When I was coming up through the ranks I made a lot of mistakes that I wish I could take back. The past is the past I know BUT if only I had a time machine I would go back and set myself straight about a few things. Here is what I would say.
1. Always think about injury before going to class. I would tell myself that I need to keep injury in the back of my mind so that I can take every precaution not to get hurt. It seemed like every time I was injured it was because I didn’t expect it to come. Now days it is in the fore-front of my mind when I train and it always serves me well. I am very rarely injured anymore because I’m always watching out for it. "Remember Injury is your Enemy."
2. Be on the Bottom as much as you can. I always tell my students that the “Lucky guy is on the Bottom.” I wish I could have told myself that back then and since I’m a big guy I wouldn’t have been on top so much. My bottom game would have been sooo much better sooner!
3. Tap More- I wish I had realized that white belt was the time to tap out instead of at the higher levels. I would have definitely would have increased my failure rate so that my technique would have gotten better quicker. I would have also asked my partner what he got me with, so he could explain it to me better and I probably wouldn’t have been hurt as much too.
I hope that my past will equal your future as a beginner.
