2012 West Coast BJJ Florida Winter Camp
Every year all West Coast BJJ association members are invited to come with us to Florida where we train in the last week of January with the best BJJ and MMA fighters in the world.
This year we will go to Orlando, Florida for a special Wintercamp under Ricardo de la Riva. Master De la Riva will teach 7 seminars for us on the following days:
Thursday January 26th- Morning and afternoon seminars
Friday, January 27th- Morning and afternoon seminars
Saturday January 28th- Morning and afternoon seminars followed by a Birthday party for Master de la Riva!
Sunday, January 29th- Morning seminar
The prices are as follows:
Single Seminars Only- $50
Four Seminar Package- $150
Seven Seminar Package- $250
Considering that a regular seminar is $100-150 dollars in the US this is a great price to train with a legend.
Our trip will go from Tuesday, January 24th until January 31st and here is the hotel that all we have a special rate negotiated with. Please call (407) 851 8200 and ask for Alex or the sales dept. to get the special West Coast BJJ rate:
http://www.baymontinns.com/hotels/florida/orlando/baymont-inn-and-suites-florida-mallairport-west/hotel-overview
Its about 10 minutes from the airport, 15 mins from Thiago Domingues (http://jungleorlando.com/) where the seminars will be held. Its very central, close to shopping including the Florida Shopping Mall.
Prices:
We are now looking at $40 a night for a room with 2 queens, and $39 a night for a room with either 2 double Beds, or 1 King.
Other benefits of this booking:
- Free Shuttle services from 6am – 11pm to/from airport
- Laundry facilities on property
- Free use of their conference room
- Free Deluxe breakfast, which is better than the shitty continental things most hotels do
If you wonder how much it will cost, here is my estimate:
Return Flight Seattle to Orlando- $300
Hotel cost for the week- @$45 (for a room with two double beds)
training with Master de la Riva and at all the clubs-@ $300
Food- @$200
Other- depends, it can be $500 if you are eating out and buy a lot of gear.
Ride and Room Shares: Please post in this blog if you need a ride to the Seattle airport and/or if you need to share a hotel room
History of our Florida Winter Camp:
In previous years we trained with Marcello Garcia, Team Popovitch, Edson Deniz, Ricardo Liborio and the whole American Top Team, De la Riva Jiu-Jitsu Black Belts “Boca” Oliviera and Guilio Timoteo. We had seminars with Roberto “Cyborg” Abreau, Dustin “Clean” Denes and Thiago Dominguez and all students that went learned a lot.
Typical Itinerary from last years Winter Camp Training Schedule
(bold shows where I was training)
Tuesday, January 25th
10:30am No-Gi BJJ @Roberto Abreau
6:00pm Beg. BJJ and 7pm Adv. BJJ 8:30pm KB @Pablo Popovich
8:00pm Beg. BJJ @ Roberto Abreau
Wednesday, January 26th
9:30am Beg. BJJ and 10:30am BJJ @Roberto Abreau
10:00am BJJ and 11am Pro MMA @ATT
6:00pm MMA and 7pm Adv BJJ @Pablo Popovich
6:30pm BJJ @ Boca de la Riva
7:30pm BJJ @ De la Riva Jiu-Jitsu Giulio Timoteo
8:00pm Adv. BJJ @ Roberto Abreau
Thurday, January 27th
10:30am No-Gi BJJ @Roberto Abreau
6pm Beg. BJJ, 7pm No-Gi BJJ 8:30pm KB @Pablo Popovich
8:00pm Beg. BJJ @ Roberto Abreau
Friday, January 28th
9:30am Beg. BJJ and 10:30am Gi BJJ @Roberto Abreau
6:00pm Open Mat BJJ and KB @Pablo Popovich
6:30pm BJJ @ Boca de la Riva
7:30pm BJJ @ De la Riva Jiu-Jitsu Giulio Timoteo
8:00pm Adv. BJJ @ Roberto Abreau
Saturday, January 30th
10:00am De la Riva Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Thiago “Batata” Dominguez seminar at 2954 SW 30th Avenue, Pembroke Park (15 min from hotel)
Sunday, January 31st
9:30am De la Riva Black Belt Dustin Denes at Pablo Popovich
2:00pm Black Belt Seminar at ATT in Coconut Creek $?
7:00pm Team Dinner at Mamacita’s Mexican Bar & Grill located on the Beach Broadwalk north off the hotel (5 min walk from hotel), your presence is requested
Monday, February 1st
9:30am Beg. BJJ and 10:30am BJJ @Roberto Abreau
10:00am BJJ and 11am Pro MMA @ATT
6:30pm BJJ @ Boca de la Riva
7:30pm BJJ @ De la Riva Jiu-Jitsu Giulio Timoteo
8:00pm Adv. BJJ @ Roberto Abreau
American Top Team- 4631 Johnson Road, Coconut Creek, 954-4250-0705 (45 min from hotel)
Roberto “Cyborg” Abreau- 7403 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, 786-370-8990 (20 min from hotel)
Pablo Popovich- 777 E. Oakland Park Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, 954-771-0084(30 min from hotel)
I booked my flight here: http://www.hotwire.com/
IMPORTANT NOTES:
SINCE ALL PREPARATION ARE MADE BY US AT NO CHARGE AND YOU ARE JUST PAYING FOR YOUR OWN TRIP AND TRAINING WE ASK YOU TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE A CURRENT WEST COAST BJJ ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP AS WELL AS THE FOLLOWING:
1. MAKE SURE YOU GET HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR THIS TRIP
2. MAKE SURE TO TALK TO OTHERS ABOUT TRANSPORTATION TO THE SEATTLE AIRPORT, FROM FORT LAUDERDALE TO THE HOTEL AND TO GET TO ALL THE CLUBS
