To compete or not compete? The role competition plays in a students martial arts training.

 

     In my 28 years of teaching and training, I have come to firmly believe that competition is essential to a student's overall development on and off the mat. Competing is a unique experience that challenges students and their self-perceptions, in ways that are hard to replicate in any other setting. 

     I, like most people, was first drawn to the martial because of its self-defense aspects, I had no desire whatsoever in competing. The first person to really explain to me why I should compete and how it benefited me was my old karate instructor Sensei Tanabe. He never pushed us to compete but did encourage us to try one or two tournaments just to see what we thought. After about a year of training, I thought I would give it a try and decided to compete at the next tournament. I went out and competed in both kata and sparring and well frankly, was not feeling the who competition thing. That ended up being my first and only attempt at a karate competition and I was ok with that. 

     In 1997 I began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after seeing Royce Gracie compete at UFC I and witnessing firsthand the effectiveness of it as a self-defense system. At this point, I still wasn't a huge fan of competing and didn't see its true value. for some inexplicable reason though, I decided to compete in my very first bjj tournament after only attending 10 classes. Needless to say, the outcome was a disaster with me sustaining a serious should injury that kept me away from training for the next 2 years. After a 2 year hiatus, I returned to training having sworn off ever competing again! That lasted all of about a year when I decided to again compete. While I avoided any serious injuries in this one I did however completely freeze and go into a defensive shell the entire match. Looking back I was still haunted by the events of my first tournament and allowed those thoughts to completely overwhelm me. After that dismal showing, I didn't even entertain the idea of competing for the next 21 years.

     Fast forward 21 years to 2015, which found me still teaching and training in my beloved art of jiu-jitsu. As an instructor of my own students, I adopted a similar philosophy of competing as that of Sensei Tanabe. I never pushed my students but did however encourage them to at least try a couple for experience sake. At this point, 2 factors played a major role in my decision to give competing one last try. I began to feel like a hypocrite encouraging my students to step out of their comfort zones and compete when I wasn't. The other factor was that I had allowed fear to completely immobilize me in my last match. Again, I couldn't very well encourage my students to stand up and face their fears when I wasn't prepared to do the same!

     In 2015 I entered my first tournament in 21 years, and the first as a black belt. Because of my age, I was limited to competing in international tournaments if I wanted opponents of similar age and rank. This brought with it its own set of unique challenges. I soon found out that I would be competing against former World and Pan American champions, men who had been actively competing for many years! To my surprise the first couple of tournaments I entered I placed 2nd twice and 3rd once! I have not quite been able to match or better those results since, but I have a new found joy and appreciation for competition and hope to compete as long as I am physically able  

     Needless to say, I have fully embraced the importance of competing in my life and the lives of my students. I have learned so much about myself and what I thought to be my limitations through competition. It has been a source of some of my greatest joys and deepest heartaches. Throughout it all, I have come away with the understanding that I am far more combable and resilient than I thought possible.        

        

                                

12 Essential Questions To Ask Yourself Every Day!

     Most of us have been conditioned to think that in order for us to find the answers to our questions, be it our purpose in life, our relationships, that we must go and seek them out. The fact of the matter is, is that if we want answers to our asking questions, we must first learn to ask questions. It's not enough though, just to ask questions, they need to be the right questions, and at the right time. In fact, asking the right questions at the right time can have a profound and lasting impact on your life! Below are 12 questions to ask yourself every day to help keep you focused, on the right track, and living a life of satisfaction, purpose, and meaning.

1) Who do I spend my time with? Do they add or detract from my life, do they inspire and support you, are they a positive influence?

2) Is this under my control? Remember we can not control what goes on around us, only our own thoughts, feelings and actions Therefore only put your energy and focus into those things that you do control.

3) What does my ideal day look like? If you don't know what your ideal day looks like how can you make the decisions or plans necessary to bring that into reality

4) To be or to do? Put simply, will I chase my dreams and live my life with joy, purpose, or will I stay within my comfort zones and merely exist?

5) If I am not for me, who is? If I am only for me, who am I? It's quite natural for all of us to strive for individual accomplishments, honors, and recognitions. We must, however, balance our personal ambitions with a desire to uplift and empower those around us. We must think outside of ourselves and reach out to others.

6) What am I missing by choosing to be worried and afraid? When we choose to worry and be fearful, we must ask ourselves if we are seeing the situation clearly, and are we giving ourselves all the options needed to make good decisions. 

7) Am I doing my job? Before you do anything you must first ask yourself if you even know what your job is What were talking about here is more than what you do to earn a paycheck. Specifically, are you making the decision and taking the actions necessary to live your life with purpose and meaning. Are you supporting and empowering those closest to you and in your community? 

8) What is the most important thing? Again, with this question, you need to first define what it is that's important to you. Once you understand that, you can then see if you are structuring your life, making the decisions, and taking the action necessary to make it a priority.

