Skip to main content

Make a Note of it


In the last three years I've attended several Brazilian Jiujitsu (BJJ) seminars given by BJJ masters, mostly named Gracie. I wanted to see what ancient secrets these jiujitsu mystics had to teach that would give me the edge in my Bushido. The seminars, lasting from 3 hours to an entire 3-day weekend, go through an overwhelming amount of information and techniques. All of it great information...many techniques I wouldn't have figured out, or maybe even learned for years, if ever!.....Hardly of it anything I could remember once I got back on the mat the next week!

 How was I to be a true student of the art if I couldn't remember the techniques from the professors for more than a few hours? I should have paid attention to what I saw a few of the other students doing...a few blue belts and ALL of the purple belts.....they all had pens and varying levels of worn out notebooks. They were the true students....I might as well have been a guy paying good money to watch a demonstration. One day, during a private coaching session, my then coach encouraged me to keep a notebook with my techniques and notes on each technique that I learned. Thus beginith the Bushido Notebook!

Since then I've kept notes from all seminars and some classes. I take notes while at home, or even if the thought occurs while at work, on whatever technique I have learned or am trying to learn. Every nuance of every position. A few inches here....an angle there. It doesn't always make sense at first.....even once I draw it out, often in stick figures. But usually after a few days or a few months suddenly a move will click, and I own the technique.

It didn't make sense for me to train for hours, or days under some of the great BJJ and judo professors of the world and not take any notes. Now I take notes as often as practical. I might be at a regular BJJ or judo class on any given Saturday for recreation, or training in Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) techniques for my military career. I also started taking notes when I read BJJ and judo books, as well as when I look at fights and training DVD's.
If you want to be a serious student of the arts, keep a notebook. If possible, take pictures, or even video. From white belt to black belt you are putting in just as much if not even more time into your Bushido as you would into college, and just as much money often times, so why not be a true student of the art and get as much as you can out of each time you get on the mat and beyond.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kaizen Jiujitsu: Change for the Better

Kaizen is a Japanese word composed of two words “KAI” means change and “ZEN” means better. Put together it means change for the better or improvement. Kaizen is a quality management philosophy of making small improvements over time. It is the process of continuous improvement in small increments that make the process more efficient, effective, and controllable.  It is used in manufacturing by companies like Toyota in Japan.  I am adapting this concept to apply to jiujitsu.  Using continuous improvement practices through the course of a jiujitsu career you never stop improving on techniques.  Once you, for example, pass a belt test and move on to more challenging techniques and concepts you don’t just stop improving on the previous set.  The goal is to continuously improve on what you have already learned while continuing to take ownership of additional techniques and incorporating them into your own game, or style of jiujitsu play.  You improve and updat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why does it take 10 years to earn a jiujitsu black belt?!

In martial arts it can take 2-3 years just learning how to use your own body.  You spend the next 2 years perfecting imposing your techniques on the opponent.  Jiujitsu takes it a step further....spending the next 5+  years learning how to make the opponent fall into your techniques instead of you imposing your techniques on him.  Striking martial arts, such as taekwondo, it takes around 4 years to earn a black belt legitimately.  Much of this time is learning how to use your own body to deliver techniques on an opponent.  Learning to kick someone in the face, for example.  Now imagine from that point learning how to trick your opponent into falling their face into your kick.  That's jiujitsu.  It isn't enough to put someone into a choke or armbar.  Anyone can do that with little training.  Jiujitsu in part is learning how to trick your opponent into falling directly into your technique, without you having to forcefully impose your...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Best Techniques

"All models are wrong; some models are useful"--George Edward Pelham Box Just like all pizza is not good pizza, the same holds true as jiujitsu: Not all jiujitsu is good jiujitsu. Even with the jiujitsu of the Gracie's, not all Gracie JiuJitsu is the same jiujitsu either. One Professor’s jiujitsu is not the same as another Professor's jiujitsu. One Professor may be a small man and emphasize technique and timing over power more than a Professor that developed as a very athletic, large player who may emphasize technique and timing less.  So having a black belt from one is not the same as having a black belt from another. I'm not saying that one is better than the other I am just saying that one style does not equate to the other. There’s no such thing as “the best” martial art.  Martial arts are the best for what they were developed for.  The martial arts of my Bushido are taekwondo (TKD), MCMAP (and subsequently (LINE), and judo/jiujitsu.  TKD known for its ki...
Post a Comment
Read more