April 23, 2010
Judo Books
Long time readers won't be surprised when I say that you can learn a lot by studying the techniques used by grapplers of the past (check out my post on old-time grappling). Rules change and sports evolve, but body mechanics stay the same. There are, after all, only a limited number of ways to twist someone's arm to make them say 'Uncle!'
Back before DVDs people wrote books. The problem is that many of the best old Judo books are now out of print. And those of us who have hard copies of these books would rather lose a kidney than lend out an impossible-to-find original copy!
A reader of this blog recently told me about that a generally great website - Judoinfo.com - has a page of links where you can download digital versions of rare old Judo books for free.
Some of these books are more than 100 years old, from the era where the boundaries between Judo and classical Japanese Ju-Jutsu were fairly blurry. (Imagine Judo with leglocks - it used to exist!)
Have fun browsing throught these books, seeing both how the art has evolved and also how things have stayed the same.
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Back before DVDs people wrote books. The problem is that many of the best old Judo books are now out of print. And those of us who have hard copies of these books would rather lose a kidney than lend out an impossible-to-find original copy!
A reader of this blog recently told me about that a generally great website - Judoinfo.com - has a page of links where you can download digital versions of rare old Judo books for free.
Some of these books are more than 100 years old, from the era where the boundaries between Judo and classical Japanese Ju-Jutsu were fairly blurry. (Imagine Judo with leglocks - it used to exist!)
Have fun browsing throught these books, seeing both how the art has evolved and also how things have stayed the same.
Labels: books, japanese ju-jutsu, judo
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April 12, 2010
Tips for Female Grapplers
Recently I've received a flood of emails from women and smaller men, wanting to know how to deal with larger, stronger opponents.
The thing is that - at 200+ lbs myself - I'm NOT the best person to address these questions. Of course I've had to deal with a few huge steroid monsters who outweighed me by 100+ lbs, but those were the exception, not the rule.
So my solution was to draft the ever-eloquent grappler Krista Scott-Dixon from Stumptuous.com. Weighing in at a massive 113 lbs Krista deals with larger stronger opponents almost every time she steps onto the mat. And to figure out how to survive and thrive on the mats despite this inequality she's picked the brains of some of the best smaller grapplers in the business!
Over the last couple of days Krista has put together a really good piece called Tips for Female Grapplers for you. It's got tips, techniques, principles and lots of practical advice for the smaller grapplers among us. I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure you will too!
Labels: bjj, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, submission grappling, women
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April 04, 2010
BJJ Training in Brazil
Have you ever wanted to go and train in the homeland of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
An former training partner of mine recently shared his experiences of training BJJ in Brazil at the Carlson Gracie Academy in Rio de Janeiro, including some of the differences in training styles between typical North American schools and Brazilian schools. Check out the article - it's pretty inspiring!
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An former training partner of mine recently shared his experiences of training BJJ in Brazil at the Carlson Gracie Academy in Rio de Janeiro, including some of the differences in training styles between typical North American schools and Brazilian schools. Check out the article - it's pretty inspiring!
Labels: bjj, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Carlson Gracie, Rio de Janeiro
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March 24, 2010
I'm Alive and I Didn't Get Double Armbarred...
A reader recently asked me "I haven't heard from you in a long time. Did you get double arm-barred and can't type?"
I'm glad that both my arms are great and I can type just fine! It's a valid question though, and since other people are probably also wondering what's been going on I thought I'd take a moment to answer it for everyone.
The reason this newsletter has been a little less active than usual is because I've been finishing up my Online Grappling Concepts Course.
When I briefly opened up registration for this course last September hundreds of grapplers signed up right away. And for the past 6 months my main focus - one might say my 'obsession' - has been to create the very best experience I can for the participants.
But now most of the heavy lifting of actually creating and distributing the course material (online videos, mp3 files, written materials and DVDs) is done.
I haven't decided whether, or even if, I'll ever release the course again. But the main thing is that it's been a great experience putting this stuff together, and I'm gratified by the tons of rave reviews from the course participants.
So I'm not dead yet! And now I'll have (a little) more time to work on other aspects of Grapplearts and concentrate on my own training!!
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I'm glad that both my arms are great and I can type just fine! It's a valid question though, and since other people are probably also wondering what's been going on I thought I'd take a moment to answer it for everyone.
