Kerpow! Kerching!

I was given a sudden introduction to the lucrative and commercial world of mixed-martial-arts merchandise when I decided I needed a specialist gi to train in BJJ. A brief surf of the net and Geez, you should see the range on offer from like a zillion manufacturers, all hailing to offer the best grappling gear around. Not only is there a plethora of fabric types (Gold, single, double and hybrid weave), then you have to choose colour (white is usual, but black, blue, red, even denim coloured can be bought), and of course size – not immediately obvious as you would think. The general spiel promises to increase your advantage in the fight game with extra breathability, tough stitching, and tight body armour-like fits.

On top of that, you have to decide what patches to have sewn on. Oh yes, patches. It’s all the rage. Top fighters are sponsored to compete professionally so have to wear sponsorship logos, just like any other sport I suppose, but now, you too can emulate your fave fighter by buying the same patches to sew on your gi. These range from simple manufacturer logos to fierce motifs revealing badass and angry intentions. Also, don’t make the faux pas of sewing on the wrong team patch. For example, if you are from Royce Gracie, don’t put on Gracie Barra, even though both sport a similar looking ‘G’ in their design. Confusing? I know!

In fact, the whole story of the Gracies, who’s who and what they have done, is the intriguing subject of a book (The Gracie Way, Peligro). Most are brothers or close cousins, some have fallen out with each other, some are bestest friends, a few are sworn enemies. It’s an amazing story, but I digress. Gi manufacturers fight too, just like their sponsored protégés. One company (Gameness) with the same name is split between Brazil and the USA. Each claiming to be the official maker and warning you not to buy the inferior other version. Some companies claim to offer essential benefits over other ‘named’ rivals. I’m sure you weren’t allowed to mention other manufacturers names in advertising?

All of this points to what is a very lucrative and money-making enterprise. So very different to the more meek and less showy trad martial arts merchandising I am used to.So there I was faced with a huge diversity of choices. I closed my eyes and clicked on the cheapest one I could find. It arrived last week (normal white and minus showy patches thankfully) and I must say, it is a dream to spar in. Though it alone does not make me a better fighter. I don’t think anything can, other than perseverance and hard work.

byMeerkatsu

in

November 16, 2004

Kerpow! Kerching!

I was given a sudden introduction to the lucrative and commercial world of mixed-martial-arts merchandise when I decided I needed a speciali...

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Southend 2004

The groundfighting category in our national championships is becoming more and more popular. Gone are the days of simply dumping on your opponent and hoping for the best. These days, to even stand a chance, nearly everyone has to train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu – there simply is no other way to win. This year was no exception as it seemed almost everyone wore a BJJ Kimono replete with fierce looking patches. But I was not to be outdone. I had something no one else had – my very own personal (and bona fide) BJJ instructor right beside me giving me support.

As soon as Eddie turned up, I could sense the whispers and looks of interest. If they did not know who he was, he certainly made sure donning a fetching Royler Gracie T-shirt and accompanying tattoos! For once, perhaps the usually all dominant Irish team were looking a little nervous?

Well, I certainly couldn’t say I did not prepare. The past two months have seen me train intensively in BJJ, concluding in a seriously mind-blowing private session with my coach. The details of the fight I have left on the main club website [link]http://www.whitewall.fsnet.co.uk/southend2004.htm [/link] but suffice to say that in my mind, I did well to counter and almost beat an experienced BJJ specialist in my first ever ground fighting contest.
The atmosphere surrounding our mat was very special as Eddie and co sneaked on to my mat and, together with Kev and Wayne, we suddenly became a very vocal and supportive ringside team. Brilliant, just like a real BJJ contest.

Ok, so I never won my fight and the Bronze slipped out of my grasp, but I think, I gained something more important. I succeeded in proving that I can hold my own in a sport that is very new to me and is still very much in the novice stages. I realised that all they say about positioning, timing and technique will allow the smaller individual (read, always me) to defeat a bigger person. The Gracies were right in believing this and proved so.

