If you’ve never seen Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, it’s a bit like what happens in a competitive amateur wrestling match, but with notably different objectives.
I know different long-form works of Twain are held in higher esteem, but I consider "Connecticut Yankee" to be a step above them. So much of the parody and satire of existing media genres owes much to his takedown of Arthuriana.
This was up there with Huck Finn for my favorite Twain books when I was growing up, and I think it's pretty much the same today. It's an incredible classic and a fantastic sci-fi cautionary tale!
Love how you combine jiu jitsu as an analogy to other things. I started training a year and a half ago and am totally obsessed and see it translate to everything.
Archimedes said, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."
Really well. I played college football and was hesitant to start training because of past shoulder injuries, but outside of a few things, nothing that’s kept me out more than 2 days. I’ve been fortunate to still have to time to lift and run outside of classes so I can stay in good shape. Considering I train 6 days a week and lift 3-4, I’ve gotten forced into a tight schedule of training and recovery which has really helped my body hold up. I’ve been a little worried about injuries, so I’m really careful about controlling the pace, tapping early and often, and knowing dangerous positions to keep me and my training partners healthy.
Excellent! There was a time when I was doing lots of double training sessions, even the occasional triple. I got very good over a decade or so of training like that, and I've got a couple other decades under my belt now with less intensive training - some due to lack of availability in the very early days, and the last decade has been a gradual slowdown. Take care of yourself and you're going to be crazy good in like a decade, like a wizard just flinging people around and stuff.
I’m obsessed and hope to train my entire life. I design a lot of my training with that in mind! The double sessions are pretty tough and I notice my shower pace the following day so I avoid those. How have your injuries been over your career? Did you compete much?
Yeah, I competed an awful lot - more than almost anybody. I've written a bit about it. Probably the 2 articles where I touch on this stuff the most are these 2:
For the last ten years or so, I've decided to start using the type of jiu jitsu I'll have to do in the future. I want to start practicing the sort of game 70-year-old Andrew will need to play, so that by the time i get there, I'll be very good at it.
I've been very, very fortunate with regard to injuries. No injury has ever taken me off the mat for more than a few days, although a few probably should have.
Thanks for sharing those articles, I’ll check them out. Really smart to start training for the future and building the skills now. Even beyond thinking about how you’ll roll in your 70’s, that style of training is much more deliberate and forgiving on your body. Plus it’s really cerebral and a good mental break from the rest of life. But that goes for jiu jitsu at any level, and why I’ve loved it!
my newly minted 9 year old just started bjj - it is infinitely harder than he ever thought it would (he does pretty well at muay thai!) but he's determined to get over the hurdles of the first few months of figuring out the tapping out, the body contortions, and steps for each move and counter-move. I'm hoping he figures it out!
i am at every class. its a kids class, probably 5/6 years to 12 years. he caught on to muay thai quickly, but bjj is a healthy challenge. he has not mastered the forward or backward shoulder rolls just yet. cartwheels are getting better (his feel are half up!), and he loved the animal drills (but hates shrimp, lol).
Yes, its a great kids program. I find parental challenges with some of the classes with more difficult kids to control (they have issue with attention, developmental, etc). Mine has adhd, but its not really an issue in class. we call these kids "the coconuts" (those kids also call themselves coconuts, lol). and they like my son a whole lot, started tackling him behind the coach's back (with hugs? very strange). not a good thing for him as they sort of glom onto him and create a huge distraction. i pulled him out of that class due to their behavior. I added bjj/muay thai instead of only muay thai. and only one coconut is in there. a little better. I gotta let them play but these classes also cost money, so its a balance.
He's gotten alot better at shrimps and does them pretty well now. I think he is starting to see how they help in bjj moves. they were leaning how to lift someone on their back to prepare to flip them over their body a few weeks ago. he was not a fan of that just yet....said it hurt his chest. ah, we'll see how this goes. hope he toughens up.
It's a journey, and there are lots of complications. Speaking from a gym owner's perspective, we try to balance those same forces you mention - cost and quality, and accessibility vs a good, disciplined experience for the kids. It's far from easy, and my hat is off to all ethical kids' BJJ coaches out there. Our folks work magic every day out there, and it is a wonderful sight to behold.
Thanks for another interesting post! However, I think I’d frame this differently. Any form of technology is intended to enable us to do things we couldn’t otherwise do. I mean technology in a very broad sense: a monkey can use a stick to reach fruit otherwise outside its reach; a person with limited mobility can use a wheelchair to get around in ways they otherwise couldn’t; you can use your laptop to write or store data or find new ideas much faster and more easily than you otherwise could. So I wouldn’t say it’s force that’s being multiplied: it’s ability or capacity.
In relation to BJJ, it seems like the multiplier is your website or the lessons your students attend. I wouldn’t call those “technologies” in the same way but it’s the knowledge or understanding that is shared that enable people to extend their abilities and do things that they otherwise couldn’t. Again, not so much force as ability or proficiency or something along those lines.
One could argue that Darth Vader was a "Force Multiplier," but that's probably not a good thing.
(See? Not all comments under your posts do something to multiply anyone's intellect or make someone smarter.)
Let's define this specific subset as a midichlorian multiplier.
I see what you're doing, and I insist that you immediately stop trying to extract any useful value from this comment thread, undermining my point!
I know different long-form works of Twain are held in higher esteem, but I consider "Connecticut Yankee" to be a step above them. So much of the parody and satire of existing media genres owes much to his takedown of Arthuriana.
