Community Jiu-Jitsu

Updates are coming very soon...

2011-06-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well, there is a ton going on again and I still haven't forgotten about how much I enjoyed making this blog. I am still in love with jiu-jitsu and this blog is a part of that, so I have to get on the horse once again and share some jiu-jitsu experiences with the best community in martial arts.

In the Blast from the Past section, I'm going to update a couple of old blog posts - one is me training with Johnny Ramirez at New Breed Jiu-Jitsu a few years ago and the other is of some training sessions I had with Rigan Machado while he was still training at the old location off of Artesia in LA. Those are special to me because Johnny is such a selfless instructor and Rigan is no longer in that area.

Other than that, the posts will focus on a couple of things. First, I will be discussing the training sessions I have been having with great black belts at my gym - The Jiu-Jitsu League. In just a couple of months on my own as a BJJ teacher, we have had Andre Galvao, Rodrigo Caporal, Gustavo Campos, Gilbert Burns, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Bruno Frazatto, the Mendes Brothers, Ed Ramos and more training with us. I have learned a lot about training through my sessions with them and I am so grateful that they have come by my academy to share jiu-jitsu with my students. These posts are awesome. If you want to find out more about our daily happenings at J2L (the 2 is a reference to the 2 Ls in The Jiu-Jitsu League) - check out (and like) our facebook.

Secondly, I will be discussing my upcoming books. I am adding the finishing touches to Dave Camarillo's book and it is an incredible look at becoming a submission fighter (instead of points specific). I think people will like our take on it. Also, I am concurrently working on Leo Vieira's book and planning my trips to England to work with Braulio Estima and Brazil to finish Terere's book.

So, if any of you are still looking at this site, keep checking it, because there is a ton of new stuff around the corner.

Happy Training!
Kevin

The Galvao Book is HERE!!!

2010-07-26T16:08:00.001-07:00

I am so excited... I just got about 24 books in the mail. Of which, I'll probably sell at least 10-15 of them at Fight Zone USA.

For those that have pre-ordered, you are more than welcome to swing by and check it out. It should be shipping pretty soon (my books came from the distributor, so I'd imagine Amazon and co. should be getting theirs as well).

Happy Training!!!!

Kevin

Galvao Preview

2010-06-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

Andre Galvao's Drill to Win - 12 Months to Better Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is off to print and this is the final cover.

So, as I wait patiently for the Galvao book to arrive on a slow boat from China (literally), I thought I would provide a couple of sample shots from the book. As I said earlier, the book has been proofed, approved, and sent off to print. That means, the final step is basically printing and shipping. I am euphoric, but I keep myself grounded by working day and night on Leo Vieira's book. No rest for the weary...

On to the book itself. Drill to Win is dedicated toward monumentally improving one's BJJ. Andre shot what felt like 300 techniques and we included every single thing. The book includes diet, strength and balance conditioning, stretching, the basic movements, takedowns, passing, guard attacks and retention, escapes and defense, transitions, and sooooo much more. To efficiently show so much movement, we layered the photos to mimic action, and so far, our peer reviewers have indicated that it works well. We're really happy to do something different with the media (books) and you guys will be twice as shocked when you see Leo's. Anyway, here's a sample of things to come!

A sample of the book's content. Basically, the book follows a one year gameplan to improve your jiu-jitsu using drills. All rep ranges are at a minimum. The more you drill - the better!

Attack from escape!

The previous two page spread is dedicated to removing the hooks to set up your dominant top game transitions.

While this spread focuses on passing off of a realistic passing defense. The drills have to reflect reality! (the two shadowed pics are a problem with how the blog uploaded the pic - the pics are not like that in the book)

Well, I honestly hope that everybody loves the book and that you get a great insight into not only how Andre got so good, but how to hit your own grappling goals as well.

Happy Training,
Kevin

Andre Galvao's Book is Finished...

2009-11-26T21:02:00.000-08:00

I'll be posting plenty of pictures on here over the following few weeks, but for all intents and purposes, the Galvao book is complete. The book has entered the editing phase and so far it is getting really great remarks from early previewers and our publisher told us that this is the best looking book Victory Belt has made as of yet (I can say this without ego because my wife is responsible for design not me!). With that said, I might as well gush about my experiences until now.

I first met Andre quite a few years ago when he was training at Ouano's school in the LA area. I had already been signed to Victory Belt books and I thought that Andre would make a great subject for a BJJ book (luckily enough Ouano proved to be pivotal in bringing us together). Andre was at the top of his game and his star was very much on the rise. Anyways, when I met with him and asked if was interested in a book, he eagerly agreed. That night, he came back with me to Huntington for the first of many impromptu training sessions so that we could feel out an approach to this project.

We trained for about 3 hours that night and Haley taped every second of it (later I collected many more hours of training and private lessons on mini DV footage). What I immediately liked about Andre was his willingness to show every part of his BJJ and he really left no stone unturned. In that first day of training/planning, I saw a totally different side of BJJ and I was interested in seeing how I could help Andre bring that to a book.

What followed was many other trips with Andre sleeping on our couch, eating all of our food, rolling on my 10x10 mats, and challenging my fighting game supremacy. I got to know everything about Andre and it was crazy to see someone moving from being a BJJ hero of mine to an actual friend. I felt honored. He was still someone I looked up to in the sport, but he was also someone who ate all my wheat bread and downed olive oil by the field. By the end of the project, I felt that this experience gave me the insight I needed to tell Andre's BJJ story through instruction.

So, when the time came for us to take the photos, how did it go and what would we shoot? The answer comes from another story... When we started working on the book, my first thought was to make a butterfly guard book, because I had seen him use with such calm and efficiency earlier in 2004 and it only matured to greater levels by the time we were ready to get the photos. I thought that his butterfly game was a mirror of Terere's and I felt that it would tell a great story of his mastery of the art. However, something happened one day when we were training with each other for the 2008 Pans. I asked him to show me exactly what it was that made him great at BJJ and I realized that it was a ton of hard work and even more repetition. At this point, it dawned on both of us that the butterfly guard wasn't nearly as important as his ability to transition into and out of different positions. He saw jiu-jitsu as more free flowing and not so determined. For me this was a revelation. When I watched Andre train, trained with him, and saw how he treated his down time, I knew - Andre was a product of a successful training regimen and it would be this that I would have to provide for his readers.

When we shot the book, Andre once again came through with a champion's work ethic. He shot over 350 techniques in just two extremely long and sleepless days. He never once complained, got moody, or slowed. His partner, Marcel Louzado, was funny and in perfect rhythm with him. When Brian was finished with his last photo, we knew that we were sitting on a gold mine of info and that we would have our work cut out for us in figuring out how to tell this story.

This is how we ended up with Andre Galvao's 12 month plan. It is a book that integrates drilling, diet, and exercise into radically changing your ability to move from position to position without dreading that next movement phase. Basically, it is a roadmap to making your jiu-jitsu look more like Andre Galvao's. It is made up mostly of what Andre uses the most - two person drills and training scenarios. On a visual level, it does something different and it is a departure from other Victory Belt books (which I am a fan of). I feel that my designer (and beautiful wife) did an incredible job of conveying movement and I hope it shows people what they need to loosen up and move! I feel that it is unique and I hope that it does Andre justice. He deserves it.

To finish my gushing, I also need to thank Andre. Without his guidance and help as both a friend and BJJ mentor, I never would have met my instructor, Leo Vieira, or had the opportunity to work on his book as well. I never would have met Leo's talented and kind brother, Leandro, and I would have missed the chance to open our dream academy with him, Fight Zone USA. Thanks Andre! You've made a great splash in my life and I hope the book does the same for yours.

In the coming days I will be posting some picture samples to this site and to my facebook page as well. If you are interested in checking it out in person, you can either come by Fight Zone USA and watch us toil away with some last minute edits or wait and come by for the book release party. Hope to see you all there and I look forward to your feedback.

Happy Training,
Kevin

Just got my Saulo book in the mail...

2008-10-15T23:18:00.001-07:00

It exists! The Saulo book finally exists! This is my first jiu-jitsu book and I so happy to finally see it in my hands! Before this, I had only written magazine articles, blog posts, and academic material, and this by far was my most ambitious undertaking in writing.

First of all, let me provide some insight into the creation of this book. I owe a lot to this blog. It has served as a pretty unlikely resume and has given me introduction to a key player (and great friend) in the creation of this book, Eric Goo. After I met Eric Goo through this blog, we became very good friends and training partners (along with everyone at NTT). When I told him that I had talked with Saulo about creating this book with Victory Belt, Eric was the one who drove down to San Diego with me (because he has been friends with the Ribeiro brothers for a very long time), introduced me to Saulo, and pretty much vouched for me as a writer. I really think first impressions are everything, and Eric really helped in the formative part of my relationship with Saulo (which is of incredible importance for a relationship between writers). I am very thankful for this.

Another important player has been John Danaher. When I asked John if he would serve as my editor/technical advisor, he jumped whole-heartedly into the project and proceeded to blow my mind away. Not only did John work on the technical side of the book with me, but he really helped mentor me in my first book. Needless to say, John gave me a lot of confidence when he gave me his final approval. He is a great mind, inside and outside of jiu-jitsu. Again, I am very grateful for this.

Of course so many more that I need to thank and that will come soon.

Enough of my rant, on to the book...

For the past couple/few months I have been staring at and making changes to the monster that is my Saulo Proofs. These are single sided, photo paper quality prints of each page of the book. Along with the publisher and Saulo, we have been checking, checking, and checking that this book is the one that we wanted to send to print. One thing about these prints, this is a very big book, and because these prints are one sided, this pile is HUGE!!! I only hoped that the book would be far less than half in size (I want book stores to carry it after all!). Finally, after many weeks, we came up with our final edition, reviewed it with Saulo one last time, and sent it to the printer. Then, the waiting game.

After a couple of shipping delays, 5 books were sent to Victory Belt offices midway through this week. Some may wonder, why 5? Actually these 5 are airmailed from the printer (in China) as a benefit to the authors, while the other thousands sit in a boat that trudges across the Pacific. All I have to say is that I hope that boat is fast, because people get grumpy just as fast when deadlines are missed. This I can understand, I would get pissed too if I pre-ordered something and the advertised date changed. All that I can say is that I am very thankful for all of the pre-orders (as is Saulo), it makes it a lot easier for us to gauge its possible popularity and negotiate future books. I greatly appreciate it guys!

Regarding the shipping time, here is how the publishing process has worked for me. After submitting the final manuscript (needed approval by Saulo, me, and the publisher), the book was touched up by Haley and VB (photos lightened, etc). Then the book was sent to China for printing. After a few weeks, the printer sent us the above proof and we made our last minute changes and troubleshooting. Then we gave our final final approval. Weeks and weeks later, the finished book shows up on my doorstep. For everyone else, the book still takes this path. It moves from the printer, to customs, to a freight container and ship, takes a massive trans-Pac journey, back through customs, voyages cross country to the distributor, gets sent to the retailer, and then to you. I never knew until now how long this would take. It's crazy.

I received my book this afternoon and I am elated. As I said earlier, this is my first book and it feels very good to see so much time manifested in such a nice product. Saulo really went the extra mile here and I think it shows.

This book break down the belt system by theme. Saulo includes the necessary theme that you must accomplish before moving on to the next belt.

Here are some pics from the book opening ceremony on my shabby apartment carpets!

This book is Victory Belt's biggest book to date, and likely ever (obviously a larger/heavier book is much more expensive to produce and ship). It feels like a brick. However, if this book does well, I can continue making big ones for my next three projects (Leo Vieira, Galvao, and Dave Camarillo).

Brabo time!

At first I thought Saulo was so unorthodox in this technique until he showed me how many applications it has throughout his entire system. The leg lasso pass.

Stoked!!!!

Now that Saulo is finally finished, I can dive headfirst into my other projects. I am finishing three seminar DVDs (Ricardo Vieira, Leo Vieira, and Andre Galvao), while working on my new books and keeping up my teaching and training load. For the books, I am currently writing Galvao's next one. Having trained with him for quite some time now, I really believe that this book will provide the insight into why he is so incredible in competition. Afterwards, I will finish Leo's book and then Dave's. All three are photographed, transcribed, and sitting on my externals.

If any readers have any questions, suggestions, or insights into any of my books or projects - feel free to ask!!!! I will try to respond to everything here.

Happy Training!
Kevin

TUF training with Andy Wang and Mac Danzig...

2007-12-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

A few months back, my good friend and training partner Mike L called and told me that he'd been frequenting some underground training sessions in Santa Monica and that I should go. Well, my first question was how underground and the second question was who were we going to be training with. Both answers would leave me pleasantly surprised. First to the nature of the "underground session": It was only underground because none of us were supposed to be there and it was one of those, "hey my friend opened up the gym to us after hours" kinda things. Training would be Andy Wang who had at this point recently finished his season of The Ultimate Fighter and Mac Danzig who was soon to be blown up by the very same show. With that established, I immediately agreed and before you knew it, Mike and I were off to Santa Monica.

