Submission!

Recently, JoJo has placed a renewed emphasis on submissions. According to JoJo, “We need to work on submitting our opponents.”

To help us accomplish that goal, JoJo has been introducing new drills that emphasize submitting our opponent.

While I’m admittedly only an occasional competitor (and far from elite when I do), I can see the wisdom of this approach.

Tournament matches typically last anywhere from five to ten minutes. Even the most finely conditioned athletes will eventually tire after four or five matches that go the distance. A quick submission will give the competitor time to rest physically, and mentally prepare for their next opponent.

The second huge advantage is even more evident. In grappling competitions, submissions immediately end the match. Whether you are leading on points, or down significantly, if you earn a submission YOU WIN!

Finally, earning a submission victory lets a competitor win without leaving the match in the hands of referees/judges. As JoJo says, “You can’t fight the ref.”

Words

While I’ve touched on relations of this topic before, my experiences during Monday’s day class reminded me that I’ve been slacking in my studies, and that an instructor can help his or her students in some simple ways.

Kim is one of ECU’s newest warrior women. After JoJo showed a slick take-down to submission, Kim asked JoJo what the techniques were called. JoJo named the techniques and Kim said that it would help her remember them better.

For the Student:

Write down what you’ve learned after every class. Taking notes/pictures might even help during class. Just don’t post anything on YouTube without your instructor’s permission. :)

For the Teacher:

Try to give every technique/drill a name. It makes it easier for us students to remember. ECU Brown-Belt, and No-Gi instructor Jordan Lutsky dubbed an inverted-guard drill, “The Under the Legs Twirly Drill” – guess the name that’s burned into my mind? I’ve become quite good at that drill.

Before I hit class tomorrow, I’m going to buy myself a brand-new notebook, and make sure that I’m taking notes from now on.

“A Deep Breath”

First, and foremost I’d like to apologize for the delay between posts. However, I feel that the delay fits perfectly with this topic.

For the past few months, I’ve often talked about how intense the training has been at ECU. That training paid off!

Numerous ECU students medaled in competitions large and small. Those who didn’t compete learned what it meant to train like a champion.

Now that we’re in a lull between competitions, JoJo has wisely decided to throttle down the intensity so that all ECU students can heal and get stronger.

As JoJo likes to say after our typically intense warm-ups, “Take a deep breath and get some water.”

I’d like to think that this month JoJo is giving ECU a collective chance to take that breath and work on what we need to improve.

JoJo: “Intense training all the time can burn everyone out so we have to tone it down and repair our beaten up bodies. That way, we’ll all be ready for the next season of hard training.”

Go With the Flow!

The other day I attended an ECU day class. ECU Fundamentals instructor Eric Guido ran a great class.

Later Eric and I did a first-round of sparring. As two similar-weight Purple Belts it’s natural that we’d both resort to our standard games. When I talked about it later with JoJo, he said, “So you and Eric ended up hugging each other for six minutes”.

I sheepishly admitted that JoJo’s evaluation was pretty much the case. However, a round later, I suggested to Eric that we follow JoJo’s advice and have a “non-competitive” round.

So we did.

Eric and I hit submissions, but didn’t finish them. Sweeps we could have fought, we let happen. At the end, Eric and I opened up our games so much that most people watching us didn’t think Eric and I were capable of so much movement.

I want to thank JoJo for putting the idea in my head, and Eric for making the round so much fun.

Sometimes, the way to advance isn’t trying to dominate every opponent. Sometimes, we all need to put our egos aside and just have some fun.

Every Hurt is a Lesson

I don’t know how many readers of this blog watch the excellent new HBO show “Game of Thrones”, but I recommend it to everyone.

The reason I mention “Game of Thrones” is that it perfectly fits something that JoJo said the other night.

JoJo: “Who cares if you get tapped out in class? Class is when you try new things. You find out what works for you, and what you need to work on."

A couple of days later, I watched an episode of “Game of Thrones”, when Eddard Stark saw his daughter standing precariously on the top of the stairs, he expressed his concern:

Arya Stark (fictional character): “Master Syrio says every hurt is a lesson, and every lesson makes us better.”

I’ll talk more about this in the future, but I thought it was really cool that fact and fiction fit together so nicely.

Too Much Competition Talk

My most recent posts have focused on competition. That’s simply because it’s competition season. However, ECU operates all year. While I think the competition posts have been interesting, JoJo and I want to give everyone the full picture of what ECU has to offer.

Most ECU students compete rarely - if ever. However we all train to the best of our abilities.

ECU offers MUCH MORE than some of the most intense BJJ Competition training on the East Coast.

JoJo offers striking training by professional MMA fighters. He also makes sure that there are BJJ Fundamentals classes for beginners (and I’ll add that even the more experienced students would do well to stop by the Fundamentals class from time to time). He has also begun a “Women Only” BJJ class. Saturday mornings, JoJo also adds a Yoga class to the mix.

ECU students range in age from three to fifty+. Every single student is a member of the family. We may approach our journey in different ways, and for different reasons, but we all do our best to help our family reach their goals.

ECUBJJ welcomes everyone. Even if you don’t think you’re quite ready for “The Grinder”, you can find an ECUBJJ class that’s right for you.

I Actually Like “The Grinder”

A while back, JoJo asked JT to put the ECU Competition Team through, “The Grinder”.

JT introduced us to “Beat Down” training. It can be long, intense and brutal. It’s designed to make sure that ECU competitors can stand up to the toughest conditions possible. As an older student who rarely competes, I wasn’t enthused at first.

ECU Competition Team members are placed in “no-win” situations, and challenged to win.

So far, JT has introduced us to two different scenarios – both of which I’m particularly ill-suited for – involving defending yourself in open space.

While my first thoughts were negative, I eventually realized that these drills would help me tremendously. They forced me to do, as Rob G. had suggested, “Open Up your game and have fun.”

While I don’t think that any sane person would consider their time in the crucible of a “Beat Down” session “fun”, it’s definitely opened up my game. I’m constantly forced out of my comfort zone and find myself trying all sorts of new things. Some work, some don’t but the further we go, the more I learn.

After a competition class, I had the chance to talk with JT about my revelation, and he agreed that it was purpose of the drills.

As last week’s “Grinder” ended, I realized how much I had learned in a single week. When talking to JoJo later, he said, “I want to make training here so hard, that competition is easy.”

While I rarely compete, I like to train like I do when I’m healthy. While I cannot provide personal proof of how much this has helped me, I can provide proof that JoJo’s methods work in the form of Jordan Lutsky.