One very enjoyable evening in class started out with our coach asking everyone leave their egos behind. Our group is (thankfully) devoid of ego anyway, so it was a curious way to start. A few minutes later it all clicked.
The goal for that night was to be submitted. Just give 5% (maybe 20) and let your partner flow through their submissions and then swap up. You keep moving, flowing from position to position, attack to attack. Your partner provides just enough resistance to make the flow feel right - the positioning is realistic, but there's no resistance once you get there. You can swap every tap, or run a series and take turns.
Since then, I try to find opportunities to drill like this whenever I'm with a training partner that's willing to spare 15-20minutes of their open mat time. It's amazing how in just a few minutes, you can go from thinking about what to do next to just flowing through an encyclopedia of techniques you didn't realize you'd been building.
Flow drills and similar exercises may be old news to you, but I'm shocked at how few people take advantage of them during open mat. Open mat tends to just mean, "let's roll."
Spending time on these drills seems like an excellent way to keep you from getting in a rut. Plus, the concept can be adapted a number of ways (similar to drilling I'm sure you already do): passes and sweeps; sub combos, etc.
Here's a few videos for those of you that may be new to the concept. Enjoy!
If anyone has any info about what went down, additional photos, or video please email me or post below.
Congrats to everyone that participated!
As a side note, after being out last week and missing this weekend, I'm just looking forward to getting back to training. Time to eat and catch up on some sleep.
Today is the Texas Open. I'm traveling for work right now, but hopefully there are quite a few of you that are waking up this morning and preparing for a fun day of competition.
I'm new to competition, so maybe that's why I'm still shocked at how good of a scene it is at these tournaments. People are very friendly (when they're not focused on the next match) and even random strangers show support. That's why, win or lose, I'm finding that competitions are a great opportunity go support the sport, meet people, and learn something about yourself.
When you show up in the morning it's a competition. No way around it. Even if you're not blindly focused on winning, you should want to do well. But there's also the opportunity for you to think of it as a celebration.
You're taking the time and investing the money in testing yourself and spending the day with people that all share your common interest. That to me is a celebration of the sport and lifestyle that we love.
Here are a couple articles on competition that have some great advice on what to expect and do once you get to the tournament.
Austin Local, David Thomas (Austin JiuJitsu) has a great breakdown that leads from weeks out to the minute of - and even provides a list of what to bring
As a side note, I've really enjoyed Sports Beans and other electrolyte gels / candy while biking and training. It's an easy way to carry sports drinks and you can get them most places. If you have trouble finding them at the grocery, try REI or an Academy Sporting Goods.
I wish all of you the best of luck. Remember to relax, breath, and more importantly - have fun!
