05242013 TRI FITNESS WORKOUT

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I once again got to go visit the original clan in Newton.  We spent a lot of time doing all kinds of things; however, we did do a disproportionate amount of time grappling.  Fine by me, but I always enjoy getting back to my roots of attack and defend drills.
 
That said, all we got video on was the ground work.  So, for the evaluative process, here are the results:

http://youtu.be/Jb6t7COtCmg

http://youtu.be/WjbpbTtw_Zg

http://youtu.be/iW7UdArnGYo

http://youtu.be/u90AY2Txkdo

http://youtu.be/VY3rDWSRp6Y

There you go guys, hope it's useful. 

Stealing and Calling it Research

Recently, a good friend of mine got to attend a Lucas Lepri seminar our east.  Obviously, I was jealous.  Being a good friend, Steve-o was considerate enough pass on some of what he learned in that seminar.  Below are a set of links to the video notes we took last month when we got a chance to get together and take a look at some things. 

Here's what we went over:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtv_oPkqzCQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tf3HYRXds8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F3ME3oD104

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzGzVI_8vHU

A big thanks for the deep half guard tips.  Back in the day this is what we called "steal it and call it research".  At least we give credit to where we steal it from.  Thanks again, Steve-o! 

05182013 Rickson Gracie Seminar

First up, yes, that's me and Rickson Gracie.  Yeah, I was pretty stoked.  Rickson had a seminar nearby over the weekend.  I can tell you having had the opportunity to train with him, that this man is operating on an entirely different plane of jiu jitsu.

I felt like a jiu jitsu bomb went off in my head and I might have to spend the next few years sorting it out.  He taught from the concept of sharing principles rather than just technique and demonstrated those concepts across a wide array of positions.  Absolutely amazing experience that I would do again in a heartbeat. 

Thanks to Master Rickson for taking the time to share so much of his jiu jitsu with us!

FMA Knife Work for Police Control Tactics

So, I routinely carry on conversations with several individuals around the country that I've come to know in regards to police control tactics.  We spend time bantering about tactics, techniques, and training methods and largely preaching to the choir.  Occasionally, one of us finds something of particular interest to the others.

After having the fantastic luck to train with Prof. Harris a few times over the last couple of years, we've come away with some great looks at not only methodologies but specific tactics as well.  I know a few of my friends that check in have similar interest, so in the interest of sharing I'll pass on this little video we made to answer a couple of questions that come up in our little discussion group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG9I3IzsWl8

Hopefully, not only do the  movements come across but the unique methodology does as well.  

2013 Pan Ams

So I had intended to do a run up to this years Pan Am games up here to keep everyone up to date who's far away.  Obviously that did not occur since the event occurred last week.  What can I say, next time.  However, I can say that the experience is one that everyone who is serious about BJJ should undertake at least once in a career.

I normally compete in regional events at middle weight.  For an event this size, I cut back to light weight.  That's right, I dropped from my post-Holiday scale tipping 184.5 to 165.5 in full gi the day of the event for my Senior 1 Brown Belt match.

This was NOT a good time.  However, a friend of mine put me onto the Dolce Diet which he had used to cut for a MMA fight.

http://thedolcediet.com/

This turned out to work really well.  I don't know that the whole program works long term, but I followed his three week weight cut specific program the last run up and it worked great.

The IBJJF runs a pretty fantastic tournament pretty much any time.  For one of their majors they out do themselves.  Not to mention, where else do you go that you randomly bump into the likes of Royce Gracie in the food court before watching Andre Galvao win matches live.  Pretty awesome stuff.

If you're unfamiliar with the organization (some of my karate friends might not be I suppose)  here's the info:

http://www.ibjjf.org/

They truly are the premier BJJ organization out there for competition.  The rules might be a bit convoluted (I think they are even more so after taking a ref course out there) but they keep their athletes safe and run pretty much on time. Which if you've ever been to a NAGA for hours on end you'll appreciate.

As to my match, well, I lost in the prelims.  That said, everyone in my division, myself included had a good history of making the podium at regional level events.  My match was against a guy who'd medaled at the Pans at Brown last year AND placed in the last two World events.  Add that to the four stripes he was sporting on his belt and one can assume he's been at brown a while.  I made the jump last November.  All of that considered, I was happy that I wrestled him well.  I went out to win as opposed to wrestling not to lose.  There's a difference and I ended up on the right side of the equation despite the loss. 

I can live with that. 

Here's the bout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZVBGYaFaCM

You'll see where I lose connection and he capitalized.  Let me put this out here right now:  he was an excellent competitor and better than me. 

Now, I can start to look forward to the next outing.  NAGA is up in April (very maybe) and hopefully the IBJJF comes back to Chicago in the fall.  I'm looking to try to get some more tournies in at brown.  I won't be cutting serious weight again until the IBJJF though. 

Thanks to everyone who gave me a hand getting ready.  We'll do it again next time!

11172012 Roy Harris Seminar

As promised, and quite frankly, well ahead of schedule, here is the video notes that Steve-o and I did the day after the Roy Harris seminar.  Any mistakes are all on us and nothing else.  The seminar and the techniques and training process that Roy gave us were amazing. 

First up, and for me the most important part of the seminar, is the section of moving through the controlling positions for maintaining the ability to work leg locks.  This has always been an issue for me:

Next up, the actual submissions that Roy went over.  Again, a great look at a tool that gets under utilized by just about everyone, myself included.  Probably more than most.

Roy's point at the end was certainly not lost on me.  That leg attacks get labeled as dangerous a lot.  Everything we do is dangerous.  It's about how its trained.  He suggests that the injuries associated with training leg locks are usually the result of the defender's actions.  And to minimize that if you're caught, no rolling in an effort to escape.  It's the rolling, when an ankle is trapped, that rips our knees.

I also like how we drilled the tactics.  After reviewing the techniques, we began stringing them together free form to build a conditioned response with them, moving across all the control positions as needed and applying the submissions as they presented.  We've been working thru the positions since the seminar and it's really helpful in learning a new set of skills. 

For those there, I hope this is helpful in review.   For those that weren't I hope it give you a heads up on some of Roy's thoughts on leg attacks.

Brown Belt Promotion

For those that don't know, Saturday was a big day for the academy I train at, Triton MMA in Woodstock.  Not only were we luckily enough to host Roy Harris, one of the "Dirty Dozen", the first Americans to earn their BJJ black belts, for a leg lock seminar but Coach Mike Budnik promoted me to the rank of Brown Belt. 

It was an amazing day and I'm still processing the moment and what it means.  I don't think the reality of it has sunk in just yet.  Not only did I receive this huge honor, but one of my oldest and best friends was around for the seminar as well and got to be present.  Thanks for being there, Steve-o.

Not only that, but several of my old teammates were present from Ohana as well along with all the coppers of different stripes I get the privilege to train and work with all the time.

And later, one of our fighters, Dan Hart won his XFO bout at the Sears Center.  Great day for the team!  Now it's on to trying to live up to the rank.  Thanks everyone for helping me get here.  I have video notes from the seminar itself.  If you've never been to one of Mr. Harris' seminars you should MAKE time to train with him.  His take on leg locks was absolutely brilliant.  I'll get those up at some point later this week.  Till then.