Prior to meeting Andy, I had only known of him through grappling tournaments and videos. I did not really know what to think of him and Im glad I got to know him a little bit before watching the show or his subsequent fights. What I did know was that he was a black belt under the Inoue brothers at Grappling Unlimited, was like myself a former University of Hawai'i student, and that he had a very open training philosophy. Upon arrival to his LA house (to pick him up for the carpool to Santa Monica), I learned that he was a very humble and likable guy as well. Andy talked a lot about winning and losing, establishing a mindset to succeed, and the very real topic of ring jitters and fear. Andy spoke honestly about everything and needless to say he left a very good impression. In addition, he was a UH fan, so he couldn't be all that bad.

When we arrived in Santa Monica, our destination was a very posh gym and we all were ushered quietly in through the backdoor. There was a thai boxing class that was just ending and Andy was going to take over for some of the students that stayed and others that also knew of the training. Before you knew it, Mac Danzig had arrived as well as some other North American and Japanese MMA fighters. I even met a really good wrestler whom I would later find out was Harrison Ford's son, Willard. This training was going to be good.

Now, being a strictly gi guy (I more or less just started gi less training when I started the blog), I was a little intimidated at first. There were a lot of yoked guys walking around lacing up their MMA gloves and shinpads and I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. However, once the class was under way I realized how fun the training was going to be and I immediately relaxed.

After self stretching and some very good pummeling/wrestling drills, we got into the technical portion of the class. As an instructor, Andy showed a complete lack of ego and he was always asking students to come up to the front and teach a class a move. He would then sit there and try to perfect the move the way the student had taught it and he was very sincere in this. Our first sets of moves were wrestling takedowns that Andy and Willard taught. I liked both moves, but it was clear to me that the wrestling was going to be very technical and that I would have to work on wrestling comfort. What Indy showed really stuck with me, he did a shuck to leg pick that was so nice. I really appreciate the yin yang of wrestling. Although to some it seems so strength based, but it is really about forced reactions just like jiu-jitsu and judo. It was incredible. Afterwards, some students volunteers taught some brabo chokes and the Rigan Twister (to be seen in my next blog entry with Rigan).

Next up we did some stand up wrestling and I had such a blast with the takedowns. I was paired up with Mike L and he was showing great technique, especially with his use of the wrestler's tie ups. My infant like judo skills did help me acclimate a little bit, but I was glad that Mike was so helpful with my movements. There were some really good wrestlers on the mat and it was just plain fun watching those guys go at each other. Talk about athletes. LESSON LEARNED: Get more comfortable with the wrestling game. Dave Camarillo once told me that to be good at standup with the gi, you have to do judo, not BJJ style judo. Likewise, I feel that to get my no-gi standup to a higher level I should also wrestle to minimize that deficiency. Also, as said earlier, wrestling was just a lot of fun.

Now, I should note that the pacing of the class was pretty high and the workout level was something beyond the average jiu-jitsu class. With that said, no one was getting hurt and everyone was focused without attitude. I did not see anyone talking about who they tapped or didn't, only training. LESSON LEARNED: It isn't the intensity that people should worry about, it is only the atttitude. Personally, I think just as many people get hurt by people with attitude problems at less intense schools than those with good training partners at their more intensive counterparts.

After the stand up training, we immediately went into ground grappling and this was just as fun and intense as every other aspect of the training. First off, I rolled with Mike L. and we both played around without going to nuts. We figured that we've rolled with each other about a million times and there was no point in expending ourselves. My next round was with a really tall former jiu-jitsu guy from Santa Monica that gave me a really hard time. He was tall strong and he gave me all that I could handle with his passing pressure. After our roll, we talked a little bit and shared some feedback with each other that definitely helped me out and hopefully did the same for him.

Mike L. training with Willard Ford

My next match would be with Andy Wang. After our feeling out phase, we dove right into it and it was a great session. Without over discussing the session, I do have to say that Andy Wang is a solid gi-less grappler. We traded a lot of positioning and I got the feeling that Andy actually enjoyed the movement phase of the ground game and he proved to be very good with forward pressure and the scramble as well. In the end, Andy got to either my side control or half guard and locked in a very tight head and arm choke. Afterwards, we got to talking and he told me that his game had been feeling really sloppy and that he liked to wear the gi every now and then to clean things up a little. He could have fooled me, all I felt was forward pressure with good movement. LESSON LEARNED: Andy is not a very big guy and definitely is not the athletic specimen, but when you roll with him you can see that he has the biggest heart in the building. I think these are the guys that have to push the hardest, but also get to go further than most. He has a never quit attitude and I really thought that this was contagious when you are around him. I was impressed.

Andy starting to pressure my 1/2 guard. Note: I am way to flat in this picture, therefore giving Andy even more options with the pass.

Here I am on my side more, but Andy has me over committed and he has good pressure, all he has to do is hop over to the other side to have my back.

Voila! Andy takes my back!

Following my roll with Andy and a second session with Mike L., I had my last match of the night with Mac Danzig. Mac was kind of sitting there after rolling and helping one of his guys, so I rolled the dice and asked if he would be interested in rolling. Mac was more than willing and he put on a very technical display of submission wrestling that is perfect for MMA or Grappler's Quest. While we rolled, Mac had really good attacks and when a position of his was almost passed or it seemed like he may have been in trouble, Mac had the uncanny ability to quickly reverse the situation as well my fortunes. Another great thing with Mac was that he was always willing to share his knowledge. After he caught me with an armbar, he quickly showed me how he likes to avoid it and how he caught me and then we jumped right back into it at full speed (or at least I was and Mac was at 60% speed!). For those that want to know what belt he is, I thought he felt like a black belt. LESSON LEARNED: I think for many jiu-jitsu guys who enter MMA, they should look at guys like Mac and Andy and ask themselves if they think they can win in the scramble. For instance, Mac knows he will and he takes that confidence with him to the ring. In addition to this, he has the technique to submit black belts in BJJ (he already has), so when you add his confidence in transition as well as the scramble, he becomes a real nightmare.

Feeling out Mac's open guard

Mac passing with good technique. Note: I am commiting a huge error here, I am only worrying about Mac's pressure/leg's while Mac is sinking in a great crossface control; I should be blocking the crossface.

Moment of glory, I almost hit one of my favorite sweeps on Mac. Oh yeah, almost isn't good enough, Mac scrambled out and subbed me for the effort!

Mac is just relaxing as I spaz pass. He is waiting for something...

Mac transitions into a beautiful Brabo/D'Arce choke while Andy rolls on in the center of the mat.

My closing thoughts on training with the TUF stars Andy Wang and Mac Danzig is that they were both all class and they put training above all else. These guys live for this stuff and you can see this in how they dedicate all of their time into getting more proficient and technical. Both were great guys and humble to the core. In addition, they are both sponges and that to me is the scary part. These guys are just getting better and better.

Mac teaching me how he defends some of his attacks!

Epilogue- After watching Andy on TUF as well as his other recent match, I am left a little frustrated. First of all, I do not think Andy has yet to live up to his potential and his last fights definitely have not been his best. That being said, I still think that he is all heart and he has the drive and spirit to go much further than he has. It is laughable that some feel they can ridicule a guy like Andy. He is a great guy and a consumate warrior. He'll be back and I think some people will be eating a little crow, perhaps crow burgers.

I'm finally back!!!

2007-12-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry for all of the delays, but I have been up to my neck in busy work. Here's where the delays have been coming from: Been writing the Budo Blog and articles for www.budovideos.com (those guys have been great to me), slowly editing a tournament DVD for OTM (sorry guys - I'm a lagger!), and authoring a few books for Victory Belt Publishing. So far, I've been working on the new Dave Camarillo book and the Saulo Ribeiro book as well. Both books are going to set new standards for BJJ books IMO. So, with that said, I've been traveling and training a lot, but unfortunately I have not been sharing some of these stories. Well, that ends here.

I'm finally back to writing on here too! Once again, sorry to those that have been frustrated by the absence of new material.

Been MIA way too long...

2007-07-11T12:14:00.001-07:00

For those that have been regular readers, you have my deepest apologies. A lot has been going on both jiu-jitsu and non-jiu-jitsu related. Fortunately, most are good things like surfing too much, training fairly regulary, and enjoying my family.

Well, I have a lot of blogs to share coming up and some of my recent training experiences have included no gi with Andy Wang and Mac Danzig, a series of private lessons with Rigan Machado (master of a million techniques), marathon rolling sessions with Johnny Ramirez, the Rillion Gracie seminar, training with Xande Ribeiro (one of the three most talented guys I have rolled with to date), and as of tomorrow - a private with Saulo Ribeiro. I have at least some pics for most of these and I'll try to get them up ASAP.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be heading up to San Jose to train with Dave Camarillo for a week or so as we work on a new project together. I'm predicting sore elbows galore.

Thanks!

Kevin

The Best Roll Ever... Marcelo Garcia at Studio X NY

2007-05-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

This is a bold proclamation, but I think I know why Marcelo Garcia and the new generation of Alliance students are soo good these days. It has everything to do with their approach to BJJ above and beyond technique alone. I learned about this during a recent private lesson with Marcelo Garcia at his newest home - Studio X NY.

When I first entered Studio X, I was immediately taken aback at how non descript the area was. You enter off of Third Avenue at a subtle staircase that takes you to the second level academy. Definitely a very metropolitan experience within the megalopolis of NYC. Inside, the academy was immediately familiar as the location to Marcelo Garcia's first No Gi series - the brick walls and mats said it all. The academy and matspace itself is not the largest, but the quality of its members and the enrollment is remarkable. As a first impression, I felt the academy just breathed high caliber jiu-jitsu.

A view of Studio X NY - the street side of the academy.

Another view of Studio X... (note: Marcelo was wearing one wrestling shoe due to a sore ankle)

As 10am struck, Marcelo Garcia was there - all smiles and ready to teach me the best private lesson ever. I introduced myself and we talked a bit about training, his past, and he answered some nagging questions of mine. To dispel some of the rumors, Marcelo told me that he had never taken wrestling until recently, but he did have one lesson on the armdrag from a wrestler when he was a beginner and that he forgot all about it until he was a brown belt. He continued by telling me that he does wrestle now and that it is "fun" to work the takedowns. Yeah, "fun". With that, we continued to discuss gi and gi less training as we warmed up on our own. When asked what he prefers, he replied, "both" - he justified it by saying that they are both fun and that is all that matters. This is one of the best perspectives I have ever heard on training. We often forget the reason why we are there in the first place.

Once we were warm, Marcelo asked me what I would like to cover and I told him that I have problems with people passing my butterfly and open guards. First I will get into the techniques: Marcelo showed me how he recovers guard from being flattened while in a "hooks" guard, an omoplata off of the transition, and we briefly went over the X-guard. Moreover, we talked deeply about positional control, when to fight, and sparring/competition strategies.

In terms of positional control, Marcelo used the X-guard as an example. I often have trouble with people dropping the forward knee when I am using the X-guard and it often feels like they are penetrating a hole into my chest while gravity assists them. Marcelo said that this was one of the most often used defenses to the guard and he showed me his posture for this - basically he cups the knee instead of grabbing the pant leg and he moves onto his hip to elevate his opponents leg. This posture was great for keeping their weight from coming into me and it also coincided well with Marcelo's next discussion on when to fight. LESSON LEARNED: Use your hip escape and posture to defeat the forward pressure and assist in coming up on the single. This is not to say that you cannot stay flat in X, just that this will automatically reduce the pressure from a potentially dropped forward leg. The X-guard is all about movement instead of laying like a dead fish (what I had been doing).

Here is an example of my posture before we discussed the X-guard. I am flat and Marcelo's posture is starting to come forward with pressure over his front leg.

This is the posture that Marcelo takes to defeat the forward leg. Marcelo Pointer: Always force your opponents' legs apart while in the X-guard. If this is done properly, his reaction will determine the sweep or transition for you to use.

I believe the next point that Marcelo covered gets to the detail of why he and many of his teammates are so dominant these days. Before every technique that Marcelo would cover, he would "test" my position and then create a drill for me based off of how I was moving. For example, Marcelo thought my hips were not mobile enough from butterfly, so he just set up a pummeling drill and kept flattening me - while I had to pummel back and get to my hip ASAP. With every other move Marcelo showed, he used some decent resistance and made me work for it. Doing these drills had me sucking air so hard and here is where Marcelo let me in on his training perspective. He told me that he likes to train hard. He said that doesn't mean being rough, but always trying your best whether it is drilling, working defense, or attacking. That means not playing a lazy guard, but being active and moving. In addition we talked about training lighter and he said it was good, but you have to go hard sometimes so you know what works in that environment. When I think about how he trained techniques, it was all about creating a very active drill where you FIGHT for the position with an opponent who is making things a little complicated for you. According to Marcelo, fighting is important in BJJ in that you should know when to fight vs. when to rest. After this session, I felt like my mindset and butterfly were already stronger. LESSONS LEARNED: I think this is the key to Alliance success: train and drill with focus. Create drills that simulate an area and go for it until you can accomplish the movement against pressure. This intensity and dynamic drilling was really new for me. This is very similar to Matt Thornton's "I-Method" or "Aliveness". Also, don't relax in bad positions - know when to fight and do not stop until you are out of danger. Man, an attacking game is tiring!

