I consider myself really fortunate in the sense that ever since I started training BJJ, my enthusiasm never stopped pushing me on. I’ve never experienced a serious drop in my desire to train, or ever considered just packing it all in and giving it a rest. So far so good, it’s been all about finding newer, better ways to drill and roll, and make it more fun.
Which is not to say that I’ve never had nights when I was just plain not up for it – the nights when I felt neither motivated nor engaged and just went straight to autopilot – which, also fortunately, have been few and far between. This brings me to something my wife was telling me about. She heard it during a workshop she attended and goes like this:
Finding out what is right in life gives us the strength to fix what is wrong.
I thought it was a very good way to look at things and because I seem to be clinically obsessed, set to applying this to my Jiu-Jitsu. You know, for the next time I start feeling blah. I ended up with a list of various people and things that inspire me, and give me a reason to not only get in gear and train, but to want it as well.
It turned out to be a great exercise. Not only was it, in some cases, a great reminder of stuff I want to bring back into my training, it was also cool to just hang out with some fun memories.
The list:
My wife
Vince, Sam and the rest of the KDT bunch
Rigan Machado
John Will
Adam & Jem Kayoom (one of my favourite memories of Adam is him looking at me and going “Albert, you’re one tough son of a *****”)
Finding out about the Ezequiel choke
Finding new ways to apply the Ezequiel
Taking loads of flak for using the Ezequiel
Reading Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu, by Dave Camarillo
Road tripping to Singapore with the KDT guys for BJJ seminars
Rooming with Vince and Tarbo during my first CMD trainers’ retreat
Silvio Braga, who taught me my all-time favourite armbar setup
Rolling with handicaps, even if everybody else cheats at it
Combining striking with takedowns and grappling in CMD class
Judo – with and without gi
Coaching, and learning how others coach
Batman & Superman
2 comments:
Great to know you picked up Sensei Camarillo's book. He's a fantastic instructor and all around great person. He's really a martial arts entrepreneur. You should check out his forum as he's very active online and has great discussions with the BJJ/Judo community.
I've neveer heard of Crazy Monkey Defence before. I'll have to go read about it. Maybe that will be an interesting cross-training for you...Crazy Monkey and the Guerilla JJ! LOL...check out the family in the wild:
http://www.davecamarillo.com/
I've even posted something recently on my blog:
www.unitingthearts.com
Happy Rolling!
Hi,
Thanks for the comment, as well as the links - much appreciated! I'll definitely have to visit the forum and have a read. I've just had a browse of his blog and looks like a lot of good stuff there as well.
I'm having a lot of fun with the CMD program, especially in the environment my coach sets. Sometimes it's boxing, sometimes mma, sometimes clinch and throws, it's really flexible.
Cheers, and safe training!
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