Tips on being a great mediocre grappler

Thanks to Slidey for this awesome post from Cane Provost (yet another creator of blogly awesomeness). Excerpt below, but it's worth a read by everyone, considering it addresses an important part of the spectrum of BJJ students out there. 

Tips on being a great mediocre grappler

1. Be consistent.
 Training 2 times a week every week is going to pay off more than training very intensely for short periods followed by stretches of time off. Of course I have no scientific data to back this up but I’ve seen it play out over and over again at the gym. Enough to confidently make this claim.

1. Focus on fundamentals.
 At it’s core fundamentals can be broken down intoPosture, Pressure, and Possibilities. Building a library of techniques is not a great or efficient way to get good. You only have so much room on your bookshelf. At a certain point the shelf will be filled and you’ll have to throw some out to make room for new ones. In my personal experience I’ve rarely seen anyone who is good at more than about 5 submissions at one time. They may know way more than that but their A game is mostly limited to the top 5. Adding 50 more moves won’t help your game much.

1. Focus on Posture most of all.
I tell students that the posture should do about 80% of the work for you. You should always be asking yourself “Am I in posture?” If the answer is no then you know what you have to do. If posture does 80% of the work then you should be spending most of your time either working to get posture, improving the posture you have, or fighting to keep it. If you are doing this then BJJ will be way easier.Focusing on posture means getting the best possible posture you can get WHILE putting the other person in the worst possible posture you can. If you create this posture imbalance then you don’t have to be good at BJJ in order to beat the other guy. Remember, the posture does 80% of the work.

1. Don’t roll above 70%.
(Link to post on 70%) I you go all out all the time then you will be building a game that requires that you go all out all the time. That’s hard to do if you aren’t young and in super shape. Instead try building a posture based game that REQUIRES that you move slower and concentrate on simply building good posture along the way. A good goal is to build efficient postures that use leverage and structure instead of muscle strength. To use efficient motion that requires less intensity of movement. And to use fewer movements in your overall game. My goal is to win by moving less and less until eventually you won’t even notice that I’m moving at all. 

1. Focus on breathing.
 If you can’t devote lots of extra time to conditioning exercises you need to be very mindful of your breathing. Stop and check during a roll. Are you breathing heavier than the other guy? If the answer is yes then you need to slow down and focus on posture. Catch your breath before you exert too much energy. Breathing heavy is a sure sign that you are not attending to posture effectively.

1. Simplify the game.
 Can I use the same posture in mount bottom that I use in cross sides bottom? How many ways can I use this triangle submission? Finding multiple uses for things that you already do well is a great way to improve your game without having to put a tremendous amount of extra time in. As you learn new things try to relate them to things you already know and look for commonalities wherever you can.

1. Enjoy the journey.
 In only every case those who enjoy it more are better at it. Train in a way that is healthy, smart, and most of all fun. Will power will get you a year of training at best. If you aren’t having a blast on the mat you won’t stick around or train in a way that will allow you to make much progress. This is perhaps the most important rule. It’s certainly not about “dedication” or “work ethic” as some will describe. Look around you. What looks like dedication is actually someone following their bliss. They are doing it because it’s the most enjoyable and rewarding thing they can think of to do. This is only always the case.

Blue belt: Punching bag for purple belts...

Funny, Ladybug and I were just griping about getting mauled by purples and how frustrating it can be at the blue belt level. I saw this picture on Women Representing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu's Facebook and it made me laugh. Translation below.

White: Still trying to figure out who he is.

Blue: Punching bag for purple belts.

Purple: Begin to learn to defend himself.

Brown: Begins to learn to atack.

Black: Begins to know what is Jiu-Jitsu.

I found it comforting, yes, precisely because I've been downright brutalized by a couple of purples lately. One roll in particular, I tapped...had to be 5 times in 1 minute.  My favorite full guard pass lead to my back getting taken viciously and all my defenses turned into neat and convenient submissions for aforementioned purple. 

I've read stuff like this since day one, but it was a nice reminder of how long and slow this road is. 

Nobody wants to roll with the big chicks...not even Emily Wetzel.

Not gonna lie...been wondering about this one again lately. I kinda always thought that, but until the second time a big blue teased me about the guys being scared to roll with me because I'm "so big and strong", it was something I pushed to the back of my mind. Unfortunately, anytime that got pushed back, what came to the front was that I sometimes get picked last because, well, I suck. Ladybug, my trusty partner in jiu jitsu crime and fellow "big girl", is shipping out soon, so I'm going to have to face this head on in the very near future.

I was beyond surprised to hear this very topic addressed in an interview with black belt Emily Wetzel over at Mat Time Radio. Surely, someone as accomplished as her has guys chasing her down--she's 6'5", definitely large enough for them not to fall victim to "porcelain princess" syndrome...and she's a black belt! Technique flows from her very eyeballs!

