Ask the Wise Grappler

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about an OG finding the “missing piece to his grappling puzzle” by accident during a sparring session.“So are you telling me that if a 45 year old white belt with no contact sport experience goes up against Rickson Gracie, he can just think his way through a 5-minute match and not get tapped?  I’d love to see that happen.”

Well, I got an email from an OG that thought maybe I was stretching it a bit for the sake of having something good to write about and I wanted to share with you his comment and my reply to it.  Enjoy.

The Wise Grappler replies:

No OG, I wasn’t trying to say that “a 45 year old white belt with no contact sport experience” would use their mindset to beat up Rickson Gracie in a 5-minute match.  Even though I believe that anything’s possible (based on pure chance or a fluke), I wouldn’t bet my last dollar on it!  There have been people with more grappling and mental mindset experience than our 45 yrs old couch potato (with no sports background) that have tried and failed miserably against the man that many (me included) believe is the best proponent of BJJ in the world today.

Here’s what I was trying to say in that “Missing Piece” Article.

The positive OG Mental Mindset’s main role is to have an effect on the grappler or combat athlete’s performance during a match.  It provides absolutely NO GUARANTEE that the match outcome will be in favor of the combatant; only that it will force the athlete to fight hard enough to either meet the current challenge successfully or to go down fighting unsuccessfully.

For example, whenever you have a grappler or combat athlete getting ready for a contest, they have to believe without a shadow of doubt in their mind that they’re prepared and going to win a match.  If they don’t (whether it’s due to lack of confidence or preparation), then they’ve already lost the match.  In fact, if you spoke to both combatants before a match, both would tell you they’re going to win and that’s expected.  In fact, I’ve NEVER heard an athlete after losing a match (whether by decision or being knocked out) say they didn’t think they even had a chance to win.

There are so many variables that come together to bring about a winning outcome in a performance (with mindset only being one of them), that it would be virtually impossible to point to one thing
to say that’s the one thing I need to focus on exclusively that will determine the outcome of every match.

In my opinion, to compare White Belt A sparring with Rickson Gracie and using his positive mat mindset to force Rickson to submit, instead of White Belt A sparring with White Belt B, isn’t a fair comparison at all.  There’s a very good chance that if White Belt A knew he was going to spar with Rickson, White Belt A would probably think they don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell against him and would probably just be waiting for the tap to come.

Technically, White Belt A would probably be right. But as a coach, I want to believe that Rickson would correct that white belt’s thinking on the spot by saying something motivational to correct
the negative thinking, causing that white belt to fight as hard as possible… until he made them tap!

I hope this cleared up any misunderstanding from the “Missing Piece to the Grappling Puzzle” Article.  If not, send me another email and I’ll try to get it right the second time!

UFC 105 Forces OG Nation to Make a Tough Decision!

Whenever there’s a UFC Event, it’s usually pretty easy for me to pick who to cheer for… I usually pick the OG!

Well, that’s going to change in UFC 105 because the main event on this fight card has created a MAJOR dilemma for me and most of the OG Nation.  And I don’t mind saying that I’m struggling with who to cheer for in this one.

Why?

It’s because two of the biggest and baddest OGs from the OG Nation, Randy Couture and Brandon Vera, are squaring off in the main event.

Of course, you know that, right?  But what you don’t know is why it’s a struggle for me.

Here’s why:  Randy Couture was an OG when being an OG wasn’t cool.  Randy was out there getting it done when haters were laughing at every combat athlete over 35 out there trying to get it done, but just came up short.  Randy was the main OG that endured those haters tossing the H2O (he’s too old) Bombs his way every chance they got, proving them wrong more times than they were right.

Randy made it cool to be an OG!

And last but not least, Randy was also the first inductee into The Wise Grappler Hall of Fame (http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Agyka&m=1dcJ7_aUJvBDQD&b=C0jwOceTkojdGLwp45NgXg).

As for Brandon Vera, that’s my friend, teammate, and brother.  I’ve Been training with and known Brandon for a long time.  Brandon was calling me “Master Paul” and “MP” out of respect long after his skills has surpassed mine and before 99 percent of the people reading this had ever heard of me or The Wise Grappler.

And when I was still competing (like in this picture here with Brandon at a GQ Event back in the day: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Agyka&m=1dcJ7_aUJvBDQD&b=vLRSK7cgmK4zM.fnZ9Q0Fw),

Brandon was the guy that took time out during a visit to give me 30-minute private lesson on how to hit the perfect double leg without getting my head caught in the guillotine. 

