A Christmas Message From Wave (and Lorenzo)

Merry Christmas to you all, it has been up there with the most challenging years of my life and possibly yours, we have had everything we knew twisted upside down and shaken around. Some of us got ill, others had financial troubles and we all learned what was important to us and how to deal with some the worst times, even if these were more humdrum than we expected. 

In other ways it was a good year, we got to focus on some of what was important, our families, our true friends and the simple pleasures. We had to be more introspective and push forward in different ways. We managed to train more than we thought but did a lot less of the things we wanted. When we met up with each other it was more special than it was and we made the most of it. 

I just want to say how lucky I am and how much I appreciate you all for your friendship, for training with you and your support in all ways. This year has been a seesaw of emotions and I can’t thank you all enough for evening out the lows and bringing the highs. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

If you are ever in need of anything, or have any ideas of what you want from Wave or myself, please do not hesitate to ask, I promise to always do my best and push through myself to get it done. 

In 2021 I hope for a way out of all this so I can see the people that have stayed away. I want us all to train and achieve the successes I know we can achieve, in BJJ and in our lives. We are a diverse and amazing mix of people and we can support each other with anything we want to achieve, we take positive risks and work hard and enjoy life to the fullest. Here’s to a great Christmas and as soon as we can the happiest of New Years in 2021.

5 Tips for lock down motivation

We really are living through a historical moment. It’s extreme but it can be a moment to get some things you wouldn’t have had the chance to do done. Although if you are fundamentally lazy like I am this can be a challenge. I have managed to do a lot more than I thought I would by remembering that I am the way I am and I accept that, but you and I can both work around these laziness blocks that get in the way.

I like to use the tools out there to make it easier. It’s fun knowing how to do everything yourself but you only have so much attention space and we want to get working on our big goals

1. “Discipline equals freedom!”

As Jocko Willink says with the title of his book discipline is freedom, what does this mean for a lazy person? First of all be honest. If you have to get up at 5am to workout and you go to bed at 1/2 in the morning after a heavy night of Apex Legends, this isn’t going to be sustainable. Get up early, but be realistic, 8/9 is good 7 is great, anything after 10 might mean you need some kind of help with your PS4 addiction. Get up at a reasonable time and have three things you do straight away. Mine are:

1. meditation

2. journal

3. exercise

4. Read

5. BJJ

I don’t pressure myself into a ridiculous regime of these, all of these can just be 5 mins or less each so 25mins in total (usually I end up doing way more than this 5 mins, but if my goal is super short and easy, then my lazy mind doesn’t get scared of starting to do it). Also keep it fun and simple. 

Meditation

For meditation you can download a free app like Oak https://www.oakmeditation.com if you have an AppleWatch you can use the breath app for a couple of minutes, or you can use Headspace which I like as it guides you through different options. click here for headspace

Again, no pressure at all with this, just sit and try and do it for as long or little as you want. It is both super hard and super easy.

Journal

I use the Best Self Journal, I like writing with a pen because I am a masochist, as I have terrible handwriting that sometimes even I can’t read, but I think it’s getting better. you can download a free pdf version here or buy yourself a journal here it combines gratitude journaling, goal setting and a diary to help you get over yourself and get things done. It has been good for keeping me moving in the right direction and sharpening my goal setting. It is hard to set up but once you decide on your goals it takes 5 mins a day. I use it in the morning and evening.

Exercise

This one is the most important out of the three, I find that when I don’t do this I might as well not do anything else. Again keep it fun and simple, I love BJJ but hate gym work and exercise, I have learnt to get over myself and do HIIT classes, but they have to be varied as hell and challenging enough to push me but not crazy hard to follow. Options for this:

• Got a kettlebell? Swing it 100 times a day, I started with this one, it’s quick and if you do it right, it covers a lot of areas. Here is a video on how to do this by TIm Ferriss, it’s the video I used when I first did these. Can’t do 100? do 50 not less, and start with a 16kg kettlebell, 12kg is pointless, if you can lift it with your arms easily, why bother using your hips?

• Do 100 push ups, you can do it! Shouldn’t take long and you will feel better.

