I EARNED my Purple belt under Luiz Palhares(six-stripe black belt under Rickson-Jacksonville,Florida) last month after 4 1/2 years of TRAINING hard. I want to thank Soneca,Pedro and all my training partners over the years for helping me reach this level. I hope to continue to stay healthy and keep participating in this sport for years to come.
I was fortunate to make two Olympic Games(1992,1996) in track and field but after retiring 5 years ago BJJ was the perfect hobby to jump into to get my fix. When I first started I didn't know anything except Royce Gracie was a bad ass but after a few months of training I realized BJJ has so much more to offer. My advice for beginners...pick a good school,train smart and don't give up. Once you get bit by the bug you'll never stop. Keep on rolling!!!!!
His personal bests were 13:19.50 (1995) in the men's 5,000 metres, and 27:31.34 (1995) in the men's 10,000 metres. Williams' seventh place in the 10,000 meters at the 1993 Worlds was the best U.S. finish in an Olympic or World 10,000 metres final since Frank Shorter placed fifth in 1972. Todd also holds the American 15k record of 42:22, which he did at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, FL. He is also a 5 time winner of the Gate River Run.
Hey I did a 5000m cross country in 1993 in NY when I was visiting, it was 17.59. but it wasn't a track so give me some credit, I am only 4.40 behind you... I spose that is why I do BJJ now eh.
Congrats, how often did you train when you made the conversion to grappling/jiu-jitsu? What was the difference from training for the Olympics to just rolling for fun?
Share the secrets for success bro. You have to have some great insights. Surely being an olympic athlete has given you some good ideas about training and success.
"I guess I should clarify my title by saying BJJ purple dedication versus Olympic athlete dedication. In my opinion it took the same amount to make it to both. I busted my can in both arenas and it has been well worth it. Sorry for not explaining more clearly. To be honest it has been tougher on me to get the purple than making it to the Olympics because I started from scratch in BJJ. In distance running I had the talent from an early age 4:32 mile in 9th grade. I'm not one to brag but wanted to let people know that it doesn't matter what background you come from you can make BJJ your hobby at any point in your life. "
Jeezz I have so much respect for distance runners, I mean in school I did a 1500 meters in 4.32 I was 140lb and 6ft gangaly 16 year old, I balloned when I left and tried running for a while at 800 and then 400 as my weight slowly increased to my normal weight of 210lb i was never no where near even a good club level but I enjoyed it alot and have always respected those guys from a distance... 13.19 is insane.. the fastest guy I have known was over a minuit slower and he was a bullit on the track.
I would have thought BJJ was easy by comparison but then maybe BJJ comes easier to me than distance running.
When I started April 2003 I jumped right in 4-5 days per week sometimes twice per day. I was also very lucky to start at a school where Soneca Moreira(4 stripe Gracie Barra Black Belt) taught. Not only did he teach at a very HIGH level but I was able to train with many knowledgable upper belts(great training partners that didn't try to kill me even though I was hyper). After 6 months with Soneca I was again very fortunate to train under Pedrinho Brandao(Gracie Barra Black Belt). We spent many hours on the mat together(along with his brown belt brother Marcelo..now black belt). Some days especially afternoons it was just him and I. I left Knoxville 1 year into training, moved to Jacksonville,Florida and started training at a Royce Gracie network. It was good training but too long of a drive so I hit my garage and jumped dojo to dojo to train with a few upper belts in the area. Finally April 2007 Luiz Palhares(six stripe Black Belt under Rickson) arrived in Jacksonville only 3 miles from my house. I jumped on board and have been training ever since 3 - 4 days per week. I hope he stays for a long time to come because I'm learning something new every training session. Not really new techniques but details of the basics.
Lastly I've also been very lucky to travel with my job and go to schools to train with and students of Regis Lebre,Xande Ribeiro,Marcelo Garcia,Marcio Simas,Leonardo Xavier and others. Bottom line my first 4 1/2 years have been great. I hope to stay healthy and keep moving forward the next 4 1/2.
Congratulations! You left a good impression on Marcelo. I was at the St. Augustine seminar that you were at. When I saw Marcelo again at Leo Kirby's gym, he brought up that seminar and told me "You know that guy was an Olympic runner?" He thought that was pretty cool.
