The "L Word" of BJJ - How I Started Training for Longevity
I am getting close to my 10 year anniversary with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Over the last year, I finally changed my mindset of how I look at my training, and started to think about longevity. I remember being a twenty-year-old white belt, training like a madman, often tapping too late, or barely getting out of submissions I should have tapped to. Older guys in the room would just shake their heads at me and tell me do it while you can. Of course I thought it wouldn’t happen to me. Then I turned 28, and suddenly all those little injuries from hard training and competing suddenly would not go away. It's a completely different game once you turn 30. My knees, specifically...
Redefining Respectful Rolling: It Takes Two to Train
Several years ago, I was warming up at an open mat. I was a black belt at the time, and the person nearest me was a large male blue belt, maybe 220lbs. I asked him if he would like to pair up, and he responded by looking back at me with what could only be described as discomfort and saying, “Uh, sure.” Not sure what he was concerned about, I smiled and cracked a joke to try to put him at ease. We slapped hands, squared off, and started training.Or, I started. My partner did very little, lying mostly still while I climbed around him trying to get a reaction. He was paying attention, keeping his elbows tight and his...
The Best White Belt Wednesday Videos (So Far)
Last year, Nelson, Hillary and I started filming videos to reply to questions on reddit's weekly White Belt Wednesday discussion. Since then, we have filmed 80 videos, and we are set to break 100 in no time. Here are some of the most popular videos in case you missed them: #1 - Passing guard vs a bigger opponent Hillary rarely gets to train with someone her own size, so she has developed the skills to get around the guard of bigger opponents. Here she explains her favorite method for passing guard when at a size disadvantage. #2 - Dealing with wrestlers as a white belt This is a problem most white belts run into when they did not wrestle before starting BJJ. There...
Should We Nerf the Berimbolo Metagame?
We need to talk about the berimbolo metagame, and we can look at how other competitions handle balance and metagame for some ideas of how to introduce more variety of grappling styles into competition.Street fighter II debuted 26 years ago. I have memories from the early 90’sof asking my mom for change so my sister and I could go down the street and play at this little arcade next to the corner store. It only had 4 or 5 machines, but the only one that mattered was Street Fighter. I got many blisters trying to master the hadouken, and this was before strategy guides or widespread internet access for that matter. When you discovered a special move, it was your...
Before You Start Your BJJ Business…
I’m not a giant in the jiu-jitsu industry, but I’ve been writing about and working in the sport for as long as I’ve been training—over 10 years now. I’ve written books with big names. I’ve traveled to cover events, both MMA and jiu-jitsu. I opened and ran a satellite jiu-jitsu gym (and closed it too when it failed). I run Artechoke Media, a jiu-jitsu publishing house, and my business partner Matt Kirtley and I help jiu-jitsu brands with their marketing.I tell you all of this in the hopes that you take my thoughts on starting a jiu-jitsu business more seriously because I’ve heard lines like this too often (and these are as close to direct quotes as my memory will...
Meet the Pandas – The Panda Mastermind – Hillary Witt
In Meet the Pandas, we shed some light to the many awesome people that make up Panda Nation. Previously, we spoke to Steve Pachon, the creator of the iconic Inverted Gear logo. This episode takes a closer look at Hillary Witt—Black belt instructor, competitor, traveller, and mastermind of the Inverted Gear designs and daily operations. Hillary Witt used jiu-jitsu to overcome her anxiety and shyness. As a smaller-sized woman she started training in the art to learn effective self-defense, but she fell in love with the comradery and the challenges of competition. After winning the Worlds at purple belt and picking up a National title in judo, she met her partner-in-crime-and-life, Nelson Puentes. Now she co-owns Inverted Gear and travels...
Confessions of a Jiu-Jitsu Instructor
At the beginning of my jiu-jitsu journey, I thought my instructors were flawless. I had enough difficulty trying to execute technique, and they could not only execute but also teach, down to the finest details. They answered questions I did not even know needed to be asked, and they had a commanding presence I would never have been able to muster. Of course, as time went on, my technique and my ability to explain both improved, and I also became better able to allow my instructors to be the complex, talented, flawed human beings they were.Now that I am a black belt and an instructor, I hope other people do not view me the way I viewed my instructors in...
Wherever You Roll, There You Are
(The following is a guest post by Joe Hannan from Princeton BJJ.) I’m deep into hour two of training, and my back is a lightning storm of stinging pain as my gi sandpapers away another layer of skin. I’ve established a serviceable spider guard. Tension from the fingers-in sleeve grips radiates through the sinewy tissue of my fingers and into the sturdier muscle fibers of my forearms. There is music playing, but it’s sweeping over the mat like a sonic shadow, only vaguely recognizable. I roll my weight to the left, kicking upward and outward, pushing my partner’s left arm into a marionette pose -- just like Val had showed me. I see my opening, and snap the triangle in...
[Video] Solo Drills: Bridging and Sit Outs
Solo Drills in this video:
Bridging - Straight Up
Bridging - Over Alternating Shoulders
Bridging - Turn Over to Knees
Bridging - Twist Under to Knees
Bridge to Shrimp
Sit Outs
Sit Out to Swinging Pivots
"Brazilian Dance" Sit Outs
Box Sit Outs
Be careful with box sit outs if you have bad wrists, elbows, or shoulders. The crab walk position is often aggravating if you do.
The first video in this series is available here: Solo Drills: Horizontal Movements.
My hombre Jason C. Brown has 5 more bridges for you to do in his aptly titled 5 Bridges Every Jiu-Jiteiro Should Do.
The Modern Martial Artist: What Does Bushido Look Like in the 21st Century?
Earning a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a huge accomplishment, the result of many years of dedication and hard work. Some who have earned one feel like the black belt gives them the platform they need to really start learning. Some go on to be role models and serve their teammates, peers, and students. Some have been indicted on and convicted of charges of rape and child abuse, among other crimes. I make this last observation not to be salacious; believe me when I say I wish it were not true. Rather, I offer it as context for questions I have been thinking about regarding our expectations for leaders in the jiu-jitsu community. Black belts in jiu-jitsu can be...