I was thinking about this last night. I suppose the beauty of this scoring is the newness of it, causes you to approach game differently in moment. Given years of this, it might turn the sport into more of a taekwondo or similar striking spar - holding leg in air to prevent opponent from striking, while waiting for moment to hit a pinpoint attack to head/chest/etc.
I couldn’t possibly predict what a match would look like after everyone’s figured out how to game sub attempts for points. If I had to guess, “safer” combos would emerge where your potential points reward outweighs the risk of exposing yourself to submission by going for more subs than you normally would. You’d also get into murky waters about what actually constitutes a sub attempt.
The KOB-side control back-and-forth was one of the first “WTF?” moments for me as I was becoming vaguely familiar with points. A few people at my first school would bring them up a bit and I recall other odd ways of racking them up. It all seemed like a distraction to me, so I just never really got into it or learned much about it.
Jay’s school is basically “curriculum only” through blue belt. Obviously you can learn all kinds of off-curriculum stuff, especially at open mats, but the actual classroom instruction time sticks to the core techniques, which could be broadly described as fighting fundamentals to include awareness of strike defense. Muay Thai is a separate training path.
Purple belt is the level where incorporating off-curriculum BJJ to suit your own goals/game becomes a required part of advancement.
I’m not entirely aware of his current population since moving even further away, but my observation was that his low and mid-level guys were all competitive in local/regional sport grappling, but not dominant. His black belts are some of the areas best sport grapplers, however. I think he’s up to five or six Fight to Win black belts, including himself and his wife.
Fight ready at blue belt is how I’d describe that room. De La Riva guard ready, not so much. It isn’t part of the curriculum there, nor is berimbolo, strategies for camping out in turtle, etc, but it isn’t forbidden knowledge or anything. You just won’t learn it during class.
That’s what was disappointing about how many athletes approached EBI after a few years. We knew that points matches could be gamed. Now we know that submission-only matches can be gamed, as well.
Give me a 20 minute sub only fight. If nothing, we both walk out with our heads hanging and can’t compete again for some time.
Here’s a great look at terrible rules in IBJJF. Just watch the first 30 seconds and final minute. Abate pays the ultimate price for being non-Brazilian and receives two penalties, while Maciel gets two advantages for the same thing - dropping to guard. The whole match Abate is more aggressive, gets a sweep and nearly passes guard. Meanwhile, Maciel wins a late scramble to get 2 and Abate sweeps in final seconds but results in a scramble where Abate takes his back but can’t get a single hook in to win points. Abate loses due to initial penalties…
Sorry to hear that Chris. Very difficult news to be given on a 1:1 meeting on your first day back.
I hope this was one of the “meant-to-be” events that puts you in an even better position.
I’m very sorry to hear about the lay-off as well. I’ve been there before with no real warning it was coming. If nothing else, it is a now-obvious sign that it wasn’t a good fit for you. I’m sure you’ll land on your feet, especially if you bring up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as much as possible at your next interview.
That match is a good example of why high level BJJ as it exists right now will probably never be in the Olympics. Then again, we just had breakdancing, so you never know.
It actually makes sense that we ended up with wrestling and judo, which both have rules to highlight athletic and coordinated movement. They both do a good job of highlighting the exciting aspects of grappling. If that match was the fist time someone watched BJJ, nothing that follows would be taken seriously by most.
I’ve got a few years of grappling training and often cannot make sense of what is going on or especially why in high-level gi BJJ. When the best the sport has to offer produces matches that look like that but nothing AT ALL like a real fight AND get settled on difficult to comprehend points technicalities, BJJ’s reputation as a combat sport will continue to be diminished.
Every Olympic combat sport can be viewed and easily understood to be a combat sport. Both wrestling styles, judo, fencing, TKD and Karate all fit that description. High level BJJ doesn’t pass the same kind of visual test.
I’m probably in your camp on competition format, given that “Reality Check” isn’t about to become a popular format for the same reasons I avoided it. A 20 minute+ sub only is probably the best expression of actual BJJ skill without turning it into MMA. It places more value on the takedown and overall athleticism/conditioning as well. It still doesn’t solve the problem of being watchable for casual spectators, but that’s just what grappling is when you have as few rules as possible but take strikes off the table.
My coach didn’t have a timer at his home mats. Every roll by every person who ever showed up there was submission only, no time limit. So were my home mats when I had them.
My coach would sometimes torture me with prolonged rolls where he’d cruelly string me along until I was totally smoked. Leave cracks for me to explore and that kind of thing, but still stuffing whatever I came up with. Just toying with me, really, but those are good rolls. I like having a clear resolution and 20 minutes is usually enough time to get one.
Thank you both. It will be a good thing. This was my first job outside of consulting and was really excited for it. I started last Jan 2nd and, sadly, knew in February it wasn’t going to be good, but needed to be in position a year before I could look elsewhere internally or leave for external role and not lose bonus and stock. I was/am a CoS to the COO and oversee strategy… but there were red flags all over place after 2 weeks. Best way to describe him is emotionless and transactional. He does not care about your personal life and will take no time to ask or listen to voluntary information. I just didn’t expect to be let go, with no formal correction or indication. Fortunately, I have 3 more weeks before I find out what my package will be, as they have given me time to look internally. I have 4 interviews next week, so crossing fingers.
