=============
Man……..
=============

This week has been an eye-opening experience. I’ve learned a great deal about Mixed Martial Arts, sports, and the professionalism at the top end of the sport.

I can’t lie. A lot of my personal dealings in my line of work, frustrate me at times because there are people who want to be at the top of their game, but aren’t willing to make the sacrifices to be the best.

There are pretenders and then there are contenders.

Sacrifice is a word that is thrown around whimsically in the sports arena, but there are some people who really don’t understand the breadth and depth of the word.

Case in point (and this message is for you AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) just because you are sacrificing, DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOUR SACRIFICE IS THE SACRIFICE THAT IS NECESSARY. You don’t make that decision, the sports environment and the professionals in that field do. Your results more often than not, match your sacrifice. If your sacrifice is normal, you results will be normal. Just because you think your sacrifice is great DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS. You NEED someone who has been at the highest levels to actually assess your sacrifice to tell you what it is that you NEED to do and when you get that info…. don’t fight it. Use it.

===============
Rashad Evans
===============

Let me tell you something. Rashad Evans, in my PERSONAL opinion is the MOST intelligent fighter that I’ve met in the game of Mixed Martial Arts. That doesn’t mean that he is the most intelligent. He’s just the most intelligent one that I’ve met. There are some bright dudes in the sport, but I haven’t seen this amount of depth and understanding and willingness to listen.

This DUDE LISTENS, OBSERVES AND DISSECTS INFORMATION like a Ph.D. I told my man Winston last night that Rashad Evans had a Ph.D. in MMA. He doesn’t know everything, but my goodness, what he does know is BANANAS!!!

He understands how to practice at 50%-60% for an hour to get a move right. He drills, he asks questions, he doesn’t stop training until he gets it, but he doesn’t go so long that he loses the technique.

And all that is cool. What I’m most impressed with is the first time we sat down to eat, he talked about his wife, his family and showed me pictures of his kids and talked intensely and passionate about his family. And his face lit up when he talked about his ability to buy his mother a house. I damn near cried when he was telling the story, he was so proud of himself and quite honestly, as a man who handles his business at the homefront, I was proud of him too.

He spoke about how hard it is to travel and train and do that things that he has to do in order to be good while being away from his wife and children. I could feel where he was coming from, because that’s my life too.

It looks glamorous but sometimes, you just want to be home wrestling on the floor with your kids instead of having some of your friends punch you in the ribs and face. LOL

Before meeting Rashad, I talked to several people in his circle to see what type of dude he was and they all gave him the HIGHEST endorsement. My friends from my Olympic Training Center days who are in his circle call him “FAMILY”. Once I got that endorsement, I knew he was the type of person I could vibe with.

================
I Came Out To Denver
================

I came out to Denver based on Rashad’s invite, but to be honest, I asked him if I could train with him.

Why?

Well it’s like I said. I HAVE NO TIME TO FOOL MYSELF. I need to know the level of sacrifice that is necessary for MMA and if I’m willing to sacrifice to that level. And if it is feasible based upon where I am in my life and what it is that I would like to accomplish.

My personal assessment is not finished and I still need to sit down and converse with some of the people here and after that sit down witih my wife and converse. The boxing coach here already told me that my boxing sucks! LOL (I already knew that) LOL

I can tell you this. The training out here is some of the best that I’ve ever experienced. There are very few places that you can go to where people greet you with handshakes and hugs and don’t train with ego or any extra bullsmith. The gyms that we’ve gone too don’t have the boxing or BJJ feel to them. They feel like you are walking into someone’s living room, but the people just happen to be fighting each other. LOL It’s a cool feeling and atmosphere I just can’t explain it. The level of respect for everyone is high and EVERYBODY and I mean EVERYBODY stays and helps. The level of personal sacrifice for the the next person is crazy.

I SAW A HIGH LEVEL UFC professional hold pads for some professionals and some other people who weren’t professionals for 2 hours. It was unbelieveable. He didn’t even do his workout because he was holding pads. He did his 2 workouts earlier in the day and he taught and held pads in a private session for 2 hours. Now you can say what you want to, but there aren’t too many high level MMA fighters who will do that. BELIEVE ME!

