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There are many different tools used to increase performance. Goal setting, visualization, repetition, competition, and a variety of other things can be very helpful in skill gains. As you progress through your Jiu-Jitsu career, you will find that your understanding of grappling evolves and changes. You will view things differently as a black belt than you did as a white belt. This change in your views is very hard to explain, and often times can only be understood by someone who has made the journey. Even though I acknowledge this task to be very difficult, I will do my absolute best to explain to you my views of BJJ.
Let me start off by saying this; Technical fighters are the lowest level of trained fighter. To be technical means that you can regurgitate techniques upon request or when presented with a specific situation. This can be as simple as using the Toreando Pass (Bull Fighter Pass) when your opponent places his/her feet on your hips or something as complex as Cartwheel Pass when your opponent is in a seated position. The complexity of the move is not really important, but the mere act of viewing it as a move can lead to problems down the road.
I am NOT saying that being technical is a bad thing, I'm saying it should be a given. Think of each technique as a tool in your toolbox. As you acquire more tools you will be able to build nicer things. There will be some very important tools that every grappler needs (shrimping, bridging, ect) and some tools that make jobs easier (flying triangles). Not every tool is needed to build an awesome house, but some tools make it easier than others. I will however say this, if you are not practicing techniques and you find yourself in a situation that you need to use them (in a competition or a self defense situation) you will be the equivalent of a master carpenter who owns no tools. I dont care how talented of a carpenter you are, you're not going to build my house with your bare hands.
At this point you may be asking yourself “what is the next level of understanding” and the answer to that is conceptualization. Being a conceptual fighter/grappler means that you have progressed passed the “what” stage and moved onto the “why” stage. By understanding “why” you stack your opponent in an armbar you can help defend your arm in many different ways while avoiding a lot of the “tricky” things your opponent might try and distract you with.
This simple way of looking at things explains why many of the older BJJ black belts never named positions, submissions or transitions. Too many of our grappling forefather's side control consisted of 6 or 7 different positions (what I call Kesa Gatame, Scarf Hold, Belly Down Side Control, Reverse Sit and all the variations). Some of those old timers still shake their head at our younger generation's need to name everything.
By understanding why you are doing things it allows you to explore movements and defenses that fit your personal style. If your arms are longer than the average grappler than you may find through experience that you are more susceptible to some submissions than you are to others. This information is very important because it will allow you to assign value to each individual technique and how they apply to YOUR game (as opposed to how a particular technique fits into the general grappling community).
Conceptual understanding of techniques will also allow you to move onto the last level of understanding. Because understanding what your opponent is doing does not let you understand their next move, however understanding why your opponent is doing something often leads to being able to plan a response. The ability to plan a specific response to your opponents actions is paramount to strategy, and strategy is the last level of understanding. To formulate a proper strategy you must understand both the “what” (techniques) and the “why” (concepts). Understanding why your opponent is doing/performing a particular movement will lead you to predict techniques and formulate intelligent counters.
Technical grappling puts the focus on the individual performing the techniques (thus the person acting is usually the person winning). Conceptual understanding puts the focus on the technique itself, building a deeper understanding of ones own body and how it moves in space against other peoples bodies (think prioperception). Strategy allows you step beyond the bounds of your own body and focus on the movements, intention and objective of your opponents actions. When you understand your opponents goals you can account for them in your strategy.
For many of you, grappling with a game plan is very difficult. You enter a match with the best intentions. You plan on doing “X” but all of a sudden you're doing “Y” and your strategy falls apart. This can be due to a number of reasons, but the three most common are 1. Your opponent had a better strategy than you 2. Your opponent IS better than you or 3. You do not have a mastery of the two lower levels of understanding. In order for there to be mastery of Techniques and Concepts there will be very few times that you ask yourself “why” or “what” while grappling.
For example, if you just got swept and you say to yourself “what sweep was that” or “how did he do that” you have not progressed beyond the conceptual understanding stage (with a few exceptions). The only thing you should be thinking about is how to defend from that next position and continue to progress your strategy. The is no room in your brain for analysis of technique while high level grappling...analysis of strategy yes, analysis of techniques no.
The biggest challenge in this journey of understanding is being real with yourself. You need to asses where you are in your learning cycle and set your goals based on your current understanding of our art. If you are a beginner than you need to focus on being a technical fighter. Memorize your moves, do countless repetitions and do your best to perform them while live grappling against resisting opponents.
If you are an intermediate then you need to look at the bigger picture. Instead of looking at individual techniques you need to look at the concepts that tie them all together. Suddenly guard passing is about getting around the legs and not applying any one specific technique. Most of your techniques will be condensed down to simple concepts. For a lack of a better explanation, sometimes a guard pass is just a guard pass (yes I stole that from Bruce Lee and his “a kick is a kick and a punch is a punch”).
If you are at the strategy stage of your understanding and your training has hit a wall, you might be TOO technical. If you are trying to pigeon hole every technique and make it work, even when it does not apply, this can lead to a lot of frustration and problems. And let's face it, if your opponent knows the same techniques as you, performing them can be VERY difficult, if not impossible. Think of trying to make someone laugh by telling them a joke that they have heard countless times before. Then the success/failure of the joke/technique is solely based on your delivery. This can become increasingly difficult as you continue training with the same people.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing, because in all honesty, it is what makes our sport so awesome. You can learn defenses to moves and progress through the sparring session with a back and forth manner. It also allows you to streamline your movements and to increase your economy of motion, making every movement use the least amount of energy while still obtaining the highest level of effectiveness.
