30 Mar 2010

Godzuks! The pits of losing really sucks. This weekend I competed at the BJJ British Open in Birmingham - my first event as a purple belt. I lost in the first round to Enrique, the chap who beat me at the same tournament last year. In fact he did better than last year, he subbed me with a humdinger of a lapel choke about 3 minutes in. I just didn't have my fighting hat - or my thinking cap on that day.

Anyways, I wrote a report about how the day went and it is published here on the Fightworks Podcast.

BJJ British Open 2010

Godzuks! The pits of losing really sucks. This weekend I competed at the BJJ British Open in Birmingham - my first event as a purple belt. I...

26 Mar 2010

Last night I had the privilege to teach some BJJ to my old pals at the NKJJK - a Japanese ju-jitsu club that I trained at for over ten years. The syllabus the club uses is great for self defence - analogous to the Gracie self defence series - but the system only has a small emphasis on the sportive side of grappling. So I hoped my workshop would showcase how ground-fighting can be seen as a multi-faceted thing of beauty.


On Yer Back - my BJJ workshop for trad jitsukas

Last night I had the privilege to teach some BJJ to my old pals at the NKJJK - a Japanese ju-jitsu club that I trained at for over ten year...

23 Mar 2010

The Guild of BJJ Bloggers, or G.O.B.B. is an alliance of BJJ practitioners who love to transcribe their passion into content for their blog.


Our mission statement is simple: "train hard, blog always"
 
If you write a BJJ blog, if you like reading blogs, even if you have no idea what a blog is...join anyway - here on Facebook.
 
Together, lets make the world, a Gobbier place.
 
I Thank You
 
NB: The definition of 'Gobby' as explained by the Urban Dictionary is definitely meant by definition #4 and #5, and certainly not #1,2,3 or 6. Phew!
 
 

Join my bunch of fellow big GOBBs

The Guild of BJJ Bloggers, or G.O.B.B. is an alliance of BJJ practitioners who love to transcribe their passion into content for their blog...

21 Mar 2010




Evil genius scientist in laboratory:  NOW ze secret formula to create ze most awsum jiu-jitsu logo in da whole vide vorld! [snap...pop....bang] Take one jungle animal - give heem many 'roids - put heem inside tight feeting gi and zen vhip heem to get ze maaaad face...voila!!!

But vhich animal to use? So many choices...

Jiu-Jitsu Animals

Evil genius scientist in laboratory:   NOW ze secret formula to create ze most awsum jiu-jitsu logo in da whole vide vorld! [snap...pop.....

20 Mar 2010

This video features multiple world champion and arguably one of the most gifted BJJ exponents of his generation - Leo Vieira, rolling with 76 year-old Renato Paquet who is a red belt. There are not many red belts in the world - to get one I think you need to have devoted your life to BJJ for over 50 years and be ranked a 9th degree black belt. Anyway, watch this and I defy you not to feel a little emotional towards the end.



Thanks to my Portuguese buddy Katia for translating the little speech at the end; Renato says that he will not be "here" on earth when Leo receives his redbelt but the day he does put that belt around his waist he will feel Renato's presence with him!!

Faixa Vermelha

This video features multiple world champion and arguably one of the most gifted BJJ exponents of his generation - Leo Vieira, rolling with ...

18 Mar 2010

Thanks to Matt for tweeting this pie chart of BJJ techniques, below is my breakdown of BJJ activities. Hmmm.

Who Ate All The Pies?

Thanks to Matt for tweeting this pie chart of BJJ techniques, below is my breakdown of BJJ activities. Hmmm.

16 Mar 2010

I couldn't resist posting about this article. Although it is a couple of years old, it resurfaced recently when a couple of guys on the BJJ forums decided to use it to have a pop at BJJ bloggers. The sweet irony of using a blog to spout off against other blogs I am sure was deliberate.
Well, if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?
Right, back to my "whiteboard and substandard training partners" to notch up my next revolutionary training method.

Blog Off!

I couldn't resist posting about this article. Although it is a couple of years old, it resurfaced recently when a couple of guys on the...

12 Mar 2010

Woot! My interview and photo feature is published in the new April issue of Martial Arts Illustrated magazine. I'm really pleased with the way they have laid it out, looks pretty nice I think.


During the photo-shoot, Ana demonstrated a really cool lapel choke using your own gi. It involves a bit of leaping into the air and jiggery pokery with the gi skirt, but MAN! what a technique!!! So I've taken the liberty of presenting it here in its step-by-step form...


Indian lapel choke

Woot! My interview and photo feature is published in the new April issue of Martial Arts Illustrated magazine. I'm really pleased with t...

11 Mar 2010


I had the privilege of interviewing BJJ instructor Eamonn Madden recently and this has now been published in the Fightworks Podcast website, which you can read here.

Eamonn is a brown belt at the BJJ School academies in London. He is also a mental performance coach - someone who uses tools such as hypnosis and neural linguistic programming to help an athlete overcome mental obstacles, such as extreme nervousness before a match or negative self beliefs. It might sound a bit out of the ordinary or 'fringe' but you would be surprised how many top level sports men and women use mental performance coaching to gain an extra edge in their competitive careers. Pro golfers in particular are well known (although not many have chosen to go public) for using sports hypnosis.

Eamonn talked to me about several BJJ athletes and a UFC fighter who he has worked with and, judging by their recent tournament successes, it is obviously working well! His website is http://www.sportmental.co.uk/

Anyway, have a read, if you have a view, post a comment on the Fightworks site or on here. Tomorrow - full details about my fab interview feature with Ana Maria India that is out now in the UK's Martial Arts Illustrated magazine.

The BJJ Hypnotist

I had the privilege of interviewing BJJ instructor Eamonn Madden recently and this has now been published in the Fightworks Podcast website...

9 Mar 2010

The Japanese guard pass? There's no such thing of course. I made it up. But I liked the Paraestra "Attack From Guard Position" instructional book so much that I bought the next book in the series: Paraestra: "Attack From Top Position". In this book, Japanese BJJ expert, Yukinori Sasa - from the Paraestra BJJ gym in Tokyo, shows us his take on several key ways to pass the guard, including ways to pass the Spiral guard that I wrote about before. Would this book offer an assortment of spinning spiralling techniques as the previous volume did?



The Japanese Guard Pass

The Japanese guard pass? There's no such thing of course. I made it up. But I liked the Paraestra "Attack From Guard Position"...

7 Mar 2010

I dyed my white Black Eagle gi to navy blue, I think it looks coooool!!!


In The Navy

I dyed my white Black Eagle gi to navy blue, I think it looks coooool!!!

3 Mar 2010

Each month I'm going to post a fighter or instructor profile - just a little snapshot of people that I meet in my BJJ life. It'll include some stats, an interview and of course photos. To kick us off with the March 2010 entry, I introduce to you 11 year-old Jay Herridge:



Fighter Profile: Jay Herridge

Each month I'm going to post a fighter or instructor profile - just a little snapshot of people that I meet in my BJJ life. It'll in...

 

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