=================
Thank You
=================

There are some folks that you meet in life who are just good people.

These folks are some GOOD PEOPLE. Thanks for all of your help:

Rashad Evans, James McSweeney, Brandan Schaub, Todd Duffee, Travis Wittman, Jennifer Berg (Lil’ Mama), Bro. Fireed, Nate Marquardt, the guys at Grudge, and Amal Easton.

Thank you very much for opening up your “home” to my main man Stephon and I. We are appreciative. Very!

And to my man Rashad from Stephon and myself…… Welcome to the family bro.!!

==============
Closing
==============

All Power!!!!

Dedicated to Your Improvement,

Rhadi Ferguson, Ph.D., CSCS
2004 Olympian
4-Time National Judo Champion
World Class Strength Coach
http://www.LiveJudo.com

Introduction

I’m still on my way back from the 2010 Central American and Carribean
Games and boy oh boy am I pissed.

I really don’t have the right to be pissed but I’m pissed anyway.

I had 6 competitors fight this weekend and we lost every single match.

Every one!!!

To say we were out of our league is an understatement.

I have a team of 15 and 16 year olders and some college students who
are home for the summer competing and another dude who is a blkue
belt. For all intents and purposes I have a team full of junior and
cadet level judo players who ARE the best in the country so they get
to compete at senior level competitons such as this.

So although I really didn’t expect them to go out there and man-handle
some adults, I did expect us to take a few matches here and there.

But I had to have a MASSIVE reality check.

—————————
Reality Check
—————————

Because I’m on the service provider side of martial arts and more
specifically, judo in this case, I kinda forgot how freaking expensive
this sport is.

Winning without paying your duues in Japan, Europe, Brazil, and thru
international training camps and competitons is damn near impossible
and to expect to do so is asinine.

I’m no different than any other high achiever… I think I can fix any
and everything. I CANNOT. I can “help” to fix it and advise in the
fixing and quite frankly make some small “fixes” but I can’t fix “it”.

The grind is the grind.

You have to jump in it, love it and learn from it.

You have to learn how to manage a fight, fight a fight, emotionally
regulate yourself and fight no matter if you feel good or bad.

Now here’s what I am very happy about!!!!

————————-
On the cognitive
side, my kids are
SHARP!
————————-

It is a lot easier to fix and repair a car if you have knowledge about
its inner workings and know the make and model.

My kids know, gripping, judo and what is happening to the
strategically and tactically.

They just need the match time and experience to work on “implementing”
what it is that they know.

I was super pleased when reviewing the video that they knew what was
happening to them and could see it. One young man on the team said,
“Dr. Ferguson, everything was just like you said, but it was happening
soooooo fast!”.
I laughed.  I told him, “Unfortunately at this time you all aren’t
able to move that ‘fast’ with each other. You need more, different and
better practice partners to make this adjustments and more
competitions.”

——————————
Decreasing The
Learning Curve
——————————-

Going to a tournament and getting beat and not knowing why it
happened, or worse yet, thinking you know and then going home and
training “harder” is a waste of time.

The only problem with this, is that people “think” they know.

Case in point….

I was watching a match this weekend where a young man was standing
“righty”, gripping “righty” and tried to do a left side ouchi gari
with his left leg.

It was some of the dumbest ish I’ve ever seen.

Of course he was thrown for ippon.

After he came off the mat and was in the back warming up area I was
watching his teammate and coach try to corect him on his ouchi gari.
After being fed up with this I couldn’t help myself.  I said, “the
reason why he got thrown was because he was standing righty, gripped
as a righty and sent his left leg in to do ouchi.” I then illustrated.

The coach, then said, “that not what happened.”. LOL

I shook my head and walked off.

They WILL NEVER be able to fix their problems. We will.

I was humbled this weekend. I’m usually a miracle worker of sorts.

This will be a grind from the ground up.

I love it!

