BJJ Voice - Synergy Kuningan Training Blog

BJJ Trip Journal - 1

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000

After closing down the class at Bidakara last month, I finally begin another chapter in my martial arts journey. As I am now placed as part of a "regional" team on my new workplace, I can have more chance to go to different countries and train in different places, which may be the best way to learn as I get so many different perspectives.

This month, I was placed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and so far, I went to 2 different schools so far - BJJ Malaysia in Desa Sri Hartamas, and Malicia BJJ in Ampang. NOte that I went to Escobar BJJ during my last trip to KL in Feb/March, but I only had the chance to have a free sparring session - something that I may want to do this weekend.

So far, my experience has been nothing short of insightful, especially my last session with Samir on Malicia BJJ. We spent 2 hours sparring with gi - something that I haven't done for ages. Given that the Indonesian system promotes submission with the rule (6 minutes sub only, then sudden death), some guys like me tend to be a bit lazy. We just defend while frustrating and exhausting our opponents, then when the opportunity arises we go for a sweep or a submission. Under such rules, we never meet one type of opponent: point collectors, and sparring with one after so many years is truly an eye-opener.

Why?
1.) As I waited for an opening (something he didn't show much) while Samir is racking up points, I realised that given this is an MMA or a streetfight, I will be in such a S**tty situation with him on top and me not able to escape and kept on the ground.

2.) Point collectors tend to be defensive - they're sensitive to any changes in pressure, grip changes, etc. I mean, I caught people with a shoulder lock from the BOTTOM of the side control to many people by relying on the false sense of security that no attacks can be executed from bottom of side control. Now, with defensive players, they'll sense these sneaky attacks and will counter you instead.

3.) Do not, and I say, do not forget to train with your gi. I know, I know, it's the good ol' argument of gi vs no gi training, but I guess Niko Han told us to train with gi so many times, but we kinda get into our comfort zone and train no-gi most of the time. Gi is a good way to "learn the steps", as you'll have less chance of out-powering or out-muscling your opponent with all that friction from the gi. This forces you to do things right and have all the steps in place.

So overall, so much to learn, and I really need this lessons of humility to put me back into the fast track of the learning process.

Gracies on Gracie Jiu Jitsu

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:43:00 +0000

For those who just begin their class, I believe these quotes best describe the philosophy of Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Special thanks to Niko Han for compiling these quotes.

"If it's not street applicable, energy efficient, and based on natural body movements, it's not pure Gracie Jiu-Jitsu." (Gracie)

“The most important thing when training Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is that you should effectively prepare yourself for the worst case scenarios. Make sure that every technique you learn can be applied on bigger, stronger, faster opponents in the context of a real fight. If you learn a technique that is not street applicable, forget it as soon as you can.” (Gracie)

“Always assume that your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger and faster than you; so that you learn to rely on technique, timing and leverage rather than brute strength.” (Gracie)

“The Gracie Jiu-Jitsu principles of precision, timing, leverage and efficiency that can be used to achieve victory in a fight can also be used to achieve victory in every aspect of life. Focus on using your knowledge of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to effectively strategize your life.” (Gracie)

“Mastery is not perfecting a technique so that you can apply it at all times against anyone (this is impossible), it is perfecting your understanding of the applications and limitations of a technique so that you know exactly when it can, and can’t, be applied during combat.” (Gracie)

Ever wonder why.....

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:04:00 +0000

BJJ Guys always point out at the other guy with a wierd hand signal when their pictures is taken? Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka_sign

Thanks to Tom "BVLGARI" McCawley for pointing this out.

Why we need to get our butts kicked...

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 09:24:00 +0000

The Indonesian Submission Championship 2010 has been completed, and the event was a huge success – the record number of participants, more clubs and countries represented in the competition, and the dominance of Synergy BJJ on ISC were pretty much broken at that tournament. To put it bluntly, we got our asses kicked. Before this year’s ISC, I think many of us were complacent at the start of the tournament. How many of us come for open mat sessions and exchange techniques? How many were preparing specific gameplans and train with other schools, some out of pure laziness and/or complacency, others due to fear of others acknowledging their gameplan and prepare a specific counter for the game plan. Personally, I see that lots of us are losing that fire that we had even a year ago, and we’ve paid the price.

Is it all that bad? Definitely not! Complacency is the enemy of progress, and the cure for that is getting our asses kicked. Without it, we’ll drive into a comfort zone, feeling that we’re on top of the world. Even champions like Georges St. Pierre need some ass-kicking to keep him from slowing down (ie: the first fight against Matt Serra where he lost the belt). Like all champions, GSP didn’t spiral downward into depression, but instead, he came back, better and stronger than ever, get his belt back, and pretty much cleaned out the division of potential challengers after 5 successful title defenses.

The key is how we response to get our asses kicked. We can either go into a downward spiral, or we can took the lessons from it, learn from them, and come back stronger than ever. So, where does this ass kicking put us Synergy guys into? Being what we are, we got that fire back! We want to regain our dominance in our own event. Hell! Some of the guys wanted to go overseas and compete overseas, and some will travel to Bali more often and plan weekend bootcamps with Niko – an idea which previously labeled as not cost-efficient last year.

So, let me ask you this again? Is it all that bad in getting our asses kicked? Definitely not! We need them to remind us to keep improving, and get us out of the comfort zone. The question is, are we able to keep that spirit of improving and not moving back into the comfort zone? Only time will tell, and I do strongly hope we don’t sit back and spiral downward into the comfort zone again.

The arts of MMA

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:50:00 +0000

I had a student once asked me why many BJJ guys took muay thai classes for their standup skills. To answer that question, I believe this article from Kenny Florian's website answers the question perfectly:

http://kennyflorian.com/the-arts-of-mma/

Enjoy!

