Popular Canadian BJJ black belt and instructor Stephen Kesting is offering a free e-book aimed at beginners to BJJ. With that you also get an email every couple days with a free lesson. It is totally free and there is no obligation. I just signed up and think this would be really helpful to new guys.
If you use the firefox browser, make sure to disable ad-block if you have it, or the field to put in your information won't appear. Or just use IE for this one time.
http://www.beginningbjj.com/free-bjj-training-book.html
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Post Turkey BJJ Madness
We only had a Tuesday class this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. To make up for it Mr. Hyde decided to have the Friday competition class on Saturday before regular class! Yes, you heard right. Two back to back classes. Heaven on earth.
Competition class was awesome as always. We did all no-gi, based on our recent NAGA performance where we realized many of our no-gi games were falling well behind our gi games. We played "king of the mat" by playing games with two people grappling, with the winner staying to go against a fresh opponenet. We started out playing for takedowns, which was very helpful with this smaller group as we don't get much chance to practice them in normal class due to the amount of people and mat space. We then switched to have the "winner" be the first to obtain the cross body (side control) position. I got a bunch of great rolls in taking turns winning and getting my ass handed to me. It is excellent conditioning to with fresh guys challenging you when you are exhausted after rolling 5 mins. Bliss.
After competition class, I was pretty tired but didn't have much time to think about it as Clint lined everyone up for regular class. We did a solid 45 minutes of cardio involving several partnered excercises. Clint then walked us through the closed guard game, explaining the concepts which both guys are looking for. He recommended watching high level BJJ videos from the pan-ams or mundials as most of the matches are 8 minutes of sitting in guard waiting for the opponent to make a mistake.
We then learned this slick armbar from guard when your opponent stands up. You start by holding the opponents gi on both sides right above their elbow. When they stand up, you open your guard and shift your hips to the side, throwing your left arm behind his left leg (the opposite leg from what most people grab). This helps swing your hips further to put you right into a nice armbar position. You then make sure to use typical armbar technique, with your knees together and curling your bottom legs down.
I got a real treat in live rolling when Clint told me to "come here a minute". I rolled 5 minutes with big dawg and only got tapped like 18 times! Its always a pleasure feeling that helpless feeling like there is literally nothing you can do. Despite my best effort, I spent most of the time pinned on the bottom being choked in several malicious ways. It was sweet!
Competition class was awesome as always. We did all no-gi, based on our recent NAGA performance where we realized many of our no-gi games were falling well behind our gi games. We played "king of the mat" by playing games with two people grappling, with the winner staying to go against a fresh opponenet. We started out playing for takedowns, which was very helpful with this smaller group as we don't get much chance to practice them in normal class due to the amount of people and mat space. We then switched to have the "winner" be the first to obtain the cross body (side control) position. I got a bunch of great rolls in taking turns winning and getting my ass handed to me. It is excellent conditioning to with fresh guys challenging you when you are exhausted after rolling 5 mins. Bliss.
After competition class, I was pretty tired but didn't have much time to think about it as Clint lined everyone up for regular class. We did a solid 45 minutes of cardio involving several partnered excercises. Clint then walked us through the closed guard game, explaining the concepts which both guys are looking for. He recommended watching high level BJJ videos from the pan-ams or mundials as most of the matches are 8 minutes of sitting in guard waiting for the opponent to make a mistake.
We then learned this slick armbar from guard when your opponent stands up. You start by holding the opponents gi on both sides right above their elbow. When they stand up, you open your guard and shift your hips to the side, throwing your left arm behind his left leg (the opposite leg from what most people grab). This helps swing your hips further to put you right into a nice armbar position. You then make sure to use typical armbar technique, with your knees together and curling your bottom legs down.
I got a real treat in live rolling when Clint told me to "come here a minute". I rolled 5 minutes with big dawg and only got tapped like 18 times! Its always a pleasure feeling that helpless feeling like there is literally nothing you can do. Despite my best effort, I spent most of the time pinned on the bottom being choked in several malicious ways. It was sweet!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
More basics
Thursday class was more drilling and practicing proper posture and positioning when in ones guard.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Guard Basics
We went over basic guard posture for the entire class tonight. Clint watched the naga matches and found we were getting broken down too easy and not correctly maintaining balance.
