A new year is upon us, and in gyms around the world a new crowd of well-intentioned members are getting memberships and trying to make a change in their life. Jiu-jitsu schools across the country will see an influx...
Posted on January 03, 2017
Marshal Carper
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The jiu-jitsu world is rich with instructionals, and in the early years, swapping bootleg VHS tapes and tattered magazine techniques—many of which were in Japanese or Portuguese—was the only way schools in remote l...
Posted on December 13, 2016
Marshal Carper
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When jiu-jitsu tourism was sort of my job, I was in Hawaii training at the BJ Penn Academy. I was still new to the sport, working on getting a blue belt, which meant that I was simply too fresh to understand some of ...
Posted on November 29, 2016
Marshal Carper
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Hitting a training rut is one of the inevitabilities of jiu-jitsu. If you stay on the mat long enough, you will eventually hit a plateau, and the worst of plateaus will make you feel like you are moving backward. You...
Posted on November 08, 2016
Marshal Carper
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Raf Esparza, one of the hosts of Verbal Tap Cast, reached out to me the other day with a question. He said, “You’re a BJJ Historian (of sorts).” That sort of half-compliment is on par with our usual banter, but I dig...
Posted on October 25, 2016
Marshal Carper
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I’m not sure how to say this, but I’m currently addicted to watching Super Metroid speedruns, which is a niche video game community where players try to beat a game as quickly as possible. Some speedruns rely heavil...
Posted on October 11, 2016
Marshal Carper
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In jiu-jitsu, we frequently—if not relentlessly—talk about the importance of having knowledgeable and engaged instructors and the power of having committed and talented training partners. An instructor helps you to u...
Posted on September 27, 2016
Marshal Carper
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The poor retention rate of jiu-jitsu is notorious at this point. We talk about it so much that we sometimes seem proud of the fact that the majority of white belts won’t make it to blue, and that the majority of thos...
Posted on September 13, 2016
Marshal Carper
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Training was going great. You finally crushed the plateau in your progress and the three or four techniques that you had been working on were finally coming together. You felt sharp and strong. You were anticipating ...
Posted on August 29, 2016
Marshal Carper
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Some of my most treasured life experiences have been a result of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu travel. Having a gi in your bag gives your adventure a certain sort quest-like aesthetic. You’re not just on a vacation. You are on...
Posted on August 16, 2016
Marshal Carper
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Every gym I’ve ever been to has an enforcer. This isn’t an official title. It’s a role that goes mostly unspoken and when it is talked about, it’s communicated in code between instructor and student—half-statements t...
Posted on August 02, 2016
Marshal Carper
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A secret part of me gets giddy when a new student joins my class because I get to re-tell one of my favorite jokes. When we are working on a submission or some sort of positional control—usually involving a cross fac...
Posted on July 19, 2016
Marshal Carper
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