Martial Vitality

  I've decided to retire from martial arts, for now at least. I started this social media presence in January 2016 , so the seven year journey is now concluded. I took my last BJJ class in March 2020 , as Covid-19 was first surging in the US. I injured my back in that session, and my left arm and shoulder had been bothering me for months. I figured some time off might help anyway. In April 2021, after getting my first two vaccinations, I had another round of shoulder surgery . The rotator cuff fix combined with a bicep repair was worse than my previous three shoulder surgeries. It took about a year to return to a relatively pain-free life, even with diligent physical therapy and care. I originally had a goal of staying with BJJ for the long haul in order to earn a black belt. Given that it took me  2 1/2 years to pass my blue belt test , I had many years ahead of me, even before Covid hit.  I think of earning my blue belt as one of the five toughest physical challenges I...

  Today, 18 January 2022, the Martial Vitality project is six years old. I started it as the Rejoining the Tao blog in  January 2016 . The Martial Vitality brand arrived later, when I was considering open a school. I consolidated both projects under the Martial Vitality name in  July 2020 .  Martial Vitality captures what I find interesting about martial arts, outside of martial arts history. For example, the  #martialartstechniqueoftheday  from my  Instagram account  shares images of techniques, generally from very old grappling texts. If you prefer  Twitter  or  Facebook  I post using the same hashtags there. In my last post I wrote that I Am Indeed Recovering from Shoulder Surgery . Due to the pandemic I have not trained since March 2020. I am considering whether or not to return to jiu-jitsu. Since the pandemic started, my school closed and reopened under new management and trainers, and in a new location. Some of my favori...

I wanted to share in a quick post that I am indeed recovering from shoulder surgery! In my last note I said that I had a rotator cuff and bicep tear repair operation on April 27, 2021.  The first month after the operation were much tougher than I expected, probably due to the bicep tear complication. I had a very difficult time sleeping and managing pain. I did not experience much of any relief until the 5th week, at the beginning of June. Since then I have made great strides. My physical therapy has been extremely helpful, although I've had a few setbacks. I had hoped to return to jiu-jitsu in the fall, but I doubt I will do that due to the delta and other Covid variants. I am immuno-compromised, so although I am fully vaccinated I am at risk for a breakthrough infection. This is disappointing, but I started a new routine of watching a martial arts (usually jiu-jitsu or judo) instructional video every day. Check out Instagram  or Facebook  or Twitter for more. 

When I posted the above photos to my social media accounts, one of my friends wondered if I had shared pictures from the Mars lander. Those are actually images taken inside my shoulder, by a doctor on April 26. During the middle of 2020, probably in June or definitely by July, I noticed that I had severely injured my left shoulder. I was familiar with the pain caused by a rotator cuff tear. I had partially torn my right rotator cuff during Air Force Academy training in 1991, but didn't get it repaired until I experienced three surgeries in 2007 and 2008. I tried to recover on my own using exercises from the last sets of therapy sessions. In the summer of 2020, in the middle of the first US Covid surge, I was reluctant to see a doctor, have an operation, or attend months of physical therapy. By the end of March 2021 I was vaccinated. I made an appointment to see a doctor and also got MRI scans of my arm. The doctor informed me that not only was my rotator cuff fully torn, but that I...

  What did I do to lose almost 13 lbs in two months? Introduction About two months ago, in early February, I decided that I was carrying too much weight. I'm 5'9 and 49 years old, and I prefer to walk around at approximately 150 lbs, or 68 kg. That's within 2 kg of the 66 kg (145 lbs) weight class for many BJJ and judo events. I don't compete, but I like to think that if I were to compete, that would be a good division for me. On February 8 I recorded a weight of 166.8 lbs, or 75.6 kg. That was still 20 lbs under my all-time highest weight of 186 lbs, but over 16 lbs heavier than my preferred weight. I decided it was time to take action. The Plan I took the following three steps to get my weight gain under control. 1. Food choices: I took a close look at my calorie intake. I eat a fairly narrow diet anyway, but I made sure those choices would not add weight. 2. Eating times: I restricted my eating times from 7 am to 7 pm, and when possible, 7 am to 6 pm. This was a sort...

  I enjoy listening to the Shintaro Higashi podcast, and a recent episode addressed dojo etiquette . Shintaro said that he had heard that it is a breach of etiquette for lower ranking BJJ players to ask higher ranking BJJ players to roll. In other words, it would be odd for a white belt to ask a blue belt to roll. I have a limited view on the subject, having only started training in January 2017, and having only trained at one school. I have attended seminars and camps outside my own school, but those settings are a bit different. I am also only a blue belt, so I do not have much experience being a "senior belt." For what it's worth, at my home school, One Spirit Martial Arts , I have not encountered this situation. As a white belt, or as a blue belt, I did not feel any concern asking to roll with a higher belt. I do not feel weird when a white belt asks to roll with me. I believe this is a cultural norm set by professor Sauer and the head instructors at the academy. I...

Four years ago on January 30, 2017, I took my first jiu-jitsu lesson at One Spirit Martial Arts in Herndon, VA. It was a Gracie Combatives lesson. Someone took photos for the school's social media pages, and I ended up barely appearing in the back row of one of the photos.  In March it will be one year since I stopped training due to Covid-19 . Since then I have been trying to keep mentally and physically engaged with jiu-jitsu, despite not attending classes at the academy. For example, beginning on January 1, I started my "90 Days with Danaher" program. Every day I watch a John Danaher instructional. I started with the first two volumes of Feet to Floor, then continued with Go Further Faster 1 Pin and Turtle Escapes. I am now in the second volume, Go Further Faster 2 Guard Retention. I take notes on each video and screen captures for private reference.  Go Further Faster 1 Pin and Turtle Escapes screen capture with annotation Each day I share a few screen captures ...