Well, thanks to Can over at Slideyfoot for sharing that interview, because Emily admits that she still feels ignored. The most interesting thing about her coming out with that bit of information was the reaction of the guys hosting the interivew. They suggested quite directly that it was because guys just don't want to lose to a woman. More woman equals more potential for loss. When Emily responded that she didn't think that was the case, I heard myself. I'm REALLY big on taking men at what they say...they tend to be more direct creatures than women. This subject though? It's a tough pill to swallow...why, I'm not 100% sure.

That's Emily on the right...but you probably guessed that.

This interview though, is probably going to go down as one of my all time favorites. So much of her story and the way she spoke struck a personal chord with me.

It starts heavy, with her recounting the assault of her, and rape of another woman and her being left with feelings of guilt that she didn't do anything about it, and surprise that anyone would attack someone as large as her. I chuckled a bit when she said that, because one of the guys just this week mentioned that "no man would ever mess with Megan." I laughed at the time, but I know it's not true. When it IS true, it's not just because of my size. I've seen large women in abusive relationships with short, nonathletic, puddles of men. Men they could easily run away from and possibly even handle physically. It's not about your size, or even their size. It just isn't.

She continued the interview talking about her upbringing in a very academic household, being raised by two professors. I'm no artist, but I do know that in the world of the artistic and the learned, it is easy to forget not only your physical self, but the physical selves of others, especially the others with malintent. I understood what she said when shared that she didn't come up in a violent household. She comes from Olympic stock and played basketball professionally, but still, even with her familiarity with competitive physicality...she wasn't familiar with violence, so when it came calling, she froze.

Me...I come from a family of athletes and raised by a father who insisted I be prepared for a fight. Just this previous weekend, I went to my grandmother's house wanting to find some mementos of her. She'd already given me a lot while she was alive...after you crack 85 or so, unless you're in some MAJOR denial, I think people naturally start parsing out their stuff to loved ones. Well, I had all the bakeware I wanted, so I went for something else.

I took the machete by her bed.

I find it comforting, funny and sweet. Knowing that even in her sleepy little town, my elderly, Christ-loving, cake-baking grandmother was actively aware of the threat of violence AND made preparations for it, made me sharply aware of its presence. Still. Because I have never been the victim of violence, I am not 100% sure I would have responded any differently than Emily. As she said "Men can be predators" and as she also plainly put, sometimes, jiu jitsu really does feel like you're being assaulted. I didn't, really admit how much until returning after my last break. When I first started, and now, after breaks, I tend to have nightmares of being attacked. Maybe it's the MSM (it's great for joints, but that stuff can do trippy things if you take it too close to bed time), but I think it's just the nature of the beast. I do not believe that anyone should live in fear, but we prepare for bad weather, financial problems and health issues and I firmly believe all women should know that violence happens, and be able to, at the very least, not freeze.

She went on to tell of her reluctance to compete...again, that hit home. Competition is important at my school, but I'm genuinely uninterested. She talked of competitions saying "They're pretty horrible. I don't really enjoy them yet" and again I was surprised. I have it in my head that most people enjoy competing, even if they dislike the nerves that come with it. She said she started because her instructor required them for promotion, which is common in California's competition-heavy BJJ culture.

She then brought up something that hit me as timely...I've been pretty disappointed by the responses of some of the people around me to the Treyvon Martin case...I'm a bit annoyed by the hoodies, but mostly because people have carelessly passed around outright falsified material just to assure themselves and their friends that the good guy/bad guy roles in the situation were filled in ways that made them feel all is right with the world (check your memes people). Emily told a story of her walking home one day and running into a lady being held to the ground by a Black man, screaming for him to let her go. She ran up, put the man in an RNC and the lady got up and ran, dropping her bags. She wondered why the lady didn't stay to thank her or collect her belongings, but it turns out she was a shop lifter and the guy was a security guard. My immediate reaction to her telling the story was annoyance at her needing to explain that the "attacker" was Black (this was before hearing the full story), but I give her credit for outright admitting that her actions were a result of her own racial profiling (she used those exact words).

Her best advice though, came in discussing choosing partners. She cautioned against white belts (I don't mess with them anymore unless they're female, or males that I know) and stressed the importance of choosing the brotherly guys even at higher levels. I give mad props to JazzHands, RebarForLigaments and some of the other guys for masterful combination of challenge and safety even at the blue belt level.

The interview reminded me of one of the things I love most about jiu jitsu. The sheer diversity of participants in the sport is absolutely beautiful. Emily is an amazing painter and is currently finishing up her MFA (she's actually missing the ADCC to defend her thesis). Her work can be seen at www.sheseemedlikesuchanicegirl.com 

New School Pic! My neck!

I think we have an official grand opening coming up later, but here's a pic from tonight's class...which was very...intense. I'm getting used to the extra tiredness though...and seeing Jeff Monson walking around (the man is just scary looking)...and keeping my feet alive. Hoping to get used to not screwing up positions just because an instructor's looking.

We did some work on passing the knee block in half guard today...pretty timely since KickboxerInstructor just taught me how to use it Friday (where I learned I tend to flare my upper elbow too much when on the bottom). I'm finding myself feeling a bit awkward again with my leg length, but Parrumpa's tip to turn my hips out made a HUGE difference in freeing the leg.

