After months of steady progress the RDAPMAExperiment has slowly ground to a halt. If you are currently training in a club or with a teacher count yourself lucky. If my only challenge was to show up for a class a couple times a week I'd have it made. The biggest challenge I have found to date is just finding people to train with. Being 49 not many guys in my age group are looking to start BJJ. I have yet to find enough warm bodies of any age that are good to go.
My main concern now is the fear of losing the gains I have made. I'm trying to look at this time as an opportunity to remember that progress isn't always steady and smooth. It could be worse. I could have been sidelined by an injury. That would definitely be worse.
For now I'm continuing to teach and train and teach 5 to 6 classes a week. I'm staying strong and still on the hunt for a few hungry learners.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
The "I Can't Believe We Are Doing This Tour".
I don't travel very often but last week I found myself in L.A. for 5 days on the "I Can't Believe We Are Doing This Tour".
My 18 year old daughter was auditioning for a scholarship to a dance center. 140 people competed for 20 spots. My daughter Johanna ended up as "21" and an alternate to the program. She will still be moving to L.A. in August anyway. She will train at the school either way. I can hardly believe her mom and I have gotten on board with the idea.
I was really hoping to get together with an Ashihara buddy but mt Dad duties got the best of me. We were able to chat on the phone a few times. I could have done that from Kansas. Alas a dads gotta do what a dads gotta do. I did take an opportunity to train at Rickson Gracie's academy. I had my choice of a few places to visit. Hollywood BJJ, Eddie Bravo, Machado, Gracie Torrance but decided on Ricksons. I have always heard BJJ was expensive but I really did not know HOW expensive. A Private with Renner or Ralek? a cool 400 smackers. A month of unlimited classes at Machados? 390. Yowza.
I stopped by Ricksons and introduce myself to the man behind the counter Ricardo Rosa. I had arrived just in time to catch a beginning / intermediate class taught by Eric Soderberg a brown belt. I think I may have been the only person over thirty and the only person with more than 6% body fat. The lowest ranking person in the class was a 2 stripe white belt. Two of the players present including my partner participated in a limited fashion to to "back" injuries. I was not really exposed to anything I hadn't done before. The warm up and the pace of things was pretty fast. That combinded with no air conditioning really wore me out. I needed to stop and force some fluids as I was about a quart low. We did 2 or 3 techniques and drilled them. They used a little more resistance when drilling than I was used to but once I became aware of that it was ok.
I did find myself able to pass closed guards with a couple guys and get to side control. I was really stymied by their open guard play as I have not experienced a good open guard much. There were white belts, blue belts and one purple belt. I did not work with any of the colored belts. It was a good experience.
I managed to get out of the proshop without purchasing and paraphinalia. Though I thought about smashing the glass display case and taking Rickson's crysal PRIDE trophy home with me. I considered taking a private the next day but needed to be available for my daughter back at the dance school.
We spent many meal times at "Swingers" cafe on the first floor of our hotel. I ran into a renzo / Marco Vincinius student and chatted a while. He commented on a defection of a number of guys from Ricksons to Marcos school. Perhaps Rickson was not around enough for their tastes.
So, there it is, an update of my travels. It was an interesting trip. Since my baby girl will be living out there I'm sure I'll be back. Just don't tell her.
My 18 year old daughter was auditioning for a scholarship to a dance center. 140 people competed for 20 spots. My daughter Johanna ended up as "21" and an alternate to the program. She will still be moving to L.A. in August anyway. She will train at the school either way. I can hardly believe her mom and I have gotten on board with the idea.
I was really hoping to get together with an Ashihara buddy but mt Dad duties got the best of me. We were able to chat on the phone a few times. I could have done that from Kansas. Alas a dads gotta do what a dads gotta do. I did take an opportunity to train at Rickson Gracie's academy. I had my choice of a few places to visit. Hollywood BJJ, Eddie Bravo, Machado, Gracie Torrance but decided on Ricksons. I have always heard BJJ was expensive but I really did not know HOW expensive. A Private with Renner or Ralek? a cool 400 smackers. A month of unlimited classes at Machados? 390. Yowza.
I stopped by Ricksons and introduce myself to the man behind the counter Ricardo Rosa. I had arrived just in time to catch a beginning / intermediate class taught by Eric Soderberg a brown belt. I think I may have been the only person over thirty and the only person with more than 6% body fat. The lowest ranking person in the class was a 2 stripe white belt. Two of the players present including my partner participated in a limited fashion to to "back" injuries. I was not really exposed to anything I hadn't done before. The warm up and the pace of things was pretty fast. That combinded with no air conditioning really wore me out. I needed to stop and force some fluids as I was about a quart low. We did 2 or 3 techniques and drilled them. They used a little more resistance when drilling than I was used to but once I became aware of that it was ok.
I did find myself able to pass closed guards with a couple guys and get to side control. I was really stymied by their open guard play as I have not experienced a good open guard much. There were white belts, blue belts and one purple belt. I did not work with any of the colored belts. It was a good experience.
I managed to get out of the proshop without purchasing and paraphinalia. Though I thought about smashing the glass display case and taking Rickson's crysal PRIDE trophy home with me. I considered taking a private the next day but needed to be available for my daughter back at the dance school.
We spent many meal times at "Swingers" cafe on the first floor of our hotel. I ran into a renzo / Marco Vincinius student and chatted a while. He commented on a defection of a number of guys from Ricksons to Marcos school. Perhaps Rickson was not around enough for their tastes.
