Some guard passing and a wrist lock
This is a match during the Ohio Grappler’s Quest in 2012. I had a match against a tough Black belt. My passing felt good that day and I eventually secured a wrist lock at the end.
Need your help with a face mask!
So I’m going to begin rolling next week and I am looking at different face mask options so I don’t re-injure my nose. If you have a moment, please take a look at the picture below and tell me if you think I should purchase A. B. or C. I’ve read some reviews and just want to see if anyone has any input or has possibly ever used one before.
Thanks!
Wrestling switch as BJJ guard attack
Here is a video demonstrating how to use aspects of a wrestling switch with the kimura / kimura sweep position from full guard.
21 things about me you probably didn’t know
21 things about me you probably didn’t know (It started off as 10, oops)
- I’m a self-proclaimed coffee snob and refuse to drink crappy coffee.
- I’m a light weight when it comes to alcohol. Seriously, a few beers will make me all sorts of silly.
- I love Ludovico Einaudi’s music, it’s fantastic.
- Fantastic has been called my “F Word” by others because I use it when I think something is really awesome, or as I would say, fantastic.
- I got the news that my mother had passed away about 60 seconds after receiving my black belt.
- I love maps, especially old maps that show the world carved up in an unfamiliar pattern from years ago. A 19th century map hangs in my living room.
- I’m a history nerd and love chatting with people about it. That’s why my “lucky” students get surprise 5 minute history lectures after class.
- I did a cycle of steroids once when I was 21.
- I used to be a really chubby kid. I was 5’9 and 235lbs in 10th grade.
- I was bitten by a brown recluse and have a scar on my left leg from where the surgeon had to remove tissue.
- I tore my lateral meniscus in my right knee a month after the spider bite.
- I didn’t own a t.v. from 2004-2013. I bought the t.v. primarily for functions in the gym. I hate television. Its brain numbing.
- I grew up very poor (financially) as a kid.
- I don’t like wearing athletic shoes or clothes when I’m not working out.
- As a 9 year old kid I named my German shepherd Maximus after reading about the roman consul / dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus. We called him Max for short.
- I love brunch and breakfast food. In fact I go out to brunch almost every Sunday. Louisville has a pretty good food scene so I’m lucky. I’m still a fat kid at heart.
- After BJJ and MMA my favorite sport is probably Strongman.
- I love Maine and think it’s a beautiful place to visit.
- I listen to audiobooks and podcasts when I drive. All either history or self-help nonfiction type stuff.
- I got my nickname from a friend who was mad at me when I spazzed on him during a roll as a white belt. He called me “big dumb wookie” which led to “Chewbacca” and then eventually “Chewy.” Until things like Facebook most people didn’t know my real name. Oh and once when I was straight out of college I introduced myself as Chewy at a job interview. I was so used to introducing myself as that from the gym.
- I press my nose in with my index finger when I am thinking.
What gets you motivated?
Whats something you use to motivate you for training?
For me it’s videos. Right now with the nose still healing, its terrible. I can’t help but watch jiujitsu videos when I have some free time which gets me psyched up and it sucks because I can’t roll to get rid of some of that energy. Oh well my lifts are coming up which is good and I’ve been getting lots of reps drilling.
Here are two of my favorite videos to watch when I need a little motivation.
Andre Galvao Budovideos clip
I remember seeing this back in 2009 when I was watching DVDs I ordered from their website. This video always brings be back to a time where I had cleaned out all the debt I had left, and began training full time. It always gets me pumped up to train even though its not super action packed or anything. Just reminds me of how far I’ve come since then.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCGxMZoov8c&w=560&h=315]
Rodolfo vs Buchecha
This is just such a fantastic match. Even though my personal favorite (Rodolfo) loses. The match is incredible and always leaves me wanting to push it during some of the harder training sessions.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7DLFqLCFqg&w=560&h=315]
Biggest Belt Promotion Ever!
Have you ever had someone close watch you go through a gauntlet, if so what was their reaction? Most of my students say their wives, husbands or whatever say, “WTF is wrong with you guys!”
