The Lads Get there Belts..

I was very pleased to see my training partner's Max , Ryan and Noel get there purple belts this week from Lagarto. Ryan's belt was due a long time ago but due to his training schedule he wasn't present at Lagarto session's to receive it. Max the pirate has been my training partner now for 2 years. He started training only a few months before I did so this has become a journey shared. Well done mate. Last but no means least is Noel or the madrev as he is affectionately know, he wears a clerical collar and a faixa roxo. Well done guys.

Judo with the GB team

Last week we were lucky enough to have some of the GB squad stop by at judo. I did'nt get there names as It was a big class on the night. They were hopeful of competing at london 2012 so good look to them. It was a great chance to see high level judo though and inspired me to make sure I make the time too attend more judo classes and give it the time it deserves.

Helio..............You Live On.

Just a small piece on Helio Gracie's passing this year. The original Master and teacher. The inventor, Inspiration, life style guru .............. Many things have been used to describe him. I Don't want to get into that now, Master Helio is fine by me and its not my place to judge how history has remembered him and what part he has played in this sport. Others will do that who were there at that time. This video shows Helio fighting the legendary kimura. Helio was nine years older and weighed only 63 kilo(sourced from Rickson's site). Kimura on the other hand was the heavy weight Judoka champion of the world at the time(Also claimed by many to be the greatest to have ever lived). Kimura was so sure of his powers he said that, If the Helio could last 3 minutes he can declare himself the winner. Kimura did win the fight. but it lasted 13 min.

Braulio.... The Legend..

So as the year ends there's a few things I hope to cover,Respectfully Helio's death. Rogers domination of the world. But with Roger not competing at the Adcc's this year there was the chance for someone to claim to be the next superstar. So lets get this right. Every two years you have the chance to compete against the best in the world. Invite only so you better be well known to start with. Also if your over 30 you won't win, well is hasn't been done yet. So you've got 5 chances that's it. Under twenty hasn't been done, yet. That's if you're invited. So really 3 or 4 chances is the norm, your either not ready or past it. Roger who double winner joined Adcc legends Ricardo Arona and Mark Kerr. With Roger not competing this year the absolute was open well more then normal, Axande, Galvao, Marcelo..... were there in fact everyone you don't want to meet bar Roger were. So win your own weight category and then win the absolute (open weight) and your a legend, well when one man said Braulio will do it, maybe we should listen when That man is Roger Gracie,in fact you should put money on it.

Lagarto Big Class

Lagarto held one of his big classes at The Forge martial arts centre on the 8/11/09 there were a few promotions and stripes handed out. Just like to say congratulations too my good friend Russ who received his purple belt. Russ trains hard not only in BJJ but also in Muay Thai and judo where we train together. his belt was overdue in many peoples opinion one of which was mine. There's a few other of my good training partners who are ready for this belt and I Hope I can report on this soon. On a personal note I received my first stripe on my purple from the big man himself, Obrigado Lucio.

Another flying arm bar but.....

Another flying arm bar here. After Shinji perfect execution of one, David Smith here doesn't quiet nail it(1min 36). How ever he doesn't contemplate the mistake and sets up a nice triangle sub immediately.

Shinya Aoki showing the flying arm bar

This is a good demonstration by Shinya showing the flying arm bar from standing.

Guard pass to knee bar

This is a decent little technique clip for a knee bar submission whilst passing the closed guard. There is'nt much here about opening the guard etc . But i would just use my standard pass of securing the collar, gripping the gi trousers. Then switch my hips to the side of my lower hand whilst pushing my knee forward and breaking the guard with my elbow.

Tying the belt

OK So this comes up every now and again. How do you tie the belt? Depends who you ask doesn't it?, If you ask Ben Popps he'll say who gives a damn just rip his head off. Everybody seems to have a different way but this one is pretty good if you want the belt too stay tied, Personally I don't mind it coming undone and falling off, this avoids the Ricardo sweep!.

Chris Moriarty Demo

This is a clip of Chris doing a bjj demonstration before receiving his black belt, he also gives a nod to the traditionalist with a good old Kia.

The Legend that is Genki Sudo

One of if not my favourite fighter of all time, here he is demonstrating his grappling skills in a no gi compitition.

Total domination

Amazing clip of Andre Galvao totally dominating an opponent. Apparently he felt that his opponent had gone for an illegal heel hook and decided to let him know who's in charge.

Essential Guard

So this was a book I got early on in my Jiu Jitsu training and didn't really spend enough time studying. When I looked at it lately and read it properly (instead of just flicking through looking at the photos for singular techniques) I found some interesting points. Most of which I'm familiar with now. But had I taken the time when i purchased the book too study it then my closed guard game would have been tighter and transitions much improved. I recommend this book along with Renzo's and Royler's theory and technique one as two great books for starting Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Unexpected promotion

So this came as a bit of a surprise to me then, On the 9.8.09 i had the unexpected pleasure of receaving my purple belt from lagarto. I had no idea that this might happen or that I was even ready for it, but who am I to decide. I represent Lagarto, so how I represent myself is a representation of him, If he is'nt happy for me to do this then I'm sure he would'nt have given it too me. I do feel a responsibility now to take my best game to the mats every time i roll, now even more so then before. I think this is even more important out side my club. Which will be shown in compitition and when I visit other clubs or countries, I look forward to bringing out my best game more often whilst remembering to work on the weaker points of my game at the forge with my team mates.

jiu jitsu university

I've been looking too get a new bjj book and really wanted gorilla jiu jitsu by Dave Camarillo's. I've had a look through it and think its looks great very innovative and exciting jiu jitsu which is how I wish my game was. But I have also heard lots of good things about Saulo Ribeiro's jiu jitsu university which covers the basics that everyone needs to know. So based on where my game is at present I think I'll gain more from Saulo's book and I'll just have to wait a little bit before I learn Dave's flying attacks.

