Ebbs and Flows
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 07:35AM 
The last few weeks have been great. Life has been full of many activities, most of them not related to BJJ. Sometimes I can lose myself in jits and it tends to overtake my life. I am sure all of you have had the same experience where every waking moment, and most of your dreams revolve around this sport we love. However, recently my head hasn't been in the game and rather than fight it and force myself to "work" at it, I have let it go. Hanging out with the kids, reading, swimming, biking, trying new restaurants, watching the olympics, politics, and more. It is great to get a little reminder of just how insignificant this art is in the grand scheme of things.
Of course, I still train 3x a week - it's just less serious for now. I am in the ebb, and I know the tide of bjj obsession will flow back in soon. So I am trying to enjoy the calm before the storm. It's a natural process if I let it be.
Knees and Toes
Monday, August 11, 2008 at 04:38PM 
Like most people, I figured out a while ago that when holding side control I should be on my toes. My rationale for this was to have my opponent carry more of my weight. It also allowed me to push off my toes if I really wanted to smear my body down and in. Of course, there are lots of times to go to your knees, but as a general rule, and certainly for people new to the sport, I emphasize knees being off the mat in side control.
Recently, I was watching Dave Camarillo teach an attack from side control on MMAInstructional and he mentioned mobility. He stays on his toes since it allows him to be more mobile. He mentioned this at the seminar a few weeks back and I had forgotten until today. So now there is one more reason to stay on the toes.
See you on the mat!Honoring Your Sources
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 04:55PM 
If you stick with bjj for very long, you will at some point be showing a move to another person. That can either be as one student to another perhaps after a roll, or in a more formal teaching role - perhaps as an instructor coaching a class. In either case you will be explaining and demonstrating a movement you learned somewhere. Of course, there will be times when you are showing something you came up with on your own, but the vast majority of cases are more likely to be you demonstrating something you picked up from someone else via a conversation, private lesson, seminar, class attendance, dvd, or similar.
When passing along that information you have a simple choice: to quote the source or not
The Art Advice from Dr. Zoltan
Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 03:32PM 
I came across this wacky web site the other day and it had a list of 81 concepts of how to have a successful creative life. I found many of them very applicable to the journey of bjj. Here are my favorites:
Do not place yourself below anyone. No matter how much fame, money, freedom, and material resources someone else may have, accept that you deserve to have the same, and take your own path as seriously as they do. What you do is just as valid and real. Which means that what everyone else does is also valid and real. Calm down.
Return of the Dave
Friday, July 25, 2008 at 07:11AM 
We were honored to host Dave Camarillo for a 2hr in-house seminar last night. Anyone who attended can attest to how much great information was shared.
It seems like every time I train with Dave he is different, and better. I am not speaking technically in terms of his performance, I really can't judge that since he is so far beyond me, but rather his teaching ability and his overall game. He is constantly honing how he communicates the essence of what is important. He gives detailed answers to questions (which is great) and uses a lot of visual imagery which helps in remembering.