tallgeese

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to KF! Looking forward to hearing your take on things.

1/25 Plyo warm up Squats Overhead Press Dead lifts Abs 1 mile tread mill

I really think that this is a dangerous thought process. Aggressive attack is often the best "counter attack". If I see movement that indicates imminent threat, I attack. Why be behind in the decision making process? Is that a counter attack? Maybe, if you expand the common definition. Bigger than just the attack/ counter attack line is the over emphasized aspect of "defense" that has gotten very prevalent in many martial circles. Bear in mind, I'm not talking about starting fights here, but the slow creep of the idea of "defending" that gets in ones head. I never want to defend. I want to be ahead of the attack, either with an attack of my own or (ie. someone raises their hands and I get to double leg based on the articulation of their actions) or I escape. I want my mindset to live there. There's no "defending" it's attacking. I want the bad guy defending and realizing that he's not the predator in the situation. It's an important mindset distinction. More than technique, this is where some arts have trouble making the transition from school to street.

I've been in a couple of different schools. My first pure BJJ school didn't do them. The school I train at now does the belt gauntlet for every belt promotion (but not stripes). I've seen other schools use them, and likewise been visiting plenty that didn't. It's one of those rituals that's around some places but not others. The reason? Who knows, it's just one of those things that caught in some lineages somewhere. Bear in mind in regards on how students treat their belts, in grappling arts, particularly BJJ, the belt is almost always on the ground already. Typically, there's much less formality in BJJ than traditional oriental arts. A belt gets left on one spot on the mat by it's owner routinely while a match continues to roll somewhere else. I've seen them thrown over pull up bars for pulling up on, ect. Granted, as with all things, the tolerance for informality with the belt depends local to local. But the trend I've observed is a real difference in formality about such things.

1/24 Plyos to warm up with medicine ball. Squats Bench Rows Abs 1 mile on the treadmill.

1/23 Drilled sweep series from bottom side. 20 min free roll.

1/22 1 mile treadmill Squats Shoulder Press Deadlifts Abs

1/21 Drilled over 1/2 butterfly guard to sweep to side followed by taking mount. Moved on to sweep to x-guard position. Finished with x-guard sweep. 20 min light free roll. So far, so good on ribs.

1/20 Squats Bench Rows 1.25 miles on the treadmill.

5 years, maybe a tad more in my initial style. 2 in my second (closely related).

1/19 am: Drilled mount to modified mount to back mount. Finish with arm bar from side and back. pm: 1.25 miles on the treadmill. Shoulder press Squat Deadlift Nice and easy due to ribs.

Welcome aboard!

Patrick makes a good point. There's no reason that a martial arts instructor shouldn't make a good living, and we shouldn't slam on those that do. I am pretty much along the same lines as ps1 on the breakdown of it. As long as they are teaching something they are actually qualified on, why not? I have reached a point where I don't even really care if they are running a kids belt factory with zero combative application. As long as that's what their flyer says, that's fine. I used to get really worked up if martial arts school had zero fight relevance in their practice. Now I kinda feel that the arts are big enough for several applications. Just because my focus and what I choose to do is largely defined by real world application and everything I do now isn't completely defined by that. It's the false advertising that bothers me. The promise of combat capability based only on line drills, no contact, and all theoretical technique. I'm also appalled by people who teach outside their sphere of experience as an expert. I've mentioned it before, after the UFC boom in the early 90's you saw a whole crop of schools claiming to have "discovered" grappling in their kata and after watching some video started teaching. This promotes poor tactics that are less than effective. Now, I'm all about expanding you're knowledge base, so go to seminars, study different arts and integrate those skills, but give credit to where it came from. Once we clear those factors, I think instructors should charge (and hence make) what the market can bear. This varies and someone shouldn't be beat on for charging 150-200 per month in metropolitan areas just because rural schools are charging 50 or less. It's not comparing apples to apples. We have to remember that these people need to not only keep the lights on, and make enough to support themselves, but also continue capital upgrade to their facilities, provide for their families, and cover insurance (health and business) which are not unsubstantial in nature. Factor in the high cost of running a business and suddenly the math is not a great for them as you'd think. Would I be put off if my coach pulled up to class in a high end car? Nope. Or had a magnificent home? Again, no. If his quality of instruction is high enough for me to pay him the rates that bring those fruits and it matches with my goals well enough, why should I begrudge him what I pay him.

Hopefully we can get Liver Punch to weigh in for you on this. He's amazing at finding these sorts of things. Master Pain is pretty qualified in this arena as well...

1/18 Rib still a disaster. Great. Drilled maintaining mount from multiple variations. Finished with arm bar. No free roll while ribs heal.

Concern is natural. The best thing you can do now is: a) continue to train realistically; and b) relax and accept that it's just a matter of time. Relax and let remote control take over. Don't over think it. MP makes a good suggestion. One of the big leg ups I had was some full contact comps behind me that took that one step closer to reality before reality hit me. Consider it a training tool on the way to your goal of pressure testing your reactions. Now, once you've considered all that, remember that controlled aggression is your friend when the hair on the back of your neck says "Go!" There isn't a situation in LE involving your use of violence that gets better by adopting a defensive attitude and posture.

1/16 Drilled more back attacks. Use of lapel. 40 min free roll w/ a rib injury towards the end. Great.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to KF!

I actually like them for certain things. What you have to understand is that they are not a heavy bag. Despite the fact they get lumped there, they serve a different function. Heavy bags let you work combos with power while meeting resistance and working angles. BOB's don't meet with near the resistance due to their mounting. However, they excel at making you match weapons to target. They let you find the angles that your appendages need to be at to make proper contact while moving your angles around the torso. It makes you really work precision and lets you do it in a more fluid environment. It also lets you not worry about gouging your partners eyes or making too much contact to the neck area, ect. Further, it lets you hit anatomic targets with training knives, sticks, ect. This can't be over sold. Getting used to hitting a more life like target is really important for actually hurting another human in conflict. This is where I always cite Grossman's "On Killing" and firing rates in combat at other human beings. If you haven't read it, do so.

1/14 Drilled back attacks. 40 min free roll.

Certainly no overreaction on your part. All the issues are on the other guys side. Holy cow, I agree, the fact he took over at all while not actively training at the facility you attend is problematic, especially without the consent of your instructor. That behavior defiantly needs brought to the attention of your head instructor. It sounds like he's in martial arts for a different reason than is the focus of your club. Neither facet is wrong in and of itself. What his wrong is he taking the opportunity (total breach of etiquette, as has been said) to disagree publicly. On the flip side of the issue, it sounds like you handled the situation as well as it could be handled. The fact you were able to control your, very appropriate, anger is impressive give what he did. Kudos for that. Keep us posted on what the fall out is over the matter.

1/13 60 min free roll.

1/13 60 min free roll.