Fitness, Grappling, Jiu Jitsu, Judo

Uchi Mata Tips (Mistakes I Make)

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Yesterday I took 2nd in the Utah State Judo Championships.  I didn’t take first for one reason; I didn’t commit to my uchi-mata.

Let me explain.  I took up Judo/Jiu-Jitsu nearly 3 years ago and finally have a wall nearing the “full” level of medals.  The problem?  Most of them are silver with one lonely gold.  The lonely gold is the result of a freak occurance of me actually hitting an uchi mata correctly, or correctly enough for an ippon.  The silvers are more often than not of my uchi mata failing miserably and giving up my back.

Everyone has two kinds of judo throws – Their favorite, and the one they’re good at.  I’m good at sasae-tsurikomi-ashi.  I’m in love with the uchi mata.  If uchi mata was a girl, I’d have sex with it in public.  If it were a dude, we’d hang out, drink beers and listen to Godsmack.  If it were…*sigh*… Problem being, the uchi mata is elusive and everyone does it differently.  Therefore, I try to get everyone’s input and fine tune it to custom fit my size and ability.  I’m getting closer, and here are some tips that helped me, and hopefully help you.  It should be forewarned, I’m 6’2″ and 200 lbs, so if you’re of shorter stature, let me know if you gain anything from these tips (all from the traditional stance, and right handed entry (turning in counter-clockwise).

1. COMMIT.  I hear this everytime I attempt uchi-mata…commit to the throw, if you don’t, you’ll fail, no doubt.  The way this was explained to me is this; pretend there is a cat sitting on the outside of your left foot facing the same way you are.  As you complete the throw, you should be kissing the cat on the nose (don’t judge me)
2. ROTATION.  The throw isn’t planting them into the ground, they’re falling off of your thigh.  Resist trying to shove the uke into the ground, but rotate your body towards the kittie we talked about earlier…in other words, try to scoop the cat up with your right arm (of course, with uke attached)
3. STRAIGHT LEG  Your right leg remains straight and points toward the ceiling.  Of course this probably won’t be true in practical application, but randori and perform uchi-komi’s with this in mind and you’ll eventually have muscle memory of it
4. KUZUSHI IS TOWARD YOU one of the most helpful tips for me…kuzushi.  Explained as such, “Your leg won’t move him by itself”.  You HAVE to get his kuzushi moving forward for this throw to work and get him high on your thigh
5. DON’T STEP TOO DEEP If you practice judo, you’re aware of the “triangle” (both of uke’s feet and one of yours).  Avoid stepping too deep into the triangle.  Equalateral is perfect
6. FRONT ROLL Remember picking up the cat?  Hopefully you noticed that its the same position as a front roll over your right shoulder.  Finish this way

Well, that’s it.  Like I mentioned before, I’m different than you and you’re different than me.  I’d love to hear tips that others have on the throw, but again, these in particular helped me score ippons rather than yukos.

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Here Comes The Purple (Uh-oh!)

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So here’s the formula:

1 year = 52 weeks/2 = 104 weeks/ 2.5 years = 130

130 weeks x 4 hours per week (4 hours being the bare minimum for sake of the formula)

= 520 hours

520 hours…that’s my total BJJ time – give or take. 520 hours of rolling, progressive guard, choking, armbarring, being choked, being armbarred, and for those that haven’t read suck it up, assloads of injuries.

Last Wednesday night (December 21st, 2011), Professor Hermosillo called me out and awarded me my 3rd and 4th stripe on my blue belt prior to choking me the hell out (get stripes, get choked, them’s the rules). That means the next one isn’t a stripe, it’s the coveted purple belt…you know, the one that strikes fear into new people’s hearts…and mine.

Here’s why I’m nervous…first of all (and like any bjj practitioner), I don’t feel that I’m at that level yet. This opens a whole new door that leads to a hallway full of ass-whoopins in tournaments. I get over this feeling from the general rule of “trust your professor, he knows where you’re at”. Good advice…I do.

Secondly, I’m going to have to be in front of a bunch of people and perform the progressive guard and progressive guard pass in front of the big dog, Master Sylvio Behring. I’ve done that before, and it wasn’t a big deal. But I did it with two other people and it was “just for a blue belt”. Sylvio and Mike don’t hand out blue belts unless proficiency in the first part of the progressive guard can be performed. They sure as hell don’t award purple belts “just because”. In fact, I have yet to find a purple belt that hadn’t earned it through years of progression… after all, it is the first “expert” belt some say. In other words, I’m feeling like I learned the basics and got blue, now I’m testing to see how my personalized version of bjj is coming along, and I’m doing that in front of the man. This is like trying to impress a gladiator with my awesome thumb-wrestling skills.