Our sport has so much depth to it that you'll often find yourself switching between the levels of understanding. You will constantly be reassessing your techniques, your understanding of the movements surrounding them and your strategies based off of those assessments. Our sport is continually evolving and I suggest you just open your mind and allow yourself to move between the levels while continuing to train. By having the ability to move between the levels of understanding, it will ensure you constantly add to your game with new techniques, concepts and strategies. By adding to your “toolbox” you will insure your game always stay relevant to the current trends in competition and self defense, which at the end of the day, is our main goal.
Do you know how to tap?
That may be the most commonly asked question during a student’s first class. Many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practioners take this concept for granted, but it is important for us to remember that to someone who is new to the sport, this may not be intuitive. Like everything else in our sport, we need to teach this to our beginners.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be a lifetime activity if you train correctly. This is in stark contrast to some other combat sports where the wear and tear on the body is too great to have a prolonged practice. The secret to a lifetime of training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a complex equation of knowing your limits, choosing training partners wisely, taking care of your body and, of course, knowing how to tap.
Many BJJ practitioners learn the hard way on how long we should wait to tap. Personally, no one sat me down and pointed out each specific submission and said “hey you should tap now”. So for some of you this is going to be the first time that the subject has been broached in any depth. I suggest you read over the following paragraphs, think about what I have to say, and then formulate your own equation of when, how, and who to tap too.
When
For beginners, knowing when to tap can be difficult. No one likes to lose and tapping can be viewed as “losing” (regardless of telling someone tapping is part of learning). My biggest piece of advice is: don't wait until you feel pain to tap.
Tapping to joint locks and crushes is serious business. As comical as it sounds I have witnessed, first hand, students that do not like to tap. Their arm can be fully extended, body turned away, with an expression of determination. When I ask them why they aren't tapping they say “I don't feel it yet”. Depending on the submission, there may not be any pain until it is too late (with armbars, for example). The only way you can know if the pain/discomfort is part of a move is through experience or by asking your instructor. If you are new to the sport I suggest asking your instructor what the move should feel like (if it was not clearly stated) and ask at what point you should tap.
Tapping to chokes can be another situation entirely. For the beginner, being choked can be an extremely scary situation. When applied correctly a feeling of helplessness is quickly followed by a moment of panic. First and foremost, if you don't know what to do- TAP! It's better than trying to invent an escape or freezing in fear. Both of these options can lead to months of being ridiculed for taking a nap on the mat.
From experience I have found that when a choke is applied correctly you will know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you need to tap. Much like when an armbar is extended or a kimura is applied there is no doubt that you are caught in a bad place. Often my students struggle with when to tap to chokes and I give them this rule of thumb: if you are in a choke and asking yourself “should I tap” the answer is “no”. The truth is that the time you were allotting to thinking about tapping could have been used to defend instead. If it is time to tap, you will know.
Your ability to sense your consciences coming and going is a perception that can be built over time. If you find yourself going unconscious on the mat then I suggest you tap earlier. If you do not know an escape...tap. If you are scared...tap. Do you see a pattern here? When in doubt tap and sort it out later. As your perception of consciousness develops you will have more confidence to escape (it also helps to know HOW to escape too, but that is the content of a whole other article).
How
How to tap is as important as when to tap. I have seen students slapping the mat, tapping their opponent, saying the word tap and just about any combination of these you can think of. The truth is any way you can convey to your partner/opponent to stop what they are doing is the right answer. The clearer and quicker this message comes the better off you are (especially for those of you who wait until the last moment to tap).
When tapping in the drills or technique portion of the class I suggest physically tapping your opponent whenever possible. When I am put into a position where tapping with my hand is difficult, I try to reposition my body to make it possible. For example: when someone is putting me in an omoplata I will base my head on the floor so that I can use my spare hand to tap the ankle of my opponent. Early on it may feel uncomfortable to place your face on the mat or contort your body in different ways but as you experience grappling and become more comfortable with your body this will be second nature.
In the rare event that I can not get a free hand to actually touch my opponent I will verbally say tap loud enough so that my opponent can hear at the same time as I slap the mat. For those of you BJJ practitioners that have been around the sport for an extended period of time then you know that there are instances when your body is tied in knots and the act of tapping is physically difficult (as in your arms are bound). In instances like this I suggest grunting, slapping, kicking or doing anything AND everything to let your partner know you are not ok.
While live rolling or competing I make it a point to tap both verbally and physically. While in Brazil there was absolutely NO doubt as to when I got submitted in the class. I'm not saying that you should scream it, but make sure to say it loud enough that your partner knows to let go. There are times that your opponent in competition may be trying to take your limb home as a trophy and it is imperative that you continue to defend yourself while verbally tapping. I can not tell you how many times this little piece of information has saved me an injury. Don't let your pride get in the way of your ability to hug your loved ones or do push-ups next week.
Tapping is a partner exercise. I let my students know that if someone gets hurt the first question I'm going to ask is “what happened?”. After investigating the situation I'm not going to be upset with the person who is hurt, I'm going to be upset with the person who got the submission. I know that I will receive a lot of flak for writing this, but it is as much your responsibility to not hurt your partner as it is their responsibility to tap (depending on your goals this may or may not apply to competition).
The bottom line is I want everyone to train tomorrow and your desire to pet your ego and get a tap from a training partner is not sufficient cause to hurt them. There are enough accidents involved in ANY sport that we dont need to add to them by petting your ego.
There are instances where students need to tap earlier and they don’t. Sometimes it is out of ignorance (in which case I'm REALLY glad that you let go) and other times it's out of stubbornness (again I'm still glad that you let go). In the case of “stubbornness” let the advanced belts deal with it. It is not your job to knock anyone down a peg.
WHO
The last thing we need to look at is who to tap to. This can be a difficult to know but once you figure it out can save you a lot of problems. Different people take training differently. Some people are casual practitioners while others are training to fight or compete. By knowing someone’s goals you may be able to avoid injuries.
