Grappling Tips Newsletter

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Labels: conditioning

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To all those people who purchased DVDs during the 2008 Grapplearts Anniversary Sale, go and check your inbox(es). Jason Scully from The Grappler's Guide has sent you the information you need to become a member of that excellent website. Go and check out all the excellent member-only features on Grappler's Guide, including video instruction, informative articles and a respectful forum.

You have to take action on this soon (within 2 weeks) to get the 1 year free membership, so if you're eligible make your move now!
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Here is some feedback and some more pull-up variations that drifted in from the ether since the last newsletter (which had the link to the 19 Pullup Variations video)

1 - Here are two other BJJ-oriented pull-up videos that Martin Rooney made available online (thanks to "Shanghai BJJ" on Sherdog for pointing these out). Get more information about Martin Rooney at Training For Warriors

• Partner Gi Pullups
• Gi Pullup Series
  

2 - This is the Typewriter Pull-up (similar to my Triangle Pull-Ups). Thanks to Ike, a Grapplearts Newsletter reader, for writing in with this.

" I have always liked the typewriter variation. Go to the up position and hold chin above the bar, Now move your body right and left towards your hands,then back to center and down. Smokes the delts, traps, and lats. Enjoy!"

3 - Here is a variation on the Towel & Gi Grip Pull-ups. Thanks to Philip, another Newsletter reader, for sharing it.

"I cross my arms to replicate a palm-up palm-up, or palm-up palm-down cross collar gi choke. It really simulates grabbing the opponents collar and sucking them in for the choke."

4 - and some advice from Ryan (Precision Health Studios)

"One thing I vary is the tempo of these movements. You can perform pull-ups for speed/power (like your plyo pull up) by performing 3-5 as fast as possible to work fast twitch fibers. Heavy eccentric pulling movents work well functionally for grappling.

Also, for those individuals who have difficulty with regular pull-ups can use superbands under the feet to give them a bit of a boost, or have a partner help you with assisted pullups.

Finally, remember that while TRX suspension handles and rings are cool, a few feet of chain or ropes work just as well."

5- A question from "Snitz" on the Sherdog forum:

Question: "Awesome! Pullups are a staple of my workouts, being a crossfit devotee. What do you think about kipping?"

Stephan: Kipping Pull-ups are great, that bar was a little low, the cage too unstable, and my kipping skills not yet polished enough to show them properly in that video.

Labels: conditioning

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In previously newsletters I've sung the praises of the pull-up. Grappling is much more about pulling than it is about pushing - using your arms to maintain the over and under grip in rearmount, tightening up the rear naked choke, bodylocking an opponent, or hugging someone's leg when applying the kneebar are all examples of pulling. Pull-up training makes your pulling movements (and your isometric holds) much stronger.

So check out the new Youtube video I finished editing last night. It features 19 variations to challenge your upper body pulling and gripping muscles.



For your reference, here is a list of the exercises I show:

1. Standard Pull-ups
2. Standard Chin-ups
   
3. Parallel Grip Chin-ups
   
4. Wide Grip Pull-ups
   
5. Triangle Pull-ups
   
6. Alternating Chin-ups
   
7. Towel Grip Chin-ups
   
8. Gi Grip Chin-ups
   
9. Bodylock Pull-ups
   
10. Short Choke Pull-ups
    
11. Crunched Pull-ups
    
12. Upside Down Pull-ups
    
13. Weighted Pull-ups (weightbelt)
    
14. Weighted Chin-ups (medicine ball)
    
15. Weighted Chin-ups (weight between knees)
    
16. Reclined Pull-ups
    
17. Reclined Rope Pull-ups
    
18. Plyometric Reclined Pull-ups
    
19. Weighted Chin-up (heavy bag)
    

I filmed this video in a 40 minute span and was getting tired by the end - I wonder why? My lats were also pretty sore for the next few days, a pleasant and ever-present reminder that my body was recovering and getting stronger.

Additional resources on this topic:

• My Favorite Upper Body Exercise
• More About Pullups
• Details on the Rear Naked Choke (including the "over under" grip)
  

Labels: conditioning

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A few days ago, in class, it was time to spar. I walked over to an older white belt, new to the club, who was standing by himself at the edge of the mat. I introduced myself and asked if he wanted to do some rolling.

His reply was perfect! He said "Hi, I'm Bill. This is my second class and I'm 51 years old. Please don't use leglocks on me". In about 10 seconds he made me aware of his skill level, his age, and his injury status. Needless to say we had a great little roll during which neither he nor I got hurt.

