Tag: bjj globetrotter

Back to writing…

Oh jeez I’ve been slack on writing on this, and I know exactly why. It’s that damn Los Angeles trip hanging over me- apparently it’s been a month since I’ve gotten back, and I’ve yet to do a full write up of my travels there. And since I haven’t done that, I haven’t written any further entries. Now I’ve accepted that I’ll have to do the big write up down the line, out of chronological order, just so I can start writing about the day to day training again.

The trip does loom over me though, and permeates my current training back home. Firstly, the goddamn lasso guard. Everyone competitor under lightweight uses lasso in some form, and for 8 years I’ve ignored it. Now in training I’ve been drilling lasso and going for it as much as possible, and I’m finally seeing why everyone uses it; how it ties in to the DLR game and creates both offence and provides a strong defense. My guard retention is getting better and my fingers are getting more sore.

I’ve also been studying Keenan’s lapel guard a lot, which is another thing those Cicero Costha athletes played on me constantly and gave me absolute fits. I have been having a good bit of success using the lapel guards, especially against people who have no idea what I am doing. Guys like Clint who are now aware of the danger of giving me a lapel are giving me trouble setting up the guard though. There is a strong relation to lasso/sleeve control, lapel guard, and DLR, so it is all fitting together slowly but surely.

Finally, I’ve been trying to fit in more pure drilling with Clint and others whenever possible. I think both of us realised the value of drilling while over there; arguably moreso than rolling. Of course both are important, but we spend more time free rolling than we do drilling (our own techniques, which aren’t necessarily what is being taught).

Los Angeles day 1

36 hours. That’s how long we’d been awake for since we woke up Wednesday morning nzt to catch our flight to LA in the afternoon. We had arrived wed morning LA time, and had to kill time till we could check in at 4. Before we could get any sleep, it was time for us to go to our first drop in.

Our stop was Academy Jiu Jitsu in Downey. Clinton had trained with the head instructor Gustavo a couple of years ago on the recommendation of a Peruvian purple belt that had stayed at our gym for a year, so was keen to catch up.

The drive itself was a war. LA drivers are psychopaths who don’t give a fuck about indicating or the colour of the lights. Adding to the lack of sleep, not gonna lie I was terrified being on the roads. Thankfully Steve is an amazing driver, adequate sleep or not.

The gym was very aesthetic, with clean white mats set against wooden walls and black wall mats. We started off with a technique and drilled it, a timer going off every two minutes to signal swapping over. We started with a leg drag from DLR, and I picked up some nice details about creating the reaction to expose the drag. From there we worked a leg weave to mount. Again, some new details on the transition to dope mount.

After that, it was time to roll. I managed to get in some rolls with both the black belts (Gustavo and Hector) and they floated right through my attempts to play any kind of guard and swept me like nothing. Incredible and they weren’t even trying.

There were no purple belts there surprisingly, so I had some good rolls with their white and blue belts. They gave me some unexpected attacks to deal with, like americanas from bottom side, which was fun. Considering the lack of sleep I was happy to do as well as I did. Afterwards the team were super friendly and gave us some good tips on where to get good pho (Garden Grove is the area apparently).

Afterwards we hit up some delicious roadside Mexican food. Had 7 tacos (the best one is marinated pork- “pastor”) with some amazing pineapple juice. Then we managed to finally get home and pass out.

The food and training made it worth those 36 hours!

Uncharted

I feel like big changes are going to happen in my life this year. As a man who likes his routine, the onset of change does provide a fair amount of stress and anxiety. Thank god for jiu-jitsu. The routine of commuting and training, coming home late to eat and wash…its familiar. Almost 8 years now. Its comfortable.

Discovered some videos of this guy Priit Mikhelson while browsing the BJJ Globetrotters website. Interesting guy with some very strong opinions on jiu-jitsu and coaching. I like listening to people who have views on this kind of thing, as it challenges myself to think about the way I teach my class and whether I’m doing the best I can.

Anyway, he has a one hour video on the Turtle. Some key positioning changes to make it very hard for anyone to take the back (full seatbeat, or hooks). I tried some of it out last night on the girls; it was pretty successful. I’ll try to keep that in mind if I ever turn away to escape the guard pass into the turtle. Also, its just a weird goofy position, especially combined with what Priit calls the ‘Panda Guard’. I’m gonna call it the Snorlax though!

I mapped out the gyms that I’ve visited so far in my BJJ life. It’s pretty…disappointing? Really not that many gyms in 8 years of practicing jiu-jitsu. To me it seems like I really have not gone out ‘into the world’ and connect more globally with the community. I guess again, the routine of going to my own gym is comfortable. Maybe also because I don’t compete much, so never traveled for that purpose either. I’ve never dropped into other gyms in my own city for example, other than affiliates.

  • Long term goal-fill out this map with far more pins, across many different countries.
    • I’m off to Los Angeles next week- so that will give me a few more pins!
    • I would like to get some more in SE Asia (Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam), Korea, Japan, East Coast USA, Canada, and Europe…
  • Medium term goal- visit other gyms in my own city.
  • Short term goal- continue reading Christian Graugart’s The BJJ Globetrotter

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