The other night at The Foundry I felt really good. I had taken a few nights off this past week from BJJ to rest and get rid of some of the soreness in my body. Teaching and going to class 4-5 times a week can start to take its toll after a month or two. I felt refreshed and recharged. I didn’t get a ton of submissions or anything like that, but I felt my body was just doing what I was asking it to.
Sometimes after a roll I have tons of thoughts like “man I wanted to do this or that, but just couldn’t.” Or sometimes I think “maybe if I was just a little bit stronger or faster I could have swept that person.” This last class though was not like that. I stepped off the mats with an empty mind, and a feeling of everything is where it should be. This is what I consider a great rolling session.
There is a saying often used in life, “go with the flow”. Basically when you stop and think about it, it boils down to not getting hung up on the small things you can’t control. Just kick back and enjoy the journey no matter where it takes you.
This is what I have been trying to do for this past year really. Life on and off the mats has been crazy in 2010. When I say crazy I mean some good and some bad, but that is life and you have to go with the flow. Since this is a BJJ blog I’m not going to bore you with the off the mat stuff, but let me fill you in on the Jiu Jitsu happenings of 2010. First of all I have stepped into a teaching roll with my girlfriend Bri who I often post about. We continue to help carry the Foundry flag with all of our team mates. At first I thought maybe teaching would take away from my learning progress, but I think at this point I can say that it hasn’t. Having to prepare class and research moves 4 days a week forces you to constantly think about Jiu Jitsu. I think always thinking about Jiu Jitsu makes you think outside the box and develop your game in areas you normally wouldn’t.
We have coached our team so far at 3 local tournaments this year and The Foundry represented well at all of them. This is a great feeling, when you teach someone how to do something and then see them apply it, and then see how happy they are. That is such an amazing feeling. Here are the highlight videos from two of the 3 events. The Freestyle Grappling Open and the Maine Skirmish. Enjoy!
Finally I have accomplished one of my short term goals. I work for a web development company who has developed an awesome Content Management program called Aptuitiv Studio. For the past few months I have been working with one of our partners to design a new look for my Jiu Jitsu club The Foundry. Jon and I reviewed the mockups and thought it was the look we were going for, so we gave the go ahead to move forward. Now the site has just launched and I think it turned out great. Be sure and check it out if you have some time to kill www.foundrybjj.com.
It feels good to have accomplished one of my goals. This goal doesn’t help me on the mat or anything, but it does help out my club and all of the students who attend. I hope they like it as much as I do. Sometimes setting small goals for yourself in Jiu Jitsu can prevent you from getting burnt out. Sometimes I will set a goal for the month, maybe even the week or sometimes down to the roll I’m about to have. Even if it’s sometime like pulling off a certain sweep, progress is progress, no matter how big or small. If you do this for yourself I think you will feel more successful with your Jiu Jitsu journey.
Holy smokes people, summer is officially here! I have been busy as hell lately, but things are going well. I have moved into a new roll at The Foundry. Our black belt Jon Lamarche now has a new work schedule and he has asked me to fill in and help teach when he can’t be there. Let me first say, this is an honor. I’m very pleased that my instructor has enough faith in me to leave the class in my hands. How it works now is he makes a schedule with a plan of what needs to be shown and taught during specific classes and then I see to it that everyone understands the material.
This does however mean that there are fewer classes where someone is actually teaching and instructing me. This part makes me depressed because I have this fear that my Jiu Jitsu may stagnate and that I will not progress as rapidly as I should. On the other hand though I have noticed that in preparing to teach classes its helped me tune some areas of my technique that I don’t normally use every class. So in that respect I see some growth in my game. How do you feel about this? Does teaching tighten up your game? Or does stepping up into a teaching roll tend to bring your game down? I would love to hear everyone’s view on this.
Oh by the way, Ferdum subbed Fedor last night. JIU JITSUUUU!
Here are a video of me rolling recently as well. I have the black Gi top on. Enjoy.