3. ONLY SHARE RIDES TO SEATTLE IN YOUR OWN VEHICLE IF YOU ARE STAYING THE WHOLE WEEK SO OTHERS DO NOT BECOME STRANDED!
4. IF YOU ARE RENTING A VEHICLE MAKE SURE TO RENT A MINI VAN OR SIMILAR TO GIVE OTHERS A RIDE. ASK THEM TO SHARE THE COST.
5. POST HERE WHEN YOU ARE TRAVELLING SO OTHERS CAN RIDE WITH YOU OR YOU CAN CATCH A RIDE
I look forward to see you at the next camp!
Thank You,
Don Whitefield
Tangled Triangle
A Microbiologist’s Take on BJJ
So my recent bout with face-critters really got me wondering about all this…information we’ve got floating around regarding treatment, prevention, cleanliness, the whole shebang. Thankfully, a girl I know from WAY back grew up to be a really cool microbiologist (she managed to work a reference to LeBron James into a conversation about bacteria) and she was nice enough to, after a weekend at Dragoncon, take the time to answer some questions I’d collected.
You can check her credentials below (she did her dissertation on MRSA), and if you have any questions about the critters you may be carrying to and from the gym, you can also email her at ms.oxide at gmail dot com, just tell her you read her interview with Megan.
Seriously, if you have a few minutes, take the time to read the whole thing. She addresses the general “lifestyles” of bateria and fungi, the use of triclosan, MRSA, and general habits that we have around keeping clean in the gym, not to mention a bunch of other things (like not washing belts), that we could all benefit from. So, a huge thanks to Brea and…here goes!
PhD in 2010 from Emory University in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Dissertation on antimicrobial resistance in S. aureus (she used a MRSA strain)
Postdoc at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Athens, GA a part of NARMS (National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring Service). They monitor, characterize, and describe antimicrobial resistance in the food chain. They also are involved in foodborne illness outbreak responses.
So first let me just say that my bias is definitely in thinking of bacteria in terms of communities. I did a postbac at the NIH in a lab that studied how bacteria build communities (aka biofilms) on your body. We used dental plaque as a model. What you have to understand is that you have basically three kinds of bacteria, and this can go for fungi as well, living on you: ones that are beneficial, ones that cause you to get sick, and ones that CAN cause you to get sick given the chance. There’s this beautiful and important balance that occurs when one is healthy. When one is sick and the proportion of the latter two categories overwhelm the beneficial bacteria, then you have problems. The other part of that is that many pathogenic bacteria are really only “visiting”. They live on you, but not all the time. If you have MRSA on you now, it doesn’t mean you will be colonized with it if you were checked in a month or so. We call that being transiently colonized, and about 30% of people are at any given time transiently colonized with MRSA. Doesn’t mean they get sick. So, from what I can tell, much of this antimicrobial craze is aimed at getting rid of the “visiting” bacteria before they try to make your body a more permanent residence.
OK so questions…
1) Is it best to wash with just regular soap and water?
Washing with plain old warm soap and water is the best thing you can do to stop the spread of disease. I know many people won’t believe it, but the mechanical activity of washing your hands is THE BEST way to get germs off of your body. Hand sanitizing using alcohol based hand sanitizers is not a substitute for hand washing, but it can be used to supplement a hand washing regimen. The germs a normal person might be exposed to on a daily basis don’t really require any fancy antimicrobial soaps, etc.
Furthermore, how often you wash and what you wash with really does depend on your day job. For people who are exposed to nasty bacteria on a daily basis (that would be someone like me), I keep hand sanitizer in my office. I don’t use it at home. Only when I’m at work, and I always wash my hands after I am done in lab. I found this nice little summary here: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy732. Here’s another summary from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/infectioncontrol/faq/hand.htm . It does a nice job of summing up the proper way to wash your hands…because yes, there is a proper way to wash your hands. For the majority of the readers of your blog, they could probably do with using an alcohol based hand sanitizer after they work out, in addition to washing their hands/showering.
One thing I do want to address is triclosan. Triclosan is the dominant antimicrobial that’s found in the majority of anti-bacterial products. Triclosan acts by inhibiting fatty acid synthesis in bacteria, and work by Stuart Levy (who is like the LeBron James of antimicrobial resistance research) has shown that getting triclosan resistant mutants in E. coli is actually pretty easy. They were able to generate a spontaneous mutant that had a resistance to triclosan 500x that of the normal strain. So, the take home from that experiment is that triclosan resistance is real, and overusage (antimicrobial window cleaner…really?) can lead to resistance. The problem with this is cross-resistance (resistance to one antimicrobial also protects the bacteria from another unrelated antimicrobial) can become a really scary problem. You can read the summary of that study here: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no3_supp/levy.htm .
