Video Friday: A Treat For Fans Of Jiu Jitsu

Posted by Peter James | Posted in Balanced Life, Mixed Martial Arts Development | Posted on 27-02-2009

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 ….from Reimagine New Media on Vimeo

Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Friday is Video Day. If the video will not play, click here

For Video Friday, I wanted to put up something for all the Yin Yang fans that love Jiu Jitsu. I was lucky to get Brian Katz, the Instructor/Owner of Advanced Martial Arts, and current Royler Gracie Brown Belt to agree to do the video. I am working on getting Brian to do this on a regular basis, but we will see.

Brian is going to take you through all the steps to properly apply the Peruvian Neck Tie, and the transition to the Head & Arm Guillotine. It is very detailed and great instruction (I even learned some details myself). So for all you BJJ & MMA practitioners, here is a little treat from Yin Vs Yang.

Enjoy!!!

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What Does it Mean to Be Great?

Posted by Peter James | Posted in Balanced Life, Mixed Martial Arts Development | Posted on 23-02-2009

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MMA Fighter Ricardo Romero

Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Monday is personal development through Jiu Jitsu…

This past Friday, I spent the day in Atlantic City. After a crazy 2 hour ride through the Pine Barrens (literally through them) we finally made it. I was there to corner my friend who I train with, Ricardo Romero. He was fighting for a title shot at Louis Neglia’s Ring of Combat, a professional Mixed Martial Arts Organization, like a smaller UFC.

In fact, I saw UFC fighters Gabriel Gonzaga, Dan Miller, Nick Serra, Pete Sell, Dante Rivera, and a host of others as I always do. Each time we go down, I learn more and more about the sport just from watching the way these professionals handle themself. I am lucky enough to train with someone of Ricardo’s caliber, and it has been a great ride since he walked into our gym.

This weekend though, I saw my friend evolve. In my opinion, he went from being a talented fighter, to being great. It made me think for a minute. What does it mean to be great? After watching Ricardo’s second round Rear Naked choke of his opponent, I knew exactly what it meant. But first, let’s look at the journey to get there.

The Road to Greatness

Ricardo has been wrestling since high school. He was a star D1 wrestler at Rutgers University, and like most athletes, he kept training after his career ended. That led him to our gym, and he picked up BJJ, Muay Thai, and MMA, as quick as anyone I have ever seen. Of course, the fact he is a 220 pound athletic specimen with a long history of ground fighting also helps slightly. ;)

However,in my opinion, even with all this talent, it took almost 2 years of fighting for Ric to become great. He is 6-0 now, with 1 DQ.  The DQ was because as he knocked his opponent out, he through a kick that hit his neck when he fell. He immediately grabbed his head like ‘why did I do that‘ before the ref even realized, but it was too late. The punch had knocked the fighter out, and he could not continue. Because of the kick to the neck, Ric was Disqualified. Therefore, he had to lose the title, and now he was fighting for his chance to reclaim it.

Learning and Evolving

I can not be sure, but I think that DQ really changed Ric’s attitude. He came into that fight too laid back, had a chance to finish it early but let it go. Then one punch to his face, and he got beat up for the next two rounds before he suddenly woke up out of his funk. It was then he threw a vicious overhand right that knocked out his opponent. However, he should have never even been in that position. He was better than that.

When you fight, it is a tough balance. You have to be calm, cool, and collected while your heart, mind, and body are going a million miles/hour. If you are too calm, you will not be aggressive enough. If you are too aggressive, you will lose all your wind too quickly, and be easy to gameplan against. You have to be somewhere in the middle. The great fighters all come out like its a day at the park. There is not too much emotion. Just a look of pure focus.

Becoming Great

Becoming great is something we all dream about. No matter if you are a fighter, a writer, or a teacher, we all want to be great at what we do. Ric has always been great. Everyone knew he could be this good. When he turns it on, there are not many who can hang with his pace. However, until this past weekend, I don’t think Ric knew it.

Sure, he knows how good he can be, and he is a relentless worker, but when you fight, the real battle is inside your head. Getting in the cage is easy. Getting to the cage in the proper frame of mind, and in the right condition, is the real battle. You have to train everyday, eat right, cut weight, travel, and then when it is time, you have to be able to bring your A game. It takes some time to get used to the whole thing, both physically and mentally.

This past weekend, Ric knew everything he wanted to do down to the minute. As we were watching the earlier fights, I kept asking him, are we going to warm up now? ‘No.’ My Instructor Brian Katz, who owns Advanced Martial Arts, kept telling him, we have to go warm up. ‘Nope, not yet’ he said. About the 9th fight, I want to go down. We didn’t agree, but okay. Whatever you say.

After the 9th fight, we went down, got his hands wrapped and signed, and began warming up. Ric was as calm and focused as I have ever seen him. He hit the pads nice and easy, warming up his body, and getting loose. Then, finally right before we were about to go to the on-deck area, he began really banging.

At the on-deck area, he continued warming up nice and easy. I got him his energy drink, which he knew exactly when he wanted to drink it. He had a plan, and no one could convince him other wise. From my perspective, another way of putting it was he was in the zone.

Accomplishing Great Things

Then came fight time. We were fighting a fighter we had become friendly with over the course of Ric’s career. He is a smart fighter, not nearly as talented as Ric, but definitely dangerous. If Ric has a weak spot, it would be his stand up. Not because he is bad at it, but just because he is so good on the ground it does not compare.

