The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Lessons Learned from One Year of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu | BTS36

Episode Date: September 8, 2019

In this episode, I share my progress against my list from Episode 16: Foundational Four for BJJ White Belts and the realities I faced throughout my first full year as a BJJ player.Writeup at https://kevtalkspod.com/i-survived-my-first-year-of-brazilian-jiu-jitsu/

Please silence your cell phones, hold all sidebar conversations to a minimum, and we'll get started with Between the Slides in 3, 2, 1. Welcome to Between the Slides, episode 36, my first four year in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I'm your host, Kevin Pinnell. Thank you everybody for coming back. For all those that have listened, downloaded, emailed me, messaged, etc., I appreciate all your feedback. It helped shape the show, helped me think about things I can do better, not just for the show, but in my profession,

in my previous life in incident management, as I'm involved in different forms of things. So in this show, I just hit my year mark in studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I started in Richmond, Virginia. I've continued that since I moved to Blacksburg, Virginia. And I'm going to reflect a little bit on where I am in episode 16 from January of this year. I put together a foundational four for my two cents on things that a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu white belt should consider. And if we remember those foundational four that have been in quite a few episodes, it's Objectives, Organization, Resources, and Communication. And so I put together an outline for things that I try and think of when I go to class. So as a review of those, but go to, you know, check out episode 16 on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart, wherever you listen to podcasts.

You can go to the Blueberry site, the website, episodes are there. But anyway, so for me, my objectives are always kind of keep your omas in, have frames. That means you're keeping people's hip weight and upper body weight off me. Protect your neck, right? Go figure. Don't want to get choked out. And understand that your objective is to lose and you're going to lose a lot and you're going to learn from it. Because every time I've lost, I've figured out, oh, wait a minute, I can feel that triangle coming or that calf slicer or that whatever else thing that you can feel coming on. And so by losing and getting caught in those things that you learn from them. Organizationally, I just kind of looked at command and that's your instructors, right? Those are the folks in charge of your class, guiding you on your journey, on your learning,

keeping you safe, setting you up with different partners or guiding you through the drills, et cetera. And then kind of liaison and technical experts are the higher belts, right? They're the ones that are going to, to me, make or break your experience, right? If you're always getting smashed, if you're always getting hurt, they're just not helpful. They don't want to talk to you because you're a white belt. And there's some of that I have been fortunate enough to run into that really hardly at all, I think, in any of the places I've been to, and they're great places, Revolution BJJ in Richmond, Virginia, and Team Manning here in Blacksburg. So I've never seen it a lot. But you know, there's tons of jokes about white belts and how we're a mess and all that kind of stuff. And I am a white belt still. So that's to me kind of the organization there.

And we're, you know, operations with the boots on the ground getting smashed when we come in there and learning and starting to build our base of juj-jitsu so my resources uh you gotta have uniform right uh training in the gi for me has been fantastic also balancing that with some no gi i used to do half and half now i'm way more in the gi i do three three days a week in the morning in the gi and then an open mat here and there and no gi maybe a couple other times during the week and i'll get to kind of my frequency and that kind of stuff later. Braces, if you need knee pads, elbow pads, wrist things you don't really wear, it's kind of hard to do and not comfortable for your partner. I, when I do no gi, I wear wrestling knee pads for sure. There's a lot of mat burn that happens there and even in the gi,

I wear, you know, they call them ankle braces. They're not really, I wear them to cover my feet. When I slide my feet and they don't have active feet like I should and get Matt burn, which hurts like crap. Um, and to cover, cause I wrapped my ankle, I got a baby right ankle. So, um, and mouth guard for sure. It takes some getting used to, if you haven't worn a mouth guard and other sports before, um, it may kind of gag you at first, but that to me is a huge resource. So if you've been in a wicked fight for someone trying to rear naked choke you or do something where they're grinding your teeth or your face, mouth guard is huge. And then you got to have flip flops or sandals.

You don't want to get poo feet from going to the bathroom barefoot. That's gross. And you can slip them on and off when you get in water or going to the mat or something like that. My communication is signing in or greeting. If don't have a sign-in system, just greeting your instructor and other folks when you come in, doing the clap and bump before you roll. That's the standard everywhere. Look at every jiu-jitsu video before most matches at all levels, and you'll see that.

