Resolutions

It's Christmas Eve, I'm stuck at my parents' house... but all I can think if is jujitsu. Not just jujitsu, but necessarily lifestyle changes that need to be made in order to improve...well, everything. I guess if you want to label it, this post is about resolutions, except I wouldn't even call them resolutions because they are changes that I need to make in order to be happy and successful, and to keep my life in order, regardless of the new year. Sure, you can make order out of chaos, but it's better to prevent the chaos right?

1. Strength and Conditioning: this is something I haven't been doing at all lately due to some excuse or other. I know what I need to do, so I need to take an hour every other day out of my schedule and just get it done.
2. Diet: I don't mean eat less. I need to eat clean, simple, right... no more processed foods, no sugar. The hard part is sticking to it in this world - if my coworker brings in homemade raspberry cheesecake... gotta say no. 
3. Minimize: What do I mean by that, you ask? Minimalism is simplicity; it'sthe principle of living with only the essentials, with what you need. It means I don't need something in my closet that I haven't worn for over a year, because chances are I'm not going to wear it. Or that box of miscellaneous items like a clutch, old nail polish, sewing kit... It's cutting out the excess in your life so you can enjoy what you do have. It reduces clutter, and reduces stress. I want to have as minimal a lifestyle as possible in order to reduce the unnecessary stuff in my life to focus that which I love.
4. No more excuses: I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm sore, I'm sick - they're endless, and they need to go away. As Nike is famous for saying, Just Do It.
5. Positive Thinking: I have to point this one to J. I am always putting a negative spin on something already negative; how you think affects your mood; it also affects your day, your attitude, and everyone around you.

If you realize how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought again. - Peace Pilgrim .

Those five things are lifestyle changes that I feel are crucial to living well. The key now is to keep motivation enough to achieve these goals. Though as I think about it, I realize that motivation isn't even necessary if you just believe in the philosophy and principles behind minimalism, positive thinking, etc. because it's a positive lifestyle change. If you want to do well, you have to believe in what you're doing.

Anyway, here's to positive change, a new Sonia, and I guess a new year.

Preventing Bad Training Habits

Oftentimes, we think of Jiujitsu as techniques... however, it isn't about techniques, contrary to popular belief. What's it about then? Concepts. It's about understanding the movements - the purpose behind each foot placement, each grip, each push and pull. Essentially, a student of Jujitsu needs to understand the mechanics behind each movement before having the ability to successfully pull it off. What's the point of learning the Scissor Sweep if you don't know what each step is for? You can drill it hundreds of times, you can become proficient at copying the steps and do it over and over again. Once resistance from your opponent comes into play, it's difficult to complete the sweep if you don't understand the mechanics behind the sweep. For example, when you pull the person over you, just before sweeping, the weight of your opponent is forward on their knees- it isn't distributed equally amongst the four points he/she had on the ground (both feet, and both knees). Thus, when you sweep, they have nothing to base out with (you're already eliminating their arm with their same side grip, right?). If you don't know this concept, you will most likely not be able to execute the move neither in specifics nor sparring. If you learn the concept, the technique clicks easily rather than painfully trying to learn by copying. Instead of building bad habits, you start out with good ones from the get-go...no relearning necessary.

