BJJ Black Belt using EFO techniques on his students
What happens when you put EFO techniques into the hands of a BJJ Black Belt? Watch and see.
Podcast interview with Atos Black Belt Tim Sledd
Podcast interview with Atos Black Belt Tim Sledd
A little interview I did with Tim Sledd. Tim is a solid teacher (i’ve learned plenty from him), was my first purple belt match, and was a blast to talk with. Well I guess I drilled him with questions more than casual talking. He talks about a couple of the personal struggles in particular that hes dealt with in BJJ, that I’ve also dealt with. It was cool to hear another BJJ lifer’s take on dealing with things like ,affiliation changes, and figuring out question, “why do I keep training?’
Its worth a listen if you have some time.
A cool moment in my BJJ career
Its weird to call it a career, but I guess at 10+ years and performing it as a full time gig makes it a career. Above is a photo taken from earlier this year and was one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had as a teacher. This was a night when we were doing a promotion and we assembled a solid group of guys together for it. The total count that night was 55 which is not the largest group I’ve ever had on the mat but it is in the top 10. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been in this situation, but the energy in a group like this is incredible.
I guess the reason I enjoy the photo so much is that its a reminder that I don’t have to be a sleazy marketer, world champion, instructor who gives out belts too quickly or whatever I think I “need” to be, in order to be successful. Instead, I just need to be myself and remain a dedicated friend, instructor and training partner. Ready to jump on the mats and mix it up with my students, ready to do whatever is required in order to help them achieve their goals.
Just for the record, my students are awesome!
10 years in BJJ and 10 lessons I’ve learned (Part 6)
(my typical poop face after winning)
“My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.” – Michael Jordan
“You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?” – Robert Louis Stevenson
“Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points.” – Knute Rockne
Drill your weak points and drill both sides- We all know how to drill to some degree. Drilling is a fundamental necessity to training, and it’s where we develop the movement and muscle memory required to execute a technique while rolling. Everyone that trains BJJ, drills in some manner from day one. But I ask you these questions?
1st, Do you focus much of your attention on your weaknesses, or do you allow yourself to stick with the techniques and positions you’re comfortable with?
Here is the 2nd question. Do you drill your techniques on both sides?
Often, the answer to both questions is no. I know I didn’t for a long time.
Before I share two personal experiences of my own, I am going to nerd out on you for a second so I apologize. I’m a huge history geek and I always draw mental parallels from what I see in history books to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. I know that sounds weird so let me explain one idea in particular. When I watch two BJJ players engage in a match it’s like watching two armies engage in pitched battle. That’s the kind of encounter where the opposing armies’ line up on two sides of an agreed upon location and the conflict takes on the appearance of a sort of human chess game. Each army has a line made up of a variety of troops which are trained and directed to perform differing tasks. This is similar to a chessboard with its pieces, which have varying movement abilities that accomplish different objectives on the board. For instance, during Napoleon’s time, his artillery would be used to blast an opening in a weak point of the enemy’s line and then cavalry would be rushed through to exploit the opening with their speed before the opposing side could reassemble to close the gap. This could often lead to a rout where soldiers flee in fear, casualties begin to mount up and any resemblance of order on the line is lost. Effectively awarding the victory or in our chess meets history analogy, the checkmate.
Enough with the nerding out! Where am I going with this?
Failing to drill your weaknesses or neglecting your dummy side, is, in my eyes like assembling an army for battle with glaring weaknesses in the line, waiting to be exploited by the other side. You’re chess board is set and you’re missing pieces.
What if you’re like I was as a blue and young purple belt? I was a sucker for the triangle and I was not putting in the necessary hard work to fix the issue.
OR
What if you’re a brown belt like the one in the story below and have a phenomenal side accompanied with a terrible one, and your opponent engages you on your weak side?
Learn from the mistakes below and be sure to drill and focus on the parts of your game that are weak even if it’s not fun. Also, be sure not to neglect the side that doesn’t come naturally. . . you know. . . the dummy side.
Ignore the problem and it goes away, right?
