From the Mind of Babalu...Haters, Naysayers, Shit talkers

The main reason I started this blog was first and foremost to have some accountability for myself to keep me on track on my diet, on my workouts, and training. I had gotten away from this for a while, and during that time I let things slip. Secondly, I used this blog as a positive way to spread the word of BJJ, its teachings, and how its helped me in all facets of life. I will be the first to admit that I've made some mistakes in my life, but I have learned from them and have become a better person because of it. If I was wrong I can admit and be the bigger person and apologize. This wasn't always the case for me, but Brazilian Jiu Jitsu I can honestly say has humbled me and has helped me in becoming a better person. It has contributed to all my successes on and off the mat.

Your average person, who lives an unhealthy lifestyle, doesn't do anything to better themselves physically or mentally, or has never tested themselves will never understand just how difficult it is to become a BJJ Black Belt. They will never understand the sense of pride, accomplishment, or what it means to be called a Professor. To put it into perspective a bit, some can go to college get a four year degree, go to medical school and become a doctor in less time than it will take most people to earn a black belt in BJJ. That is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that your average Joe Schmo would more than likely not have the balls to go through. I've seen it, working in the academy and seeing students come and go. Over half the people that start are more than likely to quit before receiving a blue belt, which could take a little less than a year in most cases.

I have always been a person who marched to the beat of my own drum and have always considered myself a leader and not a follower. I will continue to do what is right for me and continue spreading the word of BJJ. I will continue using this blog to help myself and to help others to achieve whatever goals they may have. I will continue to surround myself with positive and like minded people who want to better themselves through this great art and those who have an open mind. In a nutshell, I will continue to do me, block out any haters, naysayers, and shit talkers, I don't need negativity in my life. If you don't support or respect what I do for myself and for other people that is fine, but don't expect support or respect in return. Don't ever let anyone who has never walked in your shoes, who probably would not survive 1 minute on the mat, disrespect what you have achieved or what your trying to achieve not only BJJ, but in all aspects of life. You will always have haters, shit talkers, and naysayers who will make fun of your passions, but they can't and won't do it themselves. If you are trying to better yourself in a healthy manner keep doing what you're doing.

To all my real friends, team mates, training partners, family, and followers, I thank you all for your support! I hope you all have a very Happy Holidays! I hope 2017 brings you success on and off the mat. Keep training!

Great minds think alike!

I ran across something today posted on social media and thought to myself hey I said something very similar to that. The quote below comes from a very bad man, Professor Rafael Lovato Jr. If you have been living under a rock for a few years now and don't know who he is an extremely successful high level BJJ competitor as well as an undefeated professional MMA fighter. He is the 3rd American born man to win the Brazilian National Championship at the Black belt level. He is a certified beast on the mat and in the cage. Here is his quote.

It's funny how all of my teachers & coaches preach the same thing - BASICS are the key to long term success. This is coming from Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Wrestling, to Muay Thai & even Strength & Conditioning. Master the fundamentals, put your energy into making everything simpler & more efficient & you will have a system that can last forever & continue to get even better. You wanna know the sweep I've used the most in my life? The Scissor Sweep! You wanna know my strongest submission? The Cross Choke from Mount! Food for thought...

When I saw this, my first thought was "hey I've used the scissor the most in my life" and then "the Cross Choke is also one of my strongest submissions as well!" Did we just become best friends?!?!?! I kid, I kid, but seriously this is so true and something that I preached a few posts ago. Remember I said "Basics, Basics, basics", so I guess the title of this post is 100% accurate, great minds do think alike!

If you don't believe when I tell you that Professor Rafael Lovato Jr. is one bad dude, check out some of his highlights below!

From the Mind of Babalu... Injuries

Let's talk about that scary subject of Injuries! When I was growing up playing sports there was question that was always asked "Are you hurt or are you injured?" I lived by this for such a long time. In every walk of life, whatever you do there will be bumps and bruises along the way, but if I could tolerate some pain and still train, practice, or workout like most competitive athletes, that is what I did. Throughout my BJJ journey I have trained through the pain of jacked up fingers, toes, ribs, knees, feet etc... you name it I have been through it. No I don't want a cookie or a trophy for this (or I might) I just did what almost every other athlete would do to get better. Training with pain can help you in some ways and can hurt you as well. For example, I am right handed, I do almost everything in BJJ as a left handed person. That stems from jacked up fingers I suffered as a white belt. For a period of time I didn't use my right hand, so I did everything left handed and it has stuck with me for the last 8 years!