Striking - an essential part of BJJ

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:05:00 +0000

After all the pre-fight trash talking from James “Lights Out” Toney’s and match against the old man Randy Couture, we’ve seen how Toney lived up his nickname during his fight on UFC 118, by getting close to “lights out” himself via Randy’s side choke in 3:19 into round 1 after taken down to the ground in less than 20 seconds. Trash talking James Toney aside, we’ve seen how striking is practically useless without the element of ground fighting in the world of MMA, which I believe to be the closest to the real world situation.

Now, let’s turn the tables around – how effective is BJJ without learning the striking element? True, most fights end up on the ground, but how many fights start on the ground? Close to none, I say (for exceptions, click here). Most fights will start when one of the parties start throwing strike(s), be it be headbutts, haymakers, elbows, while the clinch, takedown, and ground fighting happens after the initial strike.

Having said that, we need to know how to avoid and/or counter these strikes, and in order to properly do so, we need to learn how to strike properly and learn how strikers think. Without them, grappling art will be watered down into another sport and become useless in real life situations where we can face limitless possibilities.

The aspect of incorporating striking into grappling arts is the pressure that a grappler will face when facing a striker. The same as pure strikers will feel like fish out of the water once taken down to the ground, pure grapplers are not accustomed in taking hits and get disoriented easily when hit, forget the techniques, and open themselves up for a combo. I remember my first MMA fight in MMA Showdown 1 (click here for videos), and I remember getting so disoriented with Ivan’s punches raining down on me while I tried so hard trying to get him to the ground despite doing 6 years of BJJ at the time of the fight. I even got disoriented so much that I can’t even do technical standup properly.

However, implying striking into grappling does not necessarily mean transitioning from a grappler into other type of fighters. It simply adds another dimension of practicality into your grappling game. A prime example is Demian Maia on his fight on UFC 118 against Mario Miranda. He uses his striking to setup takedown and submissions instead of becoming another Anderson Silva and trying to look for a KO punch on Mario Miranda.

To conclude – striking is an essential part of as it introduces you into other aspects of self defense which are not met by simply grappling on competition mats, and these aspects are crucial in keeping BJJ effective where it really counts.

Why you should NOT afraid to compete

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:02:00 +0000

I stumbled across this interesting chart from Jacky Riawan’s facebook page:

Provided that you keep your mind open about why you lose, this chart is very true from my experience. When you win, your gameplans, your techniques, etc. tend to go your way, and there are lesser things to learn from it. On the other hand, when you lose, it’s easy to point out what went wrong, especially when you lose badly, since you tend to have your opponent point those weaknesses to you, and these tend to be the weaknesses that you don’t realize during training.

Take my game against Roy Hermawan last year in ISC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yaKeLvjI9M

I’m too notorious on pulling guard on people, and I believe Roy knows this. Now, what I notice is that Roy prevents me from taking any of the guard positions, holding me in an “inbetween” positions – one leg in butterfly, one leg above his hips. From this position, he prevents me from getting him into my playing field and set me up on one submission that I have not focused on – heel hooks.

Now this simple loss opens up my weaknesses within less than 2 minutes, and as much as I hate to lose, I left the competition with lots of insights to improve my game. So, think positively! Join tournaments and open mats! Whenever you’re afraid to compete for being afraid to lose in front of public, think of losing as having someone point out the weaknesses to your game and give you directions on where to improve – meaning that the more competition you join, the more opportunity to have your weakness pointed out to work on and improve.

So, get out there and start competing in tournaments!

Whatever works!

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:47:00 +0000

Following my chat with Niko and his blog post, he emphasised the importance of the basic principle that it has to count where it should be - to defend yourself. Coming from this, I do think that to achieve that goal, you need to do whatever works best for you on that very moment, meaning that:
1.) What works well for one person might not be as effective when applied by others.
2.) The same principle can be seen from different angles.

Rather than spending so much time on making a writeup, I find that Frank Mir said it very well on this video. ENJOY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_46WInJ1LE

Injuries - take it positively :)

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:33:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I sprained the muscle under my floating ribs during a morning sparring session with a heavyweight. Many would advice to take some time off until it’s completely healed, and while that happens your game deteriorates. I tend to take this rather differently and start training light when they are healed sufficiently, not necessarily a complete recovery, for a number of reasons.

First of all is that I find that injuries tend to heal longer when you put it into a complete rest. However, putting excessive pressure on the injured area may prove to hinder your healing process, so you have to be really sensible when doing this.

Secondly, being sensible meaning that you have to avoid certain positions while injured, I simply train early and avoid the injured area, which most of the time are the areas which I have not been worked on for awhile. Take for example, when I injured my foot right before Java Submission 07, I was working my top game. After fiddling on different gameplans, I find that the most effective way to play with an injured foot was to pull guard, which then later further improved my bottom game. Now, the opposite happened when I injured my torso. Any pressure from being on the bottom would force me to tap out, therefore, I was forced to work on my top game and avoid getting to bottom position at all costs.

Of course, I need to underline the importance of being “sensible”, which includes:
Telling your training partners to be considerate on your injuries if you decide to do so;
Be extra careful with spinal injuries. I personally avoid training hard with those injuries;
And again, TAP EARLY! You’re injured already, if it gets re-injured, it will put you out of commission for even longer.

So, as a closing note, remember what Niko Han told me: “BJJ is like surfing - you take whatever mother nature (ie: situation) given to you and use them.” The situation can also be interpreted as the injuries and any limitation that your body has, but as a BJJ practitioner, most of the time, there are ways to play around them and help you improve.

The Gracie Way - by Niko han

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:36:00 +0000

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu imitates nature, by imitating animal’s movements when they fight, rather than imitating how they act, which many of the traditional eastern martial arts tend to do. BJJ always tries to find the most effective and efficient way to defeat the larger and more powerful attack, always using the path of least resistance.

What typically happens with most of the bigger and stronger guys, because they are stronger than all the other students, they end up out powering their training partners and therefore never learn how to utilize correct technique. This is the reason why these students have to be forced and force themselves to use technique over power in order to learn the Gentle Art.