So, as someone who does nothing but study how bacteria acquire and disseminate resistance on a daily basis, I would hold off on the use of triclosan and other antimicrobial products. For many people, it’s completely unnecessary. We see and deal with the results of overusage on a daily basis.
2) Does bar soap tend to harbor anything? (lots of people favor body washes because of the idea that certain organisms can live on soap in showers)
This is an interesting and really great question and I had to do a little digging. So there wasn’t a lot of info on contamination of bar soap. Bacteria can absolutely live on bars of soap, especially ones that are frequently used for hand washing. Its recommended that bar soaps not be used in public places (makes sense), although I found a study that showed there’s no evidence that “in-use” soap bars can transfer bacteria to naïve hands (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3402545.
So, to address the body wash issue. As long as the body wash container isn’t being refilled (which I know is uncommon but you can buy the ginormous refills at Sam’s), I think its fine. Refillable hand soaps/body washes have been shown to transfer bacteria and can become easily contaminated (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3126420/?tool=pubmed). So as long as its your bar of soap, and not a community bar, you should be fine.
3) Is not washing a cotton belt a bad idea? Lots of guys just…don’t…ever.
So…this is really gross. Like…really gross. Bacteria are really good at clinging to things,
especially S. aureus. It’s a freaking champ. Its particularly good at clinging to natural fibers (like cotton). Remember me mentioning bacterial communities and your natural flora earlier? Your skin has an amazing abundance of bacteria that call it home including Staphylococcus epidermidis and Propionibacterium acnes and our sweat is at the tops of their menu. I would imagine a sweaty cotton belt would be a perfect place for bacteria to set up shop. So if the goal is to encourage the growth of bacteria (cos remember S. epidermidis’s cousin S. aureus likes sweat too), not washing a cotton belt is a great idea.
4) Most gis are cotton and since they shrink, are washed in cold water and air dried or dried on very low heat. Besides getting sweat out, does that do any good? Does adding hydrogen peroxide to the wash help?
After proper washing, by the time most things make it to the dryer they’re no longer
viable. I think any vigorous mechanical agitation would definitely help in dislodging bacteria and other things from the fabric. As far as peroxide goes, the concentration you get in the drug store (which is usually 3%) won’t be nearly enough to make a difference if you put it in a washer full of water. Bleach would definitely work, as long as the gi is white. For a colored gi, I would imagine hand washing in warm water with detergent and air drying would be a good way to clean it.
5) How long is too long to wait to shower after training? (some people drive home and don’t shower at the gym) Besides spreading organisms to other surfaces, does it even make a difference? I’ve heard many times that if you wait more than 30 min, ringworm has had a chance to set in already and showering won’t help.
I don’t know what the doubling time is for ringworm, but the doubling time for S. aureus is about 20 minutes at 37°C, which just so happens to be body temperature. On warm, sweaty skin all bacteria would be able to multiply rather quickly, including any bacteria one might have picked up from the mat or a grappling partner. I would definitely take a shower as soon as I could after the session was over.
I would be most concerned about contracting fungi or other bacteria on my feet in a community shower. However, I think shower shoes are pretty standard practice in places like that. As long as you’re bringing in your own towels, soap, and shower shoes, I think the risk of taking home anything you didn’t want would be minimized.
6) Is disinfecting before training a bad idea? (are we killing “good” bacteria on the skin and weakening part of our natural defense system?)
So this goes back to what I mentioned earlier. You have a unique community of bacteria living in and on you. Its kind of like a microbial fingerprint, although as a species we have certain genera of bacteria present on all of us normally. Your own microbial flora acts like a first line of defense on keeping the bad “visitors” out by not allowing them to set up shop. Of course, from time to time bad bacteria do establish themselves, and most of the time, if you’re a healthy individual you don’t even notice it. Going into an environment that has bacteria, particularly pathogenic bacteria, without the full complement of your own flora intact is like leaving your front door wide open while you’re away on vacation. If you’ve been particularly sweaty before you go for your workout, then it’s a fine idea to shower. If you’re coming from work however, I dunno that its something I’d do. I would always shower as soon as possible after any intense workout.
7) Does scrubbing the skin after soap is applied make any difference? (Some people say scrub as much as possible, others say that this risks opening micro-tears in the skin and causing even more problems, so they opt to just let soap sit before rinsing)
I would just stick to normal washing. I think if you’re scrubbing so hard, you’re opening
micro-tears in your skin, you might want to scrub just a little more gently. The mechanical action here is key, but you don’t want to get carried away and actually cause breaks in your skin.
Are natural oil based products effective or are they just a gimmick?
I talked a little about triclosan earlier. I absolutely think it’s overused, and even as an
athlete coming into contact with other people’s bacteria, I still don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze. While it’s true that tea tree oil and other naturally derived products have antimicrobial activity, I would think that there would be problems with maintaining that activity in a soap.
Saponification is the process by which fatty acids are hydrolyzed using a strong base, generally lye. This makes soaps alkaline. To complete the reaction, you often have to let the soaps sit for a few weeks before you can actually use them to make sure there isn’t enough lye in them to harm your skin. While I wasn’t able to find any information on the concentrations of any of the additives in the natural sport soap bars you sent, I would think that their antimicrobial activity is either non-existent or negligible due to abrogation by the lye, or just not being present in a high enough concentration to make any real difference. The actual oil might be fine as an all natural disinfectant, but once again, washing with normal soap and water after a workout would probably do the trick.
