One of the big things promoted by the Gracie gyms and making a big impact on the BJJ community lately is the concept of "keeping it playful." For the uninitiated, the Gracie's emphasize taking the aggression and need to "win" out of the roll and start "playing" again -- keep it going to keep it going. A recent study of puppies found that male puppies naturally "keep it playful" with female puppies; male puppies tend to soften their play style with female puppies as opposed to male puppies, and encourage the female puppy to continue playing by allowing the female puppy to win.
Because my brain can make almost anything BJJ related, I thought about the puppies behavior in relation to "keeping it playful." As an upper belt and more experienced practitioner, I see it as my job to keep the roll going for lower belts, not tap them within 5 seconds. I don't make it easy, but I try to have some idea of what their skill level is and get them to positions where they can use what they learned. Additionally, I don't really want the roll to end after 5 seconds -- I want to keep playing and trying new stuff!
I've also noticed that as an upper belt, suddenly the same guys who were intent on tapping me when we were white belts are now in it more for the fun of the game than the tap since we got promoted to blue. Rather than exert 110% strength and effort and trying to smash the living daylights out of each other, we tend to roll for longer periods of time without a submission and get into more interesting and challenging positions. And it makes us all better for it.
Coach Tim: Do you agree that the puppy post applies to BJJ? In how men and women interact, or how players interact, or otherwise? What can we learn from the puppies?
COACH TIM SAYS:
First, ALL of the major lessons in life can be learned by watching puppies. Namely that cuteness is the #1 priority for all things, all the time, always and forever.
"Keeping it playful" is a great motto when used at the right time. I wouldn't restrict the notion of being playful to instances where males are sparring females, or upper belts with lower belts, etc. Instead, I want to examine how being playful in practice can be useful and how it can be detrimental.
On the plus side, being playful is very useful anytime you try a new movement. If you allow yourself to bend, roll, fold up, etc when you first attempt a new movement, you will quickly understand what you are supposed to be doing even if you can't quite do it yet.
"Keeping it playful" also helps ensure that we don't create unnecessary tension in our body, which often can hinder movements we want to make -- when you are "keeping it playful" you are relaxed. This is true even when a drilling/sparring partner is not involved. For example, when attempting to learn the granby roll/side roll, students will sometimes create tension in their body as they push off into the roll. This tension often results in the student posting their elbow on the mat or contracting their core muscles early - both of which stop their momentum in its tracks instead of allowing the momentum to carry them through the entire roll. In this sense, "keeping it playful" allows us to override our (often incorrect) default movement pattern because it forces us to relax and be less tense.
On the opposing side of "keeping it playful" is the very real reminder that we are practicing fighting. Yes, grappling is fun and, yes, you should have as much fun as you can (especially because this will keep you training and on a long enough timeline, sticking to your training is the only way to get better). The danger is that if you are always "keeping it playful" then you are training yourself to adopt that mindset. Just like physical movements, mental patterns can be trained as well.
The danger in training your mind to "keeping it playful" is that if you run into trouble / have to struggle in sparring, the "keeping it playful" mentality may hinder your ability to get out of a tough position because, hey, struggling isn't playful! It's important to train yourself to not allow the dialogue in your head to stop your body from reacting appropriately to the situation. Whether you are training or competing, often there are moments where a small voice in your head says "Hey... I'm kinda tired, let's just let them pass then we'll escape later" or "Wow, this person is really good, it's going to be hard to beat them." These thought patterns are absolutely fatal - you cannot ever beat someone that you cannot imagine beating. For example, blue belts will often excuse themselves if a purple belt beats them because they are under the impression that purple belts should beat them. However, if a blue belt consistently adopts this pattern of thinking, they will never critically analyze why that purple belt was able to pass their guard or sweep them because it will be easily dismissed as what "should" have happened. If you expect yourself to beat everyone you ever spar with, you will more readily adopt changes to your technique that can make this expectation come to fruition. Of course, a blue belt should start by trying to raise their expectations to beat the purple belts before moving on to brown and black belts, but the point stands. In fact, the biggest barrier to a blue belt beating a black belt is that the barrier in their own mind that they cannot beat black belts! If we never wore belts, students would just focus on how individuals move differently instead of how one person is "better" than another - and they would see that the gap between how they currently move and how a highly-skilled individual moves is not that big a of discrepancy. However, we cannot close that gap if we constantly have a dialogue with ourselves about the existence of this gap!
