After my evening jog tonight, I sat on my driveway and took my shoes/socks off. Put some stairway to heaven in my ears, and started stretching out, mainly focusing on my butterfly stretch. That seems to be my weak spot, haha. I decided to add in a little twist to my training, and took out my headphones and put my hoody back on.
I started just shadow grappling, just kind of working on footwork and single foot sprawls. dodging around lightly barefooted and just foot movement, head movement, and hand movements. I decided to throw in some rolls. They were quite rough on my back and shoulders at first, and a few times my feet would slap the cold pavement. This hurt. After about five minutes or so of this, I started getting just a little bit smoother, and the rolls still hurt, but not as much. I did forward, sideways, and backward variations. Went all over the place as best as I could. Overall experience = great.
Think I am going to be adding this to my nightly routine. I believe this is going to soften up my rolls on the mat and keep them very smooth and tight.
Great night,
Bobby
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Robson Moura Etc. 5/8/10
This weekend I traveled down with Professor Crabtree and Abby to Chicago to attend a Robson Moura seminar at Deterberg academy. Soon as I heard I might be able to go I was on board and moved all plans I had for the weekend out of the WAY. =] Mother understands, I hope.
We left the park and ride at about 6:30 AM, and had a nice ride down to Chicago ahead of us. With professor being the speed demon that he is, we arrived at a much quicker time than expected. Didn't expect to go 90 the whole way down, but hey, gotta do what you gotta do haha. We arrived in Chicago nearly two hours early, and had some time to kill, so professor, Abby, and myself went to some small cafe to get a bite to eat. All I'll say about this is they have weird interpretations of omelette's and they have an interesting crowd, who appeared to all be Serbian, and I am pretty sure they wanted to steal Abby. Anyways, survived that and we were off to the academy to train with Robson.
All changed up we entered the room where we would be training. It was an interesting place, with some interesting people. Had all kinds of different martial artists, some were black belts in who knows what, nothing that seemed that legit to ME anyways. No one really had much of an idea about jiu jitsu though, except for a select few. Robson arrived and him and professor immediately shook hands and talked for a minute. Could tell they were buddy's =]
Robson kicked the seminar off, and we lined up. Most of the black belts or brown belts were stepping in front of me in the line once they saw I was a two stripe white belt, not that I really cared, but I wonder if they knew this was a jiu jitsu seminar, not a knife fighting Hapkido seminar. Anyways, we started to warm up with some shrimpin' and I think me and Abby were the only ones who could really do it proficiently, the rest were sort of flopping around. I laughed, and kept warming up =]
We started with a few basic techniques and drills, keeping hips square with someone while you are on the ground and they are standing, to knee on belly escape to counters to shoulder locks to this and that and the other thing. I wont get into the techniques really, because thats not the point of my blog or this post. The teaching was very good though, and I liked how he handled the class, even the people who have never trained jiu jitsu before were getting into it and learning some basic stuff they could apply. Professor Crabtree helped Abby and I when we had questions, and was always there to make sure our technique was good. I learned a lot and overall it was just a great experience getting to train with a 7 time world champion.
After the Seminar we got dressed and went out to lunch with Robson. He wanted to go to some Thai restaurant, so we walked to one that was supposed to be good nearby. My step dad is half Thai, and thats all we used to eat when I lived with him and my mom back in Jackson, so I had a good idea of what I wanted and what to order and what most of the stuff on the menu was. I was in my "element" I guess you could say. They all talked and shot the shiz, I didn't really get into the conversation to much except for when Robson asked how old I was, hold long I had been training and if I could handle the spicy food. I just ate my food and enjoyed the sit down time thinking. We all finished up, and payed our bills and headed out. We departed, saying our goodbyes to Robson and taking a few last pictures before we left. I thanked him for everything and let him know he did a good job at the seminar. We left and headed on.
