Thesis Wednesday: You Are What You Think

The power of belief is curious. It can cripple or it can empower.

Sports and performance represent some of the best proofs of this idea: that belief can be nearly if not more powerful than training. If nothing else, to maximize performance you must believe in order to achieve (the vast majority of the time) at the highest levels of any endeavor.

Failure like success is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As we lose, it becomes more likely that we doubt our ability, preparation, and ability to perform on a given date/at a given time/against a certain opponent.

Winning becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As we believe we will win and know this will be the outcome we are not beset by the insecurity, self-doubt, and hesitancy that often results in losing.

You are what you think you are.
You will perform as you expect.

For much of my time spent training, I eschewed the mental aspect of positive affirmations and self-encouragement.
I expected that if I did the work, that the results would follow.
But after my first loss in MMA and the subsequent 2 that followed, then couple with my ACL injury, I looked back and saw how far my barometer of confidence had fallen.

I won my first 2 MMA fights with nothing that resembled MMA training. The opponents were no less tough or skilled than the last 3 guys I fought.

So what was the variable?
I had overtrained for my 3rd fight, experienced a crushing loss, and that shook my confidence to the core. I neglected to come to terms with what had happened and that fear, the paralyzing doubt and wish to avoid what had happened and having it happen again became a toxic, cancerous force in my mind.

I accepted that I was not as capable as I in fact am.

This limiting belief, this acceptance of a lack of ability or whatever trait on my part then became reality as my belief manifested in physical form by limiting my performance.

The vaaaaaaaaaaast majority of people that will tell you that you cannot do something have not done the very thing being considered.
Ever notice that self-made (a bit of a misnomer, I know, as no one is truly self-made entirely) people will tell you that you can achieve and be successful?
And ever notice that those people who are unsuccessful are the ones who will often explain and excuse and list reason after reason why they or you are not or cannot be successful?

Consider the source when someone tells you something, my Mom once told me. Consider the source.

Thesis Wednesday: Perspective & the Subconscious Mind

The best thing that ever happened to me was blowing out my knee.

Think about what I just said.

The best thing that has happened to me since I began training martial arts when I first started college, and across boxing, wing chun, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, fighting in MMA, submission grappling....the best thing that has happened to me in all that time was that I blew out my knee.

I was full of limiting beliefs.
Beliefs that I was not athletic. That at best I could train, compete, but that I was the middle of the pack. That I did not have the X factor, the mental edge, the confidence, the whatever it took to excell and compete in the top percentage of the elite.

I was still relatively successful in competition b/c I trained long and hard.
But I realized after losing 3 MMA fights in a row and blowing out my knee that there was something wrong with my environment both externally and internally.

For all my training, I was not seeing the results that I perceived others were getting despite their training less.

I had let other people around me affect my personal belief about my ability.
I had listened to the limiting beliefs and the negative input of others. I had let what I believed was a rational acceptance of limitations truly limit myself and my ability to perform at my utmost potential.

Teenagers call them haters. You can call them whatever you like.
But there will always be those people prepared to tell you what you cannot do.
This is largely if not entirely based on their own inadequacies, shortcomings, and acceptance of what they have not done and continue to choose not to do while they rationalize that passive acceptance on their part.

Have you ever noticed that many of the successful people will often say that anyone can be successful?
And yet, the people who will most often tell you that you cannot be successful say it with such malice and bitterness that its clear they are clearly unhappy with themselves and likely their life as well.
A self-made (again, out of context term) millionaire will tell you that you can make a million dollars.
A homeless man will point to the myriad of factors that keep anyone from making a million dollars....b/c he perceives that he has been kept from making a million dollars.
I do not discount the struggles of others, but I would argue the homeless in America have a largesse of opportunity and support that the VAST majority of the world's homeless do not.

I've never had a truly happy, successful person tell me that I could not be successful.
I have had, however, lots of moderately successful (relative assessment, I know) but largely unhappy people tell me I could not or would not achieve things.
In particular when you voice your objective or desire for something they have not, will not, or due to age, life choices, responsibility to family/work et cetera and thus truly cannot do.

