BBJJ: Year One

Posted on by BBJJ

Laundry was never one of my strong suits.

I always used to wait until I was completely out of some crucial piece of clothing to get around to it, and then it was a huge ordeal because I had to lug multiple loads downstairs and worry about whether there would be enough open machines, and spend way too long just moving everything from the washers to the dryers.

And then, oh god, the folding. 🙂

Since I started jiu jitsu, I’ve gotten into the habit of doing a load of laundry every morning. Things don’t pile up, I always have a wide assortment of black t‐shirts and jeans to choose from, and my gis… well, they could smell worse.

It seems like a silly thing, but it’s indicative of a big shift in my habits and self‐discipline. At first, I did it grudgingly every other day, because it was either that, skip class, or wear a dirty gi, and I really didn’t want to choose the last two. Now it’s just part of my morning routine – start a pot of coffee, walk the dog, take the laundry down, grab some breakfast, deal with my email, switch the load to the dryer, do a 30‐minute yoga routine, pull the laundry out before it gets overcooked, settle in for the work day. I’ve never really had a consistent routine like that until this year.

And it feels weird if I don’t have anything to wash.

It’s not just day to day habits that I’ve seen improvements in. Obviously my fitness level is hugely improved over where I was when I started. I’m also happier and more confident. I’d rather go out with friends than stay home and play video games. I see visiting a new BBJJ school as a chance to meet and learn from cool new people rather than the awkward and intimidating social scenario it would have seemed to me before.

I don’t even fight with my sister anymore, which I have for years – I’m able to just take the little jabs she throws at me in stride and keep the conversation flowing, which I feel is a perfect reflection of the mindset that rolling with training partners instills in us. If you’d known me a year ago, you’d know these are massive changes in my outlook and priorities.

And then there’s the training itself. I threw myself in the deep end without really thinking too much about it when I first started in the advanced program. I noticed after a couple of weeks of classes that I was often the only white belt in randori sessions, which meant I got a ton of time training with blue and purple and brown belts. Now I’m a big guy, but there are plenty of smaller blue belts here who are still able to choke me more or less whenever they feel like it. I love it, because it constantly reminds me that these techniques work, and that I’m still a baby who’s just figuring out how to walk in this world.

So I was honestly shocked recently when I had the chance to roll with some of the newer white belts and got
to see what that feels like from the other side. I knew I’d been improving, because I wasn’t getting
submitted as often and felt like I had a pretty good understanding of what was happening at any given
time during a roll. But then one of my Thai boxing training partners who recently started in the BJJ
program started going super hard trying to pass my guard. I was totally relaxed, able to keep him at a
comfortable distance, let him tire himself out a bit, and then was easily able to sweep and armbar him.

It was eye opening, because this is a guy who knows how to fight standing up, who’s in great shape, and
who was really trying to win, and the techniques came so naturally and worked so well. It was so cool to
see because I know that’s how I was at first (minus the being in shape and knowing how to fight parts),
and I know that’s about the level of challenge I present to a purple belt at this point. All this inside of twelve months.

I can’t wait to see how my perception – of myself and the training – changes in my second year of training.

Mike began his training at Brooklyn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 2016. He is a fixture in both Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing at BBJJ Clinton Hill, along with his wife Rachel.

Getting More Out Of Your Day
(3 Tips from the Dojo to Use Right Away)

Posted on by BBJJ

It’s nice to say that we’re going to build confidence and responsibility, but what does this mean in practice?

It’s nice to say that you’re going to set goals, build confidence, take on more responsibility in your life… but what does that mean in the day-to-day?

How will you do it?

In the martial arts, there are a few strategies we use to help us squeeze some of the juice out of the things we’re experiencing as practitioners…and they’re simple enough to help anyone – no matter the age or stage.

One way is to change our thinking habits. Not just what we do, but how we process.

Here’s a list of three ideas you can try on right away. I don’t recommend trying to excel with all three of them, especially not all at once, but try one at a time and see what helps you.

1. Practice thinking bigger. Even though we’re exposed to all sorts of new experiences, skills and personalities every day, we forget about them pretty quickly and go back to our “little” ways of thinking. This is especially true in the Martial Arts. So start developing the habit of noticing when you’re shrinking back to your “old” habits and ways of thinking. In the dojo, we find that Black Belt expansiveness is far more exciting than White Belt limits. Not only that, but we need to be careful about “thinking small” – we might accidentally become successful at creating a mediocre life.

2. Decide in advance. One manifestation of this is “visualization”, but what we’re talking about is more closely related to expecting more from ourselves. We can “decide in advance” to approach others with more openness, to push ourselves outside our comfort zone, to try something different. Don’t wait until you’re in a crisis or a difficult situation. This stuff has to be planned out beforehand so you have a pool to draw upon. And it works well on the mat or off.

3. Accept 100% responsibility. Blaming others does more harm than good. The tricky part about this is to accept responsibility even when your logical mind is telling you that someone else is at fault. So what are you accepting responsibility for? Your own reactions. Having great emotional control means acknowledging when something sets you off. The classroom is too hot, your partner isn’t paying attention, you’ve run into traffic – these are all very powerful emotional triggers in training. The same in all the other parts of our lives, whether we’re at home or at the office or out with friends. If we’re not looking, it’s easier to tell ourselves a convoluted story than to notice that we’ve let something upset our balance. So don’t blame and don’t complain.

There are other ideas, of course, but these are a good start.

And any time you find yourself feeling unfulfilled or frustrated, take a look back at whether your mental habits are helping or hurting you. Ask yourself, when you’re in class and right afterwards, whether you’re showing your training process deep respect and appreciation. Are you expanding or contracting? Consider whether you’re focused on helping them others or protecting yourself.

If you can stay mindful of the process, picking up a little momentum with these three tactics, you’ll find that there’s more juice to squeeze every time you train.

Did we miss anything? Are there other strategies you use to “squeeze more juice” from your daily activities? Let us know in the comments!

Read more about our cooperative method at The Martial Arts Mind.

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