What's your end goal?
Not sure what your end goal is?
 |
| Choose wisely |
If you aren't sure what's your end goal in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, that's 100% OK. I have been training for roughly 8 years and up until a few months ago, I finally discovered what my end goal is - to be able to train BJJ as long as I can.
There are so many paths to take once you embark on this lifetime journey in Jiu-Jitsu. Some do it for the medals, others do it for the camaraderie, networking, physical activity, self-defense, etc. Food for thought - when you train, especially if you are doing so consistently, are you just going through the movements and techniques in class? Can you go home satisfied knowing that you took a step in the right direction towards your end goal? A step forward does not mean you took a step in the right direction.
For example, let's say your end goal is to win a gold medal in the IBJJF Worlds and you go in Monday for Fundamentals class and bust your ass during class - that's great! Did you drill after class? Did you ask any questions about anything specific about your game? Did you stretch? Flexibility will make your guard extremely difficult to pass. Back to my question, can you go home satisfied you took a step in the right direction? I would hope so, but only you know that answer. If you feel like none of these questions I asked will help you get a gold medal, then ask any world champ and find out for yourself.
I love competing and will remain to do so until my body can no longer endure the training demanded to get ready for a tournament, however, my focus has slightly angled off to a new North. My end goal of being able to train BJJ for as long as I can has many paths: open up my own academy, traveling and competing, giving seminars, etc., yet my compass is always aiming at the same direction. My goal is an easy one, but it is one that takes a lifetime to complete. I'm here for the long run and so should you because when it gets rough, and it will get rough, you can look up and know exactly where you are heading even if you have to slow down at times (aka injuries) or maybe take a step back so you can take two in the right direction.
I live in Orange County California, the Mecca of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Living here has spoiled me in the sense that there are endless training partners that I can learn from. One person, in particular, has always stood out to me, Martin Morachimo from Phenom BJJ. Professor Martin is by far the best black belt and biggest sweetheart I have ever met. I have had the luck of rolling with superstars like Gianni Grippo, Bernardo Faria, Dillon Danis, and Felipe Pena. All these guys are extremely good at their games, and although I didn't really get a chance to build rapport with them, they all seemed pretty cool. Martin is a whole different monster. This guy is a devoted follower of Roger Gracie (maybe that's why he is such a beast). Martin has adopted a learning focus as opposed to most of us who adopt a winning. A learning mentality I think has a direct correlation as to why Martin is so good. ts. You cannot put this guy in an uncomfortable position, and if you ever do, it's because he either let you get there or he purposely put himself in order to figure out how to escape from that position. This is kind of far-fetched to say, but I would bet money on Martin beating any black belt in a no-time-limit match.
Every time I roll with Martin I pick his brain. Most of our conversations revolve around mindset rather than a particular move. A few weeks back we were talking and he mentioned how he had to tweak the game he developed training with Romulo Barral for 3 years, to what his game has evolved to nowadays. He realized after he opened his gym that he wasn't going to be young and healthy forever, therefore, rolling every round like there is no tomorrow wasn't a sustainable strategy. It was then that Martin started to shift his focus to what he discovered to be his end goal - to be able to roll with his students for a long as he could.
I have trained at GB Northridge and it's rough!! Not in a bad way at all but it is very intense and physically demanding. I imagined the shift that Martin had to endure from smash, smash, smash to accepting the sweep or mount and working from a deficit could not have been easy. I believe that having his end goal clearly defined helped him through this process.
If you are ever in the Orange County area, you need to come in and train with Martin - I'm dead serious here guys, you'll understand why this guy changed my focus.
Needless to say, I was driving home after our talk and started thinking what my end goal was. In about 2-3 minutes I had flashbacks of all the highlights that 8 years of Jiu-Jitsu has brought to my life. I quickly realized that only a handful of those had anything to do with getting a gold medal. The most vivid flashbacks were from feelings of anything but placing on the podium. My most vivid one was actually of this Chinese lady, who knew absolutely no English and needed help finding her daughter who was picking her up from the airport. I landed at the Orlando International airport after losing in the quarterfinals at worlds by 2 points, and just a side note here guys, this has been the only time I have made it that far into the bracket in 4 worlds I have competed on. I can make an easy argument that getting that far in the bracket was the best memory out of the whole trip, but it was not. After helping this lady find her relatives, as she was entering the car getting ready to shut the door behind her, she paused, opened the door wide, looked at me, and gave me sweetest smile ever. I smiled and waved my hand in the air acknowledging her thankfulness. Out of 6 full days of adventures in California and 1 full of day of BJJ matches, my most vivid memory was of helping this lady - this realization was the catalyst that has helped me shift my focus.
