The Daily Jits, The Journey of A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu White Belt

Fight Quest BJJ Video

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:26:00 +0000

I don't know how long this video will stay up but I thought it was a pretty good one.

Marcelo Garcia Video

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:35:00 +0000

I like this video because it really shows what you need to do if you are smaller facing a larger opponent. Speed is the key...the second sub on the video is pretty amazing IMO...he is just so quick.

The Long Road Back

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:39:00 +0000

Well its always tough coming back after time away but missing two months has made it very difficult. One of the guys that started at the same time I did has gotten his blue belt now and is running circles around me. Im happy for his success but its still painful for the ego. Things are slowly coming back to me but I have a long way to go in the fitness department. I forgot how much rolling takes out of you. Of course I still struggled when rolling before my two month hiatus so that hasnt really changed. My muscle memory seems to still be there as I havent had too much problem with the basics like arm bars and triangles which I have done thousands and thousands of times by now. Some of the other moves that I sed to use I have struggled a little more with. One of my old favorites the oma plata has been causing me trouble. My timing and movement is off a little so I keep getting over powered and rolled back over so Im not getting my momentum moving forward enough to carry them down to the mat. Well I think that enough run on sentences for the day. Cya

Roger Gracie 2007 Absolute Champion

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:24:00 +0000

I'm Finally Back

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:06:00 +0000

Well after a two month hiatus I have returned to the blog. This isn't really BJJ related but I have missed going to the gym for the last two months due to travel for work and buying a new house. So after this long time away how was it going back to the gym, in a word "challenging". I feel like I am starting over from scratch but there wasn't much I could do sometimes life just gets in the way of training. The good news is I still really enjoy the training so hopefully I wont have to take a break like this again for awhile as it really hurt my progress.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Highlights Video

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:06:00 +0000

This is a pretty good highlight video that has a really nice submission at the 2:04 mark in the video.

Interesting BJJ Training Video

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Tue, 29 May 2007 21:06:00 +0000

This is an interesting video about learning how to stay connected to your opponent. I think I may give it a try for a few weeks and see if it makes any difference in my game. I don't know if it will add much value and im more than a little sceptical but I thought I would post it to see if anyone else has tried it or if anyone does try it let me what kind of results you see.

Good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Article & Training Update

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Tue, 22 May 2007 16:42:00 +0000

Well I haven't posted in a few weeks due to my busy schedule with work but the good news is I have been keeeping up with my training consistently. I actually have been told by several purple belts that if I would just go to a tournament I would get my first stripe. The problem is I dont really have too much interest in competing. I feel like if I am going to compete I should make more of a time commitment to BJJ and train properly to win as I feel the only reason to compete is to try and win. How do others here feel about competing?

Well here is a good article I came across the other day that I thought I would share.

1. Exercise your ears
“The first rule to perfect your Jiu-Jitsu is to never be deaf to other people’s knowledge,” says Renzo Gracie. “It’s common to see guys who deem themselves professors decline a new teaching, ignoring a pupil who shows something new. To grow better you must understand how people think and how they got to that position. Even if it’s not perfect, it’s up to you to enhance it.” A clear example was a coup with which Gracie surprised Canadian fighter Carlos Newton in the Pride Bushido 1: “I nearly submitted him on the foot lock, in a position a white-belt had taught me. Starting from the tip I perfected and developed the leg attack, from the knee lock to the foot lock.” To Renzo, it doesn’t matter whether the student is a blue-, white-belt, or someone who’s never fought: the moment they show you something, shut your mouth and pay attention. “Even if the move is not efficient, the concept might help your play. When you don’t allow yourself to accept any other form of knowledge, you become a limited professor,” he teaches.