I really like the way this book is set out, It has used the belt order and related it too surviving, escaping, guard, passing guard and subs. I like the way that when showing a technique for example escaping back control, it shows you how to do the move Saulo's way, then shows you other ways that you probably already know, but he then explains the dangers and vulnerabilities of these ways and why he does things his way. I found this very useful. I rate this book very highly and along with Renzo and Royler's book these are defiantly the books I'd recommend to those starting out.

grapple mania uk 1

So after nearly 5 months out with a torn ac joint I was ready to get back into training and doing a few competitions. After hearing there was a no gi competition in Leeds I thought I'd give it a go despite the fact that I'd only been back training 4 weeks and we have stopped doing no gi at the forge at present. I didn't decide till the day before to defiantly enter and this showed in my matches as having not practiced for no gi my rustiness was there to see. My matches didn't go as I had hoped losing my first by guillotine choke and second by an electric chair submission, something that I don't think anyone has even tried to get on me before. I'll have to find some more Eddie bravo fans to train with!. I was out of practice for no gi losing grip and control more often as I have become accustomed to the kimono and the advantages it gives you in these areas. I was surprised at the amount of matches decided by guillotine choke as I only train in gi at the moment its not a submission I often go for or one that people attempt on me I noticed one guy in the under 80kg who won his category win 4 matches by way of guillotine, its a move I'll work on offensively and defensively before the next comp as well as my all round no gi game, I don't think there were any major flaws I was just showing a lack of time rolling without the gi and a poor tactical decision in my first match which led to me being subbed. It was a well organized event and run well, the event started at 12 and was all done by 4. So well done to the guys running it. Looking forward to doing the next one. As I expect with extra mat time training I'll improve my performance.

Training at legacy gym Ubon Ratchathani

Back in 2008 I had the pleasure of spending a week at legacy gym in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand. Its run by Ole Laursen the Danish Thai boxer. As luck would have it they had a resident black belt at that time running the mma classes he was Pedro "babe" Schmall. A black belt under Royler Gracie. This was great as there were only 3 of us interested in bjj, the rest of the guys in the gym were concentrating on there muay thai.


So the first training session began, this week we are studying take downs I was informed. This I thought was good for me because I hadn't trained take downs much at that point. Every morning session we were shown a new technique and a variation of that technique. we'd then practice it till the end of the session. Then in the afternoon session we'd go over the technique quickly then spa just take downs. Training sessions lasted between an hour to two hours depending on us. Due to the heat we were getting tired quickly and spending an hour on take downs is really draining, also trying to take Pedro down is like trying to move mount Fuji.
We all had one obvious problem with our take down attempts, that went for myself and my two training partners, one of which had a high standard of judo due to 10 years training back in Japan. The problem was that we were all waiting for the other person to make the first move. We only once trained in a gi due to the heat, when we did everything changed grip fighting began quickly and a variety of throws were tryed. But as soon as the gi came off it was back to the old ways of waiting for your partner to make the first move.

Whilst training with Pedro we were shown arm drags, single legs, double legs, trips and more. Whilst it was great to have these almost one on one sessions with him, his attention to detail was great and I could go on and say more of his teaching credentials. But the biggest thing I took out of the week was when half way through one session he sat us down in the middle of the cage and said "So what you waiting for?" "I'll tell you" he continued " your waiting for confidence and that train wont come unless you start taking the initiative and going for that take down first, waiting for that train to come won't happen, its not coming you've got to make it happen on your own, when you've done this enough, you won't have to wait for that train anymore. Because you'll have the confidence and you can just attack. I love the way he used the train of confidence to analyse what was holding us back. He was spot on. As I look back now and compare my take down attempts from then to now there's a real difference obviously my take downs have improved which helps, but also I don't need to wait for that train anymore.

Shortly after starting bjj I realsied that a lot of the other guys in the gym were training outside of class as it were with instructionals and literature. So to make sure that I kept up I got myself of the local book shop to see what was available. After looking through the books available I chose Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Theory and Technique by Renzo and Royler Gracie. I was really happy with my choice and still am. It was undoubtedly the correct book for me to get at that time. The other books I looked at were showing funky submissions and complex sweeps but i still didn't even know what a kimura was!. That's why this book is great for beginners it covers's more basics then any other book I have seen. It has been set out in belt order as oppose to a collection of techniques like many other books on the market. We all know you will need a lot more then what is in this book to progress through the ranks but without knowing it, you won't get anywhere.