The GRBJJ way was presented as to put your hands on the guys chest with your head up. You put your knees on the opponents hips to lock him in and keep him from moving. You then work the stand up guard pass when he inevitably grabs for a cross collar grip.
The GRBJJ way was presented as to put your hands on the guys chest with your head up. You put your knees on the opponents hips to lock him in and keep him from moving. You then work the stand up guard pass when he inevitably grabs for a cross collar grip.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Naga Chicago
Myself and 8 of my grbjj brothers went down to kick ass in chicago. It was a blast as always and everyone came home safe and sound. We won a couple swords and tons of medals.
Life is good.
Life is good.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Hyde-oplata
Today we learned the incredibly awesome hyde-oplata. Ryan taught today and taught this series by popular request. It is a movement he came up with by watching 2 instructionals simultaneously by Marcello Garcia and Robert Drysdale. Yes Ryan is a savant.
The movement can be done from bottom in either full or half guard. You use your bottom arm to puch his far leg away. You then push his head away from you to make space. You throw your top knee onto his back, making sure to squeeze your knees together to keep a tight position. From here you take your top leg and move it into a "rubber guard"/oma plata position right under the guys chin.
Once you acheive this, you can submit him by keylock or more likely he will roll over. You can aid this by putting both your knees on the ground. Let him roll and end up on top in a oma plata position. It is vital to control the elbow during this entire position. That is all you have to seperate your control from him being on your back.
The movement can be done from bottom in either full or half guard. You use your bottom arm to puch his far leg away. You then push his head away from you to make space. You throw your top knee onto his back, making sure to squeeze your knees together to keep a tight position. From here you take your top leg and move it into a "rubber guard"/oma plata position right under the guys chin.
Once you acheive this, you can submit him by keylock or more likely he will roll over. You can aid this by putting both your knees on the ground. Let him roll and end up on top in a oma plata position. It is vital to control the elbow during this entire position. That is all you have to seperate your control from him being on your back.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Competition Class
Comp class was really good today. Like 8 people showed up and there was some great bjj being displayed.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Sunday Class
Sunday class was very fun until the end today! We did some nice cardio, as usual. We then went over 3 guard passes borrowed from Robson Moura's Fusion set.
We then broke into groups and played king of the mat. We had a group of 4 where the winner stays in until someone submits them. Every minute a new, fresh opponent comes in, usually jumping on you in a compromising position (like right on your back or into an armbar.
I hit some nice Robson armbar escapes from this, and hit some x-guard and half guard sweeps. I got a few subs, but was the one in the middle being tired most of the time.
The very last roll I escaped from the guy having back control and landed on top of the guy who was in turtle. He stood up very quickly as I went down to cover him and the back of his head slammed into my mouth/nose area. I was bleeding a bit and think I may have been out for a second.
I think I need a new mouthguard! I lost my old one. I have a nice fat lip. Oh well. My knee felt pretty good...although I am doing my best to baby it.
We then broke into groups and played king of the mat. We had a group of 4 where the winner stays in until someone submits them. Every minute a new, fresh opponent comes in, usually jumping on you in a compromising position (like right on your back or into an armbar.
I hit some nice Robson armbar escapes from this, and hit some x-guard and half guard sweeps. I got a few subs, but was the one in the middle being tired most of the time.
The very last roll I escaped from the guy having back control and landed on top of the guy who was in turtle. He stood up very quickly as I went down to cover him and the back of his head slammed into my mouth/nose area. I was bleeding a bit and think I may have been out for a second.
I think I need a new mouthguard! I lost my old one. I have a nice fat lip. Oh well. My knee felt pretty good...although I am doing my best to baby it.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
No saturday class =(
Class was cancelled today on account of no instructor showed up, and no one had a key. =(
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