I believe everyone goes through what’s called the blue belt blues. This is a time when people feel like they have reached a point in their training, where they just are not progressing anymore. Now let me stress the fact that I said when people “feel” like they are not. Often times they are still progressing just fine, just in a different way than before.

There comes a point in your Jiu Jitsu journey that you know most of the basics. Before when you were a white belt something as major as a triangle was totally new and amazing. Then as the more you progress, the more you learn, and less is new. This is perfectly normal and all part of the progression of your skills. What needs to change to get past this, is your out look on training. Instead of focusing so much on that thrill of learning something new, focus on playing the game. You now have a large toolbox to draw from so get enjoyment out of molding your game to defeat another persons game. Use the tools to your advantage and work on applying them in the right situations. You could know a million techniques, but that won’t help you if you are not confident passing the guard.

Jiu Jitsu is a very flexible art, that’s just one of the things that makes it so great. Sometimes we just need to be flexible ourselves with our training.

Here is an awesome video I found to motivate you to get back on the mats!

Lately I have come to an understanding. Now first let me remind you all, that I’m not a big guy. I’m about 155 and 5’8 at the most. With that said, I have come to a realization lately when rolling with bigger people. It’s a battle of inches in Jiu Jitsu, but even more so when your opponent has some extra pounds over you. Let me explain a bit more. A perfect example of this was a while back when I was a white belt there was a bigger person that would always give me troubles when we would roll. He would get a hold of one of my sleeves and I would find myself trying to play my guard with only one arm for the entire match. I realize now with a bigger person sometimes I don’t get the chance to regain that inch that was taken from me, or in that case a limb. Now when I roll with bigger opponents I really try to focus on not allowing them to get that inch to begin with, and I roll with the mind set that I won’t have a chance to regain anything that has been taken from me. Now don’t get this confused, I don’t mean in any way that I roll harder or more aggressive. That couldn’t be farther from what I am trying to say. If anything it forces me to think about what my opponent is doing and not just what I am trying to do. Why are they going for that grip? What are they going to do if they get it. How am I going to keep them from getting it? I guess this is something to think about next time you roll if this concept is new to anyone out there. This really helps me deal with a bigger more aggressive opponent in Jiu Jitsu.

Jiu jitsu is the gentle art right? I mean you snap peoples arms in half and choke them unconscious until they wet themselves. That has to be gentle! Lets face it Jiu Jitsu can be  brutal when it needs to be, but lately I have been focusing on the gentle aspect in certain positions. This way of thinking has transferred over from mount to knee on belly for me. I’m a light guy so my mount has never been crushing. At first I would always get bucked off and people would escape. I couldn’t figure out how to be heavy enough to pin someone down. I started seeing other small guys have success with the mount because they knew when to stay tight and when to loosen up. After studying this for some time I started to apply as much weight and contact as I could to someone until they started their escape, then I would loosen up and sort of float until they settled back down. I think this works because it plays off the same principal of most things in Jiu Jitsu you need to connect your hips to their hips. By staying loose and floating, I’m disconnecting my hips from theirs at the moment they need that connection. Once they complete their escape attempt I connect again. This has transferred over well to my knee on belly.  With knee on belly I normally grip their collar under their head and my other hand grips their pant leg. This way I can pull up and apply pressure to them when I need to, but also at the same time when they start an escape I can use these hands to post on the mat. When I post on the mat I can float because my weight isn’t 100% on my knee which is connected to their hips. It’s a new concept of small person Jiu Jitsu that I’m starting to play with and I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on it.

Sometimes I think humans just naturally take the easy way out. I think it’s an evolutionary trait that was meant to save energy and make us use things that will have a greater chance of success. In Jiu-Jitsu I think this is natural as well. In this case though it can stunt growth and slow progress.
The reason I have been thinking about this is lately my triangles have become better and I find myself snagging people with them a lot more often. This is a good thing, but at the same time it’s hard to pass up a submission when you know you have it and try for something different that you don’t have much success with. This way of thinking opens up your game more and forces you to become better in other areas. I have a feeling this way of thinking is also the difference between a blue belt and purple and higher. I certainly do not think of myself as a person who just goes for the tap, but I find it hard sometimes to think in a catch and release type of mentality. Thinking back now, one of the reasons I have become good with the triangle is because I used to be good with the armbar and have since opened my game up and moved on.
Matt got his brown belt tonight. Quite an achievement. I think I heard him say that he has been doing bjj for over 6 years and grappling for over 20. That is just amazing. His take downs are slick as shit, and he transitions so well for a big guy. He is great to have around on the mat and has so much to give in terms of knowledge. The Foundry is lucky to have him as an asset.

Tonight was another open mat night, and it was a great one lemme tell ya. John, one of our black belts showed up and wanted to roll so that was really awesome. One of the great things about having John roll with me is he’s not only a black belt, but he is a black belt that’s MY SIZE!
After our rolls I asked John what he thought I could work on and he had some great advise. He told me that I was good at flowing with the person and transitioning, but sometimes I need to fight to stay in a position before flowing to another. This makes me impose my game on someone more, instead of just being ok with going to something else.

Rolls Recap-
John pretty much slaughtered me. I did attempt my old mounted triangle attack and ended up rolling to my back for the normal triangle. I had to switch it off to the armbar because he had wedged his hand in to protect his neck so it was clearly not getting blood. Once I changed to the armbar he stacked me correctly and I was not able to pull it off. I then went turtle and he proceeded to break dance on my back lol. I guess that’s what I get for trying that.
Justin and I once again had some good rolls tonight. I noticed my game pretty much all starts from me getting the double sleeve control. So I told him not to let me set that up right from the start. It def seemed to make me work harder and took me out of my element more. I worked some pretty decent knee on belly in some of our rolls, and I was constantly looking for him to under hook my foot so that I could slide up for the mounted triangle.
Kevin has a lot longer frame then me and a few more pounds, so I have to play a totally different game with him then I do people my size. Normally I play open guard and roll off my shoulders a lot, but I find myself playing a tight closed guard game when we roll. I had some success with De La Riva guard tonight with Kevin, but not in the traditional way. I knew his legs are longer then mine and when I would go to that guard he would stand up to clear my foot. When he did this I would sit up and hug his knee and feed his opposite sleeve to my hand. Once I have this grip I would start to turn and sit on my side. This places my shoulder right into the back of his knee. From there all I had to do was drive my weight forward to collapse his leg and attempt taking the back. I did this several times tonight, but none of them ended up with me taking the back lol. I guess that’s something I need to work on.