2. Always believe in the move
If you follow Rodrigo Minotauro’s MMA bouts, you can probably figure out his tip to make your Jiu-Jitsu better. A combative athlete, always with a surprising coup at hand, he shoots: “Fight to get a grip on your opponent.” How do you do that? Well, the Brazilian Top Team star suggests that every fighter ignores the clock and the points during the combats. This measure may result in defeats in the beginning, but on the long run it’ll leave the fighter “light and loose” (Nogueira’s definition). “There is nothing better than fighting naturally and pressure-free,” he says. “The secret is to believe He’s got to believe,” adds Wallid Ismail. Carlson Gracie’s black-belt’s advice is based on three elements: stamina, attitude and will to win. “At the time of the position or the fight, the main thing is to believe. To make the move work, you’ve got to believe it will work. And it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side, because there lies the difference between winner and loser. The winner is never intimidated. He may even fear, but he must have something greater inside – the attitude.”

3. Practice an outdoor sport
Soccer, jogging, outdoor work out – there’s always a healthy activity waiting for the athlete who takes off the gi after hours of grappling in the academy. One can then dive into a commonplace sport (surf, for instance, is practised by nine in every ten fighters) or even invent their own distraction. This strategy keeps the body in shape without making the fighter stressed from the training routine. “Every physical activity, not only Jiu-Jitsu, is useful for working out heart and mind, leading the guy to thinking that, instead of smoking a joint or using drugs, he can dedicate his time to exercise,” says Royler Gracie, who has since 1999 been climbing the Rock of Gavea, at Rio de Janeiro: “It’s a workout similar to the Macacos Hill trail at Teresopolis, which I would cross with Rickson when he was preparing for MMA fights,” he recollects.

4. Repeat the moves over and over
Leaders of victorious academies in Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, Andre Pederneiras (Nova Uniao) and Sylvio Behring (Winner-Behring) don’t fear being repetitive when they assure that the motto is to persist and persist and then persist some more when it comes to position-training. “Definitely the key is the positions. In judo, the athlete makes 1,000 takedowns on every session. It’s sad to see that in the Jiu-Jitsu milieu people think it’s a waste of time. We repeat the basic positions in the warm up about 5 times before every practice”, says Pederneiras. Master Sylvio corroborates: “Every title we conquered in the last years with Mario Reis and Fabricio Werdum were due to this philosophy: repeating the basics and go through a training fight under supervision, which is the sparring game. One of the athletes executes every type of attack, arm, triangle, and the other tries to defend from the blitz”, says Marcelo Behring’s brother, who demands 90 seconds or a series of 100 repetitions after training. “Thus the athlete reaches exhaustion and lets the movement flow naturally.” After all, as professor Jean Jacques Machado puts it, it’s better to repeat a position a thousand times, working on it for a month, than learning one a day.

The phenomenon Nino “Elvis” Schembri also agrees on the tip: “More and more I convince myself that one should pay attention to the positions, from the white all the way to the black belt. The main thing in Jiu-Jitsu, a sport in which, I believe, the most technical player gets the advantage, is to repeat the positions. Everybody does that in boxing, judo, but in Jiu-Jitsu the guys are a little lazy. Including me.” To Nino, it’s reasonable to reserve the beginning of the practice to repeating 50 positions for each side, thrice a week. “And don’t even think of giving up”, he smiles.

5. Set goals
In the nineties, when he was among the best competitors in Jiu-Jitsu, Ze Mario Sperry had a notebook where he would right the goals to be reached in training, in a given period. The black-belt used to rip the leaves and leave them on all corners of his house. “I’d go to the bathroom to shave and would find a note glued to the mirror: ‘If you want to be a champion, you’ve got one week to do this or train that’,” he recalls. Sperry explains that setting goals helps in the evaluation and control of what is being produced in the training. “The ideal is that the fighter define what he wants. Afterwards, find ways to get there, reckoning the time necessary to reach it.” For an example, the black-belt recollects the time he set the goal of getting a perfect physical condition. To achieve it, he designed a series that focused on several exercises, such as squatting, weight lifting and running-sprints. “By keeping my heart-beat accelerated with this workout, I made progress until I conditioned my body to the rhythm of the combats.” This “note pursuit” enabled the BTT master to keep focus on his career’s objectives, being sure what he had to improve in a near future.