What they really mean is that "I have not done that" so I believe that you cannot do it either.

So what's the point?

Eventually, at the end of your life, all those excuses, all those naysayers, all the whatever you used to rationalize your failures and undone wishes and desires will not matter.
You and you alone are holding the bag as your last breath expires, your synapses fire one last time and you are no longer alive.

Personally, I would prefer to spend the waking days and hours I do have remaining chasing those goals and pursuing those passions as far as my will, desire, heart, and determination will carry me.

Thesis Wednesday: Limiting Beliefs vs Positive Affirmation

The other day I posted Budovideos' weekly segment "This Week in BJJ" with Budo Jake talking to Lloyd Irvin and his proteges.

Partway through the interview, Keenan Cornelius talks about his positive/self affirmations he began utilizing to change his mindset. Namely, he would tell himself "I am the best purple belt inthe world, I just have to go out and prove it."
He anecdotally mentions that Lloyd would have him saying and yelling this in front of the entire training group.

There is an old saying from, I believe, Goebbels, the chief architect of the German propaganda machine during WWII, that "if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth."

If you speak to many high level athletes, competitors, Olympians, many of them espouse the use of visualization (literally picturing a positive affirmation like winning, executing a precision performance et cetera) if not self affirmations like statements made first thing in the morning or last thing before bed.

What you will not ever hear them discuss are "limiting beliefs". A limiting belief is any self-imposed restriction on your ability or success. Examples might be: I will never be a world champion in Jiu-Jitsu. I don't think I can win the absolute division because of my size. I am too old to learn Jiu-Jitsu.

This is not a post about "the secret" that book that tells you if you imagine it, you can form it into being within the fabric of the universe.

I would, however, argue that without positive affirmation and belief you will never maximize your own personal performance and ability.

Success becomes a positive feedback loop.
I realized months ago that my mentality on the mat in a Judo tournament versus in a Jiu-Jitsu tournament were very different.

I tell myself I will do well at X tournament.
I do well.
I believe I will do well at Y tournament.
I do well.
I expect that I will do well at Z tournament.

At some point, I surpass the point where negative feedback will attack my self-confidence. I have created a positive feedback loop that is stronger than self doubt. This is a CONTINUAL AND PERPETUAL PROCESS. There will always be those around you ready to try and drag you down: otherwise known as haters.
There is never a shortage of doubting Thomas' in the world. The key is to not be your own doubting Thomas.

On the Judo mat, I view it as my mat. I expect to win my division and likely the next weight class up. I see first place as the only logical outcome to the day of competition.
I have gained much positive feedback in Judo tournaments which affirms this thinking which then strengthens my belief in this reality that I hold to be self-evident.

Early on in my Judo competitions I began competing in the advanced division. As I beat brown belts I lost my fear and indecision, and began to believe and feel as though I was every bit as skilled as they were. Now, in reality, of course I was not. However, my at times irrational self-confidence allowed me to play in a manner that bypassed much of the indecision or self-doubt that would have surely led to my losing.
But my belief and affirmation of that allowed me to beat players I otherwise would not have bested in a tournament format.
I competed and won matches and tournaments with no ACL in my leg. I genuinely believed in my heart and mind that even without much use of one of my legs, I was still better than many other competitors. Narcissistic and egotistical? Sure.
Did I win more than had I not competed and sat at home bemoaning my injury?
Yes.

You see this in fighters as well.
A fighter gets knocked out for the first time. Some fighters are never the same after this happens. They become "gun shy". The self doubt grows into a crippling force which breaks their will and their prior positive feedback cycle and then as they feel doubt they peform more poorly which enforces and strengthens the self doubt making it all the more crippling.
As someone who has seen the ups and downs of winning and losing in MMA, and having great days and terrible days in Jiu-Jitsu competition, I realized this lack of positive affirmation and crippling self doubt was a major impediment to my ability to maximize my performance despite whatever intensive training and preparation I had undergone.