I'm a little concerned about a crack I heard tonight in my neck. No pain, no limits in range of motion, but seeing as it was injured pre-JJ, I'm always a little concerned...so I'm icing her.

And now...the latest song that makes me want to spar...

Ask a Microbiologist: Do BJJ folks catch more bugs?

We're kicking off the "Ask a Microbiologist" series with...surprise! A question about MRSA. I received an email the other day from a reader who'd suffered from a MRSA infection and was wondering why we as grapplers are more susceptible to these types of infections than other athletes. 

After multiple days of IV treatment in a hospital he was left with some questions...

 -I don't understand why wrestlers and jiu jitsu people in particular get staph more than the general population (I believe it to be true that rates are especially high amongst grapplers, maybe I'm wrong)
- If I get staph from the staph already on my body, what does wrestling with another person have to do with it?
- If I'm getting staph from the mats, why are cases of staph higher among grapplers than, say, Yogis or Gymnasts ?
- If I'm getting it from someone else, and it's just a matter of grinding bodies together, surely staph rates among college students would be high ?

Dr. Duvall's response...




Multiple papers have shown that people who participate in contact sports, or use shared equipment are at a higher risk for MRSA or other skin infections. There are a few things to consider here. First, you’re right, S. aureus and its cousins (like S. epidermidis) are pretty ubiquitous as far as the human microbiome goes, and they seem to be, for the most part, well tolerated by our immune systems. They serve a purpose by occupying biological niches that other “harmful” bacteria may be trying to colonize. When you’re coming into contact with someone else, you’re being exposed to whatever is living on their body and vice versa. The difference between grappling and a casual handshake is that most times when you shake someone’s hand, you aren’t sweating profusely. An increase in body temperature, coupled with an increase in sweating is a perfect recipe for a bacterial smorgasbord. Both the “good” and “bad” bacteria are going to go through a huge population explosion. They can go through more than three generations in an hour depending on the species. When the prolonged contact happens, now with these increased numbers of bacteria, it’s easier to pass them on from person to person, and since both bodies are nice and warm and sweaty, as soon as the bacteria land, they can just keep on growing. 

The bacteria you pick up this way may not be species that your body is used to, and with their increased numbers, can throw off the natural balance of your own flora. So, just using S. aureus as an example, you may carry one type of S. aureus, like Methicillin Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), or strains of S. aureus that can still be treated with antibiotics like penicillin, while your grappling partner may be a carrier for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the kind of S. aureus that can’t. Sometimes, the kinds of MRSA that cause  community acquired (CA) infections, or MRSA infections not normally seen in hospitals, tend to grow much, much faster than “normal” MRSA, or other MRSA strains acquired in hospitals (hospital acquired MRSA or HA-MRSA). In that case, they can out-compete your normal bacterial flora for their niche, or biological space, and it’s in those situations where you can get some pretty nasty skin infections. Any environment where there are lots of people using shared equipment, and especially if that environment is warm and moist, can be a perfect breeding ground for all bacteria, not just pathogenic ones. So yes, you’re correct in thinking about your infection in this case in terms of colliding populations of flora from two different people. (I love the ant colony analogy!)

The compositions of our personal flora are always changing, and this change is due to an abundance of factors. For instance, I have a dog who loves to roll around in the grass. I’m subject to colonization by whatever bacteria he may have picked up rolling around in the grass that day. I might only be “transiently” colonized, meaning that the bacteria may only be able to hold onto whatever biological niche it occupied for a short period of time before my normal flora reclaim it, or it may be around for the long haul. A lot of our microbiome is determined when we’re kids, and there are certain species of bacteria that you would expect to find in all people, all of the time. The ratios might change however, and that ratio is determined by lots of different factors like the underlying health of the individual, diet, location, pets etc. Stress is most definitely a determining factor in the health of an individual, and can influence which bacteria might be around in which ratios.

The cool thing (to me anyways) about S. aureus is that it’s such a versatile pathogen. It can colonize many areas of the human body causing infections. It’s not that the bacteria gets more aggressive when it colonizes some areas necessarily, it’s that the strains that can cause these infections often times have some competitive advantage over the bacteria that would normally live there. For instance, S. aureus makes a bunch of different virulence factors that allow it to attach to multiple types of body tissue, cause massive cellular destruction, and even virulence factors that hide its presence from your immune system.

I hope all of this helps. The balance between being healthy and having an infection is very delicate. There are lots of factors that can influence the transition in either direction, especially when it comes to bacterial infections. I think the safest and soundest thing though is maintaining good hygiene. If you’re active and you participate in contact sports, make sure that you take a shower as soon as you can after you’re done. Glad you’re feeling better and thanks for the question!

-Brea 




Thanks as always to Brea for her amazing answers!!

I caught the H!!

That sneaky, Brazilian R...there's a reason I've backed off picking up another Western language. I tend to confuse sounds if two languages are too similar. I've intentionally left off studying the very accessible and useful Portuguese to get Chinese to a usable level...not that they're similar.

Well, today, I read the name "Sean Roberts" as "Sean Hoberts". I guess the choice wasn't mine to make.