We ARE Jiu-Jitsu.
Samir Chantre was kind enough to shirt down with us for an interview at the conclusion of the Leo Lo seminar.
The interview discusses several topics ranging from sacrifices for bjj as well as funny moments during fights. I hope you enjoy this, and please share what you did or didn’t like about the questions. This being my first interview, I am a newbie after all.
[youtube http://youtu.be/4riBjau5Ixg]
Follow me: @rubeneavila
Sacramento Jiu-Jitsu academy hosted the champion Leandro Lo on Sunday, December 2nd 2012 for a seminar. I was there in attendance and had a great time. We started the day going over a series of sweeps that Leandro Lo taught himself with the help of Louiza Monteiro. Leandro Lo meticulously conveyed specific details in each of the three sweeps we learned. Not only did he call attention to the details (grip placements, weight distribution, movement explanations), but he also talked about the principles of each detail and why he prefers certain details over others.
To be more specific, each of the sweeps came from a hybrid position. Leandro Lo has a very dangerous guard, and such is the case because he plays guard in a way that is very fresh on the scene. The sweeps came from a position that is a hybrid of the De La Riva, X Guard, and Spider Guard. Obviously, Leandro Lo’s sweeps are effective as evidenced by his volume of accomplishments at the biggest international tournaments this year. It is very interesting to see the level of creativity, synergy, and sophistication that goes into a series of sweeps at the top of the food chain in the black belt division.
The amount of value in the principles we learned coupled with the sweeps was more than enough, in my opinion, for one seminar. He was not done teaching.
Just a quick post about a highlight video I made for the winter promotions at our academy.
In addition, Gracie Mag has some great information about the promotions as well as extra media here.
I hope you guys enjoyed that. Sorry about my terrible video editing skills, lol.
Follow me: @rubeneavila
Let me explain…
Leading up to NoGi worlds, I started feeling burnt out. My body had taken enough punishment for the year, but I was not going to stop. I worked all the way up to NoGi worlds, and did my thing at the tournament. Afterwards the tournament, I decided I wanted a break from competing. The preparation for competition is very monotonous, grueling, and sometimes not fun. I have to kill myself to try and make two sessions a day whenever my job allows. Usually after a tournament, I take it easy for a week skipping some sessions. However, this time I wanted to stay close to the mats to continue progressing. Training at the academy after this tournament becomes very relaxed. We are encouraged to play with our Jiu-Jitsu. This is a very fun time, and a period, if used correctly, to grow as a grappler in an exponential manner.
Prior to tonight’s session, I hadn’t been on the mats in days! Ugh, it felt like weeks! As my fever went away, I decided my cabin fever got the best of me. But, can you workout when sick? Apparently, you can. And, in many cases, you should.
It’s a bit of a generalization, but, for the most part, as long as you don’t have a fever and your body generally feels almost normal you should be able to workout when you are sick. I prefer to grappling to running on the treadmill, obviously. Something tells me you might stand to agree with me on this one. Although, it is important to point out that you should NOT be working out when you are sick and running a fever. When you have a fever you are contagious, and your defenses are low. So, if you workout when you are sick AND have a fever, you will be doing more damage than good.
Last Wednesday morning was a really rough session for me and major source of bjj frustration. I rolled with my instructor; it was a very very bad session for me (as it always is). It seems he is beyond two steps ahead of me.
To be completely honest, it feels like he knows every thought and movement I am going to make even before I make them. In addition, he has, what it seems like, an infinite amount of rebuttals for my weak attempts at offense. Consequently, I am defending, to no avail, the entire time.
It is extremely taxing on my nervous system because I have to try to process so much at one time; many times I freeze when trying to evaluate all of the impending dangers as well as trying to mount some type of offense as well. He is a master of jiu-jitsu after all. My physical resilience is thoroughly tested.
Most of the time, my rolling experiences with the rest of my teammates are somewhat balanced. Even if they beat me, and many times they do, the game is much more digestible. I can evaluate my performance and make adjustments for the next time.
However, Wednesday morning was… different. I rolled with one of our brown belts. He killed me. The manner in which he destructed me was very demoralizing. He passed my guard at will with the SAME exact pass each time. He moved on top of me with the SAME rhythm each time. And, he submitted me with the SAME lock each and every time no less. [Read more…] about Resilience: How it Relates to your Journey