On-going Process
Since early on, I have had a desire to be better than the person next to me at what I'm doing. In a Jiu-Jitsu tournament, it's only you and your opponent. At the end of the match, one person wins and the other looses, simple enough right? If I didn't get my hand raised, I will seriously have the shittiest attitude possible. I remember one time I lost the absolute final in the Atlanta winter open via triangle in roughly 30 seconds...man I was pissed!! I don't know if I shook my opponent's hand, to be honest with you, but I walked off that mat and found the first corner I can sit next to and mentally checked out. A few moments later, my professor sat next to me and began talking. Till the day, I have no clue what he said since I refused to listen to him or anyone. I would assume that he was trying to tell me what I did wrong so I wouldn't get caught in a triangle again, but so much for listening at the time. In retrospect, everyone is a genius, right? This is no different, but it took me a few years later to realize how many moments like this could have brought great insight to not just my jiu-jitsu but overall life. Could it be possible that I miss so many insightful moments like the Atlanta winter open because I didn't know exactly why I was training BJJ?... I think so.
Lately, my attitude towards defeat has taken a U-turn. When I lose in a tournament nowadays, the first thing on my mind is rewinding the match in my head to see where things started to go south. The next thing is to ask who recorded the match so I can get a clear view of what my mistakes were. I have found that at purple belt, it's not often what you do right that gets you the gold, rather what your opponent does wrong (which at times is not doing anything) so you can capitalize on the mistake.
As I'm writing this, I reflect back on a couple of tournaments I did a few weeks back. In the Austin open, I faced Roberto Jimenez, an 18-year-old stud that won Worlds on his first year as a purple belt. It was about 1:15 in the match when Roberto passed my guard and took my back, "Shit, this is exactly where I did not want this guy to be", I said. I knew Roberto was extremely good at finishing chokes so that's what I concentrated most when he took my back. When you get tunnel vision, you miss a lot of details like leaving the arm exposed. Roberto took my arm, got a kimura grip on it and went for the arm lock. I wanted to try to fight it, but at the speed he was trying to finish the arm lock, there was no escape. Tap Tap!
We always revert back to what we know and feel comfortable with. For a second, I almost turned to my shitty leave-me-alone attitude; thankfully, I didn't. I chose a more pro-active approach and went back to see the video. I recorded the match on my phone and immediately saw my mistake. I tried to play 50/50 guard with arguably the best purple belt in the world; a guard that I barely play and just know 1 or 2 things on it...stupid move!
During my first match at the Worlds 2018, I faced a guy that had an amazing guard. His transitions and grips were on point. Finally, we got to the last 30 seconds or so, I'm on top and he has me in the 50/50 guard. I got swept and when I attempted to sweep him back, he stalled and got the win. I could have gotten furious, rightfully so, for all the work I had put in to get ready for this tournament, but you know what, that's not me anymore. My mistake was letting him put in a position I'm not that familiar with (the same exact mistake I made with Roberto). I guess sometimes it takes twice to learn the same lesson.
I had Martin's voice in my mind from a comment he made in one of our talks, "the only bad position in Jiu-Jitsu is the position you haven't been in". I started looking at 50/50 guard passes and studying this guard from various resources. When I went in back to training a few days later, I started drilling both passing and playing the 50/50. In order to understand the passing, you need to understand why and how the position works from the bottom. How much better of an approach is this instead of being all pissed for days?
Conclusion
My advice, take some time to reflect on what you want out of BJJ. There are so many things one can get from training Jiu-Jitsu and narrowing it down or prioritizing those can help you find your end goal. I have a much clear sense of where I'm going and without a doubt, my attitude has had a shift for the better since I have found my end goal.
Oss!
For example, let's say your end goal is to win a gold medal in the IBJJF Worlds and you go in Monday for Fundamentals class and bust your ass during class - that's great! Did you drill after class? Did you ask any questions about anything specific about your game? Did you stretch? Flexibility will make your guard extremely difficult to pass. Back to my question, can you go home satisfied you took a step in the right direction? I would hope so, but only you know that answer. If you feel like none of these questions I asked will help you get a gold medal, then ask any world champ and find out for yourself.
I love competing and will remain to do so until my body can no longer endure the training demanded to get ready for a tournament, however, my focus has slightly angled off to a new North. My end goal of being able to train BJJ for as long as I can has many paths: open up my own academy, traveling and competing, giving seminars, etc., yet my compass is always aiming at the same direction. My goal is an easy one, but it is one that takes a lifetime to complete. I'm here for the long run and so should you because when it gets rough, and it will get rough, you can look up and know exactly where you are heading even if you have to slow down at times (aka injuries) or maybe take a step back so you can take two in the right direction.
I live in Orange County California, the Mecca of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Living here has spoiled me in the sense that there are endless training partners that I can learn from. One person, in particular, has always stood out to me, Martin Morachimo from Phenom BJJ. Professor Martin is by far the best black belt and biggest sweetheart I have ever met. I have had the luck of rolling with superstars like Gianni Grippo, Bernardo Faria, Dillon Danis, and Felipe Pena. All these guys are extremely good at their games, and although I didn't really get a chance to build rapport with them, they all seemed pretty cool. Martin is a whole different monster. This guy is a devoted follower of Roger Gracie (maybe that's why he is such a beast). Martin has adopted a learning focus as opposed to most of us who adopt a winning. A learning mentality I think has a direct correlation as to why Martin is so good. ts. You cannot put this guy in an uncomfortable position, and if you ever do, it's because he either let you get there or he purposely put himself in order to figure out how to escape from that position. This is kind of far-fetched to say, but I would bet money on Martin beating any black belt in a no-time-limit match.
