This week contained a lot of bumps,
bruises, and soreness—but it also brought a lot of insight and
growth. The training as always was great, but after this week of
training what stands out to me the most is some of the mental and
strategic side of things. It seemed like almost everyday this week
someone had something insightful to say. Also this week, two new
arrivals to CR from Norway, Arlid and Kim, began to train at ATT with
me as well. They both have a background in full contact TKD and Arlid
has a pretty good ground game. Both guys are here to work not only in
the Kimono but to improve in all aspects of fighting.
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| Nicole and I drilling some of the new techniques she learned at Gracie Barra. |
Week in Review
Mondays wrestling focused on the duck
under series from the clinch/collar tie position. From there we
worked several finishes- a lift, a snapdown, and taking the back. The
guys picked it up pretty good and throughout the week guys were
trying to work the series during live goes. Tuesday's striking class
and luta livre sessions both went great, techniques and combinations
really seemed to flow well. On Wednesday I again had the opportunity
to work with Milton Viera. He focused on countering my strikes, and
stifling any offense I would bring. Still though I felt good and
landed some solid strikes and was able to score a takedown and
maintain a top game for a minute or two (until he was able to hit a
nice heel-hook). The other two rounds of sparring went fairly well,
the second round I landed some nice punches and some powerful double
legs. The third round I went against Humberto, a blackbelt with great
hips. Most of the time on the mat was spend trying to stop sweeps or
get out of submission attempts. After the sparring Milton and I
talked for a bit. He gave me some great pointers. First off he told
me to start throwing a bit more and then hitting my shots. Eventually
after getting tagged a few times with punches your opponent will step
in to counter, which is the time to attack for a takedown. That way
its not solely you working to close the distance from a shot, but
your opponent is bringing his hips in closer to you. Sometimes in
sparring this is hard to do, because if you spar against someone who
doesn't have a fight coming up they will usually play a more counter
style, working and maintaining good position and distance. If you
have a fight coming up is your job to stalk and engage, forcing the
other guy into a battle. Milton also conveyed to me the importance of
the look in your eyes during a fight. He said when you are tired your
opponent will most likely be tired oo, so you have to keep an
intensity in your eyes (even if your body doesn't feel it). This
intensity will not only strengthen your resolve but it will work to
break your opponents. If they look across the mat or cage and see you
with the look of confidence and intensity they will (even if deep
down) have the thought of “Oh Sh#t, this guys still going strong”.
I was also told to hit harder on top to force him to open up and
react (kind of sounds like poking a tiger with a stick, but we will
see how it goes).
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| Milton and I |
Wrestling on Thursday worked a lot of
chain wrestling, flowing from one takedown to the next. In the
afternoon conditioning went great, my lungs and legs felt strong. As
we finished I was able to get more sound advice. This time it was
from Edson Diniz. After running up the hill leading to Pedra de Gavea
we were all about to walk back down when Edson told us to go to the
waterfall to get “recharged”. We walked up the path and down to
the water falls. Edson is an advocate for the power of relaxing in
nature. He believes that instances where you are “one” with
nature serves to recharge and re-energize the body and mind. I will
admit after sitting under a waterfall of a cold mountain stream and
then sitting on the rocks enjoying the forest I did feel better and
more relaxed. Power of nature or not, I do feel like his attitude of
taking time out to relax and appreciate your surroundings is
extremely important and healthy thing to do.
Friday's and Saturday's training were a
bit low in numbers (most of the guys were in Peru for several fights
or recouping from competition) but still strong in quality. For
sparring on Saturday I sparred 3 rounds with Edson. The first was
only striking, the next was striking with takedowns, and the third
round was takedowns and ground work. After the sparring we rolled
five minute rounds rotating through everyone there. It was great
training my striking felt good ( a little sloppy at times) and my
takedowns felt awesome, my ground game transitions are feeling
better. Afterwards Edson talked with us about ground theory and how
we have to find a style that works well for us specifically. A person
needs to embrace there natural inclinations and build a style
surrounding what works best for them, and not try to play a game that
is foreign and unnatural.
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| Hanging out poolside at HQ. |
The rest of the weekend went good. It
was rainy so a lot of time was spent playing cards and relaxing in
the flat, and on Saturday night we all headed out and watched the UFC
fights. It was really cool seeing 5 guys whom I had recently (in the
last 6 months) trained with being interviewed at the event. If that's
not a sign of the high quality of training here I don't know what is.
On Sunday the weather was a bit cool, but the sun came out long
enough to enjoy some time at the beach watching the final day of the
surf competition and swimming in the ocean.
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