One of the things I've noticed with the snazzier looking websites out there is that they all tend to make similar claims as to the benefits of their particular school and/or martial art.  These claims include but are not limited to:

• Self Defense
• Health
• Fitness
• Weight Loss
• Strength
• Cardio
  
• Flexibility
  
• Self Confidence
• Self Respect
  
• Concentration
• Self Control
  
• Better Grades In School

In short, you will not only learn BJJ.  Their program will turn you into a Zen Buddhist master with a 4.0 GPA, and 6-pack abs while curing everything from baldness to cancer!

Unfortunately it's just not true.  I'm here to tell you that while I've met folks who've made incredible transformations after taking up Jiu Jitsu, I've also met some overweight, and/or out of shape BJJ black belts along the way as well.

Yes, BJJ can help you lose weight.  But it can't do it for you.  If beginning your Jiu Jitsu journey motivates you to make some tweaks to your dietary regimen, then you may find the numbers on your bathroom scale moving in the right direction.  But if you keep on eating Twinkies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and second dinner, and second lunch, etc.) then you're probably going to be disappointed.  They say you just can't out exercise a bad diet.  Turns out you can't out Jiu-Jitsu a bad diet either.

Same thing goes for just about every other benefit on that list.  There are folks out there that embody everything on that list, and they're awesome at Jiu Jitsu.  But correlation does not prove causation.  Again, consider the fat, out of shape black belt who will still mop the floor with you come sparring time.

BJJ training will not magically make you lose weight, gain muscle, develop six-pack abs.  It won't make you smarter, or focus or concentrate better per-se.

A BJJ school is a wonderful laboratory for working on those traits.  But you have to make a conscious effort.  It doesn't magically just happen because you come to class.  And any website or marketing that advertises otherwise is... well... quite frankly it's false advertising in my opinion.

If you're thinking about starting BJJ, don't do it for all of the supposed benefits you see on all of those websites out there.  Do it because BJJ is fun!  It's physical chess.  It's a way to test yourself against another human being.  It's a real life video game where brains really can defeat brawn.  Where leverage beats strength, timing beats speed, precision beats power, and hard work beats talent.  The more you play, the better you get.  You get good enough, and you can defeat giants!

If that sounds good to you, then play Jiu Jitsu for Jiu Jitsu's sake.  Maybe it'll motivate you to pick up some of those other benefits along the way.  Maybe it won't.  But I for one think it'll be worth it either way.  

Happy training!

Review: New Wave Jiu Jitsu: A New Philosophy Of Positional Escapes by John Danaher

 

I love my wife...  Let me say that again...  I LOVE my wife!

We just celebrated our anniversary.  16 years baby!  I still remember the first time I saw her.  It feels like it was just yesterday.  I lived on the second floor of an apartment building.  I happened to be looking out the window as she pulled up in her car.  She had one of those white lab coats on.  (She was going through the nursing program at the time.)  Her blonde hair reflecting the Florida sun made sort of a halo effect.  She literally looked like an angel... and then she smiled.  It was love at first sight.

But I digress.  The point is, my beautiful wife who must truly love me seeing as she's put up with my jiu jitsu obsession over the years, gave me John Danaher's new instructional as an anniversary present!  (Thank you Sweetheart!)  So I thought I'd review it here.

The new series is called New Wave Jiu Jitsu: A New Philosophy Of Positional Escapes.  The overall concept behind it is this.  Traditionally when we're trapped on the bottom of a pin, we're content to escape to a neutral position.  Think shrimp and recover guard.  

Danaher believes we can do better.  Instead of escaping to a neutral position, what if we could escape to a dominant position?  Or better yet, a position where we are threatening our opponent with a submission?

What if your opponent has worked hard to sweep you, get on top, pass your guard and mount you, only to end up on the receiving end of a leg entanglement with you threatening a leg lock?  Imagine doing all that work, winding up in what jiu jitsu law says is a dominant position, and getting not just bumped off, but submitted!

That is what Danaher aims to do with this set.  He lays out a game-plan to go from being pinned to being on the attack.  Then he gives you the specific techniques required to accomplish this from your usual pinning positions: mount, rear mount, side control, knee on belly, etc.

Like the rest of his instructionals, he starts out with theory.  He goes into his new philosophy of escapes, what the new game plan is and why.  I suppose you could skip it if you wanted to dive right into the actual techniques, but I've always found his thought process fascinating so I didn't.  There's some good info in there, and he demonstrates a fair bit of the system.  I feel like it primes your brain for what is to come.

The volumes that follow cover escapes from mount, rear mount, knee on belly, side control, turtle, and more.  As advertised, most of the escapes wind up with you in fine attacking position, usually attacking the legs Danaher Death Squad style! .  Others end attacking the arms or neck... but end attacking the legs when your opponent backs out in an attempt to defend their arms and/or neck.

If you already have his leg lock set, I feel like there's enough new material here to justify the purchase.  It is a bit pricey, but there always seems to be another BJJ Fanatics sale right around the corner.

I would say get this one if:

• You want to take your escapes to the next level
• You've been wanting to delve into leg locks, but hesitate to give up position to do so, or
• You're just a huge John Danaher fan.

Chains and Candy

One of my old instructors used to teach in chains.  For instance, he'd teach us the Upa Mount Escape which lands you on top in closed guard. We'd practice it for a few reps. Then he'd show us a guard pass. But we wouldn't just rep the guard pass. We'd do the mount escape followed by the guard pass so it flowed together like one big technique. Then he might add a transition to mount. Then a submission, say straight arm lock from the mount. Then the arm lock escape. These chains would be anywhere from 4 to 7 moves long depending on how quickly everyone was getting each move. 

I always enjoyed learning this way. It helped me see connections. It also helped me to establish an overall sense of flow, and get a better overall picture of the game as a whole. 

One day a buddy of mine (we'll call him Joe) made a comment to our instructor after class. Joe told our instructor he enjoyed the chains, but by the time he got home sometimes the only move he could remember was that first one in the sequence. 

Our instructor smiled. "That is okay Joseph. I will tell you a little secret. The first technique I show you is the only one I really want you learn." 

"But what about all of the other ones? Why would you show them to us if you didn't want us to learn them? I mean, isn't that just a big waste of time? Wouldn't it be better to just focus on the techniques you actually want us to learn?" 

"Ahh, yes. In Brazil it was not uncommon to practice a technique over 50 times. But nobody has the patience for that anymore. You see, if I asked you to drill the move even 20 times you might do it, but you would get bored. After a while, you might even quit my school and go train somewhere else." 

"So instead I have to trick you. I ask you to do the first move a few times. Then after I teach you the second move, you do the first one a few more times because they connect in a chain. Then a few more times with the third, and so on. If someone asks a question and I take a little time to answer it, maybe you get a few more repetitions on top of that."

"All the moves after the first one are like candy.   By the end of the lesson you don't even realize how many times you've practiced that first technique!  You've been so focused on the candy!  If all you remember when you get home is the first move, then I'm happy.  Eventually, when you see that lesson again you'll already know the first move, and maybe then you'll remember the second when you get home."

And he was right.  All the benefits of training those sequences were real.  But until he spelled it out for me, I never realized how many reps of that first technique I was getting in.  I was completely distracted by the candy!

Makes me wonder what other little psychological tricks were being played on me by my instructors over the years...

What's your favorite instructional technique?