Buddy Up!

What is the most important thing about training? The best answer I can think of today is simple - your training partner. Without a good training partner, it is difficult to test and measure results - and often, even difficult to summon up the motivation, particularly if you are tired or depleted.

My average week sees me teach anywhere between 25 and 30 classes, depending on whether or not I am conducting seminars on the weekend. This weekend, for example, I have five to conduct in Sydney - so not too much rest on the short term horizon! On top of that schedule, I need to do other work such as e-mails, articles for mags, the odd personal (outside of martial arts) business stuff - though mostly my wife takes care of that - etc. So then it comes time for me to do a couple of periods of personal training for my own fitness - so I am more able to keep up my workload. Of late I have been doing two sessions a week in the pool for my aerobic base - and on top of that, two sessions of plyometrics/core work with an anaerobic bias to build up my facility to go hard and explosive for short periods.

These kinds of workouts have tremendous benefits, however, there is a price to pay in recovery times, DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) etc. This morning, after my private classes, I was due to head to the pool and get in a quick 30 laps before lunch. I had a tough session yesterday though, doing short sets of bounds and jumps - forward, backward and laterally over different obstacles - while my partner was applying resistance via a long rubber band and harness - so I was not looking forward to the pool. I felt like sleeping!

But my wife, a great swimmer, athlete and martial artist (for those who don't know her) came to my rescue and accompanied me to the pool. She coached me as I did my laps - making the session more enjoyable and the time fly by.

Great training partners can push you harder, and make you do work that you simply would not do by yourself. The are hard to find - and once found, should never be taken for granted.
I encourage my students to buddy-up on the mat - get a partner that they can discuss techniques and problems with - when one doesn't feel like training, the other probably will, and will encourage his or her partner to get off their butt and get to training.

Training partners are our backup when motivation takes a holiday.

Train smart - Train safe!
JBW

Noticing ...

I travel quite often with my work, and visit many different martial arts schools. Consequently, I have come in contact, with hundreds, if not thousdands of martial arts coaches/instructors. I think that the majority of these have just woken up one day and found themselves in a teaching role, with little or no knowledge of how the teaching process works. The reason is obvious - most martial arts instructors spent their five or ten years in acquiring their physical skill sets, got their black belt, then were thrust into a teaching role - with virtually no teaching training or experience. A black belt in fighting skills does not automatically mean a black belt in teaching skills. I think this needs to change!

I spend quite a bit of time in the study of teaching strategies. I have tested and measured countless different instructional methodologies and come up with quite a few of my own. I am always researching linguistic and communications technologies, physical training models, coaching strategies and the like. This is an exciting aspect of the martial arts study for me. As a professional instructor, I get to test new ideas and constantly evolve the way I deliver the info to both new and experienced students.

In fact, I now get some of my work based on the way I teach, and not necessarily on just what I am teaching. When I work with professional trainers, I am almost always offering two things: the content/subject matter (combative technology) and the method by which I deliver that training. For man people, the latter is just as , if not more, important.

I started this process decades ago ... how .... by observing and NOTICING! I look at what the best communicators/instructors are doing and try to model those teaching methodologies that make them so special. So I invite everyone to try modeling some of the behavours/patterns that great instructors are consistently using.

Here are a couple of easy ones to start with:

BE THERE: Be fully present - and fully engaged! If you are just going to go through the motions, stay home! Be there, as if it was just you and the person you are looking at/talking to. Be right there - fully engaged!

ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE: People often need waking up! We never know what they have gone through before stepping into our class. So wake them up - get their attention. It doesn't matter how good the info is if your audience is not paying attention. The infamous 'Judo' Gene LeBell still wears a pink gi!!!

START WHERE THEY ARE: If you want to shift someone's thinking, you need to start with them from wherever they currently are - as opposed to preaching at them from wherever you want them to be. People have different world views, different paradigms - start wherever they are, and take them on a step-by-step journey to wherever you are trying to go.

Anyways - food for thought for those in a teaching role - or those considering the possibility of such in the future. Remember, the teaching/instructor apprenticeship starts the day you see your first instructor standing before you.

Train hard, train smart!
JBW

On hitting the summit ...

This may seem a little departure from the usual theme of my blog - but the experience holds as much relevance for the martial arts, as it does in this context - so here goes ...

Most of the readers of this blog will not know that one of my favorite hobbies/passions is backcountry flyfishing. To cut a long story short - this is a very technical type of fishing/hunting where the goal is to visually stalk a trout, present (via flyrod) an imitation insect that represents what that fish is eating - and hopefully land it. Apparently, about one in ten thousand flyfisherman ever land a ten pound trout. In short, it is the lifetime pursuit of many, many flyfishermen to land one of these trophy/monsters - but I have several friends who have been pursing this goal for their entire lives and are yet to accomplish it.