Black-belt Vitor Shaolin warns his students about this up to this day: “You must set up your training in such a way that you define what are the two most important competitions for you to be in that year. No matter how much you try it, you can never be 100% in all tournaments,” he guarantees. “Then you must establish the rules: ‘I want to be well in the Brazilian and World championships.’ And prepare to place well only in these tournaments, not minding whatever you win or lose in the rest of the competitions. The body is not a machine and cannot remain on a level 8 or 9 all the time, be it in Jiu-Jitsu or MMA, which is the Triathlon of fighting,” the Shooto champion concludes.

6. Be dynamic
To Amaury Bitetti, Jiu-Jitsu is like chess: you only move a piece thinking of the next move. The two-time world open champion in ’96-’97 says an attacking position during the fight must always be connected to other future positions whose objective is the submission or – just to follow the comparison – the check-mate. In order to achieve that, Amaury advises that the attack-trainings should be made in a logical progression. For instance: a takedown leads to a guard-pass, which in its turn leads us to a mount, which leads to a choke. The combinations are infinite; what matters is that your game be not static. Just as in the whiskey advertisement: keep walking. Turn your Jiu-Jitsu into a motor gear.

7. You are an athlete, not a weight-lifter
Two-time world open champion 02-03, Marcio Pe de Pano strives to convince the athletes of the fact that they don’t need to look for a superathlete’s body at any cost. To the black-belt, the secret lies, above all, in training to ally technique and good conditioning. “If you train Jiu-Jitsu, you ought to work out, but not make a monstrous physical preparation,” he comments. “If you fight MMA or wrestling, you might need such a body. In Jiu-Jitsu, physical preparation is not all: one must work to become a technical and conditional athlete.” Therefore, don’t go try anything silly.

8. Strengthen your grip
The first attitude necessary to follow this hint by Vitor Shaolin is: tighten that rope well! After all, the principle behind this task is to use a thick rope tied to the academy’s ceiling in order to strengthen the fighter’s grip on the opponent’s gi. An important detail is that this exercise is good to another very important muscle for the athlete: the abdomen.

9. Strive to be complete
What good is it to get an A+ in guard-passing but flunk attack-from-the-back? To stand out in Jiu-Jitsu, the fighter can’t excel at one or two moves. He must play in the eleven, as we say in football. Black-belt Saulo Ribeiro teaches a simple way of reaching versatility: “Many people despises the warm-up before practising. Well, dedicate the first 15 minutes in the academy to doing the basic: escape from the back, from the mount, and side-mount. In the next 15, practise submission from the back, the mount and the side-mount. Do this every day in your Jiu-Jitsu career. It may be boring, but it’ll make you complete. No matter what belt. I am a black-belt and still discipline myself into doing it till today. Oh, I nearly missed it. Practise judo at least twice a week. Knowing how to fight standing is also fundamental. That it my formula for becoming complete.”

10. Posture is everything
By training Jiu-Jitsu frequently, three or four times a week, our physical preparation specialist Martin Rooney’s attention was caught by a simple, though essential, tip. “It was something that changed the way I looked at workout itself: whether on the mat or with the dumb-bells, always pay attention to your posture. That is the most important, both if you are trying pass a guard or lifting tremendous weight. Without the adequate posture you don’t spare moves, you worsen the strike’s execution and augment the health hazards – or loss hazards.” In case the reader suspects on Martin for the fact that he isn’t a great BJJ star, remember that is one of the aspects Rickson Gracie stresses the most while training. So, straight neck, lined-up shoulders, firm back and off you go.

