Recently, I have wondered a bit about, what I could say was the most important thing for me in the process of improving my skills in BJJ, MMA etc. I feel that my game is constantly improving. I can feel a difference in my skills on the mat from one month to the next and I can see that I catch more new submissions, escape more cleverly, analyze the opponent better, see more openings etc. etc. But what is it, that makes me always improve, when I see other guys have the exact same game year after year, never implementing anything new, never improving or exploring what they already know?
I don't think it is a question of talent. I myself have never been very gifted athletically, I have just worked hard to get where I am. After a lot of thinking and trying to analyze how the other guys in the gym train, think and "work" in the game of Jiu Jitsu, I have come to a conclusion. There is one single factor, that is common for the group of guys I see constantly improving their game the same way as I do, compared to those whose improvements can stall for years:
They all make a concise decision to improve their game.
Those who never stop improving, are the ones that are always "working on something" when they are training. I do this ALL the time and it suddenly makes sense that this is the most important factor in getting better at Jiu Jitsu for me and almost everyone else I have come across.
Beginners are always improving and eager to learn. I have yet to come across a beginner, that was not interested in learning something new and experimenting with it. But when you get to a certain level, where you have a good understandment of the basics and found a few moves that are your favorites, it is not directly necessary for you to improve, in order to survive a class and a sparring session with your team mates. You can hold yourself against most sparring partners, just with the basics and the few moves that works for you.
This is the critical time for you to make a concise decision to improve. It is SO easy to just lean back and play safe with the skills you feel comfortable with, instead of running the risk of trying something new and failing. I have named this phenomenon "A-Game Camping", because I see these guys just camp out in their A-game without making a decision to improve it.
I've set up a few rough identification points and observations I have made for the two groups:
A-game Campers: - Learns new move in class - goes straight back to A-game in sparring. - Have a low "technical level" vs. "sparring hours" ratio. - Have a handful of solid moves. - Can have the same game for years. - Not taking many chances in sparring. - Rarely exposing holes in own game on purpose.
"Constant improvers": - Learns new move in class - tries it out again and again in sparring. - Always "working on something" during sparring. - Can name X number of moves after sparring that he was experimenting with. - Always thinking of moves to try out when back on the mat. - Fails and taps many times in sparring, but becomes very skilled in the long run. - Often exposing holes in own game on purpose. - Outperforms A-game Campers in a relatively short time.
Of course, this is a very rough way to put things, but the point is, that if you want to improve your game, you MUST make a concise decision to do so. Decide with yourself what you need to improve on and make the decision to do it in every opportunity you get. It can be a specific technique, a position, a transition or maybe a mental aspect.
I have been doing this for a long time, but I think the moment it really took off as a very efficient training tool for me, was when I started to write down a list of what I was currently working on. When I write it down, it is as if I am making a promise to myself, that I will do it and run the risks. That I won't just fall back to my safe A-game that doesn't hurt, doesn't fail and doesn't require a lot of stamina, will and determination in sparring. The list is constantly changing. Some things, I work on only for a few weeks, some things have been on the list for half or whole years. The important thing is, that as soon as the list is written down, I know exactly what I need to try out next time on the mat, and it is obvious to me, that I am really improving in these areas. I know this because I strike out things on the list now and then :)
I like to keep my list simple with as few things to work on as possible. Funny thing is, if I have a period when I don't write down my current "projects" and I then decide to do it, I realize that the list i huuuge and I really need to cut it down and focus on less areas. So writing it down also keeps my focus on the most important areas of potential improvement.
If you look back in my blog, you can find lists like this here and there. My current list of what I am working on looks like this:
- Being more aware of footlocks both offensively and defensively - Toehold from Omo Plata - Ryan Hall's 50/50 heelhook - Short armdrags in guard - Marceloplata mountattack position - X-guard as guard defense to sweep or set up footlocks - Triangle as a way of control from sidecontrol bottom and top - Inside trip from double overhooks, collargrips and beltcontrol - Committing to takedown attempts even though I know they might fail - Marcelo-style armdrag scramble (on the list since January 2007! :))
Obviously, this would be a good time to ask yourself: Are you an A-game Camper? :)
EDIT: I wrote this when I was a little tired and might not have got the definitions out exactly as I meant them. By A-game camping, I don't mean only working on your A-game, which ofcourse there is always a time and place for, and which is very important. I am talking about only surviving sparring by holding on to what you know and not working on improving it. The point is to make a decision to improve, no matter what area the improvement is on. It can be anything from improving your timing in your A-game, escaping mount more often, working on your "poker-face" or learn a fancy new spinning heelhook. Don't be fooled by MY list, that often has fancy techniques on it. I am fully aware that most people will never do those techniques that I am working on, and that is perfectly fine as it should be. The "B-game Explorers" was maybe the wrong term, since I by "B-game" only meant areas in your game that can improve, and that is - as we all know - everything. So I can see where confusion on that term can arise.