Abby had been talking about visiting Carlson's grave site earlier that morning, and she had found the address on Clint's ipod. We decided to punch that into the GPS and go searching for it. After a bit of driving we arrived at the Graveyard. This place was HUGE, and first thought I had was how in the heck are we going to find one small gravestone with Master Carlson on it. After about 25 minutes of searching, we didn't even come close to finding it... hah. We came up with the idea of looking on Hillary Williams facebook for her picture of it with Jr. We found the picture and checked the background, picking out one key structure that would lead to the finding of the grave, some bushes and rocks. We drove around and found the same things and that led right to Carlson's grave. Damn we are good detectives =] We took a few pictures and just stood around for a couple minutes looking at it and talking. It was amazing to be able to visit such a place where a true master was laid to rest. Some real jiu jitsu history and culture right there. It especially meant something to Clint, who had trained with him a few times before but never visited his grave before. He talked about how he would never talk to you while training, but if you were doing a technique incorrectly he would just move your hands/feet or other part of you to the correct position and smile. Thats how professor remembered him teach. What awesome stuff. We left and had a cool little surprise in store for us next.
Clint drove around town and we ended up at FFC. This is where Jr's academy is located. We went upstairs and checked it out. Abby and I had never been there before. we took a few pictures and stepped on the mats. There were a couple of his students there rolling, and we had a couple words with them while there. It was really cool to visit Carlson's academy, seeing as that I had never seen or been there before. Another unforgettable jiu jitsu experience in the books.
We now were heading home after a killer weekend of pure jiu jitsu. Between the training, the emotional aspects and all the other experiences I had it was really an unforgettable time. Spent the weekend with two amazing people, and hope to one day do it again.
I started to really understand this weekend why I do what I do. Why I love jiu jitsu so much. It's not just the training and competing I love. Its not just learning new techniques and the technical aspect of it. Its not even that it takes years to truly master and its not that its one of the hardest sports/martial arts to learn. Its because of the experiences that come with it, the family and friends that I make while traveling and competing, and the overall feeling I get every single day that I step on the mats or learn something new about it. The history behind it, and the history still to be made. Its about my dream to one day become a champion, and the road to getting there. Its about persevering and adversity, failing and trying again. The humbleness you feel, and respect you earn. I empty my pockets on jiu jitsu because I love it. I love learning, and love teaching. I just love jiu jitsu and that's it.
My journey and pursuit has officially started,
Bobby
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Brotherhood
On the long (and lovely) walk and bus ride home from jiu jitsu tonight, I pondered a thought which has been sticking to the back of my mind like some strangely powerful adhesive.
Ever since I was 7, I was prone to making friendships with people, and then moving away to a different city only to make more friendships, and move again. This has been a serious problem in "stability" you could say. I've never lived in one place for more than a year or two, so things come and go, and I've learned to flow with it. What has always lasted though, is those friendships that were forged with certain people along the way. I guess this may because of things like cellphones, email, facebook and other social connections that are provided in the world today. Or this could be because of a serious concept that I have not come to realize until recently.
I will make this simple, because I'm tired and have to get one last meal in before the night is over. We are nothing without our brothers. Everyone goes through struggles, everyone has hardships, everyone changes throughout time as they mature, and people cry, and die, and fight, and kill, and are full of joy, and happy, and things happen that you just can't always control. Sometimes people pick up their homes and move every year or two, and sometimes you might do something as little as say the wrong thing to a friend and make them upset. Because of this we form relationships with others to "vent" out our hardships, and maybe you don't, but you know you wish you did.
When all the eggs are scrambled my friends, we are nothing without our brothers, and forever I will struggle with you, my brothers. Forever I will fight for what I believe in with you, my brothers, and I will eventually take the path that only my footsteps can take, but it will be with you, my brothers.
What is brotherhood, and what does it mean to you?
Bobby
Ever since I was 7, I was prone to making friendships with people, and then moving away to a different city only to make more friendships, and move again. This has been a serious problem in "stability" you could say. I've never lived in one place for more than a year or two, so things come and go, and I've learned to flow with it. What has always lasted though, is those friendships that were forged with certain people along the way. I guess this may because of things like cellphones, email, facebook and other social connections that are provided in the world today. Or this could be because of a serious concept that I have not come to realize until recently.
