Epi 211 Autopsy of the Unconscious Grappler

This week we help you determine what went wrong with your game that resulted in getting tapped out (or choked unconscious). How can you learn from getting tapped out? and how to break down the trouble spots in your game.

We talk about:

  • Why it is important to learn from mistakes
  • Having a good attitude about getting tapped out
  • Learning defense of moves you get caught in too much
  • How to determine if it is a mistake you are making or your getting tapped by something that someone is really good at
  • How to identify major problems in your game
  • Finding help for trouble spots in your game
  • Learning from training vs competition
  • Preventing a submission vs escaping a submission
  • We share a few stories of being choked unconscious on the mat

Quote of the week:  “Train like you’ve never won, Fence like you’ve never lost”

Article of the week: Top 5 Jiu Jitsu Street Fight Moves

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Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunesStitcher radio, and Google Play Music for Andriod

Elite Sports Gym Bag Review For BJJ and MMA

I was in need of a new gym bag to help me get all my gear to BJJ class in an organized fashion.  In the past I always just used a random duffel bag as a gym bag. This is my first time to use a gym bag that was made for athletes in mind. As the weeks have gone by I realize that I spent the last 15 years of training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu using the wrong types of bags.

Here are my biggest pros about this bag:

  1. Quality of construction
  2. Large enough for what I need but not huge
  3. Pocket for water bottle
  4. See through mesh pocket
  5. Small pockets inside for little items
  6. Converts into a backpack
  7. Washable

This bag comes in a Variety of colors and can be found here.
https://www.elitesports.com/brazilian-jiu-jitsu-bjj-gear-bags

 

Epi 210 Renowned Coach and Competitor Andre “Tim” Monteiro

It is a honor to bring back BJJ black belt Andre “Tim” Monteiro. Andre is known for having a vast knowledge of the game, a killer half guard, and a overall nice guy.

We talk about:

  • His team A-Force BJJ
  • Traveling
  • Mistakes people make when they learn a lot from youtube
  • Tips on teaching a seminar
  • Running a school and traveling
  • Keeping an open mind to learning jiu-jitsu
  • Leaving your BJJ school
  • Off the mat training
  • Changes in his game over the last few years
  • Why he is getting more submissions in compeititon
  • The goals he has set for himself and his business

Links:

Quote of the week: “It’s always better to attack than to defend,” Coram had told her when they talked about fencing late at night. “Always. Ye don’t win with defense–ye only hold the other feller off, or wear him down. Attack and have done with it!” ― Tamora Pierce, Alanna: The First Adventure

Article of the week: Saying “I do” to the Right BJJ School

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The Life lesson this week was about making the most of a disappointing tournament.

Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunesStitcher radio, and Google Play Music for Andriod

Concepts, Concepts, Concepts

Understanding the concepts of jiu jitsu may, in the long run, be more
important than simply learning a multitude of techniques. I’m not saying learning
techniques is not important, but understanding the concepts will allow you to still
be doing jiu jitsu in the scrambles and chaos of a fight where setting up and
hitting specific techniques can be difficult.
Here are three concepts that I believe are easy to explain, easy to
understand, and easy to apply to your grappling. You have probably already been
introduced to some of these ideas but with different terminology. I’ve given them
labels and used verbiage that I think make them easy to explain and understand.

LEGOS: If you have two small rectangular Legos there’s a dozen ways you
can try to press them together that will result in zero connectivity. Even when the
right surfaces of the Lego pieces are facing each other, if they are not properly
aligned, there will be no connection. But if get they positioned and aligned
correctly they will snap together…. where one goes, the other goes…whatever
direction one turns, the other will follow. This is the kind of connectivity you are
looking for when you are, for example, using hooks to control your training
partner. I like to use x-guard as an illustration. Typically, you will have your top leg
with the knee sticking out behind your opponent and your foot in front of his
thigh, while your bottom leg is in the opposite position with your foot behind
their lower leg. If your feet and toes are curled with your toes up to “make a
hook” and your top foot is planted firmly in the pocket of your hip and groin while
your bottom foot is planted firmly in the crook behind your opponent’s knee you
should have pretty good connection. With these two points of contact you will
now have the ability to control and manipulate your opponent. How will this help
you now? The most obvious answer is that you can control and/or manipulate
your opponent’s posture, base, and balance. Additionally, it will help you to
control the timing and tempo of the match and maintain the distance of your
choosing. Bruce Lee once said, “All other things being equal, the fighter that
controls timing, tempo, and distance will win the fight”. The Lego theory, or
connectivity, will help you do that.