And because of who these OGs are, they’re gonna go out there and lay it all on the line… with one OG emerging from the battle victorious and one in defeat.

The only question that remains now is… which one will it be since they both can’t win and you’re used to rooting for both of them.

NOW do you see my dilemma?

Regardless of which one I pick (and I have but will keep quiet so that no one can say I was wrong), it’s going to be one heckuva fight from these two OGs for the entire world to see and I wish them both the best of luck!

———————————

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Happy Veteran’s Day!

“We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

                               – George Orwell

*ON VETERAN’S DAY (11 Nov) THIS IS DEDICATED TO ALL VETERANS (PAST AND PRESENT) FOR THEIR VALIANT SERVICE TO THEIR COUNTRY*

- Paul Greenhill (aka The Wise Grappler)

Happy 234th Birthday – US Marine Corps!

First things first, in case you didn’t know, the US Marine Corps was born 234 years ago today (10 Nov) in a place called Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA.

Needless to say, today serves as a second birthday for all Marines (past and present) and a time that we honor and reflect back on “our time in the Corps”

And as I looked back on my time today, I started thinking about how on earth I became a marine.

It was 1982 and I was a young punk getting ready to graduate high school in Washington, DC with no clear direction as to where I wanted to go in life.  I’d thought about college, but there wasn’t enough money in the family to send me and my grades at the time clearly weren’t college material.

As luck would have it, I started thinking about the military since it seemed like the best thing for someone not going to college, but still needed to get out of their neighborhood and the bad stuff going on in it.

I’d like to say that I joined the Marine Corps because of some deeper reason than I liked the uniform, but that’s why I joined.  I wanted the dress blue uniform.

So, after talking to a recruiter and taking the test, I was all set to enlist.

Suddenly, I got scared at the last moment and changed my mind.  All those stories about how tough boot camp would be and how I wasn’t ”tough enough” to be a marine from my friends and adults around the neighborhood got to me.  I figured they knew something that I didn’t know about me at the time and if they said I was “too soft” to be a marine, they must’ve been right.

To make a long story short, I called the recruiter and told him that I changed my mind. when he asked if I was scared and what I was going to do after high school, I didn’t answer him.  He knew I was scared and that made me feel even worse.

Then one day, I was walking home from school and saw a crowd standing around looking at something on the ground.  and when I went over to see what they were looking at, I realized that it was a body laying on the ground with a coat over the face.

I didn’t know what happened or who the person was that got killed, but it was a wake up call for me. I realized at that moment that I needed to get the hell out of DC anyway possible.

Bottom line, I called the Marine Recruiter as soon as I got home.  A week later, I was enlisted and the rest is history.

Even now as I’m re-calling the details of that story, I can’t help but notice how:

- I lacked self-confidence
- Allowed people to tell me what I could or couldn’t do
- Almost ran away from what turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life based on fear
- Fought through the fear and negativity around me and achieved my goal of being a marine.
- Got that dress blue uniform  (http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Agyka&m=1ZavM5NrlvBDQD&b=.D0TKL9HFaKThKTkvYD90A)

So, if you know a “Jarhead” (and you ALL know at least one), wish them a Happy Belated Birthday!

Dedicated to improving your mat experience!

Paul Greenhill (aka The Wise Grappler)

The “Missing Piece” to Your Grappling Puzzle

Last week, I was talking to a student after BJJ class. We were discussing various training topics before I started talking about the “Hammer and Nail” Principle that all grapplers need to learn and
accept for mat success.

And while we were talking about the H&NP, the student (who we’ll call Jim) started talking about his own challenges in that area and how he admitted to the fact that he thought all that “mindset stuff” for surviving tough mat situations was a bunch of crap.

Jim’s opinion was based on his own mat experiences, where he was getting twisted up on the mat like a pretzel and unable to stop it.

Then one day, Jim said that during a match, he just made up in his mind that he was NOT going to beaten to a pulp or be finished by his partner on that day.

And to Jim’s total amazement… his partner DID NOT finish him during their match!

If you could’ve seen Jim’s face while he was telling me the story, you could tell that he was happy and shocked at the outcome because he didn’t think it could be that easy.

“Yes”, I said, “it can be that easy because your body will do EXACTLY what your mind tells it to do and when to do it. If your mind says fight, your body will fight! And if your minds says quit, your body will quit!”