The mental aspect is by far the most difficult yet powerful tool in any fighter's tool box.

Thesis Wednesday: Play-Jitz

If you are unwilling to go and see if the armbars, chokes, and escapes you learn in training work in a tournament, then you don't really want to know if what you're doing works against someone you know nothing about (like an attacker).

I'm already over this whole wave of self-defense Jiu-Jitsu that is now going to pop up for awhile thanks to 4 hours of Rener/Ralek/Rorion framing not getting subbed as winning at the Meta-bortion.

That is all.

Thesis Wednesday: A Fish Rots From the Head

Disclaimer:
The following groups may be offended:
those who don't cross train.
those who believe their one grappling style by itself is the magical bullet to grappling invincibility.
those who can't admit what they don't know or understand.
those who have neglected to go experience and try other grappling styles firsthand.

I don't bother much posting on Judoforum.

When dealing with a certain sub-sect of long-time Judo players and associations, I'm fondly reminded that "The Turks have a homely proverb applied on such occasions: they say 'the fish stinks first at the head,' meaning, that if the servant is disorderly, it is because the master is so."
The sad part, is that I'd be willing to bet Judoforum is the biggest English-language Judo forum on the internetz.
Seriously.

Posters on Judoforum consist primarily of two classes: 1) those that acknowledge Judo must change adapt to remain relevant as a sporting endeavor and Olympic sport as well as self-defense applicable AND 2) those that lose their *&^% anytime someone questions the status quo of Judo. The interesting part is they freely admit Judo has changed from its early days, and yet, for someone who hasn't been playing Judo for 50 years to say change to the current paradigm is necessary provokes virulent responses.

It's primarily full of the stereotypical closed-minded older Judo players or the younger armchair experts who cant see the forest for the trees because they get a boner enamored with the bowing, and the respect, and "mutual welfare and benefit" and the talk of Budo and the like. All good traits IN MODERATION.
It becomes counter-productive, however, when they enter begin ignoring the ever changing world/landscape of martial arts.

I figured by posting in the "Other Martial Arts" section, I might get some feedback on my "Cross Grip Seionage for BJJ" from players who actually cross train. But....wait for it......


......as expected it so happens, it quickly degenerated into a "THAT's NOT HOW YOU DO IT IN JUDO" or "THIS IS NOTHING NEW" list of responses.

- "Doesn't anybody teach Eri seoi nage properly anymore? This is just reinventing the wheel ....but this time it's square! "

- "youtube is fun like that. anyone can make an instructional video, regardless of skill level. "

- "But for me there is a right Judo way and a "WRONG" way. "

And people wonder why Judo schools can't make a buck with dwindling enrollment while Tae Kwon Do schools make money hand over fist. It must be something other than a closed minded attitude on the part of a martial art that has been in America for 50 or 60 years. That certainly doesn't explain the lack of schools contributing to the stage for national level players and the fact that most Judo programs are non-profits taught on old mats at YMCA's.

Whether its a tourament director characterizing Jiu-Jitsu as little more than "dirty Judo" to the generalization that mat work in BJJ is too complicated and it doesn't work if you don't have all day.
I've heard the gamut of remarks.

The inculcation to ignore the fundamental reality of mat work and the likelihood that Judo players can learn from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu begins early. For those first few white belts and up.
From instructors, a source that they respect and respect is emphasized in Judo passively and actively with the bowing et cetera admire, they often hear those first prejudices depending on their individual club and the instructors present.

This is the attitude of many grapplers.
There is nothing wrong with choosing to focus on a particular style of grappling.
I would argue that you need to have one base skill set of grappling before you begin cross training.
I'll use MMA as an example: guys walk in to learn "MMA" and they burn out and quit b/c they are trying to learn something new standing up, striking, take downs, and Jiu-Jitsu (plus diet, and strength and conditioning).

This results in being mediocre at everything.

