So I promised to reply to this post, http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2530159&mode=full

but never did.

I am now comfortably 1.25 years into my blue belt and not having the blue belt blues at all. My 1st year at Blue belt was frustrating since I had some random injuries and life things that probably kept me off the mat 4 out of 12 months. Over the last 6 months (knock on wood) ive been pretty consistent.

The toughest part is balancing work, family and time for bjj. Luckily for me my new job is literally across the street from the academy so most of my training is done at lunch.

I feel pretty confident as a blue belt. I cant beat everyone by any stretch of the imagination, but i feel like I can get into a roll and know what to do or how to survive -- except against the real high level guys who still toy with me.

My game has been so focused on passing, and now Ive really been trying to transition to playing more guard --since thats such a fundamental part of BJJ.
Over the last week Ive also gone to 2 nogi classes (and enjoyed it) which is more than I had done in the prior 8 months combined.

from reddit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3o9SNW97yI&feature=youtu.be

i've been out for 6 weeks now with an injury so there's already that stress of going back and getting worked by your bros

but watching shit like this is just super humbling today

Granted I got injured drilling scrambles in Hudson's class (wrestling)

But his take on aimless rounds of sparring vs drilling from positions is spot on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijAMRqBZgo8

>Granted I got injured drilling scrambles in Hudson's class
>(wrestling)
>
>But his take on aimless rounds of sparring vs drilling from
>positions is spot on
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijAMRqBZgo8
>
>

We've talked about this. How most of the way BJJ is taught is not the most efficient way to learn. Its not that you cnat learn, but its just not as easy if you arent a natural. There's no consistent drilling, no scaffolding of techniques. I think this is one of the thing's Keenan is trying to do with his online channel. It's unfortunbate that a lot of the guys doing this type of research/work liek Kit Dale and keenan are white.

MG in action was game changing when it came out, and it has the potential to be so much more...but Marcelo is on autopilot with it these days.


My wrestling friends who now do jiujitsu have similar critiques. WIth all that being said. Jiujitsu isnt hs or college wrestling. Those guys that do that are doing it with a goal of competition in mind.

BJJ has that but also has hobbyists and guys who just want exercise, so the environment isnt intense. If BJJ rooms were treated like wrestling rooms, they'd lose like 70% of their customer base...easily. Not many adults after a long day of work or with the kids (if they arent training for comp would take that kind of "abuse") --especially without a really good supportive community.

I love BJJ, and was in that Unity pro training before Christmas break, and while I reveled in the 12 rounds in a hot ass room for 2 hours--it's not something I would do more than once every couple weeks lol. Most people would tap out just from the training condition and environment if they aren't seriously "pro training"

Ive said this before, but in terms of marketing and community building, if a BJJ gym really wants to grow (and doesnt have a world class guy running it) there are some lessons to learn from some of the top Crossfit gyms and how they build community.

My neighborhood really needs an academy. I would love to run a social project /community type grappling program like Fernando, but Im nowhere near the level to teach yet. It's a shame because rent in my neighborhood for a studio could still be affordable.

for being a white guy who speaks English well

I've joked about hating to to watch Lepri's vids because of his accent (it's not incomprehensible as much as Italian-sounding Brazilian 'poot your ahrrrm ovurh heerah'), not to mention Maia, but to have these white guys overtly market themselves on their English to the detriment of a lot of great Brazilian guys is borderline disrespectful.

>
>We've talked about this. How most of the way BJJ is taught is
>not the most efficient way to learn. Its not that you cnat
>learn, but its just not as easy if you arent a natural.
>There's no consistent drilling, no scaffolding of techniques.
>I think this is one of the thing's Keenan is trying to do with
>his online channel. It's unfortunbate that a lot of the guys
>doing this type of research/work liek Kit Dale and keenan are
>white.
>
>MG in action was game changing when it came out, and it has
>the potential to be so much more...but Marcelo is on autopilot
>with it these days.
>
>
> My wrestling friends who now do jiujitsu have similar
>critiques. WIth all that being said. Jiujitsu isnt hs or
>college wrestling. Those guys that do that are doing it with a
>goal of competition in mind.
>
>BJJ has that but also has hobbyists and guys who just want
>exercise, so the environment isnt intense. If BJJ rooms were
>treated like wrestling rooms, they'd lose like 70% of their
>customer base...easily. Not many adults after a long day of
>work or with the kids (if they arent training for comp would
>take that kind of "abuse") --especially without a really good
>supportive community.
>
>I love BJJ, and was in that Unity pro training before
>Christmas break, and while I reveled in the 12 rounds in a hot
>ass room for 2 hours--it's not something I would do more than
>once every couple weeks lol. Most people would tap out just
>from the training condition and environment if they aren't
>seriously "pro training"

Yeah I would be down to visit once or twice maybe, just to feel the levelz.

Describe their dudes though. Their blue belts. The vibe. The style of rolling. The smell. The mold. The inside-out gis for afternoon sessionz. Paint a picture for those that have never set foot on the brackish, Everglade-like mats.