11. Learn from defeat
Many fighters absorb but negativity from losses. They get depressed, blame God and the world for the result and, sometimes, deem their careers finished. Leonardo Vieira does the exact opposite. He uses the defeats (preferably in practices, of course) to reflect on what he can do better. “I’m convinced that everybody who submits all of their opponents in the trainings is actually learning nothing,” says Leo. Like the child, who only learns how to walk by stumbling, it’s by tapping that the Jiu-Jitsu practitioner improves their art. Therefore, the Brasa black-belt advises that the masters mix athletes of different graduations in the trainings. Thus the fights aren’t too even, leaving room for adversities. Martin Rooney agrees: “The athlete who reacts with bad feelings to the defeats isn’t learning the incredible lessons that have been taught him, and that would make his chances of losing again much smaller. There’s no such thing as winning and losing, but only winning and learning,” says Renzo’s and Ricardo Cachorrao’s trainer. “Only you can your reaction and spirits to grow as an athlete. I believe the person that has been submitted the most is the toughest to beat. That’s what a tough guy is made of. That’s of a black-belt is made of,” he summarizes. Leo Vieira calls the attention to the fact that the losses out of the mats are just as fundamental to form a champion, above all in what concerns character. “When there was a dissidence at the first formation of the Alliance team and I was alone in Sao Paulo, I went through one of the most difficult moments of my life. However, I became a much stronger person and learned a lot about life. I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t gone through that,” he evaluates.

12. Look for the best version of the move for you
Master Osvaldo Alves says that up until the nineteen-seventies one only gave and armbar-in-guard by uncrossing and wide-opening the legs. “I realized this coup was vulnerable, for it enabled the opponent to flee and pass the guard easily. So I invented the climbing-armbar,” recalls the red-and-black-belt. As you can see on the image, this armlock version makes it a lot harder for the adversary to escape. “The thing is to not lock the opponent’s arm, but his/her shoulder,” clears up the master, who uses his own calf against the sparring’s shoulder, stopping him from getting up. Summarizing: if you don’t get along with a certain move, try to perfect it, adapt it to your physical and technical traits, always searching new versions for it. That’s what makes Jiu-Jitsu evolve continuously.

13. The best strategy is the attack“
I always try to attack. While I’m on the offensive, my opponent can think of nothing but defending, that is, I’m protected,” Marcelo Garcia teaches. As an example, the Alliance black-belt recalls the time when he didn’t know to keep an open guard. He would cross the legs on the opponent’s back and pray for the time to elapse. “I was afraid of attacking,” he evaluates. After noticing the deficiency Marcelo started uncrossing the feet and practising sweeps. He realised that, if he went right onto the adversary, he’d run a much smaller risk of being submitted than if he played defending, applying but rare counter-strikes. Garcia also realised that, by being the first to attack, he would make his opponents abandon their former plan. If he prolonged the blitz, Marcelo also prolonged this “untouchable” state. But there are those who say that repeated attacks tend to tire the athlete. “What really tires is to hold the fight back the whole time,” Marcelo argues. Notwithstanding, the black-belt gives some advice on physical preparation for those who agree that the best defense is the attack: “Climbing stairs and ramps is the best option for an amazing guard,” he reveals.

14. Don’t forget to enhance your defense
Despite liking the attacking strategy suggested by Marcelo Garcia, Rillion Gracie stresses the importance of training submission-escapes (remembering that the other guy may attack first). “Look at Roger Gracie’s performances in the last World Championship. He suffered fulminating attacks right in the beginning of the battles but was able to defend like a master to then counter-attack,” Rillion recalls. The Gracie Leblon Master says that, while practising defense, the competitor learns exactly what the opponent feels like in situations of adversity. “Learning defense improves the attack. I f the lion knows how the prey can escape, it’ll capture it in a much more precise way,” he ponders. To practise defense in Jiu-Jitsu, Rillion advises the reader into forgetting s/he is strong. “Exercise your patience. Use the weight and the force of the levers,” he explains. “Start practising defense as soon as possible, to awake just as soon the survival instinct in your fighter’s soul.”