I have a few posts planned for this blog, but I am really busy planning my next big event these days, so you will have to wait a little longer before I have time to post here :)
I am really excited about the event, which is going to be April 12th. Lots and lots of work goes into arranging a show that size, but hopefully it will all pay off on the day. I think it is going to be an amazing experience to watch the fights and listen to the audience.
Yesterday I finished the poster, think it ended up being pretty cool:
Today in the gym I had one of those days, where every single round of sparring was just pure pleasure. I feel my jiu jitsu is better and sharper than ever and my body is pulling off techniques, setups and combinations I have never seen before :) Maybe it is because I can finally go full intensity after my long period of injuries, I don't know, but it is a really cool feeling that I thought I would share on the blog.
Also, I am starting to go some more rounds of MMA sparring in my class twice a week. It will take some time to get back up in gear with it, but I think my technique is pretty good. I see a lot of stuff especially on the ground, where I try to focus on setting up grappling with strikes and strikes with grappling. Something I was inspired to think more about, when I read my latest book purchase, BJ Penn's MMA book. I own a pretty big library of MMA, BJJ, wrestling and Judo books, but I think this is the best one I have read. There is a lot of cool basic technique in it and BJ seems like a very intelligent fighter (I would have expected that anyway). His approach to MMA fits perfectly with my own game and fighting style. The book is highly recommendable and I got it for silly $15 or something on Amazon.
We just bought two new 32 kg kettlebells for the gym this weekend. It was a very exciting moment for me to meet those two balls of metal and it kind of re-sparked my interest in kettlebell training. I did a little workout with them saturday and was extremely sore sunday, so it was a great feeling. I should do some more of that, it takes a lot of strength and control compared to the 24 kg I have been using for the last few years.
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the three different roles I have in BJJ and MMA and how they really are related, but at the same time completely separate skillsets for me to constantly improve.
As a student, I am constantly learning and improving my own game. This will never end no matter how good I get and this is by far the easiest part to work on. Basically to improve as a student, all I need to do is train and spar with a wide range of different people. By doing this, I am trying to improve my understanding of all the fundamentals. I don't need to learn new techniques, in fact I probably by now know all the techniques necessary to reach black belt level, but what I need to do, is to understand them better and better. One good example is, that I watched Matt Serra's BJJ 101 videos and learned tons of new details about basic stuff such as kimura from sidecontrol and guard. So getting better as a student is not about learning new stuff, but about learning more about what I already know.
When it comes to teaching and coaching, it quickly gets a little more complicated. One thing is to understand the techniques and concepts behind the sports, but being able to communicate and organize all this information to a large group of people is really a skill that takes a lot of work to aquire. I have basically been teaching since I was a whitebelt, so I have naturally grown with the job. Everytime I have learned something new, I have been forced to understand it fully, so that I could explain it to someone else in a way that they would be able to do it as well. Just imitating what you have seen yourself is not teaching. That is more like trying to explain someone how something works by reading the manual aloud.
So, I am really working on improving as a teacher. Performing as a teacher and performing as a practitioner is two completely different skillsets. You can be an incredible fighter but suck as an instructor and the same the other way around. I have trained with some of the best fighters in the world, and - without mentioning any names - some of them have definitely also been the worst instructors I have met. They did however, easily drew a full house at their seminars, just on their name alone.
Teaching is a lot of work other than being a skilled grappler. Just the part of organizing all the information, I am planning the class to go through, and making sure that everyone gets enough time to work on all the things is a really big task, that I am putting more and more energy into getting better at. I am trying to make long-term plans of what to teach and when, so I am sure that we fill out the technical holes on the team and everyone goes through what they need to improve. This is very much about going through basic fundamentals and constantly improving peoples attention to details in these. I see almost little or no improvement of the team as a whole, if I am going too much into advanced stuff or don't reserve lots of time for drilling and isolating basics. The advanced stuff, people always figure out or seek out themselves along the way. My job is to create the training environment and focus on fundamentals that they need to prosper and evolve on their own.