>Ive said this before, but in terms of marketing and community
>building, if a BJJ gym really wants to grow (and doesnt have a
>world class guy running it) there are some lessons to learn
>from some of the top Crossfit gyms and how they build
>community.

You can't spell crossfit without the oss

>My neighborhood really needs an academy. I would love to run a
>social project /community type grappling program like
>Fernando, but Im nowhere near the level to teach yet. It's a
>shame because rent in my neighborhood for a studio could still
>be affordable.

That would be off the chain. Rolling outside of the academy is more and more appealing to me. Trying to get together with my man that used to fight MMA and my boy who got his brown in Judo and just started submission wrestling on the side at my JKD school, and have the assistant instructor and the instructor just work some easy rounds with all of us. That's my goal in like a month when I'm back in shape.

Ben is correct on drilling. IMO, it should be done in 3 phases:

1. rote technique - 100% success for the person to learn the movement
2. intensity and speed - still 100% success but done at a speed and intensity closer to sparring. This will help better integrate the movement into someone's game
3. positional drilling - staying in the context of whatever the lesson is but now against a resisting opponent. This allows you to see how fully integrated a movement is and how well you can incorporate it into your game

once those things are done, then you can spar

I got some of this from Andre Galvao who is notorious for how he drills:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYeB5DcUgE

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...They did it by killing those who opposed them...unknown

limited benefit

but when you take a multi-tiered approach to familiarizing yourself with a technique, like you said and like I'm seeing Andre say in this vid, it seems to have huge benefits

most guys spend time between classes drilling at bjj, but one of the guys who teaches a takedown class and has a pretty extensive wrestling background is a big vocal proponent of this approach during class

i agree. its only worthwhile in conjunction with other teaching methods. in the past, i have taught classes where i wanted to pack in so much information that all we got to do was rote technique and then spar. in hindsight, those classes was some of the more disjointed classes i've ever taught and add to that the fact that my students didn't really gain anything of substance that they could apply.

recently, i have found drilling to drill to be beneficial. I use a set up where me and a partner drill whatever a technique or sequence of moves for 2-3 mins a piece. minimal to no chit chat, just solid foundational stuff that we can plug into our games or fortify our games. after we both had a turn, we positional spar our technique or position for an additional 2-3 mins a piece, then we either switch partners or move on to different technique. an hour of that feels worse than an hour of sparring and the benefit to your game is greater, imo.

finally, being one of the few black belts in my gym, i try to set the example that you have to put in some real dedicated work to see gains. i grab the most lost looking white belt and drill technique with them. i don't talk much, just drill. by the end, we're both pretty lathered up and ready to move on to positional sparring.

>i agree. its only worthwhile in conjunction with other
>teaching methods. in the past, i have taught classes where i
>wanted to pack in so much information that all we got to do
>was rote technique and then spar. in hindsight, those classes
>was some of the more disjointed classes i've ever taught and
>add to that the fact that my students didn't really gain
>anything of substance that they could apply.

This is like 99% of the classes I have taken so far into my 3rd year doing this. 1) Warm ups. 2) Practice technique(s) of the day with variations w/ partner (2 and 2). 3) Sparring.

If you're in tune and open minded in your training you can successfully bring the technique into the sparring, but your partner kind of has to be 'in on it' i.e. not just going for his A game. Good sparring partners will do this but those are kind of few and far between.


>recently, i have found drilling to drill to be beneficial. I
>use a set up where me and a partner drill whatever a technique
>or sequence of moves for 2-3 mins a piece. minimal to no chit
>chat, just solid foundational stuff that we can plug into our
>games or fortify our games. after we both had a turn, we
>positional spar our technique or position for an additional
>2-3 mins a piece, then we either switch partners or move on to
>different technique. an hour of that feels worse than an hour
>of sparring and the benefit to your game is greater, imo.

yeah. that is something I was very impressed with when I visited Cobrinha's Las Vegas academy. They did 2-5 minutes straight, one person, one technique, BOTH SIDES (so key). Then switched. Then they added a wrinkle and added resistance etc. Those guys mopped me up! (I was a brand new blue belt at the time)

>finally, being one of the few black belts in my gym, i try to
>set the example that you have to put in some real dedicated
>work to see gains. i grab the most lost looking white belt and
>drill technique with them. i don't talk much, just drill. by
>the end, we're both pretty lathered up and ready to move on to
>positional sparring.

Very cool. I always appreciate when a black belt takes the time to work with me. At my school it's kind of rare.

Cobrinha's drilling is next level. I went out to his academy in LA in preparation for Pans in 2011. All we did for about 3 days was omoplata set ups, finishes and transitions. it was too much information for me at the time but we drilled so much that it stuck. luckily, another training partner of mine retained so much and we came home and drilled relentlessly for months. that weekend of training became the foundation of a good bit of my attacks from guard.

