How much time does it take to reach your training goals?

I just read this from Scott Sonnen's Facebook.

When asked by a young man to certify him because "there's nothing you do that I havent already learned, so you should certify me to teach", Sonnen, a Sambo black belt said this:

"My teacher in Russia told me it takes about 10 years to master the basics. Twice as long if you're in a hurry. Twice more if you already feel you know the material. Eyes on the road. Focus on the next step. You can't shortcut the journey but you can certainly make it MUCH longer."

When you get discouraged, and/or feel like you know it all and you are getting so much better now and you feel that you are well on your way to a world championship, just remember that quote. BJJ, just like any other learned skill is parishable. You need to constantly be working JUST TO MAINTAIN your skills, and then keep trying to find incremental improvements in your game to keep evolving.

Times they are a changin' !

It has been a long 10 yrs training, and this is just the beginning.

When I first began, it was under the tutelage of Chris Martin (white tiger martial arts) and Clint Watts (Lion's Den). The training was intense as far as contact, and extremely basic, but you were immediately hooked. We spent all our time just doing trips and ankle picks for takedowns, and went for the standard RNC and key-locks for the top, and the ugliest arm bars from the bottom that you have ever seen....but it worked.

The game was different then, and those things worked. The only other place that had quality BJJ anywhere near Midland/Odessa was Pittman's BJJ in Lubbock, which we traveled to frequently for seminars.

After a couple of years of this, (spent sparring full-speed, doing the wrong techniques at the wrong times, but having a great time while doing it) our group now consisted mostly of myself, Jaime Lara, Jackson Burcham, John Bargas, and Tanner Hayes. We eventually sought out the help of Judo Black Belt, KC Windham, who came in and helped with takedowns and began to train BJJ as well with us.

This new group proved to be pretty successful. With the help of Clint as our main "MMA" coach, I won more MMA fights than I lost, and we won alot of grappling tournaments. I spent more time on MMA with the addition of Joe Wesley and David Lee, plus random appearances of various "aspiring cage-fighters" that came to training.

By this time Jaime had asked a co-worker to bring his brother, Juan Perez, to town to help us start training to get belted in BJJ. Juan was a purple belt under Klay Pittman, who had trained for about 13 yrs, so he had alot of experience with the Gi, and had some knowledge of formal classes that we never had. This seemed like a decent fit and Juan began to teach us in 2005 at a spot I had secured for us at a local gym. I continued to go fight in unsanctioned MMA events in New Mexico (by this time having scored the fastest victory in history by verbal submission win at 0:00 of Rnd 1 - if you don’t believe it, ask Jason Leigh on Facebook!). The high point of this time was my 1st place in the Intermediate (I was only a white belt) heavyweight at the Smack-down in H-Town in Houston Texas, followed by a 2nd place showing at the same tournament in the absolute division against brown and purple belts (all no-gi). I lost on a judges decision in triple overtime because my opponent, a Team Caique fighter, pulled half guard, which I guess showed aggression. (??)

For some unforeseen reason, Juan said that my focus on MMA was dishonorable and that was not the direction that KC, Jack, and Jaime wanted to go, so I was kicked out of my own training facility and left to go my own way. SO I gathered a random group of tough guys and wanna-be's and trained on the wrestling mats at Midland College. This wasn’t too bad for me, as I still continued to win more than I lost at shows and always placed top 2 at regional grappling tournaments in Texas.

During this time I got ALOT of now "famous" local guys their start in MMA. I began to convince guys like Brian Pierce and his buddy DJ Hayes to get involved in MMA. It took alot of convincing, because they weren’t great at it to start, but I told them they had potential and needed to stick with it. Now Pierce is a successful coach for Ruffhouse MMA in Odessa, with a couple amateur champions to his credit. Along with these guys, I also got submission ace Rick Salazar his start.

Another guy I had to fight to convince to get into the sport was Maurice Jackson. Maurice was 6'8 260 lbs of super athlete, who already kick boxed. I stuck on him and really got him to give it an honest try and he got alot better in our training.....now he trains in Vegas and won the IFL tryout (now defunct MMA org) and was on a K-1 under card.

