What's In It For You?

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A common logical fallacy (in this case an appeal to authority) you'll see in action in many Jiu Jitsu gyms is for the instructor(s) to tout his own competition track record and achievements as the reason why you should join that gym. These personal successes are wonderful accomplishments and an indication that the person does indeed have an ability to do Jiu Jitsu against skilled opponents under pressure and may even be a "bad ass" with a cool bag of tricks. 

Obviously knowing how to do Jiu Jitsu and being able to demonstrate that ability is of course important but your own competition track record is mostly irrelevant when it comes to teaching others. The way I personally play the game and the techniques I prefer may not resonate with you or even make sense in your mind and if my only answer to your question is basically "do it the way I do it" you know you're dealing with someone that doesn't understand how to teach. 

A simple analogy anyone can identify with is language. You're reading this in English and are undoubtedly fluent in the language (i.e., a black belt) and could score high on an English literacy/competency test (a "competition"). So we could say that you are very accomplished and have a high degree of skill in speaking English. Can you teach English to a room full of people that don't speak it though? Can you easily explain the differences between simple, compound, and complex sentences and provide clear examples? Why are the words "their," "there," and "they're" all pronounced the same but spelled differently? Wait what, "i" before "e" except after "c" (believe, chief, ceiling), but hold on, sometimes you ignore that rule altogether for other words like "weird," and "seize." Come again? Don't even get me started on "who" vs. "whom" and prepositions at the end of sentences. Wtf right? Being able to speak and write the language fluently and knowing how to teach and explain it to those who don't are two different skill sets. 

This is the exact same scenario that plays out day in and day out in gyms across the world. A person spends years building his own personal skills and then is one day awarded a black belt based on his technical skill and proficiency. He could have literally never taught a single class but he's now considered an expert with all the answers by students. When he does start to teach he'll make the predictable mistake of teaching what he's personally good at and what he likes (his "game") instead of teaching what the people in the room need to  know. The next predictable mistake he'll make is to teach something he watched on a video without really understanding it. He just memorizes the steps and regurgitates those to the class because that's how famous competitor XYZ does it so it must be right. What he's missing when it comes to teaching though is that you are supposed to teach what made you good, not what you're good at. The problem is most instructors don't even know what that is, they think knowing a bunch of techniques is what made them good.

So how is Topeka Jiu Jitsu different? Here the curriculum is taught by average ol' me with average ol' genetics. I began my journey as a fairly small and not athletically gifted practitioner so I spent most of my white and blue belt years on the bottom getting smashed and having to figure out how to solve problems one at a time and inch by inch. I wasn't able to utilize an athletic answer to solve problems because I didn't have one. Not having an athletic answer available to answer Jiu Jitsu questions meant that I actually had to learn the skills needed to survive very well and then learn and overcome the intricacies of each situation because that was the only way to get out of trouble and have any chance of success. 

Athletic competitors are studs and I wish I was one but the truth is they haven't had to solve the same problems that you as an average Joe will have to solve and often don't have an explanation that will work for you because their frame of reference is completely different. What for them is easy, "just do this, duh," many times won't work for you because you don't have their genetic gifts whatever they are and they can't relate to or understand your lack of them. It's like a strength coach that doesn't understand why you can't easily deadlift 500 pounds. The problem is he started his own journey being able to lift 400 pounds the first time he tried while you can only do 135. He didn't have to solve the same problems or overcome the same obstacles you will in working up to 500 because for him it was so simple. But people naively assume he must be an expert because he's the strongest guy in the gym. 

In Jiu Jitsu terms I'm like the guy above that started out deadlifting 135 and had to solve a boatload of problems to eventually get up to lifting 500. I can see you down there in bottom side control suffocating and getting smashed and give you a solution based on principles that you'll be able to utilize and understand and make your own because I've had to solve that same problem myself a thousand times already. You get the benefit of standing on my shoulders and reaching higher than I ever could because I can spare you the mistakes I made and time I wasted going down silly rabbit holes trying to learn some new low percentage move or "game" that only certain gifted competitors are able to pull off. 

It sounds odd and I didn't realize it at the time, but I was fortunate that I came across so may bad teachers on my journey that provided a plethora of examples of what not to do. If I've done anything right over the years it was to not dismiss those experiences but rather use them as motivation to do things better if I ever got the chance. 

I've been in the classes with pointless boot camp style warm ups, I've been subjected to the lets practice 3-4 random techniques and then roll as hard as you can thing (and also noticed that no one was able to do any of the moves we just "learned"), I've seen new people come in excited to start Jiu Jitsu and leave confused and dejected because they were subjected to the learn some random moves nonsense and then thrown into an open mat and used as rag dolls by the upper belts. Not surprisingly most didn't come back. 