15. Stretch!
Ever since he was a kid, Antonio Schembri has been used to stretching daily. And he never complained, unlike his opponents, whom, in time and practice, he began to submit in the most varied ways. “I’m very flexible, so I always take a strong session before and after training. Some people are stiffer, they don’t like it, but stretching is essential, especially the bottom half, legs, spine and lumbar,” says the Chute Boxe athlete. According to “Elvis,” stretching is vital even for improving the guard. “What I realize in competitions, even black-belts’, is that everybody gets along well on top, but not everyone can keep a good guard. So besides stretching, which improves the de-passing, the athlete must set up a schedule and program himself and persist in training every single variation, butterfly guard, closed guard, with inside hooks… You can’t let the guy cross the knee line, or else you’ll have to pull something out of your ass to stop the guy from passing,” Schembri teaches.

16. Develop self-knowledge
According to Fabio Gurgel, competition-Jiu-Jitsu is so leveled nowadays that the small details can make the difference in the fight’s result. Considering that you, fearless reader, have already looked after the technique and physical preparation, the Alliance general calls the attention to a “detail” that can turn you into a giant of the mats: self-knowledge. “I advise my students to talk to themselves. Self-evaluation makes the athlete know himself better, finding out his true virtues and weaknesses. He starts being conscious of his own instincts, develops self-confidence and doesn’t chiken out. Thus the athlete can design an ideal fighting plan,” Gurgel analyses, and then describes the state of mind with which one should enter the ring: “The fighter’s self-knowledge must turn the battler into something pleasant. The Jiu-Jitsu practitioner must have fun in the championships. That way, it all becomes easy.”

17. Simulate hindrances and escapes“Back at Carlson’s academy, I always trained with partners who would attack me full-on That’s what’s bad about training in an academy where everybody wants to fight for real: you don’t get used to the opponent that hinders the fighting in the competitions,” Ricardo de la Riva points out, stressing the hard time he had developing his game against Japanese fighter Yuki Nakai in September 2004.His hint, accordingly, is to simulate fights where the opponent neither tries to pass nor to submit; to fight against a technical sparring – or one who runs away. Marcelo Garcia also has a hint for those hard situations: stretching and breathing. “The fighter has got to know how to stretch and move all of his members, besides breathing properly, for the time when he is on the bottom, being smashed and smothered by the adversary,” says the middle-weight world champion. In order to learn how to get out of the tough situations, Garcia indicates: the good thing is to practise guard with heavier mates.

18. Try!
Jean Jacques Machado likes to awake his students’ creativity. The master organizes “lab sessions” during the trainings in the academy where he teaches in Los Angeles. On these moments he shows the classroom a move, asks the students to study it and to present a defense a week later. “There are many ways to get to a goal. I like my pupils to use their creativity and find out new ways to get there,” he evaluates. In other words, Jean doesn’t make his apprentices “move repeaters.” By disseminating experimentalism in his lessons, the black-bellt gives birth to classrooms full of creative and innovating athletes. Leo Vieira likes Jacques’ methodology, but presents another way of making the students open minded: “Look at the kids fighting. Notice how they’re always laughing and jumping around. That’s how I like to fight. Children invent, use unexpected moves that, if adapted to adult Jiu-Jitsu, can be fruitful. Teaching kids is a great source of knowledge to me.”

19. Regularity, always
Also to 1999 ADCC champion Jean Machado, there’s nothing more important than regularity. Not vanishing from the academy is, therefore, essential for the athlete’s evolution – s/he must avoid substituting wasted weeks with overtraining periods. Nearly every one of the gi-superstars knows that by heart, as Pe de Pano Illustrates: “The secret is regularity: training over and over and over. Twice a day if possible. As I began late, I would make it up by going to the academy in the afternoon and at night.” According to him, training regularly leads to evolving and injury-avoiding. “For the fact that you keep training, the body gets used to the effort you make. It was after I began resuming and quitting that I began to have injuries often,” he completes. A partisan to that idea, Vitor Shaolin exemplifies: “Besides training often, you must divide the trainings, understand that there is a little something called resting. So if in the afternoon the practice is slower, take the chance to rest. If your body doesn’t react all that well in the morning but you know that in the morning the training is profitable, wake up earlier to get your body prepared. Practise more heavily at night, but don’t let it go on till too late, for you might go to bed tense, thinking of training – and end up not resting at all.”