When your partner/opponent has gotten a hold of your arm, leg or any other limb and you can feel them ripping on it, gyrating it, or just plain squeezing it is ok to pre preemptively tap to these guys/girls. If you have been hurt in the past by a particular submission it is ok to tap early. If you feel something pop, grind or feel “weird” then you should tap. Remember we are trying to practice BJJ as a lifelong sport. If you tap and your opponent gets upset because you tapped early (this happens from time to time) IGNORE THEM. This is one place where I am going to tell every one of my students to be selfish with their training. There is absolutely nothing more important than your health.
Tapping is a trust, a HUGE trust. You are trusting that your opponent is going to let go of your arm, leg, neck, etc. and allow you to go about your business as usual. Just like in life we have different degrees of trust with different people. Some friends I would give keys to my house, others I wouldn’t trust knowing my address. Grappling is a lot like this. Trust is built up over time and as you continue through your BJJ career you will build trust with some of your training partners that allows you to really open up your game and push the limits of what your body and technique has to offer. Until you have that trust, I suggest tapping early, often and with intensity.
Exhaustion and pride are the two feelings I'm left with at the end of this week. I've been training hard and teaching with a purpose. The school is starting to come along and we continue to grow every week. We are meeting our short term goals and continuing down the path of success. One of our true tests will come on August 6th when I take some of the guys down to the Lutador competition in Georgia.
We've been focusing on some really great techniques and I know the guys are interested in testing them out “for real”. It will also serve as a great way to assess if our direction as a school is correct. I'm not necessarily saying that the emphasis is on winning, but sometimes it's difficult to see the holes in your game when it's constantly put up against the same training partners.
My body is finally starting to adjust to the teaching schedule at the GGBJJ academy. I woke up this morning and my body wasn't sore. So instead of taking the day off (I usually only train 6 days a week) I decided to go up and train with Steve Hall. He sent me a text with less than 24 hours notice like it was a secret club meeting. I figured it would be Steve and I with possibly one or two other guys. When I arrived at the academy it was a group large group of guys and the rank distribution was nice too. There were four black belts, a brown belt and four purples.
I've had a lot of concerns that I'm going to lose that edge that I gained while in Brazil because I dont have a lot of high level training partners. So during the rolling sessions I do my best to push myself. Submitting the guys at my academy isn't typically a goal of mine because of the skill difference but I do use a couple of them as trampolines.
I've specifically been working on taking the back. This includes some of the stuff of of Ryan Hall's taking the back DVD, some of the 10th Planet twister transitions and some very old school basics of setting the near hook first when someone is going from Side Control to the Turtle position. I used almost all of the transitions that I've been repping out and I'm proud to announce that I still feel like I'm progressing.
After training we got together for a group shot. As you can see we had a pretty good group of guys. It was a good day of training and, as usual, I must thank Steve Hall for opening his doors up to me.
I know that the training I've been doing is helping but I also think a large part of my game has increased because my knee is really starting to heal. It still doesnt feel as stable as I would like it to but I have all of the flexibility back. This means that I can really start to pass Guard in a way that I've wanted to in the past but just haven’t had the option to do because of my knee. This was one aspect of my game that I had started to work on while I was in Brazil and I'm just now getting a chance to explore.
An added benefit to being able to pass Guard is increased cardio. Increased cardio leads to increased calorie burning which turns into increased fat loss. I'm down close to 20lbs and now I'm concerned that I'm going to cut to much weight. What this means is that I get to be a little more liberal with my eating, something that has been difficult for me in the past.
I've recently started corrupting one of my assistant instructors. He's an animal on the mat, very technical and has recently started spending more time with me. He's 14 and pretty much listens to what I tell him. I took this opportunity to introduce him to one of my vices...
You can see the look on his face and tell that he's skeptical about the power of a Waffle House waffle but he had faith in what I told him. After he started eating it his face lit up and I am happy to report that I have passed on my love for this great American food! Although I'm sure he's not going to be happy with me when he's cutting that 11 lbs for the upcoming competition.
If you've kept up with my blogs all along then you'll know that I'm kind of a prankster. I enjoy laughing and thankfully I have a very simple sense of humor. If you've read my more recent blogs or watched my new videos on my youtube/GGBJJ channel then you would know that Marty is a cornerstone of my academy. Aside from being in the school to train I rely on him to help out in other ways. He's the guy who built the lighting structures for the videos, he researched kimono production when I thought about making my own brand of gis and he helps teach kids classes when Kyle cant make it. Basically I'm trying to say that Marty is awesome and helps me out far more than he has to.
Typically, when someone helps, the standard response is “thank you” or in some instances you'll get them a gift card. NOT ME! For all of his trouble I decided to play a prank on Marty. You see I just cant help it. When I think of something great like this particular prank I cant think of anything else besides who I'm going to get with it. I couldnt even make it through the night, we filmed this between our drills class and our advanced class (as you can see Paul come out of the changing room and immediately close the door).
Thankfully I had the foresight to video this particular prank so that I can share it with the world. THNAKS MARTY FOR BEING AWESOME!
The look on his face is pretty awesome, but the look on my face during the slow motion reply was just priceless. My only regret is that I couldnt keep a straight face longer. If I had I may have been able to drag this out a little longer and extract a couple more laughs. As it is I laughed so hard I cried while editing this.
Changing subjects, I'm strongly considering teaching some daytime classes at my academy. Now that my body doesnt hate me for being on the mats all night I dont see it as much of a problem teaching classes in the afternoon. At first I would start with two classes a week (either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday) but I would like some input to see if people are interested in these classes and if they are which days/times work the best.
Like I said previously, it's been a great week. I'm looking forward to the next one!