But let’s not forget what our main style of (Japanese) ju-jitsu has and continues to offer me. The other night, as I drilled my juji-gatame escapes, so common in BJJ, a nagging thought that I had seen this technique before. Then it dawned on me – white to green belt kata, shows this very same escape, only contained within a flowing kata. Wonderful stuff, so actually, it was in my syllabus all along. What other nuggets of wisdom are waiting to be discovered? That’s why I am happy to train in both styles and marvel at both the differences, and similarities between two arts that on the surface, share only a name in similarity.

byMeerkatsu

in

November 07, 2004

Southend 2004

The groundfighting category in our national championships is becoming more and more popular. Gone are the days of simply dumping on your opp...

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Crunch Time

The National championships are on Saturday and I'm pooing my pants. I don't know why I entered for my weakest event (groundfighting) but I'm worried of making a tit of myself. True, I have been cramming my training in BJJ but only for four weeks and it's too little too late. Despite this, my BJJ instructor seems to have faith and is coming to watch. He's even offering me free private sessions this week to work on more techniques. I'm afriad I will disappoint him but I've got to do it now and I just hope I don't get my arm or neck broken.

The anxiety I have with the contest is several-fold. First, the weight divisions are unfairly split so that I (at a meerkat friendly 57Kg) will possibly face competitors of up to 74 Kg. Secondly, I will probably face competitors who have trained in BJJ or judo for many years. Thirdly, I have heaped an undue amount of pressure on myself by entering in this event, with my club, family and friends all watching to see how I do. Finally, the event is not like BJJ and there are many favourite techniques (like standing up and running away) that I am barred from doing, drastically reducing my options.

Having said all this. On my side there is the fact that I have done many of these contests before (sparring and randoms) and I actually enjoy the build up of energy and nerves. Also, I don't think anyone thinks I will do particularly well so even though I am a black belt, the expectation is not so high. It's also my first time doing GF and I will have built up good experience for future fights - maybe in pure BJJ for the future?

So there you go, my next entry will report on my efforts and let's hope I actually have working fingers that can type...

byMeerkatsu

in

November 02, 2004

Crunch Time

The National championships are on Saturday and I'm pooing my pants. I don't know why I entered for my weakest event (groundfighting)...

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Trouble and Strife

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Mrs Meerkat put her foot down and told me off for spending too much time on martial arts and not enough time with her - it's the not being at home for seven nights a week that was upsetting her. Fair enough, I couldn't really give a decent response, apart from some feeble comment about preparing for my second dan and for the competition. I left the discussion with vague promises about cutting back to only three nights a week once my grading was done. It'll be hard though. At the moment, I really feel I am hitting a peak never before reached in terms of mental and physical well-being. I really want to push myself to the limit and see how far I go. Maybe, I am addicted. I get a real sense of high after a good training session, but as soon as the next day breaks, all I can think about is hitting the mat again.

To describe the sensation - well before, I used to train and the next day feel really achey so I would rest, then train the following day. Recently, I have been training without those breaks. First, the intensity of workout impacts negatively on your body and you get run down, maybe catch flu or some cold. Then you get over that and build yourself back up. Training day after day without a break, you experience pain accumulating and the aches get achier and the stiffness just gets stiffer, until one day, you feel no pain. It's still there but in reality, you have blocked it out. Now, you can perform any number of circuit exercises at the drop of a hat, stretch to regions never before reached, kick higher, punch faster, throw further. It's an amazing feeling.

But I guess I have to take a step back and review where I am in life. It's nice to work towards a goal, like a grading or competition, but I should consider the bigger picture. What's the point in ignoring the very thing that keeps me together -my family and my friends. The number of times I have turned down invites and outings in preference to training. The number of times I have come home late to be greeted with 'dinner's in the oven' - it's all going too far. Sacrificing marital happiness for martial happiness is not worth the trade-off. Compromise is in order and this will be my resolution for 2005.

