Will / Machado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Australasia

Game Diagnostics

John Will — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:33:00 +0000

Here is a very powerful method (one that I often employ as a professional coach) of identifying a starting point to improving someones ‘game’. I developed this diagnostic tool about 15 years ago, and it has helped me help others ever since.
HERE’S WHY IT WORKS:
Almost in every case a student is exposed to and learns BJJ techniques in a very ‘unbalanced’ way. For example, they may know 10 ttacks form side control, 12 sweeps from the guard - but not know one thing about escaping the ‘north-south’ position. Another way of putting this is that they may have a blue or purple belt level of skill in some areas of their game but a white belt level of skill i other areas. obviously, this is not ideal. My diagnostic model simply highlights those areas of the game where we have weakness and allows us to address them and make our game more well-rounded.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:
We make a chart that highlights all of the main positions that occur during grappling. Firstly, for each and every one of those positions, we must assign a technique that we can employ with no hesitation. These techniques we call ‘IA’s’ - or Immediate Actions. In short a students ‘game’ is determined by the IA’s he or she assigns to each position.
Secondly, there must be three IA’s assigned to each position - our preferred ATTACK - our preferred TRANSITION - and our preferred ESCAPE.
The ATTACK - should be the attack we feel most confident about.
The TRANSITION - if we are losing our position we should have exit strategy in place. Ie: where are we transitioning to if we are losing our position.
The ESCAPE - if we are the one’s caught in the position (eg: under the mount, etc) wich is our favourite escape.
The important thing here is that each of these Immediate Actions - should be just that ‘IMMEDIATE’! it is important that we access them right away and don’t find ourselves scratching our heads and trying to decide which technique to use - when under pressure. In the high-end military and law enforcement world for example - they use the Immediate Action strategy for many situations that require a learned and appropriate response under pressure. The firearm jams - we ‘drop-tap-tap-rack’. IA’s save lives!
I am very confident that everyone will find my Diagnostics Model to be very useful.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MY GAME-DIAGNOSTICS TOOL >>

Hand in the Gourd

John Will — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:45:00 +0000

I suppose most of you have heard of the old Monkey Trap, wherein the Monkey reaches into the Gourd to pull out the banana but can’t take his hand out without letting the banana go - end result, he is still stuck there two or three days after first reaching in to extract his delicious treat.
What makes this so interesting to me is (as always) why it works. I am almost certain it goes like this …. the monkey is looking for a one-step solution to a two-part problem.
To remove his hand, he needs to complete step one: let go of the banana before moving on to step two: pulling his hand out. His brain seeks a one-step solution - which doesn’t exist - and so he can’t make his escape.
The exact same principle exists within the landscape of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Escaping a tight ’side control’ for example, almost certainly requires a multi-step solution - but our first (natural) instinct is to seek a one-step solution. Almost always, a one-step solution does not exist - and we remain stuck the side control.
Once we get our heads around the fact that the answer lies in the multi-step approach - things start to look a little better.
Another way I like to explain this idea is by asking students if they think they can pick up a woollen sweater and rip it in half - pretty difficult. But by finding the right thread, it may be very possible to start pulling and eventually unravel the whole thing. This idea is key to developing effective escapes. We should begin, not by trying to blast out in one big move - but by looking for the right thread that will begin to unravel the opponents position.
if we are ‘deep in it’ - then it will almost always take us a series of steps to dig ourselves out. if we are only a little way in trouble, then the process of getting out may indeed be a single-step process.
Deep in - start digging - small steps - find the thread.
Hope this helps,
JBW

technology

John Will — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:34:00 +0000

Although I harbor a deep love of things natural, wilderness adventures, etc - I have to admit, I also love technology and the opportunities it brings.
This week, for instance, I taught three ‘remote classes’ to students living in different time zones - something, that a few years ago, would have been an impossibility.
All we needed to make it all happen was a computer at each end with a camera.
At my end - I use my Apple Mac laptop, all of which come standard with a camera built into the screen and i-chat software. An internet connection completes the picture and we are all good-t0-go. My students, usually with the same kind of set-up, just plonk their computers on the mat where they are ready to go with their training partner. The only pre-requisite for this arrangement to be a success, is that the students must be able to respond well to verbal instructions - and although that sounds easy, it isn’t an arrangement that suits everyone. They must also be appreciative of detailed instruction that really helps.
This kind of teaching is actually a little harder than me getting on the mat with the student in person - as it requires an almost endless stream of conversation - fairly taxing after 45 minutes or so. But we get great results - and the fact that people can be trained up technically, despite the hassle of great distances, is really amazing.
Fifteen years ago, if I wanted learn something I didn’t know anything about, I had to spend thousands of dollars, getting on a plane and traveling, being away fro work and family to achieve my goals - now, that is no longer an absolute necessity.
technology has really made the world mat - a smaller place.
JBW