Jeremy “The Gerbil” Arel
Black belt under professor Roberto “Gordo” Correa
Great Grappling Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
www.GreatGrappling.com
Black belts are unicorns. That rare, mythical beast that people whisper about. They are sought out for their great knowledge and magical powers. An alleged unicorn siting can bring disbelief, awe, and sometimes, anger.
Sometimes I truly believe this is how the BJJ community views the black belt. Like we're some sort of secret mythical beast that has all of your answers and all you have to do is corner us, catch us, at the right moment and we can make you magical too. Well, you're half right.
I do have some great knowledge, I am a pretty good grappler, and I happen to be a black belt. People do indeed travel great distances seeking me out in the hopes that I can impart some of that knowledge on them and fix whatever problems they're having while grappling.
It is very common for people to ask me questions in class, during private lessons, and at open mat times. Most often the questions are centered around problems in their performance or holes in their games. I really enjoy these questions and I try to be as honest as possible when giving out advice. I show them my personal movements in escaping bad positions, how to deal with having someone take your back, side control bottom, and a host of other positions that are designed to make your life difficult but the truth is, those positions are labeled “bad” for a reason...because it sucks to be in them.
Sometimes there are easy answers that can save you a lot of trouble (example: put your hand here to stop from getting choked) other times, the answers are very complex and, more often than you think, the answer is “don't get there”.
Recently one of my students asked me how to get out of a Rear Naked Choke when your opponent has the forearm under the chin. The student then continued to explain that he was having difficulties because “everyone” was doing it to him. I sat there and listened to his story intently, making sure to get all of the details so that I could give him the best answer.
After a few minutes I realized that this student's problem was not with the Rear Naked Choke, his problem was with someone taking his back. I explained this simple fact to him and then proceeded to show him how to go to his knees without leaving space for the hooks and then told him to rep it out while I watched.
The student looked at me with a mixture of disappointment and irritation. He clearly expected a a clear cut answer on how to easily defend an a very difficult position. The student went looking for a unicorn and got... me. I'm not a mythical beast, I don’t have a horn growing out of my forehead, and I dont have magical powers. I do however have a wealth of knowledge, an unsatisfiable urge to teach and the ability to impart that knowledge on you, but please be realistic in your expectations and have faith that I know what I'm talking about.
It is important to keep in mind that your “problem” may be a collection of bad choices you've made prior to getting submitted, and not specifically your defense to that submission. I compare it to a doctor that treats the symptoms instead of the illness. Sometimes, when you're on your way out it's ok to treat the symptom, but when the opportunity presents itself it is always better to treat the illness.
There are three major areas that can fix most of the problems in your game; basics, health/fitness, and strategy.
Basics- The easiest thing to fix on the list by far and usually the last thing that blue belts want to work on. So you're getting stuck in Side Control, you know the escapes, but they're not working. My guess is you need to work on your hip movement and body angle. When you look at these two basics you'll probably have your Guard passed less and then when you do you'll be better prepared to defend against it.
Health and Fitness- Do you notice that your game is deteriorating after the first round? Do you get swept a lot from Guard because you don’t have the leg flexibility to base effectively? These are two examples of how a persons health/fitness can play a huge role in your grappling. Keep in mind that everyone has some type of issue with their body, whether it's due to injury, age, genetics, or an affinity for being lazy.
Sometimes I get stuck in a position, or choose a particular path in grappling because I want to avoid a specific body part or body pressure. This can affect the overall outcome of my grappling sessions. It is up to me to either rehabilitate the injury OR modify my strategy to accommodate my situation.
Strategy- What is your game plan? Are you going to play top or bottom? Do you like to submit from Side Control or Back?
I know that there are some very high end players that have the same strategy regardless of who they grapple. I however, do not have that outlook. Thankfully I'm a large guy (6'3, 210lbs) and I have the option of playing the big man's game as well as the little man's game. If you think I have the same strategy against a guy that is 300 lbs as I do with a guy that is 125 lbs, you're crazy.
The ability to assess the situation and make strategical changes in the middle of a match is one of the signs of becoming an advanced grappler. If I mount an opponent and lock up an Arm Triangle and I just cant finish it I'll worry about why I couldn’t finish it later; it's time to adapt, change strategies, and move forward.
One of the most painful things to watch is a student try the same armbar setup from guard over and over only to see the opponent easily defend it. The problem is not necessarily with your armbar. Maybe you should adjust your strategy, sweep your opponent, and try something else.
Thankfully my students trust in my judgement and practice what I tell them to. This will greatly improve their skills, solve many of their problems, and set them down the road to success. So the next time you have a problem and you track down one of those magical black belts don’t be disappointed when they give you the answer you need. Especially when the answer you want probably doesn’t exist.
There are many teams in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. There are different teaching philosophies, different training regiments, and different views on how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fits into our lives. Some people are casual practitioners who train once or twice a week and then there are “mat rats” who train once or twice a day. The diversity within our sport is astounding. It transcends race, sex, religion, social status, and athleticism. There are people of every shape and color practicing our sport around the world.
Sometimes we view the diversity within our sport and focus on our differences. We train with the same people, we grow attached to our “team” and get comfortable. We fear people knowing our weaknesses, our games, and ultimately our techniques. We become stingy, coaching our team mates, keeping the holes in our games a secret and staying within our comfort zones. I hate to break it to you, there are no secrets, no special moves that win you the match every time, and by keeping those holes a secret you’re more likely to lose in the long run than if you had told everyone your weakness and learn to adapt to it.
My goal is to be an advocate for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and to provide a database of techniques (submissions, reversals, defenses, sweeps, passes ect.) to help every grappling student achieve that next level. The techniques will be free, easy to access and updated frequently.