The most effective way to make sure a student utilizes correct technique is to wear the gi. The reason for this is because the gi does not allow you to power out of positions and submissions, therefore the student is forced to use technique over power. It’s the only way to learn BJJ the correct way.

When it comes to making space, you need to bridge into the area that you are trying to create the space before you shrimp, whether its escaping or defending a position or submission, then immediately push off your opponent in order to shrimp and escape your hips out, while you are defending submissions and maintaining position. By bridging and shrimping your hips, bouncing them back and forth, you will be able to create enough space to escape to a neutral position, such as the closed guard or back up to your feet, or sweep, submit or stand back up, always trying to utilize the opponent's energy to your advantage.

Bram's note: Special thanks to Niko Han for allowing me to post this on my blog.

Checking Ego by the Door - Part Deux

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:09:00 +0000

Two things that I noticed among good BJJ practicioners around me that develop fast. First, they are looking for, admit, and work on their weaknesses. Stefer, even after dominating me, often asked me on what should be improved on his game. Secondly, they are not afraid to lose.

What are the similarities between these two traits? That's right. Both of them show that they are checking their egos by the door.

The question is, how crucial is this attitude toward one's progress on one's game? The answer is paramount.

Working on your weakness meaning that you are prepared to lose in order to work on your weakness - a step back to sprint forward. These fellas have the courage to get out of their comfort zone of using your most effective techniques and strategy, as opposed to settling down on winning against weaker opponents.

In fact, working on your weakness creates more progress to your overall game. Imagine someone with a lousy takedown. Anyone who fought this guy would've guessed that he will pull guard to take the opponent down, making his game very predictable. Now, by simply working on 2 takedowns will make his game significantly by tripling his option, thus making his game less predictable. On the other hand polishing on strong points may have less advantages over the same amount of period - people will know you'll after those positions and will try not to get to your setups, thus eliminating element of surprises, as well as lesser increment to your overall game.

So, check your ego by the door during training. forget about winning the sparring sessions, as the objective is "training" not "winning". You don't want to win small skirmishes - you want to win where it counts - on the streets and on the tournaments.

Priorities in BJJ

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:09:00 +0000

I chatted with Niko Han last week, and he reminded me one of the main principles of BJJ:

Priority#1 is to defend submissions.
Priority#2 is to escape bad positions.
Priority#3 is to maintain positions.
Priority#4 is to improve position in order to get a submission. You can go for priority#4, as long as priority#1-3 are always in-check

Why are these so important? Let me elaborate more:
1.) Attempting to escape bad position without defending submission will lead you to a submission. In fact, such reactions are used by BJJ practicioners as a setup for a submission.
2.) Further down you are on the hierarchy of positions (See: http://bjjvoice.blogspot.com/2009/01/hierarchy-of-positions.html), the more you have to defend as your opponent have more options to attack, so you'll need to escape bad position in order to minimise their offensive options.
3.) If you can't maintain position, you'll get swept back to bad positions, thus unable to attempt any offensive to your opponent.
4.) Again - the higher you are on the hierarchy of positions, the lesser options your opponent have for escape, and the more options you have to submit your opponent. Note that maintaining position has higher priority compared to submission, as submission attempts often provide room for escapes / reversals. Therefore, unless you're so sure that the submission is sunk deep, abort the submission and defend your position.

Big Congrats!

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:46:00 +0000

First of all, the long overdue entry:

BIG Congrats to Taji for winning second place on the team championship on the Police Force Judo Competition, armbarring 3 opponents along the way.

And for that, he got his long overdue 3 stripes. :) Congratulations to Taji.

But others are not left out.

Congrats to Louisa Rahardjo, Agung Wicaksono, and Madia Gunawan. Louisa is awarded 2 stripes, while Agung, and Madia is awarded 3 stripes on their white belts. Congratulations!

Agung sez.... Supersize Me

Madia and Louisa

The last but not the least, the good ol' traditional belting ceremony!

Rest Assured all graded members are belted equally, not only Taji

To all: A BIG CONGRATULATIONS!

Rules of Engagement on the Street

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:38:00 +0000

Rules of engagement on the street

We all learn martial arts for many reasons, but for many, it began as a method of self-defense, to protect themselves as well as their loved one, and I believe that during the course of our martial arts journey, there we encounter a number of unfortunate circumstances where we use what we have learnt, which is more commonly known as “street applications” or “self defense”.

While the street is perceived as a place with “no rules”, you must keep in mind that that is not the fact – there are rules of engagement you should follow to avoid trouble with the law, which in Indonesia carries a maximum sentence of 5 years (article 351 of KUHP). So, generally speaking, what do we need to do to avoid prosecutions on “street situations”?

1.) Establish effort to avoid confrontation and/or diffuse situation
One of my instructors said that people in the rights minds would not come into confrontation. Unfortunately, life is full of ups and downs, and we may be provoked into not being in the right state of mind, and these are the times where we tend to engage in these unnecessary confrontations.

Now, keeping our minds in the right state is a difficult task by itself, not to mention when provoked, but unfortunately provocation does not validate a violent reaction under the law, as it does not constitute effort to diffuse the situation, and the true challenge of all is to stay calm and diffuse the situation even when provoked. More often than not, the confrontation ends at this stage unless both sides have no intention to diffuse the situation.

2.) Do not pose verbal threat
Now, comes a stage where it cannot be diffused, and you may spontaneously pose a verbal threat. From practical point of view, a verbal threat will only worsens the situation and provoke your opponent. From a legal standpoint, blurting a verbal threat, although unintentional, will weaken your position in the court of law, as it shows that you are no longer trying to diffuse the situation but ready to inflict damage to your opponent.

3.) Respond in accordance with “generally accepted” perceived threat
Now, this may be rather complicated. The more you know about self defense, the more you know about the angles which you are threatened, at more ranges of distance. On the other hand, the generally accepted notion is that skilled martial artist practice restrain (which is partly true) toward all threats, as if martial artists are all the kung-fu masters from the comic books, able to detect killer instincts from a mile away. Therefore, keep this notion of perceived threat to the general public’s perception to avoid problem with the law.