Edit: as example. He doesn’t know that my paternity leave was for adoption vs. new kids. He gave no congrats or even let me know paternity leave existed. I filled out forms, he got auto generated message and said ‘you did not tell me about this, let me know what your plan is’.
I’ve had mixed bags across the board at this point in my career, luckily working for some really spectacular people who’ve helped me a lot, along with some real duds. I’m back to ERP consulting for now but my last salaried position I reported to the VP of Operations who spent maybe a total of four hours with me one on one. It was actually nice to get through COVID working for a guy like that but it wasn’t a good long term fit at all. I really soured the relationship by correctly predicting how his $100,000 purchasing software boondoggle would play out, which was with extremely low vendor compliance that would render the entire solution unworkable. Reality had to demonstrate to him that you won’t convince over 100 separate vendors who we spent less than 5k per year on to adopt your business-specific internet portal. They’ll still sell you their stuff, but not if they have to use something like that.
Everything kind of went south after that, as he was gloating when he informed me that we were moving ahead with the implementation, despite my concerns. When it failed to taxi to the runway, let alone liftoff, it was obviously very embarrassing for him and he lacked the character to acknowledge that following my advice borne out of nearly 2 decades of ERP/SAP support work would have stopped the ESOP from lighting $100,000.00 on fire, plus however much the lawyers charged to get us out of the contract.
It wasn’t a good fit for me to be working for a PhD student who believes he’s the smartest man in the room. He wasn’t a moron, he was a good design engineer, but none of that translated to leadership or good business judgement that I could discern. BAD FIT FOR ME.
I’ve actually considered barking up Jocko’s tree to see what kind of opportunities there might be at Origin. It’s a bit too long to commute and would require a move north, but I would still be able to see my boy with a short drive.
I just really prefer living one mile away and seeing him almost every day.
You worked at a bar for some time as a bouncer, no? Whenever I’ve read a post on it, I think of this song. https://youtu.be/-Fulz4ytZ54?si=Cb3iwHYBdq0SgrFr
How do you like this? Back in 2021, I considered moving this way. Consulting firms were going crazy hiring people due to Covid. I was going through Salesforce certifications, but ended up getting the DASM from PMI via company sponsorship. Took 3 weeks to get an offer from a Slalom like company, where I did Agile coaching/transformation work for 2 years.
It’s funny, you give people a little bit of money and they think they can sway large companies. Sorry to break it to you, but Oracle doesn’t care about $100k or even $1M deals.
Similarly, my boss has a PhD. He’s an ivy leaguer who is incredibly smart, loves to remind people of it and is title-centric. Everything he does is a show to be seen or respect people who also play that game.
I haven’t met Jocko, despite one degree of separation and knowing several who work for EF, I would encourage it if there is a role. Pete Roberts is a great guy. I had a few convos with him, but most impressively is how easy he is to talk to and willing to just chat.
They train BJJ at work and have Alexey Pickerell as professor. I believe he has a gym in Farmington or close by. Speaking of De La Riva, you’re likely to learn it there, considering he got his black belt from De La Riva.
This would be hard for me and completely understand staying close.
Do you WFH then? I’ve debated going to Accenture or equivalent, but I don’t want to travel anymore. That’s why I took the role I have now.
That’s definitely a song I grew to both love and hate working at a bar. The people singing it were genuine in their expressions, but also drunk and increasingly obnoxious as shifts rack up. It goes with the territory, as does drunk people getting excited about singing some Journey in your face or maybe some Jimmy Buffet or that awful bubble butt song. Bouncing was basically something I did as a paid hobby, considering I was a salaried business analyst when I inexplicably took the side job that was offered to me.
It can be a mixed bag as well. Consulting for State of Maine DAFS was not a good experience. I was an extremely poor fit for the culture. Never again.
Consulting for a 100M per year arm of a 5B per year conglomerate was, for the most part, pretty great. What I did could broadly be described as a one man show to maintain SAP configuration and provide end user support across all modules for that organization, with a factory in Maine and a factory in Franklin, TN. It was very much a “figure it out as you go” job for me, as I only had a really solid grasp on the logistics execution modules and master data management concepts going into it.
I had to figure out a lot of different aspects of ERP software (including the business concepts) like account determination rules, charts of accounts, engineering change management, time-deferred revenue recognition, user permissions, sales and distribution concepts, variant configuration, etc.
I also had to take a plane to work and spent long periods away from home, which had consequences.
If ERP consulting is something you’re interested in, participating in ERP implementation projects is how I broke into the work. There are many other ways of doing it and MANY aspects to it. People make careers out of being specialists in a single module of SAP, like Finance or Sales and Distribution. Same with project management and nearly every other aspect of software that’s as complex as SAP.
At the end of the day they are all relational databases modeling business processes and events, some better than others.
