One of my training partners dropped me a note about injuries.  He was out hurt and knowing I am out with a pinched nerve, he was wondering if I thought BJJ was "worth it".  It seems like people are injured quite a bit and there are a lot of activities like yoga, mountain biking, etc that seem much safer.  Even though my injury was not bjj related, I thought it was a great question.

Overall I think BJJ falls in the middle of a safety spectrum.  There are some things that are riskier, like football and some that are less risky, like golf.  However, this type of analysis misses the point.  The reality is that bjj chose me.  I am not going to switch sports because something is safer.  Now if I had another thing I loved as much, then the decision would be tougher, but this is it for me.  I hate golf.  So if we are not willing to quit the sport, how do we remain healthy?

In my experience, the biggest risk for injury is at the lower belts or in the extremely competitive levels.  In the latter you are basically a pro athlete.  You push very hard and when you redline your car, bad things happen.  That is the ticket to entry.  However, that is not most people.  Most are training for fun, fitness, camaraderie and self-defense.  In the typical bjj journey I see the most injuries at white and blue.  If you get past those you are much safer.  It is a lot like childhood.  If someone is born today they may be expected to live to 74 but if you make it to 40, you will likely pass 80.  Why?  Because you didn't get drunk at 18 and fall off that cliff at Yosemite.

Ok, so why are white and blue dangerous.  Lots of reasons.  First is that you are at the mercy of most you roll with.  This is both physically and mentally.  Mentally when you are "newer" and someone ask to roll, you won't have the confidence to tell them you want to go easy or that you don't want to roll with them at all.  Let's say you are an experienced white belt and some monster blue asks you to roll.  You know this guy is going to smash you, you see it every day, but you just slap hands and take it.  Why?  You just think that is how it is.  You have been told you need to "take your lumps".  You don't have the confidence to express your fears or desires.  Trust me, I have been there.

The other reason at the lower belts you have more risk is you are not as good.  You are, by definition, not as controlled.  Not as clear on what to do.  So you not only can't get into dominant positions (where you are safer), but when you are in a bad spot, you flail using attributes.  This means that you are injuring yourself.  I have seen this as the key way people are hurt.  They explode out of a position and into the doctors office.

I want to point out one last thing.  Tapping.  Everyone says tap early and people still don't.  A big part of this is that the less experienced you are, the less sensitive you are - so you dont know when is the last final moment.  Another reason is that the more resistance you give, the more your opponent pushes, and as discussed, less experienced people just won't have the control needed in those situations. 

A big issue here the idea of waiting til you "should" tap.  There is nothing wrong with tapping as soon as the guy grabs your arm.  Now you can say you won't learn strong defense that way, or that you are short-changing your partner so they are not learning, etc.  And you would be right!  But I am not talking here about building great armbar defense.  I am talking about the best way to keep healthy.  Start here.  Tap way way before you need to.  When I roll with Dave he does this.  Even though I think I am pretty controlled and have a purple belt, as soon as I get an arm (he gives me an arm), I take it SLOWLY and he taps FAST.  He taps before it goes anywhere.  Why?  I am quite sure it is a defense mechanism.  He could trust I will go slow, but too many don't.  He can't remember every person and even then people are not always consistent.  He can't take the risk.

I will also note that when I roll with people who take subs slowly, I get to know that.  I like training with them.  It is a safer roll.  We should all take subs slow.  Hey if they guy rips out of it, so what?  He learned bad defense and you learned you should be tighter.  If you can't hit a sub slow you can't hit it.  Keep working the details.

Take a typical class.  How can we be safe?  Do the warm up, then the technique stuff.  When time comes to drill, go very, very light.  So light you get beat badly.  Make it feel like a flowing session - but not choreographed.   Then and only then will they go easy.  This is a key point.  You have to exaggerate how light you are going beyond what is expected.  They need a sense of surprise to get it.  Why?  They are too used to people saying light and going hard.  They need to see it in your actions.

On Rolling.   Don't roll with anyone!   Pick people carefully, or if no one "safe" is available, ask if they want to do reps on today's move.  Or do solo drills - works for Galvao.  If you do roll, work POSTURE.  This means not exploding around from mount bottom, but protecting as long as you can.  Or working guard and staying safe as long as possible.  Do this only for positions and not subs though (as discussed). 

Last point, Roy Dean and I chatted a few weeks back and he is into Ashtanga Yoga.  He is convinced it helps his life and his game.  I plan to start soon as well.  I am quite certain that being fit and flexible will help avoid injury as well.  Something to try.

See you on the mat,

Paul

In beginning the project of documenting my game, I thought it would make sense to start with the clearest positions first.  Getting into something like Guard work is much more complicated than say Side Control. 

Ok, so let's talk Mount.  I like to think of positions in terms of top and bottom.  I'll start with the top.

Mount top has two basic "hubs".  High and Low.

A hub in Dave's definition is a "position of control with options".  It is essentially a place you can rest and bide your time.  I would add that in a hub you should be threatening as well.  I do not mean threaten in the simplistic attacking model, but also emotionally.  You should be putting pressure, making them worry a bit.  That is a good hub IMHO.

Before we get into holding high and low mount, I wanted to get into the position.  The transition.  You don't start a match there.  Of course people jump from guard to mount, etc, but I don't.  I am pretty old and slow so I always get there from side control.  So I'll look at both of those options.

TRANSITION TO MOUNT

If you have head control...

Step 1: Shoulder Pressure

When you have head control life is good.  In fact, so good that you will have a hard time getting it on good players.  You might say that someone is good if they aren't giving you head control.  That said, sometimes you get it.  When you do, reach DEEP.  Matt Thornton showed me once to place your index finger in their armpit.  I always liked this for no gi especially, but the same idea applies.

I found it interesting that in watching Paul Schreiner teach mount transitions the other day on MMAFaestro he mentioned this exact grip attributing it to John Danaher.  It is always nice to corroborate ideas with excellent teachers.  But I digress.

So you have the deep grip.  Now slide your body back a bit, drop your shoulder, and apply pressure under their chin (Schreiner Tip!).  Once there you have a solid side control pressure on their head.

Step 2: Clear the Arms

We have all heard people talk about separating the elbows.  This makes our opponent weak.  In addition, it also makes them nervous - always a good thing.  So let's be sure we apply this to our mount transition.  From this grip, I use my knee or hip to clear the nearside arm.  A lot of people skip this step, but if you can get it, it's wonderful.  Credit where it is due, I first heard of this from Matt Thornton and then later did a private lesson with Marcio Feitosa years later on it.  Once the arm is clear you have your knee up next to, or past, their head, locking it in place.  I used to do drills just from this position when I ran my small drill club.

Now this detail is from Schreiner and I really like it.  See, I usually just clear the near arm and go.  The problem you get into is that the opponent has the off hand to defend your knee coming across their belly.  If you have trained, this has happened to you.  Here is where we see another principle: Pre-emption.  We want to eliminate the roadblocks before they show up.  So in Schreiner's mount he switches the order a bit.  He attains head control and then uses his leg side forearm to dig under the opponents far side elbow, flaring it out.  Once flared he clears the near side arm as well.  Play with both ideas.  The key point is the BOTH arms should be cleared in an ideal world.

Step 3: Knee Drive to Mount

Once the arms are cleared and you have head control, simply drive the knee across their belt line, keeping pressure on their head and upper body as you land in mount.  This type of transition is very strong, but you will find the head control tough to get.

If you do NOT have head control

Step 1:

 

 

No Head Control

 

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