Back Into the Swing of Things..For Now

Good morning everyone! Thanksgiving was fun and all, but now it’s time to get back into training…Until Christmas, that is.

Understandably, I feel like this is when the gym becomes a ghost town. Parties, holiday shopping, and indulging in one too many holiday cookies which leads to laying on the couch with a full tummy and not training.

While it’s certainly tempting to just not go to class, I would still strongly encourage you to make it to class when you can. Reinforce the habit of attending class, of training, of staying in that mindset, even if you did have that pumpkin donut that was just sitting at work, calling your name…

Anyway, think of it this way: the more you train now, the less guilty you’ll feel down the line. Everyone wins!

That’s all for today, folks. Have a great day everyone!

Happy Friday! Post Thanksgiving Edition

Happy Friday everyone!

Full disclosure: I had leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast. Because ‘Merica.

(yes, I know that’s a terrible excuse, but just go with it for now)

Anyway, hope everyone had a great thanksgiving, or just Thursday in general, and have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry for the late post- for those who are celebrating today, happy Thanksgiving! And for those who aren’t, have a great day! 

Article on Getting Stuck in The Middle With You…Jiu Jitsu

In talking with teammates, a common theme I hear is that people feel stuck in their current rank: they don’t feel like they are progressing, they’ll never get that next stripe, belt, whatever. I imagine we’ve all done it: I definitely remember several times at blue belt thinking “Well, seems like I’m going to stuck here for forever” and deciding to pull a Dory from Finding Nemo and “just keep swimming”.

Chewy over at Chewjitsu addresses this feeling with his recent article about feeling stuck in BJJ, along with some suggestions on things you can do to feel unstuck.

Check it out, preferably with “Stuck in the Middle with You” playing in the background, which I’ll provide for you below….Because that’s just where my mind went when I first saw the article title. Also, this band had a music video- I had no idea.

Anyway, have a great day everyone!

 

Keenan Cornelius and the Show That Didn’t Really Happen

Remember how Keenan Cornelius was supposed to have a show called “Back to Basics”? I was just wondering whatever happened to it: if it happened to take off or not. I just checked Youtube, and it looks like only one episode was aired.

Well, so much for that, I suppose.

Anyone have the scoop on what happened? Let me know- otherwise, have a great day everyone!

 

Wrestling and a Poorly Written Article About It

Over the weekend I had the the chance to read a pretty ridiculous article on the website Vice, which “talked” about homo-eroticism in wrestling. Silly me thought there would be some sort of study or actual research involved- considering the beginning of the article states how the author “comprised an essay” about homoeroticism in wrestling- maybe it would include some quotes from historical documents, something factual that would represent what I’m assuming to be a minority in the wrestling community.

Instead I browsed through some photos of some dudes wrestling with- really the best word I can find is “obtuse”- statements regarding wrestling.

(in regards to clothing) “… it is tight against their torsos, chest, and thighs, revealing the shapes of their often muscular bodies.”

“They fall, roll, dip, and jump onto the ground, which acts as a platform for each [man] to pin their opponent against.”

“They grab, touch, pull, and push one another.”

“These men are physically strong.”

…Really, dude? You just described about half of the contact sports in the world.

It’s not that I’m angry with this article (although looking through some of the comments, I can tell a number of people are) but if you are going to “comprise an essay” at least have some actual information to back it up: not just general, vague statements and a couple of pictures.

At the heart of it, it’s a poorly constructed piece, and shame on Vice for publishing something with such little substance.  Check it out if you would like and let me know what you think.

Otherwise, have a great day everyone!

 

Happy Friday! Mugatu Edition

Happy Friday everyone!

Just mentioning this because it came up twice this week, which is pretty rare. Do you remember Mugatu, the villain in Zoolander? There’s a scene from that movie which I and a friend referenced in two separate instances, so I’m putting the gif down here in case you all need it as well:

Hopefully you won’t, but, you know…

Anyway, have a great weekend everyone!

Jiu Jitsu Silly Confession Time

So, in my attempts to prove that black belts are just people too- humans who struggle along side our teammates with certain things in jiu jitsu, I have a confession to share with you: I really struggle with one of the exercises our academy does during our warm ups. It’s a little silly, and a touch embarrassing, but there you have it.

We call it a “power up” in our academy- basically it’s a backwards roll into a handstand push up. And I’m pretty awful at it. I had gotten the hang of it for a while, then I injured my shoulder and just couldn’t perform that motion without a tremendous amount of pain, so instead I did something else as a substitute. Now my shoulder is feeling substantially better, and I’m sort of back to square one with this power up.

I know I’ll eventually get back to doing this, but I just wanted to share my frustration. I think there’s an image sometimes that “black belts can do anything!” well, we’ve been practicing jiu jitsu for a long time, so we do that pretty well, but there are things that still trip us up now and again.

That’s all- have a great day everyone!

Article on Takedown Battles

Good morning everyone- BJJ Heroes has an article highlighting takedown battles during gi and no gi matches. Personally, I highly prefer takedowns over guard pulls: from a competitor’s viewpoint, there’s a much better chance of putting yourself in a better position- and if it fails, hey, at least you tried. Also, from a spectator’s perspective it’s much more interesting to watch someone taken down than to have someone sit.

Check it out, and have a great day everyone!

Black Belt: One Year Anniversary

Dear cottony thing I tie around my waist (that happens to be dyed black),

You and I are going to be together for a long time, friend, but I felt it was appropriate the commemorate our one year anniversary together. We’ve seen some wins, some losses and all the other ups and downs that life tends to toss your way.

I was a little cautious to put you on at first. For weeks, months even I still thought someone was going to tap me on the shoulder and say, “Oh right, sorry: that’s actually not yours and we’re going to have to take it back.”

But, over the months you and I have grown accustomed to one another, I think. We’ve been through some good times- teaching, offering advice to students on the mat, sharing laughs and joyful moments with teammates, standing up on the podium at a couple of tournaments. We’ve also weathered some rough patches- a couple of losses, a few injuries, some tears here and there, and other setbacks.

Overall however I think we’ve had a pretty good first year, and I’m looking forward to what the future holds.

Your friend,

The human who always seems to be tying you into a knot