This was up there with Huck Finn for my favorite Twain books when I was growing up, and I think it's pretty much the same today. It's an incredible classic and a fantastic sci-fi cautionary tale!
Love how you combine jiu jitsu as an analogy to other things. I started training a year and a half ago and am totally obsessed and see it translate to everything.
Archimedes said, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."
Congrats on starting the journey! How's your body holding up so far?
Really well. I played college football and was hesitant to start training because of past shoulder injuries, but outside of a few things, nothing that’s kept me out more than 2 days. I’ve been fortunate to still have to time to lift and run outside of classes so I can stay in good shape. Considering I train 6 days a week and lift 3-4, I’ve gotten forced into a tight schedule of training and recovery which has really helped my body hold up. I’ve been a little worried about injuries, so I’m really careful about controlling the pace, tapping early and often, and knowing dangerous positions to keep me and my training partners healthy.
Excellent! There was a time when I was doing lots of double training sessions, even the occasional triple. I got very good over a decade or so of training like that, and I've got a couple other decades under my belt now with less intensive training - some due to lack of availability in the very early days, and the last decade has been a gradual slowdown. Take care of yourself and you're going to be crazy good in like a decade, like a wizard just flinging people around and stuff.
I’m obsessed and hope to train my entire life. I design a lot of my training with that in mind! The double sessions are pretty tough and I notice my shower pace the following day so I avoid those. How have your injuries been over your career? Did you compete much?
Yeah, I competed an awful lot - more than almost anybody. I've written a bit about it. Probably the 2 articles where I touch on this stuff the most are these 2:
https://goatfury.substack.com/p/trophies-and-trinkets
and
https://goatfury.substack.com/p/10000-hours
For the last ten years or so, I've decided to start using the type of jiu jitsu I'll have to do in the future. I want to start practicing the sort of game 70-year-old Andrew will need to play, so that by the time i get there, I'll be very good at it.
I've been very, very fortunate with regard to injuries. No injury has ever taken me off the mat for more than a few days, although a few probably should have.
Thanks for sharing those articles, I’ll check them out. Really smart to start training for the future and building the skills now. Even beyond thinking about how you’ll roll in your 70’s, that style of training is much more deliberate and forgiving on your body. Plus it’s really cerebral and a good mental break from the rest of life. But that goes for jiu jitsu at any level, and why I’ve loved it!
my newly minted 9 year old just started bjj - it is infinitely harder than he ever thought it would (he does pretty well at muay thai!) but he's determined to get over the hurdles of the first few months of figuring out the tapping out, the body contortions, and steps for each move and counter-move. I'm hoping he figures it out!
Hey, that's awesome! Do you get to watch any of the classes?
i am at every class. its a kids class, probably 5/6 years to 12 years. he caught on to muay thai quickly, but bjj is a healthy challenge. he has not mastered the forward or backward shoulder rolls just yet. cartwheels are getting better (his feel are half up!), and he loved the animal drills (but hates shrimp, lol).
Ha! I bet he likes shrimps better once he's really good at them. Sounds like a very fun class with coaches who are attentive! That's huge.
Yes, its a great kids program. I find parental challenges with some of the classes with more difficult kids to control (they have issue with attention, developmental, etc). Mine has adhd, but its not really an issue in class. we call these kids "the coconuts" (those kids also call themselves coconuts, lol). and they like my son a whole lot, started tackling him behind the coach's back (with hugs? very strange). not a good thing for him as they sort of glom onto him and create a huge distraction. i pulled him out of that class due to their behavior. I added bjj/muay thai instead of only muay thai. and only one coconut is in there. a little better. I gotta let them play but these classes also cost money, so its a balance.
He's gotten alot better at shrimps and does them pretty well now. I think he is starting to see how they help in bjj moves. they were leaning how to lift someone on their back to prepare to flip them over their body a few weeks ago. he was not a fan of that just yet....said it hurt his chest. ah, we'll see how this goes. hope he toughens up.
It's a journey, and there are lots of complications. Speaking from a gym owner's perspective, we try to balance those same forces you mention - cost and quality, and accessibility vs a good, disciplined experience for the kids. It's far from easy, and my hat is off to all ethical kids' BJJ coaches out there. Our folks work magic every day out there, and it is a wonderful sight to behold.
Have you ever written about the Voynich mansuscript? I'd like to read what you have to say about it. https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2002046
No, not yet! What an interesting artifact that manuscript is.
Thanks for another interesting post! However, I think I’d frame this differently. Any form of technology is intended to enable us to do things we couldn’t otherwise do. I mean technology in a very broad sense: a monkey can use a stick to reach fruit otherwise outside its reach; a person with limited mobility can use a wheelchair to get around in ways they otherwise couldn’t; you can use your laptop to write or store data or find new ideas much faster and more easily than you otherwise could. So I wouldn’t say it’s force that’s being multiplied: it’s ability or capacity.
In relation to BJJ, it seems like the multiplier is your website or the lessons your students attend. I wouldn’t call those “technologies” in the same way but it’s the knowledge or understanding that is shared that enable people to extend their abilities and do things that they otherwise couldn’t. Again, not so much force as ability or proficiency or something along those lines.
Fair enough! I don't want to get too hung up on the language here. "Reach extenders" might be a better way to put some of these.
I've always thought the best experience for a writer is learning how to take a hit.
I know that feeling! I dunno if you've already seen this one too, but it's all about what a punch really is (and why it feels that way): https://goatfury.substack.com/p/the-anatomy-of-impact
Thanks!
I love BJJ Path. Thanks for putting in the hard work that it takes to create and maintain it, Andrew!
I'm so glad to hear it!