***********************
Closing
***********************

I am in the process of re-releasing Judo Sucess Secrets. It will be
here in August.  These emails are setting the tone, foundation and
conversational landscape so that I may answer your question with the
re-release of Judo Success Secrets. Many people are finally
understanding what I mean when I say that being good at judo has
nothing do to with judo. Nothing at all. Its about governing yourself
professionally and KNOWING what to do.

Take care and have a great day.

Dedicated to your success,

Dr. Rhadi Ferguson
2004 Olympian
http://www.GripToWin.com
http://www.UndergroundGripfightingSecrets.com
http://www.NewazaMadeEasy.com

P.S. We made a concentrated and concerted effort to focus on the
technical development of the team in the Bahamas. Now the strength
building phase begins. If you are a member of my eCoaching program,
get ready for a sneak-peek of the Bahamian Strength and Conditioning
Program. Remember, I’m training juniors, not adults ;-).

————————–
Introduction
————————–

You’ve heard me say it before and I’ll say it again.

Getting or being good at judo has NOTHING to do with judo.

Just like running better has nothing to do with running.

Becoming good at judo is a choice that you have to make.

Then and only then can you or will you start to see massive
improvements in your judo.

The willingness to address and attack your sport as a professional
is the most important decision you can make.

Being a professional means a couple of things, one of them is
understanding that professional services are not cheap and “paying”
for what you want is just as much part of the process as “training”
is. Your willingness to invest in your sport is one of the key
characteristics of a “professional”.

If there is one thing that I really stress to my clients and the
athletes under my tutelage it is this…. “Be A Professional At All
Times!” If you do this, you NEVER lose! Never!”

This is only a small part of the invisible judo that will improve
your judo.  You can practice until you are blue in the face, if you
refuse to do the “little things” which quite frankly, have the greatest
impact on your career, you’ll never rrach your full potential.

————————-
What “little things”?
————————-

Well, I’ve  told you for a couple of days now that I am going to
re-release my product “Judo Success Secrets” under my new instant
gratification model. Meaning, you buy today and you access your info
today!

In Judo Success Secrets I literally exposen identify, point out and
show you all of the little things that you are not doing which can
help you, your students or your children achieve judo success.

And its drop dead simple….. Once you know these secrets.

Please read my transmission over the last couple of days and please
read the one today.

Take care and remember…. The little things are really the big
things.

Dedicated to your Improvement,

Dr. Rhadi Ferguson
2004 Olympian
World Class Strength Coach
The Best GripFighting Instructon On The Planet!
http://www.UndergroundGripfightingSecrets.com
http://www.GripToWin.com
http://www.LiveJudo.com

If you haven’t have the opportunity to read yesterday’s transmission, please check it out here: http://www.thejudocrusader.com/?p=1254

If you have…. Let’s begin..

Staying right where you are is so comfortable. And to be honest with
you, that’s why so many do it.

I remember one person telling me how they had to change churches after
going to one for 10 years. I asked them why.

They said, “well, I needed a new perspective. A new way to look at the
philosophical premise which I subscribe to.”

I immediately thought about judo and how so many people fight and
argue about what they think judo is and what they think it isn’t.

The silly thing about such arguments is this - everybody is right and
everybody is wrong.

To me, in my profession, judo is a sport. Nothing more, nothing less.
I am hired and called upon to provide results, and most of the time
immediate results.

I have been accused of providing “quick fixes” and I will admit to
that without hesitation and I’ll tell you exactly why.

When I am hired, more often than not, I am hired for a tournament, a
match, a fight and/or to have a positive impact on an upcoming event.
I don’t usually get 12 and 18 month contracts where people can wait
for results. People come to me because they want to win and they want
to win NOW!

And guess what?

I’m in business because I DELIVER!

One of the best opportunities that I had was an opportunity to train
Taraje Williams-Murray for 3 years from 2005-2008. It was good to be
able to develop a 3 year macrocycle for continuous improvement.

I also have the greatest and most fulfilling challenge in front of me
as the Head Coach for the Bahamian Judo Federation.

This due to the fact that I’m not only coaching athletes but creating
a paradigm shift culturally within and about the sport nationally.