Back to the grappling-centric world:
They may claim to be open-minded. They may claim to believe in Judo and the idea of using what works, but in reality, they adhere to and espouse a mythical belief in "standing Judo" and this golden age of Judo from the time of rose-colored glasses and how Judo is somehow so much better and superior special or different b/c of it's "mutual welfare and benefit" creed.
Again, there is nothing wrong with these ideas IN MODERATION..

The problem arises when grapplers would rather look at a book with grainy pictures of Kano or Mifune and argue endlessly about the sleeve hand being at this position or the rotation being exactly this many degrees. If you don't believe me, go read the forum for about 20 minutes and you'll see what I mean.


I say this not to disparage a sport in which I clearly believe and furthermore used to compete/fight/win in MMA, submission grappling, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but as evidence of a larger systemic problem.

When I google "Tae Kwon Do schools" and my city's name, I get 10 schools in a radius of roughly 10 miles, it proves that Judo has not faltered due to parents who do not wish to enroll children in martial arts.
It's proof that Judo has fallen by the wayside in recruitment.
Through apathy, or whatever, it proves that there is a body of students available, they simply have not been recruited.

It must be hard to teach grappling for 50 years, then this upstart style comes along and you're forced to acknowledge that you've never competed in it, don't understand the rules, and lack the information to present a truly informed opinion.

This blog is a testmanet to the crossover power of Judo in other sports.
But to do that, one has to at least have seen firsthand the alternative sport being discussed.
Or, God forbid, gone and done a class.

You can go sign up for a class.
Check your ego at the door.
Learn something, or you can stick your head in the sand.
Or you can pontificate about a sport that you've likely never even seen in person at a tournament.


Evolve or die.

Thesis Wednesday: Evolve or Die

Been listening a loooooot to the Inside BJJ podcast.
I recently got an Iphone thanks to my birthday/account upgrade and a world of information has opened up to me.
I've been able to take photos, videos at the gym, and also listen to the above mentioned Inside BJJ Podcast while driving to/from work and to/from my morning workouts.

Been listening to a variety of grappling personalities from Samir Chantre to Fabio Gurgel to Lloyd Irvin to Crosley Gracie et cetera. A variety of topics have come up from refereeing to decisions, to pulling guard to well, everything.

It's interesting to hear someone like Fabio Gurgel talk about stalling back in the 90's and how there was no knee reaping rule back then.

I thought about Jiu-Jitsu and the complaints about the pulling guard to 50/50 remind me a lot of what strikes me as old Judo players talking about this mythical age when every throw was from standing, and there wasn't an over-reliance on grip fighting.
There will always be trends in the sport, as players look to maximize their ability to win within the given set of rules.

The sport, by proxy must change over time.
Judo's failure in the US derives partly from it's non-profit mentality and its inability to recognize ways to cannibalize the after school/kids market.
BJJ's failure as a spectator sport stems in part from rules which incentivize guard pulling.
In Judo they had the smallest point, a Koka, which meant players would ride out the smallest point to victory.
In sport Jiu-Jitsu, we now have the advantage. Players will ride out the Pans or Mundials with an advantage, or flail about for a foot lock looking to the referee imploring for an advantage by which they can call themselves world champion.

Closing your mind to the 50/50 completely, and deriding it as sport-specific is just the ostrich sticking its head in the sand. I don't intend to say that we should all learn 50/50 and play just that for years to come. But closing your eyes to it entirely is simply ignoring the world changing around you.
I feared having an Iphone b/c of having to be engaged in the world at large b/c I feared my ability to disconnect from the matrix once I had a laptop computer basically in my hand.
I didn't hate the Iphone b/c of what it was.
I hated the Iphone b/c I thought I might be too weak to control how I used it.

Fear and Ignorance are always the enemies of change.
If you listen to guys talk about Rolles Gracie, one of the things they always say is he looked to other grappling styles to import elements into the framework of Jiu-Jitsu. They also remark this is what made him one of if not the best.