20. Respect and reflect
Respect and dedication are utterly necessary to Ricardo de la Riva. “The idea is to arrive with an open mind and to practise with pleasure, and not to simply want to win in the training. You must respect, above all, not only the dojo and the professor, but also your practice-mate, after all you need him/her,” says the master. According to Martin Rooney, the salutation can afford great benefits that sometimes can go by unnoticed. “In all sports, athletes create rituals that push the negative energy away. However, I realise that many Jiu-Jitsu beginners ignore that fact, maybe for seeing martial arts as just a way of defending, a game of win or lose,” he says. Martin refers to the simple and traditional act of bowing. Associated for centuries to martial arts, the act should not be seen as only a demonstration of respect or a sign that the fight has begun. As the American trainer explains, the time to bow is a great opportunity to concentrate. The bow is the moment when the practice begins, so any negative thought or attitude must be left aside – or out of the academy. “A salutation at the end of the practice enables the athlete to go back to his normal life,” he says. “Develop, therefore, a strong mental connection so that your mind is activated by the bow in the beginning. Just as in any sport, if your head is not ready to practise, it’s impossible to learn anything,” Rooney concludes.

Another Rickson Gracie Video

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:17:00 +0000

The music on this video is pretty bad but I always like watching Rickson roll.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Training and Some Drills

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:55:00 +0000

Just thought I would write a short blurb about a pretty sweet move I learned the other night at classs. We have a few blue belts and purple belts that like to give away the omo plata from the guard and then when you try to finish it they jump over your head and take side control. This led to me trying to block them jumping over me by sitting up quicker but then I find I dont get the omo plata set as well. So the other night we learned a new technique to combat this isssue. Basically when your opponent tries to throw their legs over your head to avoid the submissions and take side control you wrap your arms around both their legs and roll over to your stomach and end up in their side control. I hope this makes sense but if not drop me a comment or leave a post over on www.MMAHUB.com and I will try my best to clarify it.

I got a comment that asked for a few more of the drills we do in class to be posted so here are a few. We often times set the clock for 5 minutes and see who can do the most arm bars in 5 minutes. Who ever is running the warmup watches everyone and if anyone does any half assed armbars they are made to do 50 pushups so generally they are pretty good arm bars. It really pushes your cardio while trying to execute the movement properly. We also do what we call spinning drills which is when you have one person get down on their hands and knees then the other person rests their chest on the other persons back. Then we spin around them with our wieght on their back. You cant use your hands at all so you have to rely on your feet and the opponenets back. So you basically just go around them again and again switching directions after a direction change is called out. It is a very tough drill to do for 5 min straight.

Rickson Gracie Rolling Video

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:32:00 +0000

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Technique Class

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:05:00 +0000

Last night was an excellent class as we only had 6 guys in class. It was great because we did something we have never done before. We sparred and then had what we were doing critiqued. It was great because it gave me a chance to learn more about what I was doing wrong and right in different techniques. I actually learned that I have been doing one of my guard passes incorrectly which is why I always seem to get stuck in half guard but its something that usually happened so fast I never really noticed where my mistake was. So overall if you have never had that experience I would get with someone else at or near your level and have someone more experienced watch what you doing and offer advice it can be a great help. Until next time see you at MMA HUB

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Sparring

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:46:00 +0000

Well this past week I focused on attending more sparring sessions. It went pretty well considering I didn't get any injuries which is always a plus. In addition it was good to get back into rolling more consistently as I feel you can only take in so much from technique class and without consistent sparring you don't really learn how to apply what little you do retain from technique class. Overall I did pretty well but it really surprises me how few people that joined after me have continued training. I would imagine there has probably been 25 to 35 new students sign up for the 1 year program since I joined and of that I would say only 5 or 6 are still coming to class more than once a month which is why I still feel so far behind when I go to sparring sessions as it is pretty rare to roll with someone that has less experience than I do.

