Gracie Barra Mansfield | Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Tag: jiu jitsu beginners

The Paradox of Choice

How often do you go to the store and get stuck on trying to decide on what you want? We, as consumers, love to have the freedom of choices, but in BJJ that can create frustration and second guessing. Don’t get me wrong… having choices is great, but for someone just starting out it can be overwhelming.

For some people, the solution is simple: train more. When you’re new to BJJ, the first couple of months are some of the most trying. This is the period of time where the majority of people who do quit will quit. This is partially because grappling is so much different from the average person’s daily activities. As such some people are able to overcome this hurdle by just training more often.

For others it isn’t always that simple.

We often say that jiu-jitsu is “infinite” and there is some degree of truth to that. There are countless variations of each technique with each student putting their own tweaks into it (once the technique is mastered) to better fit their own style.

But to someone just getting into BJJ it can be very overwhelming. When you’re in a position where you are presented with near limitless choices, then you may get snagged trying to filter through each choice to find the one you want. This effectively causes you to make slower decisions and can cause your mind to go blank.

In a book called The Paradox of Choice, American psychologist Barry Schwartz argues that eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety for shoppers.

Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well-being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don’t seem to be benefiting from it psychologically.

—Ch.5, The Paradox of Choice, 2004

So what’s the solution to the problem? Limit your choices.

Master Carlos Gracie Jr.’s Fundamentals curriculum is a great place to start. After enough practice you can begin to expand your number of choices until you are comfortable having a variety techniques at your disposal.

Remember, to get better at jiu-jitsu you need to do jiu-jitsu. Train hard and live well.

JIU-JITSU FOR EVERYONE!

August 6, 2014
5 Things Jiu-Jitsu Newcomers Should Know

5 Basic Things You Need to Learn about Jiu-Jitsu

SO there you are finally deciding to get off your couch and try out that awesome thing that you saw in MMA being shown on primetime TV. You finally said, “hey, my body is a huge mess, and girls dig MMA fighters. Right?”

And then you walk into one of them Gracie Barra schools, or any school that you would normally drive pass by. You park your car and step into the gym. You have never seen so many people in one place your entire life! You decided to sign up. Get your very first Gi, a rashguard.

Welcome to the wonderful world of BJJ.

As a newcomer, I applaud you for choosing to start your journey in BJJ. As thousands already have, you are now a member of a wonderful brotherhood / sisterhood of martial artist. I know you are really fired up, however, there are things that you will need to remember to become AWESOME in this field.

Things to remember ARE:

Becoming a black belt takes years

Yes. Getting a blackbelt takes around 5-8 years of training. Depending on your training and your will to be promoted, belt ranking is actually done regularly. Be prepared to brush up on your lessons. From basics to advance. There are exemptions to this, of course. I believe BJ Penn received his in 4 years. The kid’s a prodigy,

If you are expecting to be a black belt in less than 2-3 years, think again. I think Jiu-Jitsu is not for you, or Gracie Barra is not the school that will provide that. A black belt is just something dark-colored and that goes around your waist. That’s about it. It’s not the color that makes the fighter, but the fighter to who fights and doesn’t quit training.

There some who claim that you can get it in just 2 years. I believe they trained at McDojo BJJ. No offense meant.

There is a thing called over training

Unless you are superman, or heals like Wolverine, you should look out for signs of overtraining. This occurs when well, you spend a little too much time training. At first, it’s your body that takes in the first blow. Then your start to lose focus. You lose strength in your arms. Running seems laborious, and grappling such a task.

The answer: take some break. Probably giving yourself a day or two from training will work. The logic is quite simple: if an employee needs a vacation, what more for a budding martial artist?

Listening actually WORKS in BJJ

Ok. I’ve seen some BJJ newbies that are struggling. The core root cause is the lack of listening skills. I have noticed a lot of them spacing out while being instructed moves. Some have difficulty in listening because they think that YouTube videos actually are the best ways to learn. While there is no evil behind learning in YouTube, it is far better that you first develop these new techniques and follow the basic rudiments of the art. IF you plan to reinvent the wheel and come up with your own training regimen,

Prepare to Fail

Ok. Don’t get this wrong. Seriously. But there will be a lot of heartaches in BJJ. Well, in anything that rewards anybody will not be easy. Prepare to fail on your first to attempt to submit someone. Failure is normal. If all boxers succeeded in knocking out someone the very first time, they threw a punch, it wouldn’t the boxing that we all know today.

Expect to Succeed

Success is not measured by the number of opponents that you were able to beat on the mats. Well, at least for me, that is. Success is measured by how far you have improved as a person while and after doing Jiu-Jitsu. Expect that you will succeed. Expect eventually you will get to that rank. Expect that you will win that gold.

Jiu-Jitsu for everyone!

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July 3, 2014
BJJ Lifestyle: Spar and Learn

Sparring is going against a teammate in a fight, where enough rules are set to avoid injuries. Often sparring is a good way to gauge someone’s skills, especially in BJJ.

Now the big question is, should you spar? Or better yet, are you ready to spar?

I can still remember the first time I was asked to spar. I sparred with this blue belt guy. In sparring, no one gets to lose (well, getting choked or being submitted counts as losing.) The idea of the spar is quite simple: knowing your skills so when you hit the competition arena, you know where you stand, and know how well you can do.

Anyhow, I sparred with the guy, and sad to say, I was submitted 8 times within 5 minutes. After all, his belt level is higher than mine – but it was a tough lesson to learn: there is no BJJ miracle. You have to work hard to get the skills to become really good at it. I thought that I was going to get a submission, but it was far from happening back in the day.

However, sulking as anyone should be after being submitted that much in less than 5 minutes, I began to focus on what I needed. I began working on a gameplan: not getting submitted.

In the following weeks of sparring, I was able to ward off attacks and subs, but I knew that it would not get me anywhere if I did. However, being able to learn how to defend myself is the key to learning the very basics of the guard and the counters.

With sparring, I started becoming very good at my skills. I started to learn how submissions really work. And it’s all because of sparring.

I’ve seen students who refuses to spar, or at least are too shy to. But the lessons to be learned from sparring are really great. Remember this: BJJ is a skill-based art. It’s something that you need to be able to do and not just know how to do. It’s training your body. It’s feeding your mind to develop muscle memory.

Make it a point to spar at least once a week. Think of it as a culmination of an entire week’s worth of training. Apply what you have learned. Get used to it and be good at it!

June 26, 2014