I’m creating a foundation for success by”selling” the parents,
athletes, families and federation on what is necessary for success.

In a year’s time we have created a team that has gone from practicing
judo 2 times a week to practicing judo twice a day for 6 days.

=============
Let’s Be Honest
=============

If you are a parent, you know how stressful this can be with the commuting and the travel. But let’s face it. There’s a difference between being a recreational judoka and an elite level judoka.

Sometimes its not the kids that can’t hack it…… It’s the parents  LOL!!

I’m sure you know that my initial attrition rate was high.

Parents thought, and some still do think, that I’m crazy.

People thought such practice was abusive but yet and still they would welcome 2 hour track
practices in 103 degree heat in order for their kids to have a chance
to grab a spot on the Bahamas track and field 4×400 meter team.

Or 4 hour baseball practices in the heat.

Why?

Well….culturally these are acceptable and judo just was not.

But that’s part of being successful in judo.

You MUST sell judo everyday.

You have to sell it to the parents, the kids and quite honestly sell yourself on the idea that you are doing the right thing
for “the program”.

As the National Team Coach, it is also my charge to make sure that the
grassroots program has multiple channels of inclusion and 2 of
exclusion.

Meaning, we must make the grassroots programs available for all and
create activities, teachable moments and learning activities to keep
the students in the program. If they want to remain as grassroots
players they should be able to do so for life. With 2 exit option but
3 real ones. Those are to:
1.) Continue as a grassroots player
2.)Quit
or
3). Move to the elite level program.

The educational process of all of this is difficult but amazing.
Making quality choices so that the practitioners have options is
important as well as educating them on what it means to be a
grassroots level player (club player) and what it means to be an elite level player.

Simply put, you have to change the minds of the parents and the players.

What they thought was “good” before, in terms of being REALLY GETTING GOOD, is not “good” at all.

And then whats even harder to get people to buy into is that we don’t really want to be “good”. We want to be GREAT.

Well, being good sometimes comes with getting kicked in the “teeth” being great….. kicked in the neck!!! LOL

Everybody wants the SUGAR, but nobody wants to eat the s–t!  LOL

Kinda like what they say in church…..”everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”

WE had to kill and are still killing the old way of thinking about judo…. (for the elite players). WE LEAVE THE RECREATIONAL PLAYERS ALONE!!!!! YOU MUST!!!! (I won’t get into that but I cover that in Judo Success Secrets for the school owners).

Tomorrow’s topic: “How To Develop Effective Judoka: Teaching Invisible Judo”

***********************
Closing
***********************

I am in the process of re-releasing Judo Sucess Secrets. It will be
here in August.  These emails are setting the tone, foundation and
conversational landscape so that I may answer your question with the
re-release of Judo Success Secrets. Many people are finally
understanding what I mean when I say that being good at judo has
nothing do to with judo. Nothing at all. Its about governing yourself
professionally and KNOWING what to do.

Take care and have a great day.

Dedicated to your success,

Dr. Rhadi Ferguson
2004 Olympian
http://www.GripToWin.com
http://www.UndergroundGripfightingSecrets.com
http://www.NewazaMadeEasy.com

=========
Introduction
=========

Quite honestly becoming “good” at anything is a pretty easy task.

For example, I’m a good ping-pong player, I’m a pretty decent chess
player, I’m a good runner, a halfway decent grappler and a good
judo player.

GOOD.

Easy!

Now, with that being said, being excellent is another conversation
that includes many variables such as resources, preparedness,
chance, luck, divine intervention, hard work, smart work and a lot
of other things which we just don’t have time to cover (argue
about) in this transmission

What I really want to discuss with you right now and for the next
couple of days are how you can either become or create “Effective
Judoka” by taking or creating a great strategy and getting great
results.

So let’s dive in.

==============
Talent Identification
==============

I know you are wondering where this fits in - in our discussion.
Let me start by saying this…. Without This. There Is NO
DISCUSSION.

During my first official meeting with D’Arcy Rahming, the President
of the Bahamian Judo Federation, we sat down and we spoke about
Talent Identification.

