Goodbye For Now: Completing The Life Cycle

 The time has come to place the Second Nature blog into the archives and pursue other avenues of sharing the art. What started as a fun way to gather experiences and thoughts about my passion for jiu jitsu over four and a half years ago has opened my eyes for new possibilities in life. The original hope was that Second Nature would eventually become a brand, but the more I put into it the more I realized that wasn’t what it was ever about when I started writing about grappling. The goal was to show the evolution of the mind over the years of how one perceives art. I think I managed to capture that aspect.

Second Nature was proof that art becomes a part of who you are the more you immerse yourself in it. It takes ahold of your character and transcends all parts of one’s life and can even influence the decisions you make over time. When I first started writing I wrote about what I thought people wanted to hear rather than the things that meant most to me. I eventually flipped the switch and started writing for me and if that’s the only person who was going to read it then so be it! I just wanted to log my thoughts into a database so I could see where I was at mentally.

Jiu jitsu creates a lot of questions for yourself over time, as do a lot of things, yet I constantly found myself at times trying to force writing. A funny thing about forcing writing is just like forcing a move in jiu jitsu, it usually does not work in your favor. I wrote about it in plenty of the blogs, but ‘Finding Your Flow’ captured this idea the best. Taking your time to feel the imposing force and using it to your advantage is the key to success. In the time periods where writing practically wrote itself, I used the flow of my stream of consciousness to man the helm and the rest is history.

All of the talks about a martial art of my choosing becoming ‘second nature’ is something I hold near and dear to my heart. I truly believe that over time we have this ability to perform this dance unconsciously and we let that flow just flow. Just like the law that energy can neither be created nor destroyed unless an external force acts upon it, I believe things that are engrained into the level of Second Nature cannot be broken as well.

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My wife made me an amazing gift last year to support my pursuits of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, my blog and the hope that one day I could use these skills to create a living doing what I love and sharing it with others who have that same passion. I had been so touched by it that I was almost heartbroken when it turned out I was going to go in a different direction, but it deserves its own place in this history. Thank you for your support my love.

Last thing I have to share is that sometimes life will pull you in a different direction than you originally intended to go in. That is completely fine. Accept that life isn’t linear and that the flow of it can bring you to new horizons. It takes a lot of courage to board that ship and take the voyage, so give yourself some love and embrace the opportunity to learn and grow! We all have amazing things to experience in life, all we have to do is trust in the process.

I look forward to share more with you all in the future, but through different a different lens. Goodbye Second Nature Blog, thanks for the ability to watch myself and others grow.

Creating a Web: Immobilization, Stealth, and Advanced Weaving Strategies

 We have entered the final chapter of this three part lapel series. Here we will further discuss immobilizing your opponent with the lapel, increasing your likelihood of success with stealthy grip sets, and some more advanced methods of weaving the lapel into the web that we call your game. With the basics creating our fundamental understanding of lapel usage, these thoughts should be easier now to understand and promote a greater level of success when you give the a try!

Immobilization

One of the biggest concepts of jiu jitsu as a whole is to keep your opponent controlled by isolating the body in such a way that their movement becomes impaired. This helps cut down on being attacked and the person is forced into defensive/survival mode. When we can free up our own limbs by substituting the lapel(s) in its place, we increase our success rate of attack.

Think of the sweep we saw in Creating a Web (Part 2). In the scenario we trapped the arm of the opponent, which prevented the posting opportunity and then combined that modified control with the principles of a basic sweep. Since the lapel can isolate a part of the body and additionally add pressure/discomfort to the controlled portion, we can see how our opponent may start to mentally fail. We can use the lapel in ways to prevent movement, maintain control of a position, isolate a portion of the body, or even a a tether/pulley to maintain space and influence our opponent's movement.

Stealth

The idea of trickery in jiu jitsu has always been an exciting part of the game for me. Thinking about how someone normally reacts or even more specific to your opponent's characteristics, we can start to set up pre-meditated traps to snare our opponent in. Using grips multi-gripping tactics can help fool your opponent into thinking they are defending one move, where in reality they are greatly increasing your real move's success rate. 