A friend of mine, we will call him “Chief” has started up a podcast and I was lucky enough to make it on episode one as a guest. We talk about video games, movies, Valentines Day, and of course Jiu Jitsu came up. Be sure and show some support and check out my sexy voice! The Weekend Pregame
Ok, so I may be a lil’ biased on this one. Brianne’s my girlfriend and we actually met at Jiu Jitsu. As you can gather from this interview she has been into Jiu Jitsu for a while now. From my perspective it was refreshing to meet a female who had the same interest as me BEFORE she met me. This guarenteed she was actually interested in bjj and not just tagging along to hang out with me. I wanted to offer this interview for any female followers of my blog. Sometimes it’s better to hear things like this from someone who is still a beginner. It’s easier to relate to someone who is either going through the same things you are, or has recently, instead of a female black belt who may have been a beginner over 10 years ago. I hope you all find this interview interesting and entertaining. If any females want to weigh in with their thoughts they are more then welcome. I also highly recommend reading Bjj Grrl’s Blog for more of a female prospective. Also of course Hillary Williams website for more info on her goals and accomplishments. Enjoy!
TheMove- What is your name?
Pouncing Puma- Brianne Genschel
TheMove- What is your rank?
Pouncing Puma- 3 stripe Blue
TheMove- How long have you been training?
Pouncing Puma- Almost three years now
TheMove- What is your lineage?
Pouncing Puma- I began training under Noel Danforth who is a brown belt under Joe Moreira. Noel has moved south and I am currently training under Jon Lamarche who is a black belt under Joe.
TheMove- Tell us a bit about your martial arts background and history?
Pouncing Puma- I developed an interest in martial arts when I was in High School due to some friends I had met at the time. They got me involved in Japanese Jiu Jitsu at the time, but while we were training that they discovered BJJ. We began training in their back yard and on their living room floor. This was back in 1998. When I graduated High School and went on to college I gave up martial arts for a time, but the pull was too strong and before I knew it I was back training BJJ with Noel and Missy (his wife). I’ve been consistently involved for almost three years now.
TheMove- What got you into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
Pouncing Puma- Back in ’98′ BJJ in Maine was no more than a whisper. When my buddies Matt and James discovered it we began training in the back yard. We moved to the community center in town and used to dabble before our JJJ class started. They are definitely to blame for my love and addiction to the sport. Thanks guys!
TheMove- What’s kept you invested BJJ all this time?
Pouncing Puma- The camaraderie of my team. The people I train with have become some of my closest friends. My team is something that keeps me motivated at those times when I feel my game is slipping, and push me at those times when I am excelling and on a run with my game. They are also the people I spend much of my time with off the mats. They are my BJJ team and my BJJ family.
TheMove- How long do you see yourself practicing bjj?
Pouncing Puma- Forever. That was an easy one.
TheMove- If you could use 3 words to describe your game type what would they be?
Pouncing Puma- Pressure, Pressure, Pressure.
TheMove- What is your favorite technique?
Pouncing Puma-
Favorite Submission: Ezekiel
Favorite Guard Pass: Bull Fighter Pass
Favorite Position: Full Mount
Favorite Take Down: Drop Sao-Nagi
TheMove- Training with mostly guys it must be tough, do you have any tips for a female beginner? This could be mental tips as well.
Pouncing Puma- Don’t be intimidated! This is a man’s sport in the eyes of many, but the guys in my club have learned not to under-estimate a woman. They may be bigger than we are, and naturally stronger, but this is a sport of technique, skill and brains. You have to know how to outsmart your opponent whether they are male or female.
TheMove- Do you think training with males mostly is a good thing or does it
hinder your game and growth?
Pouncing Puma- I think that training with mostly all men has forced me to rely more on my technique and ability to think through my game. There is no way I am going to out-muscle them, so I have had to develop techniques and game plans that will be effective.