His opponent’s plan was to stand with him. As soon as the fight began though, it was all Ric’s world. He moved with the perfect blend of agression and calmness. No matter what his opponent tried to do, it was unsuccessful. Ric owned the cage. He didn’t just beat up his man. He completely shut him down. Every fighter gets beat up now and again. It comes with the territory, so it is not really a big deal. But when someone is just better than you technically in every aspect of a fight, it can be really frustrating. You feel helpless. How do you attack someone who seems invincible?

After the opponent tapped out right in front of us, we all jumped up for joy. I pumped my fist, cause I was in amazement. If Ric was a painter, this fight would be his masterpiece. He had really evolved.

That’s when it dawned on me. Ric had become a great fighter. Not cause he won. Not cause he did so well. Not even cause he finally put it all together. No, Ric became great way before this fight. It just took this fight for us to see it. Ric became great for one reason…

He believed it himself.

Believing In Your Self

What does it mean to be great? It means to believe you are, without any hint of doubt at all. There is no easy way to do this. It is something you have to work very hard to achieve. No other sport is this more apparent then Mixed Martial Arts, where it is you, your opponent, the cage, and the unexpected. 

How could I tell Ric believed he was great? This was the first time that Ric told us what to do. Throughout the night, he made comments about things he knew better now. For instance, he knew when he wanted to warm up & when he wanted to drink his energy drink. He mentioned that he wanted to try and come out more aggressive this fight. He talked about the changes he made this time around and that is proof of his evolution.

Why would a fighter want to come out more aggressive? They do because they believe more in them self. The fear of losing is a battle in itself for a fighter. No one wants to lose. However, if you fight not to lose, chances are, you will. That is the balance, or the yin and the yang, if you will. When Ric mentioned he planned to be more aggressive, I knew he was ready. He knew he was going to win. I could tell he was visualizing not only winning, but destroying his opponent.

The Key to Achieving Great Things

No matter what you do, becoming great at it is always the goal. The question is, do you become great after you do great things, or before? I believe it is before. To become great, you have to push yourself to evolve. It all starts with your mindset. Answer these questions in your head before reading on…

  1. What do you want to be great at?
  2. Do you really believe you can be great?
  3. How do you define being great?
  4. Does it matter if others recognize your greatness?

#1 is your preference. I’m sure everyone said ‘yes’ to #2. Number 3 has no right answer. Whatever you define it as is what it is. Just make sure you have some idea of a definition of greatness. As for #4, I think the answer should be no. Some may believe it is motivating to get recognition, but I believe it is distracting. Being great at something means your entire focus is on it. If you are worried about the crowd, or what your friends may say, then how can you focus on your goal?

Sometimes it takes witnessing other’s greatness to push you towards your own. Ric’s performance was inspirational. It showed proof in the fact that if you work very hard, and believe in yourself, you can become anything you want in life.

In the comments, tell me….how do you define being great?

I’ll go first…

To me, Greatness is defined by your focus. Once you become great, you have to maintain that focus each and every time in order to stay great. In order for me to be great, I must be focused on my goal and in my belief in myself. If those are equally balanced, then I can achieve anything I imagine.

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Entrepreneurs: Is it All Really Worth it?

Posted by Peter James | Posted in Balanced Life, Learning Off Experience | Posted on 09-07-2008

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Sun showers are a happy sight when you are in the clouds!Things are getting rough.  This past week has been a nightmare financially.  Back in June, when I did my first commercial pro-bono with the hope of getting more work from it, I knew it would effect the upcoming month.  However, when you take a month a ‘free’ project, it can have a negative outcome on your finances.

So was it all worth it?

Isn’t that what I’ve been writing about these past months? How following your dreams is worth it.  How no matter what anyone else says, just follow your heart.  I have been riding the happy bus for 3 months now, giving every reason imaginable for readers to be inspired to follow their own dreams.  Now things look cloudier than ever.

When weeks like this happen, you question if it is all worth it.  Would it have been easier for me to just get a job?  Maybe I could just build my dream company on the side, after working all week to pay my monthly bills.  Maybe my first commitment should be to my bills, and my 2nd to my dreams.  It definitely seems like the right choice when all my bills are coming due and my bank account looks like a goose egg collection.

One thing about me, though.  I don’t fold easily and neither should you.

I am definitely the type of person who sticks to my guns if I believe in anything with all my heart.  And I still do believe.  This is all part of the journey.  Unpaid bills, debt, stress, and hope are a major part of any entrepreneur’s start.  Why should I be different?

Well, yesterday, all of a sudden some sunlight started to peek through the rain.  Brian Katz, who we did the ‘free’ commercial for, called me up.  It seems not one, but two other Jiu Jitsu schools he is associated with would like to get commercials.  This would give us a total of 3 commercials in 3 sections of NJ, all in MMA / Jiu Jitsu.  Not only that, but I learned there are 50 other schools in the network of Brian’s school.  All may be interested after I get these two done.

All it took was one phone call to brighten things up.

My company has been struggling to get the word out as much as possible. We have been promoting, building, re-building, organizing, and proceeding with an unprecedented determination.  Yet, it had been fruitless until now.  This is the start we were hoping for.

Not only that, but my website business picked up a few new clients as well.  So now, at least for the moment, we get a sunshower in our forecast.  Oh well, one day, if I’m right, the rain will clear, and I will be vouching instead of preaching how my theories work.

Guess you will have to read on to find out!