The last part is coaching and this is probably the part I have had least focus on during my "career". Coaching for me is often about being very specific with one person or maybe a small group of people. Analyzing their game in details and picking out exactly what they need to learn or work on to improve. This is VERY different from teaching a class over a longer period of time. Although I have not done this much, I feel that I have really improved on it over the last six months or so, trying to work a bit on it during sparring, where I will pick someone out for a few minutes and just help them as much as I can through the roll. It takes a lot of mental energy though to focus that much, and i sometimes find it difficult to do during class because I am focusing on the group as a whole, but I am trying to push myself to do it more.
One specific example where I really have seen the benefits of coaching as a seperate skill was at a grappling turnament last weekend that we attended. For the first time at an event like this, I only had ONE thing to do; coach. Normally I have been fighting, organizing, being referee or helping out in some other way, so it has been difficult for me to really focus on our fighters. This time me (and my fellow teacher Carsten) put all our time into helping and coaching the guys on the mats, and it made a BIG difference. Ofcourse the fighters themselves should get all the credit for their wins, but I would say that maybe 30% of the fights could have gone either way and ended in our favor because of the help from the coaches on the side. It may sound elementary, but I was actually surprised to see how much I could improve someone on the mats game just by seeing details they don't notice themselves.
One of the fighters in the gym asked me the other day, wether I don't feel like fighting and winning myself when I completely dominate guys in the gym, who do really well in competition. I would actually like to fight some more myself, but honestly I see MUCH more value in putting all my energy into helping a whole team of guys improving and winning, than just focusing on myself. It is as big a feeling, if not bigger, to see someone reach their potential through my work than to improve or win myself.
I am more motivated than ever to become the best possible student, teacher and coach and I can't wait for the next tournament where we are gonna coach an even bigger team through the fights an hopefully to many more victories and happy faces afterwards. Making people smile and have a good time is what training and teaching is all about for me.
Here is a highlight from that specific tournament, it was a good day and a fun trip for everyone:
Ok so I am not dead, and I did not quit BJJ either :) Well in fact I have been out of training for a while, since I've been having a sh*tload of different injuries in this first part of the year. All minor, all super annoying and all on my left side. My hip injury is getting better and better, but I have just been out of sparring for 8 weeks with a neck injury from a scramble. Also my (left) shin and (left) wrist have been injured and my (left) ear has been extremely sore for some months.
I just hope that I can get over this period of injuries soon, since it is driving me crazy that I cannot spar with full intensity. I see light at the end of the tunnel though and I think everything will be good again very soon. I actually planned to do a little "come back" and fight in a grappling turnament saturday, but with all the injuries - combined with being sick for the last week or so - I had to forget all about that. Nothing to worry about though, as 16 other fighters from the team will fight and I will be able to dedicate a whole day to coach and help them through the day. Most of them are beginners and I am very excited to see them get a good experience and enjoy participating in their first turnament.
Speaking of the team, I just realized yesterday, that it has never been stronger. The quantity is one thing; our beginners class with much over 50 members have SO much potential and the advanced class is 20+ experienced, tough players on the mat every time. But the level of everyone has really risen lately, as we have been running everyone through a lot of basic technique drilling, repetition and isolation sparring. Last night was my first training where I was trying to jump in on the high intensity sparring since I got my neck injury eight weeks ago, and I was really surprised how much the guys in the class had progressed in that time period. Everyone was giving me a really tough time and I really had to be fully concentrated to not get tapped out right and left. It was a really cool experience and I can't wait to get up in gear and catch up with everybody. They are all peaking athletically at the moment, and I am crawling back from my injuries so my odds are really bad, but I feel more motivated than ever to get my mind and body back in shape.
Right now I just feel like I am a mad scientist (coach), who has created a monster (a team of supergrapplers) that is attacking me (tapping me out) and I am trying to invent something new quickly to defend myself LOL
On another note, I have reached the first 100 flighthours some time ago and is currently down to 884 hours. All the injuries has really slowed down my progression, but I am psyched to catch up with my earlier pace and currently I am getting a good amount of sparring hours every week. I have shot some new video of some sparring just like I did at 964 flighthours. I have definately improved my game a lot since then, but it is difficult to tell on the video as I am not really on my peak at the moment and the rolls I have filmed are a little slow compared to my normal pace. It does however give a good look of what I am working on at the moment, so for my own record it is a good video to look back on in some time. Also, the video is a showcase of some of the cool shorts I use for training.
