The Machine and the Key to Jiu Jitsu

Long Beach is fucking dope. Everywhere. Dope. It feels good to be there. Everything. Like God is smiling at you. Like you figured everything out. I don't mean that figuratively. When the weather is shit in Orange County, Long Beach shines. When LA beaches and cities are cloudy; there is a good chance Long Beach is partying in sunlight. Everyone is happy to be alive.

These are the kinds of places where Jiu Jitsu thrives, and Long Beach is where Eddie Martinez opened a Jiu Jitsu club. I met my wife at his club actually. In the early 2000's. Love at first triangle. It was so awesome. UFC fights at Brian's, and Longo d'arcing the fuck out of everyone. It hurt great. Both the neck and the liver at times, and it is where I learned the key to Jiu Jitsu.

"If you're trying hard; you're doing it wrong."

simple.

That's it. That's the secret. so simple.

But we fight that shit. Through all our training, through all our moments of understanding, we fight that shit. I think it's because of our fear.

Fear makes us panic, and panic leads to disaster. It's almost stupid to point out. We all know it, and we've all felt it. The force and the exhaustion.

It's cliché at this point, we know it's true. Yet how often do we find ourselves forcing things. Making things happen rather than letting them happen?

Be honest. All those moments that you found yourself wondering "What to do next?" Getting yourself from one trap to the next. Fucking up at every step. How often did you follow the logic? Follow the feeling?

There's no answer really. The logic leads to its own problems, and feelings do too. But the key to Jiu Jitsu is not to make things happen. It's to let things happen.

That's what Eddie said, and it made sense to me.

I would say that the Jiu Jitsu journey is defined by the understanding of this principle.

I happened to learn it as a white belt while listening to a purple belt explain the basic butterfly sweep (a move I didn't get until I reached purple belt and started actually doing what he said instead of trying to Ryu-back-throw my opponent).

Jiu Jitsu is creating the situations- where positions happen. Whether by choice or not. It is both  creating and reacting at the same time. It's weird.

The complexity of it is what draws us to it. Those that fail to see what it is- don't last. Those that accept it are put on a fascinating journey.

That day in Long Beach, Eddie explained the whole thing in such simple words. "If you're trying hard; you're doing it wrong." Of course.

That does not mean there are never situations that call for trying hard. Rather, it means that there are situations that we can create through our actions and reactions that call for trying hard to be efficient and beneficial. Afterall, if Eddie ever had the neck of his opponent in his grasp, or an opponent beginning to wilt, he absolutely tried hard to put his man away.

They called him "The Machine" once in the South Bay. One of Bob Bass's boys. He's a proud father now, but still one of Bob Bass's boys. And he taught me the key to Jiu Jitsu, and I am forever grateful.