Mind you, there's always lunch time training...

byMeerkatsu

in

October 28, 2004

Trouble and Strife

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Mrs Meerkat put her foot down and told me off for spending too much time on martial arts and not eno...

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One step forward, two steps back

Last nights BJJ training was my worst. My instructor, in trying to help me practice for the Nationals, asked all my sparring partners to work me extra hard. I was thoroughly beaten to a pulp and found it quite soul destroying. Not that I was tapped out too regularly, but I had no choice but to defend all the time and could not find one single avenue to attempt an attacking move. This is the hardest thing for me, due to my small size, this Meerkat struggles against a bigger opponent and I suspect that the rather liberal weight divisions at the Nationals will mean I will probably be the smallest there.

I did discover one nugget though. When I first joined, my instructor soon found out I was a shodan in ju-jitsu and he expressed his delight that I was happy to throw away any pretensions and ego (that some black belts have) and simply train as a white belt.
This confused me a bit since I didn’t even consider it an issue – why on Earth would I swan in to a different style of MA and boast about being a shodan – especially as I know I’ll get my ass whipped in sparring. But I found out that my instructor gave lots of private one-to-one lessons to senior dan grades in various styles of MA. He wouldn’t name names but did hint that some of them were heads of styles who wanted anonymity – and perhaps would find it a loss of face to come to a group class and get beat by mere white belts (some of whom may even be their own students).
I pondered on this thought and realised that at the end of the day, we are all in the same boat. White belt or 10th dan regardless, we are all on a continuous rollercoaster ride of learning – it never stops. I know in my mind that I am happy to get beat on a regular basis, as I can only learn from the experience – I’m not sure how and it’s frustrating as hell but I will learn to get better.

byMeerkatsu

in

October 26, 2004

One step forward, two steps back

Last nights BJJ training was my worst. My instructor, in trying to help me practice for the Nationals, asked all my sparring partners to wor...

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Groundfighting - the best delivery method.

The new head of Jujitsu HQ has updated the association website and added a mission statement. The statement is available for all to read but I am particularly excited about this bit:

"there is a need to improve the overall level of Groundfighting skills, in particular with the youngsters, and this means getting our coaches up to speed so that we can pass along these essential skills. You can expect Groundfighting to be more prominent in the syllabus in the future."

This is something I have definitely been harping on about to anyone who will listen (usually just myself). Whilst the syllabus is extremely diverse and comprehensive, it is seriously lacking key ground skills. It is also the main reason I chose to train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I am sure the growth of that sport has not escaped the notice of our new head.

Playing devil's advocate here, you might be tempted to say: But BJJ is a sport and we are self defence, so why should we learn ground skills just to keep up with the latest trend? Well, my answer is that BJJ offers so much more than simply a new way to compete in sport.

For a start, if anyone has gone four rounds with a BJJ specialist, you will realise that these skills are very useful indeed. Being tied up and having the life squeezed out of you from a choke of strangle is very scary - try anything unsporting and they laugh in the face of punches, kicks and pressure points. More than simply learning new techniques however, it is also a whole way of dealing with fights in terms of strategy and tactics. One person who frequents the MA forums, describes BJJ as the best 'delivery method' for fighting on the ground. I like that term, delivery method, it seems to encapsulate what the art achieves very succinctly.
Clearly, we are not trying to compete with BJJ, our art exists on it's own merits, has done for a very long time and will continue to do so. But I support the need to add new elements and slightly tweek the style to suit more modern times.

It is interesting to see how life goes around in circles. In 1915, a Japanese Jiu-Jitsu instructor named Esai Maeda taught his brand of jiu-jitsu, which was actually Kano Judo, to a young Carlos Gracie in Brazil. The whole Gracie clan adapted and learned the art, challenged the world, blah, blah etc etc. Today, I personally know of many ju-jitsu students from our style who also train in BJJ - myself included. Out of respect to our instructors, we try to be discrete about it but I find that the two methods really do complement each other well.

