In this OG Testimonial of the Week (OGTOW), I thought I’d use the time to define to answer the question that I’ve been asked quite a bit over the past months: exactly who and what is an OG?
When I initially created the Wise Grappler and the OG (originally meant “Older Grappler”) concept, it was for what I considered the older and non-traditional grapplers (non-competitive, smaller and weaker grapplers, female, recreational, physically challenged, etc.) at schools around the world that weren’t considered the “top guys” at their gym.
Due to my lack of vision at the time, I never anticipated that The Wise Grappler would grow into a leading grappling and mental mindset training resource for grapplers of all ages. I didn’t
imagine that the information that I provided (thru my email, articles, and training products) would be valued and applied by so many grapplers, even the grapplers considered the “top guys” at their schools.
With that revelation, I was forced to see that just like any othercommunity, there isn’t just one type of OG within The Nation and there is room for all. The thing that I needed to do was to give them something that unifies the older OGs with the hungry, young gun OG. And for a long time, I couldn’t figure it out what thatwould be.
And then one day, it hit me! The one thing that unifies us all within the Nation is what I consider our “old school” approach to grappling. And when I think of the term “old school”, I think of the following traits:
- works hard on the mat
- doesn’t play around when drilling and doesn’t clock-watching.
- leaves socializing for before and after class, not while training.
- doesn’t avoid training with partners that have superior technical skills than we do.
- isn’t afraid to be submitted and assigns no value to it.
- understands that winning and losing have to be learned and are excellent teachers.
- knows the value of a good coach and follow their advice.
- makes NO excuses when outcomes aren’t in our favor.
- give 100 percent effort in both training and competition.
- know how to accept victory and defeat.
- isn’t afraid to go out and “put it on the line”.
- isn’t concerned about failing or what others will say about us if we fall short of their goal.
- welcome challenges that take us out of our comfort zone
And other things that I can’t put into this one email so that it doesn’t go too long. To me, everyone in the nation is (or capable) of becoming an “oldschool grappler!” and when I take the space out between the words “old” and “school”, we have another definition for OG that everyone within the Nation can claim: OG = Oldschool Grappler!
And now that I’ve upgraded the definition of what an OG is, I want to show an example of how an OG lives up to it. Here’s a video that was sent to me by OG Nicolai “therealgeeza” Holt some months ago and I never took time out to look at it. Now, I’m glad that I didn’t see it back THEN because it’s exactly what I need NOW to communicate what “Oldschool Grappling” means to me. This young grappler is EVERYTHING that an OG should be! The video is about 6 minutes long.
If you seen it before and don’t think you can gain anything from it, look at it again and so that you can be eligible for a contest that I’m going to put on next week concerning the video. So, check out how an “Oldschool Grappler” gets it done and enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1M7WQdoBBI
The other day, I was having a conversation with one of my students and he wanted to know what gave me the idea of using a folding chair to demonstrate and teach the proper posture for the “Bullfighter” Guard Pass (as he saw in on the OG Clinic DVD) since he had never seen anyone use furniture to teach a grappling concept before. I told him the reason I was able to use the chair to successfully teach the concept of proper body placement and weight distribution was based solely on the fact that no one ever told me that I couldn’t use a folding chair to teach my students. And since no one told me I couldn’t use a chair (or anything else that comes to mind), my teaching was bound ONLY by my creativity.
The motivation for using the chair was to teach my students the proper hand positioning and to show them where the weight should be distributed to neutralize their opponent while doing the pass. The reason I used the folding chair was the fact that they’re light and mobile, which allows me to put several on the mat at one time to create a unique drill for the students that immediately catches their attention and presents them with a simple training tool that most of them have in their homes and workspaces. Once they put their hands on the chair in the proper position, the feeling they feel in their hands lets them know exactly where the weight is being distributed and if their feet and hips are properly positioned for successfully neutralize their opponent for a successful guard pass.
The whole idea of using a folding chair seems so foreign to many grapplers (of all experience levels and ranks), but that’s one of the reasons that so many grapplers can’t improve outside the traditional setting or without black belt level instruction. They lack the imagination and creativity required to help them learn, understand, and to teach grappling techniques and concepts outside of the traditional setting that you see in lots of training academies, grappling books, and instructional DVDs.
Would I consider myself an innovative genius for using chairs (among other things) as training props? Well…yes and no! I am innovative because I haven’t seen anyone else doing it and no one’s accused me of stealing it from someone else…yet! At the same time, I know that I don’t own the patent on training creativity and quite certain that there are TONS of non-traditional training methods being used in gyms around the world that teach grappling concepts that are unknown to the masses.
THAT’S what I consider “thinking outside the box” in grappling. So, if you’ve got some “crazy” idea that helps you or your students understand a grappling principle, keep up the good work and continue to think outside the box. And if you think using a folding chair as a guard passing training tool was cool, wait until you see how I use a stationary bike seat and an umbrella in my OG Shadow Grappling DVD, which will be available within the month!
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Paul M. Greenhill, “The Wise Grappler”, is the creator of The Wise Grappler System and author of The Wise Grappler Ezine, a weekly ezine that provides grappling and mental mindset training tips for the older (over 35) and non-traditional/non-competitive martial artists. To learn more about “The Wise Grappler” and to sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit his site at www.thewisegrappler.com or contact The Wise Grappler.