I’ve googled every article I could find about purple belts. I’ve found every article from “what if I lose to a white belt” to “I’m the man”. They’re all interesting. The all also don’t include talk about how they “submitted with a sweet arm bar last night” or, “I caught a brown belt in a kimura last week”…seems like when you’re purple you’re humbled all over again.

…maybe that’s why I’m nervous…it’s the unknown. Don’t believe me? Google anything about BJJ blue belts, you’ll see that they talk about how they pulled a sweet submission or they “caught their instructor” with something. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

…now google something about purple belts…you’ll hardly find anything about bragging, stripes, a nice counter they came up with…nothing…it’s as if you turn purple and fall off the face of the planet like some kind of purple dinosaur (add Barney joke here). I want to know more, but you just can’t get one to open up. It’s starting to feel like death…I’ll only know what the next level is when I’m there.

I wish I could talk about what being a purple is like, but to tell the truth, it’s probably another 80 hours before I can. What I can tell you, is what it’s like being one-step down:

When I first got blue, new people and mid-level whites wouldn’t want to roll, and when they did, mistakes by me were forgiven being a fresh blue. Some white belts wouldn’t want to roll for fear of getting beat by someone just above their level, but not high enough to make an excuse for it – the “ego” issue.

That changed – Now that there are 4 stripes on my belt, every white belt and every blue belt last class wanted to roll…every single one…even the ones that usually have to “get home early” when it’s time to roll. It was like a switch – Get the stripes, everyone wants to roll.

I understand rolling is for development. That being said, there is still an ego to it…a nervousness if you will. I think that whole switch thing happened because now there’s an excuse. If I beat a white belt, it’s expected, if I beat a blue, well, that’s expected 90% of the time. That makes it easier for blues to test themselves and easier for whites to lose because “Well, he’s almost a purple belt.”

…It’s only going to get worse once it is tied on.

Ironically enough, I’ve never had such a variety of rolling partners and aggressiveness from people…and I like it. Mike was right, I’m close to that level and over the next 80 or so hours, with the rolling as of late, I’ll be there, then it’s the next chapter.

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But I Didn’t Know Steroids Were Illegal…(letter to athletes)

This Article comes from Nuclearchainsaw » Jiu Jitsu and Judo
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…Bullshit.

In 2007 Royce Gracie (The damned “father” of UFC ground game) tested positive for nandrolone – an anabolic steroid.  He denied it.

Vitor Belfort (one of my favorite fighters) tested positive for testosterone in 2006.  Although his doctor said he gave them to Vitor post-surgery without his knowledge….when was the last time you had anything done by a doctor without knowing?

Barry Bonds?  He denies it, his “trainer” must have hooked him up without him knowing

Mark McGuire? He pleaded the 5th

Rafael Palmeiro? He POINTED at the committe and shook his finger stating, “Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don’t know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never.”… that was March, 2005, in August 2005 (yes, 5 months later, he tested positive for steroids)  D U M B A S S

Chael Sonnen? Fights the fight of his career against “The Spider”, then tests positive with a ratio of 16.9:1.  Regular for a high-level athlete is around 3 or 4:1.   I can somewhat let Chael off the hook for this one, although he said it was medically administered, he admitted he took it and claimed he was in the process of going through the correct avenues for the UFC to have knowledge…but who knows?

NOW, Chris “Cyborg” Santos.  You know her:

“While I was preparing myself for my last fight I was having a difficult time cutting weight and used a dietary supplement that I was assured was safe and not prohibited from use in sports competition. It was never my intention to obtain an unfair advantage over Hiroko, mislead Strikeforce, the Commission or my fans. I train harder than any fighter in MMA and do not need drugs to win in the cage, and I have proven this time and time again!”