Wow that was quite a few run on sentences...oh well I apologize for my poor writing skills...until next time good luck with your training everyone.

Anyone who hasn't come over to MMA HUB yet stop by and leave a post if you have minute.

Back to the routine

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:39:00 +0000

Well last Monday was a tough night as expected but after being back in class for a week I feel much better. The bad news is I continue to watch a few people who started near me or after me be promoted and I am not anywhere near ready for the next level. Its due to the fact I haven't trained consistently. I wish I could be more consistent in my training but its tough when I have to travel for work. The other problem has been my lack of discipline while on the road. I always plan on doing some drills while traveling but it is so tough to come back to the hotel room after a long day of work and do training drills. Its easier to just make excuses...maybe now that I am home again I can get back into training 4 times a week consistently til I have to hit the road again in a month or so.

Roger Gracie Vs. Xande Ribeiro

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 22:10:00 +0000

I found the transitions in this video to be pretty amazing. Very good video IMO.

No Brazilian Jiu Jitsu For Me

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 21:50:00 +0000

Well I have been away from BJJ again for about 10 days because of work. It's tough to progress when you keep having to take a week here and a week there off because it really starts to add up and slow down your progress. It makes me feel like I need to make two steps forward just to get back to the level I was at before leaving. I try to do some drills and work while I am on the road but a hotel room is not the most conducive environment for doing brazilian jiu jitsu drills. Luckily I will finally get back in class tonight but I am not looking forward to the struggles and frustration that are sure to ensue. So until next time good luck with your training and remember to avoid missing class for too many night or you will find yourself just trying to get back to the level you were at before you left.

Combatting Claustrophobia in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Sparring

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:27:00 +0000

I read an interesting post over at Grapple Arts the other day and thought I would make a post about it since I have also experienced this problem when rolling. Here is a copy of the article.

"Someone, let's call him 'Bob', wrote me about extreme claustrophobia when trapped in a bad position:

"I am hoping that you can help me with problems of extreme claustrophobia while grappling. For some reason, I just become anxious and begin to panic if I feel like I can't escape. Being under side control and feeling like I can’t move or breathe is the worst."

My initial reaction upon reading this was that I was talking to a beginner, and that my counsel should go something like this: don't worry, many newbies get freaked out at first when they find themselves trapped. Just keep on concentrating on the following things and everything will work out in a month or two:

* keep breathing when you are on the bottom,
* get on your side a bit instead of being flat on your back,
* keep his weight off of you with your elbows and forearms (i.e. defensive posture)
* learn to survive the smother

But then I read on and found out that Bob was actually a 3 to 4 year grappling veteran at a reputable school and has had claustrophobia issues since day one on the mat. OK, he probably already knows the things I was going to tell him; what else can it be?

Aha - I thought - it has to be conditioning!!! He might be technically skilled but is grossly out of shape. He might be losing the will to fight as soon as he gets into a bad position simply because he is tired!

Wrong again! He went on to tell me is very fit and that he does extensive, intense conditioning sessions.

He closed by saying

"And I do know my escapes. It’s just that I’ll try a couple of times and if it doesn’t work the panic starts to rise. I try visualization, which helps. I try to consciously relax and breath (easier said than done) and this helps to a degree."

So all my easy answers seemingly didn't apply. What was worse, is that I had no intuition about what he should do, mainly because I have never experienced claustrophobia (on or off the mat). I know I'm supposedly an 'expert', but being at loss for answers prompted me to put out an appeal to the Grapplearts readership.