4.) Avoid Women at all costs
Related to no.3, women are perceived to pose close to zero threat, especially in eastern cultures. Take for example – a female friend of mine, about 165 cm and 55-ish kg, provoked by a bajaj (pedicab) driver, engaged into a confrontation and gave a front kick straight at his solar plexus and threw him back. Nobody had problems with that. However, it will be a totally different case if I counter a bitch-slap with a simple wristlock. So, avoid them, swallow their bickering, and don’t get provoked. You WILL get into trouble if you do. Some women from my experience in fact provokes such situation, risks getting a light bruise in order to have court and/or mob’s sympathy. In addition, always remember that you’ll always have a chance of encountering a pregnant woman, and the earlier stages (which you can barely see) tend to pose the higher risk for the mother.

5.) Do not enter into “hunter and prey” mindset
Once you’re engaged in confrontations, more often than not you will enter into “hunter and prey” mentality, where your mind is focused on hunting your opponent, whoever that may be. When this happens, people tend to switch their mindset from “to survive” to “maiming the opponent”. Once you enter into this state of mind, it will definitely weakens your position in defending your case, as you are prone to respond in excess of the perceived threat.

6.) Do not get into trouble with the security
Simple rule of thumb – security, no matter how stupid or provoking they are (often happen), are always favoured by the law at the first glance. Yes, they might be stupid, they might be provocative, they might be a bunch of meatheads looking for excuse to make their day, but just let them go. Even if you think you’re right and you’re only acting on self defense (think about Overeem brothers’ nightclub incident), you’ll have more than double the trouble just trying to prove they’re being wronged.

7.) When you’re in trouble, avoid disclosing your martial arts training
Coming back to number 3, general public believes that training allows you to have restrain, and you will definitely weaken your position if you know this. I’m not saying to lie, but we have zillions of styles out there, from mainstream “kung-fu” to a relatively unknown one like “Jo Son Do” in UFC 3. Hell, even boxing and wrestling are quite grey when defined as “martial arts”, and people need to be specific when asking.

At this point, you may realize that acting in accordance with the law while in conflict situation can be a very difficult situation to handle, therefore it is cheaper to pay your insurance and take insults as opposed to dealing with law. In addition, always remember that “self defense” means survival – getting out in one piece, not making sure the other person does not get out in one piece; and the more you dwell into a conflict, the lesser your chances are of getting out in one piece.
Finally, always remember that in Indonesia, mob rules. Check out this confession from Urijah Faber, who is one of the top MMA Bantamweights in the world. Even he can get into trouble with the Mob. :)

Conditioning in Martial Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:49:00 +0000

A fellow martial arts and traditional medicine practicioner told me that martial arts is nothing more than a combination of physics, anatomy, and conditioning (which includes cardio strength). Physics and anatomy used to make attacks and defenses more effective using the same amount of strength, which includes when, where, and how.

I’d like to discuss on the third element on this blog entry, conditioning. How do we condition ourselves in martial arts. With the internet getting rampant, it’s easy to overload ourselves with irrelevant information, so I’m going to share my experience on some alternatives training to improve your conditioning for martial arts.

1.) Gym membership
Good old gym – and now with gym memberships going down and more
Pros: Given the right gym, you’ll have lots of equipment, trainers, and other facilities to improve your conditioning. In addition, having others exercising tend to give you a motivation to stay focused.
Cons: Can be expensive, and many trainers in Indonesia does not know about martial arts conditioning, thus making your exercise less effective.
More info: visit your local gym – fitness first, celebrity, lifespa, etc.

2.) Kettlebells
From the depths of Russian winter, this piece of cannonball with handles were popularised in US by Pavel Tsatsouline and the fellas at Dragon Door, this has become one of the fastest growing equipments.
Pros: If used correctly, this can develop explosiveness and endurance much quicker than your typical gym routine. Can be used for endurance and cardio simultaneously
Cons: Not available in Indonesia, and shipping them from Singapore (nearest shipping point) making them darn EXPENSIVE.
More info: www.dragondoor.com, www.kettlebells.sg

3.) Sandbags
I first encounter the sandbags from Ross Enamait’s book and website. Sandbags are very versatile, and given their unstable nature, they provide one of the best unisolated strength trainings.
Pros: Relatively Cheap. Sandbags can be constructed using rice sacks (karung goni) filled with smaller bags of sand, or even rice (ie: buy an extra 10kg of rice for your training)
Cons: You look like a out-of-job “kuli” to your neighbors. Imagine doing sandbag sprints on your neighborhood.
For more info: www.rosstraining.com, www.sandbagstrength.com, www.sandbagexercises.com

4.) Bodyweight exercises
Cheapest, mobile, and the most primitive form of exercise. However, when done right, bodyweight exercises can provide one hell of a challenge, and there are books out there on this topic.
Pros: Cheap, obviously. Functional strength, as rarely focuses on a single muscle group.
Cons: Some exercises does not provide gradual increase and require strong stabilizer muscles before being able to be performed (eg: pistol squats). In addition, no money spent = more tendency to quit
More info: Ross Enamait’s naked warrior, Matt Furey’s Combat Conditioning

So, which of these exercises should you do? Depending on your goals and capacity (including $$$ capacity). I personally find the kettlebells and the sandbags for my strength and endurance, while I focus on cardio on the gym (thanks to polluted airs of Jakarta), while including various bodyweight exercises into the whole package (or switch to 100% bodyweight exercises during travels).

What about you? Find the right one, and always make it interesting and enjoyable.