I'm a big advocate of sporting based sparring and grappling to enhance the student's martial art abilities. Back at the club, we have always made groundfighting and sparring a part of our regular training but it's important people understand the differences with self defence and sport.

Well, that's the rant, now I get to eat my words as my BJJ instructor has come back from holiday and my groundfighting training resumes in earnest on Monday. Gulp!

byMeerkatsu

in

October 18, 2004

Groundfighting - the best delivery method.

The new head of Jujitsu HQ has updated the association website and added a mission statement. The statement is available for all to read but...

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Shoes You Sir!

During an after session pub conversation with the young Algenon I spotted that he chose to wear martial art shoes as his daily footwear. A couple of jokes about always being prepared for random attackS on the street and then he said that actually, it was quite the rage to wear these shoes - you'll see all the kids wearing them. For those not accustomed to the martial art, or 'Budo' shoe, they are invariably black or white, with red or black flashes and do not have laces - the tongue being stiched into the main shoe to provide a suitable surface area for striking.
They also have very thin soles with the key trademark of a single, circular grip underneath the ball of the major toe. Not exactly fashionable, they are, very practicle and, until Saturday, I thought cheap.So there I am on a Saturday afternoon in a trendy shoe shop, the missus fretting over which monstrously priced shoe to buy when my attention wanders and I spot an adiddas martial art shoe exactly like the one's we use. A quick check at the price tag and what I misread as £6, actually was a heart stopping price of £60!!!
Wow! What price fashion. Especially as these shoes cost tuppence to make and contain absolutely no hi-tech features like air this or air that. My MA supplier kindly offers me a club discount on equipment and these same shoes (without the Adiddas branding) are sold for about £20 each.

byMeerkatsu

in

October 11, 2004

Shoes You Sir!

During an after session pub conversation with the young Algenon I spotted that he chose to wear martial art shoes as his daily footwear. A c...

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On yer bike!

Just what are the college thinking of? Last week, Kev parked his bike as usual outside the main building to our dojo and lo and behold, he returned to find it had been clamped! Wheelclamping bicycles - now that is taking the biscuit. It seems the powers that be are sick and tired of piss poor students moaning about their stolen bikes so now, there is a blanket ban on parking bikes on campus. Instead, you must obtain a swipe card, have your details registered, then only use the allocated bike shed (a thieves den if ever there was). Us visitors are not allowed to use these facilities. So what are the half dozen or so cyclist members supposed to do? Tie their bikes up to a lampost and leave them at the mercy of thieves, dog wee and student pranksters?
I thought London was supposed to be getting a greener transport agenda. That means congestion charge to dissuade drivers, more buses, cycle lanes, cheaper tubes and obviously - more places to put your bikes. But what have we seen? Now't. Congestion charge hasn't reduced traffic much, none or very badly designed bike lanes, rising tube fares and now this from the college. Ridiculous!!!!
John reckons we can use the bike shed in an adjacent quadrangle but will have to fight for spaces since the rival Jitsu club are the main users - could be interesting, the real fight school - but with proper rules and stuff.
Mind you, I use the car so will have no need to fight for bike spaces.

byMeerkatsu

in

October 06, 2004

On yer bike!

Just what are the college thinking of? Last week, Kev parked his bike as usual outside the main building to our dojo and lo and behold, he r...

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Sometimes traditional ancient medicine can work where the conventional fails. All week I have been wracked with flu - not something I normally fall victim to, I was stuffed full with tablets and vitamins and cough syrup and my energy reserves were down to their lowest on Sunday. So, without much choice, Mummy Meerkat gets out the chinese cups and begins her cupping therapy. To those not in the know, cupping is an ancient eastern therapy where glass miniature bowls are heated with a wick for a split second then placed in the body. The temperature gradient means that as the cup cools, it sucks the skin into the space of the bowl. Rather like an over keen love bite. That's usually painless but the next bit is less pleasant - having previously applied a light coating of vaseline on the back, the cup is then slid along the back up and down, all the while your skin is 'sucked' within the space of the bowl. That's a tad painful. then after a few minutes of moving, five or six more cups are applied and left there to do their magic. After ten or so minutes, the cups are removed and you are left with some very severe looking red circular marks on your back. The effect however, is interesting. After about an hour or two, I felt my energy level slowly begin to return and after a good night's sleep, I am almost totally back to normal - refreshed and invigorated.



