Fiending for jiu jitsu!!!!

Now I haven't updated this blog for quite some time - nigh on four whole months - and there's numerous reasons for this - all of which relate to the epic perpetual battle between BJJ and real life.
(Broken computers, relocating, busiest time of year at work, blah, blah…excuses)

However, I’m glad to report that one of the roadblocks to my blogging has been training itself.
Having passed my driving test, after countless attempts (I drive like I grapple – eratically) I have actually been able to commit to training a little more, which has meant less time thinking about jiu jitsu and marginally more time trying to actually improve at it.

Over the last sixteen weeks or so, I feel like I have made definite and noticeable improvements in my game – so much so, that I feel I’ve entered a new stage in my Jiu Jitsu – actually recognising what I want to work for, understanding how to go about it and then achieving it

This conceptual progress, although relatively small, has helped me to improve my guard passing no-end, added a few new submissions to my arsenal and seen me able to escape from and consolidate positions with far more success than ever before.

But along with this has come an unwelcome monster – a facet of my personality that can make me irrational, selfish and a complete nuisance - the untameable and unrelenting desire to be in a gi, on a mat, all the time.

I feel as if I have begun BJJ all over again, so to speak - and to a certain extent I have.
Each new sparring session at Factory brings with it a new set of tips from coaches and team-mates, and where I would have traditionally nodded and then immediately failed to implement said hints, I now feel that I’m being given an extra piece of the ever-growing (and never-ending) puzzle – and more importantly – I can see where it fits.

That’s not to say I’m moving on in leaps and bounds – its baby steps all the way – but this gradually evolving understanding of what I’m trying to achieve has renewed the buzz that initially made me stick at Jiu Jitsu in the first place – and there’s no chance of it waning any time soon.

The art of limb control - an introduction to Invisible Game.

I am a relatively-new blue belt in BJJ, training under the grappling machine that is Factory BJJ, found in Manchester, England.

I have started this blog as a statement of my own intent to improve my functional understanding of the Rubiks Cube that is BJJ. (Adam’s marvellous metaphor, not mine.)

I make no claim to be knowledgeable about grappling in any way, but hope that this blog will serve as a record of sorts – a working notepad on which to document my problem-solving and supposed increasing understanding of grappling.

In some ways it will be my statement of intent – to get better, crack some of the aspects of BJJ that have so far eluded me, and keep track of it.

It'll be a slow process, but if you see anything you like along the way, feel free to magpie it.

I chose the name of this blog as a passing nod to the “invisible” aspects of BJJ – the subtle nuances that can make the difference between success and struggle in the grappling arts.

There are countless variations in the use of the word "invisible" in Jiu Jitsu, but most focus on what goes on during the actual act of grappling and the slight details in techniques which often cannot be seen.

However, when I use the term “Invisible Game,” I refer merely to my own definition.
On any given day this can constitute anything from my own indecision and confusion on which facets of my game need most attention (all of them, apparently) to a genuine wonderment at how simply moving my right elbow an inch to the left can be the difference between success and failure with a chosen sweep.

Add to this the toil and labour of actually making it to training while trying to resist the lures and pitfalls of real life, and you have some idea of the invisible forces which slow down many a grappler's progress (particularly mine) both on and off the mat.
Such is the world of BJJ.

This is in no way an instructional or solely helpful journal - it is as much an outlet as training itself, and as such will probably document in equal measure both my "eureka" moments in Jiu Jitsu as well as musings about the realities of trying to train as often as I'd like. I'm sure many can relate to the latter.

If you're looking for a slightly more informative outlook on the concepts underpinning the ground game, head over to Conceptual BJJ or Aesopian

When I’m not battling the elements, the public transport system or my own failing limbs in an attempt to get to training, I can be found teaching children and generally trying to impart borrowed wisdom to smaller people.

I have been training in grappling forms on and off for around three years and hope some day to be in full control of my own arms and legs, in a gi, on a mat.

Leroy.