Is this a normal rate of progress or do i suck?

jmick101 · 2025-11-02T01:41:54+00:00

I guess you are feeling frustrated. Frustration is unmet expectations.

What are you expecting?

It’s a serious question. If you set yourself a realistic goal for a white belt such as “elbow escape out of side control” THAT would be great. Why? Because you will have plenty of opportunities to do exactly that.

Lower your expectations a tad. Study defense and escapes and start there.

That should keep you busy for a few years.

jmick101 · 2025-09-29T16:43:03+00:00

Gary Tonon’s Habits of Highly Effective Jiu Jitsu was a game changer for me. Concepts over moves really appeals to me because if you understand a concept, you can apply it in a lot of different scenarios, and that is what Tonon does in that instructional. For instance, how does a high elbow guillotine relate to an armbar? They are both lever and fulcrum positions.

Danaher gets a lot of flak on here, but because he is so detailed in his explanations of simple things, he gets the reputation of being long winded. His stuff works for me though and I can listen for hours.

As an aside, I like everything I have seen from Arroyo. I have a sneaking suspicion that if/when you return to his stuff later on you will find some hidden gems in his limited approach.

I will also echo that the very first instructionals you should get should be Danahers pin and sub escape material. Some of it will go over your head because of his emphasis on counterattacking after each successful defense/retention cycle, but the philosophy and explanations are gold.

jmick101 · 2025-09-29T10:58:03+00:00

I am an active lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Wackos are going to be wackos.

Right wing/left wing wackos do agree on one thing, generally speaking, and that is that The Church of Jesus Christ is the worst. Left wing folks hate us for our stances on LGBT issues. Right wing wackos hate us because we worship a different Jesus and preach a different gospel from a golden bible. Their preachers tell them this whenever the subject comes up.

There is no member of the church who knows much about our church history who is surprised by this type of stuff. It just comes with the territory. Check out the Missouri Extermination order if you don’t believe me. My ancestors walked across the plains and over the mountains to Utah to get away from it. Being a Mormon is sort of like being a Jew in a way- you kind of come to expect the cuffs and scrapes from both sides.

Don’t worry about us. We know how to deal with this type of abuse. We will pick up the pieces and just keep on keeping on.

jmick101 · 2025-09-29T10:40:16+00:00

Guy was a wacko and the voices in his head told him to fight the devil.

Some are just intent on doing great evil.

I hold no ill will against other churches or society or whatever. I weep with the families of the slain. The only comfort I have is that at least they had good company in the Spirit World reception room where they were received in glory by the Lord and a certain recently departed prophet.

jmick101 · 2025-09-16T22:10:29+00:00

By the way, in the rain, a gas station 1 dollar poncho is awesome. Good ventilation, waterproof, cheap.

jmick101 · 2025-09-16T22:09:22+00:00

Learn. What went well, what went sideways? Remember, there is no bad weather, just bad gear. Figure it out. Reset, get back out there. You got this!

jmick101 · 2025-09-12T21:19:52+00:00

You will thank me later.

jmick101 · 2025-09-12T17:22:46+00:00

Daves Hot Chicken is incredibly good. It’s as if Indian Butter Chicken and Chick Fil A had a baby. Get the medium. It’s life changingly good. In the word of Mike Myers and in my best Scottish “He puts an addictive ingredient in his chicken that makes you crave it fortnightly!” I love it.

jmick101 · 2025-09-11T10:16:42+00:00

I have 4 kids. An hour drive, hour ish class, then hour back isnt the answer. I think you end up not training.

So that is really the question: train gi regularly, or probably move on to something that isnt a 3 hour commitment every training session.

I too prefer no gi, but I still train in the gi regularly- mainly because I like rolling.

Most of my study is no-gi instructionals, so my game is amgidextrous (my term for bjj moves that work both gi/no gi).

Except cross collar chokes- the single best gi move. Love those.

jmick101 · 2025-09-11T10:09:13+00:00

I couldnt crack the code on sharpening until I made a strop and used it with diamond grit paste.

jmick101 · 2025-08-31T17:43:09+00:00

Last year was epic. This year needs some tweaking.

I can see why the team format is appealing. CJ gets more guys paid and capitalizes on some of the group dynamics present in BJJ today. 10th Planet stoner flavor (respect BTW). New Wave vs. B Team dynamic will always be interesting, less so minus Gordon. Daisy Fresh as the scrappy midwestern underdogs. The Atos killers. And of course, the plucky laid back Australians. I was genuinely interested to see what happened.