This is a pic of the drill we did, Marcelo would constantly pummel and flatten me with one underhook. I would then have to hip escape to my underhooked side and make posture to sweep while he tried to pummel again. This type of a working drill is what I see as the secret to his success. Additional LESSON LEARNED: Always pummel (from everywhere) and get used to pummeling early in your BJJ journey.

This is the omoplata off of recovering from being flattened. The secret of the technique is to push off of his hip with your foot while using straight arms and a frame to create distance. If you can recover an underhook once you have made distance you can recover guard, if not you can pull your leg over his arm and go into an omoplata as he resists.

In class, Marcelo also talked about the importance of experimenting. He said you have to constantly train your weaknesses and do so with focus to get them as good as your strengths. There's that focus again. In fact, Marcelo went as far as to say that his academy game is very different than his competition one and that he rarely does what he does in competition in the school - I found out how true this was when we sparred. LESSONS LEARNED: Focus on a well rounded game and here is where it gets tricky. You cannot focus only on winning in the school, you have to focus on improvement and drilling/sparring in a way that is conducive to this. This ability to experiment and try different things is what Marcelo said leap frogged his skill level (he also told us that he was the worst out of 4 friends who started BJJ together).

Speaking of experimentation, here's Marcelo setting up the Marceloplata.

With all this focus and determination, you would think that the training would not be fun or enjoyable; this could not be further from the truth. Marcelo loves BJJ and this is what ties the focus and determination to the fun. The focus is only on technical improvement, the enjoyment comes from the implementation. In fact, as our private was winding down, Marcelo asked if I wanted to spar and I was more than happy. Little did I know that Marcelo intended to roll for about 25 minutes straight and put me through my paces.

I wish this picture was on the other side, you would be able to see how much fun Marcelo was having as he tried to coach me out of the ever tightening cross choke while sparring. I didn't get out!

Marcelo playing a "watery" top game while getting me gassed in transition. All I could hear was, "C'mon Kevin, move, move!" I was ready to pass out.

Rolling with Marcelo is the best BJJ experience I have ever had. He tapped me over and over while coaching me throughout. He could instantly feel where I lacked pressure and he was able to coach the position while keeping his intensity up. It was such a great time. He caught me from about every position and his non-tournament game (closed guard subs) was as strong if not stronger than any black belt I have ever rolled with. He would pass me by keeping his hips heavy and I cannot even describe how futile I felt with him passing me to turtle over and over (but he would let me recover while saying, "Kevin, don't stop - KEEP WORKING!" with a happy inflection). The theme of Marcelo's game: Well rounded, versatile, and pure BJJ. LESSONS LEARNED while sparring with Marcelo: First of all, train to build endurance and when that endurance comes, you will find the points of when to relax. Next up, pass with pressure and hip switches against the butterfly hooks (kind of like how Feitosa flattens out like a coin). Marcelo's passing game is sooo smooth. Here's another point Marcelo gave me right after he choked me for the zillionth time, "Hide your neck when you cannot see the opponent, because the choke could be coming." His chokes were just like magic. One last lesson - do BJJ because you enjoy it, it should be fun. I think this is why Marcelo wanted to spar for 25 minutes, because this was his fun time.

Marcelo's pressure- note how Marcelo has totally ignored my right underhook, has broken free of it, and keeps his weight pressuring into me as I flatten out. My hook feels useless at this point; it felt like it was carrying a ton.

More on posture- I really need to master Marcelo's weight distribution passing. Here is an example of Marcelo switching hips and staying flat while passing.

Here's a cool pic that shows Marcelo crossing his legs and staying low to avoid me putting him into 1/2 or butterfly with my bottom leg. LESSON LEARNED: At this point he is not worried about my top leg pulling his leg into guard because his legs are crossed and his right leg is wedging into mine (with the support of his hip switch), preventing it from sliding under to recover.

This was easily the best BJJ experience I have had. I recommend to everyone to seek out their favorite competitors and instructors and take any lesson available with them. Trust me, you'll be happy you did it. For this experience I'd like to thank my good friend Dave Woodson and his wife Felicia, who financed the private as a surprise graduation gift (I was too cheap and I almost missed this opportunity- I won't make that mistake again). Life is good with good friends.

For more information on Marcelo Garcia or the incredible Alliance NY, check out www.marcelogarciajj.com and www.studioxny.com.

For those of you like me with stubby thick legs, don't lose hope... long limbs are so passe.

From cold to hot with Rani Yahra...

2007-04-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

My experience with Rani Yahra has been one of awe, disdain, and later thoughtful introspection. First with the awe, I first heard of Rani through the pages of a Portuguese edition of Gracie Magazine (I could barely figure out what it said with my marginal Spanish) that illustrated the young black belt as a coming prodigy and a tournament virtouso. For those that do not know Rani, he has racked up a very successful tournament pedigree with Mundials gold medals, Brazilian and Pan American national titles, Grapplers Quest Championships, and a second place in the 2005 ADCC Tournament. I have seen Rani get beaten soundly by Leo Vieira and then come back the next go around to not only improve, but give Leo all that he had in a very lonnnng fight. He has beaten grapplers that I look up to like Johnny Ramirez and he has shown incredible technique throughout. With that said, my early view of Rani was that he is a very sound grappler that is just hardwired for BJJ.

Then came the disdain. Unfortunately this came through second hand sources and an outside perception of some of Rani's tournament antics. I felt that he had some kind of mean streak and an all around bad attitude. I read in several articles and heard from many a Brazilian that with Rani's skill came arrogance, a trait that I find incredibly off putting.

Here is where thoughtful introspection came into the game. I've often jumped to conclusions before, and my leap on Rani's character was just another one. When I was first offered the chance to come by OCJJ to train with Rani in his no-gi class, I was a little hesitant and I entered with a little unease. I had no idea if Rani was going to treat me bad because of former affiliations, a cocky mindset, or due to some strange chemical inbalance. What I got was a shock to the system (I'm sure most of you see where this is going so I'll get on with it)... Rani was a genuinly well intentioned instructor who is both friendly and focused on his students. I was wrong about my impression. Although it was and is undeniable to me that Rani showed some competition arrogance, I am able to look past his tournament game face and see that he is really a well intentioned guy. His instruction sets him apart from the norm and his courtesy was more than surprising.

Great attitudes and good people. Kevin, Rani, Randy, and Jason (with Jason's kid)

The diatribe and exhaltation end here- Rani teaches a bad ass no-gi class. Seeing that I have just recently began exploring gi less BJJ, it is all fascinating and I love the approach and the technical depth of no-gi BJJ. It really feels like a different game to me. Over the course of two classes, I feel like I got a foundational insight as to how Rani teaches, rolls, and executes the class at OCJJ.

In the first class Rani taught a lot about pressuring and passing the hooks guard when you are able to keep the opponent flat. The start up position consisted of pressuring into the hooks while using your hands to post on the chest or biceps to keep the opponent confined. Rani discussed that although you are somewhat supported by your opponents legs, it is important to bring your hips to the same level as your opponent's on a parallel line. Your weight comes forward and they lose the lever to throw you overhead.

The passes consisted of using a knee pinch to sway their legs and open a slight hole to drive the knee over their hook and into a knee up the middle position. Funny thing is that Shawn Williams just showed me this pass again by passing my guard about 7 times with the exact same pass a couple of days later. I guess it is a good one; it's all in the hips. The second pass was sitting back and explosively throwing their legs over the head while following by jumping to the side at the same moment as the leg throw. The third and fourth sweeps were from the guard where you sit up on one of their standing legs. Both consisted of sliding either inside or outside of the legs to hit single legs. The one where you slid inside felt dangerous, but Rani showed how safe it can be and how difficult it would be to take your back from the position (at first you feel a little compromised, but after it was all gravy). DETAILS LEARNED: You have to find a point of balance where you will not lose the position and the opponent has to bear your weight while passing. This allows you to fight without hands as Eric Goo puts it and Rani is definitely in line with this thinking. Also, learning to switch your hips in passing and sprawling is paramount.

What I liked even more than the techniques was that on both days, we would follow a really innovative structure. We would learn a basic position or transition (like the pressure position and feeling) and then we would drill that area specifically. Then, Rani would show another technique and we would also drill that one with resistance after doing it without. This did two things: it allowed us to see the move in a controlled position and it helped us focus on it while it was very fresh. At the end of the class we drilled from the guard while trying our best to move in and out of the days techniques with some fluidity. It was a very dynamic class and I was looking forward to the second review session.

The second class was equally as enjoyable, but this time we covered the harness grip from the turtle. I really need to rewatch Eduardo Telles' DVD set, because it would interest me to see how he defends the harness game (in fact, more than any other match, I'd love to see the harness man Marcelo Garcia face off against Telles' turtle). Rani showed how to secure the close hook with the leg ride and near side roll. Then we covered the far side hook off of the over the back roll. Next up we went over the forearm choke, the rear naked, and how to start a harness with the intention of getting the choke. We covered a lot of techniques that I have only seen from Shawn Williams and Marcelo Garcia, so Rani's stuff was obviously both relevant and at a high level. DETAILS LEARNED: Secure the harness and glue your head to the side of your opponent's. Use your rear leg to avoid the roll over by laying it over your opponent's butt and leg. Attack the choke by putting your hook in against a defensive opponent - he will either defend the choke or the hook - he will not be able to take care of both.

Rani's harness control position...

Either you defend the choke or the hook. Rani showing us some strategy against Kevin...

Positional sparring was equally enjoyable with a really cool sensitivity drill where we went hands free trying to slide into side control and feel the opponent's rolls. Very Rickson-esque/water jiu-jitsu. We also did a king of the mountain drill where the bottom person is in the turtle and the top guy is on the side. Once we were given the green light the top guy attacks the harness and tries to take the back, side control, mount, or get the submission while the bottom guy defends and tries to reverse (Telles style), recover guard, or compose 1/2. It is funny because I have never done this drill in class (but Jr. and I have practiced it on the home mats) and it so dynamic and fun. Great jiu-jitsu.

Try this harness variation to attack the forearm chokes and rear naked...

Next up we rolled and I got to go with a couple of the guys and we all had a good time. OCJJ is still a pretty new school and they don't have a ton of upper belts yet, but these guys are learning fast. I didn't know it, but my friend Kevin trains there and I've known him and his brother for a while now. It is always good to roll with old buddies. Both have great butterfly guards and are old school Joe Moreira guys. It was great to drill with him, but he was taking it easy because of the coming tournament. Hopefully he does as well as he should.

I got to roll with Rani on the last round of the second class and it was very humbling. He caught me about three times in a couple of minutes with chinstrap control to guillotines. It did not matter what position he was in, it ended the same way everytime. His level of control is crazy. It's funny because I have trained with one of his rivals, Marcio Feitosa, a bit and Rani is way smaller. Marcio is a lot longer (and naturally heavier) and for some reason I expected Rani to be the same. When it came to technique, Rani felt SOLID and controlled and submitted me just as easily as any of the A listers that I have had the privilige of rolling with. Because I only rolled with him for a limited amount of time, it is hard to dissect his game, but Rani has great pressure and technique. He controls everything and he sees your mistakes a mile away. I got tapped machine gun style. Look for Rani to make waves and finish at least top 2 at this year's ADCC (lets see how my fortune telling skills fair). He may even take it. LESSONS LEARNED: Fight the chinstrap better and start drilling a more dynamic guillotine defense for these no gi days. I have a large dome and it tends to get sucked into guillotines and cranks way too easily. I also need to do a better job at controlling the distance.

Rani's just getting started in this one...

Rani catching me in the same straight armlock that Johnny Ramirez catches me in...

This is a cool sequence showing how Rani postures through my guard...

One last thing about Rani's and OCJJ. Besides being a great guy and talented instructor, I think more top level guys owe it to themselves to check out Rani for this reason alone. Both of my classes have been reasonably sized and Rani teaches with a very one on one style. He can fix holes in your games and make you better. My second class was on the smaller side and I basically got a semi private with a world champ for free (using the free classes as arranged with the management). In addition, Rani dispelled my assumptions and proved himself to be honest and forthright; he made a fan out of a former detractor.

Good night...

For a full schedule of Rani's classes check out www.ocjj.com.

Getting collar choked at NTT...

2007-04-27T23:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately - I have had to make some very minor changes in my training regimen and have been looking for some new inspirations in BJJ. Well, I definitely found some in the oddest place - the Jiujitsugear form and Val Worthington's blog.

Well, we've been looking for more local places to check out in the Southern California area (I know it isn't THAT hard) and we stumbled upon the Newport Top Team out of Newport Beach, California. I recall reading a few posts from some of the guys a few months ago and not thinking too much about it, but when I saw Val's blog - I remembered that one of the guys looked vaguely familiar. Ends up Eric Goo, the instructor at NTT and younger brother to World Champion Kendall Goo, used to teach at the local Relson satellite under Todd Tanaka when I did my undergraduate work in Hawai'i. I never got to train with him, but I definitely remembered seeing him roll up pretty much everyone at the school one day when I came by with Haley. Before the story gets too long - I guess my point is that it is a very small world and the BJJ community is even smaller. With that said, I shot Eric an e-mail and I was off to train with him.