TheMove- What is your biggest frustration as a female competitor in a sport
mostly run by men?
Pouncing Puma- They never have women’s sized shirts at competitions. I always have to give my competitor shirts to my boyfriend! You know women are competing. If you are going to give shirts to competitors buy ones that will fit women as well! Seriously . . . This is my biggest frustration.
TheMove- Who is your favorite female BJJ fighter and why?
Pouncing Puma- I think Hillary Williams is vicious. I watched her compete at the Pan Ams last years, and I’ve since seen some videos of her fights. This is a girl that has it together and is a kick ass BJJ fighter.
TheMove- Who is your favorite male BJJ fighter and why?
Pouncing Puma- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza – We named our dog after him.
In this case my school is moving to a new location. We are restructuring the way things are run and turning it into more of a non-profit club. It’s a really cool concept that will allow us to not have to turn students away because of membership fees. We will also be able to sponsor a competition team with the extra money. It will help cover travel and other expenses like entry fees. I personally think this move will be a good one in my case. It gives me something to look forward to in the new year. Has anyone else gone through a club switching locations? Or for those of you who have actually left one school and went to train at another what was your experience like?
Ok so the Skirmish was this past Sunday, and the past few nights I have been working hard on the highlight video. There is a ton more footage because we had a few more people compete and several people filming, so I was pretty pumped about that. To sum up how we did in one word…slaughter comes to mind. We brought a lot of hungry wolves to the Maine Skirmish and we feasted. Over all we had around 8 trophies, 1 title belt, and an assortment of other medals. It was a true display of some classic Jiu-Jitsu. Before this competition I set a personal goal not for medals, but to take a step closer to being able to compete without nerves. In that respect I think I did well. We got there really early and I felt I could have fallen asleep in the bleachers I was so relaxed. When it came time to step on the mat, I did have a bit of butterflies in my stomach, but no where near the Freestyle Grappling Open kind. I had a total of 3 matches. My first I won by armbar 1 min 30 seconds into the match. The second I also won by armbar, this time 1 min 3 seconds into the match, virtually the same move and set up. My final match things didn’t go my way. I pulled guard and felt I could sub my opponent the same as I did to the 2 before him, but he got my right arm pinned behind my back in a very awkward position. I tried to defend his pass with one hand because the other was held behind me, but I couldn’t. He passed into side and then kept cranking the arm behind my back and I ended up having to tap before I busted something. It’s a hard match to describe, but the videos will be up on youtube soon. I encourage you all to subscribe to my Youtube channel for those videos and the unveiling of the Skirmish HL video as well!
Today is going to be a day of rest. A calm before the storm so to speak. This seems to be what I do the day before a competition…nothing. As I mentioned before I’m not super pumped for this competition, but it should be good growth for me in terms of experience. We have a significant number of people competing this time which is awesome. I love watching other people compete and catch the bug. You can always see peoples game jump several levels after they compete. I think it refocuses some people, and helps them fill in holes they may not have noticed otherwise. One great thing is I don’t have to cut any weight for this one so I’m hoping I feel stronger this time. Bri isn’t competing this time because of the lack of girls so she is going to get as much footage and pics as she can. I’ll make sure to post them all again. Stay tuned.
I just wanted to let everyone know that soon this blog will be moved to www.jitsujourney.com. I purchased my own domain and have been putting in more effort getting it set up then blogging lately. Soon I will be back in full swing with a sweet new look. The Foundry will be representing again in a few weeks a the Maine Skirmish. We are all pumped. It’s a smaller tourney, but I’m looking forward to competing again. Just like people run to improve their cardio, I want to compete more to improve my nerves. I want to be able to step out there and roll just like it’s a normal session in class. Then I think I will do so much better. The only way to practice for that is to actually compete, and that’s what this tournament will be for me. I’ve been working on a new sweep I saw Abmar Barbosa do at the FGO this year as well. Seems to be coming together nicely with my game.