Advanced Weaving Strategies

When we weave the lapel around our opponent, we are in essence: creating a web. The interesting part behind it though is that if we can break the posture of our opponent, by applying all these principles across the series we can maximize the concept of taking the spine our of alignment. With the spine misaligned, the maximum output of power is drastically reduced, which creates an opportunity to attack your opponent. If they try to compensate their posture with posting, they have put themselves in harm's way. In essence, they are doing the dirty work for you!

Take a look at three examples within the video below to get a better understanding of these three elements of lapel control!

Finding Your Flow

 One of the most amazing sights in jiu jitsu is to see high level practitioners move with speed and grace. There always seems to be little to no wasted movement whatsoever. Time and time again we try to recreate the beauty of this expression of movement, only to face sudden obstacles to prevent the flow from remaining constant. So what is the answer to maintain your flow?

Early in my jiu jitsu journey the concept of avoiding the resistance of movement was deeply instilled into my mind. Like most new practitioners this important concept sat on the back burner of my mind, all but forgotten. It wasn't on purpose, it's just that sometimes you miss the importance of certain pieces of information simply due to not knowing what bits are more crucial to retain than others. Yet as time went on, the opportunity to relearn that approach reappeared and positions that were once a sticking point became much more fluid.

Bruce Lee has a famous saying that is quoted/paraphrased as "Be like water..." By picture yourself as water, you are adaptable to your surroundings and there is no obstacle you cannot overcome. Translating this to a guard pass, if an opponent blocks your original direction of movement, you can change directions of the pass. You can also add another factor into the picture of going over the obstacle rather than around; jiu jitsu does not have to be two-dimensional! Embracing the change that unfolds throughout your roll will cut down on the chances of a stagnant match.

Taking the time to play catch and release with not only submissions, but also positions can help both you and your partner explore new possibilities. This helps you recognize patterns and opportunities as movement occurs. This style of flow rolling is not a new concept by any means, yet it helps both parties prosper in the art of movement. Look at some of the top level athletes in the game; each one of them manages to move effortlessly and still maintains space and pressure. Taking the time to flow can help develop that speed and consistency over time, it's just practice that gets you there.

Flow rolls and drills are an excellent way to warm up for a class assuming that the focus remains on the flow. Structure can help initiate the development of flow which sounds counter-intuitive, but just as Jocko Willink says, "discipline equals freedom." A good starting point may be to do a 2 for 2 ratio of movements, where you do two moves then your partner does two moves and so on and so forth. For example, you pass the guard to side control and then transition to mount. Your partner then escapes mount to guard and sweeps you to side control. Now you perform a side control escape and transition to an arm bar, where your partner immediately goes into a stacking escape and passes to knee on belly. The cycle continues for the pre-determined time limit. Of course there does not have to be a set time or ratio to flow roll, but if you don't know how to start out, it can be a very helpful blueprint.

As the flow rolls get explored, continue to keep in mind to create new scenarios with movement. The drill becomes stale and less enjoyable if you continuously use the same movement patterns and never try anything new. With risk comes new possibilities for growth. On that same note, some of the things you discover in flow are not conducive to a live match. It's important to perform these experiments to see what is worthwhile to add into your arsenal, and what is better to leave behind. The best way to decipher which movements translate to a live roll is to weigh the risk factors. Do these movements have a greater reward to risk ratio? Am I more likely to get injured by moving this way? What can my opponent counter this movement with? The more you explore, the more these questions will answer themselves.

Video feedback is an amazing way to catch the missed opportunities during not only your live matches, but flows as well. It logs what worked, what didn't work, and opens your eyes to your movement from a third person view. Having that footage is helpful to break it down with your partner or a coach to figure out why an area was lacking and what you can do to improve next time around. Just another great tool to help with your development!