I will make this simple, because I'm tired and have to get one last meal in before the night is over. We are nothing without our brothers. Everyone goes through struggles, everyone has hardships, everyone changes throughout time as they mature, and people cry, and die, and fight, and kill, and are full of joy, and happy, and things happen that you just can't always control. Sometimes people pick up their homes and move every year or two, and sometimes you might do something as little as say the wrong thing to a friend and make them upset. Because of this we form relationships with others to "vent" out our hardships, and maybe you don't, but you know you wish you did.
When all the eggs are scrambled my friends, we are nothing without our brothers, and forever I will struggle with you, my brothers. Forever I will fight for what I believe in with you, my brothers, and I will eventually take the path that only my footsteps can take, but it will be with you, my brothers.
What is brotherhood, and what does it mean to you?
Bobby
Monday, May 3, 2010
At school with 25 days left to Graduation
and im sitting at school, thinking about choking someone.
-_-
-_-
Thursday, April 29, 2010
4-29-10 Earned my first two stripes
Some background - I have been training BJJ since January. About 4 months now is what it has been. My first class was tough, and I was like "wtf". My second class I was hooked on it, completely. They really are serious when they say the addiction to BJJ is serious. I cant get enough of it. I've been training consistently 4,5 and occasionally 6 times a week under Professor Crabtree at Grand Rapids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I have learned an extensive amount about the art and lifestyle, and amazingly have a lifetime left to go. Thats the greatest thing about BJJ if you ask me, the complexity and time it takes to learn and master. I feel like I have so much knowledge compared to the average person, but when I think about my Professor, my training partners, and other black belts around the world, I know nothing. It's remarkable and Im eager to continue my journey.
I approached class tonight looking to work on a few things in particular, a few things I have been trying to study more and more because they have been of serious interest to me lately. 1 - taking the back 2 - escaping after having your back taken =]. Thankfully we worked on a escape and submission while someone has your back tonight. I'm still piecing together all the concepts of taking and escaping the back, and I'm looking forward to getting a nice series of my own put together, because it is my favorite position by far. We live rolled, and thats what I worked to do, take the back, get my back taken, and escape again, over and over. Great night, bottom line.
The end of class came, and I was ready to bow out. Professor pulled out a yellow belt from his Gi and promoted Robert, who more than deserved it. I said "hell yea" and clapped. =] Professor always surprises us. He then awarded a stripe to Holly Schippers, and again another "hell yea". She also deserved it, completely. She comes more than any other female there, and definitely puts in the time and effort in getting better all the time. Ready to bow out now, my name was called and I walked up there to receive what professor felt I had earned. I was awarded two stripes on my white belt and I could have not been any happier. All of the training, studying, learning, and traveling, and I earned the first two stripes on my belt. New heights were reached tonight, and its time to take things even higher.
Thanks to all of my training partners, my professor, my family and friends for support, and god, because without him none of this could have happened.
Still learning to flow with the go,
Bobby
I approached class tonight looking to work on a few things in particular, a few things I have been trying to study more and more because they have been of serious interest to me lately. 1 - taking the back 2 - escaping after having your back taken =]. Thankfully we worked on a escape and submission while someone has your back tonight. I'm still piecing together all the concepts of taking and escaping the back, and I'm looking forward to getting a nice series of my own put together, because it is my favorite position by far. We live rolled, and thats what I worked to do, take the back, get my back taken, and escape again, over and over. Great night, bottom line.
The end of class came, and I was ready to bow out. Professor pulled out a yellow belt from his Gi and promoted Robert, who more than deserved it. I said "hell yea" and clapped. =] Professor always surprises us. He then awarded a stripe to Holly Schippers, and again another "hell yea". She also deserved it, completely. She comes more than any other female there, and definitely puts in the time and effort in getting better all the time. Ready to bow out now, my name was called and I walked up there to receive what professor felt I had earned. I was awarded two stripes on my white belt and I could have not been any happier. All of the training, studying, learning, and traveling, and I earned the first two stripes on my belt. New heights were reached tonight, and its time to take things even higher.