I guess I should introduce Eric. I do not know that much about him, but he is a good guy with serious and I mean serious jiu-jitsu skills. I know he has won his share of trophies and tournament medals and that he has been training for a lonnnnng time. It's funny, because here I am a purple and I was training under a purple belt who has been training for 12 years. I'll come back to Eric's skills and game later. Anyways, I'd really like to see him go against some blackbelts- I know quite a few that Eric would demolish and that is how good I think he is.

First, I'll get into the feel and vibe of the school. The place is in a super secret Mapquest unfriendly part of the Newport Back Bay that found me scratching my head and driving in circles until Eric gave me a call and headed me in the right direction. I guess they didn't teach me finding directions in college. When I got to NTT I was impressed by the matspace, it was a lot bigger than I had envisioned and there was plenty of room for rolling. Upon entry I met some of the guys - some regulars and some visitors; I was immediately happy to see some familiar faces from Tim's and I knew that Eric's would be an open and friendly environment. I also noticed that everyone seems like they are somehow from Hawai'i or have some type of attachment with the place. I got the impression that everyone was friends, but it wasn't the least bit intimaditing because everyone was putting out good vibes.

Joe and Keola...

On to the training, the first night I got there a little late and I got to work in on some 1/2 guard drills with the guys. Eric was really attentive and the atmosphere was very relaxed and comfortable. His guys were just working their basic 1/2 games trying to feel for balance , movement, and comfort in the position. I really liked how Eric was coaching his guys along and he was very involved at every step of the way. Next up, we just moved into some lighter sparring and I got to roll with a couple of blue belts, a white belt, and Eric. Once more, I'll come back to Eric later, but his guys felt very good.

Here's a training pic of Eric and Chris with Troy looking on. Unfortunately most of the pics from this night came out kinda spotty.

For the next session, Haley and I actually came down on time and we got to warmup on the mats before Eric arrived. We saw Chris from the previous night, but no Brad or Troy. While we were warming up I also got to meet Wen from the forums and I was looking forward to the chance to share some knowledge (or in my case spazz while he shares knowledge!). This was the Thursday afternoon class and after we briefly stretched and then warmed up with some partner triangle, armbar, omoplata combo drills; Eric then went right into an awesome class.

We focused on an omoplata game when the opponent tries to posture back to defend. Eric showed how to clasp the far arm when they sit back and then to attack either the lapel or the rolling sweep. What I liked the most about the sweep is that the opponent ends in a very compromising position where you can really put the pressure on his head and neck to get the roll over to side control. It was a great move. Next up we covered a defense by replacing your close leg (to the arm being attacked) with your knee to create a wedge lever that hoists your opponent up and back to get a reversal or at least avoid the sub. Very slick and the detail was something that you would expect out of a 5X Mundial Champ. Afterwards, we partnered up and had a nice day of sparring with plenty of partners to go around. Unforutnately I did not get to spar with Keola, but there is always the next time.

Chris and Keola playing around with the reverse omoplate control...

On to the sparring and some of the things that I picked up from some of the students. First of all, Eric is doing something right, because his students feel very solid. I've rolled with Chris a few times, and he shows amazing promise. The guy is only a whitebelt and he moves way beyond his mat time. He has already surprised me more than a few times. Joe feels like a tank and I have yet to sweep him and when he is on his back he fights well and never quits. His recovery skill is a very fun challenge. Troy is in the same camp.

Dueling asses... Haley thought this pic was funny so I had to include it! Seriously, Im trying to use the pressure thing that Eric was telling me about, but I think Im getting it wrong. If any of you guys can tell me whats wrong with my posture, by all means go for it (I'm on the left top).

Rolling with Wen was definitely a highlight. He is a complete blast to train with and he's a brown belt with ten years experience. He doesn't take training to the serious or grumpy level as I call it - you know, when everyone has to frown and look all hard/like sour grapes. Wen is a blast and he really likes the guard and 1/2 guard. He has a sweep that he caught me with a few times and he told me that it was his bread and butter. It felt a lot like one of the Terere or Galvao 1/2 butterfly sweeps. In addition, he like everyone else at NTT had a solid choke attack with the hand in the collar. I am learning a lot from these guys on how to keep that threat alive and most importantly a viable attack. Lesson learned from rolling with the infamous Wen? Have fun and watch out for those collar chokes. I took a private lesson from Shawn Williams today and he told me more of the same.... basically that the butterfly position is an ideal place to set up the cross collar and there are a ton of great chokes from there. I guess I should eventually learn to avoid that!

Wen's demeanor moments before lighting me up on 80%...

Wen Bravo (or is it Wen Schembri?) with Eric...

On to rolling with Eric and most importantly what I have taken from it up till now. Eric feels like a very experienced grappler. Like I said, he has been training for over 12 years and at this point, the belt is just a periphery. I would call his style smooth, technical, fundamentally sound, and now (thanks in part to a private that he did with his friend Kai Garcia) pressuring. When I pulled guard, Eric was patient - stayed out of danger, passed, and then pressured towards attack. He is working on pressure from all areas and I like this cerebral approach to BJJ. In fact, he gave some great pointers to Haley on keeping her butt down in the pass to really get the most out of the position. So far I've rolled with Eric a few times and I am already learning a lot. I am all defense all the time and he gets me with a mix of old school controls, pressure, and collar chokes. Did I say collar chokes? He has yet to step on the gas pedal, but he really hasn't needed to as of yet. LESSONS LEARNED: First of all, when you kill a leg during a pass, kill it! Don't leave your butt in the air or give him room to frustrate you. Second, shallow entry grips are great for a loop choke to collar choke combination off of their defense. Third, be patient in your position - if you rush things like I did, you might get swept. This does not mean stall, it just goes along with the first point. Fourth, attacks like Eric's collar chokes may slightly endanger the attacker from time to time, but more often they keep the attackee at bay. Eric has been able to consolidate many positions on me by forcing my attention to my neck. It is a great strategy.

Eric collar choking...

And again...

Like I said earlier, training here is great and more importantly it has been a privilege. The atmosphere is conducive to learning BJJ and there is zero politics. Very refreshing. Seeing that I am a betting man, I'll be putting some money down on Eric to take the Mundials this year if he enters. Any takers?

You can learn more about NTT by checking out the Jiu-Jitsu Gear Forum at www.jiujitsugear.com. I'll definitely be heading back, Eric is a great instructor and the place is a blast.

Keola, Eric Goo, and Chris...

I'm not lazy... Just busy!

2007-04-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I have been slacking on the entries, but really I have some good reasons and with that being said, let the excuse factory start its engines.

First of all, we still have been crosstraining and we have some great gyms to showcase. Recently, we have made return visits to Kama's and checked out Rani Yahra and Eric Goo at NTT. I had the pleasure of enjoying some very high level grappling at all and you should expect these entries up shortly - hopefully tomorrow for NTT.

We're also trying to update our technologies to provide the best possible experience and for posterity reasons as well. My camera lens got pretty mucked up and it has been hard to clean up. After all, I want to look at this thing when Im old and gray.

This week, we will likely return to NTT, roll with Johhny Ramirez at his place, drop in on Rigan's, and give Rani a proper review with pictures. I also have some plans to train with TUF contestant, Andy Wang with my friend Mike. So, expect a lot of articles shortly.

So anyways, here's what you should expect over the next few days - An NTT write up, a classic private redux - training with Marcelo Garcia at Studio X during the holidays, an in depth look at what Rani Yahra is up to, and a private look at jiu-jitsu virtuouso Johnny Ramirez.

Dave Kama's Jiu-Jitsu Voodoo...

2007-04-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

For this week's Community Jiu-Jitsu trip, we decided to check out Dave Kama's at the behest of our training partner Al. Al has known and trained with Dave for years and has always talked of Dave like a hidden gem in Southern California. Well, last night, Jr., Dave C., and myself joined Al to see if it was all that it was cracked up to be. It was.

A little about Dave Kama... He is a Rickson Gracie blackbelt and his training lineage stretches back to BJJ's infancy in the United States. He has stories ranging from garage training with the Gracies and the Machados to challenge matches at the Gracie Academy. After class, we literally sat around for an hour listening to Dave share stories about the early days and how high the level actually was back then. His class is located out of an Irvine Racquetball club and is run by Dave and his brown belt Fernando. Not a lot of people go there and it is really a diamond in the rough. It appears that Kama has a club just for the enjoyment of training and well, training there is quite enjoyable.

A picture of brown belt instructor Fernando - This guy has been training longer than some first degree black belts!!

On to the nuts and bolts of the class. We started with some jogging, rolls, and breakfalls; then we transitioned into something that I found to be very special - an overlooked tool that more BJJers should utilize. We did calisthenics that were jiu-jitsu specific. Kama had us doing warmups that were completely leverage and base related. We did partner standing situps to practice base and bridge rolls to forward rolls for mechanics and leverage. Before every exercise Dave explained the grappling application of the technique and this was invaluable to mechanical understanding. The whole warm up felt very Rickson-esque and I enjoyed every second of it. I actually finished the warmup with my technical lift corrected (sit up to combat base posture) and I really felt like I understood more about body movement as it pertains to BJJ.

Next up we covered some different throwing drills. First we started with an O-Goshi belt grip and practiced entries to the bump up hip throw. Following the O-Goshi we transitioned into a Harai-Goshi leg reap throw from the same grip and practiced this all the way to the ground (Dave Kama thought I was a judo guy, but my breakfalls felt really lacking). I had actually never set up the Harai with that grip so it was very fun for me. The last throw was a single leg defense that was also very Rickson-esque. Kama showed us how to avoid the single by moving your leg back into a side sprawl and to just use your weight efficiently to prohibit their scoop. The leg that is being singled also kicks out as your hip comes through. It was such a clean movement.

In this picture, Dave C. is showing the leg movement against Jr.

After the takedown practice we did some takedown drills that I have not done since my last judo class. I think everyone should do this drill; it fosters creative throwing, technique, power, and cardio. Basically, three people stand in a straight line (one in the middle of the mat and the other two on the ends) and the middle person runs from side to side and throws the partners on the ends. Kama was very careful that we were all using good technique and throwing eachother with safety in mind. It is always a good work out and I had fun trying to work my seois (shoulder throws) and katagurumas (firemans carries). I noticed that once again, my breakfalls need more work.

For our ground technique we did another position that I would call Rickson-esque. It was a drill where both partners wrapped up their arms and started in the side control. The person on the bottom bridges slightly into the opponent, levels the hips slightly off the ground while swinging the hips, and finally bridges away from the opponent. The result: the opponent effortlessly rolls right over you without the use of your arms. This was very impactful as it showed me the proper bridging mechanics, the POWER of the upa, and the depths of BJJ.

This is the starting position. Both opponents must not use their arms until the movement is refined and note that the first bridge will serve the purpose to get the reaction back into you (hence bringing their weight forward).

Next up was sparring time! Dave partnered us up and asked everyone to roll at 80%. He told us that we should focus on technique, tapping, and moving with proper mechanics. The sparring was incredible here.

Al and Dave Kama were working some pretty cool choke, guillotine, and brabo combinations.

Dave C. working the open guard with Fernando. Fernando was rolling sooooo clean and technical all night - he is the epitome of the smooth roll.

Here I am rolling with our friend Jack who also happens to train with Dave Kama. It is good to see so much jiu-jitsu exploration in the region. I've been trying to get this type of open guard to work more as a transition point than a "go-to" and Jack was really helpful in his troubleshooting.

Rolling with Dave Kama was really fun. He played a lot with my guard and I learned a lot about pressure and feel. Dave's game is very basic and it feels like he just does everything correctly. He had great pressure and above that balance. I am really starting to see balance as the key to BJJ and life. LESSONS LEARNED: I asked Dave what I could work on and he asked me to roll again so he could evaluate me. He channeled the game so I could transition to different points and then he gave me two very good pointers. First, we discussed my open guard and the mindset of making the opponent feel uncomfortable. He had me restart with him in my triangle and he told me to really bridge my hips into the choke as I pulled him down. The combined pressures (knee squeeze, hip upa, and pull) took the fight out of him FAST. Otherwise, he was able to withstand the triangle and set up a defensive game. Secondly, he told me to add more pressure to force their options outside of the guard as well. He said light games are good for transitioning, but they become completely reliant on them. If you are slow for some reason, you will lose your position. Afterwards, I tried to crush him and he laughed! Super cool guy.

In this one, Dave and I are playing around and I'm trying to do the rigor mortis defense to the double under pass (making my body into a board). Dave liked my guard and I was definitely honored.

After this class, I was sure of three things: I will return to Dave's from time to time (he is very welcoming), Dave Kama has picked up on a lot of Rickson's game in his many years of training with him, and that I need to train with and roll with Rickson at least once in my life. Using Dave as a comparison point, I can only imagine all of the details that Rickson can show. I look forward to the day.