That's a pretty cool thing. And then in communication, be thankful. Be thankful to the newer person that tapped you because you let yourself get caught to certainly the folks that are above you and helping you get better. So now it's September, 2019. It's nine months since I recorded that. I've got quite a bit more experience from the standpoint that I'm still new, right? As a white belt, you're still very new in this game. I've got a lot more roles though. I've got a couple tournaments. And so I've gotten a feel for what it's like in the gym, what it's like in a tournament. And so am I on track with

those? I would say my objectives are for the most part, though I definitely get caught with my elbows out when I shouldn't. I am very active in making frames. And meaning when someone's inside control or they're on top of me or something like that, of trying to keep them up and always do that. Protecting my neck, at some point when you're going against people that are better than you, you can try and protect your neck all you want and it's going to get caught. But pretty active in doing that. Trying to stay on there and I definitely lose often and learn from it. That one is pretty easy to accomplish.

I think my organization, I'm certainly respectful of my instructors and the upper belts. They're there as well. Resource-wise, wear a mouthpiece every time we roll. I've actually started to wear headgear once I get into it a little bit. It feels super weird. I do my best to clean my uniform, my gi, as soon as possible after a roll because for those of you that practice jiu-jitsu, it's like you jumped in

a swimming pool, you're so sweaty, especially if you do a couple extra rounds and you do four, five, six rounds after class three days a week or after one class, you're just soaking wet. So it goes back to that great cardio that Brazilian jiu-jitsu gives you. Definitely have plenty of braces for my knees, ankles, things like that, and the flip-flops. Communication-wise, I'd say I'm doing okay with that. I communicate pretty well with my instructors. I think I could have communicated better with instructors before just asking, you know, how am I doing?

What am I missing? I mean, I'm missing a ton of stuff as a white belt. But, you know, to kind of get engaged, and that's part of the reality of it, of it we'll take it into before you're always going to engage yourself against others and that's part of the challenge and what i think is a great thing about brazilian jiu-jitsu is you're going to do that but then you also have that other voice it's like hey you're here for you so don't worry about that why did they get a stripe why didn't i get a stripe or you know all that kind of stuff and so i'll jump into that here in a second but But I think communication wise, I definitely could have and try to continue communicating with my instructors better about who I am and how I'm doing in jujitsu. So what I want to show now is what are some of the realities that I've noticed

in my first four year. So from when I started last September, and I started last late spring, actually, or summer, and tore a tendon in my right thumb trying to hold somebody's leg down with just my thumb, which didn't work out well. And so maybe a little bit over the year, but the first kind of continuous or contiguous year, if you will, since I really got back into regular training. And the first thing is injuries. You're going to get hurt. It's the gentle art, I've heard. And you can try and be calm when you're new. You're going to try and use muscle. I did. I'm 5'11 can try and be calm. When you're new, you're going to try and use muscle.

I did. I'm 5'11", 200 pounds. I was a little bit more than that when I first started. I'm hovering around 198, 199 now. But you try and use your natural gifts because you don't know the skills. I still do that to some extent, though I'm mentally, for the past few months, really starting to try and use jiu-jitsu, not be a muscle guy. But early on in an intro, I had my thumb out hurt that. So you're going to get hurt. There's a chance that something's going to get

tweaked. Your muscles, your knee, your ankles. I've had thumb, my knee that's been tweaked a little bit and then gotten better through being smart and 45 years old. I started when I was 44. So I'm definitely on the upper end of starting jiu-jitsu compared to most, even though I know there's folks that are way older than me that have started. And then I got my first bout of cauliflower in the past few weeks from shooting in, squeezing out of, you know, chokes, those kind of things, and swelled up, did like four drains, those kind of things. So I'm heading down the headgear that I mentioned earlier to just try and prevent that. So that's something I wanted to do. But definitely

something that's smart to do it. It's it's not fun. It hurts. Now I have a you know, we'll have a little bit of that. So mitigated it or treated it rather didn't mitigate it because it still happened but treated that a little bit. But one thing that's reality of being in jujitsu in my first year's injuries. The other thing is especially being a mid 40s guys recovery. So you have to set time for recovery. So I have to set time for recovery. So I used to train a couple times a week during the week and then do an open mat on Saturday. Now I do Monday, Wednesday, Friday very consistently in the mornings for Gi and then a couple open mats. And so what I'll really do is do the Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then Tuesdays and Thursdays exercise.