Next time you are mid-roll and your partner stops the flow, don't force your way through the blockage! Go around, go over, or move with their inertia. Take the time in the gym to learn what works and doesn't for a reactionary basis. Each time you take those risks in the gym, you become better and more knowledgeable of those areas not overly explained in your classes. Jiu jitsu is a lot about self-discovery; you acquire the skills you need to perform the basics and then it becomes what you do with those tools that makes jiu jitsu so endless. The beauty of any art is the ability to create what you want, and through flow in jiu jitsu, you can do just that.

Finding your flow may not be an easy task initially, but with a little time and practice you may just find the next step in your never-ending development.

Competition Anxieties

 Butterflies in the stomach and the mental paranoia of failure circling around your mind days before a competition can lead to questioning why you might even be doing this in the first place, but regardless if you feel these things or not, it is completely normal. Over the past few years I have upped my rate of competing to test myself and my jiu jitsu and I never have regretted a single one of those events. Successes and losses have never been a ruling factor to compete; simply to just get an opportunity to play the game.

Let's steer back into the idea of these competition jitters and how they can be dealt with. Coming from personal experience I never focus on the matches at hand or the event in great detail when I am preparing. When I use the term 'preparing,' I am not really changing too much of my normal routine. I already train consistently, it's the adaptations of how I train that changes before an event. Intensity is a huge factor, and being able to amplify it will lead to greater success of having a solid performance come competition day.

With the training volume remaining the same, I usually prefer to oscillate the rate of intensity because going hard all day every day leads to burn out and injury. There was an event last year where I had increased the volume of work in addition to the intensity of each workout, which led to me getting sick and needing to pull out of an event. Nothing feels worse than doing something like that.

This means assuring that I have rest days, whether that is an active rest day or a straight up recovery day is up to you, but your body needs time to heal. Some days may call for you to slow things down and get more technical with your approach to reserve that energy for the next session. The point of the matter is you need to be confident in your preparation approach in order to cut down on added stress. The better your plan, the less you have to worry come 'game day.'

Staying on a balanced diet is crucial during your training sessions, but can be very difficult when you need to cut weight. I've had a few small weight cuts in the past and they were not unpleasant because of the approach I took. However certain diets restrict the fuel you need to recover properly, so be sure to have a good idea how to fuel yourself during these times. The last thing you want to do is experiment with a new method days before an event. Practice these things before hand and dial them into a science.

I had been a big advocate for a long time of not having a game plan for competition, and time after time again it came back to bite me. Here and there I would get lucky, but most of the time I would not see much success. Ahead of time you should plan out your game based on your style of grappling and try your best to stick with it. When you do this you can find common points in your jiu jitsu to funnel the opponent into a strong area of yours and up your rate of success. Once again, planning reigns supreme for collecting those 'W's.'

The next part circles back to the recovery process, but it is crucial to assure your are well rested and hydrated especially on the day of the event. Two simple things that can make or break an individual's performance is lack of sleep or being dehydrated. Do not lose the match before you even show up! Practice good sleeping habit and hydration habits throughout your training and this part will be natural.

On the day of the event, I usually like to show up to the event early. When I say early, I usually get there hours before I am supposed to be there. Why? Because I hate being late and the stresses of driving on the day where my focus should be solely on the task at hand need to be cleared from my system. I need time to mentally prepare; I need time to zone out and get into the groove. I'll warm up a bit, but no more than I normally would in a regular session. Why start a new routine before a match when you don't normally prepare that way? It's counter-productive.

That subtle statement that is always made in terms of competition: "You win your tournaments in the gym, and collect the medals at the event." is a great way to look at competing. Once you are there, it is time to enjoy yourself and let all that hard work shine through. The more you get out there the easier it will be to control your nerves and perform better. Yet there will never be an absence of the competition anxieties, so we must learn to become mentally stronger and deal with them. Keep on setting goals to compete and to improve and before you know it, you will be at your desired destination. 