Thanks to all of my training partners, my professor, my family and friends for support, and god, because without him none of this could have happened.
Still learning to flow with the go,
Bobby
Sunday, April 25, 2010
NAGA 2010 Chicago - results/experiences
Competition this weekend in Chicago was really great. The largest NAGA competition on record and probably the most people that has ever been packed into a gym in history. Arrived at the tournament at about 8 AM and didn't leave until about Midnight. 16 Great hours of jiu jitsu and miscellaneous adventures.
I came into this tournament very focused and wanting to win from the beginning. Nothing changed when we got there. Suspecting that I was going to be rolling at about 11 AM, I warmed up and got prepared. Little did I know that the amount of competitors would halt off my competing until about 2:45 PM, Nearly 4 hours later. I had no idea when my bracket was going to be called, so it was a little hard for me to warm up and get food in me at the right times.
With much anticipation, my bracket was called, so I did as much as I really could to warm up quickly. (Pushups, jumping jacks, the normal stuff I guess.) There were two matches before mine, and they looked to be some seriously tough competitors. They were really taking it to each other, and I honestly didn't expect them to even be in my division. My named was finally called, so I took a deep breath and bowed onto the mats. I walked to the square ring, and circled it real quick (something I always do, symbolizing the space within to be mine.) The ref attached the color band for scoring to my belt, and then to my opponent. I stared him down, like I always do, and the fight started.
I danced around a little, kind of feeling my opponent out and waiting for the right time to execute my game plan. About 10 seconds into the match he took it right to me and took me down, aggressively. Scored two points for take down. I worked hard to not let him pass my guard, but he eventually got around it with consistency and aggressiveness. Scored three points for the guard pass. The score was five to zero and some nerves started to kick in. I worked to establish guard back, but ended up in some seriously funky north south guard position. Don't ask how it happened because I really have no idea. I fought to get out and I threw my hips over and landed in a mount position on top, but facing the wrong way. No points awarded obviously. I worked to turn around, slowly, getting the best grips possible but as I turned around he got up and I pulled him into my guard. He passed, again, and now I was seriously down on points eight to zero. I established guard once again after a real battle of grips, strength, and technique. I looked over and there was less than thirty seconds left on the clock so I knew I had to pull off a sub to win this thing. Trapped his arm, threw a leg over and shot my hips up with all my strength. He went down into the arm bar, but he was holding his arm so I could not break it free and submit him. I locked it up as best I could and pulled that thing back with everything in me. It gave, but wouldn't tap. I pulled a little harder, and lifted my hips a little harder. He let out a cry/yell type noise and the ref stopped the fight. He argued he didn't tap, but bottom line was he was caught and wasn't tapping. First match - Win, barely.
My second match was against the silver medal winner. It started out slower than the first, and he eventually pulled guard on me. I was controlling his hips very well and he couldn't scoot out to do anything. I went for a gracie gift pass and nearly had it. Just as I broke his guard open he shot out went into a hook guard. He was speaking in some different language, (I'm assuming Portuguese because he looked Brazilian) but I had no idea what he was saying to me so I just ignored it. He was pushing and pulling, just as I was taught, and I was trying my best to keep a base and keep my grips tight. I eventually was swept, not really knowing how to defend his technique. He swept into my half guard, and I slowly worked to get back full guard. I should have swept though, because I felt that I had a good opportunity to and I didn't. Instead I established full guard and started to work for a flower sweep from there. He swept his other opponent with this move twice, very well. I could tell he had some great techniques. I tried twice, opposite sides, and failed. Almost having it the second time but my grip on his base slipped so he didn't budge. After failing the sweep I decided that I would try and finish the fight from the guard, and worked for the cross collar choke. I had a good grip on the left lapel, but couldn't sink in the grip on the other side. After a minute or so, time ran out and he had taken the match 2-0 with a win by sweep. Disappointed, I shook his hand and thanked the ref and walked back to the side of the mats.