9) Do topical steroids help prevent staph in cuts?
Corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory, and as someone who has had atopic dermatitis
all of my life, they are amazing at decreasing skin inflammation. Corticosteroids are produced in the body from cholesterol. There was a paper from 2008, from Victor Nizet’s lab that showed an enzyme that blocks cholesterol biosynthesis in humans could also block production of staphyloxanthin, the pigment that gives S. aureus its hallmark golden color. Staphyloxanthin is actually an antioxidant that protects the bacteria from neutrophil killing by your immune system. You can read about it here: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/319/5868/1391.abstract .
10) Do anti-fungal shampoos prevent ringworm or are they placebos?
I know they’re fungicidal. That’s pretty well established. I’m not sure if the
active ingredient in them is broad spectrum and can prevent ringworm. Not sure if they can be used as a prophylactic.
11) What kind of detergent/cleaner is best for killing living organisms on training surfaces (usually vinyl)? (There’s a lot of debate out about bleach, which a lot of academies use.)
I would think a dilute bleach solution would work best. Bleach kills just about everything. We use it in the lab to kill cultures.
12) Are skin barrier foams any good? (They claim to suspend contaminates and be effective for up to 4 hrs AND not be harmful to the body’s “good bacteria”. They seemed to be based on blends of lanolin, butane, and stearic acid. )
I had never heard of these until you sent me this link. I tried to find information on the specific ingredients and couldn’t. Its hard to say anything about these products since the company doesn’t provide information about its ingredients on its website. I’d have to have a little more info to really say anything.
13) Is using a disinfectant spray (like Clorox) on gym bags worth anything?
I’d think keeping a clean gym bag would be a huge help in stopping the growth and spread of harmful bacteria. I’d definitely wash my cotton gym bag regularly, and spray a vinyl one with Lysol or wipe it out with a dilute bleach solution.
14) Based on what I mentioned above, does anything jump out at you as an issue?
The grossest thing is not washing a sweaty, cotton belt. Why wouldn’t you wash a sweaty, cotton belt? I think the other thing is having common sense. We have an immune system for a reason, and our own flora are part of what keeps us healthy. Wash your hands (and your body) regularly. For most people, antimicrobial products are unnecessary. I think that’s it mainly.
P.S. Viruses are much less resilient than bacteria generally, but S. aureus can survive for a couple weeks on fomites (things in the environment like doorknobs, handles etc.)
Thank you to Chris Empson to make this information available. The lessons here are pretty clear:
1. Wash yourself before and after your workout whenever possible
2. Wash your gi AND Belt every time and wipe/wash your gym bag too
3. Look after every small skin opening and infection right away
Micah Brakefield: Road to MMA Pro
I am headlining the September 17th Battlefield show against Adam Santos for the heavyweight title….I weigh 195 pounds. Adam is a big guy at 6’6? 240lbs and a black belt in Morganti jiu jitsu. Apparently that makes him a fairly tough guy to find a fight for. I was at the Battlefield studio doing a photo shoot when Mr. Jay Golshani happened to mention that Adam’s opponent had backed out and that no one wanted to fight him.
Me, being a smart ass chirped in that i would fight him. Jay and I bantered back and fourth about it for a bit. We went back to our photo shoot and it was forgotten about. I went home that night and started thinking about it as a serious opportunity. The next morning I called Jay and said i was serious about it. He told me to clear it with my coaches. Mr. Don Whitefield took some convincing but after a half an hour conversation I had convinced him it was “good for marketing man”. So that’s where I am at, taking a heavyweight title fight on 16 days notice, much to the dismay of my loving parents.
I am oddly confident for a person out weighed and experienced by so much. It’s not that I don’t take Adam seriously, in fact it is because of the challenges he possesses that I am taking the fight. I know if things go my way I will win the fight, and the same is true for him. Testing myself is something that I have always enjoyed. The worst thing that can happen in this fight is I lose. There are only two people in the cage at a time so no matter how hard you train there is always a chance your going to lose, thats what it’s about. That’s why sports are exciting and that’s why I love MMA. I really enjoy watching two people with different skill sets work against each other to see who can win. Being a part of it just makes it that much cooler to me.
My fight with Jer (Kornelsen) in November is still on. I always said that I would win the middleweight belt and defend it before I go pro. I am not looking past Santos, but I know that taking this fight is going to jump start my camp for Jer. Jer has cardio for days and thats definitely been one of my weaker points going into a fight. Cardio is something that you can control so it seems silly to not be in the best shape you can be in.
The fact of the matter is, I love McDonalds and all sorts of greasy foods that definitely hinder my performance. I am going to try my best to sort out my diet and i think that putting it out there with this blog will make me feel more accountable for my choices.
I hope you can make it out to the Fights September 17th at the Vogue theater, it should be a good night of fights.
New Student Training Guide
Being the new guy in the club can be intimidating. You’re stepping into a world where everyone knows each other and where everyone is probably more experienced than you. While this is difficult in any setting, being the new guy on the mat presents a unique set of challenges. After all, most guys will dominate you. Losing matches repeatedly can be disheartening, but don’t get discouraged. This is perfectly normal. Grappling and MMA are difficult sports. So whether you’re a new student putting on a stiff white gi for the first time or a veteran fighter returning to the mat here are some tips that can make your time at the gym more enjoyable and more productive.