Finding Energy

John Will — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:56:00 +0000

The past week has been a very taxing one for myself and my family. As the ‘new age’ types would put it - ‘we have had a few challenges’ this past week. That, coupled with a super-hectic seminar schedule on the weekend, followed by my usual swag of private classes and lessons this week, has left me feeling in need of a holiday. But the reality is that I have a couple of classes to teach only an hour or so from now - and for me personally, a big part of being a martial artist, is finding the wil to take another step forward when I feel like lying down.
Paradoxicaly, no matter how I feel, once I step onto the mat, I seem to rally the energy to complete the task ahead. That’s the funny thing about ‘energy’ - when you put out the effort, and the sweat starts flowing, you always feel better for doing so.
It seems that there is a universal law at play here - the more you give, the more you receive - the more you put in, the more you get out. Training in the martial arts has always been an uplifting and highly positive experience for me - one that always leaves more fully charged for having participated. Every day I train - is simply a better day.
When in doubt - simply step onto the mat.
JBW

Flying Visit

John Will — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:12:00 +0000

This is another AIRPORT Blog. Waiting for my flight home from Sydney - and, as seems ‘par for the course’ with Jetstar Airlines, the flight has been cancelled and is now leaving three hours later. Time to write a blog!
I have just finished a big weekend in Sydney - after flying up on friday and heading out to Bargo to teach for David a Jacqui Suker. Firstly, I have to thank my good friend Steve Perceval, who did the airport pick-up and driving. He also arranged my accomodation in Penrith (something he certainly doesn’t have to do - but always does) - he is such a good friend and loyal student; I appreciate both his company and his help, every time I come to Sydney!
After we finished our session at Bargo, we sat down to the great home-cooked feast that Jacqui always prepares for us. Chicken, steaks, salads, fresh roast vegetables, etc. It is always such a pleasure to sit down and eat with the Sukers at their great facility in Bargo. These people are the salt of the earth!
After a short nights sleep, I was picked up again next morning by Steve and taken over to Luke Pezzutti’s Lions Den in Kingsgrove. Luke, owner and operator of CFC (cage Fighting Championships) has been a long time student and black belt of mine. He has put a load of work into his CFC show - which is without doubt, the best in this art of the world.
After Luke’s session, we headed back to Penrith, to Steve’s Ultimate Fighting Arts Centre. There we went through some advanced escape principles and some attacks from my own ’secret stash’. All were sworn to secrecy!
Then we leapt into the car once again and headed into the city to Rick Spain’s school. This Australian martial arts legend is a real favourite of mine. Constantly re-inventing himself and redefining his approach to the study of martial arts, Rick runs one of the best schools in Sydney. I had the pleasure and the privelage of being able to grade him to the rank of Brown Belt this visit. Congratulations Rick!!
The best candidate for the most ‘enthusiastic student of the year’ award, would have to be George Adams. I have rarely met anyone who was more excited about training than George. As someone who has suffered more than one life-threatening accident, he is in many ways, a real inspiration. George attended Steve’s seminar and followed us over to Rick’s for more. Afterward, he treated Steve and I to dinner at a Brazilian Churrascaria! Yum! Thanks George - that was awesome.
Another quick sleep and it was time to be picked up by my mate Richard Sargeant, (student of Steve Percevals’) and taken over to Michael Scotts in Cambelltown. Michael has a mat full of fantastic students, all a pleasure to teach. I taught the basics of my new ‘open guard’ method - something that I have developed over the past two years. We had a blast.
I was then picked up by the always awesome Kathryn Hamblin and taken over to Fari Salievski’s school in Liverpool. Fari was trying to make it back from England in time for the session but came directly from the airport just as the session was winding up. Sorry you couldn’t make it Fari - all I can say is beware the anti-Fari techniques that I just taught your students! They loved it. I am sure you will too!
After saying a quick ‘hello and goodbye’ to my friend Fari - I spent several hours with Joe Ingrati at his school in Maroubra. We covered a load of my new MMA concepts and training ideas. I am sure that Joe’s students will be in for some fantastic classes in the weeks and months to come.
Well - that was my weekend; I now have an hour or two to eat, answer some emails and finish writing this blog before I head back home to Geelong. Looking forward to the next weekend - when I will be spending time with my much missed family.
Have a great week,
best respect,
JBW