I had missed my chance to seize the moment and I could feel that tenfold. For a second I looked over and saw my teammate YunJae in a match right next to my mat. His division was going on the same time mine was and I only caught his last match, which happened to be finals. I quickly got involved in it, running over to his side and coaching. I yelled out points and the score and the time and just did everything I could to encourage and help YunJae win the gold. Time ran out and He took the match 2-0. It had sort of ignited a small fire inside me and I was happy again. I congratulated him and sat back down. My name was called again for another match, and surprised I walked to the mat and got ready for battle.
I was unaware that I would be competing for third place, but didn't ask questions. After watching my teammate go out there and do his absolute best I was ready to do the dang thing. Ref said go and I went. Felt him out for a few seconds, and took him straight to the ground with a hard take down. Heard the crowed go "Oooo" and that only fueled me. The match was reset in the middle from his guard, and we went at it again. I focused extremely hard on keeping tight and not letting him scoot his hips out to work. He didn't budge for about a minute of the match, and thats when I took the chance to use some of his expended energy against him. There's a move I use sometimes in practice, not quite perfected, but I was confident I could do it against this opponent at that moment. I let him get a easy grip to shoot for a triangle, but at the precise time he shot for the triangle I spun my body around and walked my feet over his chest passing his guard. The move worked flawlessly and scored me three points for the guard pass. He eventually got half guard back, and I escaped seconds later straight to mount. I worked for a Kimura to try and end the fight with about 20 seconds left. He rolled me as I had it locked in and I kept it while he was in my guard. I tried to finish this way (the same way I had finished me first match at arnolds) but he got out of it somehow. With about 10 seconds left in the match I was up on points and held on the rest of the way.
I was happy with my last matches performance, and even more happier that it was against a fairly tough opponent. I executed my plan very strategically and it worked well. Overall I took third place, which I was eventually happy with considering how tough my opponents were and was even more happier after I considered how long I had been training to that point, which was only about 4 months.
I send out huge thank you's to Coach Hyde for the ride in the "trunk" of his car, and also to Stutz, Dano, Tim, A.J and YunJae.
It was a great experience and learned a million things that I plan to work on and implement this weekend in class and during the next few months of training and competing.
Bobby
I came into this tournament very focused and wanting to win from the beginning. Nothing changed when we got there. Suspecting that I was going to be rolling at about 11 AM, I warmed up and got prepared. Little did I know that the amount of competitors would halt off my competing until about 2:45 PM, Nearly 4 hours later. I had no idea when my bracket was going to be called, so it was a little hard for me to warm up and get food in me at the right times.
With much anticipation, my bracket was called, so I did as much as I really could to warm up quickly. (Pushups, jumping jacks, the normal stuff I guess.) There were two matches before mine, and they looked to be some seriously tough competitors. They were really taking it to each other, and I honestly didn't expect them to even be in my division. My named was finally called, so I took a deep breath and bowed onto the mats. I walked to the square ring, and circled it real quick (something I always do, symbolizing the space within to be mine.) The ref attached the color band for scoring to my belt, and then to my opponent. I stared him down, like I always do, and the fight started.
I danced around a little, kind of feeling my opponent out and waiting for the right time to execute my game plan. About 10 seconds into the match he took it right to me and took me down, aggressively. Scored two points for take down. I worked hard to not let him pass my guard, but he eventually got around it with consistency and aggressiveness. Scored three points for the guard pass. The score was five to zero and some nerves started to kick in. I worked to establish guard back, but ended up in some seriously funky north south guard position. Don't ask how it happened because I really have no idea. I fought to get out and I threw my hips over and landed in a mount position on top, but facing the wrong way. No points awarded obviously. I worked to turn around, slowly, getting the best grips possible but as I turned around he got up and I pulled him into my guard. He passed, again, and now I was seriously down on points eight to zero. I established guard once again after a real battle of grips, strength, and technique. I looked over and there was less than thirty seconds left on the clock so I knew I had to pull off a sub to win this thing. Trapped his arm, threw a leg over and shot my hips up with all my strength. He went down into the arm bar, but he was holding his arm so I could not break it free and submit him. I locked it up as best I could and pulled that thing back with everything in me. It gave, but wouldn't tap. I pulled a little harder, and lifted my hips a little harder. He let out a cry/yell type noise and the ref stopped the fight. He argued he didn't tap, but bottom line was he was caught and wasn't tapping. First match - Win, barely.