I've seen the evolution of silly strict uniform requirements supposedly enacted for "team unity" but really used as a way to extract more money from students. I've been in countless classes with teachers that only teach the way they personally play the game and fell into that trap myself. I spent years never hearing anyone explain what the first principles are that make Jiu Jitsu work. Probably because most teachers don't really understand them, they just think in terms of "moves." I've rolled with the guys that try to rip your arm off (they're usually the ones that say "leave your ego at the door" before you roll). 

I've watched a gazillion times people do a move about 40% correct and then go the rest of the way with athleticism (usually observed when a lower belt is starting to make progress on them or get them in trouble—can't have that now can we). I've seen the guys that hurt people and then act surprised like "oh man, I didn't know that jumping and pulling on his joint as hard and fast as I can might hurt him, so sorry." I'm sure I haven't seen all the bad stuff out there yet but I think I've seen enough to last me until the rest gets here.

So, yeah, if you're curious, I have competed in Jiu Jitsu tournaments and even managed to win a few times but I'm not a stud competitor, never have been and never will be. But I've spent years in the trenches as an insatiably curious participant of this probably somewhat strange thing we do called Jiu Jitsu and I retain that curiosity as I grow in the art and realize more and more how much I still have to learn. I bring that curiosity and lessons learned from my own failures to the mat along with an intense desire to see you not be subjected to the same nonsense that I was and to see you grow far beyond what I'll ever be able to achieve.   

I'll end with a quote for you to think about from the great scientist Richard Feynman that I pretty much stole and use for my philosophy as a teacher: "Understand, don't memorize. Learn principles, not formulas." 

At Topeka Jiu Jitsu, we have you spend the first half of your white belt learning how to defend yourself against situations that are common in street fights with someone trying to punch or grab you. Most modern Jiu Jitsu schools throw the word "self-defense" in their advertisements but spend approximately zero time actually doing any work in that area. What they're really saying is learn modern Jiu Jitsu and you'll have self-defense figured out at the same time. 

This is not altogether wrong, but still wrong enough to get you hurt. Jiu Jitsu training in almost all gyms includes regularly sparring with people that are fully resisting your attempts to control and subdue them so that alone is far superior to the choreographed stuff the fantasy martial arts like Aikido and Kung Fu have you doing in training. The problem with many Jiu Jitsu gyms nowadays is they have only a tournament focus and never practice any striking situations. You may be awesome at Jiu Jitsu in a competition but then get knocked out in a street fight because you haven't spent any time learning how to manage distance or deal with punches coming at your face and how to properly employ a grappling answer to a striking question. Which was kind of the original point of Jiu Jitsu...

I've personally witnessed multiple times over the years advanced belt practitioners demonstrate that they have no clue how to escape bottom mount when being punched. What should literally be day one stuff. But they can show you how to do the latest Berimbolo variation and how to counter the counter etc. In my mind they shouldn't have been allowed to wear a colored belt but they had it because they can do tournament Jiu Jitsu very well. Basic self-defense against strikes is a part of the traditional martial culture of Jiu Jitsu that has largely been lost unfortunately and is a fundamental piece that we aim to preserve and pass on to you. 

We work hard to create and maintain a healthy, friendly, and productive culture in our gym. We are not a kill or be killed gym where one's personal glory is achieved by stepping on the bones of the vanquished teammates that dared to challenge you. 

Sounds funny but you'd be surprised how many gyms kind of operate that way on the sly. They say they're all about leaving your ego at the door and building each other up but as soon as you slap hands to roll they attack with full intensity and rip submissions to make sure they "win" and you "lose." Gotta have that little hit of dopamine that comes with victory right? 

Obviously competition (meaning sparring in this case) is important and necessary to build your skills. You'll never be able to effectively do Jiu Jitsu for real without engaging in sparring with resisting opponents. The key is how you do it though. Trying to win just for the sake of victory shouldn't be the point. Acquiring new skills is the point and your approach should be that this is a game you're trying to figure out along with your teammate and you're both actually working to make each other better while trying to achieve your own objectives in skill development. 

A good example is how a football team practices for a game. They challenge each other in their scrimmage games but the goal isn't to "win" against their own teammates it's to make them better while they are working to make you better by exchanging difficult challenges to overcome. It doesn't benefit the team or any individual player to do an illegal tackle and take out the quarterback's knees when you could have just put pressure on him with a blitz over and over and make him learn to move around better in the pocket. He then becomes more of a challenge to tackle which means the defensive players have to get better and better in order to get to him. Everyone grows and everyone learns and all are more prepared for Sunday's game now. 

Training this way is healthy and productive and leaves each person feeling like he learned and grew that day instead of feeling beaten down and dejected. "Winning" and "losing" in the gym just means reset the experiment and run it again to see if you can figure out what went wrong last time or add to and improve upon what went right. In training we're trying to upgrade our software without damaging the hardware. If your only concern is winning in training you'll resort to playing only your A game and using athleticism and while you may "win" initially, your teammates that are actually more concerned with developing skill will leave you in the dust in the long run.