Again, it is very long (about 40 minutes) and I would never expect any of you to watch it all, but maybe you can pick up a detail or two that can improve your own game. If there is anything in the video you would like me to explain, just let me know and I will make a post about it, maybe with a small videoclip :)
Here are some of the things I am currently working on in my game:
- Footlocks from all positions but especially guard bottom and omo plata - Attacking far arm in sidecontrol using kimuragrip setup - Countering backmount escapes - Taking the back from armbar position - Scramblepass - Flipover guardpass using "doublejump" - Armdrags in guard - Marceloplata mountattack position - X-guard sweeps as guard defense - Triangle as a way of control from sidecontrol bottom and top
I will try to adress all of these here in the blog over the next period of time. Also I am currently writing a post on "A-game camping" that I hopefully can publish soon :)
Until then, I am working hard on my next event Adrenaline 2 that should be a huge show, really looking forward to it.
Yes yes, I know I have been lazy regarding updating the blog lately, but don't worry, I have not been lazy with my training ;-) I have some new posts in mind that I plan on writing down here soon, also with some new video clips. I need to get me a new videocamera so I can actually make them though, but I'll figure something out.
Training is going really good, I have doubled the hours I teach every week and it is as always cool to see people in the gym get better. I also get some good hours of sparring every month to keep the rhythm going and I have started to plan my weeks a little better so I am sure I have time for weight lifting and sparring in between all the teaching. I am still doing some web- and graphical design on the side, but it is hard to find time for, so sometime in 2008 I hope to be working solely on trainingrelated things.
If you take a look at my 1000 flighthours project, you might notice that I am closing in on the 900 mark. That took a while, but it is cool to get there, and it will be a good time to evaluate my training and progress a little. I plan on shooting a new sparring video when I get there.
I recently launched a new amateur MMA and Muay Thai turnament held in my gym called CSA Fight Night. I make it to give the beginners and upcoming talents a chance to get some fight experience before they take the big step and fight in a bigger show. The first one was a big success and the second one is already gonna be February 1st. Check out the video from the first one: (notice the handsome referee!!)
My biggest project is the Adrenaline show, which will return April 12th. I'll post some more about that as the event and fightcard starts to evolve.
Just stumbled over this old clip on Google Video, that I produced about 3-4 years ago. It was made from the footage we shot for an "Introduction to BJJ" DVD we wanted to make for our students. The DVD was unfortunately never produced (lazy!), but this clip is still online. Pretty fun to watch, so much has happened in so few years :)
I stumbled over kying418's thread on the NHB Gear Forum with photos from the Studio X training and found some pictures from the night I visited the gym. See if you can spot me!! :D
(I wrote this before I left for the airport tuesday evening, but didn't have the chance to post it untill now)
Last week here in New York has been super cool. My ankle has been really fucked up, but I have just kept training with it and thought I would take care of it when I get home. Right now I am waiting to go to the airport, and it really really hurts. But it has been worth it :)
Before we came to New York, we had the chance to go by a big tournament in Los Angeles. Here our friend Joe from Texas (who we met in Rigans gym) was fighting, as well as Andreh. It was interesting to see the tournament, but as always, there was just a loooot of waiting.
After we have come to New York, I have trained a few times in the Ronin gym, which has been really good. Yesterday was my last chance to get some good training, and I sure did. First I was in Ronin for a few hours, where Ryan Hall was visiting. Extremely talented grappler, and no wonder with all the energy and enthusiasm he puts into Jiu Jitsu. Very impressed, especially knowing he only trained for 3 years.
In the evening, I went to Marcelo's school to take a class. Marcelo himself was teaching, and it was a great experience to train with someone I respect so much for his skills in the sport. The people there were super nice and I was even recognized by a few because of this blog :D Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to roll with Marcelo himself before the class was over, but just watching him spar was equally impressive. I will without a doubt come back to that gym next time I am in New York.
30 minutes till I am heading to the airport, so time to finish this off. It has been such a cool trip and I have gotten a lot of inspiration to take home to the gym. Not so much techniques, but more seeing how other people train, structure their class, have different styles of rolling etc.
Now it is time to go home, rest my foot, get some good danish food and start lifting weights again. I think I have lost some weight on this trip so I better get it back on again. When I get home it will be winter for many, many months, so nothing to do but switch off the brain, train and lift weights while waiting for summer to come :)
I would like to thank everyone I have met on this trip for making the experience even better. Christian Montes and Adam Blake the real Bruce Lees of New York City, Erik the maybe smallest male grappler in the world, Kerry who let us make a mess of her apartment for 3 weeks, Rigan Machado for all his help, the crazy people at Surf City Hostel, KimuraJoe and the Texas Crew, Andreh Anderson and Rey Diogo for their hospitality, Ryan Hall for kicking my ass, Marcelo Garcia for impressing me again this time IRL, everyone in the gyms I have visited, my best friend Søren and his girlfriend Kristin, Martin Kampmann for showing us Vegas nightlife, Christoffer "The Yeti" who I have travelled with and of course all the others I have forgotten right now.
