Ebbs and Flows

Tonight my mind is preoccupied with the ups and downs of training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu full time. Before I continue I just want to note that the downs are not "bad times," they are all good times. What I mean is I am plateaued and not learning at the rate I normally do, or I feel like my timing is off etc. When I reach this stage I am always raking my mind, looking for ways to break through it. But, like anything in life the answer is something obvious and simple, also something I cringe at. The cure is to take couple days or three off.  This is something that I think many of the friends I have met training and competing over the previous few years can relate to. We are addicted to training BJJ and it is a painful thing to take a day off not to mention three. So how do I do it, decide when it is break time? Well, I do the wrong thing, I wait till my body feels like it is on the verge of shutting down, and it seems like every move I make on the mat is going to injure me. At this point my fear of not training for a month or more due to injury overcomes the mental anguish of not training for a few days. I know this is probably the worst way to go about it, so that is why I decided to reach out to my fellow BJJ addicts for help.  I have admitted I have a problem and am now asking for assistance... Lol sounds so bad. Anyways how do you guys and gals decide when you need to take a break? Let me know, please!!!

Las Vegas International Open

We have a team of five people going to compete in the upcoming IBJJF tournament. George Andersch, David Tofte, Darren Coombs, Douglas Cuomo, and Lucas Wertman will all be flying down to Las Vegas next week and staying in a awesome 7 bedroom mansion complete with its own pool and hot tub. Its time to test all that hard work and dedication to training and learning on the line in an highly respected international tournament circuit. The best part of putting together a team to compete at a tournament like this is realizing the dedication of the people behind the scenes! The team here is much larger than just 5 people of course, there are currently about 140 people from all walks of life that are part of the BJJ team, and they are the people that make the team great, and soon many more will be joining the competition team! Stay tuned for results soon after the August 13th tournament!

It's Time!!!

*Disclaimer - this is going to be written in a hurry so forgive bad syntax, grammar, and grammer. Thanks

As I sit here waiting for James to show up at the Academy, to ride with Audrina and I to Champlain Park for the Submission Hunt Grappling tournament, I started thinking about how much joining FargoBJJ has changed my life and where I would be if I had chosen to do something else at that pivotal moment in my life. This Academy has had such a positive and profound effect on my life that I am grateful to the instructors and fellow students! I have much improved self confidence, a positive outlook on life, and I for the first time ever I fell like I am following the right path in life. It is such a great feeling! I find it amazing that I am about to go compete in a grappling competition; if I had imagined this two and a half years ago before I started training, I would have laughed at the thought as lunacy and well I am getting a little off subject so... The good feeling I was talking about previously is deeper than just the positive impact in my life but the positive changes I see in others as well. To be a part of someone else's effort to find a better life for themselves is incredible! So students, and non-students alike come in a make a difference in your life, make a difference in someone else's life, be a part of the family here!!! Its time to make a difference.

Submission Hunt!!!

This Saturday several students from Fargo's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy, FargoBJJ, are headed to the cities to compete in the Submission hunt. In addition to the several adult students going to compete there are at least 5 kids planning on making the trip to compete in the kids divisions! Stay tuned for results!!!

Back at it, with a PanAm 2011 recap

Ok, it has been a while since I wrote about life at FargoBJJ, and it is time to start up again. First, what I have been up to: the last weekend in March Jacob and I flew to LA to compete in the PanAms. Well I am getting a little ahead of myself. First the two of us trained for the PanAms, we train year round but a few months out we focused our training specifically for the PanAmerican tournament. Jake and I worked our conditioning at 701 Crossfit in Fargo and MaxTrain in Moorhead respectively. For competition training we got together with some of FargoBJJ's best who are interested in the hard training and competing and trained as hard as we could, and put ourselves in all the situations we thought we might experience during the tournament. We were still maintaining our typical class regimen too, and to top it off we had to cut back on our diets so that we could make weight! The IBJJF tournaments require you to weigh in with your gi on, immediately before you compete, so we wanted to come in walking around at weight instead of cutting before hand. I competed first, and I did great controlling the stand up, passing easily and dominating top position working for submissions... for a while :( Part way through the match the referee stopped it to adjust my opponents pants and I lost concentration. I started thinking of all sorts of things other than the task at hand and when the match restarted, although I was in dominate position, it slowly slid downhill from there. I was choked out and learned a valuable lesson. That no matter the situation it is necessary to constantly stay vigilant, focused on the task at hand. Now, Jacob was competing soon I had to recompose myself and be a good teammate and coach. This was the most difficult thing I have accomplished yet in my BJJ career. I was mad at myself, and down, really really down! For a period of time that seemed like an eternity I had to keep telling myself that it wasn't my time anymore and I needed to do everything I could to help my teammate win. It was hard but shortly thereafter I put the loss out of my mind and was helping Jake. This was his first tournament, and one so big for a first is amazing. We spent some time talking about adrenaline and how it affects the body and what to be prepared for. Then talked game plan and what ifs. When it came time for the match I could tell that Jake had a serious adrenaline dump, he was slow and lethargic, definitely not his typical explosive style. He got in a really bad spot right away but managed to survive, and started to recover! Now he was on point and making good decisions, he started improving his positions, he swept and got on top and started passing with control, but alas this was only a five min. match. Time was up and the competition ended with Jake on top of half guard and a gassed opponent stalling out in desperate exhaustion. Way to go, Jake, stepping it up big for your first tournament, and way to go overcoming huge adversity, and way to go ending it well! It was a great preformance!!!