Rorion Gracie reminds me of a Jiu-Jitsu personality who has tried to freeze time.
The Japanese Jiu-Jitsu clubs that do not roll live are much the same.
They want to block out anything that does not coincide with their specific interpretation of rules and form.

Jiu-Jitsu only exists b/c someone decided to focus on the ground fighting aspect of Judo.
Judo before that only existed b/c Kano went around to various schools and studied different styles of grappling/Jiu-Jitsu and incorporated different schools' styles of throwing and the like.

You can block out the change, you can characterize it however you want, but you are only ignoring the change all around you.
And eventually, like the kung-fu and karate fighters who still pretend they don't need to know how to grapple, they are simply relics of a bygone age relegated to obscurity and irrelevance.

If you fear wrestlers, or Judo players, or you're a Judo player who derides mat work b/c you fear being tapped out, and this becomes the impetus to withdraw from grappling at other clubs or going outside your comfort zone...you have already died on the mat. You have placed a limit on how far you will grow on the mat.

And that is sad.
Straight up sad.

Change is the only constant.
Evolve or die.

Thesis Wednesday: I Don't Have Time

Most of us, do not have time to lift weights, do strength and conditioning, and train Jiu-Jitsu or whatever various grappling style upon which we focus our time.

At least, that's what we tell ourselves and others.

Time, or lack thereof, is the biggest excuse that exists.

"I don't have time." 

If they were handing out a thousand dollars cash, cold hard *&^%ing cash every time you showed up to work out, it would be amazing how many people would miss sleep, do whatever it took, to show up for a 6am workout.

People that don't /won't can't get up early a single other day of the year will camp out and will get up at 3am to go buy things for the Day After Thanksgiving Sales.

That being said, in order to maximize supplemental weight lifting and time for sprints, crossfit, whatever other exercise you do, it needs to be sometime other than before or after Jiu-Jitsu.

When we say we don't have time, most of the time, we are being disingenuous.
We have time, but we clearly choose to spend it on other activities.

Perhaps its XBox. Perhaps it's sleep. Perhaps we don't get up early to train b/c we'd rather play XBox til 2am, then 6am feels too early to work out.
Perhaps its laziness or lack of drive. It can be many things, but it is not a lack of time.

I'll go back to the pregnant woman example I've cited earlier. Or the young child excuse.
I've seen women, either currently pregnant, with a kid in the stroller, or with a toddler old enough to walk around, working out, crossfitting, even though, I'm sure, they could easily fall back on the tired or not enough time excuse that is all the rage in the modern world.

At the end of the day, you are the one ultimately responsible for your own success.
You can look back and see progress and work and effort or you can look back and see mediocrity in the form of excuses.

The one area of my life that almost no one seems to claim for themselves (be it work, family, loved ones, who or whatever) is the early morning time.
Most of the world would rather sleep if they are not at their job deep in the bee hive/collective.
This is the single best time to do any other thing you wish you had time to do during the rest of your time.

Thesis Wednesday: So You Want to Be a Successful Grappler?

If you haven't seen the above video, watch it.

Do you want to be successful?
Do you like to sleep?
Do you like to eat sh*&^% food?
Do you want to be successful?
Do you like to take nights off from training?
Do you skip training when your wrist is hurt, or your knee is busted, or you already trained during the morning class?
Do you skip out on drilling and repetitions?
Do you want to be successful?
Are you the first off the mat when free rolling is slowing down?
Do you skip Friday Open Mat b/c you're tired from working all week?
Do you skip training b/c it's a hassle to bring the kid and keep an eye on him and roll?
Do you want to be successful?

The above questions cannot all have the same answer.

Winning is about one simple thing: Choice.

Eventually, you'll have to decide if eating sh&% food is more important than winning.
If getting wasted with your friends is more important than winning.
If video games or chasing girls is more important than winning.
Yes, moderation has its place.
Not if you want to be a world champion.

You have to be insane dedicated to be willing to do the work to be the best.
There has to be something wrong different with you to put in the sheer hours required to be good at this.