THE TAKEAWAY:
Jiu jitsu is as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one. It is critical that students train their mind to believe success is not only possible, but probable, even while they learn to relax and "keep it playful."
Also, puppies are adorable.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
How to Set Goals for 2014 in BJJ
I am not a big fan of New Years' resolutions. For a long time, my resolutions were always "lose X pounds," which started to feel superficial and unattainable and boring. Last year was the first year in my adult life I decided to not put "lose weight" on the resolution list. Instead, I resolved to run a 5k and get my blue belt. That's it. Two goals.
I ran my very first 5k in February and got my blue belt in June. Maybe I should have had a third goal?
This year I am not making resolutions. I wasn't really looking forward to the resolution-making process this year, anyway. Then, on New Year's Day, my Facebook feed was filled with New Year's resolutions that depressed the hell out of me. Reading them, it seemed like no one liked themselves -- at all. Sure, we all have things we want to work on, things we'd like to improve or do differently, but what about just being happy where you are? This year, I'm going to be happy where I am and who I am right now. If changes need to be made, I'll make them. But I'm not going to try to be anything other than me.
BJJ, like life, is a place that will always have room for improvement no matter how content I am. However, in BJJ, especially since I got slapped with my blue belt, I find it extremely difficult to set reasonable goals.
When I first started training, the goal was to not die. Then, the goal was to spar every round. But even then, the word "goal" is not the right word, because these "goals" were all subconscious intentions I realized after the fact.
Once I got comfortable being uncomfortable, I felt my way forward; coming to class regularly, drilling well, taking notes, and trying to execute techniques in sparring. Every now and then I set a goal regarding the ability to pull off a certain technique in sparring, but that's as far as I have gotten in terms of setting progressive benchmarks for myself.
Where is this babbling going?
My blue belt terrifies the ever loving shit out of me. All of a sudden I am having a crisis of confidence and it is like being a white belt over again. This time around, since I am conscious of my incompetence, it seems a lot more scary. I think it is a perfect time to use my fear and uncertainty and consciousness about my incompetence to put together a set of tangible, objective goals for myself going forward.
Coach Tim's Advice
January is the time for resolutions and February is hopefully the time for follow-through. Coach Tim prefers to place the most emphasis on setting goals regarding process and logistics rather than simply results and goal posts.
Everyone knows about goal setting with regards to our result - use a specific, measurable metric that is both time-constrained as well as reasonable possible given your starting point. That's all great information on how to set a goal, but if the goal is to get across the ocean this week and spend some time in Africa - it is pretty important for to figure out if you are taking a boat or a plane to get there!
With that in mind - what are some effective processes we can incorporate into our training?
For most of us, the first process-related goal is our training breakdown - How often should I train? How hard should each training session be? How much time should be spent drilling and how much spent sparring? These are all important questions and obviously each answer is tailored to each student but since there are only so many hours in a day, simply increasing frequency (going from 3 days / week, to 4 days a week to 5 days / week to 2x a day) is a progression that will quickly reach an upper-limit. Instead, set a goal to tweak and refine your training schedule and goals on a weekly or monthly basis.
For example, one week, focus on playing guard - sweeping and submitting as much as possible, practicing guard retention and movements on your "bad" side. When you are successful from your guard, slyly allow your training partner some room, making them work a bit to escape and recover so that they continue to fight back very hard. When you are unsuccessful, make notes about the 1 or 2 top issues that arose during this exercise, and ask for a solution, and drill the solution in your off time. The goal in this period is to resist the temptation to smash your opponent after getting the sweep and/or mount, or to refrain from resorting to take downs because of a trouble spot with guard. The ability to resist what comes easiest is the test of whether or not the goal has been reached.