Lastly, try your best not to let a win or a loss go to your head; it is simply a result of the day, not the overall time put into training. There will always be another match/competition, but know that the passion to do jiu jitsu is everlasting and ever-evolving. A competition helps shine light on your strengths and your weaknesses, and what you do with that information can determine if you will continue to improve or stay the same. I would take the latter if I were you!

Creating a Web: Proactive Thinking and Setting the Trap

Once you get introduced to the lapel game, the possibilities begin to quickly multiply. Original movements become diversified, controls and footholds began to appear where they previously were not, and new ideas seem to pop up at a never-ending rate. Regardless of all the possibilities that may arise with the new love interest of the lapel game, nothing will work automatically on its own. Just like any other aspect of the game of jiu jitsu, it is important to practice your set ups and begin to research your opponent's reactions based on what you do. 

 First let's start with the idea of wanting to use the lapel in your match/roll. 

Now at any point I could hope for it to become undone from their belt during the match, yet there is no guarantee that it will happen without physically opening the gi/lapel. With this in mind, an experienced jiu jitsu player is going to notice when you start playing with their lapel. Taking the time to strategically set up the lapel to be used during your match can lead to greater success further into the round. Think of it like a sleight of hand trick; if you can distract your opponent with something else to take their mind off the lapel, you will avoid being caught red-handed when the lapel pops loose and continues to be controlled.

Take a look at the set up below for the lapel removal...

 I am attempting to sweep my partner who reacts by posting out their hand as an attempt to keep a solid base. When this occurs I take the opportunity to pull the lapel out of their belt in the same direction of the sweep. Being distracted from the impact of the bump and the post, it is easy to conceal the intent of the lapel removal. Now it's time to set up the grips for the sweep. Now I'm not saying you always have to stick with your original plan by any means, but having a general idea of what you plan to do can keep things rolling smoothly. I like to try to have a back up plan or two with a particular grip set in the case that my original move becomes blocked or countered.

Below we will see a three options of attacking; Options #1, #2 and #3 respectively. 

So in Option #1, I am planning to sweep to the same side that I originally bumped my opponent to. The plan is to feed the lapel behind their back to my opposite hand and put the same side foot into the tail of the lapel. The amount of pressure that gets put on their shoulder is tremendous and you can clearly see a huge rotation take effect. This rotation drastically increases the success of finishing the sweep in this direction. How you actually finish or keep control of the opponent can vary, but the idea remains the same throughout: poor posture and base equal a successful sweep.

Option #2 is a bit different, but the concept is the same. Take away their ability to post and maintaining their posture and a solid base is extremely difficult. By trapping the same side arm in the lapel, your opponent lacks a posting option to stop the sweep. The rest is up to you in your preference in grips. Start your sweep in the direction of the removed post and you have yourself a successful sweep When it comes to submissions, the same rules apply: stay sneaky and use the push-pull concept to you advantage. To increase your likelihood of any attack, whether that be a submission or sweep/takedown, by using a push-pull motion on our opponent, you increase the effect of rotation. In terms of a rotating circle, the closer to the center of the circle, the faster the rotation is at a shorter distance. The further away you are from the center of that rotation, the greater the distance is being covered. So think of the push-pull concept as a way to increase the distance your opponent needs to cover to prevent the movement from off-balancing them. If they fail to prevent the rotation, they get swept/taken down. If they manage to prevent the rotation, they are now in jeopardy of a counter attack based on their body positioning. This is where our reactionary-based counters come into play.

In Option #3, you can see that based upon my opponent's reaction they have successfully beaten my attempt to sweep them, however this sets up my opportunity to go for a Baseball Bat Choke. This is where I disengage my foot from the lapel and rotate away from my opponent to cinch up the choke. Remember though that every move has its counter(s) that must be considered or you will pay the price when your timing is off. For example, in this submission attempt you could receive an armbar or give up position with a failed movement and a sharp opponent.