You can find Dave's contact information at www.rickson.com. I think it has his old academy address, but now he is in Irvine, not Laguna Niguel. Visit him, he's a bad ass.

Jedi Mind Tricks at Shawn Williams'...

2007-03-30T01:04:00.000-07:00

For tonight's community jiu-jitsu trip we decided to make a return trip to Shawn Williams' academy in West Hollywood. We had already planned on this trip for a few weeks, but when I heard that Dave Camarillo would be training tonight - it pretty much cemented the deal. My partners in crime tonight would be Haley and Mike, who would both be on hand to tape Dave's training throughout the open mat session.

Tonight would actually end up being a totally different experience than our last visit for several reasons. First of all, it was an open mat and the mats were full of people in gis and without preparing for tournaments or just training in general. The atmosphere definitely felt alive and warmth is definitely the theme here. Everyone was so cool and welcoming and we were able to see some new friends and make even newer ones as well. Secondly, Dave was in town and he was teaching a lot of his specialty attacks when we arrived. This is always a pearl for anyone who gets to sit in on these lessons. Third of all, I got to warmup with HPF and then have that chased by getting dominated by Dave. Awesome. Finally, Dave showed us a great 1/2 guard strategy with a cross arm push (think opposite of an arm drag).

Seeing the Hollywood BJJ crew was great. Todd and Sean Apperson were there from the last class I had there and I was able to see Sam and Mike who I have met through my community jiu-jitsu experiences. Defintitely it was a pleasure to warmup and talk with the "infamous" HPF from the Jiujitsu Gear Forum. HPF is one of these guys I have met a few times and seen at a bunch of different seminars but have never had a chance to hang out with. It's always funny because we're usually wearing the same gi so we kind of stick out. Well, tonight he was a great help and we warmed up with some very light rolling. Even at a lighter pace, I could tell that HPF is very technical and I really liked his approach to BJJ. His hooks guard was fun to play with and I think he's bound to blow up under Shawn's tutelage. I can't say it enough how refreshing it is to actually warmup and have a nice easy roll with someone when they say that is what they are going to do (instead of saying, "lets roll light" and then going balls to the walls). Great guy with zero attitude. Hopefully, I can get him interested in a Community Jiujitsu trip with us to Johnny's New Breed Academy next week.

Here's a pic of HPF working his hooks...

Sam working an omo' game...

And Sean Apperson drilling some takedowns...

Next up Dave called me out and the fun really began. I guess Dave wanted to start from stand up, because well - he was standing up! I felt like he immediately took me out of my game, because I was giving his throws WAY TOO MUCH RESPECT!! He knew it and was just toying with me. I've been lucky enough to spar with Dave on quite a few occassions and I know when he is playing me. The funny thing is that he still completely dominated me and was able to stay a few steps ahead. Eventually, after a few poor single attempts and the ugliest missed Tai Otoshi ever (if most even would call it that), I started pulling to an open sitting guard or 2 on 1 guard. Dave would pass easily and he gave me some good pointers on it. The rest of the session had me getting passed, choked from the back, wrist locked, and more or less OWNED. I had not noticed it, but most of the class decided to slow down their training to watch - so I had a healthy audience for the Dave Camarillo highlight hour. Still, it was very fun. LESSONS LEARNED: Dave was telling me that he likes it when people play aggressive sitting up guards on the leg (like Pe de Pano) and he keeps stepping over towards the back and then stepping back to make the opponent chase you. I will eventually show some video that shows this and maybe Dave will showcase it in his new book. Basically, when the opponent is chasing you they are playing catch up to you and this definitely takes them out of their game. Great strategy. Other than that, Dave's game is always on the attack and it is just amazing to roll with him. Oh yeah, did I mention he is Speedy Gonzalez fast?

Dave getting upside down before he sweeps and submits me...

Dave acting like a backpack that chokes...

Next up, Dave taught Sean Apperson, Mike, Haley, and myself some really good attacks from the 1/2 guard that I will definitely be adding to my game. Basically, you start with a 1/2 guard with the shin in (some people call it a 1/4 guard) and you cross grip with your outside arm and punch their arm away - making sure they cannot bend it. Dave said that this is key and you have to get it straight or else strong guys like Koshcek will just power out. Once the arm is straight you have some great options: (1) You can punch your hips through and step over into a mount, (2) slide your leg through for the triangle, (3) pull your outside leg over for an omoplata or armlock attack, or my personal favorite (4) fish your cross guard arm under and dive under the body to get to an octopus guard position - from here Dave either takes the back, sweeps, or attacks another sub. The mini lesson was classic Dave - tons of options and I really think this is how I see his game.

Here is the starting position (notice how Dave is bringing up his right leg for leverage and attacks):

This is picture of the omoplata/armlock position that he transitions to...

In the following, Dave is transitioning from the starting position into an "Octopus" attacking position.

Here's one of Sean Apperson working the step over to mount from the position (similar to a hip bump sweep)...

The training session was once again very dynamic and most importantly - FUN. I got to talking to everyone after class and Dave said some very great things about training at Shawn's. He told me that he comes to Shawn for technical guidance and that he feels that it is one of THE best places to train, period. Coming from Dave, that carries a lot of weight. Once again, you guys owe it to yourselves to pay him a visit if you are in the LA area - you won't regret it. I saw Shawn teach a basic guard pass without the gi tonight and I felt like I was learning it all over again. Amazingly technical, Dave and Shawn are just showing some crazy Jedi mindcontrol.

HPF, Dave soon to be Judo Mullett, Shawn, and some ugly guy...

Once again, you can check Shawn out at www.hollywoodbjj.com

Next week we're heading over to John Ouano and Johnny Ramirez's New Breed Academy in Whittier. Hopefully Val will be there for Haley!

The Art of Tapping - Shen Wu Style

2007-03-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

This week, the Community Jiu-Jitsu crew decided to take a journey down to Tim Cartmell's Shen Wu Academy in Garden Grove, California. For Mike and I it took all of maybe 10 minutes to get there on Beach Blvd and for Dave and Jake it probably cost them .15 cents in gas from their work, in other words - it was close!

To preface this weeks Community Jiu-Jitsu trip, I should clear up some things about the titles and pics. It is not that I have an inferiority complex (getting rolled up at Tinguinha's, tapping to Tim, or being schooled by Eddie and Alberto - as reflected in the titles), but I really believe that getting beat at visiting academies is a very good thing. Like I said in my first entry - I always battle my ego and I am trying to practice what I preach by getting tapped, not spazzing, and trying to learn from these events. For this reason, I do not talk too much about who I beat, but I feel free to talk about students that were able to impose their games on me- regardless of weight or size. Again, this is because these experiences have given me very important lessons about holes in my game. In every case, these excellent grapplers have provided insight and assisted my game greatly. In addition, I believe that these grapplers may not be the famous competitors that we all hear about, but they are just as bad ass as the rest of them - believe me. It is good to give them some exposure too.

For those that do not know Tim, he is a successful author, Pan American Champion, former Joe Moreira student, Internal Kung Fu instructor (for lack of better words), and the sole black belt under Cleber Luciano. He is definitely an established part of the Southern California (especially North Orange County/South LA) BJJ scene. I was first exposed to Tim when he was a blue belt at Cleber's and I was one of Cleber's fresh whitebelts. Tim was a bit older than me and I thought I could give the older guy a hard time. I could not have been more mistaken. I got tapped repeatedly and effortlessly and this was my introduction to Tim. At the time, no one could touch him at Cleber's and it baffled me, because Tim was definitely on the smaller side of the spectrum. I found his skill level inspiring and his knowledge and mechanics very deep. He was technical then and the gap between us has only widened with time.

As for tonight's class - no gi was on the menu and the format was open mat with takedown drills as a warmup. We covered two positions off of the same takedown. The first was the takedown itself. One partner shot for a low single, braced his elbows against the ground, recomposed his angle, and drove his partner to the mat by pushing with his shoulders into the direction where the opponent had no base. The second position was a continuation. Instead of just transitioning to the feet for the pass, the attacker (who just finished the takedown) would do a semi sit out, trap the foot under the near armpit and further trap it with the knee that came up after the sit out, fall to the side while blocking the hip with the outside leg, and finally pressure the foot with backward shoulder pressure (not just hip thrusts) to finish the straight ankle lock. I am really starting to love gi less takedowns/strategy and these moves were very fun to practice with Mike.

The following video is a brief promo for Tim's video and I included it because his discourse on throwing away from their base has the same concepts that we used tonight in our throws:

Next up was the open mat sparring and it was fun and exhausting. I felt okay in how I rolled, I could give some people fits in some areas, but I saw some glaring holes in my game that rarely get exploited at my home school. Matt Hwang, one of Tim's best students, was catching me all over the place! We rolled a couple of times and he had a very good aggressive game. He was able to catch quite a few guillotines, neck cranks, and a rear naked for good measure. Matt and I got to talking during the session and he shared with me some of his views on submission wrestling and it was interesting to see how well he has made the game work for both the gi and without - it was very inspriring. He also shared with me some advice and here are some of the LESSONS that I took from the open mat rolling: Keep your neck aligned with your back when passing to avoid being pushed into a guillotine (or to avoid a can opener), commit to your submissions - the sweat factor does not make it easy to play a lazy game and too many people escape from weak submission attempts, and learn to deal with cranks, leg locks, and other gi less submissions instead of avoiding them (in other words you wont learn how to defend these if you do not play with them). It was quite a learning experience.

Here is a picture from the open mat sparring:

Another cool pic of some of Tim's guys doing MMA style training while we were all training. I was really impressed by the influx of approaches!

Next up, we all got to roll with Tim and I was up first. I was really happy to get to roll with him, because it has probably been at least a few years since our last go at it (after he received his black belt). Well, I did not fair very well. I tried to play with hooks guards, modified x guard positions, and 1/2, but Tim was able to easily get through them all and he would usually end with an americana or possibly a head and arm choke from side control or top 1/2. When I came up on top I tried to use the combat posture and Tim was able to drive his knee through and triangle me anyways; I felt like I was not even there. I probably got tapped about 10 times. When Tim gets into position, he has an incredible base and driving force that we all attribute to his Bagua training. I am not kidding, it is weird pressure and I think everyone should get side controlled or mounted by him to feel it. His body triangle from the back was equally as uncomfortable. Lessons learned: Tim gave me probably one of the greatest bits of advice that I have received regarding gi less grappling. He said that because we are not wearing uniforms we have to create our own friction. Tim creates this friction, by using two on one grips, and using his inner thighs and other body parts as a hammering stone to push your limb into and create more friction. It was an incredibly intelligent approach to gi less grappling. As a side lesson, I really need to watch my posture and go back to the basics in my triangle and americana defense. At least I now have something to work on.

This is a picture of Tim using a neck crank control to set up something that is sure to be uncomfortable. Maybe he isn't a Chargers fan...

In this one I am trying to setup a head and armchoke that I recently saw on the Paragon DVD. I had to try...

Getting triangled with horrible posture. There is a lesson to be learned in this poor spinal curvature...

Jake and Mike had some great rolls with Tim too. Jake said he felt like he got tapped about a million times! Here are some pics of Jake testing out Tim's armlock game:

Mike looked really good, but Tim still managed to get a beautiful head and arm choke. Mike said Tim had great technique.

As for Tim's style - I would call it a mix of solid jiu-jitsu principles and a countering game. Do not get me wrong, he keeps the pressure on (as evidence from how often and easily he tapped us all), but he also uses it to feed your reaction and obtain the goal he is seeking. He also tends to play with what you give him and immediately and expeditiously get the catch. It is like he is seeing your holes before you realize that you are exposed. He does not appear to play any one style, just BJJ principles and movement. Lessons learned: Tim told us after class that he refined his movement by practicing different solo rolls and movement drills and getting comfortable going for technique after technique in conjunction with these movements. Lastly, Tim also told us not to wait for brown belt to start practicing footlocks, twists, and kneebars (just practice and use them the right way); Tim shared with us his sambo experiences and said how important it is to have these well developed for your submission wrestling arsenal. Tim's leglocks are phenomenal and he deftly uses them to take his opponents out of their comfort zone.

Like I said earlier, the class was fun, but tiring. I sparred so many times back to back that I was utterly spent. I definitely need a massage. Also, I am glad to see how I fare at these different schools and more importantly it is a blast getting reaquainted with some old friends like Tim and meeting some new ones like Matt. We got to talking with Tim afterwards and he had some great stories and experiences that he shared with us. Tim is a great instructor and his knowledge of BJJ principles are valuable to any BJJers in the area looking to increase their understanding of BJJ (as well as techniques). In other words, take a private from him, you'll thank me later. You can find out more about Tim Cartmell at his website: www.shenwu.com.