• Plank for as long as you can. 

• Do an online live class… oh wait! We have those :) here is a free week of Wave Online push the button below. Or here is a free video of Ian’s conditioning class, it’s 30 minutes, do it! You will thank me :)

So many options here that will help you. Again start slow and make it fun. 

Read

This is one I am catching up with, I gave myself a goal of one a week, but now it’s one every two weeks, a lot easier to stick too and I still end up basically doing one a week. I like self help and business books. I am going to also write a cheat sheet of each book, and send it out every couple of weeks. More for me, but if it gets you interested in the book, all the better. I recommend turning off your phone and trying to focus on reading a book. It is great for the mind really. All those cliches are true.

Here is my first cheat sheet

BJJ

Well this is a BJJ website so this has to be one of my daily rituals. I either watch and instructional and take notes, or try sh*t out on my girlfriend, or I count my BJJ drills class on Wave Online that I teach three times a week

2. Stay connected with friends and family

Are you at home alone? I think this is the time you need to reconnect with friends, old friends and make new friends. The good thing about having a BJJ club to train at is that we get pretty close and make good friendships that last, but if you aren’t a member of a club there are plenty of other options. With apps like House Party and Zoom there are lots of events out there you can join. 

We have Conversations with Larry on Friday’s at 18:30 for that reason. We have guests, games, even mini adventures like the time we went to a farm in California. You can join us every Friday registration is free through the website www.wavebjjonline.com, just click on the link in the timetable. Everyone is welcome, just be prepared for the occasional conspiracy theory :)

Or you can contact us, we are here for you for a chat. Send me a message anywhere and I will answer. You have support.

3. Create some goals that you want to achieve.

What do you want to do? What big goals do you have? What will you lose trying to get them working?

One thing that I have learned is that goals are great for getting you to do stuff, then a lot of the time they create new goals as you go towards the goal you originally wanted to achieve. 

Not hitting the initial goal is not a bad thing, our goals and ideas are usually very simply painted out in our minds and as we work towards them, we realise the other skills we need to develop to make them a reality. One of mine is improving my writing, hence this blog post.

When I started my gym I had grand ideas of getting my own space straight away and having this huge mat area with a smoothy bar and gym area. This would have crushed me and before I did any of that, I had to test my ideas in a low risk setting. I had to be realistic in terms of where I was and take a few steps back from the big huge gym. This was the best decision I made and this more flexible thinking has been useful in every goal I make. 

Flexible thinking also helped me during this lockdown. As soon as I knew we would have to close the gym I started thinking about all the issues this would cause and try and mitigate these. I didn’t get emotional (well not fully true, but mainly true). I stepped back and looked at the best and worst outcome and planned for those. 

This is not easy to do, it took me a long time to get to this point. I just want to let you know that it’s ok and you can get through things, it doesn’t mean your goal was wrong, but your plan might not have been fully developed yet, and you need to be flexible and not push through with ideas that aren’t working.

Set a big goal, then dump a lot of ideas for this goal on paper, any idea no matter how far fetched, get it out of your head onto paper. Also right down, what steps you need to do to get there from where you are. 

If you don’t have any ideas, write 10 ideas down a day, here are a few I just thought of

• Write a guide to different routines for training, productivity and BJJ

• Write down an idea for a habit tracking app that is more than just ticking boxes to say you have done the habit you wanted.

• Create a digital services website using all the skills I have picked up but with clear packages that are easier to understand for others (have looked at a lot of digital companies and i don’t know how effective they will be or what they will actually do for me).

Just think of problems you come across, you can even start with a list of problems then think of easy solutions for those and there you go. Ideas you can work with :)

4. Daydream lots

I naturally day dream more than I focus. I am trying to sway this balance, but daydreaming shouldn’t be underestimated. I wouldn’t have my gym without daydreaming. 

When I worked in the office doing my boring job that had a lot of tasks I could do in my sleep, this gave me the attentional space to dream about other ideas. I used to do my work then if a new idea came up, I would open a word document and write it down and try and plan it out for real. (I really hated my job it seems :) ). Usually they made no sense, but I was putting together all the blocks I needed for doing another job, I didn’t even imagine opening my own gym at the start. 