Ricardo De la Riva explaining a techniques to Don Whitefield
1. Respect your Training Partners
While a challenging training partner is important, a safe training partner is even more important. The best person to train with is someone who cares about your well being as well as your development. Since combat sports are highly competitive, establish mutual, friendly respect for your training partners. So, shake hands with everyone in the room, at least twice.
Showing respect will earn you respect, regardless of your skill level. When you spar or roll with someone, shake their hand before, and shake their hand after. Thank them for them for the sparring session. You don’t need to be creepy about it, a simple “Hey man, thanks for the roll” will do. When class is over, shake hands goodbye. Thank your partners for working with you, and thank your instructor for the class. Being kind and respectful will make your life at the gym much more pleasant. People will return the favor, and eventually, you’ll have friends as sparring partners.
2. Learn to Lose
Being a good sport is just as vital as being friendly. Very rarely will you be the best person one the mat, especially if you’re just starting out. You will lose, and you will lose a lot. Tapping out and eating a few punches is an important part of learning. Each mistake is an opportunity to learn. If the same submission or same combination keeps catching you, ask your partner what you’re doing wrong, either right then or after training. If you’ve been friendly and respectful, chances are that they’ll be more than happy to give you a few pointers.
Losing is actually a good thing. Now, when you’re getting submitted 20 times a night, that statement will seem like a load of hogwash, and that’s fine. A losing streak can be frustrating, and frustration is the enemy of progress. Try rolling with someone less experienced than you. Even if you have only been training for a few weeks, you will likely be able to find someone even greener than you. I’m not suggesting demolish them; I mean to take it slow and control them. Against a less experienced opponent, you will find it easier to secure positions and find submissions. This is good for both your development and your confidence.
Having the time to think about attacking instead of constantly defending advances your mental game, letting you see openings and opportunities that you may have missed while running from the triangle choke for 5 rounds straight. Finishing an opponent lets you know that even though you’re losing against stiff competition, you are still progressing and can actually do the things you have been learning.
Try rolling with someone way above your experience level. While this advice may seem counter-productive, entering a match where you’re “supposed” to lose gives you the freedom to experiment. Of course a purple belt is going to trounce a white belt, but when the white belt taps, it’s no big deal because it was expected. A quality upper-level training partner won’t just spank you up down the mat. He should be relaxed and methodical, letting you work your game while he himself experiments. Instructors are best for this, and it might be a good idea to get to know the people you train with before approaching a high level grappler (some people are still mean).
3. Do Your Homework
With many grappling classes teaching a range of skill levels simultaneously, an instructor may not be able to cover core fundamentals with every new student. Also, class sizes may prevent an instructor from addressing the particular position that’s giving you the most trouble. These are not signs of a bad instructor; these are the realities of grappling instruction.
Reading books and watching videos outside of class is a great way to patch up your game. If you’re looking for a video of grappling fundamentals, you may want to first ask your instructor what material he recommends. For the more advanced student that finds himself in a rut, do some research on the position that you have trouble escape or the submission that you have trouble finishing. If you can’t think of a specific area that you would like to improve, read about grappling for the sake of reading. With the amount of material available in books, videos, and online, you are bound to find something relevant and interesting.
Time spent studying off the mat will enhance your time on the mat. Fighting is a thinking man’s game, and doing your homework will make you more critical and more aware of what’s going on during training.
4. Change Things up
A skilled painter will often-times stop adding paint to his canvas and step back to view his work at a distance. This allows him to view his art work in its entirety. When he is within brushing distance, he cannot see the big picture and may find it difficult to make progress because he cannot properly assess the interaction of each element in the piece.Fighting is no different.
If you have been training hard for months and feel as though you’ve hit a wall, or plateaued as some fighters call it, it may be time to change things up. Taking a day off lets you rest and escape the day to day frustration that may be hindering your progress. Taking some private classes or changing your strategy when you spar will help you tovercome the plateau and help you get moving again. The key is to step outside of the box long enough to clear your mind and return revitalized.
Tyler Rice winning a fight
Conclusion
Improving yourself is no easy task, but if you approach the challenges with a positive attitude and a constructive mind, you can overcome the road blocks that may slow your journey through the fighting world. Be friendly, be respectful, be a good sport, be a good student, and learn to change things up once in a while. If you’re proactive about the obstacles you are likely to encounter, your training will be more productive and more pleasant.
Based on an article by Marshal Carper
WEST COAST BRAZILIAN & MIXED MARTIAL ARTS GYM RULES
1. Always control your submissions.
2. Always take all your injuries seriously.
3. Always follow all instructions carefully.
4. Always tap if you feel any pain or discomfort.
5. Always ask questions if you don’t understand something.
6. Always come to class clean with clean gear and short nails.
7. Always watch your language and avoid making disrespectful comments.
And most importantly:
8. Always relax and leave your ego off the mat.
West Coast Submission Championship Referee and Volunteer List
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We are getting ready for our annual Submission Championship and if you are interested in helping out please post here as soon as possible since we are offering free entry to the tournament to the first 20! You also get a free event T-shirt and are supplied with water and snacks. I expect you to keep your word if you post here to ref or volunteer and I probably will ask you to help transport, set up and break down the mats as well. For more information please check here:
Thank You for your Support!
