Sports: Psychology: Motivation - "My Life Has No Finish Line"

If you ever thought you were training a lot...

Sports: Psychology: Quotes - Words from a Master

Submissions are the heart of jiu-jitsu.  Well, that is what Kron Gracie tends to believe.

"...I want to fight someone to prove to myself and him...I want to see what's going to happen.  I want to see who's going to win and who's better.  I don't want to hold a position or do a position that is going to maybe get me an advantage...that isn't jiu-jitsu.  When we train at the academy...it's never about points or position.  It's about who gets the submission."

"It wasn't like this fifteen years ago...it wasn't this sporty.  Now, it is so sporty...the younger kids, the blue belts and purple belts are seeing guys who are winning the Worlds doing the fifty-fifty guard not changing position the whole fight, and holding onto their grips for dear life.  They see the guys winning and train that...they are training their whole lives to do something that is not going to benefit them except in a jiu-jitsu match.  I try to focus my jiu-jitsu on everything about jiu-jitsu from the stand-up part, to the ground part, to the bad positions, to the good positions, and to the self-defense."

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Kron Gracie
Inside BJJ

Sports: Psychology: Quotes - Words from a Master

Ryron Gracie speaks about the importance of winning.

"...when you're a child, and you have your parents pat you on the back...telling all their friends how you won.  ...you spend the whole day having your mom and dad telling everybody how good of an athlete you are at whatever sport you play when you're seven years old.  ...as you get older it continues...you only get praise for when you do good at something.  You start to build your identity around those praises.  Now you seventeen...thirty-five years old, and you win a tournament, everybody congratulated you.  ...you just want to feel that...you want to be told once again how special and how good you are.  You only feel special and good when you perform.  People aren't being patted on the back and being told 'good job' when they're getting beat."

"...you always have to see and reward the person for what they did that was good.  And there's always something.  Even if you lose in four seconds, it doesn't matter.  You stepped on mat, and by stepping on the mat you did want ninety-nine percent of the world would not do.  ...There is always something good and positive to find in the experience."

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Ryron Gracie
Inside BJJ

Nutrition: Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds may be a good supplement to add to your diet.  They are an excellent source of vitamin E, magnesium, and selenium.

Vitamin E - may act as an antioxidant, enhance energy and physical performance, and aid in recovery. 

Magnesium - may help maintain healthy muscle and nerve functions.

Selenium - may help prevent cell damage. 

Sports: Training: Conditioning: A Nice Complex Workout

Martin Rooney published the following simple complex workout:


Guideline 1 - 5 to 10 reps per exercise. 
Guideline 2 - Complete all exercises in 30 to 60 seconds.  5 reps for 30 seconds and 10 reps for 60 seconds. 
Guideline 3 - Complete 3-5 sets with 2-3 minutes of rest in-between sets. 

• Interval Time: 30 seconds or 60 seconds
• Exercise 1 - Deadlifts
• Exercise 2 - Bent over rows
• Exercise 3 - High pulls
• Exercise 4 - Front squats
• Exercise 5 - Overhead presses
• Exercise 6 - Back squats

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Livestrong.com

Sports: Training: Conditioning - Supplemental Training for BJJ

When asked what his thoughts about athletic training/conditioning as a supplement to jiu-jitsu training, Zak Maxwell had this to say, "...there's a balance there.  ...if you're going to do any kind of supplementary training it should just be for general strength and conditioning.  I think training (jiu-jitsu) is the most important thing you can do...specific drills, everything like that....  I'm a big advocate of that.  I'm not trying to be the best at working out."

Additionally, he was asked where should your priorities be in terms of working out and jiu-jitsu.  His response was, "You need to find a middle ground.  You don't want to train so much you get overly developed in certain areas, but then are weak in others.  You don't want to work out so much you are relying on athleticism and none of your technique.  I think the middle ground...is to keep your body healthy and strong so you can practice and train more."

Zak Maxwell
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Inside BJJ

Sports: Recovery - Rest More to Train Better

A top triathlon suggests rest and recovery are as important as training.  To optimize recovery try incorporating the following recovery techniques into your schedule:

• Light training days following heavy training days
• Rest days
• Sleep
• Muscle compression / Leg elevation
• Mental relaxation 

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CNN.com

Psychology: Sleep More Remember More

A new study suggests taking a short nap (10 minutes) / closing your eyes in a dark area will enable you to remember more than others who do not take this break. 

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CNN.com

Sports: Psychology: This is Drive and Sacrifice

"...12-year-old Douglas hatched a drastic plan to ensure that fairy tale became her reality:

She must train with Johnson's coach, even if that meant leaving her family in Virginia.

'She started saying, 'I need that coach. I need Coach Chow,' her mother...Liang Chow soared to international fame as a Chinese gymnast before settling down in the middle of Iowa to teach American gymnasts. It was there where Johnson morphed from a 6-year-old novice to a world-class athlete.  But Chow's gym was 1,200 miles away from Douglas, her siblings and her mother, who didn't think the idea would work.

'I said, well, I can't move the family to Iowa. I'm a single parent; I didn't have the resources to do something like that,' Hawkins said. But Douglas wasn't just headstrong; she was a rare talent who vaulted up the ranks of gymnastics at an early age.  She won a Virginia state championship at age 8, just two years after starting formal training.  'She just never wanted to come out of the gym,' Hawkins said. 'She loved it. She would just practice all the time. So I saw then the hard work.'  But in order to reach her full potential, Douglas insisted she needed an elite coach -- specifically, the one she had admired on TV.  

At age 14, Douglas received her mother's blessing to go train with Chow. The tiny athlete headed west and moved in with a host family with four younger girls, including another one of Chow's students.  Both Hawkins and her daughter would have to learn how to be a family five states apart."

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CNN.com

Pyschology: Quotes: It's a Jungle Out There

"Every day in Africa a gazelle wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.  It doesn't matter if you are a lion or a gazelle.  When the sun comes up, you better be running."


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Abe Gubegna