There has to be something different about you to show up to a lifetime sport where you accept that in reality, there is always someone better.
I used to think Golf was a stupid game. I couldn't understand why guys would play a game that there was no attainable perfection.

Then I started training Judo.
And one day, I realized...that I would never be good enough. That there is no perfect randori or roll. That as soon as you dominate the white belts, it loses it's enjoyment.
As soon as you dominate the blue belts or the whatever belts, and the challenge fades....the joy diminishes.
The lifelong pursuit of progression, of learning more each and every day, of remembering things you've forgotten.....that's what the sport is actually about.

Singular focus. Vision.
Compartmentalizing failure or reshaping, re-framing it into the process of elimination where if you are not directly improving, you are eliminating all the wrong or less effective or less efficient ways to do a technique or combination.
Willingness to accept the plateaus and continue training despite the doldrums and self-doubt.

Thesis Wednesday: The Sum of Our Parts - Judo and BJJ

Judo: provided much of the genesis of Sambo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Olympic sport. Combines throwing, transition, and submission, close relationships to traditional martial arts/values, structure/order to class more consistent, typically see more than one black belt on the mat coaching (in my experience)

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: rapidly spreading across the USA (and others parts of the world) due in part to MMA's rise to prominence, generates far more in revenue on a per club basis. holds open tournaments for the Pans and World Championships.  Growing it's identity to the general public as good for children's self-defense, and a safer alternative for bully proofing their children than styles of striking.

The purpose of this post is not to inflame internet sentiment (go check out the BJJ vs Judo debate at Judoforum.com for that or insinuate that Judo can learn from BJJ or that Judo crosses over well into BJJ and watch the flame war begin).




Disclaimer: The following are some base observations about the things that each style at a club/sport level seems to do exceedingly well in my experience training and visiting various clubs across the state where I live and having followed both sports for a number of years.


Judo: decades upon decades of athletic research, physiological research studies and PhD papers, high end analysis of sport results by throw, pin, strangle et cetera, refinement of children's training and training methodology from childhood to adulthook, typically a greater emphasis on physicality/athletic requirement in competitive clubs, physiology research, weight lifting regimens feature periodization (though Judo has different aerobic/anaerobic requirements than BJJ and strength and conditioning is becoming a more serious component among competitors), worldwide notoriety, has gone through the growing pains BJJ now faces as it rises to prominence

BJJ: growing visibility, seen as a safer (injury-wise) grappling alternative than Judo, intrinsically linked to MMA, has seen more crossover from high profile Olympic wrestlers, Gracies in Action tapes show self-defense application against various "styles", willing to charge more and generate more $, risen to prominence in the age of the internet, easier learning curve at the outset than Judo (in my honest opinion, you will armbar someone after a few months of BJJ but it might be a year or more before you legitimately throw others in your club in Judo),

Rather than pointing out the above to say one is better or inferior, I wish that more clubs would look outside of their box and consider what they can LEARN FROM ONE ANOTHER. If Kano thought he'd learned all their was to know about throwing he would not have sought out different instructors over time and added techniques to the Gokyo as they became applicable. He would also not have had others teach mat work b/c that was not his strong suit. But he did both of the above.

If BJJ had not tested itself against various styles of martial arts, MMA would not exist. BJJ has prided itself on challenge matches and the willingness to test in real-time what works without time limits or rule restrictions.

To close your mind to what other styles do well (be it marketing, advertising, enrollment, children's programs) et cetera is to violate a core principle of Judo and BJJ: what works in real-time.

Kano and Helio both strictly adhered to the "what works and can be diligently trained" philosophy.
Empty your tea cup. Open your eyes. Look around at what others are doing and gleam from them what works or what can be adopted without violating the core principles of your sport.

MMA News Flash & Thesis Wednesday: "Professional" Competition

If anyone recalls, Rodolfo Vieira (reigning world and absolute champion) skipped the Pan Ams of 2012 in favor of the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials. Let me repeat.
He skipped the 2nd biggest Gi specific BJJ tournament in the world (that is also the closest warm-up for the Mundials) to compete less than 2 months before in a moderately different rule set.