  Today, 18 January 2021, the Martial Vitality project is five years old. I started it as the Rejoining the Tao blog in January 2016 . The Martial Vitality brand arrived later, when I was considering open a school. I consolidated both projects under the Martial Vitality name in July 2020 .  Martial Vitality captures what I find interesting about martial arts, outside of martial arts history. For example, the #martialartstechniqueoftheday  from my Instagram account  shares images of techniques, generally from very old grappling texts. If you prefer Twitter or Facebook I post using the same hashtags there. Currently I'm on the 18th day of my 90DayswithDanaher project, where I watch one John Danaher instructional video each day. I started the month with his Solo Drills series and continued with volume 1 of Feet to Floor. I'm watching the second volume of Feet to Floor now. You might also want to check out my sister projects Martial History Team  and Sourcing Bru...

  2020 was not the best year for anyone, let alone for those practicing martial arts. Nevertheless, I've been summarizing my martial arts activities each year since my return in January 2016 , so why stop now? Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu I started 2020 as a fairly new blue belt , having tested at One Spirit Martial Arts (OSMA) in October 2019. I had 35 classes during the remainder of 2019 at that rank. I wrote in my 2019 Martial Arts Year in Review that "my goal is 17 classes per month, which is 204 classes per year. I expect that will translate into about 20 hours of class time per month, or 240 hours of class time per year." Before Covid-19 became a serious problem in my area, I participated in 40 BJJ classes at OSMA, with my final class occurring 11 March 2020. That was 40 classes in 70 days, and perhaps it was a bit too much. I hurt my back a few times during that period, including the last class on 11 March. Although my school continued teaching for a bit more, took a brea...

Are you a Jiu-Jitsu practitioner? Have you heard of Beltchecker ? It's a free site that seeks to provide ways for BJJ practitioners to validate their own rank, and therefore the ranks of others. I had signed up a while ago, but had not taken the steps to verify my profile. The main steps involved uploading a profile photo, uploading a photo of me with my name and Beltchecker ID number (Reddit AMA-style), and verifying my name. I chose to do the latter by donating $2 to the project, rather than uploading copies of documents. Those steps verified me as a user, but I also needed to verify my rank. Each rank requires "votes" from existing registered users. For blue belt, I needed 200 points.  Registered users can vote to endorse my rank. The number of votes they can provide is based on their own rank. For example, a black belt can offer 100 votes.  I decided I would try contacting Jeff Shaw from Bellingham BJJ , as I had attended his great online history of BJJ sessions. I a...

Hello everyone. I just wanted to post a quick note describing my goal for this site. Previously I posted information on my personal martial arts journey on a blog called Rejoining the Tao. I also created a presence called Martial Vitality, as a possible home for a future martial arts school. I had various social media accounts for both sites, which was confusing. I decided to retire the Rejoining the Tao account and content and migrate the blog posts to this site. Therefore, everything previously published on that blog is now here. I've also retired the old @rejoiningthetao Twitter account, and asked my small number of dedicated followers to move to my @martialvitality Twitter account .  I've been posting regularly to the Martial Vitality Facebook account regularly, so that will continue. I will save this site for long-form material that I want to be sure survives any issues that could arise with Facebook. On a similar note, if you're not already following my new project f...

Trump and Putin, 2018 How does a high-ranking judoka handle President Trump's handshake?  Introduction Trump and Gorsuch, 2017 I'm fascinated by how world leaders and other officials deal with President Trump's handshake. Today I saw footage from a press conference hosted by Presidents Trump and Putin in Helsinki from 2018, and I got to see how a high-ranking judoka reacts. Background Warning:  this is not a political post.  It's a post about movement, balance, and technique. If you're not familiar with President Trump's handshake style, the story Donald Trump's strange handshake style and how Justin Trudeau beat it  is a good overview. A jiu-jitsu school's technique for defeating the Trump handshake also caught the attention of Vice News . I'm going to concentrate on the standing handshake in this post.  A so-called "movement expert" claims in this  video  that Trump is showing "affection" via his handshake style. I think Mr Trum...

Travis Stevens on YouTube, https://youtu.be/xLNpi2HHPsU Travis Stevens, American judo Olympian, spent over two hours on YouTube describing how to fix the American competitive judo system. He said he has spent several years advocating these changes and pitching it to multiple audiences. This post is my attempt to summarize his main points. I thought his presentation was compelling, so I wanted to capture highlights. If you want it straight from him, please watch the video. The First Step: Startup Revenue Through Seminars The First Step The first step is to hire a coach to perform two main functions. The first is to teach judo cadets, those under age 18 years of age. The second is to have that coach teach 18 seminars per year, across the US. (That's 18 seminars, not just seminars for 18 year olds.) Figure 1 below shows the revenue that a single seminar could generate, depending on the attendance and the cost per person. Figure 2 shows shows the revenue that 18 seminars could generat...

I just watched the free online seminar by Burton and Sarah Richardson on Black Belt Magazine's Facebook channel . I've known about Burton for years and I love his approach and style. When you realize he's also a BJJ black belt, you know as a jiujitsu person you can't ignore his advice. I joined his seminar late but the material I watched involved knife defenses. Having a few years of Krav Maga Global experience, I had trained several forms of knife defense. However, I was never really comfortable with approaches like the "360" and related motions. I felt like I was not going to have a chance against anyone in a live scenario. After describing that running and compliance were the best ways to survive an encounter with a knife, Burton explained that getting two hands on the knife hand for knife control was the best physical self defense method. I agree with this. Burton demonstrated two methods to accomplish this goal. The first was the Russian tie method found...