To cut weight or not to cut weight.

Not sure if I mentioned this before but in my upcoming tournament I was supposed to face a Judo Black Belt who is also an instructor at one of the Dojo's downtown.  I really hate being thrown and I am not very good at break-falls so I was a little worried about it.  I just checked the registration and the guy has moved out of my weight class to an heavier weight class.  I assume he signed up thinking he was going to lose some weight and then in the end decided it was not worth it so he just jumped back to his regular weight.

I am currently about 6 lbs under weight so my dilemma is should I try to drop another 6 lbs and drop a weight class or should I just go at my regular weight.  I have decided to stay at my regular weight.  I am 53 and cutting weight (especially water weight) really does things to my system.  Also being underweight gives me the advantage or eating regular meals leading up the tournament.  I might catch a beast at the tournament because I have had to drop an age group to find competition but I mostly think that there are not that many 46-50 year old white  belts who are taking this so serious as to cut weight and kill themselves before the competition.  Really how many white belts over 40 think they are going to make a living doing Jiu Jitsu.  We all have jobs and other responsibilities and Jiu Jitsu is just a hobby to help us deal with the stress or maybe we are going through a midlife crisis.  I have a good friend who sent me this yesterday.  I know it is a quote from a book she is reading "Brene Brown's Gift of Imperfection" but I think it really sums up what a midlife crisis is about.

"People may call what happens at midlife a crisis, but it's not. It's an unraveling - a time when you feel a desperate pull to live the life you want to live, not the one you're supposed to live. The unraveling is a time when you are challenged by the universe to let go of who you think you are supposed to be and to embrace who you are."

I think we get to a spot where we just want to do what we want and don't really care to follow the way we have up to that point living for what others wanted or expected of us.  I think for those of us that start BJJ in our late 40's early 50's we are trying to get back something we always wanted to do but were not able to until this time.

What do you think?

How do you train when you travel.

Usually I try to train while I travel.  This week I was at the SEMA show.  The problem at the show is it is hard to control your time.  You have to be there working the booth for a set amount of time and then you have to entertain customers after the show so finding time to train takes a back seat to making a living so you can afford to train.  I will be back at it today to get the rust off two weeks before my competition.

I did have a good time at the show.  Here are a couple of good ole boys I ran into.  They told me they could use the grappling hook to get some of those gators that got away.  They were very genuine and really nice guys.  They even told me they would put a www.ninjasupply.net sticker on their truck if I gave them one.  Maybe I need to get some made up.  #swamppeople #sema

Knowing when to tap.

We all know that if we want to continue on in BJJ one of the keys is to stay way from injury.  Some injuries will just happen but you can help yourselves out by tapping quickly.

For example today I went with a Purple Belt.  The guy is 20 years younger then me, 40 lbs heavier then me and strong as an ox.  He is a nightmare roll for most people.  I have sparred with him many times over the last couple of years and he has actually hurt me badly twice.  Today during the roll I got his back.  I was working good back game on him and he turtled up.  He then hooked my elbow to roll me.  I would usually roll underneath him and just come back in the same spot but this time when he rolled I went face first into the mat instead of ducking my head.


Of course if you can envision this that means this guy is going to roll right over me and crush my neck as I could not turn my head as my face was stuck in the mat. This is stuff that works in cartoons but not really very well in real life.  Luckily I could see it coming and yelled stop and luckily he stopped.  This was not a conventional move to tap someone with.  This was a neck crank on steroids but not done on purpose.  I think you need to know when your knee, elbow, neck etc are in potential danger and just tap before something snaps.  Part of this comes with experience and part of it comes with not being too concerned about the tap.

Of course it is easier to Tap in Sparring and harder to tap during a tournament but I think it is much better to tap then to risk injury that may side line your for who knows how long.

Injuries are part of the game.

Today we had a guy blow out his shoulder.  It is/was a reoccurring injury.  He had problems with it in the past.  It looked very painful.

We have also had people come in and mess up knees, backs, necks, elbows etc.  I guess my question is how do we avoid injury so we can keep training.

The other question I have is how hard is it to get back into BJJ if you have been out for an extended period of time due to injury or some other cause.  If you get jacked up does it make you nervous about coming back or do you still have the same enthusiasm and draw that you had before.  I thought this Pod Cast was very interesting.

http://iroll.tv/the-blue-belt-curse-why-do-people-quit-1-of-2/


I also saw a great video on youtube by the Gracies who came out with the Boyd Belt System.  It really makes sense.  As you get older your skills diminish.  Guys you used to beat now beat you.  I started when I was 51 so I was already on the diminishing side of the equation.  I have seen in just the short two years that the young athletic guys I used to handle easily have now surpassed me.  I can see how someone who started at a younger age would have more difficulty with this because at one time when they had progressed to be a higher belt and were in top physical condition then pretty much they were unstoppable.  Then as Father Time catches up with them they start getting beat by the ones they used to work.  Just like every Child will eventually be able to beat his father in a foot race every BJJer will eventually be surpassed by his student is they are younger and on the left side of the curve still working up to their peak as the instructor is slowly working his way down the other side.