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Things Break, Suck It Up

This Article comes from Nuclearchainsaw » Jiu Jitsu and Judo
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In the last two years and some change, here is a list of injuries that I’ve suffered during Judo randori and BJJ tournaments and rolling:

1. Torn trapezius
2. Fractured rib
3. Torqued (sprained) neck x 2 (yes, my guillotine defense needs work)
4. 2x sprained ankles
5. jammed ankle
6. broken finger
7. multiple sprained/jammed fingers
8. strained back x a lot
9. pulled hamstring
10. 2x sprained MCL
11. 1 sprained ACL
12. bone spur
13. strained biceps
14. multiple bruises, bumps and mat-burns

Being 34 years old, I’m sure that some of these can be attributed and written off to that inevitable saying “you’re not 20 anymore.”  That being said, I’m 100% sure that these wouldn’t have happened without jiu jistsu and judo going on at the time of their showing.

Here’s the beauty of being injured; I liken it to a business.  Say there is an employee that works a job…long shifts…boring work, but with the potential to make a mistake costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Say that employee actually did that mistake and cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What would you do if you were the boss?

I’m willing to bet 99% of you would say “can his ass.”  I say keep him, and here’s why; You hire a new guy, he needs trained, he falls into the same ho-hum routine and has the possibility of making the same mistake and another 100k down the drain. 

You keep the guy that screwed up who has had the reality hit of actually losing 100k, more than likely his attitude will be something similiar to, “I’ll never screw that up again.”

We’ve all been there…that moment you fuck up and think “Shit, I’m so fired.”  Only to find out you get reprimanded a little and you keep your job…whatever you screwed up is instilled in your mind, and you WILL NEVER SCREW IT UP AGAIN.

…The same goes for BJJ and Judo.  I broke my rib by trying an Osoto-Gari throw (major-outer-reap, visit judoinfo.com for a view).  My mistake?  I didn’t have my weight committed forward and got absolutely blown up with what some would describe as “The Rock Bottom”.  Guess who never has a problem leaning forward now?  Guess why…Because fuck that.

• The neck – Not looking up during a double-leg
• The fingers – Improper breakfall
• The back – Bridging with the opponent stabilized

I never do these things.  I don’t do them because frankly, they hurt like hell.  My technique improves because I know what hurts me and what happens when I try it my way instead of the proven way.  I’m not an innovator of the art just yet, but I’m learning what works; bones, bruises and sprains are a hell of a group of coaches.

Pain is your reprimanding

Quitting is being Fired

Break it, then suck it up or find another job, this is my career.

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Pressure in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

This Article comes from Nuclearchainsaw » Jiu Jitsu and Judo
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Pressure…not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when making a list of “Things I Enjoy Being Under”. Pressure is essential in Brazilian Jiu Jistu. At the time of this writing I’m a mid-level blue belt and am just learning about pressure. Actually, I take that back – I’ve always been taught pressure, but am just now realizing the benefit of it.

I’m sure every practitioner has experienced by now the feeling of tapping out because someone is lying on your chest, or a vicious knee-in-the-belly. That’s pressure. Only recently have I tried to maintain pressure in all positions – from passing the guard, to side control, to knee in the belly or mount. I don’t think proper knee-in-the-hip in side control or knees being tight when keeping the mount – Not to say I’m past that, but its reactionary now.

My only focus, win or lose, is to be heavy and relax. “Make myself heavy.” That’s all I think about when moving. Coincidentally, making yourself heavy also makes the other guy move around more. Moving around more equals more opportunities for me. More opportunities for me equals better positions and better positions, of course, equals submissions.

The meat of this whole thing? Pressure = wins.

Here’s what amazes me about Jiu Jitsu; It makes lazy people. Now hear me out on this before you blow me up on this; You start off in the art as an intense spazoid, then you learn techniques, positions, submission, safe zones…by the time you reach the higher levels, you KNOW where you’re safe and what can be done…no need to rush…you’ve earned your right to be lazy because you know what you’re doing. Don’t believe me? Think abou the first time you rolled with a purple, brown or black belt. Chances are you expected to lose but not for them to make it look like you were about as threatening as a cloudy day. Remember these?

 You get your white belt, you’re finicky, intense, and try to muscle the other guy. Getting “gassed” is an everyday (if not every minute) occurance

Blue belt – you can relax a little, but still panic and go for the kill before proper position, you’re coming into your own game and still use strength when needed (but it’s now less than white belt).

Purple belt – You have your game developed and are in the process of rounding off the edges…coming up with combinations…tightening things up…which is what this whole thing is about…tightening things up.