And then maybe do an open mat depending on how I'm feeling. How much did I use strength instead of jiu-jitsu in the last class and you know did I have kind of the the friendly grudge match with the other person that's about my level or you know that kind of thing so it's part of this that you get into and that's a cool thing I too I like is you'll get regular partners where you're both keeping each other honest where you know they'll catch you and you catch them and or some days you feel super dominant and then another day you're like, what? Did I forget everything? This is my first day. And again, being new, but what I have to think about in recovery is my muscles are going to be a little

more sore, a lot more sore than the younger folks that I'm rolling with. I do want to supplement strength and cardio so it helps my jujitsu. But then I also need to make sure that I have time and I'm hydrated and I have better nutrition and I don't stay up as late the night before I don't have a couple you know extra glasses of wine sometimes before I'm going to go to class the next day or exercise the next morning and just you got to be smarter especially if you're old running even for the young folks I would suggest doing that because you'll get a lot more out of it when you're fresh in the class so another huge reality is you have to have, you don't have to start Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with a level of fitness. You can start it and it will help you get that level of fitness.

I always say, cause it hit me smack in the face and I was in pretty good shape when I started that there's cardio or there's fitness. And then there's Jiu Jitsu fitness. When you're using all your muscles, plus your breathing, plus your mind's freaked out when you don't know anything. And even when you do know a little bit more, uh, it's taxing, man. You're using every part of your body mentally and physically. And so you have to start with a good base and, or sorry, get to a good base. So if you're just starting on the days that you're not taking class and you're not already in a fitness routine, go for a walk, start jogging, do some pushups, do some supplemental thing because having some extra strength, some more gas in the tank will make a huge difference. I've benefited from some roles or from classes, even just the warmup in classes

because I'm in better shape. So by the time we get to halfway through the drills, I'm not gassed out like some other folks. And when we're rolling, I have a little more in the tank. So even if I'm stuck and someone's got me inside controller mount or something, I've got that extra to get out of it. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I do not make good choices the night before or whatever. But by and large, I really try and make sure that my fitness supplements my jiu-jitsu and vice versa. It makes a huge difference. Over the past year, I've definitely also had self-doubt about jiu-jitsu.

And I don't mean that it works because that's that's a tried and true thing it definitely does I mean about my jujitsu about me in the space of jujitsu about hey I felt so good here and then I go to a tournament and the anxiety gets me and I like forget everything and I tunnel vision and I'm like man maybe I'm horrible at this and then I get better and I train more and then happened to again in the second tournament and got beat. So, um, and then some days you'll have a great role with folks and you'll just be super comfortable rolling on top. They go one way, you just go with it. You're, you're flowy or just, you just feel like, man, I feel great. You get to help other folks that are a little bit newer or something like that.

And then other days you just get absolutely hammered by folks that the previous class or the previous week you were very dominant with. So that cycle of, okay, what am I doing? Am I, am I failing? Am I getting any better? And you get this plateau and I've heard about this and I've watched the videos. My wife's sick of me watching YouTube videos about jujitsu. She's like, Oh, jujitsu is on again. I'm like, you know, but, but it gets in you when you really like it and you stick with it. And I've only been with it for a year, but pretty regularly and a pretty mental and physical investment in it. And so what I would say for me is that for sure, you're going to be horrible at first and on certain days, and then you'll be great on other days. And that self-doubt, you just got to take it and fight from the bad place, both mentally and physically, and then do the best that you can in class and just try and maintain that positive outlook.

It's just like anything else. You're not always going to be the best project manager in the company this week or the best operations section chief out on the incident all the time. You're going to have tough times. The same thing in jiu-jitsu or even more. Because at the same time, you have to use your mind thinking about what someone else is doing. You have to use your body physically in a pretty, even if you're doing a light role, a pretty taxing way. And so use that

self-doubt to go, nope, okay, here's what I need to look at and focus on and that kind of thing. And I think it'll really help you out. And part of that self-doubt has to do with you'll see belt promotions or stripes or this or that and think, man, I'm pretty good compared to a lot of these folks that I see getting stripes or promoted. And you go, well, what am I missing? What am I doing? And I mentioned this before, am I muscling it? Do I not have the technique? But I use technique and I do pretty well against those folks that do advance or do have that new belt. And I do come back to mentally, you have to trust your instructors, right? They're your instructors for a reason. They are very good at jujitsu.