As for next week, it is still up in the air. Ryan Gregg told me to check out his no-gi class so I may be up there and we may make a return visit to Shawn Williams'. Other than that, I am really interested in somewhat locally (within an hour): Fernando Vasconcelos, Rigan, Gracie Academy, and a return to New Breed. Regionally I plan on going to Rodrigo Medeiros', Baret Yoshida's, Saulo's, Paragon, Cassio's, Ralph Gracie SF/MV, Straight Blast Oregon, Team Quest Murrieta, Cesar Gracie, Cobra Kai, and Jean Jacques Machado's. Other than that, when I get the money up, i'll get the Community Jiu-Jitsu crew together and we'll explore the East Coast: Balance Studios, Renzo's, Irvin MA Academy, Boston BJJ, Jacobs' Yamasaki, New Breed, Alliance Atlanta, and a return trip to Studio X NY. I hope to see you all.

You should have been there - The Shaolin "MMA" Seminar

2007-03-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

When I first heard about the Shaolin seminar to be held today (Sunday 3/18/07) at Jiu-Jitsu Pro Gear I had mixed feelings. First off, Victor "Shaolin" Ribeiro is easily one of my favorite guys in his generation of competitors, not only because of his undoubtable skill, but because he was able to bridge his grappling genius to submission wrestling and MMA - all without losing his trademark athleticism and mat domination. Well, when I heard that this seminar was going to be MMA, I was a little disappointed because I do not nor have I ever, practiced or trained MMA. Furthermore, I really just began taking the gi off after years of wearing the uniform. In addition, when I heard that the seminar would be held at Jiu-Jitsu Pro Gear in the store instead of upstairs at Aloisio Silva's - I did not believe that they would have the matspace to accomodate all of the seminar attendees.

With this in mind, I got a call from my good friend Dave Jr., who was more than willing to test the MMA waters just to have the chance of a class with Shaolin. As easy as that, I had my partner in crime and was set to go (with the hopes that Shaolin would at least show some cool no-gi moves).

My fear's quickly dissipated as I realized how the event would unfold; this seminar would be an incredibly positive experience for many reasons. Dave and I arrived first and we noticed that Gilberto (owner of Jiu-Jitsu Pro Gear)had left plenty of matspace out and moved all of the merchandise to accomodate the mats. He said that they had more mats available if more people arrived. This was a big relief and immediately quelled my matspace issue. The next thing we noticed was that fortunately for us (and rather unfortunately for Shaolin) only one other seminar participant arrived - a very friendly student of Shawn Williams' named Mike (we all got along great). Obviously the real bonus is that Dave Jr., Mike, and I were about to share a 2 hour semi private class with Shaolin for 60.00 each. Finally, the seminar was all submission wrestling and we really had a lot of input as to what Shaolin showed.

Throughout the seminar, Shaolin was incredibly helpful. We covered about 8-9 moves and he made sure that he practiced it on each one of us so that we could feel it. After each move, he would have us practice it in repetition in front of him so that he could work out our errors and body positioning. After every couple of moves, we would all sit around and troubleshoot the postion so that we could get Shaolin's defense and pointers. It was incredibly dynamic. Regarding the moves, most of the techniques were either new to me or something I have seen but never practiced (from the Shaolin instructional) with the sole exception of one technique that I had known and practiced before. Every move included a detail that I had never seen before.

The moves: The first move we went over was an "Almeida"-style arm in guillotine from the sprawl. The key points in this made all the difference. Using the Gable Grip, we caught the arm and neck with the hand clasped by the opponents armpit, then we did something incredibly helpful. We used the forearm (by the arm) to push the arm across the neck; once the arm was crossed we stepped up the leg that was on their crossed hand's side to tighten their arm into place. Next we stepped up the other leg, pulled to guard, and finished an incredibly tight choke.

This picture shows Shaolin setting up the choke on Jr. and you can see how his forearm will drive Jr.'s arm across:

The following picture illustrates how Shaolin uses his leg to pin Mike's arm across his neck. This made for an incredibly tight choke and was a detail I have never thought of:

After the guillotine, we huddled up and Mike asked about a defense to the move (looping your arm over your own leg) and Shaolin practiced that and then showed how he liked to escape. Shaolin took this move straight out of wrestling and it was great. Basically, the guy on the bottom grabs the tricep with the arm that will be choking yourself and starts to pull it away like an armdrag. Next, you base up with your outside leg, grab over the opponent's body to cup the hip, and in one motion shuck and drag to clear their choke and arrive on the top of the turtle. This move was so great, techincal BJJ meets technical wrestling. Shaolin also pointed out that other defenses are really hard against aggressive strong wrestlers who are strong enough to pressure through your defense. It was great "real world" advise.

Next up we did the armbar from the back as seen in the gi section of Shaolin's 3 Degrees of Shaolin DVD (which I recommend if you have not seen it - the moves are fun and their is great documentary and fight footage included). This armbar is predicated on the attacker pulling open an arm with a cross body grip and feeding the leg into the new hole in the opponent's defense. The no-gi version was similar, but Shaolin was very fast to show how important it was to swivel your hips - almost falling to your elbow side as you loop the leg in. Pictures tell a thousand words and these pics may better illustrate the basic position.

This is a picture of Shaolin's starting position on Jr.:

Here is a picture from the gi portion of his DVD set that may better illustrate the next position in the move:

Following this, we covered an armbar from the across side top. This move is also on his DVD set and we got to work a lot from the position of side control with control of the opponent's arms between your legs (in a modified kesa gatame position). The key points were using north south and a back scissor position (to side control) to get the position, getting a "beer bottle" grip to hold the arm and eliminate a grip fight (very savvy), and to bump your hips onto his chest before you swing your legs over for the armbar.

Here is a picture of Jr. in the starting position with Mike, note: Jr's far arm cups the armpit to stop a possible armbar if Mike is flexible and he controls the grip with the "beer bottle" grip:

After this set-up Jr. will bump his weight onto Mike, step his right leg over Mike's face, and use his heel to pull Mike's head towards him as he puts the other leg over to finish the armbar. Here is the finished position:

The next move is very similar to the move we learned at Eddie's class and Alberto pulled off on me in training. It was a 1/4 nelson from the top of the turtle to turn the opponent over into an anaconda choke. Man, everyone is using and teaching this move, so I better start practicing it. It appears to be a very high percentage move.

Here's a blurry picture of Mike hitting the anaconda off of the 1/4 nelson:

For the next move, we did one of the coolest new moves I have seen. You know when you whizzer someone from the butterfly guard and they use the limp arm to get out and recover posture? Well, in this move, Shaolin anticipates the limp arm recovery, and figure fours your arm as you try to pull it out. Then he simply shoulder rolls with the kimura lock (quickly so as to capitalize on the lock) and either kimura's the opponent or forces the sweep (they roll to alleviate the pressure). Note: if you lock up their right arm, you will release the butterfly guard and roll into them with your right shoulder hitting the mat first.

Here is a very blurry pic of Jr. practicing the roll with Mike:

Following this, we got to one of the most creative positions I have ever seen in a seminar. The funny thing is this move is still practical enough that you can catch people either in the calf slice or the more reliable single leg. Basically, you begin in a butterfly guard with one underhook, the underhooked arm reaches around their hip and grabs your same side toe. Next up you go for a sweep and when they base out you have two options. If they do not push their trapped leg away from you: you overhook their foot, feed your foot through, insert your hips into them, change your grips to a thigh hug, and finish the calf slicer. If they push their foot away: you use your hooks to push them away and come up on a single. Such a cool gameplan for an innovative positon.

I know all of that sounds very confusing, so here is a series of pictures illlustrating the move. The first picture shows Jr. with the toe control. Mike's leg is bent so Jr. will be able to reach it and feed under his own heel (as he pushes his foot out a little as well). The second picture shows the finished lock and grips.

Next up, Shaolin showed a favorite armbar attack of his against the turtle. I get the impression that he really likes two things: rolling and armbars. This is very familiar to those with a judo background, but instead of rolling under your opponent as you hook the arm, you use your free arm and leg (your near leg goes across the abdomen and makes a hook to block their leg) to push yourself back and roll them into positon. From here, you take your prize.

In this picture you can see how Jr. is hooking Mike's arm and his right leg (hidden) is not hooking, it is across Mike's abdomen - hooking Mike's left thigh. From here Jr. will push the mat and roll Mike onto his left side and take the armbar.

The last series of techniques I unfortunately did not capture on film (what an idiot!). This series was from the top side of the turtle with the opponent grabbing your forward leg with his closest arm. From here, you control his wrist with your far arm, roll towards his feet, control his tricep with your free hand, and slide into a very cool triangle. It was like a reverse omoplata but a triangle instead and it is VERY crafty. After this, I asked what happens if the opponent pins his head to the ground and gets tight and Shaolin had a great response. You go to a half roll if you feel this happening and then cup the back and keep hip escaping to get the back. This series was incredible.

Afterwards, we just sat around asking Shaolin questions about his fights and career; Shaolin was very ammicable and obliged with all of the details. Well, I guess he is done with ADCC and he emphasized that MMA jiu-jitsu training is VERY different than regular BJJ training. He said that BJJ is closer to submission wrestling than either are to MMA. I thought that was interesting. I do wish I could see a rematch between him and Marcelo Garcia though. He talked about his matches against Leo Vieira, Terere, and Marcio Feitosa, saying how important it is to compete to get used to the nerves and that fighting in the finals is very hectic.

All in all, I could not believe that there were only three of us. It was easily one of the most productive and fun seminars I have ever been to. I felt bad for Shaolin, but he just won his last K1 fight so I'm sure he'll be just fine. The moral of the story? Next time you hear of an incredible BJJ/MMA/NoGi guy coming to town - go; even if it is out of your comfort zone (MMA), odds are you will learn some truly amazing things.

One more thing, for those several thousand of you that missed this one, I like his 3 Degrees DVD. I think there are some really good moves on there; they may not be connected in a way like they are in the Marcelo Garcia or Rodrigo Medeiros DVDs, but they are great and worth watching. Not to mention, seeing how he trains in the documentary is just inspiring.

Thanks to Gilberto for putting on the seminar and Shaolin for being a good sport and putting out incredible effort for just three guys. It was great to meet Mike and see that there is camaraderie in the greater BJJ community.

Getting rolled up at Tinguinha's...

2007-03-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

Well, its Thursday night and once again, it was time to step out of our comfort zone and check out another BJJ school in the area (soon enough we will have to travel outside of LA/Orange County). Tonight, we decided to check on what Tinguinha is doing at his new location in Anaheim, California.

With a long list of schools to see and experience, we opted for Tinguinha's out of both convenience (it's fairly close) and his teaching skills as observed from his well received DVD series. My first exposure to Tinguinha was after seeing his Spider and Cross Grip DVDs, both of which became some of my favorite guard specific DVDs. Being one of the original Gracie Barra guys, I also thought that his teaching style and skills would be both familiar and easy to adjust to. I was both right and wrong - but in a pleasant way. His teaching style was very familiar, but very intense and the school was very welcoming and friendly. I love it when students introduce themselves and are smiling. Jiu-jitsu is supposed to be fun, so why shouldn't we be smiling!

The warmup felt really brutal for Haley and I (we had ran earlier in the day), but Jake and the rest of Tinguinha's students really breezed through it. I liked how it was core intensive - a lot of crunches, triangles, and jogging. The shrimps to bearcrawls gave me a workout that I hadn't experienced since my last judo class at OCK.

Next up, Tinguinha went through three throws off of the Russian Grip or Cross Grip and Back Control. The opponent took the posture of crossing his arm to your shoulder and trying to stay square. Tinguinha showed a single on the near leg, the sumi gaeshi when they pull that leg out to posture back, and the uchimata - a Carlos Gracie Jr. favorite. I was partnered with Haley and we did ten reps each and then moved to the next throw. I felt so gassed! I was breathing hard, but still having fun.

Following the takedowns Tinguinha showed a guard pass against the butterfly guard with spider guard grip control. The move was really fun and I really liked the body mechanics. The passer drove one leg to the center line (ideally the opponent is putting pressure outwards into your biceps) and then used a hip switch to drive both of the opponent's knees together. From here, the pass depended on the opponent's reaction. If they pushed on the far shoulder, you simply controlled the top knee, pummeled the closest arm, and hopped over to the other side. If they overhooked your arm to get a belt grip, we were supposed to control the top leg, stay heavy on both legs (keeping them pinned and preventing the sweep), switch to a near side tricep grip, and transition into kesa gatame (scarf hold) with very nice control. Here are some pictures of the position, the first shows Tinguinha's hips position as he transitions to the backdoor and the second shows PJ's grips that will determine that Tinguinha will transition to PJ's front (right side):

After a nice drilling session we started some standup sparring. This session was amazing!!!! I really found it dynamic and incorporated some principles that I really appreciated. First, we isolated the attacker and defender, and we isolated a starting grip to channel the offense and defense. In this sparring drill, the attacker was to begin with the Russian Grip and back control or collar control and the opponent was to cross grip the shoulder and square up (like one may try when defending the armdrag). The attacker could try anything and the defender could only fight to release the dragged arm and defend takedowns. This really took the pressure off of both guys and really allowed both to have some good fun. My partner Jack and I were able to both get some good takedowns in and have a productive session. I even heard that Haley got one of here first takedowns! I would recommend this type of controlled sparring to anyone, it really isolates both partners and still gives them a wide range of techniques to choose from - it really showed me how many techniques are available off of just one grip. This type of training is invaluable. Here is a picture of Jake in the starting position (note his partner's defensive grip and position):

Next up came the sparring. Without going too far into the nuts and bolts of each sparring round, let's just say I got pretty rolled up by a couple of the guys. Everyone impressed me, but Grant has a special tenacity that you just cannot teach. It is always a great experience to get dominated at your own belt; it just lets you see how far people can take BJJ. Grant was a monster with his gi chokes too!! I really wish all the guys the best in their coming PanAms performances. Unfortunately, Tinguinha was out of commission with a bum knee, but he was very observant and helpful during all of my sparring sessions.