UFC 116 Battle of the Brains
According to the Las Vegas Sun Dana White got a little too excited during the last UFC:
“This night almost gave me a heart attack,” White said. “I really went into the back, walked right out of the octagon into my back room, sat down and thought they were going to have to bring a defibrillator back there. I was seriously messed up after the show. I was blown away.”
His excitement was caused apparently by 3 fights in particular during this night: Lesnar’s “comeback” in the main event, Stephan Bonnar’s win against Krzysztof Soszynski by pummeling him into a TKO victory in the second round after taking a serious beating and Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama’s battle of the punch drunks. All of these fights featured prolonged exchanges in which fighters would be hitting each other’s heads without taking much evasive action. As exciting it must have been for Dana and his bottomline as sobering must have been to watch from a different perspective: If it was a record for Dana is was also a record for any neurologist counting punches and kicks to each fighter’s brains.
A classic study carried out with 69 active football players and 37 former members of the Norwegian national football team determined that 30% of the former players complained ofpermanent problems such as headache, dizziness, irritability, neck pain, and impaired memory. In addition, 35% of the active players and 32% of the former players displayed abnormal EEGs, compared with about 12% of matched control individuals.
When the former players were subjected to cerebral computed tomography (CT) and a neuropsychological examination, a full one-third of the athletes were found to have central cerebral atrophy (wasting of the central region of the brain), and 81% displayed at least some signs of neuropsychological impairment. Many of these problems were believed to be linked to concussions suffered by the players during their football careers.
Since there are no studies regarding longterm brain damage in MMA, this Football study is all we have. There is no reason to believe that a direct kick or punch against the skull will be any less damaging than playing Football and the examples of Leben or Bonar leading with their heads taking shoot after shoot or Lesnar going fetal and using his head as a means to tire out his opponent are pretty graphic. Most people don’t realize that our brains are as soft as butter while the inner skull is lined with sharp ridges and edges. Only because these fighter’s brains are missing the ability to flip the switch does not mean that their brains got battered around any less.
To think that no brain injury occurred that night would be ignorant and I hope that West Coast BJJ & MMA students training towards competing in MMA do NOT take these fights as examples of how to become a champion. These fighters will have to live with the consequences for selling their brain health for a fight purse and may regret this deeply in the future when they discover that a day without dizziness and headaches is a good day and how nice it would be to recognize your own children and grandchildren.
For more information on these topics please visit: http://subtlebraininjury.com/nolossconsciousness.php
Don Whitefield
Fighting Ambitions
A few months back an idea was born. I thought wouldn’t it be cool to take an average Joe who loves the sport of MMA and give him six months to train in the sport and put him in a cage to fight. What we (mmasucka.com) thought would be cool is to document it. We found a hungry production team in VanWest Films and a documentary was born. My story is only going to be one part of the film, but I have begun training at West Coast BJJ in Port Coquitlam and putting my body through the ringer.
To say I’m super stoked to be training in the sport that I love is an understatement. It has already brought joy to my life. I’ve bruised up my arms and found out about aches and pains that I didn’t know could exist. The first thing West Coast Head Instructor Don Whitefield told me was to pace myself as my number one enemy could be injury. Don has constantly reminded me that it’s not only the body I need to worry about, but the mind. It’s not enough to come to class and work hard, but it is equally important to make sure that I work on my spirit and soul.
I’ve been introduced to Infrared Yoga. It’s heated yoga that allows the body to detoxify 7 times faster. Far infrared is safe; it is the same system that is used for premature baby cribs. I recommend visiting the Oxygen Yoga website to learn more about it and try it.
The filming began on August 10th and immediately I had a camera at my work and following me to my first day of training. My first class was No Gi BJJ. I was thrown in with the wolves and started rolling. I immediately got to feel what it was like to try and gain dominant positions. It’s not as easy as it looks. Passing guard is a lot more difficult than spinning the video game toggle button. I found that I was breathing heavily, my heart was pounding and I had no patience. I was submitted numerous times. However, one thing I appreciated was instructor Jason Gagnon who took some time to show me some technique; something that will come as time passes. It is trial by fire and allowing my mind and body to become one.
I have also been training in Muay Thai with instructor Shawn Albrecht. I’ve enjoyed the classes thus far. On Saturdays we spar and I have enjoyed getting in there and throwing down with the 16 oz gloves and working on the leg kicks. Cardio has been my biggest problem and I hope to have that rectified soon.
On Sunday (August 22) I took my first Gi BJJ class. All I can say is frustrating and disheartening. Not only was I owned by a 17 year old Blue Belt, but I just felt stupid and lost. Right now BJJ is a puzzle to me. There is so much to remember and I find myself stalling trying to think about what to do next. I keep getting myself into bad positions and submitted. I don’t have the vision or the feel for it yet. After that class my body started to tighten up and hurt. Monday will be Infrared Yoga day to stretch out the tightness.
Speaking of body, I started this training at 200lbs. I’m 32 years old and about 5’8 in height. I was overweight and out of shape. Don Whitefield informed me that I will be dropping to 155lbs! That’s right you read that properly…155lbs. He feels that it is the proper fighting weight for my frame. I haven’t been 155lbs since I was 18 years old. I use to be a skinny kid. I’ve been on a diet before and the lowest I could get was 165lbs. The first time I dieted a few years back the weight came off fast and easy. Last year I went on the same diet and it was a bit harder but within a couple of months I was able to get to about 175lbs. Of course keeping the weight off has been harder than losing it. I like to eat. However, I like to play sports too, and my weight gain doesn’t allow me to compete at my best. It has been frustrating and discouraging.