They're good at reading people. They're good at seeing how folks are doing in their own growth, how they could do it in the environment and whatever else they know that I don't because I'm a white belt and I've only been doing it a year compared to a decade or decades

compared to other folks or however long they've been doing it. And so when you have or decades compared to other folks or however long they've been doing it. And so when you have the questioning of why them or self-doubt or whatever, you know, trust in your instructors that do this for, you know, so many people and change so many lives that you trust in what they're teaching you and how they're helping you and how they're building your confidence and just go with that, right? That doesn't mean you can't ask the questions, I guess. One of the areas I mentioned before that I think I'm lacking is probably communication of my

progress and, hey, can you give me some things that I should really focus on? So I'm going to do that. But the jealousy of someone's stripe or promotion or whatever is something that should be fleeting if it comes in because I don't think it's honest to say it's never going to happen. I think everyone's probably thought similar thoughts. That's an assumption. I know what assumptions do. But I'm human just like everybody else that I've been around for a little bit. So, you know, that's part of it, is having good days and bad days on the mats and talking to your teammates and your coaches and going to tournaments and seeing great things and losing and being to go, okay, there's holes off the rails or my wife and I aren't getting along

or whatever's going on because, and then the rest of your day, because if you've pushed yourself, particularly I'm a morning class guy. So, you know, for me, if I've pushed myself the way that you do in a jujitsu class in the morning, then the rest of my day is pretty easy. I mean, it's, there's really no comparison. You know, event happens, some horrible event or something. But a standard day in the life of me is very easy after a standard day in the life of a class of jiu-jitsu when you've drilled and warmed up and rolled and done all those kind of things. So it definitely makes a huge difference in how you interact and other things in your life. And I heard that, again, from Jocko Willink, Joe Rogan,

anybody else that has a podcast or other platforms that talk about jujitsu and a lot of the great Stuart Cooper films that have an awesome profiles and on some of the best jujitsu folks in the world. And then some of the really, you know, jujitsu overall focus, the way it changes your life or just outstanding and they've really had an effect on me. And I can see what those videos meant by you know it changes every aspect of your life so with that calmness I think what helps that too is way better cardio like the exhaustion you feel after three four five six

sometimes rounds after class is amazing. And after months, each month you build up a little bit more than if you are supplementing with fitness. Your lung capacity, mine might not sound great now. I have a bit of a cold, so I keep pausing and recording so I'm not coughing on the microphone with my cough drop here. But your cardio level, your fitness level will just shoot through the roof. It'll do it through unbelievable exhaustion and hardship. And so I think that's where I've seen folks give up mid roll or things like that. And they're just like, Oh, I can't, that's it. And I've done it before. Your mind shuts down when your body does, you know, as well, but that's when you got to just

keep showing up, keep getting the benefits. It's just like going to a gym. You know, if you haven't worked out a lot and you start going to a gym and you have a It's just like going to a gym. If you haven't worked out a lot and you start going to a gym and you have a trainer, they're going to push you hard and it's going to suck and you're going to be sore and you're not going to like it. But the benefits you'll get from it if you keep going are immeasurable. And the same thing is true with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And I've only been doing it for a year. So there's folks that have been around a lot longer than me. But this is what I've seen for sure is from someone that had really good fitness. Now my cardio is even better. My core, you'll use your core more than you thought you could with muscles that you didn't even know

you had. Your legs, squeezing folks in the guard and moving around and things like that. It's just amazing. Another thing I've encountered, but it was just recently, is claustrophobia. And I don't know if it has to do with other things going on in my life, where I'm at, personally and professionally, but this feeling. When I get super gassed out over the past couple weeks, and someone's really smothered me, the weight is on me, or I can't see. One time I was in North-South, and someone intentionally, it was a pretty neat trick, they pulled the sides of their gi out, so you're kind of trapped in trapped in there like in this box or just someone's really weighing on you, is starting to freak out in my mind like I'm boxed in.

And I'm not a great flyer and it feels kind of like that. I don't like flying. I love looking out and if I could fly myself, I would like it. But I had this feeling, it's really weird and so having to push through that, getting some reassurance from my coaches like, hey, it's just pressure. There's air there, breathe. And really focusing on strengthening my core, breathing out, calming my mind down, thinking about the situation. And that's been a huge change that I've really hit in the past few weeks. And so really addressing that

and really working toward that. Adding the headgear lately because my ear has not helped, it kind of very much dampens your hearing, which feels even more boxed in. So it's a hard challenge, but it's a good challenge, which I'll take. And I'm taking, I actually just got a new set of headgear I ordered with a little more ventilation. But the claustrophobia is something that some folks, and I've read a lot about it, you know, doing the Google medicine kind of thing that face during grappling and jiu-jitsu as well.