Of course with me this does not hold true as I am older then my instructors because I started late so I will never be in better physical condition then them and they will also always hold the edge on my in flexibility and knowledge.

Here is the video I am referencing.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGk_urw1_hA

I love BJJ

It is truly an addiction for me.  Sorry if I sometimes comes across as negative or complaining.  That is not my purpose.  I think part of it is being older and always being sore.  My wife and others wonder why I put myself through this but it is for the love or the sport and the camaraderie of the participants.

Yesterday I was able to work out with a very experienced Brown Belt.  He is a guy who is a Hobbyist (His words not mine) but really loves BJJ and has a game that is very unusual compared to most.  He is very methodical and opportunistic and will catch you in all kinds of things.  Wrist Locks, Knee Bars, Crucifix, and all kinds of chokes.  He usually very little strength and pressure with me.  (I have seen him spar with the other higher belts and they give him a run for his money but he always seems to be able to catch then in some tricky move that they are not aware of.

He was very good to let me work all the chokes when we drilled and corrected me multiple times so I could get it right.  He really wanted to see me succeed not just going through the motions until it was time for him to try the move.  I really appreciate his patience and effort.

This is one thing that I love about BJJ.  So many people from different walks of life that are willing to help out those who know less them then so they can become more proficient.   I think they were treated this way when they started and so they treat other people this way as they have progressed.

I hope BJJ always stays this way.

When BJJ Class turns into Cross Fit Class

So last night we had a substitute instructor.  A guy I really  like a black belt that is over 40 and seems to understand a little better how old guys move.  It was a great night for training.  We started drilling at 6 and then at 7 started the regular class.  The class was mostly white belts and a couple of blue belts.  Pretty much the perfect class to go over new moves and learn some basic techniques.

Then one of the Blue Belts,  A young guy super fit who is looking for a position with the Fire Department says he will run the warm up.  I'm thinking we have already drilled for an hour so we are pretty much warmed up, but he showed up at 7 and wanted to run warm up so I'm okay.  We start doing the basic warm up and all is going well until we get to sit ups.  He says we go around the circle picking different ones and we each do 10 of them 100 times.  I'm thinking that is 1000 set ups.  I am sitting next to a Sheriff's deputy in the Circle who is over 40 and we look at each other and think this is not happening.  I ask the young Blue Belt if he is any good at math and if he realizes that is 1000 sit ups and we have people competing this weekend that may not be able to move for a couple of days if we do this.  He tries to play the hard guy (but he is really a good guy that is why I could get away with giving him some crap) and then finally changes his mind when I ask if I made a mistake on my way to BJJ class and I ended up in a Cross Fit class.

Anyway it was all in good fun.  I'm pretty sure if the main instructors would have been there first of all the Blue Belt would not have had us do 1000 sit ups (or really he is just bad at Math and did not realize what he requested would equal 1000) or they would have lead warm ups and I would probably would not have spoken up if there were there.  We had a good time and joked about it later in class.

Have you ever went someplace where they do more conditioning then they do BJJ?

I appreciate the guys who have the confidence to give me a chance.

I am a 53 year old middle weight.  I dropped almost 40 lbs to get to middle weight so my Jiu Jitsu game is more like an old man heavy weight.  Slow and methodical, not a lot of explosion and lots of resting between moves.

I usually attend the 11-12:30 class.  For some reason this class is full of higher belts and heavier practitioners.  Most of the guys are Purple Belts and above and most are over 200 lbs.  I spar with all of them.  I have noticed that some seem to be more confident in letting me try my stuff.  They let me work on things and I feel when I spar with them my game improves.  Others just want to smash me and impose their will on me.  Some in a more aggressive way  then others.  With them I learn how to defend and spend a lot of time thinking if I should just tap because I have this bigger, younger, more experienced sparring partner just smashing me and I am having troubles breathing or I feel like my internal organs are getting moved in to areas of my body that were meant to be moved to.

It is almost impossible for me to recover guard when one of these big guys gets me in a tight side control shoulder against my head twisting my neck in an uncomfortable way.

Here is what I think is going on.

The guys who let me work my moves and don't worry too much about giving up an advantageous position have a lot of confidence in their abilities and don't really have that big of an ego.  I have tapped out black belts, and brown belts (never a purple belt for some reason) when I am able to work a move and get it in really tight.

The guys who don't let me work any moves and just smash me or are very aggressive with me I think don't have the same confidence to escape a bad position or have ego's that won't allow them to tap if I get something on them that just happens to be so tight they cannot get out of.  They think they are doing me a favor by smashing me because I would not appreciate or grow at the same rate if I they gave me position instead of earning it.

Let me tell you.  I know you guys are better then me.  If I tap you I know it is because you gave up a position to me.  I in no way think I am your equal in skill if happen to get a sweep or mount on you.  Lastly I really do appreciate you taking your time to spar with an older guy and giving me a few breaks a long with some pointers on mistakes I make.  That is how I feel I learn best not getting smashed.  What do you guys think?