For me, not understanding concepts caused bad jiujitsu habits. Personally, I trained for three years before I started learning actual concepts. Wait...what was I doing for three years then? Honestly, I have no clue. Well, actually, what I was doing was learning bad habits by copying instead of understanding. I didn't even know what the purpose of a hip escape was - I was told to copy a movement, and for six months, I didn't even know why I was trying to escape my hips at the beginning of every class. I eventually put two and two together, but until recently, I still felt like it equaled five. 2 and 2 equaled 4 when I started training with Jei at WSFF a few months ago. It wasn't even through private training that hip escapes made perfect sense - it was actually watching him teach the basics to white belts. This is why I still see myself as a white belt. The mechanics of a triangle choke is a good example to use when thinking of concepts. Most white belts, even some blue belts, complete the move based on copying other teammates. It is a choke that is very difficult to complete if you don't get the "why" of it. Ultimately, you are cutting off blood circulation to the carotid artery in your opponent's neck. This is done with the shoulder of your opponent (which is why you need to push their arm across your body) and your leg (which is why you need to get the perpendicular angle of your body to theirs). A lot of the students at WSFF didn't quite understand it until it was broken down step by step in our fundamentals class - each movement was isolated and explained. Pretty quickly for them, 2 and 2 easily equaled 4. It was much quicker for them because they started learning the movement properly. Even though the triangle is my go-to submission from guard, it wasn't until a few months ago (when I started learning concepts) that I could finish it.

This is why learning by copying rather than understanding is a waste of time because you're setting yourself back. Think about what you're doing, why you're doing it, and understand the movement before drilling. Break down the mechanics of your technique, and check yourself by asking "what's the purpose of this [insert move here]?" Basics + Concepts = Jujitsu.

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Gracie's Anatomy

It's a whole new perspective on anatomy...

Vitor Shaolin Quote

Courtesy of my friend, Michelle.

Kill the monsters in your head that tell you other people in class are more flexible, faster, stronger, etc. It stops your progress. The only truth is that they have two arms and two legs, just like you." —Vitor Shaolin

Back to the Basics

I know that I am a white belt. Although I wear a blue belt around my waist, I am not one. I thought I knew jujitsu, but in reality, I don't. There are basic principles in BJJ, fundamental elements really, that everyone needs to learn. As a white belt, you struggle to learn these principles, but eventually you do, typically resulting in promotion to blue. If you don't know them, or suck at them, you're stuck. Your jujitsu doesn't improve, your game doesn't evolve.

How am I a white belt? I don't know anything, to put it bluntly. I've learned techniques, and I can drill really well, but I never really learned concepts until a few months ago. I was constantly getting destroyed on the mats because I didn't really know basics. Oops?

Definitely oops. Sometimes, I wish I still had my white belt, but the thing is, I have accepted that I am a blue belt relearning the basics; rather, a blue belt finally learning the basics. It doesn't matter if a white belt sweeps me or if I get caught in an armbar because now that I know why I was never good, I'm finally learning...even if it takes getting submitted by someone new. It's not about ego anymore; it's about opportunity. Take every negative thought formulated from training and somehow turn it into positive energy to help your jujitsu.

To put it a different way, I used to feel exposed. Not naked, duh. I mean that I was embarrassed to get my ass kicked by people "lower" than me. The thing is, it's just ego. Once I embraced it, and thought of every ass-kicking as an opportunity, I started to improve. Not just small improvements, but game-changing ones. (Enough to surprise me and my teammates).

Positive thinking folks... it goes a long way.

Who Am I?

This is a question people need to ask more often. As much as I have and as simple of a question it is , I still don't know the answer. As much as I have talked to J about it, I feel like I still don't know myself. In the past two years, my life has completely changed, and I don't mean the "I got a job, got hitched, bought a house, blah blah blah" crap. I mean that I was on a track to graduate school after graduating with a B.A and B.S with a minor in 2010 (overachiever...yes, I know). I was newly single, getting into shape, training Brazilian Jiujitsu as a hobby. I was on track in life, but on my parents' track. I had always wanted to teach martial arts, but it was a closet dream. Then I met this guy… J. I went from living a dream that wasn't really mine in the first place, to living my own. We started Roll.Adapt.Win (a BJJ apparel company), trained like I meant it, and started West Seattle Fight and Fitness where I can not only teach Tae Kwon Do, but I can also develop an amazing women's program in BJJ. Office job? I think not. If the choice was to make good money working 9-5, or working 16-20 hour days to succeed at your choosing, I would choose the latter; as a matter of fact, I did choose the latter. Who am I? My name is Sonia and I am living my dream.