Right now I am watching everything I eat. I’m making sure I’m eating six to seven meals a day. When I say meals I don’t mean large scale. Here is an example of my diet.
6:30am Breakfast: Half a grapefruit, and two boiled eggs or a protein shake with a banana.
9:00am Snack: fruit like grapes or watermelon
12:00pm Lunch: Lean Cuisine meal, celery, cucumbers or turkey sandwich and veggies.
2pm Snack: Fruit like an orange
4pm Snack: Something like an apple or granola bar
5pm Training
7pm – Protein heavy dinner like chicken, fish, vegetables and a small amount of carbs like potatoes
Combine a ton of water and this is a diet that has worked for me in the past. However, Jason Gagnon at West Coast provided me with some tweaks that I can make to help the weight come off faster. After two weeks of training I am now 192lbs…I have lost 7lbs in 14 days. I would like a steeper decline so we will see what the next two weeks holds. The quicker I can get to a manageable weight the better my training will be. This is going to require a lot of discipline. I have the motivation to make this happen…everyone is watching.
There are days where I don’t want to train, and wonder what the hell am I doing? Right now I need a breakthrough to restore some confidence. The fight has already begun.
I want to thank Reign Full Contact for providing me with some Reign gear to train with. Seriously, if you are looking for training gear like shin guards, shorts, gloves etc…go to their website and have a gander. Support a Canadian company, more and more amateur fighters and pros like Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford are recognizing and wearing Reign.
I also want to thank DominantGround.com for the help and deals they have given me on gear too…check them out. They have a nice selection of rash guards, hoodies, gloves, t-shirts, shorts and more…all from quality MMA Brands for real fighters and real fans.
My mouth guard is being created at Klench. They make some sick custom mouth pieces.
I was also given some all natural weight loss pills from Fight Caps. They will definitely help with the weight cut. The last thank you goes to all the coaches and team mates at West Coast BJJ. If you are in the Vancouver/lower mainland area and are looking for a place to train, why not join up with one of the best schools in BC. Go to West Coast BJJ’s website, find a location near you and get started. I’m proud and privileged to be training with such great people.
Trevor Dueck
Leave Your Ego Off the Mat
More than any cool sweep, submission, or defensive technique that I have ever been taught during my short time as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu student, the one tip that has left a lasting impact upon me was “leave your ego off of the mats.”
I may not have been training long, but I’ve been to my fair share of BJJ clubs in my area. And though each club gave me a unique experience, my current club is the only one that taught me the proper way to learn in a competitive atmosphere.
Except for my current club, all of the previous BJJ clubs I’ve been to had one thing in common: they were all cut-throat competitive. They were stacked with borderline gigantism roid-heads crushing the skinny 145-pounders, and the socially unwell taking out their issues on innocent victims.
I am not saying our club isn’t competitive. In fact, we do quite well at local tournaments. And it is not competition itself that is the problem. I believe competition is vital to our everyday lives. It pushes us to become better athletes, better students, and better professionals. If you have even a morsel of Capitalism in your blood, you would join in with me and say that competition is what makes the financial world turn. But when the competitiveness gets as fierce as it did in those other Jiu-Jitsu clubs, it evolves into ego.
It is unfortunate when people train with the mentality that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a zero-sum game. So many writers and instructors stress the point that your training partner’s gain is your gain too.
Whether we like it or not, the one’s we compete against are the same one’s who are going to help us improve our guard. For me personally, I can attest that the same guys that crush me and tap me out are the same guys that have given me the most useful tips, and taught me the coolest submissions.
This same mentality, leaving one’s ego off of the mats, has been so encouraging and helpful to me so far during law school. Until my first class, I had never been engulfed in so much competitiveness. Everyday started and ended the same; I was locked into a small class of peers who were simultaneously my study mates, and the very competition my grades were measured against.
If any of you are unfamiliar with curved grading, think about it this way: if everyone in your Jiu-Jitsu club is passing your guard, sweeping you, and submitting you with ease, chances are you won’t get that first stripe at the next promotions.
(Sidenote: I realize that not all instructor’s base promotions upon performance relative to the rest of class, but I thought it was a fun way to explain the bell curve system.)
It did not take long for me to realize that the law school lecture hall was no different than the Jiu-Jitsu mats. I can either learn everything I can from every roll, or I can look like the biggest idiot trying to injure training partners two-times smaller than me. Analogously, I either can make friends who are willing to give and take ideas about class, or I can rip pages out of the the reserve library books, refuse to share my ideas with others, and eventually have no one to turn to when I really need help.
Sam Suk
West Coast BJJ 2010 Brazil Training
So were about half way through our trip now, and I thought Id share some of what we’ve seen, some of the differences in how people train here, and some random ramblings of stuff I’ve been learning;
Training has been amazing, we’ve been training twice and sometimes 3 times a day since we got here almost 2 weeks ago.
