Introduction

So, here it is.

Back to the world of online blogging.

My intention is to document my progress in training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This is mostly for myself, but if someone happens to get something out of it, then at least I contributed something to the sport in a small way. If anything, I hope to encourage others to also document their training, share tips, and approach the sport from an analytical and constructive angle.

Hopefully the regular updating of this blog will coincide with my progress in the martial art, as I will be able to reflect more deeply and analyze my journey.

A little background info-

I began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in August of 2006, a few months after graduating college. I had always taken interest in the sport, and intended to begin training in 2002, but a rigorous school schedule and a "student budget" prevented me from doing so.

Like many people, I was first introduced to the sport after watching Royce Gracie's unexpected domination of each and every opponent he faced in the early UFCs. Me and my older cousin rented a few tapes, and shortly after we began practicing moves on each other. Nothing formal, but every time we saw each other we would practice moves we saw from videos, not really having any idea what we were doing. Arm bars, rear naked choke, guillotines, and whatever else we could figure out. Rolling around in the grass, smashing each other's faces in the dirt....you know.

He started training formally, and six years later he is a purple belt.

I moved in with him after graduating college, and began training every day. Initially, I was getting destroyed by every single person in the gym. Tapping me out at will pretty much. That's to be expected, I suppose, but eventually I overcame the early months of being beaten up every day in class. I'm not sure when it happened, but something just clicked one day and my skill level jumped up a few notches over night. Probably a combination of conditioning, strength training, and personal instruction- but I was soon able to hang with people who mostly outweighed me and had been training for a few months longer.

I moved back home a few months after that and began training at a new gym. I've been there a few weeks now, and there's a pretty good group of people there that should help my game progress. However, with the move to a larger gym, I have to take it upon myself to seek out information and proactively improve my game: watching videos, reading books, looking at forums, etc. It's easy to get lost in the cracks at a large gym, as there are so many people that the instructors can't always give you the attention you need.