The ferryman must be paid …

John Will — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:20:00 +0000

Training in BJJ requires that you pay a price.
By this I mean that at some time or other, you are going to have to embrace the concept of ‘losing’ or ‘doing it tough’. Some pay it early in their training, some pay it later, some pay less but pay frequently, others pay less fequently but they pay more. However it goes - you WILL PAY. Accepting this fact and understanding that it is a necessary part of the process can make life easier.

The larger stronger students, for example, tend to put of ‘paying’ for some time. Initially, they dominate the smaller, lighter students and don’t find the training to be too ‘difficult’ at all. The problem is though, later one, as those smaller and weaker students become more technical, they may find they are asked to pay a huge price when the tables turn and they find themselves on their backs and experiencing positions they have never spent much time in. This can be a very frustrating time for the ‘big guys’.
Conversely, the smaller students, are always finding themselves ‘being squashed’ and on the ‘defence’. From ‘day one’ they are underneath and being dominated by the larger half of the class. They pay constantly from the very outset. The good news though, is that the longer they spend on the bottom, the better their Guard Skills and Escape Skills become. Eventually, the tables turn and they begin to rack up a few wins over the bigger guys. And that of course, is when the bigger guys begin to pay.
The deal is, that everyone pays. And it’s not a bad thing - in fact it’s a good thing - it’s how we develop ‘immunity’. We get a small dose of the chicken pox - we pay a price, for sure, but we develop the antibodies that allow us to prevail over future infections. We all need to pay.
If your in the middle of the class - not the smallest, not the biggest, sometimes you pay, other times you don’t . It all works out in the end. Payment is required - but payment can be fun too!

JBW

Real World Assault …

John Will — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:40:00 +0000

How well do our classes prepare students for ‘real world’ assault?
Well, as far as physical assault is concerned, the big ‘overhand’ right is far and away the most common punch thrown at the very outset of a fight; so it sure makes sense to train students to deal with that scenario. Leg-checks and counters to triangle chokes are certainly important aspects of the well-rounded kickboxer or MMA fighters training but they have little to do with how the average person is physically assaulted on the street; so how do we prioritize what we offer to students who are coming in asking for self defence training?

In my school, new students must undergo an introductory course that lasts for three months before they move up into the more specialised intermediate and advanced classes. In this intro class they are exposed to a variety of training methodologies including – pre-fight scenario training, structure-based defence strategies for dealing with a flailing head-hunter, ground and pound defence techniques, worst-case-ground scenario training as well as basic strikes, kicks, elbows and knees. My focus is to give them what they asked for; in the shortest time possible, I try to arm them with some skills that will greatly increase their chances of survival in the world outside the school doors. So my short-term approach is a fairly wholistic one - but what about my long-term goals?

As someone who has sampled life in it’s many aspects, in a dozen different countries over the course of five decades I feel confident that I have a fairly balanced view of how the world works. Although I have had my share of street tussles outside of the dojo, I have also come to realize that the ways in which we are assaulted are many, varied and quite often subtle; and they are rarely ‘physical’.

For instance, almost every day, we can find ourselves assaulted on emotional and financial fronts; but does our martial arts training provide us with the skills necessary to deal with these ‘less than obvious’ forms of assault? It is my view that the martial arts are a metaphor for ‘life’; and by life, I mean the ‘struggle of life’. In undertaking martial arts training, people prepare and strengthen themselves in ways that at first, may not seem obvious. Through martial arts training people learn to stand up to adversity, to be more confident, to develop a mindset that will allow them to push through situations that would previously have brought them to their knees.

However, it is also my belief that the kinds of martial arts training that ‘tests’ us every time we step onto the mat, or into the ring, builds ‘real’ confidence and ‘real’ strength of will; the brand of confidence and strength of will that will not buckle under the ‘real’ pressure of life. The only thing worse than no confidence is false confidence.