I then told him that if he could think back to some of those matches in the past where he was being beaten to a pulp, he would be able to see that the “missing piece” to his grappling was that his mind had accepted the reality of losing and told his body to give up fighting.

Immediately, Jim recognized that’s exactly what happened to him.

And as we continue our talk, I realized that he was on the right track, but needed some more “OG insight” on the topic.

That’s when I handed him a copy of my “OG Mental Mindset Package” off the shelf in my office and told him this was the “missing piece” to his grappling puzzle.

What about you? Are you taking countless “mat thrashings” on a regular basis because you’re mind is telling your body to “give up and quit” during matches?

If the answer is yes, don’t hesitate and go NOW by sprinting over to www.OGMentalMindset.com to find the “missing piece” to your grappling puzzle.

Dedicated to improving your mat experience!

Thank you

Until midnight on Saturday, October 31, 2009, you can get my grappling and mental mindset trainng systems for 40% OFF (plus free shipping).

Here’s where you can grab your copy:

http://dwarfurl.com/d5e94

I’m holding this special sale as a way to say THANK YOU to all my loyal customers and supporters that read my grappling training e-newsletter.

I also need a reason to smile because the Washington Redskins are HORRIBLE this year and I have 9 more games to endure in an NFL Football Season that’s already been too long for my team.

Here’s where you can grab your copy and save 40%:

http://dwarfurl.com/d5e94

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       Try My Systems For 40% Off And Get 3 Free Bonuses!

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If the 40% discount isn’t enough to have you heading to my website, these 3 free gifts will surely do the trick:

* Bonus 1: 4 Keys to Develop a Championship Mindset! This Coaching Video Training Session Will Reveal the Four Critical Mental Training Habits Needed on the Mat to Ensure Peak Performance!

* Bonus 2: Mastering The OG Progression Chain! This Coaching Video Training Session Will Expose the 5 Progression Phases Successful Grapplers Master to Ensure Consistent Championship Mat Performance!

* Bonus 3: Complete written transcripts of both video coaching training sessions!

WHEW!

That’s a lot of goodies …and you get it all FREE when you try my entire system for 40% off (plus free shipping which will be deducted at checkout).

Go here right now and claim your copy before they’re all gone!

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Dedicated to improving your mat experience!
Paul Greenhill (aka The Wise Grappler)

P.S. This special 40% off sale ends at midnight on Saturday, October 31, 2009,.

If you’d like to get the revolutionary grappling and mental mindset training systems so many grapplers of all ages are raving about… and save 40% (deducted at purchase), then go here now:

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Check this out (AMAZING story!)

Here’s a pretty cool story that I stumbled across by accident when
a young OG, Tom DeBlass (Ocean County BJJ), was talking about how
a couple of his OG students inspired him by the commitment they
displayed to their grappling training in spite of the adversity
that would hinder most students half their age.

And since I love hearing and passing on any story about an OG
fighting against adversity to “get ‘er done!”, I asked him to see
if they were willing to share their stories with the OG Nation.
Kenny Balcerski was the first to take me up on my offer.  Enjoy!

Tom,

I put this together on inspiration as per your post on Facebook
with Paul Greenhill. It is a conglomeration of my core beliefs,
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu aptitude and feelings regarding training at
age 46 plus. I would only hope that it can inspire many more
students to start training with us.

It is no secret why students my age are spending more and more
time on the mats training. Jiu-Jitsu presents an endless amount
of applications and challenges which make it most appealing to
the older athlete.

State Champion in High School, All American in College; I have to
accept the fact that my body has limitations at almost 47 years
young. No matter how well I eat, sleep and train at this point,
it is inevitable that I have met the point of diminishing returns
when it comes to speed and agility.

However, I believe Jiu-Jitsu requires a lot of thinking and
technique, similar to a chess match, and may be one of the only
sports that allows an athlete past his physical prime to still
improve his skill with age.

One of the greatest days in my life was when I walked through the
door at Ocean County Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Forked River NJ). I
decided to enroll at the Academy after I shattered an ankle
racing motocross. The surgeon that put my leg back together was
firm in the premise that I would never be the same.

Fortunately for me, Professor Tom DeBlass convinced me that I
could still reach a high level of skill regardless of my age and
injury by training at his Academy.

I never imagined just how much Jiu-Jitsu would change my life!