The reason this newsletter has been a little less active than usual is because I've been finishing up my Online Grappling Concepts Course.
When I briefly opened up registration for this course last September hundreds of grapplers signed up right away. And for the past 6 months my main focus - one might say my 'obsession' - has been to create the very best experience I can for the participants.
But now most of the heavy lifting of actually creating and distributing the course material (online videos, mp3 files, written materials and DVDs) is done.
I haven't decided whether, or even if, I'll ever release the course again. But the main thing is that it's been a great experience putting this stuff together, and I'm gratified by the tons of rave reviews from the course participants.
So I'm not dead yet! And now I'll have (a little) more time to work on other aspects of Grapplearts and concentrate on my own training!!
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March 02, 2010
The Best Brabo Choke Resources
Shortly after Paulo Thiago defeated Mike Swick at UFC 109 I was asked to write about the 'Brabo' choke (Thiago finished the fight in the second round using the Brabo choke).I've always had a suspicion that this attack (also known as the 'Darce choke') would become a more popular attack. That's why, several years ago, I asked Marcio Feitosa to teach a photo tutorial on the Brabo choke.
Grapplers are finally catching on that the Brabo choke is a very powerful attack that you can hit from a number of different position. That's why we're seeing it more and more in submission grappling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA.
All this being said, I have to point out that the Brabo choke is NOT a submission that I've studied very deeply. Sure, I could show you the basic mechanics and a few tricks, but I'm just not your man if you want a ton of detail about this attack.
Fortunately someone else has done the heavy lifting on the Brabo Choke: Matt Kirtley has put together a really good series of articles on this attack at Aesopian.com. Here's a list of articles that you should read if you want to make it one of your go-to moves:
- Brabo Choke Homework: Trigger Position
- Brabo Choke Homework: Progressive Grips
- Brabo Choke Homework: Crossing the Arm
- Standing Up, Sitting Out and Brabo Chokes
Labels: arm triangle, Brabo Choke, chokes, D'arce choke, no gi
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February 12, 2010
A Drill to Rescue the Armbar from Guard
At a seminar I attended, martial arts legend Dan Inosanto once distinguished between
OK, OK, so there are techniques and teaching methods. How does this apply to you? Well recently I was able to guest teach a class at the school of my friend Ritchie Yip.
Here is part of that class
One of the techniques I wanted the group to work on was the armbar spin-out from guard. This is a very useful move when a bigger and stronger opponent tries to stack and crush you in an attempt to get out of your armbar attack.
But my secret hidden agenda that night was to field-test a different method of teaching and training this technique. I had just come up with a new solo drill. I wanted to see if it would make the spin-out, a fairly complicated technique, easier to learn.
So I made the class do the solo drill, and then we moved on to the technique itself. Within a few minutes everyone - even the new guy with only 3 classes under his whitebelt - was spinning out of the armbar like a seasoned pro.
Not bad for a move that considered by many to be 'advanced.' I've taught this technique before and adding the solo drill to the teaching progression really accelerated the success that everyone experienced. The students learned something that night, but so did I! A big 'thank you' to the boys and girls who were my guinea pigs!
Regardless of whether you're teaching or just training, sometimes the best way to learn a move is to isolate the crux of the move - the most difficult part - and drill it on it's own. A bad workman blames his tools, and a poor teacher blames his students. Finding, creating, and using the correct drills is part of good teaching. The right drill at the right time can work wonders.
If you have something against embedded video, here's a direct link to the solo drill and the actual armbar spin-out on Youtube.
Also, for more ideas about solo and partner drills check out my Grappling Drills DVD, available on this very site!
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- the techniques used in a martial art, and
- the training methods used to develop those techniques.
OK, OK, so there are techniques and teaching methods. How does this apply to you? Well recently I was able to guest teach a class at the school of my friend Ritchie Yip.
Here is part of that class
One of the techniques I wanted the group to work on was the armbar spin-out from guard. This is a very useful move when a bigger and stronger opponent tries to stack and crush you in an attempt to get out of your armbar attack.
But my secret hidden agenda that night was to field-test a different method of teaching and training this technique. I had just come up with a new solo drill. I wanted to see if it would make the spin-out, a fairly complicated technique, easier to learn.
So I made the class do the solo drill, and then we moved on to the technique itself. Within a few minutes everyone - even the new guy with only 3 classes under his whitebelt - was spinning out of the armbar like a seasoned pro.