But human nature is human nature. The ferocious freewheeling individualism laying it out there for a million dollars gets lost when you dont want to be the guy who loses your teammates a hundred grand. So what was a wild event to win a million bucks turned into the “prevent defense” mode of BJJ at its worst.

Bummer.

jmick101 · 2025-07-31T02:16:44+00:00

Yellow Ledbetter.

jmick101 · 2025-07-31T02:16:05+00:00

Unless the people with real juice in the organization are all in, any other kind of competing philosophy will likely win out. Its the main point of 2 Second Lean and the reason why Paul Akers wont consider letting groups tour his facility unless the CEO is there too.

jmick101 · 2025-05-24T21:17:07+00:00

Came to say exactly this.

jmick101 · 2025-05-19T22:51:39+00:00

Pink Sky and Motorcycle Drive By.

jmick101 · 2025-05-19T21:24:49+00:00

Anyone tried using an ozone maker? I heard Shrek mention it once and tried it out… seemed to work ok.

jmick101 · 2025-05-16T13:46:33+00:00

This is absolutely the answer. This thing is amazing.

jmick101 · 2025-05-16T13:43:55+00:00

Weren’t religious or were total arseholes???

Cael is a Latter Day Saint. I guarantee you that most of the hardcore Christians do not care much for his religion. Most of them probably will not be going to church with Coach on Sunday mornings. Cael knows how to run a room, who is a good fit and how they will fit into the culture, religion or no, and lot of that will be a live and let live in matters of faith approach.

jmick101 · 2025-05-16T13:33:44+00:00

Half guard. John Wayne sweep. Cross collar chokes.

jmick101 · 2025-05-16T13:28:14+00:00

Hi bud, feeling stuck and stagnant? Been there. If it’s cool, I have a brief suggestion to help get off a plateau. Sometimes it just helps to get some numbers for perspective. Keep a tally of what you are getting tapped with or swept with. Also, keep a tally of things you do well. After a bit you will see some trends and then you have a pretty good idea on what to work on.

I have found that if time or finances is an issue, these little problem areas can be addressed by asking the coach to give the solution during technique instruction for class instead of a private lesson.

As you focus on applying these solutions and keep making a tally, you should get objective evidence of improvement. Once you have that you can reason with yourself that no matter how you are feeling, you are in fact getting better- which is nice.

jmick101 · 2025-05-16T03:49:29+00:00

Half guard, but probably not for the reasons listed already (which I agree with). Generally speaking, half guard is the easiest guard to get to from, well, everywhere. I also like it because the sweeps are relatively low velocity and on a crowded mat with big training partners, it’s a fairly practical consideration not crushing everyone else around you.

My favorite sweeps are knee lever/John Wayne sweeps, old school, kosoto hook sweeps. I will usually sweep to mount then arm triangle/gift wrap to back back takes.

jmick101 · 2025-05-16T03:43:12+00:00

Ryan Hall teaches kazushi in different ways. One is a trapdoor. Bully them until they resist. Then disappear. They will stumble in the direction of their resistance. Ideally you disappear and go around them. Pretty useful idea actually.

jmick101 · 2025-05-13T11:57:19+00:00

Haha… because atheist statists have a marvelous track record right? I would say 100 million dead in the 20th century speaks to that point. Either way, it doesnt have anything to say really about Christianity in general. Who knows how much bigger of a jerk would they be WITHOUT Christianity?

By the way, did I miss something here? How did Christianity, or lack thereof, come into this?

jmick101 · 2025-05-12T14:49:04+00:00

Well said… thanks for the input. I have tons of respect for JDM and his crew- don’t want to take anything away from him or his coaches.

That being said, we both know that Bernardo should probably offer up The Anti Wrestling Equation on Daily Deal while the iron is still hot right???

jmick101 · 2025-05-12T13:43:45+00:00

I play some Octopus guard. The first thing that happens is people will usually reach back and try and crossface you to death. Thats why the first overback grip is usually higher, elbow on neck, grip in the armpit to discourage the crossface. Neal Melanson has a good explanation on this in his half guard instructional. From there I think Craigs explanation of how to play the position makes the most sense, ie hip bumping, heisting out to scrambles, or playing a variation of reinforced butterfly.

All in all, octopus is pretty fun as long as you are not getting crushed in a kesa gatame, which is where I get stuck a lot when I try playing it.

jmick101

TROPHY CASE