If you are daydreaming and get an idea, write it down. Again doesn’t matter how far fetched. The more ideas you have the better they will get and the worst case is your imagination creates some cool fantasies, if they are conspiracy based, that’s cool, just keep them to yourself.

5. Go easy on yourself

This whole lockdown will cause a lot of stress, hopefully not too much suffering, but it won’t be easy. If anything, it can be a time to chill for longer than we are normally allowed to.

You can catch up on all your films, books, games and whatever else, and that’s perfectly fine.

If you can chill, enjoy this time, go for walks, chat to friends and let yourself be, this might be the best thing any of us can do right now. Just go with the flow and let yourself be.

If you manage to do some of the above then that’s great too :)

Conclusion

Do what you can, at the beginning it’s all hard, we are entering a new time with lots of different challenges. Some of us have issues at home or work to deal with, but even with the challenges the more you can do with enjoyment and a clear mind the faster you can come out of this whole thing with a positive new perspective.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Feel free to share it or sign up to our newsletter at the link below for more posts and freebies.

Book Cheatsheet: Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey

I am going to make this a quick cheat sheet for how to Hyperfocus (basically get in the zone for work or anything). The book is great and goes into a lot of great detail. It repeats itself a little, but explains itself well enough that it is worth a read. You can get it on amazon at the link below.

The basic idea of this book is that we have two modes that we need to harness to become more productive, these are Hyperfocus and Scatterfocus. Both are valuable tools, Hyperfocus helps you complete complex tasks, have meaningful meetings with friends and family and work on habitual tasks productively, whereas Scatterfocus helps with creativity, new ideas and giving solutions that are non linear to complex problems. 

Hyperfocus is the mode where we focus on one task with intention and avoid all distractions that may get in the way of this. It is a bit like being in the zone while playing a sport or a state of meditation where we have one focus and let all others go while focusing on the task at hand. We use this mainly for complex tasks that take up more energy. Here are the 5 things you can do to get into Hyperfocus mode to get things done faster and using less energy than you would otherwise.

1. Avoid distractions

Set up your space and phone using the below pointers.

• Reading this on your phone? That is your biggest distraction right there! I know this all too well, ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that guy spends all the time in the world on his phone. Set up your phone with the below and then stick it in another room. (Well after reading this of course.

• Turn off all the non essential notifications, essential being messages from your partner, urgent calendar appointments alarms, and those are pretty much all you need.

• Delete all distracting apps from your phone, these include all social media apps including messaging apps (unless you need them for work, then just turn off notifications for these). All news apps, and finally and most shockingly... email!!! That’s right, it’s going. 

• Look around you, are there things that distract you in the room? A toy you fiddle with (although not always a bad thing if it is easy to fiddle). Is it noisy? Write a list of all the things that distract you in your environment. Then write down all the thoughts that distract you so you can clear out your brain of things that are in your attentional space, you should do this regularly, it also means you won’t forget any good ideas or important things on your mind. 

2. Question what you are doing and choose to do it actively

Is reading this valuable to you or helping you improve? Do things with intention and consciously, don’t read on autopilot, it’s a waste of time and you won’t remember what you are doing or why you started. 

Do things that matter to you, with intent. Even if it’s watching a comedy. Make it the centre of your attention. Do it actively, reading a book? Highlight the juicy parts. Working on a complex task? Make sure you got rid of the distractions in point 1 above, it’s something you can do with intent and you do it actively.

3. Consume caffeine

Probably my favourite tip from this book, drink coffee to improve focus. If you are doing something that requires focus then do it with coffee (just as I wrote that I took a sip of cold disgusting coffee from the coffee I made this morning and left on my desk, hey it still works).

Coffee improves cognitive performance and even in some studies physical performance. If you drink it 10 hours before you intend to sleep, it shouldn’t affect your sleep either.

4. If your mind starts wondering take a break

If you are doing something and your mind wonders, that’s cool. Take a break. Some tasks we can focus on for ages, other tasks might be more taxing, take a break. You can set a timer and say focus for 15 or 25 mins then take a 5 min break and go for a little walk or chat to a friend. Then get back to work. 