Not bad for a move that considered by many to be 'advanced.' I've taught this technique before and adding the solo drill to the teaching progression really accelerated the success that everyone experienced. The students learned something that night, but so did I! A big 'thank you' to the boys and girls who were my guinea pigs!
Regardless of whether you're teaching or just training, sometimes the best way to learn a move is to isolate the crux of the move - the most difficult part - and drill it on it's own. A bad workman blames his tools, and a poor teacher blames his students. Finding, creating, and using the correct drills is part of good teaching. The right drill at the right time can work wonders.
If you have something against embedded video, here's a direct link to the solo drill and the actual armbar spin-out on Youtube.
Also, for more ideas about solo and partner drills check out my Grappling Drills DVD, available on this very site!
Labels: armbar from guard, drills, teaching, training
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February 04, 2010
Never Satisfied!
Today, at the gym, a young grappler asked me a question he'd obviously been wondering about for a long time.
"How long did it take until you had grappling all figured out?"
I told him that although I started grappling (in the context of Judo) almost 30 years ago, I still didn't have grappling all figured out...
"OK, OK," he replied, "but how long did it take until you were satisfied with your ability?"
"I'm still not satisfied with my ability" was my answer.
Now I wasn't just being coy or deliberately dense. I've been a black belt in BJJ for a while now, and have trained in lots of other grappling systems. But I really am not satisfied with my ability, nor do I have it all figured out. Nor should I be satisfied!
There is ALWAYS something to work on: whether it be incorporating a new technique into your arsenal, or refining a technique that has recently stopped working for you, or working on a weak part of your game.
In fact, I can guarantee that as long as you're still testing yourself on the mat with actual sparring you're always going to have strengths and weaknesses. Pick a random subset of your grappling skills - mount escapes, half guard sweeps and triangle choke entries for example - and it's inevitable that one of those areas is going to be less developed than the other areas.
Sometimes it's reassuring to beginners to know that grapplers, fighters and competitors at the highest level also deal with this! Marcelo Garcia has areas he's weak in (at least relative to the areas that he's great at). Rickson Gracie is better at some things than others. And some aspects of Georges St. Pierre's MMA game lag behind as well.
But always having something that you suck at (or - more correctly - suck at relative to your other skills) is a good thing - now you have something to work on! If you don't know what to work on in your grappling development, then take what you're worst at and work on that! (Often your fastest progress comes from working on your weakest link).
If you're entirely satisfied with your game, and if you don't have any areas that need refining, then you haven't actually reached perfection. You've just stopped growing.
Complacency is death!
"How long did it take until you had grappling all figured out?"
I told him that although I started grappling (in the context of Judo) almost 30 years ago, I still didn't have grappling all figured out...
"OK, OK," he replied, "but how long did it take until you were satisfied with your ability?"
"I'm still not satisfied with my ability" was my answer.
Now I wasn't just being coy or deliberately dense. I've been a black belt in BJJ for a while now, and have trained in lots of other grappling systems. But I really am not satisfied with my ability, nor do I have it all figured out. Nor should I be satisfied!
There is ALWAYS something to work on: whether it be incorporating a new technique into your arsenal, or refining a technique that has recently stopped working for you, or working on a weak part of your game.
In fact, I can guarantee that as long as you're still testing yourself on the mat with actual sparring you're always going to have strengths and weaknesses. Pick a random subset of your grappling skills - mount escapes, half guard sweeps and triangle choke entries for example - and it's inevitable that one of those areas is going to be less developed than the other areas.
Sometimes it's reassuring to beginners to know that grapplers, fighters and competitors at the highest level also deal with this! Marcelo Garcia has areas he's weak in (at least relative to the areas that he's great at). Rickson Gracie is better at some things than others. And some aspects of Georges St. Pierre's MMA game lag behind as well.
But always having something that you suck at (or - more correctly - suck at relative to your other skills) is a good thing - now you have something to work on! If you don't know what to work on in your grappling development, then take what you're worst at and work on that! (Often your fastest progress comes from working on your weakest link).
If you're entirely satisfied with your game, and if you don't have any areas that need refining, then you haven't actually reached perfection. You've just stopped growing.
Complacency is death!
Labels: bjj, sparring, the mental aspect, training
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