Mr. Rahming, a Graduate of world class business school Kellogg
School of Management, understood precisely where I was coming from
and was delighted that I understood that long term sustained growth
of a program begins with a “talent identification plan” and not
“uchimata or osoto gari” .

This is a mistake that many countries make and it is due to some
coaches having a “mat side coaching” mentality and not
understanding the overall picture for effectiveness and sustained
growth.

In the past 6 months the participants in the sport of judo in the
Bahamas has skyrocketed while many other countries have seen a
decrease, sustained or stagnant growth at best.

Identifying talent is the key to success in any organization. I
don’t care if we are talking about Fortune 500 companies or the
National Football League. Talent Identification is key.

Now how that talent is identified is super important as well. Just
as in the National Football League there are some “tangibles” and
“measureables” that coaches and scouts look for we do the same. And
just like with such identification process, there will be some
mistakes made, but there must be a process in place to “tweak”. You
cannot adjust or analyze someting that is not there.

So right out of the gate, we came up with some Standards for Elite
Level Judoka. Now in all seriousness, we had to scrap the standards
as we set them, because they didn’t fit our “pool” of players. We
had to then set Standards For Elite Cadet and Junior Level Judoka.

After that, we had the “round holes” in place. The hard part was
and is pushing all the “square pegs” into the round holes.

Changing the minds of players, parents, coaches and others about
what it really takes to be good at judo was and is difficult. To
some, the training and practice seems like “too much” and in some
cases “abusive”. I guess you could say that about any elite
training program due to the amount of hours which have to be
invested in order to become “elite”.

But, your options are, limited. You either stay in your comfort
zone or operate outside of it.

In my next transmission, we will discuss, “Making A Change: What’s
Required For Success!”

==========
Closing
==========

I am in the process of re-releasing Judo Sucess Secrets. It will be
here in August.  These emails are setting the tone, foundation and
conversational landscape so that I may answer your question with
the re-release of Judo Success Secrets. Many people are finally
understanding what I mean when I say that being good at judo has
nothing do to with judo. Nothing at all. Its about governing
yourself professionally and KNOWING what to do.

Take care and have a great day.

Dedicated to your success,

Dr. Rhadi Ferguson
2004 Olympian
http://www.GripToWin.com
http://www.UndergroundGripfightingSecrets.com
http://www.NewazaMadeEasy.com

P.S. If you’ve never experience The Grind, do yourself a favor and
get The Grind today… at least check it out
http://www.TheGrindVideo.com

**********************************
This message was brought to
you by the #1 Grip Fighting
product in the world… Underground
Grip Fighting Secrets
http://www.UndergroundGripFightingSecrets.com
************************************

Good morning world!

I’ve been up since 4:20am this morning. Getting ready for the 5am training session with the team from the Bahamas.  We had a good one. The first of 4 for the day.

We will train again at 10am and then again at 3:30, but the 3:30 session will be a film session and then again in the evening at 7pm.

Things are going well. The kids just have so much to learn….Heck, we all do. But they are doing great.

==============
The Biggest Thing
==============

The biggest thing that I am noticing is this….. some of these kids have a great life.

I mean great.

There personal struggles haven’t been great. Nor should they. As a parent, you want to make sure that your children have things better than you did. It’s not your desire for things to be super difficult for them, thus as a good parent, you also KNOW that they NEED to experience some difficult and trying situations for the development of a well-rounded individual.  Thus, you provide them with a sharpening stone….. a Dr. Ferguson  :-)   or  a sport such as Judo, Football, Wrestling, Hockey, Swimming, etc.

Through these experiences a certain level of, not toughness, but RESPECT is developed for the PROCESS OF EXCELLENCE, not excellence itself.

Excellence is a process. It is a tenet, a principle, a way of life.  The process of being excellent and being an exemplar is really what we are teaching in the Bahamas. Judo is at the forefront, only in name. What we are teaching are life skills.  Medals are won and lost. And quite honestly, there is a great deal of chance that goes into winning. But the one thing that WE cannot chance, is the development of character and quality citizenship. That is not an option. That must get done.

