If you've been following this blog(If you haven't been you should be, go ahead click the follow button over to the right) you'd know that I have cerebral palsy. I've never really explained what that is so here we go.
Cerebral Palsy:
A condition caused by a blood leak and/or water on the brain, in the cerebellum(hence the name cerebral) at birth which adversely affects the nervous system, muscular systems, and motor skills (Note: Not a dictionary definition)
Since the cerebellum is injured in this process the nervous system and motor skills are adversely affected. Cerebral palsy can affect multiple regions of the body; for me, it affects my lower body mobility and makes my right side weaker than my left.
However, that's not what this post is about I also have a condition called scoliosis, which is a curvature of the spine. This is the condition that affects my BJJ the most why you ask? Balance. My body tilts to the right and has pulled everything out of line and my posture muscles have weakened to the point where my pelvis is uneven and it actually hurts to sit up straight for an extended period of time. Needless to say, passing is the weakest part of my game. I HATE PASSING GUARD especially guards attack my balance outright or guards that keep me away and by extension force me to sit up. For this reason I hate my weight class(featherweight/light featherweight), everyone pulls guard what this means is I must work on guard prevention and smash/pressure passes. If he can't establish a guard I can simply shuck his legs out of the way and if he's uncomfortable he'll let me pass. I say this to say use your body's attributes to your advantage. When I first BJJ back in 2005 I wanted to be a guard player when I took my intro class at Lloyd Irvin and we worked the guillotine from closed guard it became painfully(and I mean that literally) obvious that guard in a traditional since was impossible. I left Lloyd in early 2006 and started with Maguilla in Nov. 2008 and went all the belts up to now(purple) with Maguilla. With Maguilla I learned to escape side control and retain guard, not that I didn't "know" it but I'd never actually done it before. This taught me one thing: Bio-mechanics are EVERYTHING. Don't make your body do something it won't naturally do. I can get to and play guard now but it's a scramble position for me I use it so I don't end up in a position worse than guard.
The message of this post is use your body as it was designed. Just because Roger and Marcelo do it doesn't mean you should. That's why the best are the best they find moves that work for their bodies, drill them into the ground, and dig them up then drill them some more.
Cerebral Palsy:
A condition caused by a blood leak and/or water on the brain, in the cerebellum(hence the name cerebral) at birth which adversely affects the nervous system, muscular systems, and motor skills (Note: Not a dictionary definition)
Since the cerebellum is injured in this process the nervous system and motor skills are adversely affected. Cerebral palsy can affect multiple regions of the body; for me, it affects my lower body mobility and makes my right side weaker than my left.
However, that's not what this post is about I also have a condition called scoliosis, which is a curvature of the spine. This is the condition that affects my BJJ the most why you ask? Balance. My body tilts to the right and has pulled everything out of line and my posture muscles have weakened to the point where my pelvis is uneven and it actually hurts to sit up straight for an extended period of time. Needless to say, passing is the weakest part of my game. I HATE PASSING GUARD especially guards attack my balance outright or guards that keep me away and by extension force me to sit up. For this reason I hate my weight class(featherweight/light featherweight), everyone pulls guard what this means is I must work on guard prevention and smash/pressure passes. If he can't establish a guard I can simply shuck his legs out of the way and if he's uncomfortable he'll let me pass. I say this to say use your body's attributes to your advantage. When I first BJJ back in 2005 I wanted to be a guard player when I took my intro class at Lloyd Irvin and we worked the guillotine from closed guard it became painfully(and I mean that literally) obvious that guard in a traditional since was impossible. I left Lloyd in early 2006 and started with Maguilla in Nov. 2008 and went all the belts up to now(purple) with Maguilla. With Maguilla I learned to escape side control and retain guard, not that I didn't "know" it but I'd never actually done it before. This taught me one thing: Bio-mechanics are EVERYTHING. Don't make your body do something it won't naturally do. I can get to and play guard now but it's a scramble position for me I use it so I don't end up in a position worse than guard.
The message of this post is use your body as it was designed. Just because Roger and Marcelo do it doesn't mean you should. That's why the best are the best they find moves that work for their bodies, drill them into the ground, and dig them up then drill them some more.
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