A Mountain of Excuses and a mountain of answers

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:00:00 +0000

What makes a champ different than a chump? All people can study techniques and strategies, but I find that those who stands out in the crowd have certain traits, and never-say-die attitude is always one of them.
On certain stages of the development of our game, we will face certain walls that we have to go through. In the beginning of our game, it can be as simple as doing the shrimping properly, keeping the mount, or keeping the guard. While on the later stages of the game, it can be a bit more complex, like working on the finishes or setups to make submissions more effective.
In each and every of these walls, some gone through the wall, but some will quit with a mountain of excuses, such as:

“I'm fat”
“I’m too small”
"I'll get injured"
"I'm not strong enough"
“I’m a woman, I can’t fight men.”
“I haven’t been exercising for awhile”

And the mountain of excuses just keep piling up.

Now, why in the world I say that these are excuses? While some will definitely affect the effectiveness of your game, in a true BJJ spirit of a counter to every move, there got to be a solution to these problems. Let me give you counters for every one of these excuses:

“I’m too fat”
Vincent Majid, our very own heavyweight and bronze medalist in World Sambo, is not exactly thin, but look at his credentials.

while IFL’s Champ and a BJJ Black belt Roy Nelson is not a bodybuilding material. He even smothered Kimbo with his beer gut.

“I’m too small”
Helio Gracie was only 62kg on his prime, defeating opponents twice his size, or even better, look at this video of Jeff Glover fighting in the absolute division.

"I'm not strong enough"
BJJ is developed in such a way that people can overcome stronger and bigger opponents. Therefore, do the technique right, and you should be able to overcome stronger opponent with technique and strategy.

“I’m a woman, I can’t fight men.”
Meet Carmen Janke in red gi.

I’ve NEVER defeated this woman all my life. My best result was a draw after 40 minute match - that is after my instructor, Rob Williams, ushered us out of the gym as he needs to work. Note that at that time, she was the lightest fighter on the gym, and she’s submitting bigger and stronger male on the gym.

Still don't believe me that this is doable? Look at this vid:

“I haven’t been exercising for awhile”
Well, this one is so simple...... get your ass down to the mat and start rolling. You'll get your cardio, strength, and conditioning at the same time.

.... And the mountain of answers for quitting is getting even higher. So, remember to never give up, as winners never quit, and quitters never win, and I bet all wants to be a winner and will not quit whenever they come across any barrier, no matter how big they are.

The Homewrecker – modifications to knee-stab guard opener

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:38:00 +0000

Happy Eid-al-Fitr everyone. Well, I may not be a regular blogger, as everyone can see from the 6-month or so of absence, but nevertheless, we are still training, and the blog is still on.

To get straight to the point of this log, a few weeks ago, I had someone with a very small frame starting her BJJ first class. Whilst most of the people that I taught still manage to do most of the moves with minor adjustments, it seems that this time the small frame prevents her from opening a closed guard with the knee-stab. While I had to admit that this move works better against smaller opponents, but I never came into a point where the move did not work due to size difference – she cannot move back far enough whilst holding her opponent’s hips down to break open the closed guard.

I had some thoughts after the class and had some discussion with Louisa, my most senior female student which faces similar issues to a lesser extent. From our discussion, I came to realize that she made small modifications on her knee stab, which she had used against me in the past. Her small frame may prevent her from opening the guard by simply moving her hips back, but her short legs allows her to slip her knees through and maintain control of the legs, then staple the legs, even without opening the guard.

Just to make things a bit clearer, let’s look at the following pictures:

1.) Similar to a knee-stab: hands on the pelvic bone, leave no space between arms (notice that I can't get my hand between them) and opponent’s thigh, posture up, and jam your knees on the tailbone but don’t let your opponent sit on your knees

2.) Notice that Louisa in unable to break free by moving her hips back while keeping the right knee on the tailbone

3.) While unable to break the guard, she still manage to create space which she is able to slip he knee to the groin (OUCH! Point). So, remember to wear your groin guard

4.) Having passed her knees, Louisa can slip through and staple my right leg and begin executing knee-through pass

5.) Don’t forget the far underhook, or you’ll get your back taken

6.) Louisa gets the cross face, joint her arms together in gable grip, and maintain staple on my right thigh, and passes her left leg through

7.) Release staple, and pass to side control

Notice that Louisa’s small size allow my ankles to remain locked even as she slipped her knees through. Don’t worry about this - as long as her knees get inside my guard, she will be able to perform the knee-through pass.

This shows that not all moves are created equal – some work better for smaller opponents (eg: the lawnmower), some are for bigger opponents, etc. – and that everyone has their way of doing it, and some deviations come up with new moves (eg: the tepee, which is a triangle choke variation for people with short legs). This emphasizes that practitioners will need to experiment with techniques, whether through variations on setups, angles, or even the techniques themselves, to optimize their games to their body type. However, in order to properly experiment, you will need a proper understanding of the techniques and test them on the field through sparring sessions and/or tournaments over and over again. So, don’t afraid to ask, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

Now, the last but not the least, given the OUCH! Factor on step 3, I’d given this move a nickname “the Homewrecker”, as I think it will be too much burden for Louisa to bear the nickname “nutcracker” or “ballbasher”.

PS: Special thanks to Louisa, Kartini, and Tom for their contribution to this article.

BJJ Lady with One Leg

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:25:00 +0000

To start with, I'd like to post a video from Nicolai Holt (my BJJ-junior-turned-instructor) from his competition in Japan in 2005. However, I will not try to inspire people with the perseverance and courage of this woman, which she clearly has shown by competing on the match. Instead, I decided to look at it from a more technical perspective - control on open guard. The match will give you a tremendous insight into guard passing.

For those with slower internet connection, please be patient and download the video till finish, as to you will need to observe the full match to give you the full insights.

On the first half of the match, you can see that the blue gi player keeps the white gi player at bay, recovering back to guard, and even the had her opponent on her mount for a short while until she was reversed and obtained kesa gatame at around 2:50 mark. After that point, the blue gi player was not able to recover guard

Now, what's the X-factor that made the white-gi player able to pass the guard? She passed from the side with the legs at the 2:50 mark.

