Update 4/24/12

Well, I haven’t posted in a while, have I? Once again, I’ve been rather busy with all sorts of stuff. I have a new project at work, I have bugs to fix on the new website at work, I have customer’s technical issues to deal with at work, we recently bought a car for an amazing price, because it was horribly dirty, so I’ve been cleaning that every day (yes, it is/was that dirty, I’ve been cleaning it for 5 days), and I’ve also been helping some friends move into their new house. So, all in all, it’s been a bit busy.

Even though I haven’t been posting, that doesn’t mean my BJJ craziness has diminished at all. It’s just gone mobile. Ha ha ha. Recently, when thinking about my game, I realized that my pressure and submissions from the top are really rather strong. Of course I’m not claiming that they’re awesome or that I’m some sort of phenom who destroys anyone when I’m on top, but that part of my game is the strongest. So, I’m going to focus on some other things I need to work on, without completely abandoning my pressure and submissions from the top. I’m still working on passing, but I feel as though my passing is getting better. Currently I’m working on the knee-slide pass and the leg drag. The guy over on the blog The Jiu Jitsu Laboratory posted this video on the leg drag, which is awesome:

I’m also working on going for more submissions from the bottom. My main goal, when on the bottom, is to sweep and get to the top. But, as I posted not long ago about chaining techniques, I realized recently that going for submissions is just as advantageous. Of course, if you are able to lock in a submission and actually submit the person, then you’ve reached your goal. I realized that just going for submissions opens people up to sweeps much more. So, now when on the bottom, here’s my thought process:

1. Get good grips and positioning on the bottom -> attempt sweep (works)
2. Get good grips and positioning on the bottom -> attempt sweep (fails) -> attempt a sweep chain (works)
3. Get good grips and positioning on the bottom -> attempt sweep (fails) -> attempt a sweep chain (fails) -> attempt submission (works)
4. Get good grips and positioning on the bottom -> attempt sweep (fails) -> attempt a sweep chain (fails) -> attempt submission (fails) -> attempt sweep (again)

If the final sweep fails, then where I am depends on what I do. If I’m in full guard, then I just continue the sequence for a second time. If I don’t catch the person, then I try to back up out of full guard and stand up again. If I’m in half guard, then instead of continuing the sequence, I work to get back to full guard and I then do the sequence from there. Of course, that’s not set in stone. If a submission presents itself anywhere in there, then I’m going to go for it. But, that’s my basic game plan from the bottom. Main goal is to sweep, but go for any submissions available.

Anyway, I also had started watching Caio Terra’s 111 Half-Guard Techniques recently, but realized that his techniques are for a smaller person, which makes sense, since he is smaller. So, I picked up Cyborg’s guard collection (since Cyborg’s size matches mine more closely) and have been focusing on his half-guard DVD, which I ripped and put on my iPod so that I can watch it anywhere. That’s why I said my craziness went mobile.

On another note, the CTRL Industries Rook gi I ordered is on it’s way and I should have it sometime in the middle of this week. So, tonight will be the last night, for a while, I wear my Fuji gi. Recently the guy from GiReviews.net posted a review on the Rook that made me really excited. He said it fit him better than any other gi he owned and from the pictures of him and his size description (6’1″, 200-210lbs), he is identical to my own size. So, needless to say, I’m very excited!

Hopefully I’ll be able to post a little more regularly soon, so that I won’t post a huge dump of information, but I can’t make any promises.

Class – 4/9/2012

Sorry I haven’t been posting much recently. I’ve been extremely busy at work with the new website and finishing up production on a DVD. So, any free time I’ve gotten during my lunch break has been devoted to watching matches and studying technique. Thankfully today I have enough time to write.

Anyway, good class last night. Got my butt beat, which is always a good thing. It’s great to be challenged! Tons of blue belts, two purple belts and two black belts make for a good class, especially when you’re the newest blue belt there. There were two white belts, but the blues out numbered everyone (I believe there were 8-10).

We started out warming up and then had a warm-up roll with Radcliffe and Brandon. Then we drilled an armbar off an arm drag from closed guard.

You’re in closed guard, do an arm drag and get a good grip behind the tricep. With your other hand (the one not holding behind the tricep), get a good cross-collar grip, in order to keep their posture down. Scoot your hips out to the side, much like a traditional arm bar, and use your forearm to push the head away to bring your leg across the face. Swizzel the arm holding the tricep out and grip your knee on the same side (example: right hand, right knee).  Now finish. Note, after you arm drag and get the grips, you basically continue as if you’re doing a traditional arm bar.