I got to see Haley and Jake spar a bit and I was really impressed and happy to see both of them stepping outside of their element. So far, community jiu-jitsu has been a wonderful experience- I have met some great students, great instructors, made some friends, and faced the unknown of sparring at another school! It is like a lower stress version of tournament competition.

Here's a picture of Jake in action and a nice class shot with Haley hunting for the armbar!

Regarding my journey of broadening horizons and experiencing the BJJ community at large, everything has surpassed my expectations. I see an emerging theme, BJJ is more connected than many people may imagine or would like to acknowledge. I have been met with great students and instructors everywhere we have visited and have not found the attitude that many feel is indicative of BJJ training. My sparring sessions have been great and I am able to take a fresh perspective back to my home academy and training. Not to be too redundant, but the experience has been a real gift.

For those future community bjjers out there, I advise everyone to talk with their instructors, get a crew together, and get out there and live up the differences that all these BJJ athletes have to offer.

So, if you are in the Anaheim area, visiting Disneyland or checking in on an Angels/Ducks game, Tinguinha's place is right there and it is a good time. Expect a solid workout, good cardio preparation, and great technique (so rest after your day at Disneyland!). If you like the Gracie Barra style game - it is all right here. Tinguinha is very welcoming and his disposition is very agreeable. As no surprise I found out that Tinguinha loves the spider guard - who would have thought. Judging from his students' skill level - he is passing on his game to a new generation. Check out Tinguinha at www.tinguinha.com

Next community jiu-jitsu trip? I'm thinking of Tim Cartmell. The guy is like a BJJ zen master. Can you say, "Bagua Mount"?

Lessons learned, rolling with Alberto Crane...

2007-03-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I came into the academy for a pleasant surprise, one of my favorite authors, Alberto Crane was going to be training with us. Like always, I made sure I got to spar with the visiting blackbelt and here are some things that I took away from it.

First of all, I have been a big fan of Alberto's since watching his matches at the World Grappling Games a few years ago. Well, what I liked about Alberto is that he is not a very big guy by any means and he plays a very technical guard game and like me, he likes the cross grip position (as evident in his Kenny Bond match). This was really one of my first times seeing the cross grip in action outside of bigger or long legged guys like Pe de Pano or Tinguinha. I was left very impressed. Next up I saw some highlights at onthemat and in his sections in 101 Submissions as well as his Abu Dhabi Trials footage and I figured that Alberto could be one of the guys that I could model my game off of (due to A. I liked his game and movemement and B. our relative body size). Later, I discovered his book/DVD sets and not only was I taken aback by the value, but I really liked Crane's omoplata from the cross grip game and I really tried to make it my own.

Fast forward to our sparring match yesterday. I recently had some advice from an old friend and long time BJJer that I should always work the guard as it is the hardest position to assimilate into an A game. I took his advice (even though I should have played in Alberto's open guard as well) and pulled to an open guard everytime we started. Note: I say, "everytime we started" because I was getting tapped and passed a bit, so we kept having to start from scratch. I'll break down the sparring session into a few major themes or lessons that I took from it.

Passing my De La Riva, 2 on 1, and Sitting Up Guard. First of all, everytime Alberto got into my open guard I would somehow end up in the DLR guard and then as ALberto would isolate the outside leg, I would end up in a 2 on l type of guard like the one that Saulo shows (they are standing and my legs are wrapped around of his with my back on the ground) and I see a lot of good guys using in competition. I tried to keep my hips mobile and penetrate for sweeps, even attempting a sit up guard sweep Pe de Pano style (sitting up pushing the far leg with my foot, hugging his far arm under his own leg, and pulling the collar). Each time, he would control the pace (he wasn't nor did he have to go very hard) isolate my outside leg and drive a knee up the middle pass. He was so patient and he just worked a slow technical pass, eventually forcing me to 1/2 guard and then passing me as his foot slowly worked itself free. Lessons: Work a lot harder at preventing the knee up the middle if I am going to play these types of guards. I think I will try to incorporate some more movement and hip control instead of just waiting for the executioner. Saulo has good stuff for this on his second gi DVD and I think I need to hit the books. Also, the 2 on 1 needs to become a threatening position, and their balance and posture should be better disrupted than I was able to manage.

Defend those kimuras and americanas!!! In our first go at it, Alberto got me to side control (actually I may have still had his foot in my 1/2 guard at the time) and when I was fishing for an underhook, I got kimura-ed immediately. It was tight and it was the most basic thing he could have done at the time. Lessons for the guy on the bottom: When you are in your defensive posture on the bottom, practice a kimura/americana defense game. Why? They are relatively safe positions/submissions where the top fighter does not have to overly risk losing position (i.e. falling back for armbars or rolling into a triangle); therefore making them go to positions for many top fighters. In addition, they present themselves when ever your posture is even slightly askew and a savvy (and often times bigger opponent) will and should jump all over them. For the guy on top, don't forget about kimuras and americanas; they are one of the first submissions that we use and they are basic but they present themselves often if you are aware. Alberto's was very simple and direct and I knew exactly when I pummeled that I had made a mistake.

Side note: I rolled with Flavio Almeida the other day and he taught me a cool little trick that he does for getting the americana. He said that when you are in side control on top, often you want to start feeding your leg for them to recover 1/2 guard. Fight it a little and then use their struggle to put you into 1/2 guard as the marker. Let them get the 1/2 guard and immediately attack the americana as they are too preoccupied with recovering 1/2. I thought this was a great strategy - especially for bigger guys.

Defeating the 1/2 guard with the quarter nelson/brabo/D'Arce- At one point I was able to recover to a 1/2 guard and once again I fished for the deep underhook and Alberto whizzered to get head control. He quickly rolled me with it (turning me over with the head control - after using it to force me out of 1/2 guard) and quickly transitioned into a north south head and arm anaconda choke. The odd thing is this is EXACTLY what Eddie Bravo taught the other night and I was smiling to see the move pulled on me technique for technique. It was cool. Lessons learned: I will always remember what Feitosa told me, "1/2 guard is a fighting position, not a resting position, you have to be very active from the 1/2 guard or else you get into trouble fast." I was not active enough. As an extension of this, here is the moral: do not allow the deep whizzer!!! If they start going for it and pushing your head - go for posture and try to trap their whizzering arm with your arm - there are sweeps here and a certain measure of control. Marcelo Garcia has a good move from here on his first sweeps DVD and Flavio Almeida has a similar sweep on his new Sweeps DVD.

Here is an example of Flavio's hand position to set up the sweep on the deep whizzer when the opponent is trying to set up a brabo-style attack (from his Sweeps DVD):

If it is too late, try to play the corners and flatten out (like in Saulo's new set). If this type of defense is too late (you're in serious trouble) - you can try to spin into them like how Gustavo Machado shows in his Defense DVD - I see it as more of a hail mary though. On top, if the guy has a good 1/2, use the whizzer as a shoulder control (like Alberto did to me) and really put the pressure on their shoulder while setting up your attacks. Remember- the first goal of the whizzer is to prevent them from taking your back. Also don't forget, you can use your whizzer to hit wrestling style turnovers. Here's a picture of Alberto's position from his second DVD/Book:

The calf slicer position- Oddly enough, the previous position is something I learned at Eddie's last week and this position is something that Shawn taught a couple of weeks ago. Once again, Alberto hit a technically perfect calf slicer attack (rolling from the 1/2 back position while I was turtled - although it opens up from a myriad of places like the twister side control or reverse kesa gatame), I could not stop the roll, but I was able to prevent the calf slicer (hooking under my own foot), and I tried to attack armbars on Alberto's attacking arm. I felt the twister coming on, but I managed to kinda spazz my hips out of the way and end up in some kind of contorted position. I don't recall what happened next, I think our match may have (unfortunately) been over. Lessons: The rolling calf slicer is a great transition, even if you do not attack the slicer. If you trust your partner it is a great position as well. Also, there is a great trio of attacks here that should be added to everyone's game and the fact that it opens up the back is amazing. In addition, it is a roll - so it looks fun and dynamic and it is good to see people play like this. For the guy on bottom/being sliced - use your foot to push your sliced leg away from the opponent!!! Shawn showed us this - it is simple and it WORKS!! They may get the back, but you just saved the tap. Here's the position that Alberto and I were playing in (from his first DVD/Book set):

Alberto's game- I couldn't really analyze Alberto's game, because we never really ended up in his guard. He defended my 2 sweep attempts that I thought were my chances! However, his top game is great and I really liked seeing his rolling attacks and brabo game. Very smooth and his transitions were just flowing into eachother.

Alberto was a great guy and it was like a reverse community jiu-jitsu visit!! Instead of coming to him, he came to our school to roll and share some knowledge! I was also impressed to see how technical and open his game was. He played the whole time, the tempo was conducive to learning, and Alberto was very helpful. In addition it was great to see him pull off two moves that I had just learned at Eddie's and Shawn's - what are the chances of that happening? If you're ever in Santa Fe, New Mexico - you owe it to yourself to pay him a visit! Check him out at www.santafebjj.com. I'll be rewatching his DVDs tonight!

Just tried a class at Tenth Planet...

2007-03-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

Thursday nights are going to be the night where a group of friends and I seek out other bjj/subwrestling schools to cross train and see what's out there. I'm really trying to live up to the "community" expectations as connotated by "Community Jiu-Jitsu".

Last night, Dave, Jake, Haley, and I decided to check out Eddie Bravo's Tenth Planet in Hollywood. Let me preface this blogpost by saying that we all train solely in the gi and that everything we learned was pretty new to us (at least to myself). I was hoping my friend 'Fredo would be there to meet up with us, but a las we missed him. Next time.

My first impression was that Legends was nice, it had a large area, good mat space, tons of bags, and a fully functioning locker room with showers. It professional there. We were greeted by Eddie and he is a funny and relaxed guy that liked to joke a lot and bust people's balls a little (he got Dave pretty good). I was happy to see the mats being mopped before our class and we sat outside of the main matted room and stretched for about a half hour and just talked with Eddie and amongst ourselves. I was also happy to see a couple of guys randomly practicing takedowns and rolling and no one lifted a finger; they were just all about the training.

When the class got started it was like a whirlwind - very fast paced. Eddie did something I love to see - he started warmups by drilling jiu-jitsu positions. It was all very quick and to the point. We covered three moves and each move was practiced for what felt like a few minutes for each person. I had a little trouble figuring out the complexity of some of the moves, but I appreciated that Eddie did not hold anything back nor did he treat us like toddlers. My partner Ziggy and Eddie both helped to fix my lockdown and positioning, everyone was cool and patient.

The moves (note: it will be easier to understand what I'm getting at if you have read or seen Eddie's books): (1) The first move was a D'Arce choke that originated from the 1/2 guard. Like Shawn, Eddie incorporates a lot of wrestling and I appreciated this. We started with the partner "whipping us up" with the double underhooks and lockdown from 1/2 guard. Following this the top guy sets in the whizzer feeds the hand through like they are going for a D'Arce, grab the other hand, and crank the opponents head towards their own body to pressure them to release the half guard. From here, the person on top allows the opponent to come up on top and head whips them to their back using the same control. This transitions very easily into a D'Arce from the top (kinda North South) with hips putting pressure into the choke. It was a great chain, because both partners really got to work their moves.

(2) The second move was a back control with both hooks to the twister. Starting with the back control with a harness grip, you fall down towards your top arm, remove your top hook and use the lockdown on their bottom leg, remove your harness and switch your underhooking arms, you a baseball bat control to pull their arm behind your head, use hip bumping to get your bottom arm around their head, and use what Eddie called "Wing Chun" movements (everybody laughed) to get your free top arm around the front of their head, and finally clasp your hands together and finish the spine lock.

(3) The final move was a armbar from that originated from the butterfly guard. Starting from butterfly with double underhooks, remove one hook and get a front harness grip, clasp it down by the side of their head and pull to full guard, and use a foot on the hip to stretch them out in a head and arm type of position. When they release the arm and start posturing back, take a high shoulder guard loop the arm and finish the armbar over the defense (just like Dave Camarillo likes to do and Cobrinha attempted to do to Feitosa in the match below). It was very tight.