Initially, I struggled, as do most beginners. I used too much
strength, fatigued almost immediately, and felt trapped and
panicky when mounted. But within the year I was able to slow my
game down, focus on skill and enjoy the benefits of this great
art.

I have found that being older may be an advantage in Jiu-Jitsu: I
don’t have many social or financial distractions since I have
already graduated college, I’m married with children, and have
owned a successful business for over 24 years. I have sculpted
good nutrition, hydration, strength, cardio, flexibility, rest
and recovery into my daily life. I have years of athletic and
practical experiences that can be applied to everyday training.

Jiu-Jitsu has given me a greater understanding of core beliefs,
pain and suffering. It has chiseled my integrity into being a
better father, friend and teammate. It has taught me that every
time I put my mind and body to the test it defines my capacity to
live.

A few weeks ago, I tore my biceps out of my elbow training for a
non-Jiu-Jitsu related event, and needed immediate surgery. I
would miss the Pan Ams and what might have been a few months
training.

I returned to the mats with a brace two weeks after surgery. My
family and teammates asked me why I came back to train so soon.
My answer has been I will only have an opportunity to train with
one arm for a short period until I recover fully.

Happiness is finding our innermost strengths by testing our
skills in every situation. This is a lesson I would never have
learned without my Professor, Instructors, fellow teammates and
everyone I train with at the academy.

Kenny Balcerski, Blue Belt

TWG:   Kenny, thank you for sharing your story with me and the OG
Nation.  I can see why Tom is proud and inspired to have you as a
student and it does my heart good to hear how you’re dealing with
your adversity in such a positive way.  Your commitment and “grit
tough” attitude is something that grapplers of all ages should
see and strive to achieve each day they walk on the mat.  It’s
truly a pleasure to have you as a member of the OG Nation!

Also, make sure to go to www.OlskoolGrapluh.com and pick out an
“OG T-shirt” so that I can get one in the mail to you this week.
Take care of that arm and keep up the good work!

“10 Signs You Need a Grappling Vacation!”

 

Here’s a question for you: if one of your teammates showed up
for class, dropped their bag on the floor, plopped down in the
chair next to you, and said “I do NOT want to be here today”, do
you:

a) Call him a wimp for sitting on the sidelines whining prior to
training?
b) Run and tell the instructor and take the chance of being branded
the school snitch?
c) Tell them that maybe they’re burned out from training and needs
a “grappling vacation?”
d) All of the above

As much as I would like for the answer to be “d – all of the
above”, I’m gonna have to stick with my outline and say “c -
grappling vacation.”

And if you’ve been grappling for any period of time, you’ve felt
exactly like the grappler in the scenario above.

Unfortunately, most grapplers don’t recognize the symptoms of
“mat burnout” and just keep trying to push through it until they
either get hurt while training or stop training completely.

So, just in case you’re not sure if you’re suffering from mat
burnout, here’s The Wise Grappler’s “10 Signs You Need a Grappling
Vacation!” Checklist:

You need a “grappling vacation” if:

1. You’re tired even before the class or workout starts.
2. You have to talk yourself into training (or competing) from the
time you wake up that morning until you actually get to the
academy.
3. You intentionally show up late for class and, once there, are
constantly looking at the clock the entire time waiting for it to
end.
4. You start thinking about how cool it would be to just go
straight home to relax and watch anything on TV instead of
training.
5. You look for any excuse (e.g. taking your dog to get a teeth
cleaning or you forgot to wash your kneepads.) to get out of
training.
6. You’re happy when a holiday, special event, or tournament
happens so that the school will be closed and you don’t need an
excuse to skip training.
7. You can’t catch opponents with your go-to techniques because
your movements and timing are off.
8. Your body’s sore all the time, even though you’re not getting
ready for an event.
9. Classmates that you usually perform well against or dominate are
kicking your butt all over the mat.
10. When you think to yourself, “It’s finally over, now I can get
the heck outta here and go home!” once class is over.

During my grappling journey, I’ve experienced many of these signs
myself, but refused to take time off to recuperate. For some
foolish reason, I used to think it was better to train with a
miserable mindset than to rest and give both my mind and body a
chance to rest.

Once I discovered that taking a couple of mini-vacations during the
year helped my grappling, I stopped fighting it and learned that
taking a mental rest break is just as important (if not more
important) than a physical rest break.

So, stop making excuses for not training (e.g. you didn’t train
because your gi is dirty) to justify to others for skipping
class. Take your “grappling vacation”, and watch how being
physically and mentally rested will put you back on track to
achieving your grappling goals!