Ostensibly b/c making friends with the biggest patrons of the sport ( Sheik Tahnoon and company) and getting paid (assuming he won) was a more tantalizing proposition.

The IBJJF has realized the trend as it appears on the horizon and answered the calls of its elite poster boys for cash prizes to winners. They've announced an IBJJF Pro League.

Judo recently has also seen the advent of cash prizes for those that make the podium as well.

Grappler's Quest has turned into an event known across North America due to the level of competitors it attracts. Cash prizes mean that not only do people with names and reputations show up, but I've found, the matches are pretty serious as that added incentive of $5,000 and your reputation on the line lead to shall we say "spirited" competition.
The NYC Absolute with it's 10,000 cash prize attracted some serious NoGi competitors and was much talked about amongst the grapplers that I know personally. I saw a fair bit of talk, speculation, and interest across various social media and grappling forums.

There are those of us who will suckle at the teet of the sport for the sake of sport and are not professional level grapplers ourselves  and we also demand the highest level of competition and the best prepared athletes.
Why does American Judo lag behind other countries?
The organizations in other countries fund far more training than the USJA and similar organizations do here. Athletes in Judo in other countries have far more corporate sponsorship. Athletes in Judo in other countries (at the highest levels) make 6 figure salaries and are true, paid, professional athletes.

American Judo wants to do what it has done since Judo came to the United States then we sit back and wonder, complain, b*tch, regarding the level of our American delegates in Judo.


At the club level, at the local level, Judo programs have shied away connecting Judo to MMA, from making sure that the public knows it is the birthplace of Jiu-Jitsu.
Judo has done much to insulate itself from the general American public. To say that Judo cannot be in every school or every neighborhood flies in the face of the Tae Kwon Do schools I see in every other strip mall.
Tae Kwon Do is proof to the commercial viability of the martial arts.
The birthplace of true, Olympic champions is in the kids programs. 

I've lost count of the TKD demonstrations and kiosks I've seen at malls, in schools, and after school programs. The mere fact that when people find out I do Judo they ask if that's like TKD says more about the ability for TKD to self-promote itself.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get the results you've always gotten. Travis Stevens progressed pretty far into his bracket and made the semifinals only to lose to his rival Ole Bischoff, and for those that watch International Judo, Ole Bischoff is a top level elite Judo player. And yes, I'm aware Kayla Harrison took Gold. However, Delpopolo ( with or without the metabolite positive test) busted out in 7th place I believe. We have occasionally over the years (with Swain and Pedro leading the way) medalled in Judo.

America is a country that reaps more medals in more sports than virtually EVERY other country in the world.
Do not tell me we don't have the athletes, the drive, or the components to produce gold medalists in Judo.

But as someone who watched most of the 2012 and 2011 Grand Prix's in Judo, I saw very, very few American competitors. The Grand Prix's are the time for International competition and time on the mat with players around the world. Training is just that, training. Visiting the Euro clubs and Japan but not competing at those big, trial run events is like working out at the Olympic Training Center but not going to the World Championships. Or doing the World Championships but doing one International level competition that year to prepare.

For Judo and the other sports to continue to evolve and for us to send delegates to compete on the World Stage, they must have the opportunities (competitive and financial) to prepare at the same level as their competitors.
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Mid-Week MMA News Flash

Rua Versus Gustaffson, Penn Versus McDonald and Daiz vs Henderson booked for UFC on FOX 5.

Bellator's champ Curran Injured, Freire awaiting new opponent (wants Warren rematch). 

Fight Card booked for next ONE FC event: It's got everyone from Aoki to Bibiano to Arlovski to even, yes, the inimitable Tim Sylvia. But that's not all! It has Gregor, Igor, and Rolles Gracie and even Jens Pulver.

Mayhem Miller found naked in a church. Sigh.