So, there it is, an update of my travels. It was an interesting trip. Since my baby girl will be living out there I'm sure I'll be back. Just don't tell her.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday 7//28/09
On A sad note Bob let me know today that he and Nathan are going to have to curtail their BJJ exploration for now. New homeownership and a new work schedules have gotten the best of them. In a kind gesture (after crushing my bjj dreams) they said they would like to do something for my wife and I for opening up our home for training. They suggested a dinner out with our wives. Sounds good to me. Frankly I think they want to do the "break up" in a public place so I don't freak out like a jilted mistress."JUST WHEN EVERYTHING WAS GOING SO WELL YOU PULL THIS CRAP!!! YOU THOUGHTLESS BASTARDS!!! IT WAS BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU HAD A GOING AWAY PARTY FOR ME THAT YOU FORGOT TO INVITE ME TO!!!!!!
...ahem... As I was saying, it's been great working with you guys. Thanks for helping me get the Experiment up and running.
On the training side, Brian (my brown belt judo buddy) trained with me this evening. Brian is great to work with. Having Brian in the game will really help me grow. The main thing I learned with brian last night was thinking ahead a couple moves like in chess. Also, not to get so focused on what you are doing that you miss an attack that is "sneaking" up on you.
...ahem... As I was saying, it's been great working with you guys. Thanks for helping me get the Experiment up and running.
On the training side, Brian (my brown belt judo buddy) trained with me this evening. Brian is great to work with. Having Brian in the game will really help me grow. The main thing I learned with brian last night was thinking ahead a couple moves like in chess. Also, not to get so focused on what you are doing that you miss an attack that is "sneaking" up on you.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Two Times a Week? Sweet.
This week I had two opportunities to train. First I had a visit from my friend Brian. Brian is a 4th Dan in TKD and a brown belt in Judo ? Shingatai Jiu Jiutusu under Steve Scott at Welcome Mat Judo. We warmed up did some drill, compared techniques the we rolled around a bit. Although Brian was able to get two submissions I was pleased that I did not get schooled. I had two solid opportunities. at submissions but missed. Brian was kind enough to show me what was lacking that made a choke and an achilles lock ineffective. Brian expressed an interest in joining in on Tuesday evenings.
Tonight I got to roll with Dillon after our class. He was the guy in the first video I posted. I was excited because I was able to do a few things that I had not done before against a resisting opponent. One was the spin out from side control to replace guard. Dillon was a good benchmark for progress as we started together . He stopped training shortly after we began while I continued. I was able to relax and employ increased pressure and weight on him. I was also able to use a hook / crescent sweep from the open guard.
two times in one week? Sweeeeet.
Tonight I got to roll with Dillon after our class. He was the guy in the first video I posted. I was excited because I was able to do a few things that I had not done before against a resisting opponent. One was the spin out from side control to replace guard. Dillon was a good benchmark for progress as we started together . He stopped training shortly after we began while I continued. I was able to relax and employ increased pressure and weight on him. I was also able to use a hook / crescent sweep from the open guard.
two times in one week? Sweeeeet.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I emailed a link of the rolling video to Mr.Dean a few days back. After viewing it this was his kind reply...
Mark,
Good looking footage! Huge improvements, my friend. Some tips:
1. Look to control the near arm for better control from sidemount
2. When defending the choke, protect with one hand and use the other to peel off an ankle so you can free your hips and rotate or put your back on the ground, forcing him to take mount.
That's it for now. I'm about to board my flight for London. I should have some pics up on the blog in the near future. I also added RDA PMA to my associations page.
Roy
I very much appreciate his comments and input.I'm also honored that he has put a link to our experiment on his website. I don't see it as a compliment to the quality of our jiu jitsu but an acknowledgment of our sincere effort to grow and learn using his materials.
Mr. Dean, thank you for both taking the time to reply and linking us on your associations page. As I said befor it's much appreciated.
Mark,
Good looking footage! Huge improvements, my friend. Some tips:
1. Look to control the near arm for better control from sidemount
2. When defending the choke, protect with one hand and use the other to peel off an ankle so you can free your hips and rotate or put your back on the ground, forcing him to take mount.
That's it for now. I'm about to board my flight for London. I should have some pics up on the blog in the near future. I also added RDA PMA to my associations page.
Roy
I very much appreciate his comments and input.I'm also honored that he has put a link to our experiment on his website. I don't see it as a compliment to the quality of our jiu jitsu but an acknowledgment of our sincere effort to grow and learn using his materials.
Mr. Dean, thank you for both taking the time to reply and linking us on your associations page. As I said befor it's much appreciated.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Rolling at Seven Months
This video was shot to gauge the progress of group members, sparring after seven months of using Roy Dean's BJJ Blue Belt dvd. I spent the first 2.5 minutes looking pretty fiesty and the second 2.5 defending from a rear naked. It was shot on my 49th birthday, and everyone knows Nothing says "Happy 49th" like getting choked out.
Thanks Bob
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Seven Months into the Experiment
Tonight we alternated all the basics we could remember. We shot the whole session which took 38 minutes to get through. Don't worry I won't post the whole video. We rolled afterward each getting different submissions. We laughed because we would usually go many minutes at a time. Tonight we had 6 or 7 submissions in as many minutes. It was a really fun night. Guillotines, sleave chokes, armbars,and lapel chokes all showed up tonight.
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