After, we had open mat and I had a good roll with Eman. I believe he wrestled in high school, because I think I heard Tim mention that once. Anyway, he has a good base and gives me a tough time when I’m on the bottom, which is great since that’s what I need to improve on. He caught me in a weird sort of kimura/americana from half guard, which revealed that I need to better keep my arms inside the ride while in half guard. I also noticed that I was waiting to much for him to make a move, instead of acting on what I wanted to do.

Overall, it was a great class and like I said at the beginning of this post, I was challenged! Which is always a good thing.

Fuji Single Weave BJJ Gi Review (White)

Introduction

I’m one that likes to review things after using them for a while. An item that you herald as the greatest ever the first week you own it, could end up falling apart into a million pieces within a couple weeks. With that said, I have had my Fuji Single Weave for over 12 months and have put it through the ringer.

General Specifications (as claimed by Manufacturer)

• Medium weight
• Dual use – hot or cold weather
• Strong pants
• True BJJ cut – shorter jacket + well tapered arms
• Intended to last for years
• 100% cotton
• Includes free Fuji patches

Size Chart

 

Jacket

The jacket is well made and all the stitching is clean. The embroidery is also rather nice and it seems to be manufactured well. As was stated in the specifications, it definitely seems like a gi intended to last for years as it shows no signs of slowing down. It has reinforcements in all of the right places. The collar is actually good for a gi this price and is comparable to a Lucky gi collar.

I’m 6’1″-6’2″ and 205-210lbs. One thing I particularly don’t like is the length of the sleeves, especially since the gi top material stretches out noticeably. By the end of class the sleeves are almost covering the first base knuckle of my thumb, which is extremely annoying. Having someone grip your sleeve and your whole hand almost going into it kind of makes it hard to do things. Sure does motivate you to break grips though!

Another thing stated by the specifications was that the gi is good in dual use – for hot or cold weather. While I agree that it’s good in cold weather, I disagree that it’s good for hot weather. In the heat it’s like wearing a sauna around your body, so if you’re looking for a summer gi, go with a lighter one.

One other negative for me, about the jacket, is that the sides wrap to far and the skirt is long. With my belt on, I’d say the skirt is about 4 inches down from the bottom side of my belt, which is rather far. Also, the sides of the gi wrap around me a lot, which makes the top hotter. Each side is literally touching the other side of my body.

Side Note on Patches

Just a side note, I liked one of the patches so I had it sown onto my gi. After 9 months, even though it was sewn well, the patch started coming apart, so now I’m going to have to remove it completely.

Pants

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the pants. They are your general, run of the mill, gi pants. They have an old school drawstring and are a little baggy, but not to bad. They stretch a little, but it’s barely noticeable, as compared to the jacket stretching out. They to have good reinforcements in necessary areas, such as in the knees. But, that’s about all I can say, as they are just normal pants.

Overall Conclusion

If you’re a beginner with a tight budget or if you’re a beginner that’s unsure whether or not you’re going to continue in BJJ, this is a fantastic gi for you. It will last you for a while and it’s one of the cheapest, long lasting kimonos you can get. But, if you’re a more experienced BJJer, then this gi is probably going to have some things that annoy you. I didn’t really notice them until I became more experienced. This is definitely a white belt gi.

I’d also like to note that I did extensive research on this gi and read many reviews before buying it when I started BJJ. One thing many of the reviews said was that my gi would shrink like crazy, which ended up not happening at all for my gi. I tried to shrink it; I even washed it in hot water and dried it for an hour on high, but to no avail.

Always ask the owner of the place you’re buying your kimono from about sizes, as they’ll know better than the sizing chart. Because people were saying the gi would shrink like crazy and to get a size up, I almost got an A5, which would have been huge on me! Thankfully I asked the owner of the store I bought it from and he set me straight.

Pros

• Good in cold weather
• Long lasting
• Extremely Cheap ($70-$80)
• Good stitching and embroidery work

Cons

• Bad in hot weather
• Material stretches out
• Gi doesn’t shrink well – so you can’t get a tight fit
• Patches come apart easily

The Chain Gang

I went to BJJ on Thursday night, but I’ve been so busy recently that I was unable to post about it. I’ve been working on a new website/storefront for the company I work for and it went live Thursday, so any problems or bugs that we ran into had to be taken care of on Friday.

Anyway, it was a good class and I was really feeling it. I had thoughts on why I was feeling it and accomplishing things, but I’ll save that for later. Here’s the technique we went over:

Armbar from Mount (if the bottom person has their arms wrapped around you, holding you down)

To set up the visual image, let’s do it like this. Say you’re in top and in mount, from left to right you have, your arm, opponents arm, opponents head, your head, your arm and opponents arm. So, basically a reversed arm triangle position, instead of the head on the outside it’s on the inside.