I have been called crazy, stupid and a whole host of other names by my peers. Some of them are concerned that I’m “giving it away for free” and that I’m somehow going to lose out because I’m doing this. Every time someone questions my motives or my end goal I explain one very simple analogy to them.
If you want to launch a rocket into space you can go down to the library and take out every book or resource that you need to make that happen. You can find the books you need on astrophysics, rocket science, geometry and engineering. All the resources you need are within your grasps but how many independent rockets have you seen sent into space? I can think of one or two, and one of those wasnt really a rocket, it was a hot air balloon with a cell phone attached to it. The people that learn at home, avoid coming to school, and avoid training with other high level people are anomalies…in essence they are cellphone balloons. I dont know about you, but the thought of a cellphone rocket doesnt really scare me all that much.
I’ll be posting my techniques on the Instructional Video section of BJJ.org. Expect to see between 3-5 new videos per week. In addition to videos, I’ll also post updates on my weekly blog, which I originally wrote to share my experience of living and training in Brazil. In the Training Logs section under my name you’ll find that the blog picks up with the opening of my new school, Great Grappling BJJ. To read past blog posts from Brazil, check out the grappling forum on Sherdog.com.
Every College that I know of has a library on campus. The educational institutions understand that the information is a resource NOT competition. The first time I see a library put a college out of business I’ll remove every video I have from the internet. Until then I’m going to continue to be an advocate for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, provide the best techniques I can, and give back to the community that has already given me so much.
Thanks,
Jeremy Arel
Opening my own academy is full of new experiences and this week was no different. For the first time we held kids testing and it was a great experience. I have helped during tests before and I've given plenty of tests in physical education, but it's a totally new territory for me as it pertains to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Constructing the curriculum, designing a test, and then administering a test in front of a classroom full of students and parents almost felt as much a test of my abilities as a teacher as it did a test of their skills as a student.
I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the level of attentiveness, attention to technique and, of course, the physical performance of the techniques themselves. All of my students not only passed, but passed with flying colors. I really enjoyed the process and I am looking forward to the new content that I get to teach over the next two months.
After the test the students and I posed for a couple of photos. We took the typical serious photos and then Megan called out for a photo of all the kids choking me. I'm not sure how they all got a hand on my collar but one thing is for sure, if you ask one of my kids to choke you they are going to try to choke you OUT!
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I did learn one very important detail. My students CAN sit quietly, address adults respectfully, pay attention and perform techniques to a high standard. So evidently I'm doing something correctly.
I'm continuing to push the standards and teaching methods at my school. On Fridays and Saturdays we are going to start taping our grappling time (optional of course). During the week I will review the grappling, find important transitions and technique choices, and then edit it together. The following week we will review the edited videos as a class during the beginning of our advanced class and practice avoiding mistakes or reinforcing positive technique choices. I REALLY think this going to take our training to the next level and I'm looking forward to reporting on how this plays out. Maybe in the future I'll post one of the videos that I'm talking about if I can get the permission of one of my students.
What this means for me is that I spend about an hour every night editing together techniques whether it be for my YouTube channel or review of rolling in class, but I figure that's part of what it's going to take for my students to be great. I need to be a professor on AND off the mat.
My new YouTube channel is doing well. I've already got 75 subscribers and it's only going to grow from there. Currently there are 8 videos, but as I've stated before I will upload a technique a day so it's going to blow up quickly. One thing that I'm going to do that a lot of other channels aren’t doing is include transitions, escapes, positional theories, reversals, sweeps AND submissions. More often than not a lot of the channels focus on submissions or sweeps and that is it. I agree that these things are important but for a sport that preaches position over submission our instructional videos certainly don’t reflect that.
Previously I used to post a video a week in my blog and I plan on continuing to do that. Now I'll just pick a technique from the week and post that and hopefully that reminds people to check out my channel to see the other four techniques of the week.
I'm really debating putting up live grappling time on the channel because I'm concerned that it might clutter the curriculum videos. Right now they are all named with the position first, then if it is a submission, escape, sweep reversal, etc., then followed by the name of the technique. This will make it very easy for someone going through my videos when there are 200 of them to find the videos from specific positions.
Anyhow, here is this week’s technique, a transition from Mount to Side Control.
Please give me a thumbs up and subscribe. Every time I see a thumbs up it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
Thanks for reading!
Jeremy
Wake up, eat, train, eat, sleep. This is my typical day. The only difference from one day to the next is who I train with and where I train. For everyone who has speculated about what it would be like to own your own school and train/teach grappling for a living, I'm here to confirm your assumptions: it is awesome! One of the only negative side effects of teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a living is that the days go by so fast its dizzying. I'm afraid that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and realize that 20 years have gone by.
I find that the only way I can keep up with the week is to take photos of everything. Then after the week is done, I go back through the photos and recall the past events. If not for the photos, I would be lost.
I am happy to report that videos have been taped for my new YouTube channel, which can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/GGBJJ. I know it has taken longer than many of my blog readers would like, but it's finally started. From this point forward I will be taping the techniques that are taught in class, editing them together, and then posting them on YouTube. What this means for you guys is that there will be a resource on the internet, from a black belt instructor, free of charge. This project will be ongoing, much like my blog, and include my personal take on each technique.
The first set of videos came out well, although there are a couple of changes that I plan on making in the future. The camera that we are using does not appear to have a white balance and the coloring is off slightly. I've manually fixed it when I edited them together but I will be cruising craigslist and ebay for a better quality camera. But I must admit that the quality is definitely better than anything that I taped while in Brazil.
As I stated earlier this project will get regular updates, 3-5 a week (and maybe some bonus footage on top of that). In the future I will replace videos that need to be updated either because of quality or because I change the way that I view a technique (remember guys, I'm still learning too). My goal is to have over 200 videos on this page by this time next year...totally doable.