To the dismay of Mummy Meerkat, I am usually quite skeptical of most Chinese medicines and the way they work, however, I am pleased to say that cupping is a useful therapy that definitely accelerated my return to health and fitness. Apparently it is also something one can easily do at home without too much prior training - although in future, I feel much safer if left in the hands of the experts.

byMeerkatsu

in

October 04, 2004

Sometimes traditional ancient medicine can work where the conventional fails. All week I have been wracked with flu - not something I normal...

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My cover is blown

My cover has been blown. It seems the boys at the BJJ class are all aware that I am a ju-jitsu instructor and my days training as an anonymous beginner are over. No idea how they found out as I certainly never said anything, but it seems they are cool about the fact and the coach even chatted about how good it was to don a white belt and try something new. It's a different attitude to when I told the other BJJ class about me and they all saw it as a green light to thump me to submission. Anyway, making interesting progress with the BJJ as I managed to get a couple of tapouts. In fact I enjoyed it so much time just flew and sparred for over an hour past the official finishing time. Sadly, two weeks holiday for the coach means I am BJJ-less for a fortnight and with Nationals fast approaching, I may not be match fit in time.

byMeerkatsu

in

September 28, 2004

My cover is blown

My cover has been blown. It seems the boys at the BJJ class are all aware that I am a ju-jitsu instructor and my days training as an anonymo...

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Not enough days in the week!

Ko-budo on Saturday started off badly as during the very first warm-up exercise, the sleepy headed Meerkat managed to bash his injured elbow with nunchakus. Severe pain, but managed to hack way through 6 hours of weapons training, the highlight was some nifty new tonfa strikes and a new nunchaku kata.

Sunday was a day of rest thankfully - calm before the storm as I willingly stepping into the BJJ class on Monday. Two hours of grappling fun. MP commented that I was going rather manic on the mat. Manic is not the word - getting tapped out for six is what I would say. But Eddie is a good instructor and the club is the friendliest I've been to.

Today, Tuesday, was our guest systema seminar. I was worried no one would come but in the end, an ace turnout and most of the members were raving about systema. A couple didn't seem to think much of it, but that's usual I guess. It might even have pursuaded a couple to try it out on Friday nights.

Tomorrow is more training and then off to Milan....phew!!!!

byMeerkatsu

in

September 22, 2004

Not enough days in the week!

Ko-budo on Saturday started off badly as during the very first warm-up exercise, the sleepy headed Meerkat managed to bash his injured elbow...

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Eye-eye!

Injury-bedevillled Jamie has come back from a few weeks absence of training to tell us of his amazing injuries. I'm pretty sure he won't mind me recalling his antics but this one is a corker: Jamie is frustrated at with his niggling joint injury so decides to do a spot of exercise using those giant elastic bands that you have to pull and stretch to gain resistance workout. This he does fine until, doing an upward pull, the rubber thingy slips from his foot grasp and, in the recoil, slaps him full force on his right EYEBALL!! Hitting it so hard that it started bleeding, and to top it off, starts to close up like a twelfth round boxer. Everytime he closes it to sleep or blink, the wound opens up again to bleed some more.Ok, horrid injury, go see a doctor you say, but Jamie is hospital-phobic and has so far resisted the temptation to see anyone. A week after his accident, he still can't see properly out of his eye. The best we can convince him to do is to at least see a high street optician.

byMeerkatsu

in

September 16, 2004

Eye-eye!

Injury-bedevillled Jamie has come back from a few weeks absence of training to tell us of his amazing injuries. I'm pretty sure he won...

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