This was more like expecting a long series of medium sized businesses to bend to the will of another medium sized business in order to cut a simple PO, but there were a few really big players he tried to do this to as well. Big shocker, nobody wanted anything to do with complicating their people’s lives for a couple grand in revenue.
I’m a drop-out, which I think contributed to the degradation in the relationship with that particular PhD student and boss of mine. He was very high on credentials.
I’ve never trained with him or his guys, but I’ve heard good things and he’s obviously well-known for his pedigree.
At the moment, yes, but I’m not doing anything ambitious. Just helping an old colleague with testing and functional specifications.
Accenture is definitely one of the BIG players in ERP consulting. I just can’t tell you what it would be like working for them.
I absolutely understand this. I spent 9 years away from home 4-5 days a week. Nearly all of which was before kids, but took its toll on mental health never establishing a roots anywhere. I have developed a desire to move every 12-18 months.
It’d be a different style than you’re used to for sure, but he’s a great instructor.
I can’t recall what I updated last, workout wise.
Saturday was a good back workout. KB rounds with pull-ups in between. Along with KB and cable rows. Sunday was a shoulder workout, followed by open mat. I was able to drill with one of the local affiliate coaches. He’s the former special forces vet who does more practical BJJ as well as leg attacks. We drilled my entry to the attempted knee bar, but instead went through a sequence of sitting up to saddle, isolating both legs then attacking Texas Clover Leaf > Lateral Knee bar > heel hook. I then immediately rolled with someone and was able to hit that position.
Monday - took the day off
On the competition front.
I’m a major dumb-dumb. My wife moved the scale to clean the floors in our bathroom. On Sunday morning I brought scale out expecting to be around 220. I was 224 on Saturday night before bed. Instead, I was 232. After weighing myself 10 times, I got 10 wildly different weights. Look at bottom of scale and there was a little pebble on one of the feet. I remove it, set the scale down and expect 220. Instead, 232. So… uhm, apparently, my scale has been off due to something under one of the feet. Last few days have all been between 232-230. Instead of starting cut at 250ish, I might have been 260s. Given I have 4 interviews this week, water loading to drop 10lbs isn’t a good idea. I dropped out of competition and will go for the April comp. Oh well… have to do what’s best. I did get a bit relieved that I weigh more at this level of leanness. Instead of going for 215, I’m going to drop to 220 and reassess.
Tuesday
Belt Squat
2x10x90
2x10x140
1x10x230
2x10x250
Leg Ext
4 sets
150lb Med Ball Squats
2x5
Wednesday Morning
Incline Camber Bar Bench
10x145
10x165
10x185
2x7x195
- Left office around noon yesterday. Didn’t have meetings and in limbo until find a new role. Got a leg workout in and just hung out
- Have two interviews today, for one role (wed). Just wanted to get a good chest pump before throw on dress shirt and jacket
- Morning weight was 231
Love Jocko Molk! Best time to use it is last meal of the day before you go to sleep because of the slow digesting whey /casein / egg protein mix.
I found drinking 10 a day was ideal. Haha only did that for a week while at Jockos BJJ camp.
Friday
30 pull-ups
4x25x85lb Kb Swings
4x15 Cable Rows
4x15 DB Rear Delt raises
Saturday
30 WG Pull-ups
Lateral Raises
2x20x15lbs
Camber Bar Seated OHP
5x145
10x145
2x7x165
0x185 - oops
2x10x145
Lateral Raises
2x20
Bis and tris
3 x amrap
- really thought I had that OHP at 185. Got the bar from chest to just over head, but triceps were weak and spazzed out.
- weight has been around 232
- Feeling pretty good, think I’m noticing more vascularity, leaner quads and maybe a bit leaner in lower abs
- Had bloods done and everything looks good, except SHBG is still high. @RT_Nomad my doc suggested a low dose of Oxandralone (anavar) to lower SHBG. I did a bit of research and saw people talk about that as a benefit. Not sure if worth considering, it’s essentially legal/prescribed AAS. I’ll talk to them more about it next week, but curious on your thoughts of taking it.
I have no idea about the relationship between Anavar and SHBG.
Would you consider 20mg low dose? Assuming doc is right about benefits of lowering my above range SHBG, is this a cycle level dose? I’m trying to gauge if doc is looking to help or sell more RX. Hard part is it becomes enticing when it’s a prescribed steroid.
50mg a day on top of at least 500mg of test is a typical cycle stack.
Thought about it over weekend. Not sure I’m interested in taking something to potentially lower the dose of something else I’m taking. Not interested in cycling at this point either. Only 14 months into TRT and making huge improvements physique wise.
Sunday
Belt Squat
20x90lbs
5x20x140lbs
1x31x140lbs
Didn’t have a ton of time, so went high reps until it hurt too much to continue.
Monday
Camber Bar Incline Bench
10x145
2x5x165
3x185
3x195
10x145
10x145 - Speed Reps
- All sets except last had a 3 sec eccentric, 5 sec squeeze at bottom
Tricep Rope Pulldowns
3x20
100 Pushups
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday
Pullups
30
KB Swings
4x25x85lbs
Cable Rows
3x15
Lat Pulldown
3x15
KB Row
5x12x85lb