struggling to survive

[AJ Camacho]

I used to go up to the bored guys with the prettiest belts and ask them to roll. Then, after I was tapped out I would ask them to show me how things fell apart.

This was actually how I discovered the lock down. Some older 9 to 5, career dad, purple belt was just chilling in the wings and I asked him to roll. He (I realize now) pulled right to half guard where he proceeded to grapevine my leg and lock me down. I remember a crushing pain to my leg right before I got swept and then proceeded to get smashed for several minutes until he tapped me out. Immediately I asked what happened and I was introduced to the lockdown.

It's sort of like Mega-Man. Mega Man would get the super powers of any level Boss that he beat. If he beat Cutman, then he got a free pair of sheers and then he was the guy that was cutting fuckers up. If you stow away your competitive ego, JiuJitsu can be like that, only you gain new skills by losing. How cool is that? Somebody owns you with a move, you ask them to show it to you, and a few minutes later you have the move. Obviously it's not as good as theirs but who cares, you have the move now.

[Enrique "Kiko"]

I used to go up to the bored guys with the prettiest belts and ask them to roll. Then, after I was tapped out I would ask them to show me how things fell apart.

This was actually how I discovered the lock down. Some older 9 to 5, career dad, purple belt was just chilling in the wings and I asked him to roll. He (I realize now) pulled right to half guard where he proceeded to grapevine my leg and lock me down. I remember a crushing pain to my leg right before I got swept and then proceeded to get smashed for several minutes until he tapped me out. Immediately I asked what happened and I was introduced to the lockdown.

It's sort of like Mega-Man. Mega Man would get the super powers of any level Boss that he beat. If he beat Cutman, then he got a free pair of sheers and then he was the guy that was cutting fuckers up. If you stow away your competitive ego, JiuJitsu can be like that, only you gain new skills by losing. How cool is that? Somebody owns you with a move, you ask them to show it to you, and a few minutes later you have the move. Obviously it's not as good as theirs but who cares, you have the move now.

AJ, that has to be one of the most solid posts I've ever seen. Putting away the ego, asking your partner for the roll exactly how he set the move up on you, and asking him to teach it to you is what martial arts is all about in my opinion. I also love, Love, LOVE the Mega-Man comparison on skill acquisition.

[Kent Bartley]

Download the following beginner guide. It's a great introduction and will ease your pain. http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/8940871

"Brazilian jiu-jitsu starts making sense and sparring becomes fun
when you have a couple of offensive and a couple of defensive
options from each of the 6 major positions."

thanks for that link !