“There is a habit among great musicians, especially the great
ones, that is overlooked: collaboration.” I read this in an article in the March
2012 edition of Success magazine entitled Slowhand’s Success Secret by Mike
Zimmerman. The article talks about Eric Clapton and his amazing success. It also
focuses primarily on Clapton’s amazing amount of collaboration with other top
artists. 

What does this have to do with Grappling? In my experience,
everything. In the beginning you will typically learn from one coach or one
instructor. As a beginning grappler it is much better to learn from one source
and one system. It helps keep things simple.

As you progress you will undoubtedly have new questions, some of
which your original instructor may not be able to solve. Enter collaboration. At
some point in your grappling career you will have to ask tough questions that
only other high level grapplers can help you solve. 

Training with other quality grapplers and asking better questions
is the key to growth. This is not to be confused with training against high
quality grapplers for competition; there is a time and place for that. The most
beneficial route is to pick their brains for insights and tips that will help
your game. 

I’ve been very fortunate to become friends and train with several
high level grapplers, each of which has their own specific style, philosophy and
way of doing things. I’ve learned something from Sheldon Marr, Jeff Kunze, Ricky
Lundell, Jeff Monson, Jeremy Horn, Dave Johnson, Gerald Harris, Ica Medina, Mike
Colby, Rigan Machado, Rulon Gardner, Justin Ruiz, Steve Fraser, JJ Johnson,
Momir Petkovic, Mark Schultz and a host of others over the years. Training with
and learning from these incredible athletes and coaches has given me a greater
insight into the grappling arts. 

To finish up with a little more from the article: 

“Creativity is generally considered a solo gig, and our instincts
tell us to hoard talent for our own benefit. Instead, seek out more and more
collaborations. This works in any office, in any business. Start with
willingness, enthusiasm and an open mind. Talk to co-workers who complement
your talent. Kick around ideas. Encourage excellence. Share top billing. You
may produce something incredible-and become the person everyone wants to work
with.”


 

Training Blind 
When I was wrestling in college, my coach was Mark
Schultz, NCAA, Freestyle Wrestling World and Olympic Champion.  He would
often train with his eyes closed. That allowed him to have a greater sense of
feel and he was able to rely on his other senses more than his vision.

I tried this myself in Grappling training and it worked really well.  What I
liked most about it was it allowed me to use my other senses, especially feel
and balance.  When you can’t see where you’re going, or see what you’re
doing, your sense of position and your sense of feel become much more
heightened.  I think when you do this, it allows you to feel where your
openings are.  It allows you to feel where your opponent’s openings
are. 

I like this best for Grappling; it also works well for
Wrestling.  However, it’s not good in a Takedown situation where both
wrestlers are on their feet.  Training “blind” works best when you’re on
the mat; working Top and Bottom positions; working Guard positions; working
Submission positions.  It makes you slow down because you can’t see what
you’re doing.  By slowing down, you allow yourself to develop your
positioning and get a better understanding of openings. 

I like training with my eyes closed because it allows me to have a good sense of
balance.   If I feel like I’m going over, I feel it more because it
becomes the dominant sense.
Keeping your eyes closed allows you to develop
better balance. You’ll be able to feel where your opponent has tight grip and
loose grip. You can hone in on which grip is the real threat.

A good example of this is when you’re defending a Rear Naked Choke; it’s really easy to fight
against the wrong arm.  The arm that’s the real threat is the one that is
closest to your neck, not the one underneath your arm.  And a lot of times
people will defend the wrong arm because it’s the closest or they just don’t see
the right one but when you can’t see what’s going on you’ll be able to feel
really quickly which arm is the most important to defend against. 

This will help you with your Grappling and Submission Wrestling technique. By
training with your eyes closed, you’ll be able to have a better sense of feel
and balance and you’ll be able to improve in your training much faster.  

One of my favorite stories in the grappling world was told in Saulor Ribeiro's book Jiu Jitsu University. Here it is:

Helio Gracie - The Ninety Year Old Warrior (from Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro) pg. 18

“The last time I trained with Helio Gracie was a truly memorable experience
and is to this day the most important class I ever had on jiu-jitsu. What struck
me most was how Helio addressed me. He did not hold me in awe for my tittles or
championships, and what he said more than surprised me. He said, “Son, you’re
strong, you’re tough, you’re a world champion, but I don’t think you can beat
me.” At the time, I just looked at him sideways in disbelief. After all, how
could a ninety-year-old beat someone who is in his athletic prime? It was at
this moment that I realized how he deftly put all the responsibility on me to
defeat him. This is the key to Helio; he never says he will beat you, only that
you will not beat him.

 This is important because he believes he will survive. His survival has
nothing to do with perfect timing or strength. Instead, it has everything to do
with mastering the defensive aspects of jiu-jitsu. He didn’t say he would escape
from my positions, or that he would do anything else. He said he would survive. 

The result of our training only validated that fact. Helio did survive, and I
was not able to impose my game on him. Helio proved to me the importance of
survivability and the defensive nature of jiu-jitsu. Furthermore, I took from
him one of the greatest lessons ever: It is not enough to be able to defeat all
of your challengers. To be able to tell any man that he cannot defeat you is to
wield true power.”

Professional athletes of the NFL routinely follow a schedule that
goes something like this; morning physical training, break, mid morning
meetings, break/lunch, afternoon meetings/play study, afternoon physical
training, dinner, evening meetings, night film study/meetings. 

This was a pretty typical example I read about from the NFL in the book; The
Education of a Coach by David Halberstam. These are millionaire athletes, the
best at what they do. Guys who must win or be fired. How much of their
‘training’ is mental? 

They only trained twice in the day but how many meetings and strategy and
technical reviews did they undergo? In this example it was four times. Each of
those times lasting anywhere from 1 to 2 hours! That’s a full day! 

How much time do you spend as a grappler studying, evaluating, taking notes
and educating yourself about your chosen field? How much do you know about your
opponent’s offenses and defenses? How much do you know about your own offenses
and defenses? Are you one of the literally thousands of athletes who would
rather spend 2 hours of grueling hell on a mat conditioning until your left lung
collapses? 

Or are you one of the less than 1% who is willing to use their mind and put
actual real mental conditioning and development into the world’s oldest and
greatest sport? How many hours have you spent watching the perfect single leg?
How many mental repetitions have you completed of your favorite submission?
Favorite takedown? How many hours have you studied the various grappling styles
and their philosophies? How many books have you read about the subject?

If you’re not willing to put the time into your mind and your strategy you
will only be half an athlete. You may have success but only up to a certain
level and then you will go no further. If you want to go to the absolute limit
of your capabilities you must train your mind. 

You must be willing to slow down in your training and get it right. You must
be willing to stop in the middle of a technique and fix it, do it right and do
it again. You must be willing to sacrifice 15 minutes of hard physical training
for and even harder 15 minutes of analyzing, correcting and developing your
technique. 

If you take the ‘2 steps back’ to do this you will take 3 to 4 steps forward
in your training and in your success rate in competition. 

Remember you can win more by training less physically. Learning to train
mentally is what will one day separate you as a champion.