These children will be someone’s wife, husband, father, mother, aunt, uncle, caretaker and overseer one day and we must make sure that the experiences that they receive in this process can and will help them in the their future existence as well and their long, intermediate and short term athletic pursuits.

This the biggest thing and quite honestly the MOST important thing I do as a coach. Coaching for me happens on 2 levels.  Within the sport and without the sport.

Simply put, you need to know how to govern yourself and win, WITHIN the sport and you need to know how to do the same in life, WITHOUT the sport.

================
What we’ve been
doing….
=================

We’ve been doing some base level conditioning work, but the bulk of our time is spent on technique, technical development and the understanding of the anatomy of a judo match and creating a strategic framework for action (gameplan).

We have been spending a lot of time on gripping, grip fighting, grip tactics and gripping strategy and really covering the importance of proper hand invocation and hand placement     There have been many “aha” moments while watching video. Especially when the kids go back and watch “Underground Grip Fighting Secrets” for a third and fourth time. They start saying things like, “That’s what Flavio Canto was doing” or “yeah! That what the guy from Japan was doing in the match in Sydney.”  They are picking up information fast and making an attempt to implement it. It takes time, but we are getting there……….one radori (sparring) session at a time.

===================
Underground Gripfighting
Secrets
====================

If you have yet to get Underground Gripfighting Secrets and you practice judo, bjj, sambo or kurash, then you are missing out. YOU MUST get your hands on this information today.   http://www.UndergroundGripFightingSecrets.com

==================
Closing
==================

Take care and we’ll rap later.

Dedicated to your Improvement,

Rhadi Ferguson, Ph.D., CSCS
2004 Olympics
4-Time National Judo Champion
http://www.LiveJudo.com
http://www.RhadiFerguson.com

P.S. Hear what a National Judo Champion, BJJ Black Belt and BJJ World Champion had to say about the benefits of learning how to grip fight…

=============
Introduction
=============

I remember when I was growing up and watching Batman….. yes… I like Batman.

And I’ll tell you why.

Sometimes the stuff Superman did was just too…..well…. too “SUPER”.

It was unbelievable, not real. But my man Batman, well, Batman was a regular dude that really used his brain and his tricks

and know-how to beat the bad guys.

I liked that.

So, as I was saying… I remember when I was growing up and watching Batman and I’d see him pull some weapons out of his tool

belt or push a button on his “Batmobile” car and make some type of secret weapon come out.

I used to really dig that because it really showed me that sometimes you have to have a “secret” weapon in your arsenal, but

hidden from plain view.

Well, that’s what many martial artists have.

My first BJJ coach, friend and mentor of sorts, Lloyd Irvin posted a video the other day where he shared one of the secrets

to his teams successes in Brazilian Jiujitsu Competitions.

You’ll be surprised by what you hear……

================
Lloyd Irvin EXPOSES
one of Team Lloyd Irvin’s
Secret Weapons
=================

===================
Get The Information and
Start Winning More
===================

Listen, I’d love to “sell” you on this program, but here’s the bottom line. Some people want to be good, some want to be

great, some want to be average and some want to be stubborn and silly. Man, I’m only here to help and share. If you want to

excel. I’m here if you want to have someone to help guide your career, I’m here.

As I said before, I am not here to try to replace your coach, I’m here to enhance your learning and educational experience.

Get the information you need and start doing better today.

>>> http://www.UndergroundGripFightingSecrets.com <<<

=================
On Another Note
=================

Make sure you are following me on Facebook.

The Bahamian National Team is in town for 2 weeks and we are training 3-4 times a day and are really getting after it.

Make sure you follow me so that you can get a bird’s eye view of some elite level training.

Take care,

Dr. Rhadi Ferguson

P.S. Make sure you get your hands on Underground Grip Fighting Secrets Today! >>

http://www.UndergroundGripFightingSecrets.com

P.P.S. If you already have it and want to see how I utilize it within my fighting system then check out The Grind at

http://www.TheGrindVideo.com