This past Saturday we had our seminar with Xande Ribeiro, and it was pretty excellent.
The part I liked the most was the theory behind the moves he was doing. There were general concepts that can be used in a number of different situations and different ways of looking at the same kinds of problems. Through the seminar Xande offered new and interesting perspectives to things guards such as the Butterfly and the Open Half (guard…yeah…ok, anyway). There were a few moves we specifically drilled, but the corrections he made to everyone’s technique, even when it seemed like nothing more than a little tweaking and fine tuning, had rhyme and reason. Words aren’t coming too smoothly for me at the moment, but the majority of these movements were obviously routed in fundamentals and weren’t (for lack of a better term) “throw-away” gestures, something that weren’t necessary for the successful completion of the technique. I think these are all great techniques for men AND women, and can fit into most games that competitors play.
The end was also opened to a Q & A session, and we sat around and talked about a couple of positions. Sadly, there were no references to castles and flags this time. Or moats.
Oh! And update, I fixed the Maxercise blog link, and I apologize for the confusion before; other than that, posts will be even less about mat time this week because I can only go on Wednesday. Boooo.
I would like to ask the peanut gallery though: would you like more in-depth descriptions of what we do in class? I guess I am SO against the Youtube jiu jitsu and pro-class time that I have almost completely avoided most references to what we do in class, but would that be easier, or at least slightly more interesting to read?
What do YOU think?
A Skirt on the Mat 
Thanks for the survey! General descriptions of what goes on in class would be nice. I often wonder what other schools are up to because I (like most everyone else) only train at my school. I’ve found such info useful in the past such as when Georgette Oden,http://georgetteoden.blogspot.com/, mentioned a grip flighting class and I was like, grip fighting? I need some of that!
Of course, step-by-step descriptions of techniques are not what I’m reading your blog to see. =)
I write what happens in class so I can remember it both now and again later. I find that helps me to learn. Often that means writing as detailed of a description of a move as I can, and again, it’s mostly to help me myself out.
I’d say, write what you want to write. Find the angle you want to present your BJJ through, and then write that. Some people will find it interesting or exactly what they’re looking for; others will ignore it or skim through. I don’t think you can — or should — try to please everyone.
I vote with Leslie…I usually write descriptions for myself, so I will remember them better, and if other people read them, great, and if they don’t, great! I read other blogs for a combination of things–sometimes for information about new and different techniques, and sometimes to hear how other people are doing, what they are doing, mistakes they are noticing/correcting (because that allows me to internalize–am I doing that too?) conflicts or problems they are having on the mat, challenges that arise during training, etc.
Initially, my goal in finding blogs of female BJJ peeps was to reassure myself that I wasn’t crazy for liking this boy dominated sport. (I’m pretty sure I’m crazy, I just didn’t want this to be the reason!)
I love hearing all the varying opinions of everybody on everything 🙂 and learning more about what walk of life people have come from, how they came to bjj, and what they are trying to get out of it.
I hope that is helpful 🙂 *chaching* <–sound of my 2 cents 🙂
I do like reading technique descriptions sometimes, but what I most enjoy is reading stories about people successfully pulling off a tricky technique, having a good/bad roll and learning from it, talking about the mental aspects of the sport, working through difficulties, etc.
Since I’m the only girl at my school, reading other female jitsukas’ blogs helps me realize I’m not alone.
I agree that the important thing is consistency. Decide how you want to write and stick with it.
I tend not to read the play-by-play articles because a) I can’t translate it into a picture in my head b) most of the time a play-by-play article is the same from one blog to the next c) it’s a bit like Arnold Rimmer’s Risk story:
RIMMER: Anyway, to cut a long story short I threw a five and a four which beat his three and a two, another double six followed by a double four and a double five. After he’d thrown a three and a two I threw a six and a three.
LISTER: OK, Rimmer. What did you do with the dice?.
RIMMER: I threw a five and a two.
LISTER: And that’s the really interesting bit?
RIMMER: Well it was interesting to me, it got me into Irkutsk.
🙂 Really and truly no disrespect intended for play-by-play blogs or for Risk enthusiasts! They’re just not my cup of tea 🙂
BUT, like some of the ladies said–they’re writing for themselves so they can remember later.
So far I’ve liked the articles I have read on your blog. They have a nice overall feel, they are about bjj and about you being a woman. I have subscribed! 🙂
I used to write a blow-by-blow of the moves I was taught, until two things: my friend Mike Webber in SF got really, really bored reading it and started pestering me to write more of the “human angle,” and my instructor got on me for “sharing his secrets.” Sadly I disagree with the idea that anything in jits is a secret, or that anyone will care enough to read my blog to prep for me or my teammates, but I was happy to oblige my instructor and quit writing too much detail.
I am usually pretty bored by the technique-heavy posts but if they are balanced by personal insight or reflection I will keep reading the blog 🙂 I LIKE YOURS a lot 🙂
I’m a pretty visual person, so I have to agree about the whole describing a technique in serious detail: I need to SEE it to understand. Otherwise I kind of just skim over. When my boyfriend Max talks about a technique and how to do it I do the same thing; he gets about half way through before I stop him and say “Just show me later sweetheart”
aww, shucks, thanks guys! Glad you like my blog!