Training when you can't.. Enter Grappling Drills

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Ok, I know I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but it's been crazy around here and frankly I was waiting for the traffic to build up a bit before I announced the exciting news at the bottom of this post.

It's a well documented fact, I'm a husband, father, and business owner, sometimes those three roles consume 100% of my "training time". What do I do? Well I try to schedule my day so I have an hour of gym time every morning, I want to use that time to work on my game, however I'm hard pressed to get a training partner interested in drilling and rolling in the pre-dawn hours. Answer?


Grappling Drills by Stephan Kesting


Yes, this DVD has been reviewed countless times on the web, so honestly there's precious little more I can add, however let me share with you a story from my teen years.

Back when I was a Senior in High School I felt like I was in pretty decent shape, I trained off and on, had moderate stamina and conditioning, so when a somewhat, we'll say, chubby friend of mine invited me to partake in a game of racquetball I jumped at the chance. Sadly, even though I knew he'd been playing for almost a year I figured my "athletic" prowess would let me win out handily.

The place of my first sports life lesson.


I could not have been more humiliated.

He had me running all over the court, up one side and down the other. His placement was impeccable, sure I could hit harder and run faster, but that meant very little when he kept me constantly off balance with his strokes and serves.

But..my lesson didn't end there.

Over the following weeks he continued to dominate me, try as I might I just couldn't seem to shake his precision game.

Then it happened.

He left on a summer vacation with his family, that meant I had 4 weeks to "prepare" for his return. The first step was an honest appraisal of my game, that meant reviewing the shots I made, and the shots I missed. The next step was a review of his game, what if anything was difficult for him? High backhand? Great, how do I exploit that..

Then, you know what I did? I drilled. Not just any drills, I went to the backboard and drilled the weaknesses of my game and his. I spent hours in the hot Florida sun, I drilled each morning until my shorts were soaked to the tips with sweat.

Four weeks went by quickly and my friend returned, and you know what?

He never won another match that summer.

What am I teaching here? The supreme importance of drills, and the ability to look at your game and admit your weaknesses.

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
Sun Tzu - Wikiquote

Sun Tzu.. How was his Racquetball game?


So take Sun Tzu's advice, look at your game honestly, look at your opponent's game, and find the drills you need.

Where are those drills? In your copy of Grappling Drills by Stephan Kesting.

Yep, you heard it right, read on to learn how to enter the contest for your own sealed in the box copy of Grappling Drills by Stephan Kesting.

Step 1 -> Post a comment on this or another post on WhiteCollarBJJ, be smart or creative, inane posts don't count.

Step 2 -> Send me an email at whitecollarbjj_at_gmail.com (_at_ = @) and tell me which post is yours, put "Grappling Drills DVD Contest" in the Subject so it's easy to identify.

Step 3 -> Cross your fingers! I'll randomly pick one winner Saturday March 15th. Once the winner has been selected I'll email them to get an address to send the DVD.

Good Luck, and start commenting!

-hz

PS - Past comments don't count, only comments posted between today and March 14th Midnight EST.

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4 comments:

Steve said...

Oh man, the pressure. I have heard a lot of great things about these drills, as well. I know our school emphasizes the agility drills for building up the coordination and strength necessary to do what we need to do on the mat.

In short, PICK ME! :)

Anonymous said...

I think you bring up two good points here, Haz -

1. [assuming no injury], any training is better than no training

2. The quickest way to improve your game is to work on the things you're worst at

I'm not familiar with the drills in that DVD, but only having an hour (or less!) by yourself (as opposed to the 2-3 hours in class) is a great way to get those S&C drills out of the way as well as those skill drills like shrimping, etc. that you don't feel like doing when you've got other people to practice technique, et. al. with.

Anonymous said...

I would love this DVD. I am in a similar situation, with a demanding job, kids, and precious little time to train. I could do these drills in my basement! I could use the work and I'd love to be able to devote more time to actually rolling at the open mat I attend. Pick me! Thanks

Kingindian said...

yep thats a good idea to train hard everyday. i try to spare 1 hour for training...well but honestly its quite hard to do it

anyway if you interested to exchange link, please come to my blog and see the terms..its very easy