The Push/Pull concept: The underlying principle here is leverage. The pushing and
pulling (or more accurately and simply stated – applying force at two points in the
opposite direction) is how the leverage is generated. Most joint lock submissions
rely on the effective use of leverage as does moving your opponent. When you’re
standing and you pull on your opponent’s right arm while pushing on his left
shoulder you are using leverage to turn him, off balance him, and move him
where you want him to go. How will this help you now? Mechanically speaking,
using a lever makes work easier. In other words, it’s efficient. As a training
session, match, or fight proceeds the more efficient athlete will have more gas in
the tank to finish.

Compass quadrants: Imagine you are lying on your back on the mats—your head
represents north and your feet represent south with your arms to the east and
west. Between these points you have a NE, SE, SW, and NW quadrant. All you
have to do to sweep your opponent is to element a post in one of these
quadrants and then dump your opponent into it. How will this help you now? The
percentage of sweeps you finish will go up and the effort it takes to finish them
will decrease. Maybe most importantly though, you will start to see (and hit)
sweeps in transitions. During a scramble you may notice overly committed in one
direction with most of his weight on the post in that direction: Delete that post
and dump your opponent in that direction…..SWEEP!!!

In conclusion: Learning one technique from one position will improve your
game today…. as long as you can get to that one position, but grasping a concept
can improve your game today no matter what positions you find yourself in.
Train Hard. Train Smart. Get Better.
Joe Thomas

More articles by Joe here

Epi 209 Karel “Silver Fox” Pravec

This week we have an interview with Karel “Silver Fox” Pravec. Karel is a 3rd degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt under Renzo Gracie.

We talk about:

  • Dealing with younger and stronger opponents
  • Training BJJ in the water
  • Getting better timing on the mat
  • Getting your opponent to stay in your terms and play in your game
  • Avoiding injuries
  • The role of strength in BJJ
  • Why some wrestlers do well in BJJ and others struggle around the purple belt rank
  • How to have a speed advantage on the mat
  • Getting past slumps on the mat

Links:

Quote of the week: “Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” Winston Churchill

Article of the week: 5 sweet sour reasons to keep training

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Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunesStitcher radio, and Google Play Music for Andriod

BjjBrick Q&A 19 Am I Too Passive?

Question: I’m 3 months in and I have a question for you. I’m 38 years old and most of the guys at the school are in their 20’s. they have high energy, they’re fit, they move quickly. I just don’t seem to have an intense killer instinct to win a roll, I’m a very passive personality, very submissive, I was never into sports. I recognize Jiu Jitsu as an effective FOR of self defense that I may need one day and I’m sure if needed I could operate at 110% in an emergency, but in a roll I just don’t seem to have an intensity that I see others have. Do you think that’s something I could develop over time or something that can be taught?

Epi 208 Norwegian BJJ Black Belt Espen Mathiesen

This week we have an interview with one of Europe’s top competitors Espen Mathiesen. In this interview Espen shares many training tips he has developed training in Norway.

We talk about:

  • What is like competing against black belts
  • Why it is important to have a passion for jiu-jitsu
  • The state of jiu-jitsu in Norway
  • His training schedules
  • Dealing with injuries and avoiding injuries
  • Why resistance is vital to his training
  • Sparing less and active drilling more
  • Advice for blue belts do develop a game plan
  • Why it is important for him to be flexible
  • The advantages of training with a small team
  • The importance of visualizing your performance

Links:

Quote of the week: “The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Article of the week: New Study Proves BJJ’s Effectiveness Against Stress

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Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

This is the second time we share a off the mat story this one is about Byron’s dog with 3 legs.

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunesStitcher radio, and Google Play Music for Andriod

BJJ Gi Review Elite Sports Gray and Green

This is a BJJ Gi review of a gray and green Elite Sports 100% cotton gi. A white belt is included with this gi. The pants are a 400 gsm ripstop and have a stretchy rope drawstring. The gi top is a light-weight 400 gsm pearl weave and has been preshrunk. There is contrasting green stitching on much of the gi. The gi has also been treated with anti-odor & antimicrobial chemical to help you fight off microscopic threats to your skin.

https://www.elitesports.com/

https://www.elitesports.com/elite-sports-ultra-light-bjj-jiu-jitsu-gi-with-preshrunk-fabric-grey