Biggest Belt Promotion Ever!Well, at least for my gym.
Last Thursday I had the honor of promoting 21 people. 11 Blues and 10 Purples. I have always been very stingy with belts. I refuse to water down the sport and just give belts away. I think that by being slow to promote, it allows people to focus on what really matters. The community, getting better, competing and learning more about your self through hard work. But I messed up. I didn’t have a clear cut idea of what each belt should look like in my gym. You know. . . when you get your black belt its not like someone hands you an instruction manual on how to run a program. Instructing and running a program is unique to each gym and instructor so I had to develop my own views and ideas that matched up with that of my academy. When I finally finished ironing out what I expected out of each belt, I realized that during the last 2 years while the gym has experienced some incredible growth, many of my students were beyond where there current rank would suggest. Many of them had been at their current belts for 2 years and some up to 4! Yikes. So I had to reward their hard work, and to make it more fun I decided to do it all together. It made for a really fun day. My hats off to my students as I have not once heard a complaint or ever been asked for a belt promotion. Not once. So I am glad my students understand the whole point of this pajama wrestling stuff. Its not about the dyed cotton around our waist.
Anyways, I just wanted to give people an idea of why there were so many promotions and to share the video of some killer gauntlets. My morning class had around 20 people and my evening class had about 55. Made for some crazy belt whippings.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPVGY0AKcnc&w=560&h=315]
Whats really important in BJJ
There are so many things that contribute to make BJJ such an awesome martial art / sport. But over the years the thing that stands out for me the most is the community; the people. The people I’ve met over the last 10 years have literally changed my life. I’ve learned so much from them, both in regards to my BJJ and life. I now have friends all over the U.S and in plenty of places around the world.
This weekend was another reminder of that. I went to Nashville to take part in my friend Shawn Hammonds’ association meetup and Pans team training. There were over 100 people on the mat from all over the U.S going after it and the atmosphere was incredible. After the training my students and I had dinner with some friends from Tucson, and Beau (a brand new black belt) said it perfectly. He said something to the effect of, “It’s amazing how close you can feel to someone after a 3 hour training session. You’ll see someone everyday and you don’t feel that close to them, but then you see this guy you met at a gym somewhere and trained with for a few hours. When you see that guy you get excited like its one of your best friends.” I agree with that completely. When I see a training partner from another gym I get excited and in almost every instance I give them a hug instead of a hand gesture. I would say handshake but not that many people handshake anymore, its weird. That fellowship that exists in BJJ is what I believe makes it so special. We live in a world with so much technology separating us from any real human contact. It’s nice to have an outlet where we can let our social barriers down and be around like minded people.
Because I couldn’t train this weekend (my nose) I ended recording video of everyone else. I did a pretty poor job of it, but I pieced together what I could and made a short video of the training. If you ever had a chance to stop by Shawn’s gym you really should. He’s a fantastic coach and just an all around good dude. Oh and in the meantime be sure to take advantage of the community in BJJ around you. Go out to dinner with your teammates after training, go make trips to friend’s gyms, go compete. . . you get the idea. You only have so long to do this stuff. I know that sometimes going out of town to train or compete can be a hassle, but you’ll never regret it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAnYQbW8JA4&w=560&h=315]
Toe Hold to Guard Pass
So I have started doing leg lock classes with my students every Friday. I figured I’d get an early start and share this one. Enjoy.
Double Under Guard Pass
An old school pass with a small adjustment from the traditional way it was shown to me.
http://youtu.be/OK8VEPdxzMM</p>
Some old BJJ videos from class at my gym
Today when I was scrolling through some of my videos and found these two little gems. I made these videos almost 2 years ago when I was playing around with my first IPhone. Yeah. . . I was a late comer to the smart phone age. The coolest part for me about watching these videos are seeing the same faces. The gym has grown so much since this time, but almost all of the guys in the videos are still training to this day! That makes me incredibly happy. The Jiu-jitsu Army continues to grow. 😀
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lOH9rkqkd8&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLENoox3HMo&w=560&h=315]