3 BJJ Books For Anyone (Beginners or Advanced)

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I did a post previously on my favorite BJJ books (you can check out the previous post HERE). Then recently I made a short video about 3 BJJ books thats I think would be great for beginners, and really any level. It’s similar to the post but I talk about a few extras.

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu books are a great supplement to training. They give you a chance to stay mentally engaged with training even when you’re not there. Which may or may not be a good thing depending on how your significant other takes to all this training stuff.  I’ll also say that I’ve personally used them a lot over the years.

I did this video because many of my newer students ask which BJJ books I like and which ones I would recommend to them. There are so many good BJJ books out there and I certainly don’t have them all. But the 3 I listed in this video I think contain evergreen content. Meaning that they are always solid information. They’re also three that I used a ton over the years. I have many other books that I didn’t list.

Along with telling you about the books in the video, I also focus on what I got from the BJJ books personally. I think this is more important than just reviewing the books themselves. Knowledge and information is great. But its the implementation of that knowledge which is important. So in the video I try to share a few details about how I used the information in these books.

If you have used one of the BJJ books in the video and got something out of it. Leave a comment and tell me your thoughts on it. I like hearing how other people interpreted the same information as I did.

If you have used some other BJJ books that you got a lot out of, leave a comment and tell me which ones worked the best for you.

Hope the video helps!
-Chewy

 

Also, check out my Instagram for daily drills and techniques.

http://www.instagram.com/chewjitsu

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BJJ Games : Tag Team Rolling

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BJJ Games : Tag Team Rolling

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Do you play BJJ games at your gym? If not, maybe you think it’s kind of a pointless thing. While others who do might tell you about how fun they can be.

As a coach I’m always trying to come up with new drills, moments, situational rolling exercises, technique combinations, etc to keep the training new and exciting. I know that from personal experience. The worse thing that can happen with your training is if you become complacent and things take on too much a familiar routine and pattern. Shaking things up helps keep people sharp and helps keep my students, and myself, growing and improving.

 

So where do BJJ games come into the mix?

Well over the years I’ve come up with over a hundred different BJJ related games. Most of them I use with my kids on a  regular basis to trick the youngsters into learning good habits and technique. I bring them over from time to time with the adults too.

The adults can sometimes be a tough sell. It’s interesting though. I’ll watch a guy who is a big shot at some corporate business come into the gym during a game day. Sometime they’ll have a face that just screams, “I’m not doing this shit.”  Then, a few minutes later, I’ll see them even more engaged than everyone else. It’s fun.

BJJ games can also be a fun way to build the team atmosphere. I’ve been a head coach since 2009 and I’ll tell you that the more different things you do together as a team, the better. Whether it’s BJJ games, getting dinner after training, watching the fights together, etc. The more things you do together as a group the better the atmosphere in the gym will be.

Also, at their core, BJJ games should contain a transferrable value to regular training. In the case of the Tag Team rolling, it’s defense, body control and mat awareness. Defense because you have to defend against multiple people and different angles. Mat awareness and body control because you have to ensure that you are keeping the person where you want them. If they are able to position their body where they can tag, you’ll lose your opportunity to win.

Setup For Tag Team Rolling

  • You make lines on the mat. If you have zebra style mats then it should be a problem. If you have the big massed vinyl then you can use tape, jump rope, or use your imagination.
  • Divide people into teams. We typically keep teams in groups of 2-4. When you have more than that, people end up not getting any time on the mat.

Rules Of The Game (The Way We Do It)

  • To tag a partner you must make hand to hand contact.
  • Knees must remain behind the team line in order to tag.
  • After the tag, there will be a 5 second period that the opponent can be double teamed. Afterwards the person who was originally in must return behind the team line.
  • Scoring can be done a few different ways. You can give 1 point per submission and allow the person to stay in the game after a reset, or go till team elimination. In elimination mode you submit and then the person is out. Most often we will do a 10 minute period with 5 minute overtimes if no one is submitted.
  • We take out leg locks and certain twisting locks because people get caught up sometimes. But again, use your discretion.

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That’s about the jest of it.At my gym we typically play these games on days right before the holidays or during times where there are no competitions coming up. Sometimes we do it just to take a day off from hard gritty training.

So give BJJ games like the tag team rolling a try. It’s fun and has a value to training. You’ll be exhausted from defending and have a great time with your team.

 

-Chewy

4 Tips To Deal With BJJ Tournament Anxiety (video)

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4 Tips To Deal With BJJ Tournament Anxiety (video)

 

I had a post a while ago talking about how to deal with BJJ tournament anxiety. I know it’s something that many people find difficult dealing with (here’s the original blog ).

BJJ tournament anxiety is something everyone deals with in their own way. Even the best competitors get nervous before matches. As I’ll talk about in the video. The nerves are a necessary evil. They give you that edge to your performance and make you rise to a new level on the mats during the competition. It’s all about how we channel these feelings and use them to our advantage. In the video I’ll give you 4 tips. Accepting the nerves, focusing on yourself, using music to calm yourself and then bring your energy up when needed and using mock tournaments or new training partners to spur nervousness.  These are just 4 ways that I’ve been able to deal with it both in BJJ competitions and MMA. Ultimately you’ll have to find the ways that work best for you personally.

I hope the tips help you in any of your future competitions. Also, consult your instructor to see some of the tips they have on dealing with the nerves before a BJJ tournament.