Now injuries are a totally different animal! Maybe you can still deal with the pain, but you risk further injuring yourself worse than you already are. Keeping you off the mat for longer periods of time. I have been here as well. Take it from me, don't go about it like I did. When I got injured I stayed completely away from the mats and the academy. I used the bullshit excuse, its just too hard to watch and not be out there. Which is true, it is hard to just sit and watch, but to be honest with you this is the course you should take. You should try to spend as much time as you can hanging out at the academy, watching classes, and hanging with your team mates. Why you ask? In my opinion coming in watching the classes won't help your timing or speed up your recovery, but it will keep the techniques fresh on your mind and keep you engaged in the art that we love. It will help with your state of mind and keep you from feeling sorry for yourself like I did. Just being around everyone and seeing your team mates get better will put you in such a positive state of mind. Lets face it being injured sucks to no end, so every bit of positive energy you can get will help. If your injury allows you to help on the class but you still can't train, by all means do it. You would be surprised just how much teaching techniques will help your game in the long run.

When its time to come back do yourselves these favors.

1. Take it easy, go slow, don't risk getting injured again. Do what you can.
2. If you need to work your defense then do that.
3. Don't stress out, once you've been back on the mat things will start to fall back into place, things will be sloppy and you will feel like you are terrible at BJJ. You won't be able to do the same things you did before the injury. Just keep training and the improvements will keep coming.
4. Work hard! Not only at your BJJ, but also getting your body stronger and losing that weight you gained. This is probably one of the hardest things to do especially if you're over 35. As you get older its harder to lose weight, to find time to put in the extra work, and sometimes its even harder to push yourself to work as hard as you did before the injury.
5. Drill everything you can.

If you're going through an injury now I hope this helps you. I need some positive energy head to the academy. If you have questions or comments click below!

From the Mind of Babalu...Motivation

I know BJJ can be frustrating, irritating at times, and can down right just make you mad. You aren't alone! Whether your a beginner or an advanced student there is no doubt in my mind you have felt this one time in your journey or might even be feeling it now. It doesn't just happen to beginners, it happens to all of us. Trust me, I have felt this way for a better part of this year, and I've been training almost a total of 10 years now and I'm also a black belt! I'm sure most you have heard the saying "A black belt is just a white belt who never quit" and its honestly so true. I've only been a black belt for a little over four months now, but truthfully I'm still learning everyday just like a white belt, I still have some of the same frustrations as some that have just started, and I still keep showing up to train 3-4 times a week.

Jiu Jitsu really is just like anything else in life. The more you do it, the better you get at it. For the better part of this year I've been stuck training just twice a week. Which to me that is better than no training at all, but being away from the mats for a better part of a year last year those extra days are extremely important. Once I started adding more mat time things started getting back to the standard that I have set for myself. My technique has gotten cleaner, things are flowing much easier, and of course my BJJ cardio has gotten way better. I was able to start having fun training again and that is the most important thing. People put so much stress on winning and losing in training and it really doesn't matter. Go out have some fun and relax. One saying that I like to say to white belts is, "we all started in the same place as you" we all have gone through or are still going through some of the same issues you go through. We still have questions, but we ask those questions. We still get frustrated with our games or not being able to get a technique correct. The main thing is we never gave up or quit on our journey. We keep grinding, regardless of how frustrating or hard it may get we keep showing up and trying to get better. Stick with it, keep working and it will get better. If you don't understand something ask questions.

Now for a trip down memory lane. Below is 2 pictures, the first one is my first promotion under Professor Draculino. Since I had about 2 years of nogi and MMA experience before training at Gracie Barra Texas my first promotion was 3 stripes on the white belt from him.

The second picture is 8 years later, and 6 of those years were spent working and teaching at Gracie Barra Texas under Professor Draculino.