Last week, on a five day excursion into some remote wilderness - I had several chances at some large trout. One of those produced a 12 pound monster, which for me, represented the 'El Dorado' of my flyfishing experience.

I have always wondered what I would do if I ever caught one - take it out, have it stuffed and mounted on the wall (as most would do) or release it back into the wild. When the moment of truth came for me, the decision became clear - it was just too beautiful an animal to be stuck up on a study wall - so back to it's mates it went. After this photo of course.

But the interesting part - and finally to my point - was how would I feel about flyfishing after having achieved the seemingly unachievable? Would this mark the end of my quest - and therefore the end of my passion - or would it mark a new beginning? I have known people to give up flyfishing after having caught the magic ten pound fish because they couldn't ever see it happening again, and at the same time, they could no longer see themselves settling for anything less ... a bit of a conundrum ...

I felt that way for perhaps ten minutes! Then I tied on another fly and walked a few more kilometres into the mountains. For me, having attained a goal did not lessen the pursuit of further goals - not in the slightest. Don't misunderstand, I am now into repeating my performance - I will seek out more chances at mote ten pound plus fish - but I will enjoy casting flies at three pound fish, no less than I ever have.

So now to the martial arts. The day comes, and you earn that Black Belt - then what. Is the journey done? Is that it? I think not - small pleasures will still be taken along the way, more techniques and concepts learned, more jumps on skill and understanding experienced - and so it goes. It is the pursuit that is important - the goal is the icing on the cake - and hopefully, icing that can be tasted again and again.

My apologies if the fishing stories seem off-beat. My blog - my fun - my life.

Train safe - Train smart.
JBW

WA first homegrown Black Belt

I am waiting at the Perth airport, about to board a plane for Melbourne, before I head overseas for another week. What a great weekend for BJJ over in Western Australia.

This weekend I had the privilege of being able to award longtime student, Adam Metcalf, his Black Belt. Adam has been a driving force of BJJ over here in the West - having competed in the Mundials in brazil, having created a strong team of blue and purple belts in one of the most professional schools in Australia, he has truly earned the right to be WA's first hoemgrown Blck Belt.

Congratulations Adam, you are a pleasure to teach, a fully engaged and passionate coach to your students and a business leader in the industry of the martial arts. Well done indeed!

Also this weekend, not to be over-shadowed by Adam's milestone, both Steve Stevenson and Troy Flugge were awarded brown belts. With these two excellent instructors moving up the rank ladder, the way is open for a new cadre of purples this and next year. Well done both - together, you have all contributed greatly to the growth and development of BJJ in Western Australia.

Best wishes all,
regards,
JBW

Armdrag from hooks - vid clip.

Here's a quick and nasty vid clip on a few tips for adding an armdrag ito your Hookes-based guard game. Drill this idea - it is a high percentage strategy that will stand you in good stead.
Train Smart - Train Safe!
JBW

All roads lead to Rome!

Students often ask me for ideas and tips on how they should go about developing their personal 'game'. And although there are many factors and ideas that can contribute to this process I will outline here, one very, very important one. And that is, the concept I like to call 'All roads lead to Rome!'

Once you have a solid understanding of the basics; a good overall/generalist idea of the fundamentals of BJJ, then it may be time to start working on the development of your personal 'game' or 'grappling plan'. But how to go about this?

Well, a good first step, is to identify your favorite position - and once their your favorite set-up or finish. The for the next three months, try and get to that position from wherever you can. make the fight go there - explore all the possibilities (even the seemingly crazy ones) of how you can have that same situation come up again and again. Be creative. Force the opponent there - coax him there - lure him there - hit the mat with that goal in mind and you will be surprised at how often you can 'make it all happen'. This is how you develop 'potency' with a certain finish - and begin to develop a 'grappling plan'. Your overall game will eventually evolve from a single plan into a collection of plans - as opposed to a collection of 'moves' or techniques. This will turbo-boost your game to another level.

Those with limited experience will often see a good fighter or competitor finish with the same technique again and again, and make the mistake of labeling this approach as too simplistic or even predictable. But if he can consistently get the same result again and again, then it is obviously anything but simplistic.

Take the game of Chess for example - there is one way the game ends (every single time) - one outcome, one objective; but how many ways can this objective be achieved? Far from simplistic - far from predictable! The same goes with our grappling game-plan/ Your objective may be to finish every time with back-choke - but first you have to be able to consistently get the opponents back - from every position. That becomes your goal - your plan - your 'game'. The same end result - yes - but anything but simple - anything but predictable. This is your challenge!

So pick a position - and pick a favorite finish from that position. Stick a pic of that position and finish on your bathroom mirror. Make it your obsession for a month. Make records of how many times you get that position in sparring - and how many times, once having that position, you get the actual finish. Work on it - visualize/daydream about it - take ownership of it as your training goal. Numbers are important - goals are important - I guarantee that this approach will take your grappling to another level.
Train Smart - train safe.
JBW