Most beginners tend to try to pass on the weaker side of the guard (ie: the side with "no legs"), but as tempting and easy as it looks like, this will quickly prove to be counter-productive. Why? Maintaining control open guard is about keeping your opponent face to face against you through push, pull, and hooking actions as you react on which way your opponent will try to pass your guard. Control is maintained if the balance of force between left and right is about equal (ie: if opponent pushes on your left side, you push on your right side), and when this balance is not achieved, then either side is going for an attack (eg: sweeps, guard passes, etc.).

For the one-legged lady, which can only maintain control by pulling and pushing on one side, the concept of maintaining this balance of power is more obvious. She cannot get passed on the side with no legs, as she was able to maintain the lateral balance with her leg. However, as she get passed on her side with the legs, she can no longer maintain or recover this lateral balance, and therefore, got passed.

Therefore, as control is achieved by maintaining this balance of power, the general principle on maintaining the guard is to counter on the opponent's weaker side and never let your opponent get control over / around your stronger side. The same principle applies to guard passing as well - to spoil the balance of force, pass on the side that your opponent has greatest control over.

So, don't forget this when I scream "One-legged lady" during tourneys.

Note: Special thanks to Nicolai Holt for giving me great insights for this blog.

Tournament Preparation: Gameplan(s)

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:40:00 +0000

Melbourne, November 2006: Pan Pacific Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships. Nicolai Holt asked me a simple question 30 minutes before my first fight: "Bram, what's your gameplan?"

I couldn't answer.

We probably hear the word "game plan" so many times, but for many, this word does not seem to be synonymous with combat sports.

Apparently, it is as crucial as in other sports. A right game plan allows you to use your skills more efficiently, thus can differentiate between winning or losing, or on the streets, it can mean life or death.

A gameplan is not something that you invent when you jump into the competition or fight. It is something that people prepare to the detail, on how they want their games to move in to their favours, based on their own expertise, their opponent's, and the environment (eg: applicable rules, cage vs ring vs street, one vs multiple opponent, etc.). Having said that, a gameplan should retain a degree of flexibility - ie: you should not force your gameplan, but rather adjust your gameplan to the conditions given during a match, which mainly achieved through preparations of plan B or even plan C should Plan A fails to score.

Now, what elements form a good gameplan?
1.) Know thyself
2.) Know thy opponent
3.) Know the battlefield

1.) Know thyself
One need to assess his or her own strength and weaknesses. What positions are you comfortable in? What moves are you well-versed with? What positions are you NOT want to be in, can you finish by points, and so on. Having a knowledge of these gives you an "area" which you should play your game in, progress, and how to finish your opponent. Spar often, and consult with your trainer on how you should play your game. As your trainer is the closest person to train with you, he should be the best person to develop your gameplan.

2.) Know thy opponent
Knowing yourself is only half the battle - even the great Sun Tzu says so. You will need to know your opponent in order to find the most efficient way of defeating him using your chosen methods, while countering his attempts of trying to nullify your game. More often than not, this is the missing component. On street situations, this cannot be helped, but on tournaments, you can watch your opponents' earlier fights and/or fight videos of competitors.

3.) Know the battlefield
The fight stage can affect the effectiveness of the chosen techniques, thus affects the way your gameplan. A cage is played differently than a ring or a mat; an concrete is different from mats, matches with leglocks are played differently than those with leglocks, and the list goes on. Therefore, be aware of where you fight and under what rule, as this can greatly affect your gameplan, and make sure these are used to your advantage, not to your disadvantage.

Ideally, a good gameplan should have all these three components to maximise your chances of winning, and as developing a gameplan is not a 1-day process, so make sure the game plans are prepared. Even not knowing your opponent, you should prepare a basic gameplan tased on elements 1 and 3. Remember, if you don't prepare to win, you're preparing for a loss.

Now, how did I end up in Melbourne in 06? Well, Nicolai drilled me on a last-minute gameplan, which gave me a win on sub and 2 losses on points, one of them only by one advantage. Not a bad result, but could've been better with more preparation.

Closed Guard Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:55:00 +0000

One of the unique features of BJJ, other than its tremendous use of leverage, is the ability to defend yourself, neutralise or even attack opponents from your back. What made this possible is BJJ's guard positions.

The most basic form of guard, as well as the first one that I encountered, was the closed guard. The reason why this guard is taught as the first guard is the fact that this guard offers the maximum area of contact among other guards, thus allowing more control over the person inside the guard.

What are the principles of closed guard?

Lock ankles while not in the offensive
Break down opponent’s posture and keep it that way
Open up your guard for the offensive only after breaking up opponent’s posture
Create more angle between your body and your opponent’s for better offenses

The first one, locking the ankles, are often forgotten by many, especially beginners in the heat of battle. Without it, the guard will not be “closed”, and you’ll quickly lose control of your opponent. Crossing the ankle will create a ring which traps your opponent’s hips and allow you to control your opponent. If the ring breaks while you’re trying to establish control, then your guard is broken, and your guard is likely to be passed.

As the basic principle of breaking the ring is by “overloading” them, you will need to prevent your opponent to fix his hips against yours, therefore keeping your hips mobile while immobilizing theirs. Breaking down your opponent’s posture will achieve this, which brings us to the next crucial element of closed guard.

Breaking your opponent’s posture is essentially moving your opponent’s centre of gravity forward toward you and keep them there, ie: break your opponent’s posture is by “sucking” your opponent into your guard. This will make your opponent off-balance, minimizing their capabilities to use leverage, thus minimizing the damage to yourself, as well as setting yourself up for the offensive.

For the offensive, we have to keep coming back to basic principles in BJJ – position over submission. In the case of a guard, you’ll need to open up your guard to attack, but do so after breaking up your opponent’s posture and have sufficient control over him/her. Without it, you’ll lose the guard for a submission attempt, and you’ll end up worse than what it used to be

Lastly, while there are numerous ways to attack your opponent from closed guard, but generally, the more angle you create between their body and yours, the more effective is your submissions and sweeps. Take for example an armbar – the more you take your opponent’s arm across his/her chest (thus more angle between you and your opponent), the faster you get the armbar.