While I was doing this, Jackson, KC, and Jaime decided to take a trip to Brazil to a Brasa camp to train. When they came back, they were ranked under Felipe Costa and Comprido. They came back with a ton of technique and quickly left Juan Perez to start their own program. Since he was already in town, Juan then started up his BJJ school and quickly went from purple to black belt in 2 yrs under Klay Pittman and now has a school in Midland.

In May of 2005 I moved to Houston with my wife JoAnn to really give fighting a chance and re-connect with some family. I spent days with Saul Soliz, Yves Edwards, Leonardo Xavier, and a majority of time with Mike Altman and his fighters - Randy Hauer, Lee King, Sarah Ponce, Terrol Dees, and others at Tx Kickboxing Gym. After all this training I realized that I would not be a high level guy, and that with Braeden on the way and those old family ties being officially messed up, we moved back to Midland, where I reconnected with Tanner Hayes.

As soon as I got back, Tanner and myself started West Texas MMA. This also started my association with Joao Crus and the Carlson Gracie Team. Joao gave me my blue belt, and we began an association and trained a small group of guys in Midland. Although he was a great guy, I never got the "family" vibe from Joao and we ended the association, just as I then reconnected with Jackson and KC to pull our 2 groups together and start one big West Texas MMA gym. This time also signaled the arrival of Rex Richards, a BJJ brown belt whom I started to coach and got him, with the help of Mike Altman, into Strikeforce where he went 2-0.

After a while of teaching I had the pleasure of managing more fighters including Clay Hantz and Jarret Jones locally. Also during this time Rex moved to Abilene for work and started his association with Draculino and Jeremy Henderson under Gracie Barra. Rex eventually was awarded his black belt under Drac and Pittman, and then one day surprised me saying I was ready to be a purple belt after talking with Draculino.

After a long time of moving around, I finally felt like something was a good fit.

Due to my work schedule as a police officer, and having a son, my time at West Texas MMA just wasn’t fitting my day to day plans, so I left the gym and just rolled at the MPD range. Eventually I began to teach at Stonegate Fellowship as part of the men's fitness classes.

The Stonegate group has been a blessing as they have all grown tremendously in such a short period of time. These guys only get a few times a month of actual class time, but they are devoted to it and are constantly improving.

Now that I have this consistent group and the help of fellow purple belt, and long time best friend, Tanner Hayes, as well as my own blue belt, Caleb Hudson, things are moving forward. Rex is still one of my instructors, but due to the constraints of his job, and his own training being limited, he is encouraging me to find as much help and support as I can from quality people.

So now, here we are. Myself, along with Jarret Jones (who runs J Jones Strength Gym in Odessa) are now affiliated under Bruno Bastos (Nova Uniao 3rd degree BB) out of Octagon. Our 2 facilities will be the West Texas affiliate of Bruno Bastos Team through Rhino BJJ. Bruno has proven himself to not only be an outstanding instructor and competitor, but genuinely cares that all his students become better people. He believes that a student learns real life lessons from the time spent on the mat. Bruno is notorious for saying "WAAARRRR" on his Facebook. He told me that it gets people excited because they think he means competition and battle in MMA/BJJ, but Bruno said it means more than that...."War means my family. I will fight for all my students" as he told me the other day.

So this is where I am at now. I welcome all newcomers to join me on this journey and make a story of your own.....but hopefully one that learns from my mistakes and "trial by error" ways, and that you can be a part of a family.

RHINO! BRUNO BASTOS! NOVA UNIAO!!!

Some good training rules to follow

1. Execute your movements with speed, relaxation and technique, never try for power. As far as speed is concerned, smooth=fast

2. You don't have to always see the opening for a specific move. Just throw you technique smoothly and quick and often the opening comes in the middle of your combo.