Pressure does a lot. Your dead weight makes the other guy miserable. Not wanting to tap out because you’re leaning on him, he moves, and you react. Over time, you know how he’ll react, so your pressure makes him go where you want. Once you learn how to do that, it’s on to the next key and the next belt and the next level. For now, it’s pressure and nothing else.

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Pressure in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

This Article comes from Nuclearchainsaw » Jiu Jitsu and Judo
To see the full original article click here

Pressure…not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when making a list of “Things I Enjoy Being Under”.

Pressure is essential in Brazilian Jiu Jistu.  At the time of this writing I’m a mid-level blue belt and am just learning about pressure.  Actually, I take that back – I’ve always been taught pressure, but am just now realizing the benefit of it.

I’m sure every practitioner has experienced by now the feeling of tapping out because someone is lying on your chest, or a vicious knee-in-the-belly.  That’s pressure.  Only recently have I tried to maintain pressure in all positions – from passing the guard, to side control, to knee in the belly or mount.  I don’t think proper knee-in-the-hip in side control or knees being tight when keeping the mount – Not to say I’m past that, but its reactionary now.  My only focus, win or lose, is to be heavy and relax.

“Make myself heavy.”  That’s all I think about when moving.  Coincidentally, making yourself heavy also makes the other guy move around more.  Moving around more equals more opportunities for me.  More opportunities for me equals better positions and better positions, of course, equals submissions.  The meat of this whole thing? 

Pressure = wins.

Here’s what amazes me about Jiu Jitsu; It makes lazy people.  Now hear me out on this before you blow me up on this; You start off in the art as an intense spazoid, then you learn techniques, positions, submission, safe zones…by the time you reach the higher levels, you KNOW where you’re safe and what can be done…no need to rush…you’ve earned your right to be lazy because you know what you’re doing.  Don’t believe me?  Think abou the first time you rolled with a purple, brown or black belt.  Chances are you expected to lose but not for them to make it look like you were about as threatening as a cloudy day. 

Remember these?

You get your white belt, you’re finicky, intense, and try to muscle the other guy.  Getting “gassed” is an everyday (if not every minute) occurance

Blue belt – you can relax a little, but still panic and go for the kill before proper position, you’re coming into your own game and still use strength when needed (but it’s now less than white belt).

Purple belt – You have your game developed and are in the process of rounding off the edges…coming up with combinations…tightening things up…which is what this whole thing is about…tightening things up.

Pressure does a lot.  Your dead weight makes the other guy miserable.  Not wanting to tap out because you’re leaning on him, he moves, and you react.  Over time, you know how he’ll react, so your pressure makes him go where you want.  Once you learn how to do that, it’s on to the next key and the next belt and the next level.  For now, it’s pressure and nothing else.

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What it’s like to be choked (The Unlaxed Garrote)

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I

The Unlaxed Garrote

            A general rule we live by is that of the 100% of people that come in, 10% come back.  10% of those that come back stay, and 10% of those that stay become fighters.  Essentially, out of 1000 people to walk into the door, one will fight at least at the amateur level.

            The walls at Hidden Valley Mixed Martial Arts are black and white in no discernable pattern.  This isn’t to signify some ancient yin-and-yang philosophy where negative life experiences are equaled with positive – it’s simply because we ran out of paint. 

            The biggest of the many holes that pepper the paintjob is covered by a vertical-hanging Brazilian flag whose seams have long since been ironed out by gravity.  It’s not hard to notice that the gym’s charm is not in its appearance.  Its charm is that it is here and not wonderland or genie bottles where wishes are worked into a reality.

            As time passes at the gym and months turn to years, you notice patterns.  Of the most prolific is the boy that bursts into the gym and demands that we make him an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter.  More often than not, it is days after this initial demand that he’s nowhere to be found.  This isn’t uncommon for two reasons:

            1 – Being a fighter is work, not all glory

            2 – Being choked is an unpleasant first experience

             To weed out the people that are serious about training, we choke them unconscious to test them.  I’ve been “choked out” many times, and now I’m doing it to record the experience…it’s different every time and by now I’ve learned to relax enough to keep the details and enjoy the “ride”.

            The new challenger that had recently walked in took a seat underneath the Brazilian flag and stared anxiously as Dustin threw his legs around my waist from behind me to keep control of my body. 

            “Ready?”

            “Let’s do it” I whisper back.