There were several interesting answers posted so if you are interested go over to grapple arts and check them out. I wouldn't consider myself claustrophobic but I have felt panicked being under much larger opponents after rolling for some time and becoming tired and hot. The feeling is quite dreadful and scary but I found the best way to work through it was to simply focus on breathing out not in. That simple shift in thought helped me to relax a little and keep from panicking and tapping for no real reason. Im sure it won't be that easy for someone that has serious Claustrophobia but if you have ever felt a little panicked when being smothered by a much larger opponent I would give this simple breathing technique a try and take a look at some of the other possible solutions on grapple arts.

Roger Gracie Vs Rodrigo Cavaca 2006 Mundials

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 20:55:00 +0000

Here is a video form the 2006 Mundials of Roger Gracie and Rodrigo Cavaca competing.

Kron Gracie Rolling at a Tournament

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:22:00 +0000

He is a video of Rickson Gracies son Kron Gracie rolling at a tournament.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Sparring

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:51:00 +0000

Well as expected I had a pretty rough day Saturday sparring. It was mainly due to a lack of energy though from the long week in Las Vegas. Everything I did was haphazardly executed and therefore not much stuck but I did manage to survive several of my match ups. The day was actually all about survival for me and it taught me quite a bit about myself. It's interesting rolling when you are tired and very week from not training for a week. I basically just worked on repositioning to keep anyone from passing my guard which allowed me to keep from getting submitted over and over again. I did try to work some submissions from the guard but I was very timid in my execution to make sure I didn't give up too much making it easier for them to get to much control to pass. It also just felt like I was on autopilot the whole time and I really didn't think too much about what I was doing so I have obviously gotten to the point where I feel pretty comfortable maintaining the guard against non-stripped white belts which for me a is a noticeable improvement compared to me rolling 3 or 4 months ago.

Las Vegas

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:22:00 +0000

I just got back from Las Vegas last night and I'm sure that trip did absolutely nothing to help my BJJ game. In fact I am actually not looking forward to sparring tonight as I know its going to be rough. Far too much good food (good tasting not good for you) and way too much drinking, so im pretty sure I will be sweating vodka on the mats this evening. Other than that I have some big news about MMA HUB that I will be announcing soon. We are going to be having several contests coming up with several different prizes from GI's to UFC tickets so if you're interested head on over and join MMA HUB.

Renzo & Ryan Gracie Rolling

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:29:00 +0000

This is a pretty good no gi video of Renzo and Ryan Gracie rolling.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Training

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:24:00 +0000

Well I guess I was due for a tough night after so many good classes. Last night was the worst class I have had in quite some time. I nearly passed out during our warm up which didn't seem to be that much more intense than any other warm up but I just couldn't keep up. Then during technique class I couldn't seem to execute the easiest of moves without problems. It ended up becoming a self fulfilling prophecy at that point as I began to feel like I couldn't do anything right. The only good news is that I made it all the way through the class. We had a couple new guys in class last night also and one threw up about 5 minutes into the warm up, the other sat out after the warm up. I also sparred once at the end of class but my heart was only half into it as all I wanted to do was go home and call it a night. Hopefully Wednesday night will be better.

Rickson Gracie Video

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:15:00 +0000

Here is a video of Rickson Gracie submitting a guy. He makes the game look so easy.

Repositioning in the guard

noreply@blogger.com (Jits) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 16:27:00 +0000

Class went pretty well Monday night, I worked on repositioning in the guard which is so important to maintaining the guard and if you can always keep your opponent in your guard you can't loose (well I guess you could but it is unlikely). We did a couple drills working from the open guard where we placed one of our hands in our belt. That limited us to using our feet and one hand to keep an opponent from passing. It was a good drill but tough to do well. We also discussed how repositioning in the guard and finishing from the guard are the two most important skills for beginners to learn. Overall it was a good class.