Obviously I knew better, but for a while I was a real bonehead in relation to my BJJ. If you read the blog regularly you’ve probably read about my problematic relationship with triangle chokes during the days of my blue belt and early purple belt. I’ve always been a very “head-forward” style of passer, even during my time as a white belt. As the skills of my opponents progressed, my knack for getting caught in a triangle choke presented itself as a glaring problem in my game. In tournaments and in the gym I could pass most guards, but if you put a lanky, bendy, flexible bottom player in front of me I was probably going to get triangle choked. The real problem wasn’t so much that I was getting caught, but my lack of confronting the problem and doing the necessary drilling to eradicate the flaw. Instead, I was a bonehead as stated earlier, and like a stubborn bonehead, I ignored the issue and went on my way. Sometimes I would compete and not encounter a person with a solid triangle and I would win. Then there were other times where I would draw a tall lanky bottom player and. . . well you know. The triangle was my kryptonite.
Eventually my coach at the time, Colin, noticed the problem and he helped. . . forced me, to correct the issue. There was seriously a month where I was only allowed to drill triangle escape techniques during class. While everyone else was learning some cool new guard sweeps, my head was stuck between my buddy’s legs. Bummer. Even worse, once the rolling portion of class came around Colin made me start inside a locked triangle choke. If I escaped or if I was finished I would have to start back in the triangle. When we first started doing this I had to take frequent breaks because I would get frustrated or I running low on oxygen from being choked repeatedly. By the end of the month my understanding of how the triangle worked and my ability to stay calm and get out of a triangle choke sky rocketed. Subsequently, I have not been triangle choked in a competition since. I’ve been caught a few times thanks to my continuous head forward style. But it’s become more of a calculated risk rather than certain end on the mat, as I’m able to stay calm and take the necessary steps to escape.
Why didn’t I do this earlier? Well, I didn’t really know the escapes I needed at the time, but more importantly is because it wasn’t fun. That month was so helpful and changed my game and my outlook but it was incredibly uncomfortable. I had to choke down lots of pride and accept being choked out by just about everyone on the mat. I had to get out of my comfort zone. Big thanks to my coaches at the time. Colin for forcing me to get out of my comfort zone and start in the triangle and to Kyle for administering the triangle chokes.
“Oh that’s my dumb side”
Often I will watch techniques being drilled over and over again on one side then once the person moves to the other side they stumble a bit and remark, “oh that’s my dumb side”, and we aren’t talking about white belts either. I’m talking about seemingly advanced guys. . . purple, brown and even black belts in some cases. It is true that we will all inevitably have a side that is a little more developed than the other but we shouldn’t allow ourselves to have a side that is worthy of the title “dumb side.”
Brown belt to the right, white belt to the left.
A story that really illustrates the idea I am talking about comes from a few years ago. I was a brown belt at the time and another brown belt stopped in to train while he was visiting family in town. When we rolled I initially attacked with a pass to my left (his right). I remember having such a difficult time passing to that side, so I figured I’d switch it up. I transitioned and switch my attack from his right , to his left, and I passed with ease. We were doing a pass and defend drill so after the successful pass we restarted back to guard. I figured by the smoothness of the pass to the right side that I had worn him down a bit. So after we restarted I opened up my game with an attack to the left and again he stopped my pass attempts dead in their tracks, and just like last time, as soon as I switched my focus to the other side the pass came almost effortlessly.
After he and I were finished, I paired him up with one of my blue belts. I was curious to see if my passing was that good or if the guy really had a blatantly deficient side. Unfortunately for my own ego it was the latter. I watched as each one of my comparably skilled students would get halted by the guard work on his right side and then would switch and pass through the right side with less trouble.
The guy had no injuries at the time, as I asked him after class. He simply had an overly underdeveloped side of his game. So much so that one side felt like I was rolling with a brown belt and the other felt like a white belt. Granted this is not common, and most peoples b-side aren’t quite this deficient, the story gives you an idea of what can happen if we choose to completely ignore a direction in our game.
The take away ( simple but require discipline)
-Drill your techniques on both sides.
