What you know about Cauliflower Ear??

Today I want to talk a bit about cauliflower ear and share with everyone a short video on what others have to say about it. 

Cauliflower ear is basically a hematoma of the ear caused by blunt force and/or contact friction. If anyone one wrestles, fights, or does jiu jitsu, you either have cauliflower ears or know someone who does. You either mind it or you don't.

If you are one of the many who cannot stand the idea of having deformed ears, then you can simply wear head gear (which sucks I can't do it), or get it drained immediately. The draining method is taking a syringe, sticking the needle into your highly sensitive and inflamed ear and extracting the blood from the ear.

I for one am not interested in that at all!

About six months into training is when I got my first cauliflower ear. Say what you will, but I accepted my cauliflower ear like a badge of honor. There are only so many ways in which one gets cauliflower ear and all of them are by doing something tough and grueling. This my friends is why it is a badge of honor to me.

Now let me be honest, it is also a great conversation starter. I did not know when it happened that it would lead to spontaneous conversation where strangers would ask about my wrestling background. Which is cool, albeit a little misleading cause I never wrestled. However, I simply correct them by telling them it's from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and not wrestling, then the conversation flows from there.

Others are worried about it not being attractive, heck with that, as far as I'm concerned I make it look good. There you have it my take on cauliflower ear now here are some others.

Until next time, good day.

BJJ Concepts: Drilling vs. Not Drilling

Hello everyone, I finished training today and had a very good conversation with my instructor as we were cleaning the mats and getting ready to leave. As those of you who are taking the time out of your days to follow my blog I hope that one thing is fairly clear... jiu jitsu is quite complex while being equally mental and physical at least. I'd even argue that it's more mental than physical.

So, if that's the case, then its a given that concepts of some kind are bound to come up. And now is that time...

I've read and watched video on the debate to whether or not drilling positional situations and submission techniques were necessary. First I will give insight into the difference for those of you who may not know the difference, then I will weigh the advantages and disadvantages only to leave you the reader to decide for yourself how, if deciding to train, will train.

Let's start with drilling, in my mind the word drilling implies breaking a sweat and intense repetition. It's usually timed like how circuit training is. A person might do positional transition drills where the objective is not to employ any finishing chokes or joint locks. The other way of drilling would implement some finishing techniques into it.

There are two things involved with jiu jitsu training that is not considered drilling, one is detailed technical instruction on any one movement or submission and the other is live sparring widely known as "rolling."

The advantages of drilling are that you will develop what I like to call "jiu jitsu cardio," and what I mean by that is, you can have really good running/weight room cardio and get completely gassed out (exhausted). The reason for this is the jiu jitsu specific bio-mechanics along with learning how to breath while doing such, and trust me breathing while running, riding a bike, or rowing is a piece of cake in comparison to breathing while doing jiu jitsu drills.

Other advantages to drilling are getting execution timing, and if you train with different body types it's even easier to figure out the timing differences per body type and getting used to successful body mechanics. You also get to pick and choose what part of the positional hierarchy to work on.The only disadvantages I can think of to only drilling is that it is not as fun as rolling and if you only drill and don't roll then you may miss out on some breakthroughs that are had through a great session of rolling. And most drilling encompasses a more lackadaisical approach to the fine "minute" details of the techniques.

The advantages to not drilling simply work on the disadvantages of drilling as far as how detail oriented the instruction is and it's just a whole lot of fun rolling. And rolling is just like competing only not quite as intense.The disadvantages to only doing repetition of techniques are that timing in relation to a more well-rounded movement is not quite there and you won't get much cardio improvement.

The disadvantages to rolling is that while it does work on cardio, it can take more of a toll on your body. It may be known as "The Gentle Art" but it's not hard to get injured rolling and if you're not careful you can run through a string of injuries and before you know it you've spent a year only able to work certain techniques and that's it.Some people prefer to pick and choose which of these training elements to partake in and others will actually implement drilling, repetition of detailed technique, and rolling into every class.

I'll be the first one to admit that there are several variables involved structuring a lesson plan that can get in the way of being able to do it all in one class. However, most of us living the jiu jitsu lifestyle have plans to do it well into old age so keeping these concepts in mind is pertinent and again it's all up to the individual on what they find important. Til next time..


“Man masters nature not by force but by understanding.” - Jacob Bronowski

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Essential Elements of BJJ

Hello blog readers and my fellow bloggers. It's another great day and I want to share with those who are not aware of specific elements involved with jiu jitsu. In past posts I granted my readers, mine and others' perceptions as to the benefits of practicing this martial art.

I think it only fair that next in my series of insights, I go over the positional hierarchy in the world of Brazilian jiu jitsu. Here is an example:

https://crucifixgrappling.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/hierarchy2.jpg

Most of these positions are easy to comprehend by name, however, in my school we use the term knee-on-belly instead of kneeride. And as far as Turtle is concerned, think of being in the fetal position only instead of being on your side, you're on your legs and arms with your head tucked, kind of like a turtle.

I found this flow chart and have to admit, it's a great idea to develop a personalized flow chart. Here it is:

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Last thing, I want to note that this is said to be a flow chart made by BJJ's very own legendary Rickson Gracie.

First timer anxiety... It's normal, don't let it stop you!

It's natural to be nervous about trying something of this nature for the first time. Someone may be unsure of what to expect from a variety of areas.

• Gym Setting 
• Practitioner Demeanor
• Personal Insecurity of capabilities
• CO-ED Training

There may be even more excuses someone could come up with that I haven't thought of, but these are a good example of circumstances that lead to a hesitation to start.

1. Gym Setting -- You probably won't find any two jiu jitsu schools exactly alike. But that is not such a problem, most schools will allow people to come and watch a class in session in order to get a sense how things work and what can be expected. From there it's all about how you feel about what you see. At this point you would ask questions and go from there.
2. Practitioner Demeanor -- So you may not get a chance to meet every student in the school when checking it out or even want to at first. But if this is a concern of yours then keep in mind that individuals with ego's and bad attitudes don't last long in jiu jitsu. The likelihood of having to deal with this is low, not impossible but very low.
3. Personal Insecurities of capabilities -- Let's get real with this one, pretty much everyone in the beginning has a lot of difficulty getting the movements down. It takes a certain kind of coordination that simply isn't all that natural. Then you have to deal with limitations of your body type. This is all okay and everyone has to or has dealt with it, once you accept this it is smooth sailing from there.
4. CO-ED Training -- This may be one of the more considered variables in contemporary training. Given the close quarter contact that is involved with this martial art. Men and women both initially have reservations in regard to training with each other. Men can be concerned with the size difference as are women and then there is the concern over hands on contact. Even so, everyone is there to train and there is nothing that indulges sexuality when it comes to defending chokes and joint locks :-) 

Well if anyone would like to add to this I would love to here some feedback in the comments. So long for now and let me leave you with this thought :-)

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