When a spider creates their web, they rely on their prey to fall into a system that they created. The careful planning put into how they intend to catch a fly or other form of sustenance is no different than the web we weave with our lapels. Our attacks are our nourishment that we earn through deception and careful preparation. We are not only controlling our opponent, but build a set of pre-determined choices for them to make that lead into our striking range. The strategy involved adds more depth to familiar positions, but also simplifies a form of security of control of your opponent. At the end of it all, you are taking away options of normal defensive tactics to maximize your chances of your end-goal coming to fruition. Don't sleep on the lapel game or they may just put your to sleep.

Creating a Web: Introduction to Using Lapels

Jiu jitsu is a diverse martial art that has multiple styles of the way that you can play the game. Specialists dive head first down the rabbit hole of specific grips, positions, and styles that open up door after door of possibility. Throughout my journey so far, one of my favorite ways to play the game is utilizing the lapels as a way of control and as a weapon. Let’s take an introductory look on how we can use the gi, but more specifically the lapels, to create a web to entrap your opponent within. In this introduction, we will break down some of the basic uses of the lapel and some ways to apply the technique(s) into a practical setting. We will look at Attacking and Controlling Space.

Attacking

One of the most known uses of the lapel is to amplify the intensity of a choke. The lapel can act as a powerful tool that can form a tighter choke since it can be manipulated more easily than the collar. By using the lapels as your grip, you also relieve your fingers from additional stress that can be caused due to friction and style of grip needed within a collar/sleeve.

If you look below, you will see a Cross Collar Choke and a Cross Lapel Choke.

Cross Collar Choke

Cross Lapel Choke

You can see how the grips are virtually identical in nature aside from the use of the lapel vs. the collar. Understanding that the move itself hasn’t changed, you are instantly doubling the amount of attacking options that you have by factoring in the use of the lapel tails. Likewise, lapels can be used to set up some powerful sweeps. I like to view the sweep as an attack because it directly affects the opponent’s posture and base.Even if someone impedes the sweep, they usually sacrifice an area to be attacked through their defense. When you use the lapel to sweep you are increasing your lever and in turn a greater amount of force is produced to complete the kuzushi (off-balancing). 

In the video below you can see some mechanics being demonstrated to finish a sweep with the lapel tail.

Controlling Space

When the thought of controlling space comes to mind, what do you think of more: offense or defense? Typically the answer is defense, but it can just as easily be used offensively too. Think of controlling space also as a way to restrict your opponent’s movement and options, which can force them to react to your advantage. You can quite literally tie your opponent up with their own lapels to the point where the physically cannot defend and you still have a free hand to attack. Whereas defensively you can use them to create the space needed to escape a position or submission. A sneaky player uses the lapels discretely, yet you can be incredibly obvious with your lapel usage and still be successful. Just because an opponent can see and feel you using their lapel does not mean they can escape what is yet to come! With proper set up, the lapel can act as a pulley system that starts to twist your opponent out of alignment and reduce their overall mobility and power. The more you weave your opponent, the more restricted their movement becomes. This follows one of the basic concepts of jiu jitsu, isolation. Once the limb is isolated, you are ready to set up to attack.

Lapel usage is a way to “multiply your limbs” and make your opponent feel like they are defending against multiple attackers. The lapels can be used as a lasso or whip to perform all sorts of transitions and attacks, as well as defenses against the most traditional attacks. Take a look at the last video below to see some other options. Whether or not you take a liking to the lapel game, it is important to know what is happening in case someone else uses them against you. Be on the lookout for the next installments of ‘Creating the Web’ to talk about defending the lapel and different systems of attack. The lapel game has a lot to offer, but we have only just begun.

Learning To Teach (Part 6): Teaching Perpetual Improvement

I've been nerding out lately with the idea of perpetual motion. Perpetual motion is continuous movement that last forever without an energy source. Being someone that always seeks for improvement in all areas of life, I figured I would try a new approach to teaching using the idea of perpetual motion as the source. Let me explain what I mean. 

