Three Things Jujitsu Teaches us About Life,

Jujitsu, in my opinion is similar to a love-hate relationship. What I mean by that is, in life, we have people that we love and care about deeply, but sometimes (maybe even a lot) they get under our skin and annoy us. Going further with that analogy, we can sometimes throw are arms up in the air and not bother with those who don't rub us the right way. So to speak.

As I have documented on this blog, the times that I've wanted to walk out of the Dojo and hang my head in shame, never to come back. But is that truly how we are to handle life as human beings?

No, it's not. Jujitsu has taught me much about the ability to persevere in life. In our modern context, especially that being the American one. We love instant gratification, everything has to come to our grasp this second, if not then it isn't really worth having. Or so it would seem. Jujitsu does not provide that open, some people who have chosen to partake on the journey have earned their black belts in as little as 4 years. Others, it has taken twenty years, sometimes longer.

The one that takes 4 years, is to be celebrated, because he or she has earned it and put in the many exhausting hours and took their beatings. The one that takes twenty or more is to be celebrated as well. Why? Because they stuck with it, they fought through discouragement, injuries and kept a proper perspective while other team mates earned their belts.

In reality, I will probably be on the twenty year track, and that's okay. Why you ask? Because not only will I work not only will I keep pressing on toward my next goal. I get the joy of helping others along the way. I have the honor of helping kids learn the joy and fun that is Jujitsu. I get the honor to encourage as well.

So, what are the three ways Jujitsu teaches us about life?

1) It teaches us to persevere in tough time.
2) It teaches us to keep our fixed on goals.
3) It teaches us to get the focus off ourselves and onto others.  

Always growing and adapting on the journey.

Well,

as usual my time for updating the blog has been few, far and in between. I was going to write about the earning of my first gold medal, but the emotions from that has since faded. That is not to say  that the desire to win more has faded too. (it hasn't) but that my knowledge to learn has grown even more.

I haven't been able to train much, (on the mats that is) but I have been keeping my strength and conditioning up, been eating a lot of fruits and veggies, drinking lots of water and even have a few friends here on campus that I can work on basics with.

Fundamentals have become huge for me, I know that the 10th planet system is very detailed one, but not having the time to practice all the details is the problem. The more I train and compete the more I discover what best suits my body.

Perhaps that why Bruce Lee said to accept what is useful, reject what is useless and add specifically what is your own. I am NOT in anyway suggesting that certain techniques in the 10th planet are useless to me, (their not) however with my condition, it will take me much longer to learn and perfect certain techniques. Which is okay.

For me, in tournaments, it comes down to the essentials. Arm-bars and choke,  (maybe leg locks when I get up to different skill levels) I know it's nothing glamorous, I just don't feel very confident in my rubber guard, although I have used it in a match.

When I first learned the electric-chair sweep, I was using the half-guard, rather than the lock down. Why? I'm not very confident in my ability with it. Eddie Bravo saw me doing it with half-guard and he said it was awesome and to do what I could.

That to me meant the world to me, probably because he was affirming me as a grappling artist. As I've mentioned before, my hunger to learn has grown a great bit. Even while being in school, I am thinking about jujitsu and grappling all the time. I'm watching videos and always finding things to add to the bag of tricks.

I want to "master" a handful of techniques and do them well. All this to say, that one can learn, grow and be thankful for the gift with have in jujitsu. Never give on the journey.     

My gold medal frm today!

I won 2 matches with double wrist lock submissions. I'll write my thoughts out after awhile... I need to let this all sink in.

-Brandon

Days before the tournament.

I am at school, however I am eating well and keeping my stamina up to par. I'm mentally going over my game plan. I'm ready to go!

Weigh in's are friday, and go time is saturday.

Never Out of Options

I weighed myself this morning before my workout, my weight was 126 lbs. I'm feeling super strong and have had a lot of energy. My workout consisted of:

Turkish get ups- five on each side. On the left side a ten pound kettle bell and on my right, a five pound dumb-bell. (these are great for jujitsu in general).

After that- The military press, three sets of ten.

Lastly- bridge ups, another great exercise that is great for the core and legs. It might not seem like much, but if you can do this within a fifth-teen minute time period, your heart will beat pretty fast and you will sweat a great deal.

Ever since I got my blue belt last Saturday, I have felt a great intensity inside. One that wants to hunt for submissions on any angle. Erik Paulson once said that the human body is a submission waiting to happen. I take that to mean that, at any position I am in there is always ways to attack.

I've been working hard on fighting from the bottom, as it's still very easy for people to get passed my guard. So my sweeps and transitions to deep half guard must be legit. Beyond that I've been working my top game a lot as well, mainly improving my posture. The submissions are there. It's about being heavy on top.

That's one of reasons I love the catch style of wrestling so much, because it weighs heavily on dominant position and attacking non stop. For me, I try and merge that same attitude within the practice of Jujitsu. I'm always trying to attack, whether I am on my back or not. Attack,  attack attack.

Lock flows then, are so very important to all grapplers, in the JKD spectrum of grappling one will learn to transfer from submission to submission without having to give it much thought. Personally I feel that that is something that is missing from a lot of grappling arts these days.

Sifu Larry Hartsell pounded this into the mind of his students, for the simple reason that you are never out of options in ways to submit your opponent.

Thoughts on getting my blue belt.

Today was a very special day for me, after the Eddie Bravo seminar today, myself a few other students earned our blue belts. This would be my third Bravo seminar, and it was probably my most favorite one yet. I learned so much, so many new tricks to add to the tool box.

I want to thank you some people, for providing me with rides to class, first off: my Dad, Brian Locke, Matt Hester, Ryan Yamada, Tijae Smith  and anybody else I forgot to mention I'm truly sorry.

Reaching this point in my journey, has taught me so much about  perseverance and my own personal selfishness as a person. Allow me to explain. Within the human condition, it can be so easy to become so wrapped up in our own personal happiness and success, that we totally brush aside the joy of being happy for others who achieve their goals as well.

The single greatest thing anyone can do in life is stay calm and wait for the wave to move toward you.    It's easy to get down on yourself, and be swallowed up in a self-centered attitude. Even in the midst of taking this journey, I forgot my motivations for even doing this.

Fist, it's fun! Some people take the game of Jujitsu so seriously, that in it's self isn't bad, but if it's not fun, if it's not a joy why do it? You'll burn out very quickly and not want to step out onto the mat ever again.

Secondly, I do this for those who would love to do Jujitsu, but physically cannot. It's so important to be humble and understand that Jujitsu is a gift. It could be taken away from you at any moment in practice or in a tournament. Our bodies are a gift, therefore, we must honor them.

As I'm writing this, the emotions are setting in... I need to work on keeping perspective, have more joy, don't worry about winning or loosing just keep working on getting better and better, helping others along the way.

Next Sunday, I move back into school, so my time on the mats will be limited to weekends. But I am not going to let that stop, I will keep moving forward.

-Brandon

Chasing the dream.

While on the bike bath yesterday, I realized a dream, or maybe a goal. And that is one day being able to win NAGA (North American Grappling Association) champion. Though, it would be very difficult, and I would have to really adjust my style around points, rather than just submission.

I feel I am still young enough to reach my full grappling potential, I'd love to travel and train with various schools and instructors. But life at the particular season is taking me different places.

But I still want to chase this dream, no matter how hard it may be.

-Brandon