So, keep these principles in mind when keeping your opponent inside your closed guard, and once you’re comfortable with closed guard, don’t hesitate to try other guards to increase you offensive and defensive capabilities.

For more references, here are some of the videos that I find useful:

Closed Guard Principles - as usual, Stephan Kesting did well in his explanations

Closed Guard Crash Course

For all of you Eddie Bravo fans, the Rubber Guard Instructionals:
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

For those who wants to have a deeper look at this guard, I have the book for the class to borrow, but make sure you understand the basics of guard, or you will not be able to fully utilize this unorthodox guard.

Checking Your Ego by the Door

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:31:00 +0000

I can't seem to stop emphasize how much we need each other in order to progress in BJJ. Many would seem to see BJJ as an individual sport, but the fact that we cannot practice without training partners proves that the team element on this sport is more than what it looks like to the common eye, thus the more need to check our egos at the door.

"Ego is the BJJ demon," says our very own Jedi Master Niko Han. It's something we all struggle with, all of the time, at every stage of BJJ, on and off the mat.

Ego is what makes someone crank a submission.
Ego is what stops someone from tapping when they should.

It can just mean you're afraid of losing, have to "win" every roll (even though it's not a competition), especially with those you perceive to be less skillful or physically weaker. The ego is also what stops you from rolling with certain people for fear of losing. Now, this attitude is what will eventually slow down the learning process for a number of reasons.

First, not throwing down ego will hinder us from taking care of our training partner, as we are very likely not to give our opponent any chance to tap and injure them. Remember that training partner will be the ones pushing you further, and injuring a training partner means everyone, including you, will lose a training partner for at least 6 weeks, thus hindering your learning process.

Secondly, tap early. It's not worth it to get injured in training and lose precious training time just for a bloated ego. Tapping early doesn't mean you suck, or wimpy. It means that you have a lion's heart to admit your weakness, reflect on what happened, train, and close that weakness on the next day as opposed to taking 6 week break from injuries. Even guys like Helio Soneca Morreira was submitted by Synergy's very own Max Metino during a seminar when Max was still a white belt, and Helio didn't mind at all.

Thirdly, always take an extra care when training with the following groups: someone weaker than you, newbies, or women. Throw away your ego when training with this group. There is no shame in losing to a weaker and smaller training partner or a newbie, as the art is designed for the weak to triumph against the strong. Nevertheless, you have to take extra care under these circumstances, as lighter people will take more weight relative to theirs when fighting a heavier and stronger opponents. Newbies, on the other hand, tend to lack the experience to know dangerous positions and sometimes might not tap in time. Finally, women, tend to have lighter bones and weaker pound-per-pound. So, when training with these three groups (even more so if a person is included to more than one of these groups), check your ego at the door, and use it as a chance to train your technique, sensitivity, reflexes, and finesse (detil2 halus). This is what make black belts stand out of the crowd.

Finally, let's not forget that our club is named "Synergy". Having “synergy” means no bloated ego, nor about who's the king of the hill, but about improving and supporting each other during training, so that your training partner can improve and push you even further and able to make you a better fighter.

So, throw away the ego - even the great Royler Gracie during the August 2008 seminar in Bali claimed that the miracle escape to triangle choke is nothing more than a tap. He said that because he checked his ego at the door. And that what makes him what he is now.

Relocation Update 2

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:56:00 +0000

Friends,

Good News! With the negotiations with Hotel Bumi Karsa at Bidakara finalised and the mats for training obtained, and we can start training today.

Classes held every Monday and Wednesday on 20:00-22:00

The details for the venue will be as follows:
Oceania Fitness Center
Hotel Bumi Karsa 3rd Floor
Komplek Bidakara
Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto Kav.71-73
Pancoran, Jakarta 12870
Tel: +6221 8379 3555

Images: bidakara.co.id

For reference, it's the highrise building after Shell Petrol Station at Pancoran.
For those who has concerns on the traffic from Kuningan, there is an entry via "jalan tikus", as we Indonesians call them, near Plaza GRI / Graha GRI (Great River Indonesia), as shown on the map.

So, we're moving down to Bidakara. What about Cityloft and Wisma Bakrie 2?
We're not actually moving. WE ARE EXPANDING. Bidakara is not temporary. It will be a new Synergy BJJ club, and we are opening up new clubs at City Loft and Wisma Bakrie 2. Currently, we are finalising negotiations with the gym management on the pricing, packages, and schedule. We should be able to start training as early as next Monday, 23 February 2009.

BJJ on Domestic Violence

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 05:21:00 +0000

One day, a female acquaintance which has not trained in martial arts asked me during a coffee break, “What’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?”

After giving a brief explanation, she asked me one another question, “Well, all martial arts that I saw started from a standing position, but what if someone held you down while you were on the ground?”

Dumbfounded, and praying she’s alright, I asked, “Why?”

Apparently, her best friend had just seen a lawyer to file a Domestic Violence case, and my friend was being told a very graphic description of what had happened - he sneaked into her room while she was sleeping and began by holding her to the bed with one leg between hers, one arm covering her mouth and the other around her pelvis.

While I will not go into details on the outcome of the ordeal, there are a number of points that I'd like to point out on this conflict from a self-defense perspective.

Firstly, based on the description of the incident that I was told, the position is strikingly similar to half guard. With neither of them had any background on the grappling arts, the position was achieved rather “instinctively” by the assailant, showing that the positions that we learn on sparring sessions are very much real and applicable to real situations.

Secondly, the above situation shown that, unlike the common belief, there are situations where fights do start on the ground with absolutely no chance of maintaining stand up position, showing more importance of having groundfighting as part of the self defense arsenal. More importantly, when such situations happen, it is very likely that the situation starts with the assailant positioned on top and the victim on the back, which proves that there is a huge advantage of having knowledge on BJJ. Why? As most probably aware, BJJ syllabus provide wide array of defensive and offensive movements with the practitioner lying on their backs – ranging from a hold to maintain position to reversals and even submissions.