Here is photo of us doing the setup for the videos (I also plan on getting better exterior lights in the future too).
Here is the first video, an in depth look at the Cross Collar Choke.
Even though the videos are a big project that I'm taking on, I'm still finding time to take on other teaching activities. Recently I was approached by a local daycare about possibly teaching all of the kids in their summer program. I jumped on the opportunity and what a great idea! Throughout the summer I'm going to be teaching groups of 25 children at a time how to do basic grappling maneuvers. They are always enthusiastic, hard working and well behaved (thankfully).
This time I remembered to bring my whistle because the last time I taught the children I lost my voice. I didn’t lose my voice from screaming in anger or frustration, but just like a faithful fan at a football game, I lost my voice from cheering so hard.
Here is the photos of the girls from class while they are awaiting instructions (you should also note that the girls are always more interested and well behaved than the boys)!
The end of the week brought a special treat. A seminar with Vitor Shaolin in High Point, NC. I was excited to get some mat time in with the 3 time world champion so I didn’t even complain when I had to get up at 6:45 on Sunday morning and drive two hours to attend the seminar.
The Living Defense Martial Arts facility was amazing (a Novia Uniao affiliate) and the owners/instructors were extremely nice. There were a lot of people in attendance but shockingly I was the only black belt (aside from the school owner and Shaolin).
We went over some great warm up drills (that I will be passing on to my students), and a wide array of moves. Shaolin went over a wide range of moves including some very basic transitions all the way to spinning triangles from spider guard. Shaolin showed some really good techniques and when you take into account the seminar was only $50, I dont see how there weren't twice as many people in attendance (don't get me wrong, I dont mind having to compete with half the amount of people for personal attention from Shaolin).
Here is my photo with Shaolin after the seminar. It appears that I need to clean my camera lense.
That puts another week in the books and it can only get better from here!
Thanks for reading,
Jeremy
The last two months have been a blur. As many of you know I've been in the process of opening my own school, and to say that it has been a lot of work would be an understatement. It has seriously enveloped my life, and I mean that in the best way possible.
The school is doing great. More and more students are signing up and it's doing better than even I would have imagined. Some of our classes are starting to grow big enough that I'm considering expanding and it's only been 7 weeks. By my best guess, if we continue the way that we are, by the 6 month mark we will HAVE to expand. It's kind of a scary thought, but a good one none the less.
Our grand opening was a huge success. This was a big event that I could not have accomplished alone. My family, my friends and of course my fiance all worked for free in making sure that everything was ready. Fresh paint, new mats, hot dogs, hamburgers, it all made for an amazing time.
Here is a photo of our ribbon cutting:
The ribbon cutting was done just before the grand opening so we did not have many people for the photo, but by the end of the day we had close to 200 people come to the academy. People ate hot dogs and hamburgers and watched people roll for a few hours. There were a lot of people at my ribbon cutting that did not have any idea what Brazilian Jiu Jitsu consisted of, or looked like. The idea was to provide a glimpse into what we do so that maybe they would become interested or at least talk to some of their friends about it.
There was one big problem: I cant roll for two hours and I didn’t have enough students that can roll either (considering it was our grand opening and all). Thankfully the BJJ community came through on this and we had between 20-25 guys that came and rolled for the whole two hours. One guy in particular really went above and beyond to help me be successful in my grand opening, and that guy was Steve Hall. For those of you who dont know, Steve Hall is a black belt under Royce Gracie, and runs a school on the north side of Charlotte. Without Steve coming to the grand opening and bringing a group of his guys to grapple, I would have been in a tough spot.
Here is a photo of Steve and I after a round of grappling.
Although I did get in some great grappling rounds, I had the ability to walk around, shake hands and introduce myself to the people from the Chamber of Commerce. Everyone really came together on this day and for me to thank individual people would surely get me in trouble, as there is no way I can possibly remember to thank every person, but I hope they realize how much I appreciate it. I realize there is no possible way that I could have gotten it done on my own.
Here is a photo of my starting group of students taken for my website.
The website is another topic all together. If you have not had the opportunity to check it please take the time to go, click through the site, and tell me what you think. Apparently this is a type of site that I can edit the content on my own so...hypothetically if you tell me about a grammatical error I should be able to correct it. We had place holder pictures up when the site first launched and I held back from marketing it until we got all of the correct content in place. So please help me out by proof reading it and telling me what you think!
www.GreatGrappling.com
Now, let's talk about my life outside of BJJ and the academy. Ok, that was quick. Now back to BJJ.
This weekend I had the opportunity to hang out with Eddie Bravo and then attend one of his seminars. One of my affiliate schools is also a 10th Planet school and the head instructor over there invited me out for a night of fun with the man himself, Eddie Bravo.
We talked about the Half Guard, the Darce, and some of the newer techniques that we've both been working on. We talked about grappling philosophies, which included everything from leg locks to submission defense. It was a cool opportunity to talk to Eddie and I must say, he's a very open minded individual when it comes to grappling.
After spending a couple of hours chatting, Eddie wanted to grab a beer and something to eat so I took him to Charlotte and introduced him to sweet potato tater tots. Throughout the evening we talked about a variety of different topics, had some great laughs, and enjoyed some good food.
Throughout the evening we continued to hear this banging sound. I knew what it was and ignored it but every time Eddie would hear the thud immediately followed by a BANG his face would contort. I kind of got a chuckle out of it wondering how long it was going to take him to figure it out. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore and asked “what the fuck is that?"
Apparently Eddie, and some of my other friends, still have never seen these bar room modern marvels. The thud/BANG was coming from one of those boxing games where you put in your dollar and a speed bag lowers down. You then punch the speed bag as hard as you can and it rates how hard you punch.