3. After your done attacking, move away to either side. Your even better to stand your ground than backing straight up.

4. When you think your using your hips enough, use them twice as much. 

5. If you get into trouble, place both hands on your chest, palms up and shrimp, shrimp, shrimp. 

6. When defending submissions, try not to tense your body. Simply relax your body. This is easier said then done.

7. Keep you hands off the mat at all times.

8. Mix up your attacks, try to be as unpredictable as you can with your combinations.

9. Pace yourself.  Use your defensive and offensive techniques instead of just attacking the entire time.

10. Focus on keeping yourself in a good balanced position before attacking, while attacking, and after your attack. This is very important!

11. Never give up. Taking a bit of a beating in the beginning is all part of the learning process. Stick with it and you will slowly become more like a hammer instead of the nail.

TIPS ON BECOMING A MORE PRODUCTIVE BJJ PRACTITIONER

#1- Be a good partner and don’t resist during repping. By acting like a “grappling dummy”, you give your partner a chance to get comfortable with the movements against a non-resisting opponent. If you resist and try to “disprove” the technique you are doing nothing but retarding the learning process, for both of you.

#2- Relax and Breathe! In through your nose, out through your mouth. Make sure you learn to control your breathing and stay relaxed. Tensed up muscles use oxygen. Without oxygen you can’t breathe. Without breath… you die. Plain and simple. Relax, use your energy in calculated spurts and you will do fine. Stay tense & go 100% at all times and you will likely gas out followed by a tap out.

#3- Leave your ego at the door. Ego does nothing but hinder your learning process. Class is not competition. There is no score being kept and no trophy at the end of the night. Use your mat time to perfect your skill set and don’t worry about who tapped who. Just remember, the more you tap, the more you learn.

#4- Go with the flow and flow with the go! Think of BJJ like water. What does water do? It finds the path of least resistance, right? So if there’s a large wall in front of water, it doesn’t try to smash it down, rather it finds the walls’ weaknesses and exploits it. Water will try to go around, over, under or through a weak spot, rather than trying to smash the wall down. If there’s a crack in the wall the water will seep through. BJJ teaches you to look at your opponents the same way. Find their weaknesses and exploit them.

#5- Repetition is the key. Think about learning a technique as making a down payment on it and every rep you do is another payment. You must make A LOT of payments on any given technique to actually “own” it. Though sparring is usually considered the “fun” part of the class, constant repetition is the key to ingraining the movements into your muscle memory. If you really want to stop having to think about what to do and start just reacting, you will need to spend the time repping the movements. Take advantage of the time given to get as many reps as you can in.


#6- COME TO CLASS!!!!!!!1

Turn Your Open Mat into a BJJ Laboratory

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Aesopian


I’m going to make a bold assumption: You want to get better at BJJ. (I must be a mind reader.) Open mat can be a secret weapon in your training if you use it right. These tips will help make sure you do.


Go in with a purpose

What makes open mat good is also what makes it bad: you can do whatever you want. Without someone running class, it’s all too easy to waste time, goof off or simply not know what to do. Go in prepared giving yourself a goal.

Examples:

– Improve move X.
– Improve my escapes.
– Improve my conditioning.
– Try out this new guard.
– Review my basics.


Try picking a topic—a certain position, submission, guard or even concept—and set your mind on exploring and learning it in depth. It’s easier to stay focused when you know what you’re focusing on.


It’s time to experiment

Now is your chance to put that encyclopedic knowledge of every BJJ instructional to use. Is there a move that’s been making waves in competition that you want to learn? You could bring a laptop or iPhone to watch instructionals then drill them.

Forget this piece of advice if it doesn’t line up with your goals. Sometimes drilling those same basics you’ve known forever is the right thing to do (at least it’s never wrong.)


Don’t get technique overload

Just because you’re free to do whatever you want doesn’t mean you should pull out every technique you’ve ever Youtubed. Get two experienced guys on the mat and it can quickly turn into technique show and tell (“Hey, check this out!” “That reminds me of this…” “You gotta see how I do it…”) Keep your goals in mind and don’t get too far off track (unless it’s really something worth checking out.)


Put in the reps

Once you’ve figured out what you want to work on, start drilling. Then keep drilling. Discipline yourself to put in a healthy number of repetitions. No skimping on your reps because you don’t have an instructor keeping his hawk eyes on you. I’m sorry if this is boring but it’s good for you.