This type of pre-sparring check in is really useful, especially if you've never trained with someone before and you want to make sure that you're both playing by the same rules. This orientation can prevent some very unfortunate misunderstandings about the rules.

However, even if you've sparred with someone a hundred times it's still good to have a little pre-training pow wow. If your neck is sore you can ask him to stay away from it. Maybe he just wants to work a specific aspect of his game. Maybe you're just getting over the flu and would rather do some light flowing, rather than sparring all out - just be careful who you tell this to, because certain aggressive personality types will take advantage of this and attack you full bore.

If I'm injured I often warn my opponent that I may tap out for no apparent reason. I do this because, in the past, I've tapped out when an opponent put unknowingly pressure onto my injured body part, only to have my opponent be very slow to let go. It wasn't a malicious thing, it was just that he was surprised by my tapping out in the absence of any kind of obvious submission.

So I highly recommend a brief check in at the beginning of a sparring session - it can save you a lot of grief and make your training richer.
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One of the worst organized MMA shows I ever saw was a small local show, back in 1996. Before I talk about that particular show though, I have to set the stage: UFC 9 had just happened. That UFC was 'special' because at the last minute the rules had been changed to ban punches with the closed fist to the face (more on the event and the backstory here).

Some of the fighters in that UFC ignored the no closed fist rule and merrily punched their opponents in the face (incurring minor financial fines along the road to victory). Other fighters apparently took that rule seriously and only slapped their opponents. Almost of the fans, myself include, were confused by what was going on.

So now let's get back to that particularly putrid local MMA show.

A friend of mine was coaching one of the fighters, so I was privy to the pre-fight rules meeting. I was interested to see what they would allow at these fights. This was before the athletic commissions got involved in regulating MMA so every event had a different set of rules governing the legality of headbutts, elbow strikes, knees on the ground, wearing of gloves, closed fist punching, etc.

Are you ready for the rules meeting? It was one sentence long: "OK, like it's total UFC rules".

That's it.

After that, the fights themselves were a gong show. Some guys were doing Pancrase-style open hand slapping. Other people were throwing repeat headbutts into their opponent's faces and trying to punch them in the balls. The referee, the same guy who had delivered the oh-so-concise rules meeting, seemed completely out of his depth as he tried to manage the mayhem.

The climax of the show occurred when one fighter knocked down his opponent near the ring ropes. He then grabbed the bottom rope, stood up and stepped on the neck of his opponent. With the full weight of his body and the tension of the bottom rope pressing down on his opponent's neck and pinning him there he started stomping his victim on the head.

And the ref did - nothing. He was useless anyhow, but this tactic so stunned him that he stood there and watched.

Finally the victim's corner stormed into the ring and bull rushed the aggressor off of their fighter. A near riot broke out, and eventually, after much yelling in about 3 different languages, the stomper was disqualified and the stompee, somewhat worse for wear, was declared the winner.

Of course this entire schmozzle was almost entirely the referee's fault (who was also the organizer and promoter, by the way). If I had been a politician, and this had been my introduction to MMA, I would have knelt down and made a vow that my life's mission would be the eradication of this brutal bloodsport. Not amateur MMA's proudest moment...

So what does that have to do with us today? MMA is much more regulated and standardized now, but jiu-jitsu and submission grappling tournaments still use widely varying rules. Some allow suplexing throws, others do not. Some allow certain leglocks, others do not. Some award points when you use the turtle position to reverse an opponent, others do not. Some allow neck cranks, others do not.

Even if you never compete, it's still worth clarifying the rules when you're about to spar with someone you've never rolled with before. If you're operating under the assumption that heel hooks are forbidden, but it's the bread and butter move at that other guy's home club, then things could go badly in a hurry. No matter whether you compete or not, make bloody clear that you know what the ground rules are; your ACLs will thank you for it.

Labels: Injuries, MMA

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Today I want to tackle a bit of newsletter housekeeping. A series of recent newsletters on conditioning have generated a lot of feedback, and more than a few questions.

First, I want to sincerely thank everyone who wrote in, even if I wasn't able to respond to every email personally (there were too many). Please rest assured that I did read and appreciate every single comment.

Secondly, let me take a stab at answering a cross-section of the questions posed by you, the readership:

Q: I just started up with your newsletter and really enjoy it. One thing you did not mention in Mat Time vs. Conditioning Time article is periodization. Amateurs can train as if they are pre-season, in-season, and post-season. This is a reasonable way to train to make sure time is given not to overtrain and to combat "stale" training.

