Transitions

While rolling today I had a thought (this is a big deal because with me thoughts are few and far between:).  Rather then think about the mount position from the bottom as a place were you have to defend.  Why not think of it as a transitional position in which you perhaps allow the other guy to get there for a second and then transition to a position that is more advantageous for yourself.  Now I am not saying give up the mount position intentionally and this plan could certainly backfire if the other guy is savy to you and locks down the position, but in a roll in which there is lots of flow I think this could work.  Maybe it would only work once but hey I’m just trying to think outside the box here.

So many guys fight tooth and nail (including myself) to not give up the mount position and they certainly should, especially in a tournament situation were points are being given for getting to a dominant position.  I think at some point though you reach a place were jiujitsu becomes less of a physical game and more of a mental one.  When it turns into that type of fight it would probably be beneficial to throw out some decoys so to speak and start doing mental gymnastics around your opponent.  Letting them get to mount and then continuing to transition to another position would definitely mess with their head.  At least I know it would with me....

I think this type of thinking can be applied to all aspects of a jiujitsu player’s game.  From passing the guard to escaping side control messing with the other guy’s head is always a good thing.  For myself sometimes its just as simple as pretending you have control of the other guy when it reality that control is tenacious or non existent.  All that matters is that the other guy THINKS your the one in control.  Then he will most likely have a defensive reaction rather then an offensive one which of course is good for you and puts you one move “up” so to speak.  If the other guy is reacting to you he isn’t thinking about imposing his will.  I’m gonna go ahead and shut up now before I confuse myself and leave you all to work through that maze of rhetoric.;)

Enjoy The Journey

Training Brazilian Jiujitsu is a very unique experience and I think most would agree when I say that it’s all about the journey and not the destination.  I would imagine that it is a very small percentage of people that actually attain the rank of black belt and even then there is still light years to go.  

I think those of us that love this art really like the fact that there is no end.  Can anyone honestly say that they have “completed” jiujitsu? Maybe an argument could be made that Carlos and Helio Gracie did, but I am betting that if they were around they would say that even they are still learning.  Jiujitsu is about evolution and adaptation.  It is a thinking man’s game, it is essentially human chess.  There is a counter to everything and to every counter there is a counter.  It is circular and never ending.  Those of us that train strive to be the absolute best that we can be but if we are honest with ourselves there is always someone out there who is maybe a little better.  Who has trained a little longer and who is a little more polished.

Those that get obsessed with getting their next belt or stripe I think are missing the whole point of training.  Let yourself evolve, train with goals in mind, and constantly work to improve BUT at the same time enjoy the whole world that is Brazilian Jiujitsu.  Of course we all love it when we get promoted and there is nothing wrong with taking pride in the fact that we have earned our various belts through a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (yeah sometimes I feel like crying when I roll with certain people:) but if we get to wrapped up in that I think that will take the fun out of training.  If we get to wrapped up with tapping so and so because they have a darker colored belt then us then we are basing our progression to only one area of jiujitsu (submissions), obviously this is important but there are other areas that are just as important such as submission defense, passing the guard, posture, control, etc, etc.  

The point is just enjoy that you get to train in such a unique and intelligent art.   Enjoy the fact that you work hard at jiujitsu which at times can be very painful. Most people don’t put themselves through what BJJ practitioners do and honestly I think there is probably something wrong with all of us in the head when you think about the fact that we pay to go to a place to get choked and arm locked, but hey crazy people don’t know they are crazy right? So I say carry on, and keep training.:)