Yesterday, a good, young, tall, lean, athletic purple and I were rolling.
I outweigh him by a good 40 lbs, so we usually start by me letting him work.
(He got a good armbar on me from S-Mount…so I’m gonna let him work a little less today! But I digress…)
During our roll, he pulls me into guard and goes for a modified sweep to get into single-leg-X by grabbing my left arm and reaching down with his left arm to grab my right knee so he can enter to his left.
I see it from a mile away and break his grip on my pants right away. He goes for it again. I break it again. He goes for it a third time, and I let him attempt the entry, float/shift my weight, smash his right leg, and begin to pass.
The round ended then, and I asked him about his strategy.
He expressed his frustration at his inability to advance on me.
I told him to never expect to get the initial attack.
It’s always a 1-2 attack. Boxers jab to set up the hook or the uppercut.
In BJJ, we push so our opponent pushes back, then we use their momentum to get a bigger pull.
We drilled that for a quick 30 seconds between rounds, and off he went.
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Every lower belt makes the mistake of going really hard to land their one big attack, and every higher black belt defeats me by confusing me, misdirection, feigning one attack so I overreact, and they use my own body against me.
This is the way, and in many ways, the journey is only beginning at black belt.
It’s a privilege and an honor, but even a burden.
Like it or not, intentional or not, there is a level of expectation from others when they see you tie on that blackbelt.
My focus and attention and drive shifted when I received it.
I owe it to my instructor, those who have been promoted ahead of me, and those still striving for this belt to bring my A-game to practice each day. (Today will be my 12th day in a row, so I do bring it literally every day…but when I’m tired, my A-game is more like my C-game, but I’m giving it all I got even on those days!)
I roll with guys who have been black belts 2X and 3X longer than I’ve trained BJJ, and they show me that there are levels to this game, and that I have a long way to go.
I asked a 3rd-degree black belt the other day how much better he is now than when he first became a black belt, and he said about 3X. (It’s three years between each degree as a black belt for your first four, then five years, five years, seven years to become a coral belt, which I’ll receive when I’m 84…so I have that going for me. So, he has been a black belt for 10-11 years, while I have only been training 8.5 years as I write this.)
That hit home.
He’s 300% better after reaching a level that many say only 1% reach, which is startling to hear.
He’s 300% better than he was when he was better than not only 99% of people who have ever trained BJJ, but he’s also better than 99.9999% of the world, who have never trained and foolishly think that “when I see red…bodies hit the floor.”
While I give him a bit more of a fight now, he still gets the best of me at least three out of five times, and he does so with ease and style. He sets me up, and I still take the bait, and he still laughs at me as I flounder around, but I’m slowly learning.
That’s why God gives us white and blue belts.
They are our guinea pigs…and also our proteges and…and tackling dummies…and our students. We get to practice and refine our pushes and pulls, and deepen and solidify our knowledge by explaining to them what we are doing. (If you want to get great at something, teach it as you do it.)
What I’ve learned by training Jiu-Jitsu a lot since Jan 27, 2017, is that the right answer, the best answer, is usually
quite simple,
sitting right in front of your face,
90 to 180 degrees out from what you’ve been doing, i.e., ya gotta push if you wanna get a good pull.
Oh yeah, and a good coach can see the issue and help you correct it faster than you type an oh-woe-is-me post on Reddit or Instagram or LinkedIn or all of the above.
I know a guy who can help you with both your BJJ and your Biz. Hit me up if you wanna talk with him.
Market like you mean it. Now go sell something.
~Wes