BJJ as a martial art is very personal experience which is heavily dependent on the individual and their own journey. As much as we train to focus on ourselves and our improvement it is nothing without our training partners. We make each other better, we challenge one another and help each other both on and off the mats. As cliché as it sounds, we are in this together.
Josh, a wrestling coach I used to train with, told me there were two competitive personalities to adopt in a tournament. He used an analogy to the lightsaber fight from The Phantom Menace to demonstrate. I can’t remember exactly how he put it so I will paraphrase. It starts with the scene with the energy fields. Every time the energy field comes up and blocks the fighters from each other is just like the beginning of a wrestling or jiu-jitsu match. The fighters have to wait for the field to come down in order to start fighting, just like waiting for the referee to say “Combate!” What they do while they wait tells us about the personality of the fighters and their strategy.
No matter where you are in your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu journey you would have heard the phrase, ‘Some days you’re the hammer and some days you’re the nail’. You may have heard it at your academy, seen it embedded on an inspirational Instagram post or perhaps you’ve muttered it to yourself after one of those days. As cliché as it sounds, what better phrase to sum up an activity where you constantly fluctuate between owning someone and being owned?
Five years ago, I was a few months shy of my thirty-eighth birthday - and miserable. I was blessed with a lovely wife and an infant son, but was disgusted with myself. During my mid-30’s a stressful job (government attorney), poor diet, and a sedentary lifestyle had led me to continue to gain weight until I was carrying two-hundred and seventy pounds on a 5’10” frame.
There have been exuberant amounts of Rafa posts lately, many of which cover his sensational instagram posts, his magnificent technique, or his phenomenal career. However, many of you have failed to realize the significant impact a good haircut has had on his career. In this study, I will take you on a journey, exploring the importance of a good fade.
