BJJ Contemplations

A few weeks ago I was having fun at a Carlson Gracie Jr. seminar when my instructor pulled me over and informed me that I was being promoted to black belt.

This was, to put it mildly, a shock. I had just told a friend that I had at least a year, maybe two, to go before being promoted. I had been enjoying myself while rolling secure in the thought that I was not one of the people being considered for promotion.

If it had just been my instructor, I might even have argued with him to give me more time to work on the holes in my game. However, the decision apparently came from Carlson himself. (Later on, my instructor told me:  “It’s was Carlson’s decision – but I have veto power. If I didn’t think you were ready, I would have said no.”)

I think Carlson may have been taking my age into account. There were 3 other brown belts at the seminar who deserve the promotion at least as much as I do. Carlson gestured towards them and said “They’re young. They have plenty of time.” (Geeze, Carlson. I’m only 50! Do I not have plenty of time? Do you think I’m going to keel over before the next time you come to town? Do you know something I don’t?)

I’m still ambivalent about the new rank. Shouldn’t a BJJ black belt be a total bad ass? I don’t feel like a total badass. Sure, I’m pretty tough compared to any other 50 year old computer programmer I know, but I train in a gym full of young athletes where there are lots of guys who can give me a hard time. Maybe I’ll feel better about it once my equally deserving peers receive their promotions.

The promotion has given me motivation to up my game, so as to not embarrass the rank. I realized that Carlson has always seen me rolling at my best since he only sees me at seminars and I’m usually in the zone after a few hours of drilling techniques and watching him teach. Knowing that I’m capable of rolling like that, I have been trying to be more consistent about maintaining a relaxed, technical, and super-focused mindset whenever I roll. I think this determination has helped to raise my performance baseline over the last few weeks.

For anyone who wonders what it takes to get a black belt in BJJ, in my case it took something like 5000-6000 hours of getting my butt kicked on a regular basis. Given that I am naturally neither athletic or coordinated, if I can do it, then anyone can. You just have to keep going and never give up.

Over the years I’ve collected and watched hundreds of hours of martial arts instructional videos. As much as I enjoy these videos, I’ve recently gotten out of the habit of collecting them. The problem is that I already have a backlog of years worth of techniques that I am still struggling to master. In addition, I’m still taking regular classes and adding new material that I need to study. I don’t need to spend money on videos which will just add to the backlog of half-remembered material.

The exception is when I can find video instruction which serves not so much to add new techniques to my catalog, but rather to help me better understand the material I have already learned. For the last couple of years I’ve been studying the Gracie University videos to polish up my jiu-jitsu fundamentals. Just recently my focus has shifted to the instructional videos of Ryan Hall, starting with his series on Arm Triangles.

Hall’s Arm Triangle series is a 3-DVD set, with a total running time of a little over 5 hours. Under the category of “arm triangles”, Hall includes Kata Gatame, the Brabo/Darce choke (with lapel, sleeve, and no-gi variations), the Anaconda choke, and an arm-in version of the Ezekial choke. What makes the series really worthwhile, from my perspective, is that it isn’t really just about these particular techniques. It’s about the principles of jiu-jitsu, with a focus on how they apply to this family of chokes.

Most instructional videos go like this: here’s a technique. Here’s another technique. Here’s another. If you are lucky, the instructor may point out some useful details or group the techniques into a practical sequence.

Hall’s approach is more like a concentrated graduate school seminar with an instructor who is determined to impart as much information about the concepts of a particular subject as possible within a limited time. He speaks rapidly, but clearly, with evocative language and an absolutely deadpan sense of humor. As he demonstrates particular concepts and strategies, he frequently references top competitors who are masters of them. He covers a bunch of details, but for each detail he explains why it is important and how it relates to the underlying principles that make everything work.

The first DVD begins by demonstrating the finishing positions for each choke and explaining the principles that make the chokes work. As he goes through each, it becomes apparent that they are all just variations on a theme. He emphasizes over and over that these techniques depend entirely on position and technique. If you are having to squeeze hard to finish the choke, you are doing it wrong. After going through the chokes themselves, he examines the control positions that you might reach the chokes from – side mount, knee mount, top of half-guard, top of turtle, front headlock, knee-across pass, leg drag. He still isn’t going into detail about how to actually reach the choke – just how to control the dominant position in such a way that will set up the submissions.

The second DVD is where Hall gets into the actual setups and entries for the chokes. He focuses on how to use positional pressure to encourage your opponent to move in the direction you desire, which will set up the technique you want to execute. He covers entries from a variety of positions, but emphasizes that these are just examples. By applying the principles he is demonstrating, you can find many more options.

The third DVD covers “troubleshooting” (actually some counters to counters), transitions between different positions, and some drills to burn in the movements he has been covering throughout the series.

I’ve been studying this set for a couple of months now. My success rate with Kata Gatame and the arm-in Ezekial choke has gone way up. I’ve started having occasional success with the Brabo/Darce, which I never did before. Even so, I feel that I only have a strong handle on about 10% of the material. I expect it will take at least a year of focused work before I really get all of it.

