BJJ Norcal

Ok, since I won't be on the mat until June, I plan to do something useful on the blog.  I am going to document my entire game.  Every detail.  I plan to focus on the most basic things like control and transitions.  After that attacks.

This idea came to me recently as I started to watch a few videos at MMAFaestro and I remembered Bruce Lee taking the time when in the hospital having his wife write out his entire philosophy.  Don't get me wrong, I am certainly no Bruce Lee, but the idea is to use this time wisely.  In my case for personal understanding.

Step one is to lay out all the positions and my fundamental game. 

I am not saying it will be shining brilliance, but just my best understanding to date.  It will be woefully incomplete at best and wrong at worst, but I think it is a worthwhile project for my own personal journey.  I am happy to have you look over my shoulder, but test everything you see and assume I have no clue.  That way we won't break any hearts.

Look for the first installment next week!

Paul

The image above was my view as I headed to stop in on the academy and say hi to some friends there.  Since my pinched nerve (12/22/2009) I have not been training so I wanted to stop in and socialize a bit.  So far it has been about 9 weeks.  I have not thought about bjj much, trying to keep a long term view on things.  BJJ does not define who I am - it is something I love doing.  I also realize that everything we love will come to an end at some point.  Luckily bjj is one of those things that we can do for a long time.  Less so than painting, more so than football.

Most people would advise during an injury to use that time to focus on the mental game, watch videos, attend class and listen, etc.  I am sure that is a great use of time, but for me, I just didn't feel it.  All I have wanted to do recently is other things.  I have been messing with piano, reading books on spirituality, traveling, and making short videos of my wife and kids.  Also photography has been a big joy recently.  Inside I hope that this mental break will do my game good.  I expect it will, but if not, I know when I return to the mat, it will come back to me.  Sure I'll be slower and have a harder time stringing things together, but all is well. I don't think Dave will take away my belt.  Will he?  ;)

Back to the image above.  It struck me as the end of the rainbow looks like it is hitting the academy (almost).  Most of us see the black belt as that end.  In truth, there is no pot of gold and there is no end no matter how hard you look.  We just keep searching.  We keep following the beauty that we love.  It is not the end that matters, just as it is not the pot of gold.  We marvel at the beauty of the rainbow without expectation.  BJJ is the same.  Pure joy in the experience drives us.  Who needs more?

Paul

It seems every day there is a new source for online training.  Happily, most of them are very good.  I just wanted to point out the site that Dave teaches on, MMA Faestro.  It has tons of his lessons on Judo, MMA, and BJJ, so if you ever wanted to train with Dave, this is as good as it gets.

Also there are other fantastic coaches like Paul Schreiner of Kaijin MMA, Kenny Florian, Dan Camarillo, Jon Fitch, Frankie Edgar, Mark DellaGrotte, Flavio Canto and more.  If you are looking for wrestling, mma, bjj, striking, whatever - this is a fantastic source for a low monthly charge.

Since I have been injured I find myself looking over the site more and more to keep my head in the game.

See you on the mat!

Paul

Cane's Blog

When I first started bjj (1st class in 1996) information was scarce.  I used to have these old vhs tapes of guys like Pedro Carvalho.  Now it is a different time.  There is a ton of stuff out there and the problem is more overload of the fancy new stuff than anything else.  So I wanted to point you to a blog that is truly excellent, and focused on core techniques.

It is run by Cane Prevost, a brown belt and instructor with SBGi Portland.  Clear explanation and solid fundamentals shown with care and humility.  We can all improve our posture and basics and this is a great place to hear that perspective.  I hope you enjoy his blog as much as I do.

See you on the mat!

Paul