 

-Chewy

 

 

Training BJJ After a Meniscus Tear

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Training BJJ After a Meniscus Tear

What’s it like training BJJ after a meniscus injury? How long after surgery before I’m back on the mats? Will my knee ever be 100% again? These are some the commonly asked questions that I get from my blog and some of my videos. If you’re reading this I’m sure you’re probably experiencing some sort of issue with your knee.

I’ve had the unfortunate luck to have experienced two tears. A lateral tear when I was 19 on my right knee, and a medial tear on the left last year. Both knees had arthroscopic surgery performed on them to shave down the meniscus. Rather than a repair.

I’m not a doctor and I can’t diagnose your issue. But I know that getting injured, being forced off the mats and getting ready for surgery is frustrating. So I’m going to share my experiences to give you an idea of what to expect in case you are currently experiencing a tear yourself.

The Symptoms I experienced

  • A general uneasiness with my knee
  • Knee locking out
  • Inability to fully straighten my leg
  • Inability to fully bend my leg
  • Pain ranging from a dull ache to sharp shooting pains when it locked up

*It’s worth noting that I didn’t have much swelling in either case. 

 

The Surgery 

The surgery itself was pretty easy pretty easy. In fact my most recent surgery was at 7:30 AM and I was home eating lunch by 12:30 PM. After both surgeries I was up moving around within the first day albeit with some discomfort. In both cases though I was up on my feet walking within the first week.

 

Training after surgery

When it came to getting back to BJJ after surgery. I competed exactly 6 weeks after the first surgery. Keep in mind I was a 19 year old kid and didn’t make the best decisions. I wouldn’t advise this.

After the surgery last year I was on the mat a week later. I wasn’t rolling. I was teaching people and helping run classes. I just like being in the gym with everyone. I tried to be a bit smarter this time and waited 4 weeks and then started to drill techniques lightly with absolutely no rolling.

Getting Back to Normal

When getting back to training like normal it’s best to side with caution. It was about 8 weeks for me till I felt like normal, and even then I still had some residual tenderness in my knee. For some of you junkies out there I know this time spent healing will be frustrating and you most likely feel it’s time wasted or time lost, but it’s important that you allow your body the necessary time to recover so that you don’t run into the same injury again. Even once I got back to normal training, if I felt something in my knee, regardless of how small, I would stop training that day. So be sure to listen to your body and put special attention towards your physical therapy work.

 

Your body is out of commission but not your mind is not. You’re never quite as hungry to train as when you physically can’t train. So harness that energy anyway you can by preparing for when you get back.

Things you can do while you’re waiting for your leg to heal.

  • Plot out BJJ tournaments for when you make your return
  • Watch videos to try and get ideas for new moves to work on for when you come back
  • Make a list of techniques you want to drill once you get back
  • PT work to make sure your knee is ready to go quicker and to prevent further injury
  • Address others issue you might have in your body
  • Light exercise for the upper body
  • In general become a student of BJJ if you aren’t already by reading, watching and taking in as much BJJ related info as possible while you physically take a back seat.

In my case, last year I used the time spent resting to formulate a game plan for me and my students once I got back. I also consumed countless hours of competition video trying to find some new techniques to play with. Because I had a clear game plan of what I wanted to drill and work on, this helped me hit the ground running with a direction once I was back.

 

Will your knees ever be the same?

The good news is that your knee will probably be fine. There are instances where the surgery has issues afterwards but in most cases everything heals well. The bad news however is that your knees will never quite be the same. They’ll feel great and you’ll most likely be able to resume the same level of activity as before. For me, unless there is some sort of other injury bothering them, I rarely notice my knees. For lack of a better way of explaining it, you’ll just “feel” the knee a little bit more than you use to. But whether by surgery or just age alone, this is going to happen.

I don’t want to paint too gruesome of a picture though. I’ve been able to tear it up on the mats and train at a very high-level with a scoped knee for over 10 years with almost no issues. So if you are going to have the surgery I’m optimistic that you’ll be fine.

PT is Important

I can’t stress enough how important your physical therapy work is and just taking care of your body afterwards. My recovery was much better the second time around and I believe it was because I was very serious about my PT work, whereas when I was 19, I didn’t care.

 

I also made a couple of videos talking about my experiences

 

 

 

So, yea, I think that’s about it. Good luck to you if you’re experiencing a knee related injury. I hope this helps and if you have any questions in particular that I did not help answer, feel free to contact me.

Chewy

IBJJF Bans Jumping Guard for White Belts

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Recently the IBJJF banned white belts from jumping guard in competition. I started competing in 2003 and I prefer less rules. I think less rules make it the game more fun and force people to stay current with all techniques. Not just those that will help them win a tournament.

But I understand what the IBJJF is doing. They’re following the sport of Judo in many ways. As the sport grows they are trying to increase safety for the individuals. With that in mind, this isn’t the most terrible rule they’ve come up with. Jumping guard isn’t the smartest idea for several reasons, regardless of belt, which I talk about in the video. Now if the IBJJF would start tackling the stalling issues, I’d be happy.

Tips For Recovering In BJJ!

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Here is a video of me showing a few pieces of equipment I use to help fight off my sore body after hard training sessions. Recovering in BJJ is important to keep training hard and making progress.