Similarly in the movie "Inception" the whole plot is based around the power of thought and how infectious an idea can become. Taking the idea itself as the perpetual motion machine, we can use it as a way to increase the desire to learn and increase the level of productivity in doing so. Think back to reading books as a kid that gave you the power to make your own choices and shape the outcome of the story yourself. It was a very empowering tool as a child to be able to make our own choices; it was the power of freedom within constraints. Learning will thrive if you give and adult that same opportunity.

 As adults, we still want and need that freedom to make our own choices because we want to feel in control. Taking the time to carefully prepare options ahead of time creates the comfort of someone making their own choices, but in a specific direction of the teacher/coach. This narrows the focus to what the topic is so improvements can be made by the students and reinforced by the students wanting to learn specific material. It is common for individuals to plateau throughout their journeys due to lack of stimulation or direction and asking someone to take a hard look at themselves in the mirror can be difficult for them to do on their own. By constructing these paths for our students to take on their own, they continue their own journeys of improvement because they want to, not because you told them to. 

I recently came across a method of teaching that has improved the ability for students to want to learn things that aren't as exciting to practice, but are an extremely important function of growth. Trying to get individuals to practice escaping from positions and submissions can sometimes feel like pulling teeth. Of course we need to know this material, but not a lot of people want to spend the time on escaping until they are in a deep submission and the clock is ticking. We have been taking five separate positions/submissions per class to work escaping from for a pre-determined time limit for the past month. Based off the performances the students evaluate their own weaknesses, then I give the opportunity for people to speak up on what they feel they need to work on. So far there are usually two to three of the topics that drives the focus of the remainder of the class. 

Hook, line and sinker.

The students generated their own learning path based off what they realized for themselves. A process that builds itself based off of an idea. Now this is not perpetual motion and the reason being that there is something external creating this process each time. However in time, the empowered learner repeating this process gains the confidence to take those hard looks at their jiu jitsu and make those improvements. by themselves. Only then has perpetual motion has been successfully achieved. A self-driven class on a constant state of improvement. 

Another big find on the teaching side of the house was the development of one-on-one training. When I first started holding private lessons I found difficulty gaging the amount of material to cram or spread across the allotted timeframe. It was never not enough information, but sometimes too much to comprehend in the long run. Seeing this as a quantity not quality problem, I began to try to focus on what the student needed more based off how they would react in certain positions and situations. A fully customized session of training based off the individual. Allowing the lesson to build itself around a generalized structure has proved itself very beneficial. I can now see what is needed in real time and we can adjust the direction to dial in on those weaknesses. 

Once the weaknesses are addressed, it is important to drill them into muscle memory through sequences. For example, the difficulty is escaping from side control, so once there are a couple solid options that are working for the student, we can drill it as they lose the guard pass, get stuck in side control, escape to guard and sweep to the top then submit. This gets them used to multiple things happening around the movement itself since jiu jitsu is never an isolated movement; it is continuous. Their reaction time tends to lead them into escaping during the transition rather then waiting on the pass to be completed to the position. In the end they end up not only being stuck in the position less often, but also more apt to avoiding the position altogether (within reason).

  Formatting the classes and private lessons this way has really shined light on how quickly someone can progress when they realize and accept their weaknesses and choose to improve them. It can be difficult for someone to point out a troublesome area in your game, especially if it seemed to come out of the blue. As much as we love to say jiu jitsu deflates the ego, the ego still exists and has a way of taking things to heart at times. 

By taking the time to design a class/lesson as a self-sustaining environment of growth, we start to foster the idea of perpetual motion. Little by little, the student becomes more willing to learn and the plateau of progress starts to take off again. You are no longer giving someone a quick fix because they start to discover the skill of immediate self-reflection, which leads to knowing exactly what they need to improve on. This leads to a longer lasting solution that begins to fuel itself and keep our students in a state of continuous improvement.