– In addition to drilling, do lots of situational rolling from the parts of your game that are the weakest. For example, escape or submit drills. Start in a bad position like bottom of mount and go until either you escape to another position or until they submit you. Restart after a successful escape or submission.
-When you do full rolls, especially against people you’re much better than, force yourself to use the weaker areas of your game. It will give them a chance to play a bit more and you a chance to help develop your weaker areas.
Below is a video I made showing 3 of the techniques and escapes I use personally to deal with triangle chokes. Again, I apologize as I am terrible in front of a camera but I hope the techniques are of some help to you. Click the picture below to watch.
A blast from the blast! (When politics in grappling go wrong)
One of the first BIG grappling tournaments I ever experience was the 2004 Arnold Classic. Big by the standards then, not today’s 3000+ benchmarks. The tournament was ran poorly, I competed at one point past midnight when I was scheduled to be on the mats by 6pm. Then the next morning myself and all the grapplers arrived at the venue around 10am which was the scheduled opening time. Unfortunately, we had to wait. Around noon the guys that ran the tournament came casually walking in to open the venue. 2 hours of being in a crowded hall with stinky grapplers!
But back in the day, the Arnold Classic was the largest BJJ tournament on my side of the Mississippi and the competition was great, so you had to go compete. It was a tournament that was on the level of the Pans (relative to the times) but it was in my backyard instead of California. In addition, you got a chance to watch world level competitors. Some of the best grapplers on the planet were among the ranks of the tournament. Xande, Todd Margolis, Pe Da Pano, Jeff Monson, Edson Diniz and Marcelo Garcia among many others. This was actually one of the first years that Marcelo Garcia was becoming a household name. 2003 was Garcia’s breakout year in the ADCC where he performed amazing in matches like this one against Shaolin. That match was crazy to watch because Shaolin was an establish bad ass in grappling and Garcia was a relative unknown. Many people reading this don’t remember grappling pre-Marcelo Garcia, but that match was a shocker.
Monson Tackles a Ref
Poor Jeff. In the video that I posted below you get to see a bad example of BJJ politics.I can’t help but watch and realize how ridiculous it was. I mean Pe Da Pano was bouncing up and down to plead his case against Jeff. Granted I don’t speak Portuguese, but I can’t help but notice that he isn’t hurt from the neck crank. Why not just grapple again? I suppose others might have varying opinions, but I was there for this match and I was there when Relson explained the rules. Jeff never went outside of the rules that were laid out to us. The video doesn’t explain the overall mood in the air either. The match before Pe Da Pano went up against Jeff, he squeaked by via a controversial decision against a guy name Wade Rome which caught a lot of boos. Then to see him win this way was just irritating and while I don’t think Jeff’s reaction was warranted I could understand his frustration.
Here’s the video. I officially feel old now.
Review of our custom gi done by Da Firma
This is a video review of the custom gi that I had done for my students. Da Firma BJJ Kimono Company is the maker of the gi and I am incredibly pleased with the result. I was able to give my students a high quality gi with three patches for less than the price of the average high end kimono. The customer service was excellent as well! P.S I am terrible in front of the camera, so I apologize. But if you are looking for a top notch custom kimono, Da Firma is worth looking into.
www.dafirmabjj.com
Tackle and Grapple
Today was my first women’s only class and it was great. I have a terrific group of women at Derby City and I wanted to give them a chance to have the mats to themselves. In fact, as men came in early to get a little drilling in. I would yell “penis” and motion them over to the other matted section of our gym. We had joked around before the session about the “Tackle and Grapple” skit done by Key and Peele thought that our interpretation of it made for a great picture.
From a coaching standpoint it was really insightful to watch them roll against each other because they were able to open up and go full speed. From a coaching standpoint this was fantastic. I was able to see what areas of their game lacked and what mistakes they made when they were going against one another at 100% effort.
If you don’t already have a female only mat time at your gym and you have a decent following of women, I would highly recommend starting one.
