Toughen up folks
Blah I came away from the Abu Dhabi Trials with a really stupid injury, and it really limits what I do, and really who I am when I do bjj. I don’t believe in taking time off for silly, nagging injuries..I tend to deal, unless I can’t breath or my neck doesnt move, lol.
Someone, yesterday, said to me, “Jr you should take a week off”
My response: “HAHAHAHAHA”
It’s ok, obviously this person cares for my well being. But this is already my week off..No running no lifting just BJJ everyday..is a week off for me. People should read the book ‘Wrestling Tough’ by Mike Champman..See what kind of injuries those wrestlers have to fight through at all levels, like the Olympics, National title matches, with things like bloody matches, broken arms, severed ligaments, these guys wrestled through that. The adversity they have to overcome. It’s nuts, but its the society we live in.
Somehow someway, we should always strive to build our character in this sense. One of Dan Gable students (I will return with the full info), was a phenom his freshman and sophmore year, winning National Titles. His Junior year he ran into a guy named, Mike Mann (I will come back and fix the names, but his last name was Mann) from Iowa State, beat the kid from Iowa in the regular season and for the National Title. They thought this kid was done and that the kid from Iowa State had the kids number.
The Kid asked Gable what do I have to do to be a National champ. Gables response was simple, add an extra practice. Mind you, they were already training 2 times a day, GRUELING PRACRTICES at 7AM and again at 12PM and the afternoon was for resting. So naturally the kid said, ok, what time. Gable had this kid in at 5 in the morning to work. The point of this practice, was not only to drill the move that would eventually win him a national title, but to build character, a toughness.
How can I cry about a nagging injury, stay out of practice? When I want to be the very best, and from what I read out at Iowa, the best train in the most adverse conditions.
Moral of the story, I look to improve on my character when I train.
Paying the price
Everything has a price tag. What does being good, great, the best in the world mean to you? What price would you put on that? The following excerpts are the most most motivating reads. The bar is set so high. Check it out,
An excerpt from Wrestling Tough by Mike Chapman.
“I can pay the price” to be great, say millions of athletes. What they really mean to say is, “I can pay a certain price, but don’t ask me to go beyond what I think I am capable of doing.” Ninety-nine percent of athletes will come up toa line in the sand and halt. Once a person has entered into the pain threshold of severe training, he or she, naturally tends to shut down.
“OK, that’s it,” is what most of us tell ourselves. “I’m hurting, I’ve worked hard enough and put in enough hours. I’ve paid the price.” At that point, however we are just knocking on the door of paying the price.
Its hard to even begin to quantify the words Paying the Price. But for me it means, I am not working as hard I can everyday. I am beaten up in sparring, beating myself up in the gym 4 times a week. Drilling almost everyday (or when I can). Is that enough? Is waking up at 8am to get to Next Level to do S&C then straight to BJJ right after, then another bjj session at night, is that enough? I don’t feel it is enough at all. Keep reading.
“Coaches would always come to Iowa to try and figure out what Gable did differently, what his secret to success was. It was hard work,” said Troy Steiner, NCAA champion and four-time All-American during his Hawkeye days. “But, like Gable always said, most people do not know what hard work is.”
“Most people do not know what hard work is.” To answer my own question. Do I really know what hard work is?
My favorite story so far from Wrestling Tough.
One athlete who does [understand what paying the price] is Ed Banach.[…] After a red shirt year, Ed captured two straight NCAA titles at 177 pounds. Going for a third, he was defeated by Mark Shultz of Oklahoma in one of the greatest showdowns in American wrestling history. In his senior year, 1983, Banach moved up to 190 pounds and ran into Mike Mann of Iowa State, a tough and talented three time All-American who was determined to claim his first NCAA championship in his final shot. In their first two meetings of their final season, Mann scored decisive victories over Banach. It looked to some as if Ed was destined to close out his career with straight misses after claiming national crowns as a freshman and sophomore.
“It was after I lost to Mann in the dual meet in January by a 13-8 score,” recounted Banach in 2004. “I went up to Gable and said, ’ Coach, what do I need to do to win nationals?’ I was willing to do about anything. […] The Hawkeyes were already holding two punishing workouts per day leading up to the NCAA championships. What gable proposed to Banach was a third grueling workout. Banach’s first thought was natural: “When?” The Hawkeyes were already working out at 7 in the morning and in the late afternon, and recovery time was required for such taxing workouts. Gable’s answer was to meet in the wrestling room at 5 a.m.!
[…] “Gable wanted me in the room at 5 a.m., dressed and ready to go,” said Banach. “We did it three times a week. After it was over, I would go to a small trainer’s room at the back of the wrestling room and take a nap before the 7 a.m. practice.”
[…] While most of the city of Iowa was fast asleep, a small and determined band of wrestlers was paying a huge extra price to try to achieve their lofty goals.
[…] It was an incredible commitment by coach and athlete; how many other coaches and athletes would be willing to pay such a price? When the NCAA tournament rolled around in Oklahoma City, Ed Banach and Mike Mann both made it to the finals. Then, in an incredibly tense, hard-fought battle, Banach scored the only takedown of the championship match […] for a stunning 4-3 triumph and his third NCAA title.
We can all learn to be just even .05% tougher, just by taking something like this in. I am still learning and know and I feel I am still unsure of what true hard work is. But I will continue to kill myself in training to find out what that is.
This is what I want to emulate in my training. I am not going to be wrestler boy, but in my training, in my mental training, I will try to be even harder.
Like the theme goes: ”Most people do not know what hard work is.” I have much to find out.
I want to be a Purple Belt World Champion in 2011!
Now I’m off to move a mountain. Happy training!
Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.
— Dan Gable
Faixa Roxa…Ossssss
- Take down the wrestlers.
Before I forget, i want to thank everyone whos ever trained with me, from California, to Maryland, to Massechusetts, New York, I wouldnt be who I am were it not for your rolls. More over I want to thank the guys who train with me every single day at Tim Burrill’s BJJ in Providence, Rhode Island, and more important Dan “Micro” Faggell whos helped me so much with the thinking of jiu jitsu and just being one of the most dedicated grapplers I have ever met, Dustin Rhodes i hate you =), Paulo and Vinny for being the core group of guys in my class always helping me prepare for tournaments, my instructors Daymon Smith who continues to be a bar i keep reaching for in terms of giving abuse hahaha, Mat Santos always helping me whenever i asked and of course Tim Burrill for being a great mentor, coach and friend for trusting me to be the rank of purple belt. If this thank paragraph did not make sense, thank you too. I am very happy right now. =D Ossssss!!!!
CUDDLE FUDDLE customized by Paulo Canabarro