5. Set yourself distraction time

Life isn’t all work, and distractions are fun for a reason. Set up time in the day to indulge in these distractions. Surf the internet for hours looking for your dream house, slide through instagram without a care in the world. There is a reason we like doing this, don’t be a self hater for wanting to do all these indulgent things, just focus when you need to.

Wave needs your support

First of all we would like to offer our biggest thank you to all our students who have continued to support more than we could have expected. This has not gone unnoticed and has made us strive to come back even stronger.

During these challenging times we understand that everyone is struggling. We all need some support, this can be financial but mostly we all need a community to help us through,. This will be a big part of our return from what is happening now to the new world.

When WaveBJJ was created, it was created mainly as a place for community and sharing a passion for BJJ. We have always aimed to be about our students.

A lot of changes are coming.

We have learnt a lot over the last 7 years and with that the Lockdown has given us a chance to reflect and work on the things that could be better. Below are some of the changes coming

• Gym renovations

  • New bigger mats

  • Freshly painted

  • Creating a shop and chill out area at the front

  • A water fountain

  • Ventilation

• Class structure

  • A set beginner curriculum repeating every three months

  • A whole new timetable with at least 3 nogi classes a week, expanding to 5 nogi classes a week once we get back to full steam with student numbers

  • Weekly briefing blog post with videos going over what will be taught

  • Change up for the warm up in the advance class with a movement based approach

• Community

  • More club events including climbing, go-karting and other team building events.

  • More team competitions with more focus on this than ever before.

  • More networking options to make the most of the talented students we have in. BJJ, training, education and work. We are more than a BJJ club, we are the sum of all our students and their individual accomplishments

To accomplish more we need your help

We want to hit the ground running. Yes the world is going to be very different, but we want to come back stronger and help you get stronger and overcome any issues you will face. Times will be tough but we all want to hurry up and get things back to better than when we went into the lockdown.

How can you help?

We need financial support to help our instructors when we return, to make sure we can add more classes for them. Below are ways you can help.

1. Join one of our existing memberships now at the link below using discount code “CORONA” to get 25% off for a year.

2. Buy our beginner lockdown special for 6 months training starting from your first registration when we open and save £140

3. Join Wave Online and get live classes and more. Use discount code “LOCKDOWN” for 30% off. Check out website link below for more details on what you get with your membership.

Free Wave Online BJJ Cardio class

We have created a great schedule of live online classes with BJJ, MMA drills, Stretching, Wrestling, HIIT, Kettlebell and Origami classes. You can sign up for a special offer of only £21 a month, this saves you more than £200* join now at the link below using discount code “IANP”

Below is coach Ian taking you through some BJJ cardio. Get ready to get pushed through your paces with some conditioning for BJJ.

*£200 saving includes £95 for the free month of training at WaveBJJ and the discount on the membership

Beginners Guide to WaveBJJ

We get a lot of beginners through the door at Wave and are happy to answer any questions we get but the time has come for a comprehensive guide to help you on your first class and beyond so you can enjoy your time at Wave.

Your First Class 

You have now registered for a free class at Wave… no? Ok click on the button above and do it now. :)

What do you need to bring?

For you first class you need to bring:

•    T-shirt or rash guard and you need to wear one of these even if you have a gi

•    Tracksuit bottoms/leggings/shorts

•    Flip flops. If you don’t have flip flops please wear some footwear when not on the mats and take off any footwear when you get to the side of the mats.

Which class should you book?

Intro classes are good if you can make these are at 6:30pm Monday to Thursday and get you ready for the beginning of the class. If you can’t make these then not to worry just book in for a normal class and the instructor and students will help you get started.

Beginner, fundamentals and mixed level classes are perfect to start with, they are an hour long and will give you the fundamental techniques you need to get you going.

Everyone is there to help you, the instructors will guide you through the techniques and our students are friendly and will help answer any questions you have. They have all been where you are now.

What to expect from your first class?

Warm Ups

We will help you through all the warm up movements which are challenging at the start and it always feels like a race (it isn’t). 

