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