9) Who is this for? For all the entrepreneurs out there making and selling something, you must know who your audience is. Once you understand this you must then you must ask yourself what is it they need and want? The last thing you must ask yourself is what is it your offering them, are you bringing value to their lives? 

10) Does this actually matter? Are you putting your focus into things that are positive, productive, that add and bring value to your life? Our time on this earth is limited so be sure to make the most of the time we have! 

11) Is this alive time or dead time? Are we sitting around waiting for life to happen or are we going out and making things happen? 

12) Is this who I want to be? Define the type of person you want to be, and the type of life you want to lead, and make sure your decisions and action align to make this a reality.                    

How Steven Segal and Royce Gracie Changed My Life

      I guess you could say growing up as a painfully shy, skinny kid, filled with large amounts of anxiety, and no self-confidence was a bit of a challenge. From the age 5, until my late teens, early 20s, I was extremely socially awkward, not at all athletic, and never stood up for myself. It probably didn't help matters that I was an only child as well. On a happier and more positive note, all of that began to change with 2 pivotal events in my life.

     There were 2 defining moments that captured my attention and thrust me headlong into my lifelong love of martial arts, and the martial arts lifestyle. The first time was in 1987 when my then-girlfriend and I rented this action movie, Above the Law, with a gentleman by the name of Steven Segal in it. Sure I had seen Enter The Dragon as a kid but the action I saw in this movie was unlike anything I had seen before! Watching Steven Segal move and control his opponents the way he did was for me something mystical, almost magical. I also loved the fact that he was extremely self-confident, stood up for what was right, and didn't back down from anyone. When I found out the art Steven Segal practiced was Aikido, I went out and tried to find a place to start training right away. When I finally found someone to train with and started talking with them I soon discovered that perhaps Aikido wasn't the art for me after all. I then decided that maybe Shotokan Karate was more up my alley so I enrolled in classes at the local Y. Thus began a 6-year journey, of study, training, and developing myself both physically and mentally. My self-confidence began to grow and as a result, I began to push myself and start to step out of my comfort zone  

     The other defining moment occurred on November 12th, 1993, and the airing of  UFC I on PPV. I must say that when I first heard of the event I, like thousands of others thought there was no way this was going to happen. There was no way I thought, that they were going to televise an event where martial artists were going to actually fight one another with no rules!!! I decided to throw caution to the wind and order my UFC I PPV. I remember sitting on the couch watching these martial artists actually fight one another using the various styles they had trained in. I was completely blown away! I couldn't believe I was able to see the various martial arts styles pitted against one another, and from that, being able to see which one was actually effective. These fights, which allowed headbutts and kicks to downed opponents were not for points but actual combat with limited rules. It's funny to look back on it now but the guys you thought were going to win and win easily, were all defeated by a skinny unassuming young man from Brazil named Royce Gracie. After watching that event it soon became clear that the style I was currently training in was not nearly as effective as I had thought. This single event changed my whole perspective of what constituted an effective self-defense system, and thus changed the very trajectory of my training and life.

     Within a few years, I had totally embraced jiu-jitsu as my art and decided to dedicate my life to studying and teaching this wonderfully effective art. One of the things that drew me to jiu-jitsu besides being so effective, was the fact that it was difficult to advance in rank. On average it takes 10 plus years to go from white to black belt, for me it was 17 years. Because of this jiu-jitsu has a high attrition rate, with only about 1% of those who start out actually make it to their black belt. Through my 24 plus years of training, I have learned an incredible amount about myself. I have learned that I am self-confident, tenacious, persistent, resilient, focused, determined, and compassionate This experience has forever changed my view of myself and my capabilites. This in turn has positively impacted every aspect of my life. 

                      

Martial Arts Mindset

 

    With the challenges of a global pandemic and divisive political climate, maintaining a positive attitude is extremely important. What then does it mean exactly to have a martial arts mindset and why is that important? A martial arts mindset is a way of thinking, of looking at the world that will help the student develop both as a martial artist and in their personal lives. Maintaining this mindset also encourages students to strengthen the relationship they have with their communities.

     In essence, a martial arts mindset is one where students are able to look at challenges, not as setbacks, but opportunities to learn and grow. This viewpoint sends a powerful message as to the importance of being optimistic and resilient. Those with a martial artist mindset have also developed the self-confidence to take on leadership roles and look to lead by example. They provide a positive and calming presence to those around them and look for solutions rather than blame.

     One who has a martial arts mindset is mindful to spend their time in positive ways, surrounded by positive people who encourage, empower, and uplift one another. They are concerned with the quality of their relationships with friends, family, and community, and look to give back and bring value to their lives. This is what it means to have a martial arts mindset.

                                                                                                                Prof Lucarelli