Interview with Piet Wilhelm
Fellow Renato Tavares black belt, Piet Wilhelm, talks about his personal journey in the martial arts, current BJJ and shares some helpful training advice with me on the podcast. Starting off your training in grassy fields without a black belt to learn from isn’t most people’s ideal condition. But Piet managed to continue on and now runs a successful gym and affiliation, and he still steps out on the mat to compete.
I hope you guys enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed doing this interview.
Interested in getting your child into Brazilian Jiu-jitsu?
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is great for children. It helps them develop effective self-defense techniques, build self-confidence, increase their fitness and provides a great social outlet. But, it is a bit different than many of the other martial art choices available. I’m writing this post for anyone who is interested in enrolling their child into a BJJ program but is unsure about what BJJ is or how it differs from other martial arts. First off, I am a black belt in BJJ and full time Brazilian Jiu-jitsu instructor to both adults and children. I absolutely love teaching kids and I’ve personally seen the positive impact it can have on a child’s life and that fires me up!
There are three main differences I tell parents about when they are planning on attending a BJJ class or when they bring their child in the gym for the first time.
First, there are no punches or kicks. That’s right, no punching and kicking unless it’s to explain how to defend against them. All the techniques in BJJ involve grabbing and what will appear as a form of wrestling. Sometimes it might even look a little weird, but I promise there is a reason for teaching these techniques.
Second, we have this thing called rolling. This is our version of sparring. During what we call a “roll”, students will use the techniques they learn in class and try to apply them against each other in a form of wrestling where both people are resisting. This is so useful for the child because it will help desensitize them to the stress of being grabbed. Rolling also helps the child understand how the moves work against a fully resisting opponent. Why are these things so important? Well if they are attacked by a bully at school for instance, a bully won’t be nice. The bully will grab and strike your child, if able, and if your child tries to fight back the bully will resist. This makes it imperative for your child to understand how to make their techniques work against a person who is fighting back.
Third, in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu the belt system is way different than other martial arts. Most notably the fact that belts take longer to acquire, and children cannot obtain a black belt. We still have belts to provide an incentive for children but we do not have an overly saturated belt system with more belts and colors than you can ever hope to remember. Typically children will be promoted on a mixture of understanding and memorization, their ability to execute the techniques during rolling (most important) and attendance in class. In addition it’s not uncommon to see a child remain at the same belt level for 6 months or more depending on the belt level. In my eyes, this allows the child to develop work ethic and focus on the time spent training with their friends in class, rather than being constantly focused on a new belt to keep their attention. The child will still get a continuous supply of gratification. But instead of coming in the form of a new belt every month, it comes in the form of being able to successfully use new moves in class, being able to stand up to a bully at school or their noticing that their pants fit a little more loose than when they started. I always tell my kids that belts alone are nothing but dyed pieces of cotton that anyone could buy. It’s the hard work they put into earning the belts that makes them something to be valued and respected.
If done right, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu can be an amazing experience for your child. A life changing experience in some cases! In my own childhood, wrestling (which is very similar to BJJ and can be used as self-defense), filled me with an inner self-confidence that allowed me to feel comfortable being my nerdy, bookworm-self in high school. Instead of feeling like I had to fit in and do things that weren’t “me.” If you are interested in getting your child enrolled into BJJ be sure to take advantage of a free class that gyms offer. If they don’t offer a free class, I would personally pass. That free 1st class should be used to test your child’s enthusiasm for the martial art and allow you time to talk with the instructor and see if it’s the right fit for you and your family.
Oh and my last suggestion. If you do enroll your child into Brazilian Jiu-jitsu classes, you should try at least one BJJ class yourself. You may not like it and may not want to continue the training, but it will give you a deep respect for what your kiddo is accomplishing on the mat.
I hope this helps you with your decision on martial arts training for your child. If you have any questions feel free to email me at chewy (at) matwind.com and I would be more than happy to help you with any BJJ related question.
Thanks for reading!
Chewy
Half Guard Sweep against a wrestler with an overhook
This is a half guard sweep that I’ve used and watched my students use both in the gym and in competition. Its a great option when you have an underhook but the opponent has a tight overhook and is forcing you into the mat. I see this a lot with wrestlers who will instinctively overhook in this position.