A: I completely agree that periodization can be used to prevent overtraining - leaving it out of that article was an oversight on my part. Periodization systematically varies the quantity and intensity of your training over the course of weeks and months, and prevents the burnout that comes from training at full intensity all year long.

I have previously discussed periodization in an article on peaking and tapering for competition, and it's still a good read for anyone interested in the topic.

Q: How strict is the form on your pull ups. Do you do a dead hang before pulling up, or are your arms a little bent.

A: It depends. I usually start out a set pretty strict (unless I'm doing kipping-style pull ups), but then as I start getting tired I sometimes start cheating a little in order to crank out a few more reps. Cheating might include a (small) kick with the legs, or only going to 95% arm extension instead of straightening them the whole way.

Q: In a previous article where you wrote about recovery from workouts you mentioned proportions of carbs and protein for pre and post workouts. May I ask what brand you use for getting these?

A: Any bodybuilding or health food store has lots and lots of pre and post-workout recovery mixes. I don't use any of them, for three reasons. First, they are expensive. Second, most of them contain whey or soy protein, both of which I try to avoid (allergic to whey, leery of soy). Third, for marketing reasons many of them contain exotic chemical mixtures, the long term effects of which have not been sufficiently studied and the risks of which are not understood.

I usually brew up my own mixture, using gatorade or powerade crystals (carbohydrates and electrolytes), maltodextrin powder (a carbohydrate) and lots of water. Sometimes I add hemp protein to the mix, but usually I just eat a little bit of protein-containing 'real food' together with the drink.

Finally, sometimes I just go berserk with my juicer and enjoy a carrot-watermelon-parsley-cukecumber juice, or whatever other veggie and fruit concoction strikes my fancy at the time. It may not be the exact scientific ideal every single time, but it still helps my body recover and it's a heck of a lot better than nothing at all.

Q: Would you explain in a little more detail the back hypers and the hanging knee raises?

A: Someday I might write an ebook on this topic with detailed pictures and instructions, but until then you'll have to make do with these:

Back Hyperextensions: you can see this exercise in these pictures here, in this little video loop here, as well as in the bonus section of my Dynamic Kneebars DVD. Back extensions are a great injury prevention exercise, as well as a very functional grappling exercise (which is why this exercise was included as part of the bonus in the video in the first place).

Hanging Knee Raises: I wrote about this exercise in a previous tip on the half guard, of all things. Note that you DON'T necessarily need expensive ab slings to do this exercise: you can try it out first by fastening two weighlifting belts around a pullup bar.

Q: Do you do workouts like you described every day or take days off?

A: I definitely, absolutely take days off!! In fact, in an average week I only do about 3 conditioning sessions, but every week is different.

One of my training challenges is that my firefighting schedule is on an 8 day rotation, whereas the rest of the world, including dojo schedules and training partners, function on a 7 day rotation. On a week when I get more mat time in I do less conditioning, and when I can't do any rolling I do more conditioning.

Labels: conditioning, overtraining

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Forget the work-life balance! Let's talk about something much more important: the balance between mat time and conditioning.

I bring this up because one of the questions I get asked most frequently is about how to structure one's training and conditioning for maximum benefit, and also how to fit that in with work, family, socializing and the rest of life. In fact today's newsletter is partially a response to a question a BJJ purple belt asked me after I sent out a batch of newsletters dealing with conditioning routines.

Balancing mat time with conditioning time can be a very tricky problem. There are only so many discretionary hours in a week, and doing more of one thing almost always means doing less of something else. If you have, say, 6 free hours a week, and you want to be the best grappler you can be, then the question arises whether you should spend all 6 hours on the mat, or spend at least some of those hours doing conditioning.

The interesting thing is that everyone struggles with this. It's a dilemma for the 25 year old professional fighter who has hours a day to train, as well as for the 45 year old professional accountant who likes to train a few times a week but wonders if he should also be pumping some iron.

Everybody struggles with optimizing their training time, it's just that the constraints are different. The pro fighter worries about overtraining and getting injured, and the accountant worries that his family will forget his name if he disappears for yet another weekday evening, but nobody can do as much as they want.