Eddie was instantly intrigued. He quickly killed his beer and the whole group moved over to the boxing game. Eddie approached the game like child at Christmas. He slowly circled the machine, eyeing it from top to bottom with a look of giddiness on his face. Then he reached in his pocket and produced a fist full of dollars and quickly fed them into the machine. We all stood around in a semi circle, leaning on pool tables, sipping on refreshments and preparing for the entertainment to commence...and commence it did.
Eddie first choose the hammer fist technique. He started lightly bouncing on his feet, moving back and forth and eyeing the speed bag. In all honesty it really looked like one of the initial fight scenes from Enter the Dragon. He skipped forward on his approach, lightly leaned to the outside and gave a back hand hammer fist...the score was 751 and ranked as “super human”
Megan (my fiance) stepped up next. She crammed the dollar in the machine like a blue collar worker stamping their time card. The bag comes down, she plants her feet, rotates her body and gives it a straight cross boxer style and immediately the crowed (our group of people plus the others that gathered to watch this spectacle) knew that it was a heavy punch. We all cheered as the the machine tallied up the results and when it posted the score of 802 the cheer that went up was hilarious. I immediately broke into a fit of laughter that I thought I was going to have to lay on the floor to recover from.
Here is a photo of Eddie pointing to Megan's score and as you can see Megan is consoling him that it was indeed ok to lose to a girl.
I must include in this story that Eddie fed the machine another dollar and threw a real boxing punch to rank in somewhere around 850 and regained his man card. We all fed that machine money over the next 45 minutes and Eddie even took down the number of the company that manufactures the machine. He has vowed to get one for the school. So if you train with Eddie regularly make sure that you punch higher than an 850 when he installs the machine at the school!
Just as a disclaimer, Megan has taken up boxing and trains regularly. When she came to Brazil she was training for the NC State Championships and she can hit like a truck. Once a day for an hour I would hold pads for her (in addition to her taking the boxing classes at Gordo BJJ) and even with the chest protector on her body hook could buckle my knees. Of course I never informed Eddie of this. The look on his face was absolutely priceless.
After leaving the bar the group stopped at Waffle House and Eddie purchased us some waffles. Yes, you read that correctly. Eddie and I enjoyed some waffles at Waffle House and for all you non-believers out there here is a picture of the event.
My life is complete. It can only go down from here. Waffle House with Eddie Bravo, owning my own academy, great students, great training and an awesome fiance. What is left for me to accomplish?
Next weekend I'm going to a Shaolin seminar on Sunday. I guess I could try and convince him to go to Waffle House but sadly I don’t think the conversation would be nearly as good and I'm pretty sure he wouldn’t pay for them. I guess my quest continues to see how I can top this weekend.
Thanks for reading,
Jeremy
It is official. I have signed the lease, ordered the mats and completed all the necessary paperwork. Many of you have been wondering exactly where my school will be and now I'm prepared to tell you! I am happy to announce, our school will be located at 2132 Carolina Place Dr, Fort Mill, SC 29708.
There were a lot of factors that went into choosing that location and trust me when I tell you that we looked at a lot of different places. In the end this was by far the best of the locations and the facility is perfect. This is an excellent place to grow a team. The academy is half a mile away from Baxter Village (a very large, well off neighborhood) and about 30 seconds off of a major highway (highway 77).
There is some work that needs to be done to the space (some paint, logo decals, enlarge windows, ect.) which is typical for anyone starting a new business, but by May 1st we will be open for classes. That is only 40 days. Although that seems like a lot of time it will go by quickly because Megan, my family, my friends and of course myself will be putting in a lot of man hours to get this school to where we want it to be. Here is a photo that was taken this week. As you can see they are still cleaning out some of the debris and trash from the last tenants.
There are more photos on the school's facebook page and if you want to see more I would suggest that you friend us, like us, follow us or whatever other lingo I can use in order to make you go there and look at the photos (yes I'm begging, and no I'm not to proud). Regardless of whether or not you go look at the other photos, you will be able to see our progress over the next month.
Megan and I have discussed a few options for rewarding my blog readers, faithful students, and friends when we open up the school. So many people have inquired about wanting to train with me that it's difficult to figure out a way to effectively give them all something that they would like. I mean a T-shirt is cool and patches are neat but nothing beats a price break.
So in the end we decided to give 20% off for anyone that signs up between April 1st and May 1st. I really want to say that this 20% will include shirts, patches, and possibly kimonos, but Megan might drag me into the street and beat me with a stick...so stand by on that one.
Training has been going well. To be honest I've been taking an easy for two big reasons. Number one we've been doing a lot to get the business going and the business meetings for things like t-shirts, the website, and the billing software have been scheduled during my typical training times. The second reason that I've been taking an easy is because I know that when the school opens I'm going to be grappling all day every day (which is the way that I like it, but unfortunately my knee does not).
I have still been making between four and five classes a week so it's not that I'm not training, just making sure to give my body the chance that it deserves to heal before I try and destroy it.
Last week, amongst all the craziness of getting a business started, we made the time to go to Florida so that I could meet Megan's family. We have been meaning to get down there since I got back from Brazil but between the business, Moses getting sick, and training it kept getting put off. While looking at the calendar we realized that if we didn’t go right away, we weren't going to have the time to go at all. So we packed the car and headed off.
Like many die hard grapplers, I took a kimono with me so that I could train while I was out of town. While there are a lot of different teams in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu I have never seen or heard of anyone turned away when they want to train from out of town. On the contrary, every time I've gone to another school I've been greeted with open arms, including in Brazil. If you dont remember the red carpet treatment that I received at De La Riva's school then you need to go back and read that blog.