Techniques

The warm up will be followed by teaching 2-3 techniques, you will be paired with someone and we will keep a close eye on you. The techniques seem complicated at the beginning as BJJ can be counter intuitive but everyone in that class has been through this and will be patient and helpful with you. We don’t expect you to get it in your first class.

Situational sparring

This is where you try and use what you have learned. This can be daunting, just remember this is your journey and you can do as much or as little as you want. The teacher will be watching and all the other students will help you through how it works and let you go over the techniques as well as offering advice from their own experiences.

Stretching

Well done you have survived your first class. Now we stretch, everyone sits in grade order and Lorenzo or the other instructors make bad jokes and the class is almost over.

Shaking hands

Everyone now lines up and we shake hands. This is the official end of the class :)

What else should I know?

Don’t be a hero!

Remember you can always tap out. Different ways of tapping in order of most effective:

• Double hand tap on the person hard enough for them to feel it

• Shouting “TAP” NOT stop or anything else

• Tapping on the floor loudly if you can’t tap on your partner

• Tapping with your feet if your hands are tied

Remember, trust your submission, don’t force it out of doubt and you and your partner will both stay friends :)

Running late?

No need to worry, this is London and s**t happens :) the instructor will get you up to speed.

Registering for classes

Before every class, you should register on GoTeamUp. Once you sign up for a class you now have an account. You can do this via the GoTeamUp app use the links below to download this.

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1449504627

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goteamup.app.customer

Or on a browser: https://goteamup.com/p/1047377-wave-brazilian-jiu-jitsu-/

Class sizes are limited so it is always a good idea to register in advance. If you have forgotten and there is space then the instructor will be able to register you when you arrive.

Gis and rash guards

Members can buy gis at the club, send us an email or speak to your instructor. We do not have gi restrictions so you can wear any colour or club gi. 

 We also have club rash guards that you can buy CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW

Memberships

You can see the memberships by clicking the button below. If you have a membership with a longer term commitment you can’t cancel before this is done. Once your initial commitment is done you can pause or cancel your membership with 7 days notice. 

Anything else?

Social 

We run a lot of social events and other events that we will post to various places. You can follow us at the below links

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChiswickBJJ/

 Facebook members only group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/235303179989407/ we will only add you if you are an existing or past member of Wave

 Instagram: www.instagram.com/wavebjjuk

 WhatsApp members group: Ask us to send you the link

 Twitter: www.twitter.com/wavebjj

 Enjoy :)

BJJ is your hobby, you are in control of your classes. We are a very friendly club and you will be pushed but never forced. We do this for fun, most of us have day jobs and families. Come to Wave and leave your problems at the door.

Reference Material

If you buy one book you can’t go wrong with “Jiu Jitsu University” Buy It Here

The 16 Most Important Techniques for the BJJ Beginner

This blog post will evolve over time as we get more questions to answer and rethink anything that we have above. 

All of this too much information? Here are the key points in diagram form, WaveBJJ guide for dummies you could say :) Thanks to our Kriszanne for designing this!

WaveBJJ beginners guide for dummies :)

August competitions

It was an exciting August with competitions as well as preparations for upcoming competitions and MMA fights.

Polaris Pro 11

Our wrestling coach Silviu won the qualifier for Polaris Pro 11 in Manchester which was on the 31st of August. We all went down to support his debut. Unfortunately after an explosive start against the tough Jed Hue Silviu sustained a rib injury that took him out of the match. We wish him a speedy recovery, and if you know Silviu, you know he will come back stronger from this.

MMA

November is MMA month as we have three competitors, with two debuts for Wave. Ollie, Steve and Vinny are all fighting in East London. email us for tickets at info@wavebjj.co giving the name of the person you are supporting.

All Stars Comp

We also had two guys competing at the All Stars competition in Brentford on the 1st of September. It was Ed’s first competition at purple belt and as he didn’t want to lose his “gains” of two kilograms he fought up a weight at under 90kg. He managed to win gold after escaping an arm bar in a tough match. Andrius fought three tough opponents at blue belt and managed to take them all down with single leg take downs. He lost a tough final to get silver.