Be very cautious when you read about the training schedule of a professional fighter or competitor, especially if you are looking for ideas on how to structure your training. Keep in mind that:

1. they often lie about how much they do (to intimidate their opponents)
2. there is a major difference between a pre-competition training camp schedule and regular maintenance training. Their maintenance training (when they aren't getting ready for a competition) might be a lot less than they let on.
3. a pro competitor in hard training does nothing but eat, train and sleep, a luxury not available to the vast majority of grapplers
4. they may well be taking steroids or hormones to improve recovery time
   

To get closer to an answer you need to look at how much time do you have to spend on grappling each week. If you can train a lot, then you also need to figure out if you have the ability to recover from all that training. If you grapple more you get better. If you do more conditioning you get better. But if you do too much overall then you get sick or injured (i.e. if you are overtraining).

So let's say that you've figured out that you have a certain number of training hours per week. For some people this number will be low (3 or 4), for serious amateurs with a lot of extra time on their hands this might be 6 sessions (90 minutes long) per week, and for professionals it might be a lot higher (8 to 15 sessions per week). How do you allocate these sessions?

There are no cut and dried answers for this topic, so here are some thoughts and guidelines you might want to consider while planning your weekly routine.

• If your goal is primarily the development of skill and technique, then do more grappling and less conditioning. Mat time is usually the best way to improve performance, especially early in your grappling career.
• If you have dual goals of skill development AND improved fitness then allocate anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of your available training time to conditioning and the rest to grappling.
• Consider that many professional fighters have had great success only doing 2 to 3 pure conditioning sessions per week. They do a lot of additional conditioning, but it comes from sports-specific activities like doing drills, hitting pads, wrestling for takedowns, sparring, etc.
  
• If you're already doing a fair bit of grappling then 3 hard conditioning sessions per week are probably plenty (and you've likely already reaped 80% of the benefits at two hard workouts per week). Also if your grappling sessions are already fairly hard physically (i.e. they have tough warmups or have lots of sparring) then you don't need as many additional conditioning sessions.
• One way to prevent overtraining is to use periodization, in which you vary the quantity and intensity of your training over the course of weeks and months. I have previously discussed this in an article on peaking and tapering for competition.
  
• If you despise any form of conditioning, running or working out, then relax - it's OK to do more grappling and less conditioning. The acquisition of grappling skill is a long term process, and if you don't enjoy the journey then you might never reach your goal.
• For the 'older' grappler I highly recomend at least one weight training session per week. This session can be as short as 30 minutes, if you use a lot of multi-joint movements like squats, pullups, lunges, presses, etc. What constitutes 'old' is, of course, a matter of debate, but I think it's fair to say that one is generally past one's physical prime by age 35 to 40. Sensible and proper weight training slows the loss of muscle mass and injury-proofs your body, both of which will really help your jiu-jitsu or submission grappling.
• The longer you've been physically active the more you can probably heap on your plate conditioning-wise. Your body will get used to recovering faster, and you'll have more experience to know when you're worn out and need to back off the throttle a bit.
• Finally remember that any conditioning is better than no conditioning. If you hate running, hate weightlifting and hate pushups but love Ashtanga Yoga, then do Ashtanga Yoga. It may or may not be the perfect complement for your BJJ classes, but doing something you enjoy is better than finding excuses not to do the hypothetical perfect conditioning session.

Labels: conditioning, training

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I recently added labels to all my previous newsletter tips, and that means that you can now pick a category and read every tip I've ever written on that subject.

The labeling of the 260+ posts in my blog archives is still a work in progress. Also keep in mind that since some posts have more than one label there is some overlap between categories. Nevertheless, I think that this is one more way to get your hands on some highly relevant reading material for your spare time.

Check out some of these categories (posts are arranged chronologically within each page):

• Chokes
• Conditioning
• Injuries
• Training Methods
• The Mental Aspect
• The Guard

Labels: grapplearts

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I recently did a remote interview with Marshall Carpenter from Lockflow.com on the topic of how the internet has changed the way grappling knowledge is transmitted, learned and modified. You can check out the interview at Lockflow, or in the text below.

Open Source Jiu Jitsu, Session 3 by Marshal Carper

Marshall says: In November of last year, I did two articles on the impact the internet has had on the way grappling knowledge is transmitted, learned, and modified. The first article discussed my humble views on the matter, and the second article was an interview with Björn Friedrich, the owner of Fighter Fitness, a championship grade grappler, and the publisher of multiple YouTube videos that have gained a following in the Jiu Jitsu community.

Just recently, I received an email from Stephan Kesting discussing the issue at length. Kesting owns the widely popular GrappleArts.com and has released some of the best rated instructional grappling DVDs on the market today. Though the articles are nearing a year in age, Kesting’s insights into Open Source Jiu Jitsu are relevant and too useful to keep hidden.