Thirdly, while women should benefit more from BJJ as BJJ is meant to overcome stronger and larger opponents with technique, personally I find it quite ironic that I’ve encountered relatively fewer female practicing BJJ, both in percentage and in number, compared to other martial arts which I had trained in or seen. Most are uncomfortable being in close contact with the opposite sex during training, find it overwhelming to go against the guys, or simply sees no need for martial arts or self-defense training (and join a martial arts class for the aerobic part and being part of a trend).

So, next time you’re wondering if all those hard work drilling the techniques into the back of your head really works in real-life situations, and not only for the tournaments, remember this scenario. When people are wondering why we start sparring on the ground and whether there are self-defense scenarios start on the ground, remember this scenario. When people start question as of why women should learn self defense – especially with having their loved ones to protect them, remember this scenario, where the assailant is the one that supposedly protect the victim.

Change of Location - FAQ + Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:52:00 +0000

For some members of the club, the issue might have been known since end of last month, but I believe there should be an explanation to all club members on what is going on.

Are the classes gone?
Yes - there will be no more training in Fit by Beat Setiabudi. But only for the better. Continue reading the FAQ.

With the classes gone, is the club out for good?
Absolutely NOT! We may be out of Setiabudi, but only to become stronger than ever. We might be down for a week or two at most, but we are in the process of venturing out to a bigger and better place. We are even planning of holding more activities, including inter-club matches in March, open mat sessions with other grapplers and wrestlers, and weekend BJJ bootcamps.

Where will we be moving?
We'll keep the place within no more than 2km radius from Setiabudi. Our current options are as follows:
1.) Bumi Karsa Hotel Gym at Bidakara, Jl. Jenderal Gatot Subroto, Pancoran
2.) Gold's Gym City Loft, Jl. K.H. Mas Manysur, near Karet
3.) Wisma Bakrie 2, HR Rasuna Said, a few buildings past Setiabudi building
We'll keep everyone posted on where we are moving ASAP, but our priority is to find everyone a place to train ASAP.

Will there be change on the fees?
We'll notify everyone once the negotiation is finalised. Rest assured that we will keep members on top of our priority list on the negotiation, but as people say, quality comes with price, and we intend to improve our training facilities as well

Why so sudden?
Fit by Beat management decided not to extend our agreement to use their gym room for training. Unfortunately, there were no direct or written formal communication from the Fit by Beat management of their intention, or on the eviction notice.

Why do we have to move?
As explained above, there were no formal or direct communication from the Fit by Beat management on the eviction, and we'd like to leave it at that and move on, rather than wasting energy on something of less importance. Nevertheless, we'd like to thank Fit by Beat management on their generousity and support for all these years.

Half Guard Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Bram) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:40:00 +0000

After a brief description and some examples of Hierarchy of Positions, we should come to understand that in grappling, fighters will fight for positions, and this will look like a tug-of-war over the Hierarchy of Positions. That is, both players will try to cross the “neutrality line” throughout the game to a more dominant side of the spectrum in order to win the match and submit their opponent.

Having said that, I find that one of the most common positions grapplers will encounter is half guard, as they often act as the “pit stop” before crossing the neutrality line. For instance, mount escapes to establishing a guard will have a stage where the bottom will be in half guard; or one form of escape from side control is to half guard.

Being one of the most commonly encountered positions in grappling, I’d like to highlight a number of key points required to establish a sound half guard from the bottom, which in reverse, points out what to defend for the person on the top. Note that these movements are to be done sequentially, which I will explain later:

1.) Leg hooks
2.) Outside underhook
3.) Getting to your side

Firstly, getting the leg hooks is the first and important thing in establishing your half guard. This is one key element of the position which will make the top player “stuck” inside a half guard. Without it, top player will be free to advance to side control or even back to mount. The bottom player can halt, or at least delay, the top player’s advance to a better position without the underhook, but not without the leg hooks. There are different leg hooks (outside, inside, single leg, double leg, and so on), each with their own uses, but I will not go into details on this article but will cover them on a later stage.

Next, the outside underhook. While the leg hook is meant to halt the opponent’s advances, by itself it will not grant you much control nor offensive options. In order to obtain this, you will need to pair it up with the outside underhook. This will be the true tug of war between both players, as both require this hook to improve each of their positions. For the top player, this is what they require to pass the half guard. For the bottom player, the underhook is an essential element in getting to the side and go for the offensive.

The third element, getting to the side, is the crucial element in going offensive from the bottom of the half guard. Moving to the side achieves 2 things: taking the weight of the top player off and create space, both allowing more movement for the bottom player, thus allowing them to be on the offensive. In the process of moving to the side, remember to move yourself against your opponent, as opposed to moving your opponent against you. Shifting your own body is easier than moving the top player’s body (plus gravity), and you can feel the difference when making the shift against a much heavier opponent (which is what BJJ is designed for – overcoming bigger and stronger adversaries). The top player’s objective at this stage is to get the bottom player’s back flat to the ground, thus pushing the bottom player one step back.

Note that these elements need to be done sequentially. i.e.: get leg hooks first, then the underhook, then get to your side. You cannot get a half guard with only underhook and getting to your side. The same goes for the top player – with the bottom player attaching the underhook, top player must flatten the shoulder to the ground first before attempting to get the underhook or even to escape the leg hooks.

Of course, half guard game is not limited into these three elements. In fact, there are tons of variations and combination on half guard game, and renowned instructors like Eddie Bravo and Stephan Kesting has put a chapter or even a book specifically discussing the half guard. However, regardless of the variations people made on the half guard, these basic elements will remain intact on the variations, therefore having solid proficiency on these basics will help practitioners on their current game as well as future developments of their game.