Every time I roll with Martin I pick his brain. Most of our conversations revolve around mindset rather than a particular move. A few weeks back we were talking and he mentioned how he had to tweak the game he developed training with Romulo Barral for 3 years, to what his game has evolved to nowadays. He realized after he opened his gym that he wasn't going to be young and healthy forever, therefore, rolling every round like there is no tomorrow wasn't a sustainable strategy. It was then that Martin started to shift his focus to what he discovered to be his end goal - to be able to roll with his students for a long as he could.
I have trained at GB Northridge and it's rough!! Not in a bad way at all but it is very intense and physically demanding. I imagined the shift that Martin had to endure from smash, smash, smash to accepting the sweep or mount and working from a deficit could not have been easy. I believe that having his end goal clearly defined helped him through this process.
If you are ever in the Orange County area, you need to come in and train with Martin - I'm dead serious here guys, you'll understand why this guy changed my focus.
On-going Process
Since early on, I have had a desire to be better than the person next to me at what I'm doing. In a Jiu-Jitsu tournament, it's only you and your opponent. At the end of the match, one person wins and the other looses, simple enough right? If I didn't get my hand raised, I will seriously have the shittiest attitude possible. I remember one time I lost the absolute final in the Atlanta winter open via triangle in roughly 30 seconds...man I was pissed!! I don't know if I shook my opponent's hand, to be honest with you, but I walked off that mat and found the first corner I can sit next to and mentally checked out. A few moments later, my professor sat next to me and began talking. Till the day, I have no clue what he said since I refused to listen to him or anyone. I would assume that he was trying to tell me what I did wrong so I wouldn't get caught in a triangle again, but so much for listening at the time. In retrospect, everyone is a genius, right? This is no different, but it took me a few years later to realize how many moments like this could have brought great insight to not just my jiu-jitsu but overall life. Could it be possible that I miss so many insightful moments like the Atlanta winter open because I didn't know exactly why I was training BJJ?... I think so.
Lately, my attitude towards defeat has taken a U-turn. When I lose in a tournament nowadays, the first thing on my mind is rewinding the match in my head to see where things started to go south. The next thing is to ask who recorded the match so I can get a clear view of what my mistakes were. I have found that at purple belt, it's not often what you do right that gets you the gold, rather what your opponent does wrong (which at times is not doing anything) so you can capitalize on the mistake.
As I'm writing this, I reflect back on a couple of tournaments I did a few weeks back. In the Austin open, I faced Roberto Jimenez, an 18-year-old stud that won Worlds on his first year as a purple belt. It was about 1:15 in the match when Roberto passed my guard and took my back, "Shit, this is exactly where I did not want this guy to be", I said. I knew Roberto was extremely good at finishing chokes so that's what I concentrated most when he took my back. When you get tunnel vision, you miss a lot of details like leaving the arm exposed. Roberto took my arm, got a kimura grip on it and went for the arm lock. I wanted to try to fight it, but at the speed he was trying to finish the arm lock, there was no escape. Tap Tap!
We always revert back to what we know and feel comfortable with. For a second, I almost turned to my shitty leave-me-alone attitude; thankfully, I didn't. I chose a more pro-active approach and went back to see the video. I recorded the match on my phone and immediately saw my mistake. I tried to play 50/50 guard with arguably the best purple belt in the world; a guard that I barely play and just know 1 or 2 things on it...stupid move!
During my first match at the Worlds 2018, I faced a guy that had an amazing guard. His transitions and grips were on point. Finally, we got to the last 30 seconds or so, I'm on top and he has me in the 50/50 guard. I got swept and when I attempted to sweep him back, he stalled and got the win. I could have gotten furious, rightfully so, for all the work I had put in to get ready for this tournament, but you know what, that's not me anymore. My mistake was letting him put in a position I'm not that familiar with (the same exact mistake I made with Roberto). I guess sometimes it takes twice to learn the same lesson.
I had Martin's voice in my mind from a comment he made in one of our talks, "the only bad position in Jiu-Jitsu is the position you haven't been in". I started looking at 50/50 guard passes and studying this guard from various resources. When I went in back to training a few days later, I started drilling both passing and playing the 50/50. In order to understand the passing, you need to understand why and how the position works from the bottom. How much better of an approach is this instead of being all pissed for days?
Conclusion
My advice, take some time to reflect on what you want out of BJJ. There are so many things one can get from training Jiu-Jitsu and narrowing it down or prioritizing those can help you find your end goal. I have a much clear sense of where I'm going and without a doubt, my attitude has had a shift for the better since I have found my end goal.
Oss!
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