            His rested his left on my forehead and pulled back to expose my neck.  The first knuckle on his right thumb traced just below my jaw line from the lobe of my ear and past my chin, never breaking contact.  I could feel his right forearm sliding across the right side of my neck in the wake of his knuckle – the feeling is something I would compare to an anaconda wrapping around your vitals as if it could taste you through its body.  It’s a passionate moment between neck and arm. 

             His forearm continued across my neck and arched across the left side, securing comfortably in the crook of his left arm, which folded behind my head and pushed forward.  I could breathe…barely…enough to stay conscious.  But he wants me to breathe; he wants me to know what he’s doing to me. Unlike the anaconda that compresses your lungs until you smother, the biceps and forearm form a triangle which leaves my windpipe open, but puts pressure on my carotid arteries. 

            I feel pressure on the sides of my neck.  It’s at this moment that I am reminded of being fascinated as a kid by stretching the water hose (with a full flow of water) across my front yard.  I would turn the water off on the side of the house then run to the end of the hose and watch the water supply go from plentiful to a small stream that would eventually turn to drops nearly 5 seconds after shutting off the supply – then nothing. 

            My forehead began filling with pressure and my eyes felt as if they were being pushed up from below…the blood supply to my brain had been shut off and my blood flow had turned to the trickle of the hose.  As I’m reminded of this, the trickle turns to drops…then nothing.  I have about 3-5 seconds and I’m aware of it.

             My gaze began to blur the Brazilian flag as I thought of the hole behind it.  The green and gold of the flag became brighter, and I noticed that it was only because of the loss of my peripheral vision giving focus to that certain area that the colors illuminated.  Some people describe this feeling as falling down a rabbit hole.  I would say falling down a well and looking up as the opening gets smaller and smaller is accurate.  One thing is common – the feeling is that of falling.

            On my trip down, the walls of the well developed lightening bugs.  The gradual increase in speed at which I was falling turned their glow into streaks that increased in length the further I dropped and the smaller the opening became.  I took my eyes off of the dot of light that was lazily disappearing from the darkness of the well and I looked at the bugs and wondered where they came from and why they’re in a well. Of course, they were probably wondering the same about me… but I didn’t wonder why I was falling down a well, I just accepted it. 

            Eventually the blurriness of the bugs speeding by slowed their glossy streaks to dots and I reached out and picked one out of the air.  I studied it intently.  The wind combing through my hair ceased and the ripple of my clothes resonated less and less until they were frozen in motion…I was completely weightless…peaceful.  The opening of the well had dissipated and I was now suspended in blackness, studying this single shred of light that I held in my hand…silence.

            I’m on the fence between real and dream.

            My body’s impact into the sand didn’t hurt because it burst through like a wet paper towel and I landed back onto the gym mats.   I sat up in confusion and looked about and noticed that nobody was around as sand and fireflies continued to christen me from no place in particular on the ceiling. I wiped my shirt clean, only to have it peppered over with sand.

            Although I don’t know it, I’m asleep

            The Brazilian flag hung against the wall and slowly fluttered in the midst of a windless room.  The silence was still evident.  As the rain of sand thinned upon my head, I studied the firefly that I still held.  It struggled from between my index and thumb to make its escape and fly lazily onto the edge of the Brazilian flag where it touched down.  It fluttered again…sat idle; then exploded.

            I was sucked through the roof of the gym and thrust back up the well until the light got bigger and bigger.  The fireflies were elongated laser beams that gave me an orientation of my speed…speed only seen in science fiction movies and speed that forced me to brace myself for impact into the open sky.

            I shot my eyes open and sat erect and confused. 

            I’m jolted awake

            I was in the gym, but the flag was in its normal dilapidated state.  Dustin was holding my feet above head level to keep my brain plentiful with blood…the only way to bring me back. 

            “How long was I out?”

             “About 15 seconds”

            I was helped up and moved to the edge of the mat to sit next to new guy.  I don’t recall him blinking once, perhaps out of shock and awe from seeing someone go unconscious directly in front of him.

            New guy asked what lesson he was supposed to take from this.  I explained it in a way that I would hope he would have understood: It is absolutely critical to remain calm when being choked or in a combative situation to give you a chance to escape or fight back.  I demonstrated that strangulation can render you unconscious in 3-5 seconds and explained that it can kill you if blood flow isn’t restored within 10-12 seconds.

            He stared at me with those wide, un-blinking eyes.

            I explained that he needed to get used to being murdered.

            Going by the general rule of the gym, we have another 1000 people before we get our next fighter.

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