Hard Training and Working on my Language Skills

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It has been an extremely busy week of training for me at the Academia Oxygym in Gramado. In total last week I put in 14 training sessions either in boxing, wrestling, BJJ, nogi, or strength/conditioning. Add to that teaching four wrestling classes, plus personal technical work with the guys getting ready for upcoming fights, and you have a pretty full schedule. That said, I don't mind at all; it has been great to focus on self improvement and improving the techniques of others.

Some of the fighters doing conditioning.

Some of the biggest areas where I have seen improvement had been in my boxing. I have been working a ton with Jean Pierre, a multiple time Brazilian National Amateur Boxing Championship Finalist. I've worked with him a lot in the past and made improvements, but for whatever reason something just seemed to click this week. I felt a lot more relaxed smooth in my foot work and my combos were flowing smoothly. I have been able to get in some light sparring work. I can notice a big improvement in my angles and defense. I'm starting to perry and slip (even mixing in counters), which for me is something I have done very little of in the past. Don't get me wrong, I still have a ton of work to do, but I feel like I turned a bit of a corner with my stand up.

Before some gi training. Repping the Senki
brand throughout Brazil!

In the area of BJJ and Nogi I had a strong week as well. I learned some great new positional drills and some great techniques as well. While the majority of my focus for the week was nogi oriented I also trained in the kimono as well. The gi classes (as well as the judo) are taught by Edimilson Conceicao. Professor Conceicao is a black belt in both BJJ and Judo, and has many accolades internationally in both arts. His techniques are great and he breaks down everything into small step by step details, which really help to understand the techniques. Also being a judo instructor all sparring in BJJ starts on the feet. I really like it, because it has allowed me to work my grip fighting and control in the stand up. While I have a strong takedowns from wrestling, I have recently began to realize that takedowns in the kimono are a bit of a different game; which is requiring me to make adjustments and change some of my strategy. Starting on the feet adds a different (and fun) component to training, and is especially useful if you compete. In recent competition I allowed my opponent to control grips and play defensive or pull guard before I had a chance to mount an offense. So it is awesome (and enlightening) to get a chance to play around with the grip game in a training environment. Being in a new environment has really made me open up and try new things with my ground game as well. I have started working my half guard and playing a more open guard game in general. While I will always prefer a top game strategy, I have to focus on positions where I am less comfortable to make a jump to the next level. Its easy to stick with what you know, but as one of my favorite quotes go you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Picking up on my Portuguese

Over the last two weeks I have seen a dramatic improvement in another area—my Portuguese. Over the course of the last year my Portuguese has been improving step by step; starting with only basic words and now being able to have conversations with people. The last two weeks here have been almost like an immersion course for me. In Rio I can often times get away with speaking minimal Portuguese. Though I speak Portuguese everyday, English is by far what I speak the most. Either I am at the CR house (where almost everyone speaks at least a bit of English) or I am with Brazilian friends who want to work on their English. Here in Gramado that has not been the case. For the last two weeks I am the only Gringo I have seen, and while a decent number of people speak English, most do not. So I was faced with a choice: either speak Portuguese or be very very quiet for the two weeks I am here.

Out in the City working on my Portuguese.

For the first few days I didn't say much (actually outside of coaching and training very little), but as I got more comfortable I started speaking more. Little by little I added my thoughts on training or different fighters, and soon progressed to talking about different topics and having actual conversations outside of martial arts. It has been great to start to get to know guys better on a personal level than just through the fight game. While I still get a bit lost in some conversations and large groups of people talking really throws me off, it has been great to pick up on my language skills and actually be able to give my input instead of just being a fly on the wall.

I have even been helping some of the guys down here with their English. While most of the time I am genuinely helping the guys it has given me the chance to have a little fun. For example Joilton (who finds it halarious to speak to me in Spanish instead of Portuguese) spent a day or two around the gym sharing his new English phrase 'I like big di--' I'll let your imaginations fill in the rest.