LOCKFLOW: On your site, you have a blog offering weekly grappling tips and you often link to YouTube videos and websites run by other grapplers. While your readers obviously learn a great deal from your posts, how much do you learn from producing these articles and videos?

STEPHAN KESTING: I learn a great deal from writing my articles and producing my DVDs and Youtube videos. Creating these things helps me to organize my knowledge in an organized way, so that it can be efficiently taught and easily learned. Like most skilled grapplers I intuitively do a lot of things without thinking about them. I can DO them but you can't TEACH these things unless you've thought about them. Writing an article or producing a video forces me to take a specific topic and really, really think about it, and I always learn a lot in the process.

LOCKFLOW: How has the internet impacted the way you learn and practice grappling, if at all?

STEPHAN KESTING: The internet has helped my own learning curve in several ways. Occasionally I see a technique, or a counter to a technique that I haven't seen before, and I then take it to the mats and try it out on a non-resisting partner. Usually it turns out that these techniques are either junk or not suited to my body, but a few of them have been keepers and I end up integrating them into my game.

Stuff on the web also helped give me a 'big picture', especially when I was starting out. It helped me place techniques I was learning, and training methods I was experimenting with, into a context. Having a context allows you to figure out what you know, and to identify what you don't yet know.

A lot of my articles and videos are produced with this whole idea of context in mind. I recently had a three part article on the different kinds of guards published in Ultimate Grappling magazine, and now they're online on my site. I wrote these articles to provide a context for learning about the guard position, and if I'd known what was in those articles when I started to grapple I think it might have accelerated my learning curve by about 6 months.

• Closed Guard
• Open Guard
• Half Guard
  

LOCKFLOW: Can you think of a specific example of how your grappling knowledge was impacted by the internet?

STEPHAN KESTING: Sure! I re-learned one of my favorite triangle choke counters from the internet, the first escape on this page.

I'd been shown this triangle escape years before, but then had let it completely slip from my arsenal. When I saw that technique series it reminded me about the escape, and I've since re-incorporated it into my game.

LOCKFLOW: How do you feel the internet has impacted grappling knowledge in general?

STEPHAN KESTING: The internet, combined with the availability of instructional DVDs, has hugely accelerated the learning curve in grappling. The skill levels of both competitive and recreational grapplers is a lot higher than it was 10 years ago. If someone invents a new guard pass and uses it to win the Mundials black belt division then everyone can see it on Youtube the next day and reverse-engineer that same guard pass for themselves. Things don't stay secret for nearly as long, and that drives the evolutionary arms race at speeds that were unthinkable in the past.

LOCKFLOW: Do you see this impact as negative or positive? Why?

STEPHAN KESTING: Almost entirely positive. Some people complain that the proliferation of knowledge draws students away from working on the basics. There is a grain of truth to that argument, however most students eventually figure that out for themselves. In the final analysis, for 99% of grapplers this sport is all about fitness and enjoyment, not necessarily winning their UFC debut or medalling at the World Championships, so they should do whatever it is they enjoy. If that's working on their upside-down guard, or the X guard, or whatever, before they've mastered the basic armbar from closed guard, then who am I to say that that's wrong?

LOCKFLOW: What advice would you offer to students using the internet to supplement their grappling knowledge?

STEPHAN KESTING: Just remember that if you see something on the internet it's only the first step in a 4 step process that some people call TRIG. Here is something I posted on my blog a while back:

• T = Technique. First you have to learn the technique. Where do your arms and legs go? How do you develop power? What do you do if your opponent counters your technique.
• R = Repetition. Now you have to go and repeat the technique until your body understands it as well as your mind does. This can involve doing hundreds of repetitions, so lets get to work.
• I = Isolation. Now you use the technique in isolation. Maybe you are working on escapes to a particular position, so start every sparring session pinned in that position. Another example might be deciding only to use one submission, say the triangle choke, when sparring people of lesser skill than you.
• G = Grappling. Now you can incorporate that technique into your grappling arsenal!
  

LOCKFLOW: Is there anything else you would like to add?

STEPHAN KESTING: Yes, I'd like to invite people to come and check my site at www.grapplearts.com. It's getting to be a huge site, with a ton of articles, techniques, videos, blog posts and photos that are exactly the kind of internet references we've been talking about in this interview. When I started Grapplearts in 2002 as a venue to promote my first video I had no idea that it would ever grow to be this large a site and so well reviewed by the grappling community.

Stephan's note: Thanks to Marshall Cooper for initiating this conversation!

Labels: Grapplearts DVDs, the mental aspect, training

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