So what's helped me is focus on the breathing out, make those frames, get yourself some space and just put your face toward the air, realize there is air there. You're with friends on the mats, right? So you're not in the street where someone's actually trying to take you out. So get your mind space and, hey, we're training together. This is horrible.

They're good at putting weight on me, but I have to push through this. And that's the only way you're going to get through it. Take those breaths, calm yourself down, and work. Another thing I've enjoyed over the past few months is being able to help brand, brand new folks. And, again, I'm very new and I'm not teaching them, like, mastery of Amplatas or Americanas or any of that kind of stuff because, again, I'm a white belt so I'm really new. But when someone comes in, just like I did, and you have no idea what you're doing of being asked to, hey, help them, you know, and let them start mounting on you and let them just try and stay there. Or, you know, help them, you know, sweeping the hands or help them sweeping the hands and pulling towards you in the guard, those kind of things.

Part of the impetus for this podcast is I've loved being an instructor for the incident command system, incident management, and being able to help somebody else start their journey on a positive note. Then when I'm asked to roll with them, which is great because I'm a good partner, I'm a big guy, but whether it's roll with them, which is great, you know, because I'm a good partner, I'm a big guy. But whether it's with a woman or a guy that's brand new, I understand where they were because I was there. I have no idea what I'm doing. It's overwhelming.

It's intimidating for folks that clearly have been there a little bit. And so for me, it also is helping my evolution because it calms me down to just focus on technique, right? Because I'm not going to be the one that's there using muscle and trying to smash them because you're new and all that kind of stuff. And my understanding is the old days, there was some of that, I don't know. But it's an opportunity to help somebody else come in and learn that, hey, I've been doing this for a year and look at, you know, a few things that I've picked up that make a difference and being able to do a scissor sweep pretty easily. And I'm going, whoa, and you're like, you know what? You'll learn these movements. It's just muscle memory and practice and those

kinds of things. And so I've really enjoyed that, you know, in the past few months, being able to help others. It's pretty awesome. The other thing I've realized is, and it has to do with that is, is year ago, me versus me now is a huge difference in jujitsu, which it should be, right? If you do something for a decent amount of time for a year, you should be way better at it. And compared to me a year ago, I am. I am definitely less wrestler-y, smash-y than I was when I started trying to use muscle. And not like I was dominant or anything. I just used way more muscle.

That's what I was into as far as fitness and not knowing moves. And, you know, now I have the opportunity to use some moves and less, you know, power, as they say. So that's pretty cool. But I definitely, I don't remember who said that, that, you know, a year ago, you know, one year jujitsu person versus brand new of the same person would certainly, you know, beat them. And I can see how that happens.

And it's, it's pretty amazing because you kind of start to feel it. And then again, when, when you, well, for me, I guess hit about now in the past month or so. And then brand new folks come in and you're like, oh, maybe I do know some things. Maybe I do know how to keep distance and shoot in and do some of those kind of things. But at any rate, it's pretty cool. And the reality, the last one, so I've talked about injuries, recovery, doing some fitness makes a huge difference. Self-doubt that you'll have a failure. Why then? Maybe some jealousy and then realizing, you know what, you gotta, you gotta trust your instructors and your teammates. Be a little more calm and humble. It will definitely help you with

that. Your cardio will get way better. You may have bouts of claustrophobia when you start or even have to work through that for a while when people are really squishing you. You'll get a chance to help others start their training because again, if you remember when you first walked in, you're like, man, I don't even know how to tie this belt, which I would suggest that you do some YouTube videos on how to tie the belt. That's pretty cool and easy to do. You'll realize that, wow, I've been doing this for a year and I know way more than I did a year ago. And if you keep showing up, you will reap all those benefits. You will feel it both mentally and physically. And I am glad that I keep showing

up. I'm glad I found a great place to train here in Blacksburg at Team Mandan, that the folks at Revolution and BJJ in Richmond were just outstanding to help start my journey. So that's my year. It's a quick one, so it should help with the short commute. We'll be back with some interviews and some Incident Command and project management-focused stuff here in the near future. If you're into Jiu-Jitsu now, I hope this struck a chord with you and resonates. Look forward to your feedback.

We're on Facebook at Between the Slides, at PanoKG, and Twitter and Instagram. So feel free to also email me anything, any ideas, show ideas at kp.bts.podcast at gmail.com. And thank you so much for listening. Godspeed. Stay safe out there.