Next up we did some positional sparring. Everyone started from butterfly with double underhooks and had to sweep or submit with the top guy having to pass. I won't get into details as to how I did, but I had a lot of fun and no one that I rolled with had a bad attitude or anyhting. We had 3-4 rounds switching top to bottom and then changing partners - it was a blast for me to start from such a dominated position and try to pass. I kept trying to use the frame to break their grip, but I felt pretty dirty. I really need to work on my no-gi game.

Afterwards, we all had some water and came back to spar. Like Shawn's, you spar with who you want when you want. I got to roll a few times and had a good time. Oddly enough no one really worked a rubber guard game or lockdown game on me. Instead I saw a lot of the butterfly, xguard, and transitioning. I kept trying to play an open butterfly to 1/2 butterfly to upside down guard game and was having some fun. My last roll would be with Eddie.

Eddie just got done rolling with Jake and I was next. Without getting to muddled into his details here is how I felt about his game: he is very TIGHT. When he passed it was tight, twister side control was tight, mount was tight, the twisters were tight, and the triangle was tight. Asides from tight grips and positions, Eddie uses this tight game to set up some very creative rolls and transitions that led to more submissions. An example was when I was defending a head and arm choke by recovering 1/2 guard, Eddie rolled me into what he called a "samurai" (everyone "oohh"ed) and finished me with a calf slicer. We talked a lot afterwards about some of the subs he got me in and he showed me how to do them on the spot and let me practice them on himself. That was cool.

Not being a no-gi guy, I was left totally amazed. The game that Eddie was teaching was very different the classic BJJ that I learn at the academy and it was refreshing to see so many people being creative and pushing the envelope. I would love to see Eddie in this year's ADCC to see what he could do in there, win, lose, or draw.

One point of disagreement that I had was the gi versus no gi talk. Although I agree that you have to do no-gi to be good at no-gi, I also really enjoy the gi. Taking a quote from a private I had with Marcelo Garcia (I asked him which is more important gi or no-gi), "Do what is fun... if you like training with the gi then do it, and if you like rolling without the gi than do that too... The only reason I train both is because they are fun." I thought that was a great perspective.

Although I could never see myself at a solely no-gi school (I love the gi!), I was really into what Eddie showed and I appreciated his candor. I will definitely drop by from time to time to check it out and experiment with my no-gi game (i.e. get tapped!). The place is really dynamic, the tuition is very affordable (I think its around the $100 area), and I didn't run into any jerkoffs - in fact everyone was really helpful and friendly.

One last note - this is what Dave's calf muscle looked like after getting caught in a really nice slicer!

LA just has too much great BJJ - so far Shawn and Eddie have lived up to the expectations and in ways exceeded the hype. For more of Eddie, check him out at www.thetwister.tv.

Next week? Who knows? If you're at a school and you think your program is doing some really cool stuff and it has that open minded thing goin' on - shoot me a message and we'll check it out!

Next for the blog? Just finishing up my Marcelo analysis. It should be up this weekend.

Lessons from the Feitosa versus Cobrinha match...

2007-02-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

Now, this may seem odd to post a video of your instructor losing during the finals of the Mundials, but I really felt like there was a lot to be learned from this match.

First of all, having trained with Marcio Feitosa for over 2 years I feel that I have gained some insight into his game. Like many before me, I would characterize Marcio as a strong passer with a great base and posture (it is a misery when Feitosa gets upright), forward pressure, and stifling control. However, in the academy I have also been privy to his guard game which is based off of spider type controls like foot on the hip mixed with a variation of De la Riva and cross grip style controls (he often likes to play with a collar sleeve grip or sleeve pant leg grip). The theme of Marcio's open guard game is contact and pulling the opponent out of comfort. As this pertains to the 2007 Mundials it is noteworthy that Marcio took his first couple of matches through a less than typical avenue for himself - by pulling guard and sweeping. Marcio's reasoning behind this? Simple - he felt the lighter guys would have harder more mobile guards to deal with and he wanted to impose his game on them.

Now on to the Cobrinha match. Without muddling this down into an overly technical look at every second of the match, I would like to address how Cobrinha diffused Marcio's guard strengths and was able to impose his strategy on Feitosa as well as how Marcio was able to stay alive through proper defense.

Breaking Feitosa's guard- In the opening minutes, Feitosa is playing with a collar and pants grip that is neutralizing Cobrinha's ability to pass to either side. Marcio shows good leg movement, knee blocking, and adaptation. Around the 1:00 mark Cobrinha does the important and breaks the collar grip (Feitosa transitions to a sleeve control) and rolls Marcio to an upside down guard and transitions to a near harness control as he almost gets the pass. The lesson: Passing an active and good guard player has to include grip control and FORCING your opponent out of his control area.

Feitosa's defense and Cobrinha's patience - Marcio exhibits exemplary defensive skills that should be added to everyone's game. Whenever Cobrinha gets a strong position after obtaining the side control, Marcio is quick to use a "running escape" style strategy (as seen on the new Saulo set). Marcio only gives a small portion of his back for attack and he blocks the hooks with his posture and free arm. What Marcio is doing is actually very intelligent - he is not allowing for the near hook to be placed and when it is (see 06:54 of the match), he transitions to put that hook on top and defend the bottom hook. This bottom hook (when your opponent faces away and the bottom foot comes in first) appears to be the stronger hook to achieve. Marcio also shows some mat savy by avoiding the points for the pass by immediately going to a 1/2 turtle/running escape position. The lesson: Face away from your opponent when you are sure you can block the majority of their attacks, defend the bottom hook, and use this in conjunction with escapes towards the opponent.

Cobrinha's patience- As for patience, Cobrinha does not over commit and lose position. This is indicative to whenever Cobrinha has a harness or back control and is attempting to attack Marcio's 1/2 turtle/ side control to get the back. Cobrinha does not overcommit and lose the position by overzealously trying to get both hooks. He sees Marcio's defense and plays a transitioning game on top to keep up the pressure and favorable position. The lesson: Don't go for a second hook and lose all that you have worked for, go for the second hook when you have/have forced the opening. Control the match.

Cobrinha's transitions- While on top, Cobrinha defeats Marcio's turn inside by quickly transitioning to Marcio's other side and exposing his 1/2 turtle (for lack of a better term). This transition as well as the transition in Cobrinha's early pass attempt illustrates the importance of drilling transitions, body movements, and hip control. I sincerely doubt that Cobrinha is actively thinking of moving - it is my opinion that he feels Marcio's pressure and he is transitioning to the other side out of muscle memory. Quick actions like this lend me to this observation. The lesson: TRAIN turtle and side control movement drills to develop a quick and controlled transition. Do not be sloppy and give too much space or put your hands in compromising areas; I feel that this is more about hip movement and using your hip as a pivot with quick leg movement. In class we should all be moving on top instead of just holding on for dear life.

Pass to the Left- Both Feitosa and Cobrinha attempt to pass to the opponent's left side and this is something that I have seen Galvao (he likes knee up the middle on the left side), Garcia, and Glover all due recently. The lesson: Open up your opponents defense by becoming an ambidexterous passer.

Feitosa and Cobrinha's submission attempts- Both have awesome submission attempts. Marcio has a deep kneebar that Cobrinha was able to get out of through patience and good movement. He also attempted a footlock at the end of regulation as a hail mary type move. Cobrinha has an incredibly tight armbar that is actually one of my favorites. When Marcio goes to defend the arm, Cobrinha attacks over the defense and pulls straight down. Marcio said that it was very deep but that he had just enough arm to keep it from popping. Crazy. The lesson: Attack! Both had opportunities to end the match, in the case of Feitosa it may have led to him losing as he lost position after the kneebar, for Cobrinha he ended up in the guard and that is not always where you want to be with Feitosa. At least they both went for it.

Strategy: I think Marcio used the wrong strategy and that he could have actually done a lot better if he stuck to his strengths of takedowns, pressure, and the pass. If they rematch this year I expect a different outcome and I doubt Marcio will play to the bottom. For Cobrinha, I think he was studying Marcio's earlier matches and carried out the better strategy. Marcio is strong and skilled and Cobrinha used transition, high skill, side control pressure, and attack attempts (whether it be armbar or attempting the hooks) to slow Marcio down and stay in control.

I want to encourage everyone to look at their favorite fighters and really analyze what they are watching and see how BOTH fighters are reacting. Even when Marcelo Garcia does amazing things, often times his opponents are exhibiting very good BJJ. By paying attention to both sides, we get a very complete picture of both the defensive and offensive aspects of high level BJJ.

Next up for me? A pictorial or video of what I learned at Shawn's and an analysis of some of Marcelo Garcia's biggest losses in his matches with Terere, Jacare, and Roger Gracie (what went right and wrong).

Here is a link to the Feitosa/Cobrinha match - I hope this is helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuFtXZJ5Ndw

Training at Shawn Williams' in Hollywood, CA.

2007-02-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

My friend Dave and I thought it was time for us to do some crosstraining at another BJJ school and boy were we suprised. We had heard a lot of good things on forums about Shawn, so we definitely wanted to see what the hype was all about.

Well, here's the verdict - Shawn Williams definintely lives up to all the hype and actually surpassed our expectations. If I had to give Shawn's place a theme it would be - open and incredibly technical/deep. From the second we set in the door everyone was very warm and we did not feel the tough guy vibe prevalent at so many schools. Shawn himself is a great guy and he is sure to find success at this place. I would put Shawn right at the top of a select few instructors who love jiu-jitsu, show their students everything, and teach some of the best BJJ classes in the world. Shawn's students were equally as impressive.

Teaching- After a nice jogging warmup (Dave and I were actually sweating - GREAT!!!), Shawn taught a leg pick off of a "Russian Grip" to a torreando style guard pass. The move makes a ton of sense and you can really see a strong wrestling influence.

Next up, we started a series on attacking the turtle, but Shawn first of all surveyed putting the hooks in. He showed two different ways to put in a single hook and surveyed the control position that is similar to a 1/2 guard on the back. The leg ride was so simple I will be using it all the time. Everything shown had a detail that I have never seen.

Following this, Shawn taught the calf crank and Almeida choke as submissions off the single hook. What I liked more than the subs was how Shawn framed them. For example Shawn showed how to go for the calf crank, but then showed how to avoid being armbarred (therefore showing how to armbar from that position) and then how to get the back if they defend (therefore showing the defense). It was all very dynamic. The Almeida Guilloting was the same way. He showed how to tighten up and sink a tight choke, but then showed an armdrag to go back to the position if they got out. Simply amazing.

Next up was sparring and everyone partnered up with whomever they wanted. I started with a big purple named Todd and he was really smooth for a big guy and we had a great time. Next up I sparred with one of the white belts who also showed good technique. My last sparring session was with Sean Conley who completely kicked my ass! I felt so humbled. This guy is heads and shoulders above most browns (in actuality probably every) that I roll with and he was very open with his knowledge and skills. In fact after every move he dominated me with he would show me how to get it to work for me; he really let me into his game. Man, he passed my hooks like they weren't there! Afterwards we all got to talking and they are a great group of guys.

When I left I was a little envious, but in a good way. These guys have it made and they were all a great group of guys! Although I wouldn't move that far north (Im happy living in Huntington), I think these guys have an atmosphere and instructor that leads to great jiu-jitsu -kudos to the HBJJ crew. There were no egos and a ton of respect that I would categorize as non obligatory. In other words, these guys enjoyed and respected each other because they are acting as good training partners - not because of any forced upon notions. It was a great experience and introduction to BJJ in Los Angeles.

Shawn's place is very affordable and he is in the heart of Hollywood right off of N. La Cienega past the Beverly Center. Check it out if you are in the area.

I'll be coming back as soon as I have the time. I already told a few friends who live in LA to go and i'll hopefully go up with them in the coming weeks to see some new friends. After I figure out this blog thing I will add pics and video of what Shawn showed - hopefully I will do it justice.

You can check out Hollywood Brazilian JiuJitsu at www.hollywoodbjj.com

The Birth of Community Jiu-Jitsu

2007-02-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

Jiu-Jitsu can be practiced in a myriad of ways and with an equal variety of attitudes. Most gyms have the typical musclemen, technicians, and of course spazzes, but the beauty of jiu-jitsu is that they are all practicing some form of jiu-jitsu. This blog is dedicated to all of these people, because these people are all me. I am the spaz, the muscle head, and the technician. I am the guy who refuses to tap and the guy who flows and doesn't care. I constantly battle my ego and this is what I have taken from jiu-jitsu.

For everyone else, I hope this blog serves as an inspiration, a source of technical knowledge and perhaps a different insight, and most importantly community. This blog is not about me, my school, or my skills (or lack thereof); it is about the community that exists beyond me and my circle of comfort. Jiu-Jitsu will always be about community. It is not about how close you are to your black belt instructor, your famous team, or your purveyors of knowledge. It is about the community and the relationships you build with the people who are sweating on the mats next to you and with you. Jiu-Jitsu itself knows no teams, therefore Community Jiu-Jitsu is about sharing and building the community that exists between and regardless of different academies.

To expedite this function of community building I will embark on both an expedition and thoughtful analyses with the hopes of seeing beyond myself and recognizing the community that we are all a part of.