The tournament in L.A.
Ronin Athletics
Teaching the Five Swords in Ronin
The five points of the Five Swords Topgame (now with The Five Katanas)
Impressive Empire State Building
Rolling with Ryan (now with gi patch censuring :D)
Last few days since we came back from Vegas has been really intense trainingwise.
After a long tuesday night in Vegas, 4 hours of sleep and a 7 hour drive, we went straight to training in Rey Diogo's gym on Venice Boulevard. I had no energi at all, but managed to get some good rolls with people there. I also did some training with Rey, who is a really cool guy. He is often in Sweden, so I will invite him to Copenhagen next time.
Thursday I slept till 1pm, I was completely exhausted. We drove with Rigan to his gym in Hollywood where we had some really good training with a small group of about 8 people. After that we went to a release event with Rigan's brother John Machado. There was a boxing ring outdoors, where different martial arts did demo matches, it was pretty cool. I also met Mario Sperry there, I remember watching his instructionals when I first started training, so that was pretty fun.
Today we have trained two hours in Rigan's gym and about 1 hours in Rey's gym. Really good sparring both places. I had the pleasure of training with Chris Haueter, the guy who basically introduced me to Jiu Jitsu (he doesn't know though :D). It was his instructional tapes that got me started with my training, when me and my friend was watching them 7-8 years ago or so. It was a pleasure to train with him and we had some really good rolls. He is teaching a class monday night that I want to attend before we go back to New York tuesday.
So far, this trip has been really inspiring regarding Jiu Jitsu. I have met so many cool, friendly and skilled people here and it is awesome to get pushed so hard in training every time. Back home I know everyones game, so it is not as big of a challenge to roll, but here I really need to be working hard to succeed with every single technique I try.
Arrived in Vegas yesterday and walked around a bit to see the place. When we woke up today, we went to the Xtreme Couture gym to train. I took a grappling class at noon, where we did some standing up from being pinned against the fence. It was fun to do some specific MMA grappling with a cage. The facilities were amazing, definately the best I have seen, and I have visited a lot of gyms around the world throughout the years.
The trainer in the class was Dennis Davis, who has actually fought in a tournament in Denmark, that I was filming for TV. Funny coincidence. He was a cool guy and it was a great class.
We have decided to try and change our ticket back to New York, so we can stay in L.A. for a little longer. There are so many gyms and people I want to visit here, so it would be a shame to leave already tomorrow. We will still have a good week in New York, before we head back to Denmark.
Drove to Las Vegas today and had a chance to practice my Kung Fu in the desert.
Met up with danish UFC fighter Martin Kampmann and took a walk around. He is training in Xtreme Couture, where I am planning to do some grappling tomorrow before we check out the city. I really need to work out after sitting in a car all day :)
I might also check out some other Jiu Jitsu gyms here. My gi is in NYC though, forgot it in the gym there.
Today has been a great day. First, we went to Rey Diogo's gym to meet Andreh. As often when you share an interest with someone, you tend to get along really easy, and this was no exception. It was really cool to train a with Andreh, I got some good little details out of rolling with him, that I will take home and work on.
After training, we went to Venice Beach, where we rented bicycles and drove around a bit. Then we met up with Rigan, who took us to a party in Hollywood and then out for some great Brazilian food. I also got a chance to check out his gym, which looks really cool.
I really want to train more with all of these guys here in L.A., maybe I'll look into flying back to New York a little later, so I get some more days here for training :)
Went to Honda Center in Anaheim today to watch the UFC 76. What an experience! The place was packed, atmosphere amazing and best of all, the fights were awesome. Some of the best, technical grappling I have seen in MMA for a long time, it was pure beauty to watch. Especially Saraiva, Tavares, Sanchez and Fitch put on a beautiful grappling display. Occasionally I heard the "get up and fight like men" classic, but other than that, I enjoyed the fights very much.
Tomorrow, we are driving our Mustang to Venice, where I will meet and train with fellow Jiu Jitsu blogger Andreh. After that I am planning on meeting up with Rigan Machado, who recently taught a seminar in my gym, and hopefully do some training with him as well if I have any energy left :)
I don't wanna fill this blog with vacation photos, but here are two I took today:
The last two days, I have had some good training in the Ronin gym. Some good sparring and yesterday I taught a class on collar chokes.
Right now, I am sitting in JFK airport, headed to California to see UFC tomorrow night. I will try to find time for some training while there, but we will train for sure in Vegas, where we are staying monday and tuesday.
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