This visit to another academy was no different. Four hours after arriving in Florida I went to train at a Brazilian Top Team school run by second degree black belt Edgard Dutra. I've grappled with black belts from all over the world and I must say that Edgard is a world class grappler. His top pressure was amazing and he really exposed some holes in my game. He passed my guard five times in twelve minutes of grappling. For those of you who have rolled with me that just isnt something that I'm used to. I was way out of my comfort zone and that's a good thing. What I took away from those two days of training is that I have a significant problem with people who pass to my off side.
I, like many other practitioners, have a strong side and a weak side. I'm usually good enough to enforce my grappling game plan and if it does go to my off side I'm not bad, I'm just not as proficient as my other side. Although I was never totally dominated, and I got some decent positions as well I always felt like I was behind the curve and I definitely did more defending than I feel comfortable doing. I guess this means it's time for me to change up how I train, rep out some things on my “off side” and use this as a learning experience. So all of you who train with me and read my blog, you need to pass my guard to your right (my left).
As you can see from the photo Edgard and I are roughly the same size. I am a little taller but we weigh about the same. It was a rare treat to get some grappling time against another black belt that is my size, that's not something I get a whole lot of.
In addition to the training, our trip to Florida went well. I got to meet the new half of my family and we had a good time. Evidently it is common place in Megan's family to try and impress new family members by stuffing them full of the best food that you can imagine. I had lobster one night and filet mignon the next. The four days that we spent in Florida was a blur of awesome food, friendly people and training...what better way to spend four days? It was like a mini vacation.
The only negative moment in the whole trip came when I decided to get off the highway at Daytona Beach to get gas. In case you didn’t know (because I sure as heck didn’t) March 4-14th is bike week. It was a zoo off that exit and as I was coming down the ramp I realized what I had done. It was like realizing that you're in an accident which is significantly different than realizing you're ABOUT to be in an accident. The moment to change course had been missed. I paid about 20 cents more per gallon of gas and had to dodge hundreds of motorcycles but things still went well. I guess if that's the worst part of a trip I have nothing to worry about (although Megan will never let me forget it).
Changing subjects
In addition to opening a school over the next month we're going to be relocating where we live also. We're going to move right around the corner from the business so that we can effectively eat, sleep and breathe Great Grappling Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
One of the positives about the move is the fact that we're going to have a space for a washer and dryer. Right now we make weekly (sometimes bi weekly) trips to the laundry mat. It's not that I particularly dislike the laundry mat because let's be honest, the people watching at the laundry mat is almost as good as the people watching at the Waffle House, but the problem is that it can just be inconvenient to drop everything and go sit at the laundry mat for a couple of hours. I even tried putting my things in the washing machine and leaving but I get so paranoid that something is going to happen to my kimonos that I had to stop doing that.
I fully realize how much kimonos cost (which I think is crazy) and while I was in college if I had a kimono in the back seat I would stress all day that someone might steal it (yes I know this sounds crazy). It even got to the point where I would leave my stereo face on the console but purposefully put my kimonos from the back seat into the trunk of my car. I would have been upset if someone had broken my window to take my CDs, I would have been heartbroken if they had taken my kimono...or heaven forbid...my belt.
This week, the unthinkable happened. My poor kimono was assaulted at the local laundry mat. When we went to move all the clothes into the dryer I opened up the washing machine and I was greeted with this.
Of course my first question to Megan was “how much laundry detergent did you use” but evidently someone had either filled up the soap dispenser before she did or the machine was broken. Either way we had to switch machines and put it through another time. I was concerned that it would be slimy but fortunately one more run through the machine was sufficient.
Honestly the last thing I should be worried about is the washing machine eating my kimonos or making them unwearable. I think it it much more likely that I will outgrow my kimonos...and not in the “I'm growing up” way, more so the “I'm growing out” way.
I am happy to report that I havent eaten at Waffle House in over a week. I'm going cold turkey. No patches, no pills, no meetings, just good old fashioned quitting. The only problem is that I've been filling that void with other bad food. In general I try to stay away from things that sound like they might kill you if you eat it, but this week I saw something on the menu that sounded so good that I just couldn't pass it up. The title should have given me pause but I ignored all the warning signs and just went for it. I'll spare you the photo of the actual sandwich and just let you see the menu item itself.
Although I'm taking an easy on my knee I'm still able to provide you guys with videos. This is the last of the videos I taped last time so I'm going to be taking more requests. I still have my list laying around here somewhere of the other techniques that I didn’t get to last time, so if I dont get any new requests I'll just go off of that list. Please remember that the channel that these are on right now is going to stop having new videos posted on it when I open the school. I will continue doing videos but they will be posted on my GreatGrappling youtube channel instead of my personal channel. I would like it greatly if you subscribed to that channel as well!
This week's video is a continuation of last week's Knee on Belly escape. I call this technique “Stuff the Ankle”, basically because you're stuffing the ankle. This is a very high percentage move and is probably my go-to move. I use this a lot because it's hard to screw up and it puts me in Half Guard which is a place that I like to be.
A couple of things to remember about this technique: first, do not ever let them control the bottom arm. It is not so much of a problem without the kimono but if your opponent does have a sleeve to grab ahold of he can make your life terrible. Get your hand to his ankle as soon as possible so that he can't control it. Secondly make sure to keep that elbow plastered to your hip. Being armbarred is embarrassing, being armbarred from Knee on Belly is even worse.
This move does not replace last week's move, they work in conjunction. You need to know and practice the other move because it builds strong fundamentals, and if you are used to having good hip movement and understand the power of having the underhook while at the same time being weary of your opponent submission attempts then this technique will really be a boon for you.
As usual, thank you for reading. You inspire me as much as I inspire you.
The Gerbil
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