The classes are very different here, almost much more informal. Back home a class starts at say 5:30, that means the class starts at 5:30, and the majority of the class will be there, ready to roll by then. In Brazil if a class starts at 5:30, that’s more like a suggestion (haha) People come in around 5:30, but the class wont fill up with everyone till around 6. People will come in, and during that first half hour, stretch a little, maybe do some light running, followed by 1, maybe 2 techniques, after which its sparring time.
Classes also don’t really seem to have a specific time they end, they just kinda slowly sputter out, like a car running out of gas.
The rolls here are very different as well, for example every time you train for the most part it’s a 6 or 7 minute round, as people are getting ready to compete, they do not go over easy meaning you are really working and fighting for every sweep (like rolling with Shawn, lol.) The guys who compete also roll very hard, and are always looking for a finish. They are usually 1 on, 1 off. The serious guys or the smaller guys (That they expect to have more cardio–lucky me) will sometimes double up, but usually its 1 round of, 1 off. The cool part about that is during your time sitting on the edge you really get to watch and observe world-class black belts going at it on a daily basis’–which is great for observing the subtle stuff there doing that makes them so good.
One of the major differences I have seen in my time here is the consistency in which people here train. Sure there are lots of Blues, Purples, Browns and Blacks…But they are no different then the ones we have back home, some are really talented competitors, others are mind-blowing technical, and others are more hobbiest. What separates them from us, is they stick with it. These guys who are the good Blues, have been training solidly for 3-4 years, good purples 4-7 years, good browns 6-9, and all the blacks are 10 years+ for the most part. They don’t come for a little while then quit, they come, stay, and slowly improve to the point were there all awesome. I truly understand now what Don has been preaching to me for the last 2 years “Everyone here will be a black belt, it’s just a matter of time.” My time spent here has allowed me to see this occurence. Listening to the older black belts (after receiving a generous helping of ass-whoopeing) telling us how terrible they were when they started. It’s an awesome learning experience.
One of the other major things that I expected to happen, and that I’m super stoked is the little details I’m picking up. I didn’t come here expecting to learn some secret technique that would be the answer to all my grappling problems, as people often look for back home. But all the little grips, hand fighting, skirt/Collar controls, and simple defensive movements I’m picking up are making a world difference. I can feel my game getting sharper day by day.
Our experience training has been nothing short of wonderful, it seems like every time you meet someone and roll with them, you’re getting re-acquinted with an old friend. They laugh, and are so appreciative of a good roll. You wanna talk about leaving your ego at the door? These guys leave it at home, before they even get near the club. It doesn’t matter what your rank is, they treat you the same, if you get a tap, they congratulate you, and move on, and when you get caught (and get caught you will) it’s the same. You can truly feel the love of Jiu Jitsu here, and the bond it builds between 2 people, after a great roll.
Sorry for the inane rambling, Its been such a world wind trip so far, and I wanted to get down as much as I could
See you all on the mats very soon,
Jason Gagnon
Training Jiu-Jitsu as an Adult
I don’t consider myself old at age fourty-four, but I know that my Jiu-Jitsu game differs a lot from the game of an eighteen year old. Anyone over thirty is considered either a Master or Senior in BJJ competition, and it is important for these students to understand the special rules that apply to them in order to make it to their black belt and beyond.
1. Rule: Roll Smart
Even if you feel like it don’t take the young spaz by the horns and get tossed around. Give them a little space to protect yourself, even if it means giving up position. Another good strategy is to stay on the top for a while or keep them in your guard (if you can) and tire them out to equalize the playing field a bit.
The most important advice is to avoid unusual positions unless you are positive that you can trust your training partner to look out for you. Often injuries occur when senior students get into unfamiliar position and they and/or their partner make a wrong move in the heat of battle resulting in injury. You have to be able to completely rely on your partner before you can open up your game.
2. Rule: Protect your body
I see teens and kids in my BJJ classes sometimes bend their joints at angles that make me shiver, but after the initial squeal they usually are back on the mat within five minutes. Their tendons and bones are flexible, but we loose this luxury as we age. The problem is that this occurs slowly and unnoticed and we sometimes spar as if we were still teenagers.
We become only aware of our age when we have (painfully) gone beyond the flexibility of our body. Since our recovery time is a lot longer than five minutes try to follow this simple rule we have in my academy: “Tap today, train tomorrow”. It reminds you to tap early even if you are not in a submission but just get caught awkwardly.
3. Rule: Recover smartly
It is sad that as teenagers we got away with 4 hours of sleep, eating only fried foods and sugary carbonated drinks. As you get older these sins will catch up with you, so change these habits if you still live that way. As a senior jiu-jitsu fighter you should get lots of sleep, water, protein, fruits, veggies and supplements; these will help you stay in the game (or get back into it if you get injured).
Be smart and recognize when you are injured: take the week off than have the injury turn chronic. Stretch every day to maintain your body’s flexibility. It protects you while you roll and helps you to overcome injuries much faster. Once you return to the mats don’t hesitate to point out your injury to your training partner so he can look out for you if necessary. Get medical advice early on if you get an unfamiliar injury, read up on it and educate yourself regarding recovery and prevention of these injuries.
Lastly, use your maturity and your ability to keep your cool as an advantage to prevent injuries, recover from them and protect yourself from future injuries. There is one good thing about not being a teenager anymore: You got a lot smarter since.
Don Whitefield