Quick Links & Thesis Wednesday: Status Quo?

Quick Links for your Wednesday Morning at Work:
Women getting some press-love from the MMA media machine on Showtime

Click HERE to watch the Countdown Show to this weekend's Ben Henderson Vs Frankie Edgar Rematch

I went 6-3 for picks on the UFC on Fox 4. Omigawa, whom I chose against my better judgment, dropped a split decision to Gamburyan. Nam Pham did his usual switcheroo by winning a fight just often enough to keep his UFC job. Ulysses Gomez lived up to his nickname and blew my pick for the 125 lb bout.

Onto the Thesis:

I've posted at various times on different grappling forums, Sherdog, Judoforum, et cetera.
The make-up of the forums range in seriousness depending on the moderators and the style of martial arts allegedly trained by most of the serious commenters. The internet, as always, remains the wild west of martial arts. The last bastion of those who pretend, hide behind anonymity, and say what they think rather
The internet with it's armchair experts can be like walking through Dante's Inferno with Raoul Duke as your personal guide. At any rate, the internet is a powerful medium, but one that must be challenged, plugged through, and perhaps, if someone out there seeks an answer (silver bullets are few and far between), they might just take the plunge and go check out a gym.

The first obstacle those that have started training and managed some moderate competency in that system or gym i s when you challenge the status quo, or challenge what long-time practitioners see "as the way things should be done" comes the common "who are you to question the methods?"

A valid question. But, if Helio had not taken it upon himself to teach class one day, how might Jiu-Jitsu now be different?

If Carlson or Helio had not been willing to back up their claims in competition, where would vale tudo, mixed martial arts, and Jiu-Jitsu be?

If Count Koma had not traveled the world there might not be Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

If a Russian man had not traveled to the Kodokan, Sambo would not exist in the capacity it does today (which later influenced Judo with the collapse of the Soviet bloc).

- The obvious answer is you, as a lowly practitioner are none of those people...but then, in their own time, neither were they. We blow them up in our minds to these myths and legends, when at the end of our day and simultaneously the start of their day, they put on their gear, showed up to train, and for a long time just did that.
But over time, they had questions. They decided to step outside of the box.
And the world is better for it.

The tie that binds the above men is they were unsatisfied with their own knowledge and mastery.
They believed in finding, trying, failing, and searching...and ultimately distilling what they saw down into an roughly organized system. And testing those techniques against unwilling opponents.

Their actions demonstrate a belief that there is no "one answer'.
Not to make this an argument of semantics, but the "one answer" is to "always look for more answers or be prepared to question what you know".

When Kano felt unsatisfied with the training he received, what did he do?
From Judoinfo.com: "Jigoro Kano ...started his training in jujitsu at the age of 17, but his instructor, Ryuji Katagiri, felt he was too young for serious training. As a result, Katagiri gave him only a few formal exercises for study and let it go at that. The determined young man was not about to be put off so easily, however, and finally wound up at the dojo of Hachinosuke Fukuda."

"The 19-year-old... soon joined another branch ...Over the next two years, Jigoro Kano ate, drank and slept jujitsu, practicing night and day at the point of exhaustion. ...Kano decided to move on, feeling he still had much to learn and wanting to study rather than teach."

Those familiar with samurai films see the clear parallel of the wandering student, in search of a master. Luck, fate, determination, and chance bring him to the home/dojo/school of someone from whom he learns. Circumstances beyond his control force him onto the next stead, the next challenge, but he continues doggedly in pursuit of this elusive truth, of more knowledge. For "more knowledge" or the state of being open to "more knowledge" is the only real truth. 

"This generation gives a rebel his grave, the one after gives him a monument, and there is no exception to it."
Keep your mind open. When you think you know everything have nothing left to learn, or your style knows everything there is to know because 90% of fights go to the ground and somehow has ALL the answers, because it is an Olympic sport and thus commands more respect than other grappling styles you sound like a Scientologist arguing with a Mormon over whose beliefs make more sense.