Find the right training partner

Who you train with can make or break an open mat. If they aren’t as motivated as you, it’s a pain to force them to drill when all they want to do is talk and spar a bit. You’re better off with a white belt that has a good worth ethic and is eager to learn than a lazy purple belt that doesn’t really feel like breaking a sweat. Finding the right person to team up with can give you a serious boost and make grappling R&D really fun and rewarding.


Do live drills

Take whatever you working on and make up live drills AKA isolation sparring for it. This is an fantastic training method that a lot of people overlook. Your drills can be as simple as starting from a specific position over and over again to running a series of situational exercises that increase in complexity as they go. (Message me on Facebook if you want some example drills.)


Take sparring seriously

Nothing bugs me more than two guys rolling for 1 minute before someone taps then spending 2 minutes talking about it. Save the discussion for later. Quick bits of advice or showing someone how to stop a move they’ve got caught in a couple times is OK. But you’re there to spar. Now is a good chance to push your endurance and forget time limits and go until you are absolutely dead.


Film your sparring

If you’ve got a camera and a tripod (or a willing third person), try getting your sparring sessions on video and watching them afterward. You’ll often be surprised by the things you do (and don’t do) that you never realized.

Want more tips? Add me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/giosp/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Posted in Headline, How To Study Jiu-Jitsu, Training Methods | Tagged bjj | 2 Comments
Add me on Facebook and Twitter
Posted on November 30, 2009 by Aesopian
I’ve been posting to Facebook and Twitter lately when I have stuff that’s not worth a whole blog post but it’s still worth sharing. You can follow me here:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aesopian-BJJ/203323882237

Twitter: http://twitter.com/aesopianbjj

Message me anywhere and I’ll get back to you!

How much can you learn? Part 1 - Your style

How much could you retain in high school? A class period worth? A weeks worth? How much until it basically turns into a "blah, blah" noise coming from the teacher.

In BJJ training, you have hundreds of moves. These moves have a set-up from an average of 5 different top positions and a dozen different bottom positions. For each one of these, there is a counter, and a counter to the counter.

There are gi grips with the lapel and skirt. There are no-gi grips like a monkey grip or shell hand, gable grips, underhooks, and whizzers.

So in your class, how much time do you spend on technical aspects of the game, and how many techniques do you learn in a class time?

Class time in BJJ is a chance to learn a technique or series that is pertinent to the level of learning that you have reached. Your techniques need to be carefully planned out as to where you go in your game and greatly depend on the teaching and grappling style of your teacher.

Example: I am a top game player and rely greatly on my ability to hold side mount and north south. I use this to tire an opponent enough to make any transitions to mount or the back, as fluid and dominant as possible. When I am on the bottom, I rely heavily on using guard to slow pace and set up a sweep, or I use the half guard to control and get back to a neutral position. My top finishers are mostly chokes, cranks, and kimura/key locks. As for the bottom game finishers, I use a ton of leg locks and use the a triangle/armbar/omoplata series and get the best option.

What does this mean to you? That while you may need to know all the moves in BJJ, it does not mean you have to use all the moves. Find what works best for you and start developing a game from day 1. By the time you have spent a year or so, you will find that the moves you learn during class can be beneficial to you in 2 ways.

1. You develope a new skill to add to your game, this gives you another option of reversal or finishing an opponent.

2. (and this is important) You can now add knowledge of how this can be used in someone else's game.

So pay attention to everything in class, even if you do not believe that it is something that works for you....because chances are it may work for your opponent.

To Be Continued......

Next time you get a cramp or "arent feeling it" -

Police rally support for injured bomb tech, family



Midland Police Sgt. Brian Rackow, commander of EOD, examines the small package initially thought to be a pipe bomb placed in a light pole base outside Academy Sports Jan. 8 this year. Rackow was injured Thursday during an accidental explosion at a police training center. File photo by Tim Fischer 1-8-10


Related: Family fund started for injured MPD bomb tech
Related: GPS game causes bomb scare
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Midland police say they will work to surround Sgt. Brian Rackow and his family with support as he recovers from injuries he sustained while dismantling an explosive device Thursday.

