Tuesday 26 July 2011

Exercise of the month

One leg squat progression



Benefits? Both legs have to do the same amount of work independently, as you know one side is usually the dominant side which can create an imbalance as the stronger sides compensates for the weaker side. Especially if you are hurt or have an injury.

Not with this, everything has to work the same.

Guaranteed to burn the thighs and work your balance.

What Jiu Jitsu application does this have? Stay tuned.

Topic For July

How do you get the fight to ground if your wrestling and Judo are not that great? How do you get through no man's land to actually get the initial grip?

Come find out...........

Robson Moura Seminar at Factory BJJ/Combat Base Stockport

Champ Camp, the people responsible for bringing over some awesome Jiu Jitsu players, carried on that tradition by bringing Robson Moura to the UK for the first time. For those of you that don't know who he is, shame on you, google him then check out Rolling Reflections.

My friend, Leo Kirby, had trained numerous times with Robson and highly recommended him so to say I was excited about this opportunity was an understatement.

I had been told that as well as being an outstanding competitor he was also a very good teacher which turned out to be right on the money as he skilfully guided us through a nice section on guard making everything look effortless.

Robson will be back in September to enter the ADCC so if he gives any more seminars you really should try to get there.

How to use open mat

The numbers in the open mat sessions have dipped a little and I think it may be partly due to people not using the sessions as productively as they could. When there is no instruction and you are pretty much left to your own devices a lot of people just fall into sparring.

This is the perfect time just to grab someone and try that new technique you have been thinking about or maybe try to perfect a part of your game that has been lacking a little.

If you combine the open mat sessions with the ideas of drilling it can make for some very productive training.

Got my mojo back!

After feeling completely burned out and over-trained my holiday was something I was very much looking forward to.

My coach had advised me to maybe stop sparring for a week or so, just teach class but don't join in. Do something else athletic instead but no Jiu Jitsu.

Followed his advice then instead of sparring I just drilled scenarios for a couple of weeks and started to feel a little better but not much.

Whilst we were away we went over to stay with the Haueters for a couple of days so jumped into the open mat session knowing that with a couple of hours of hard sparring, it could be make or break. If I enjoyed the session then I would be ok but what if I didn't enjoy it any more?

As it turns out there was nothing to worry about, got some great training with the Garage guys, some quality black belts and some real tough brown belts so things are good again.

The moral of the story? Don't be afraid to take a little time off to step back and smell the roses.

Drilling Versus Sparring

People ask how much time should be spent drilling and how much time should be spent sparring?

There is no definitive answer as the answer depends on the person and their experience but as a rule, the lower belts should always spend more time drilling than sparring. Drilling allows you to practice from positions that you may not be able to get into yet.

For example, if you are being taught mount in class but when it comes to sparring you may not be able to ever get to mount to integrate the techniques you were taught in class therefore drilling is irreplaceable as the drill should start with you in mount.

But as a higher grade don't think that you should be drilling any less as the above applies to you too. If you are one of the better guys in class you may rarely find yourself in a bad position so by drilling you put yourself in that bad position to start with.

The final word on drilling, the drills that you do should start with a compliant partner and then as soon as practicable the drills should go "live". You can practice cross choke from mount against a compliant partner for 10 years yet when you try to do it for real, when the guy underneath is really trying to escape, it's a different matter altogether. You have to be able to apply the technique under the very real pressure than you would get in sparring.

At this point drilling becomes 'isolated sparring' anyway.

Combat Base UK Royal Rumble

Saturday 30th July sees a real clash of the titans at Factory BJJ in Stockport as they hold their next Royal Rumble to help raise money for charity.

As things stand every belt group is represented from the white belts to the black belts and back to defend his belt is James Nardone, the current reigning champion. James has grown real attached to his belt and is not going to let it go cheaply.

There are already rumours of the white belts ganging up to take out the big dogs to start with, could there be a surprise winner this time?

Is the belt going to stay put or will one of the Yorkshire raiders bring it back to the land of the white rose?

It wouldn't surprise me if one of the hippest Hollywood producers jumped on the rights to turn this classic struggle into this years summer blockbuster. Think Braveheart meets The Eagle with a touch of Napoleon Dynamite thrown in.

All I know is that it is going to be hell!!

Mission Submission II

Mission Submission makes a return to sunny Selby on Sunday 31st July and features what promises to be an awesome superfight, James Saville versus Paul McVeigh. This match in itself is not to be missed.

So if you want to compete in a tournament where it doesn't matter which club you are from, where the referees actually watch the match they are refereeing and know what they are doing then this is for you.

Sunday 3 July 2011

Quality Not Quantity

http://bjjhacks.com/2011/06/youre-wasting-your-time-how-to-avoid-sucking-at-bjj/

Check out the article above to illustrate the importance of purposeful practice that we have spoke so much about recently.

Thinking Out Aloud

"What about a blog updated on a weekly basis covering the basic idea and content of the lessons with maybe a few videos thrown in.

Explain why we are doing things, how the warm up exercises translate to actual jiu jitsu movement, what are the key points of the drills we are doing.

Share anything else I find on the web that relates too.

Could also cover seminars and trips to other gyms.

Would maybe help people remember stuff.

Would take a bit of work but maybe I could do it"