5 Grappling Tips on How to Drill Techniques for Mat Success!

Ask The Wise Grappler:

“I bought the last product you had out [21 Mat Laws of Grappling]
and you talk about drilling being very important (I think it’s
Point #3). Can you explain drilling to me? I know it sounds like
a dumb question but another proverb says, ‘A wise man can learn
more from a dumb question than a fool can learn from a wise
answer.’ Do you drill a move, a position, a series?”

The Wise Grappler writes:

 Well, there’s a long and short answer to that question and I’ll
give them both to you.

The short answer is yes, you drill a move, position, and technique
until the moves become mechanical and can be executed without
thinking about it, like you tie your shoelaces or even breathe.
You’ve been doing both of those activities for so long that you’re
no longer aware of the fact that you do them without thought,
especially the breathing part!

The long answer on how you drill the moves, techniques, and
positions until they become mechanical and reflexive have been
captured and broken down in the following 5 key points:

1. Drilling the Technique Right – This mean having the mechanical
motion, grips, body position, correct breathing pattern, and proper
visual alignment so that you can see the “mat battlefield” to know
when your opponent is vulnerable and susceptible to the technique.

2. Drilling to Execute the Technique Quickly – Now that you know
how to do the technique right, you have to master doing the
technique quickly before the window of opportunity closes on you.
Just because you can do the technique on a willing partner, that
won’t guarantee that you’ll execute it with the same sense of
urgency during a live match.

3. Drilling the Technique under Stress – Just because you can do
the technique right and fast, that doesn’t mean that you’ll do it
under a “live” (stress) situation and you have to account for that
as well. You need to apply your techniques at different stages of
successfully locking in the technique (etc. 30% applied, 50%
applied, 70% applied, etc.) and have your partner fight out of it
at different levels of resistance (30%, 50%, 70%, etc.).

4. Drilling under Common and Uncommon Scenarios – Every technique
should work under ideal conditions, but will your technique hold up
when you’re tired, your opponent’s sweaty, your opponent is (or
isn’t) wearing a gi, you’re injured, you develop a cramp in your
arm or leg, etc.? That’s why you need to drill those techniques in
common or uncommon scenarios that are likely to occur, especially
if you’re competing. You should RARELY encounter a situation for
the first time during a competition. If you do, your training plan
has holes in it that need to be closed.

5. Drilling with the Technique Failing – This mean that we’re
expecting to execute the technique in such a way that it’s not
effective enough to submit or gain a dominant position on our
partners and we’ve thought out the common “mat tendencies” on what the opponent will do to resist. Once you’re able to determine the
tendencies and integrate that into the drilling, that will allow
you to account for your opponent’s ability to counter and fight off
your triangle attack… but walk right into your armbar attack.

Also, you need to keep in mind that this is just the top layer of
what I call my “OG Drilling Tree” and that each one of these five
key points has multiple subsections underneath it. But for now, I
think this will give you enough insight to modify your training
plan to start implementing these points immediately.

I’m going to shoot a video on this topic soon that should clarify
any points that I’ve missed in this response, but I hope this
helped.

OG (Mike Zenga) told me about some training tips

If you haven’t heard about this already, you might want to look at
this by clicking here.

Another OG (Mike Zenga) told me about some training tips he added to
his BJJ game that has made a major impact in his mat performance
while he was in Maryland for business and training during the
summer.

And just in case you don’t remember Mike, he sent me an testimonial
back in May after he won the 2009 NY Open BJJ Tournament this year
and I shared with the OG Nation.

(You can check out his testy and see him on the podium with his
teammates at http://thewisegrappler.com/special.html)

Now back to the story before I forget…

Anyway, we were talking about how most BJJers have crappy takedowns
and seem content with butt-scooting and guard-jumping. Mike talked
about how his training partner (a 2008 Olympic Judo Player) helped
him by showing him takedowns that fit perfectly with the BJJ
grappling game.

And since Mike is an OG like most of us, these are takedowns that
anyone can do, regardless of age.

Mike showed me what they’re doing and it’s pretty cool stuff for any
BJJer looking to stop the “butt-scoot” and “jumping guard” as their
only takedown.

Check it out and see for yourself.
http://dwarfurl.com/3590c

Dedicated to improving your mat experience!

Paul Greenhill (aka The Wise Grappler)
www.TheWiseGrappler.com
www.twitter.com/thewisegrappler