“One way or another, they’ll be taken care of,” MPD Training Division Lt. Bernie Kraft said. “We’re going to make sure the family is taken care of.”

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Rackow was injured just after 11 a.m. Thursday when he was removing aluminum casing from an explosive in preparation for a future training activity, Kraft said. He remained in critical but stable condition late Thursday at University Medical Center in Lubbock, officials said.

At the time of the incident, Rackow was working alone in a shop building at the MPD Training Field, located southeast of Midland at 4500 Farm-to-Market Road 307, MPD Deputy Chief J.R. Smith said.

Rackow sustained injuries to the face, chest, arms and legs and was transported to Midland Memorial Hospital via ambulance immediately following the incident, Smith said. Kraft said at the scene Rackow may have lost his left hand and sustained injuries to his left arm.

Rackow was transferred to a hospital Lubbock during the afternoon for further treatment, Smith said.

“We’re all one big family; so anytime someone gets hurt, our heart goes out to them,” Smith said, speaking at a press conference at the police department.

Midland Fire Department Assistant Chief of Operations Fritz Niggeler said fortunately an ambulance and paramedics were nearby at the time of the explosion and were able to provide prompt care at the scene and later in the ambulance. Kraft added four officers who were going through training at the field also offered emergency medical care when the incident occurred.

They responded after hearing a loud noise, he said. Officers were unsure whether Rackow was wearing protective gear at the time of the incident.

By removing aluminum casing from the explosive, Kraft said, Rackow was ensuring there would be no shrapnel when officers later got rid of the device and with other oil field explosives they’ve collected.

After Rackow arrived at Midland Memorial Hospital’s emergency room, several MPD officers gathered at the hospital and lined the entrance to the ER as they waited for news on their colleague.

Around 12:30 p.m. an officer arrived at the hospital with Rackow’s wife and two children, who were eventually brought into the waiting room where they were surrounded by family, friends and both on- and off-duty MPD officers.

Through tears, Rackow’s wife asked those present simply to pray for her husband.

She and the couple’s children accompanied Rackow to Lubbock on Thursday, Smith said.

Rackow, who has been with the department for 13 years, serves as a bomb technician as well as a sergeant on the night shift patrol. The three-person bomb unit is part of a regional response group that responds to bomb threats and possible explosive devices that are reported to the department.

The group trains twice each month, Kraft said. Rackow also has attended classes at a federal training center in Georgia, Smith said.

“He’s in a high risk position with what he was doing,” Smith said. “He loved doing it.”

ATF officials from Lubbock arrived just after 3 p.m. Thursday to conduct an investigation, Kraft said. He said their investigation would be tedious and likely include forensic work to determine how and in what direction the explosive went off. ATF is a law enforcement group within the United States Department of Justice that protects citizens from violent crimes, the trafficking of firearms and acts of arson and bombings, according to its website.

MPD also will conduct an internal investigation, as is standard procedure when an officer is injured, Smith said.

Kraft said the last officer injured at the training field was Smith, who was shot in the leg several years ago during firearms training.

Smith said workman’s compensation will cover medical expenses for Rackow.

An account called the Brian Rackow Benefit has been set up at Community National Bank by the Midland Municipal Police Officer Association to cover other expenses the family incurs.

———

Kathleen Thurber can be reached at kthurber@mrt.com.

About Sgt. Brian Rackow:

- Night shift supervisor

- Head of bomb squad unit

- Joined the MPD in 1997

- He’s previously served as an instructor for MPD as well as the Permian Basin Law Enforcement Academy covering topics from defensive tactics, firearms, patrol procedures, explosive recognition, suicide bomber and LvIED response and resolution

- Rackow has a wife and two children

To donate:

Brian Rackow Benefit - Midland Municipal Police Officer Association

An account has been set up at Community National Bank, 685-8400. Donations can be made at any branch. Visit, https://www.cnbtx.net/locations.aspx for location sites.