The set runs $124.99 for 3 DVDs. They are a bit expensive, but they are far and away some of the best video instruction I’ve seen. I would not recommend these videos for beginners. Much of the material could be useful for newer students, but his presentation is aimed at practitioners who already are very familiar with the fundamentals. I also would not recommend them for anyone with a short attention span. You have to sit through quite a bit of explanation and demonstration before you get to something you can drill. I would strongly recommend them for any serious grappler who is looking to gain a deeper understanding of the art.

Discussions on martial arts forums frequently turn into arguments about the nature of “real fights” or “real violence”, as if that nature could be summed up in a sound bite supporting the speaker’s preferred approach to training. Realistically, the topic of violence and how to survive it is a massive area of study – in fact so huge that no one on this planet is expert in all of it. Consider the following examples:

Two school children tackling each other on the playground while the kids around shout “fight! fight! fight!”
A battered wife trying to fend off an abusive husband
A SWAT team raiding the house of a suspected drug dealer
Two drunk idiots slugging it out on a bar room floor
A team of bouncers working together to eject said drunks from the premises
A squad of infantry advancing under fire
A teenage girl trying to dissuade a date rapist
Two professional MMA fighters facing off for a championship
Two samurai of the Edo period facing off in a duel of honor
A street gang putting a beat down on a couple of strangers for wandering into the wrong neighborhood
An unstable individual who feels alienated from society running amok in an attempt to kill as many people as possible
Two friends coming to blows over hurt feelings
A mugger brandishing a knife in order to get money for drugs

These are just a very few of the forms physical violence can take. Some involve weapons, some do not. Some are one-on-one encounters, some involve groups. Some are life and death, some are not. Some involve professionals who are prepared for the encounter, some involve untrained individuals who are taken by surprise, some involve both. There are certain commonalities between many of these situations. There are also many important differences – the techniques, tactics, and preparation that are appropriate for one may be totally wrong for another.

Martial arts are just as varied. They were developed in different times and places by different individuals facing different needs and challenges. Much of the argument about whether a certain martial art or a certain technique “works” could be resolved by understanding the context that art or technique was developed for. More importantly, if we as martial artists don’t understand the context our art was developed for then we are likely to get in trouble applying it inappropriately in the wrong situation.

Understanding the context of a martial art can be tricky. The “history” passed down by many martial arts instructors is wildly inaccurate. Myths are built up around speculation, hero-worship, and wishful thinking. It is necessary to gather information from as many first hand sources as possible and then apply critical thinking.

(For my Tae Kwon Do friends, I’m sorry, but flying kicks were never used to knock cavalry soldiers off their horses.)

For an example of understanding context, let’s look at a particular class of technique – standing wristlocks. Wristlocks are common in jujutsu, aikido, hapkido, chin na, and a variety of other arts. In recent years, there has been some criticism of their validity as a realistic tactic, because we have never seen them used successfully in MMA. In decades of competition with thousands of fights between skilled martial artists no one has ever pulled one off. If you try the experiment of applying any standing wristlock in a hard-contact sparring session, you will find it exceedingly difficult.

Yet on the other hand, I’ve heard testimony from police officers, bouncers, and correctional officers that they have successfully used wristlocks in real-life confrontations. What’s going on? The standard response from the anti-MMA crowd – that MMA is just a “sport” with rules – doesn’t seem relevant. Wristlocks have always been perfectly legal in MMA.

The answer comes when you realize that standing wristlocks are a grappling equivalent of a sucker punch – something that you hit the other guy with before he realizes the fight has started. Many fights are preceded by a period of trash-talking, posturing, and shoving while the participants build up a full head of steam. A skilled practitioner can use that opportunity to slip on a wristlock and gain control of a subject before the punches start flying. On the other hand, if you try to apply a standing wristlock to a competent fighter who has already begun fighting your odds are not good. That is not the context these techniques were developed for.

If you understand the context that your art was developed for and you understand the rules that apply to different forms of violence, then you have a good chance of knowing how and when to use your training appropriately. I strongly recommend that any serious martial artist go beyond the practice of physical techniques to study this in depth.

Way back before I moved to Lexington, I started my BJJ training under Mike Patt, head instructor at the Dayton MMA Academy. It’s always fun to stop by and see how the school has grown over the years.

The reason for the visit this weekend was a seminar with Rey Diogo. Ricardo “Rey” Diogo is a 4th degree black belt under Carlson Gracie Senior with an impressive list of tournament championships. He’s also an excellent instructor and a generally nice guy. I had attended a couple of his seminars previously and was looking forward to this one.

The class was devoted exclusively to the sportive aspect of BJJ, primarily competition with the gi. The theme for the day was passing the closed guard and the half-guard. Rey didn’t show anything wild or esoteric. All the moves were either high-percentage fundamentals or else variations built on those fundamentals. I learned several new variations on old techniques and picked up some subtle details on the standard variations that I was already familiar with.

Rey is an exceptionally engaged instructor. As we drilled the techniques, he would continually move around the mat, watching every student, giving feedback as necessary and making himself available for questions. Several times after answering a question for one student he would gather the group together to share the point that had been raised.

At the end of the class, Rey made himself available for a Q&A session covering any topic that students cared to bring up. At every point in the day he was friendly, encouraging, and enthusiastic.

I’d like to thank Mike Patt and Dayton MMA for hosting the seminar, Professor Diogo for teaching a great class, my friend Oscar Kallet for paying my way, and both Oscar and Mike Cox for helping me fix the flat tire I discovered at the end of the seminar.