Take this example and zoom in or out; zoom in and the focus is on specific guards, guard retention movements, specific sweeps/submissions, or, as Coach Tim is working on, spending more time playing guard on his "bad" side. Zoom out and the focus is on broader concepts and perspectives, such as: "No matter who I'm sparring, I'm going to fight to prevent my guard from being passed with every bit of technique and physicality that I can. No one passes my guard for free!" Having a specific goal with different gradations within that goal allows you to customize the goal for varying skill levels among your training partners.
Go train!
I ran my very first 5k in February and got my blue belt in June. Maybe I should have had a third goal?
This year I am not making resolutions. I wasn't really looking forward to the resolution-making process this year, anyway. Then, on New Year's Day, my Facebook feed was filled with New Year's resolutions that depressed the hell out of me. Reading them, it seemed like no one liked themselves -- at all. Sure, we all have things we want to work on, things we'd like to improve or do differently, but what about just being happy where you are? This year, I'm going to be happy where I am and who I am right now. If changes need to be made, I'll make them. But I'm not going to try to be anything other than me.
BJJ, like life, is a place that will always have room for improvement no matter how content I am. However, in BJJ, especially since I got slapped with my blue belt, I find it extremely difficult to set reasonable goals.
When I first started training, the goal was to not die. Then, the goal was to spar every round. But even then, the word "goal" is not the right word, because these "goals" were all subconscious intentions I realized after the fact.
Once I got comfortable being uncomfortable, I felt my way forward; coming to class regularly, drilling well, taking notes, and trying to execute techniques in sparring. Every now and then I set a goal regarding the ability to pull off a certain technique in sparring, but that's as far as I have gotten in terms of setting progressive benchmarks for myself.
Where is this babbling going?
My blue belt terrifies the ever loving shit out of me. All of a sudden I am having a crisis of confidence and it is like being a white belt over again. This time around, since I am conscious of my incompetence, it seems a lot more scary. I think it is a perfect time to use my fear and uncertainty and consciousness about my incompetence to put together a set of tangible, objective goals for myself going forward.
Coach Tim's Advice
January is the time for resolutions and February is hopefully the time for follow-through. Coach Tim prefers to place the most emphasis on setting goals regarding process and logistics rather than simply results and goal posts.
Everyone knows about goal setting with regards to our result - use a specific, measurable metric that is both time-constrained as well as reasonable possible given your starting point. That's all great information on how to set a goal, but if the goal is to get across the ocean this week and spend some time in Africa - it is pretty important for to figure out if you are taking a boat or a plane to get there!
With that in mind - what are some effective processes we can incorporate into our training?
For most of us, the first process-related goal is our training breakdown - How often should I train? How hard should each training session be? How much time should be spent drilling and how much spent sparring? These are all important questions and obviously each answer is tailored to each student but since there are only so many hours in a day, simply increasing frequency (going from 3 days / week, to 4 days a week to 5 days / week to 2x a day) is a progression that will quickly reach an upper-limit. Instead, set a goal to tweak and refine your training schedule and goals on a weekly or monthly basis.
For example, one week, focus on playing guard - sweeping and submitting as much as possible, practicing guard retention and movements on your "bad" side. When you are successful from your guard, slyly allow your training partner some room, making them work a bit to escape and recover so that they continue to fight back very hard. When you are unsuccessful, make notes about the 1 or 2 top issues that arose during this exercise, and ask for a solution, and drill the solution in your off time. The goal in this period is to resist the temptation to smash your opponent after getting the sweep and/or mount, or to refrain from resorting to take downs because of a trouble spot with guard. The ability to resist what comes easiest is the test of whether or not the goal has been reached.
Take this example and zoom in or out; zoom in and the focus is on specific guards, guard retention movements, specific sweeps/submissions, or, as Coach Tim is working on, spending more time playing guard on his "bad" side. Zoom out and the focus is on broader concepts and perspectives, such as: "No matter who I'm sparring, I'm going to fight to prevent my guard from being passed with every bit of technique and physicality that I can. No one passes my guard for free!" Having a specific goal with different gradations within that goal allows you to customize the goal for varying skill levels among your training partners.
Go train!
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