I lament at the rise of ‘pat on the back’, ego-building, new-age martial arts practices that ultimately fail to deliver on almost every front. These are those schools that promote one thing but deliver another; they promise martial arts training that will deliver self-defence skills but their training is outdates and totally unrelated to real fighting. Okay, so we give them a break and concede that they provide an environment where people can practice safe martial arts while building confidence, self-esteem and the like – but upon what skills is this so-called confidence and self-esteem based. My contention is that it may just be a house of cards ready to tumble at the slightest touch.

Martial arts for me is about preparing people to prevail; to prevail in all areas of life; physically, emotionally, psychologically, financially. I want my students to have the skills to milk life for al it has to offer; to have the courage to ‘go for it’ to try new things, to fail, know that it’s alright, and try again. Martial arts training is about fortifying our resources and improving our odds for survival. Martial arts training is about building within ourselves a ‘mindset of excellence’. Martial arts training is about struggle and growth, about problem solving, about winning and losing battles. This all sounds like ‘life’ to me.

JBW

In trouble again!

John Will — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:57:00 +0000

‘You’ll be ‘trouble’ when you grow up’ - one of my teachers used to say. This particular teacher was one who didn’t like being asked questions he couldn’t easily answer. Where I saw opportunity for discussion, he saw ‘threat’. pretty sad really. As it turned out - he was partially right - I do like a little bit of ‘trouble’.

When all is well - when I have my house just right, plenty of money in the bank, food on the table, family all happy, the right circle of good friends, etc - when everything is just rolling along nicely - I feel quietly content - for about a week or so! After that, I find myself seeking out situations that provide me with a mild dose of stress (trouble). As my friend Steve Lavalle in Florida is fond of saying “pressure makes diamonds”.

Gains arn’t made in the ‘garden of Eden’, under ideal conditions, when everything is rosy and sweet - ‘gains’ are made, when necessity calls for them. We lift weights and our muscle fibers adapt and thicken; competition arises and we improve our own business practices; we put ourselves into a little debt, we need to find ways of making money to pay that debt down. A little ‘trouble’ causes us to ‘overcome’.
The trick is to get the balance just right; enough ‘trouble’ to keep us moving forward and growing, but not so much as to threaten our physical or mental health.
BJJ is an art built on this principle - applying this particular lesson to our larger lives will afford benefits beyond expectation.

See out a little trouble …
JBW

Extracting Value

John Will — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:46:00 +0000

The first step in ‘extracting maximum value’ from something, is to realize that there is high value there in the first place. The more deeply we look into something, the more we will see (Just ask a quantum physicist). Once we ‘know’ there is value within something, we tend to look more closely - and bang = we see things that had previously escaped our notice.
In working BJJ basis for example - as beginners we are usually somehwat overwhelmed at the sheer volume of techniques and concepts we are exposed to and are therefore ‘forced’ to take a broad view = as opposed to a deeper view. This is one of the reasons why purple belts are usually a good step up from blue belts on the ’skills ladder’ - simply because at tat level, they usually have a pretty healthy ‘broad’ view, and are starting to really look deeply into some of the aspects of their ‘game’.
Looking deeply - or digging into things - is at the very heart of what is commonly known as ’science’. As kids, most of us had a natural inclination toward ‘discovery’ and ‘extracting value’ - perhaps that is a big part of what is so very appealing about BJJ. The child in us once again becomes awakened - as we explore, dig, understand and continue to ‘extract value’.
Train hard - train smart,
JBW

PREVAIL …

John Will — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:37:00 +0000

One of the most common questions I am asked by students during the Q&A time that follows most of my seminars is ‘How would you describe what you do?’ (Ie: what do I do for a living?)

This is a question that I could spend hours answering - but if I had to distill my answer down to a single sentence, it would be this:
I TEACH PEOPLE TO PREVAIL!
For me, the martial arts are a metaphor for life; they are about struggle; and about overcoming obstacles and dealing with pressure. At their very core, the martial arts are about prevailing against physical assault; but beyond this, they are about prevailing against all kinds of obstacles and adversity. Highly physical and challenging arts like BJJ, Kickboxing, etc - see us dealing with real pressure on a regular basis; and becasue of this, provide us with the will and mindset to deal with the myriad of pressures that life throws our way.

BJJ,in particular, demands that we ‘lose’, try again, ‘lose’, try again, until we work it out. The study of BJJ provides the perfect environment for both mental and physical strengthening. The study of BJJ provides an opportunity to develop a mastery of leverage and the ability to ‘problem solve’ - and these skills are easily brought to bear in life off the mat.

What do I do for a living? I teach people to PREVAIL.

JBW