My second match was against the silver medal winner. It started out slower than the first, and he eventually pulled guard on me. I was controlling his hips very well and he couldn't scoot out to do anything. I went for a gracie gift pass and nearly had it. Just as I broke his guard open he shot out went into a hook guard. He was speaking in some different language, (I'm assuming Portuguese because he looked Brazilian) but I had no idea what he was saying to me so I just ignored it. He was pushing and pulling, just as I was taught, and I was trying my best to keep a base and keep my grips tight. I eventually was swept, not really knowing how to defend his technique. He swept into my half guard, and I slowly worked to get back full guard. I should have swept though, because I felt that I had a good opportunity to and I didn't. Instead I established full guard and started to work for a flower sweep from there. He swept his other opponent with this move twice, very well. I could tell he had some great techniques. I tried twice, opposite sides, and failed. Almost having it the second time but my grip on his base slipped so he didn't budge. After failing the sweep I decided that I would try and finish the fight from the guard, and worked for the cross collar choke. I had a good grip on the left lapel, but couldn't sink in the grip on the other side. After a minute or so, time ran out and he had taken the match 2-0 with a win by sweep. Disappointed, I shook his hand and thanked the ref and walked back to the side of the mats.
I had missed my chance to seize the moment and I could feel that tenfold. For a second I looked over and saw my teammate YunJae in a match right next to my mat. His division was going on the same time mine was and I only caught his last match, which happened to be finals. I quickly got involved in it, running over to his side and coaching. I yelled out points and the score and the time and just did everything I could to encourage and help YunJae win the gold. Time ran out and He took the match 2-0. It had sort of ignited a small fire inside me and I was happy again. I congratulated him and sat back down. My name was called again for another match, and surprised I walked to the mat and got ready for battle.
I was unaware that I would be competing for third place, but didn't ask questions. After watching my teammate go out there and do his absolute best I was ready to do the dang thing. Ref said go and I went. Felt him out for a few seconds, and took him straight to the ground with a hard take down. Heard the crowed go "Oooo" and that only fueled me. The match was reset in the middle from his guard, and we went at it again. I focused extremely hard on keeping tight and not letting him scoot his hips out to work. He didn't budge for about a minute of the match, and thats when I took the chance to use some of his expended energy against him. There's a move I use sometimes in practice, not quite perfected, but I was confident I could do it against this opponent at that moment. I let him get a easy grip to shoot for a triangle, but at the precise time he shot for the triangle I spun my body around and walked my feet over his chest passing his guard. The move worked flawlessly and scored me three points for the guard pass. He eventually got half guard back, and I escaped seconds later straight to mount. I worked for a Kimura to try and end the fight with about 20 seconds left. He rolled me as I had it locked in and I kept it while he was in my guard. I tried to finish this way (the same way I had finished me first match at arnolds) but he got out of it somehow. With about 10 seconds left in the match I was up on points and held on the rest of the way.
I was happy with my last matches performance, and even more happier that it was against a fairly tough opponent. I executed my plan very strategically and it worked well. Overall I took third place, which I was eventually happy with considering how tough my opponents were and was even more happier after I considered how long I had been training to that point, which was only about 4 months.
I send out huge thank you's to Coach Hyde for the ride in the "trunk" of his car, and also to Stutz, Dano, Tim, A.J and YunJae.
It was a great experience and learned a million things that I plan to work on and implement this weekend in class and during the next few months of training and competing.
Bobby
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