Mental Blocks

So this post is another one that is a little bit different then the norm. It's not a report on a tournament, again, I'll do another one of those on Sunday when I get home from the Montreal Grappling (fb event link)! I'm excited for this tournament as there is 2 other girls registered this time around and we have 6 people going from pura!

But, that isn't what this is about, it's about me and my brain's/body's inability to do some things.

There are some pretty normal things to have this problem with... wiggling your ears for example. Everyone SHOULD be capable of doing it, but lots of people can't figure out how. Some other examples are flaring your nostrils, or being able to bend just the top knuckle of your finger, or just bend one finger/toe with out the others moving. Index finger is easy, but pinkies... not so much. I think you guys get the point about what I'm talking about.

For me, this post is about my inability to do any kind of very explosive movements with my legs, particularly, with my knees. I'm 95% certain it's all in my head. I've had so many knee injuries in the past that I've built up a mental block that when my brain says "jump to your feet" something subconscious says "hellll no, that will make my knee explode". I've known about this issues for a while, but I've been able to work around it, adjusting exercises and drills and whatnot to make up for it.

This became insanely apparent to me at the Mendes Affiliate training camp we went to in California this past summer(Which was amazing, I still have to blog about it!). We were doing this guard break/ pass where your in their closed guard on your knees and you hop up to having your feet on either side of the hips. You kind of post your hands on their hips and lean into them a bit to make it work. I couldn't do it. Not even a bit. It was so weird. I couldn't even figure out which muscles I should have been using to make it happen. Thankfully Rafa and Gui were pretty busy watching everyone else and didn't see my complete inability to do the technique. At the time i just brushed it off as my knees being bad, and broke it down into stepping one foot up, then the other. Then let my partner go for extra time because I was so frustrated with my brain/body.

I think this same mental block is also why I hate wrestling so much, the motion and explosive power needed to double legs is kind of the same. The ridiculous thing about this is. I used to have insanely strong, powerful legs. I could leg press 500 lbs. Which for a mega weight lifter isn't that impressive, but for someone who lifts just to make other things better, It was pretty good. I have no idea what I could press now, I haven't lifted in ages.

This youtube video is a clip of the basic motion i'm talking about if my description is no good: knees to feet jump It's a lot easier when your in someones guard and can lean on them and whatnot. Or so it seemed to me since EVERYONE else was doing the guard pass properly.

I'm making it my goal for September to be able to do this. I don't have an exact plan in place on how I'm going to accomplish it. I imagine I'll start with doing it on something very soft and having something so I can have my upper body help out and progress from there. Maybe once I get it, I'll video it and post it on here.

Do you have any weird mental blocks? Can you wiggle your ears or bend your pinky with out any of your other fingers moving?