I've been struggling seriously with motivation of late. Since I switched schools I've found my desire to go to class to be lacking. More than that, I've had trouble getting excited about jiu jitsu period. Normally I'm nearly always watching videos, reading articles, writing stuff down as I think of it throughout the day. Not so for the last few weeks. The times I've gone to practice I've felt bored (yes, even while rolling) and the thought of watching or reading anything jiu jitsu related hasn't whet my appetite as it usually does.
I'm inclined to think that this is in large part because I've come a looong way toward meeting a lot of my short term training goals. For instance, guard passing was my project this summer and I've been met with huge success in that department. Whereas guard passing used to be a scramble, I'm now at a place where I'm pressure passing most blue belts and one or two purples with relative ease and composure.
Although this has been extremely rewarding, it's left me in a place where I find myself asking "now what?" I realize that I have tons more to learn about the subject, but I'm at a place where I think I need to move on to something else. This is difficult because it means I need to find something else I'm bad at and take it on, which is a daunting prospect since it means "losing," and as much as I like to pretend that I have no ego attachment to how I do in sparring, I'm just not there yet. I get cranky when my game doesn't work.
Fortunately, two things have recently come along that have resparked my love of the game. First, I've been drilling on Thursdays with one of my training partners at my old school. Mostly, I've been working a lot on de la riva and last night something clicked. I haven't had a moment like that in a few months and it made me very hungry for more. I'm going to make de la riva my project for the next few months (I'll add a longer list at the end).
I also saw a video by Graugart (my hero) in his Flighthours series. It's incredible to see how good he's gotten since he posted his first one, and it inspired me a great deal.
So, here's what I'm working on for the next few months:
-Classic de la riva sweep & taking the back
-Bow & Arrow choke from the back
-Basic closed guard posture (bottom)
-KOB top game fluidity
