The art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is something I’ve been studying for a full year now. My education started in Idaho where I received world class instruction at “The Base” training facility. I owe a big thanks to all of my training partners their but especially the professors, Mitch, Jacob and Brad.
Just before moving to Hawaii I received my Blue belt, the first belt after white. Initially I had to take a few months off because training wasn’t in the financial budget, as soon as I landed my job I signed up at the local gym, BJ Penns gym, to continue my ongoing education. For those of you who don’t know BJ, he is a UFC fighter and world champion black belt in Jiu Jitsu. He owns the gym and it’s my understanding that he occasionally trains their but I have yet to meet him personally. His brother instructs the night classes that I’ve been attending. The gym has a lot to offer for the low monthly price of only $57.00 for unlimited access; gi and no gi Jiu Jitsu, MMA classes, Yoga, Zumba and of course a full gym with all the typical equipment you would expect to find, not to mention showers (a hot shower doesn’t sound like much, but trust me around here it is).
To put it nicely, the instruction I’m receiving here is poor in comparison. Little did I know at the time, how much I would come to appreciate the attention to detail and overall knowledge my professors possessed and shared at The Base. Jiu Jitsu is after all, a discipline and people here are not that disciplined at all. The instructors show up late all the time and it’s not unusual to here the F-word in class, which I personally don’t find offensive but it shows a complete lack of discipline and respect for the sport. Being at the level I am, I crave the knowledge to excel at this sport and often times the guys don’t even know the names of the moves they are teaching or simply can’t remember them. A few of the guys at the gym bring their kids to class and they are often times in the way, on the mats, and some what of an annoyance. Not only is this not safe for them but it’s not a day care center, keep them off the mats at a minimum. Their are a few other places to train around this side of the island but I have yet to check them out, it’s rumored that this is one of the better places.
I’ve been attending class two days a week for the last five weeks and we’ve reviewed the exact same technique every week, I haven’t learned anything new since my first class. I hope things will improve but a lot of the things I’m not happy with fall under “cultural differences” here because so many of the locals are lazy and slow and enjoy life the way it is. Their is a tournament in Honolulu next month that I’m planning on competing at and I can only hope that my competition their is as sluggish as my training partners here. At The Base we had an hour of open “rolling” which is basically sparing, after each skills class, they would typically set up a timer for 6 minutes and you could practice what you’d learned under 50-60 percent resistance, 100% is considered unprofessional and should only be used in tournaments and self defense. Here they only do open rolling at the end of class and it’s 3 minute rounds and only for 20 minutes total. This makes it hard to get my cardio where it needs to be to compete. I want to push myself like my instructors pushed me in Idaho and I can’t because of the lack of desire here. Not to mention I’ve been getting submissions and take-downs on people far more advanced then me, which would normally be an ego boost, but it’s not, knowing what I know. This would rarely or never happen where I was training before. On the plus side it has introduced me to a lot of cool local people that I wouldn’t have otherwise interacted with and networking here is always a plus. I’m confident that no one at the gym will pay enough interest into me to even know I have a blog set up, let alone read it, so I don’t anticipate this post having a negative impact on my training. After all, I’m only stating facts from my personal experience so, “it is what it is”.
Jiu jitsu isn’t something that should be rushed and you would be a fool to ask for a stripe or belt advancement, but I see and hear guys complaining about this very thing all the time. I guess that’s one area the coaches do recognize. This sport is a lifelong education, if you’re not being advanced there is a good reason for that.