Great insight Patrick. I found it to be a common if not necessary occurrence for all. Being highly competitive myself losing was tough. And hearing all the sayings like losing is learning can be cliche no matter how difficult to absorb. For myself I felt when I decided to appreciate the art of BJJ was when I fell in love with BJJ. That was when I really didn’t care about a L or a W. I just wanted to learn. And was actually happy for the other guy that beat me and was like how’d you do that. We are in the shallow end of this BJJ pool, I can’t wait to step off into deeper waters to learn some more. 

I really appreciate both. Drilling to refine and perfect but live rolls to see what works and or what adjustments need to be made then adjust while drilling. 

Anything Closed Guard… nuff said. 

I was struggling and a purple belt took me to the side and said.

Dude, just be a pain in the ass.

I felt I was a natural at that. 

So what I figured was not to make it easy for my opponent. Gum up the works as it were. Take things away and get in the way. Pull on whatever lapel arm or leg I could. It gave me the ability to be a challenging partner with the upper belts and started making head way with the lower belts. I was able to get reps and learn the do’s and don’t.

What better way to start the week than cross choking your partner and then in turn being cross choked. Come by this Tuesday at 7pm to experience the cross choke and many more techniques.  @everyone

@everyone Thursday fundamentals at 7 is a chain day. We’re gonna work on our single leg take down using the collar, to the hip in pass, all the way to the tripod sweep. And there may be a surprise move along the way. Come on by at 7pm

@everyone I really enjoy teaching and doing the single leg with the collar drag. One of the most efficient way to not only take down your partner but to control them. See you on Thursday at 7pm. 

Man that has always been a challenge for me. Especially that low base turtle. Tough to tackle. But those videos helped me. See you on the mat. 

Moving on to guard retention and Jacque Jones (jk) stand up from guard all key techniques to rep and refine. Add to that the miserably wonderful chair sweep. Come on by. Let’s get to work. 

A problem solver. A shape shifter. A surfer. A man among boys. A person that can adapt to any or almost any complication. An expert. A beaten down white belt who was either too dumb to quit or had grown accustomed to the chaos of life and the mats but made it his or her home. 

I would rather have control. As I learned as a white belt from you Mark. How important it is to be in and stay in control. I felt so helpless as my defenses were dismantled and I was stuck. Also a very good reason why I still am pursuing my BB. But as Prof. has always said. Submissions show up while you’re in control. DECA is a real thing. I tried to disprove it. Trust me.