To effectively armbar from this position, you need to get into s-mount, but you have to their inside arm shoulder out of the way. You do this by using your right arm (the one that is inside) elbow to push down on their outside arm shoulder, which will angle their body. This will open up a path for your knee to slide behind their shoulder/head. Transition from there into s-mount and finish the armbar as usual.

Progressing in Chaining

On my drive back home from class, I often sit in the quiet and reflect on my rolls and anything positive/negative that I did. Since I had some really good rolls Thursday night, I tried to discover what made my rolls so good and I think I realized it. I was chaining things together really well. So, I’m going to try and really start to do that more.

Anyway, as I was thinking about that, I started thinking about how I previously viewed chains when I started out. So, here’s a breakdown:

Starting Out >>>

1. One track mind. I just went after the only things I knew from the position I was in. I had one sweep from guard, that’s what I would go after. (if you’re in this position, don’t worry about chaining yet, you need to learn the basics still)

2. Still one track mind. Now I had two techniques to go after from a position, but I would pick one and go after it like crazy, with no thought of trying the other technique..

3. Chaining submissions. I started grasping the couple of submission chains that I had been taught. I saw them as I rolled a little at first, but it got better as time went on.

4. Making my own submission chains. (Blue Belt) This began a little before I got my blue belt. Instead of using taught chains, I started taking my own favorite submissions and chaining them together in a way that worked for me.

5. Realized you can chain more than submissions. (Where I am at Now) Now, I’m realizing I can chain all sorts of different things and they work effectively, and it’s not so one track anymore.

You don’t have to just chain an escape with an escape, or a submission with a submission. You can chain an escape with a sweep, a sweep with a submission, etc. You can even chain submissions with transitions and then transition back into a submission.

My point is, I need to keep trying to think more three dimensional than one dimensional, because it’s much easier then trying to force one thing. If you’re not to that point yet, hopefully this will help you. If you’re past the point I’m at now, maybe you can leave some advice in the comments below. Train hard!

 

How to Take Care of Mat Burn

I often hear people talk about mat burn and how long it takes to heal, often times because nasty things happen to the burn, for example, like it getting stuck to your sock, hitting it on things, etc. When I first began BJJ, I had this problem as well, but came up with a good method for dealing with it.

1. You should have Germ-X or Alcohol/Alcohol Wipes in your car. After training, if I have mat burn, then I apply alcohol to my mat burn. It hurts horribly, but it’s much better than getting MRSA or anything else.

2. You should have neosporin at home. After showering, I always apply some neosporin to my mat burn and let it sink into the skin. This will help it heal.

3. You’ll need some liquid bandage and a fan or blow dryer. I found that I needed a bandage on my burn, otherwise I would hit it on stuff and hurt it even more. But, bandaids wouldn’t stay on long enough and would stick like a sock. So, I used liquid bandage and it’s been amazing. I’ll take it, spray on a layer and dry it. Then I’ll put three or four more. It stays on your foot till the burn is healed, it protects your foot while it’s on, and it actually cleans your foot when applied. You can easily train with it on if you tape your foot, just for extra protection.

Follow these steps and your mat burn should heal rather quickly. For me, it usually only takes four to five days.

Don’t Ask Ryan Hall for a Lighter!

On December 11th, 2011, Ryan Hall was enjoying dinner in the company of friends, when a man approached the table, requesting a lighter. After informing him the table was comprised of non-smokers, the man became enraged, demonstrating violent behavior and directly threatening Ryan Hall. This video displays the occurrence in its entirety, to show exactly how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be used in self-defense as a means to control and subdue an opponent. Without a single punch thrown, the opponent is first controlled, and in a second encounter choked unconscious as a means to end the confrontation.

Xande Ribeiro – 2012 Abu Dhabi Trials (San Diego)

Last weekend was the 2012 Abu Dhabi Trials in San Diego and it was rather action packed. Xande Ribeiro ended up facing Rômulo Barral in his weight division final and Andre Galvao in the absolute final. Now, if you haven’t noticed, I’m a big Andre Galvao fan. Andre has an extremely hard guard to pass and I was extremely surprised at how Xande passed it. Not taking anything away from Xande, because I know who Xande is and I know he’s one of the best in the world, but so is Galvao, so it was interesting to watch. It is good to note that Galvao did win his division, beating Clark Gracie via points from a pass. Anyway, below is a highlight of Xande’s exploits, enjoy!