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...They did it by killing those who opposed them...unknown

and when you're new to a move or skill you HAVE to drill it slowly and increase pace and resistance gradually. A problem would occur when people stop short of live-speed and the opponent being a good opponent. Also, doing things slow and controlled can actually make you faster when it's go-time because the neural networks you form during the slower practice(this applies more to complex skills like submissions, and not as much with striking or sprinting).

and found some real nuggets

Off this post

Where you can train

so I see 3 schools Id recommend

Gracie Morumbi right in Thousand Oaks
ZR team in Westlake
Paragon in Agoura

So depending on where you live/work. Morumbi is the closest to the actual Zip.
They have a good lineage through the Renzo/Ryan Gracie line and the instructor there is legit. Looks like they have a huge facility, but I dont see their schedule posted

http://www.graciejiujitsufabioleopoldo.com/


ZR team is a well known team but the instructor is a brown belt. He has good credentials listed, but otherwise I dont know him.
http://www.zrwestlake.com/
Also a really limited schedule also


Paragon is a really well known team in the Valley and up the Central Coast. The main school is in Santa Barbara and I believe thats where Paul Walker trained. Theyve also produced a couple of the sports stars at some point in Jeff Glover and Bill Cooper. The school in Agoura is an affiliate but the instructor there also has a good pedigree. I like that paragon in general is pretty laid back on the traditional martial arts aspects of things and if its nearby Id recommend checking it out.
What I didnt like about the site is their schedule is kind of limited. So that may give you less options to train

http://paragonbjjacademy.com/schedule/


If you can get to Northridge, one of the best competition schools in the area is there: Gracie Barra northridge

Let me know if you need more or if you work closer to another area

i work in thousand oaks but live in the valley not too far away from northridge. gracie barra is looking like a good choice

I generally dont liek the Gracie barra franchise model...but from what ive heard they have the freedom to do things a bit different there because of who they are.


Romulo Barral (the head guy there) is a legend and one of my favorites to watch both because of technique and attitude and they have a crop of young super stars stars that train there part or full time

Felipe Pena
Gabriel Arges
Edwin Najmi
Samuel Braga

You can look them all up and there is probably a bjjheroes page for them all

https://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/romulo-barral-wiki

A video on the new gym they just rolled out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDUHwkvwE4g


They have a nice schedule, though lots of it is geared toward the competitors/black belts
http://www.gbnorthridge.com/?page_id=2221

You can go south to the South Bay

Near you is Kron Gracie in Culver City. A lot of people like his school but its a lot more traditional. If getting to Koreatown in the traffic isnt bad--Id recommend Cobrinha's school. One of the best competition schools and a friendly place to learn. Kron and Cobrinha will be pricey---I bet I can get you a more affordable place like Nino Schembri in Lawndale. tell me what our priorities are
i.e.
best school for competing
best school for self defense
best school for workout
best school for learning
best school for community
best lineage
location
cost
etc

who visited

I went with the one closer to the hotel I was staying in, Tsunami, which is smaller and more old school, but Kron's is right near the 405 and one of the best school in SoCal

Good looking, Lawndale would probably be the best for me, but Culver isn't that bad of a journey after work. I'm looking to workout, get into shape and learn some general self-defense. I'm either way on price depending on the lineage and quality of training.

There was a Gracie school near my old house in Torrance, I just never went cause I thought it was a fad school and not one for good training.

>Good looking, Lawndale would probably be the best for me, but
>Culver isn't that bad of a journey after work. I'm looking to
>workout, get into shape and learn some general self-defense.
>I'm either way on price depending on the lineage and quality
>of training.
>
>There was a Gracie school near my old house in Torrance, I
>just never went cause I thought it was a fad school and not
>one for good training.


And never trained. All the time I spent in Torrance, Carson, gardens— the academy was there. The Gracie school I’ve heard some mixed things about. The guys who run it are skilled and they’ve produced some good fighters— but they have an old school kind of model.

I think nino in lawndale could be a good option for you. I imagine that school and kron’s school in Culver City will have some type of trial option you can try. I think overall Ninos in lawndale will be a lot cheaper and you will probably get more black and brown practioners

But try them out and see. I think both schools will offer a great workout and self defense
And both guys have top notch lineage and history in the sport

i made it to the green/blue cusp in judo as a youth before giving it up for football and ive been thinkong about trying BJJ for a while

>i made it to the green/blue cusp in judo as a youth before
>giving it up for football and ive been thinkong about trying
>BJJ for a while
Check these schools

http://www.kaizenbjj.com/plymouth_location/
This school has a good old school lineage. I t seems like a great place to train because they have such a robust schedule --lots of class times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-BExc9SS68
The guy the main instructor got his black belt from is featured heavily in this film


http://www.plymouthjj.com/page04.html
This school also has a good lineage.


http://www.313bjj.com/
If youre nearer to Detroit or work there check out this place. The instructors are affiliated with our academy and instructors and Ive heard good things.


Most schools offer a trial class, so id recommend checking them out and feeling where you like the vibe/schedule the best.

Newer school--seems to have built a nice academy and strong community

https://www.assembly-detroit.com/

n/m

I mean i couldve predicted the outcome, but to watch JT just control every aspect of the match and then choke him the fuck out was a thing of beauty.

That's another example of levels...

Supposed you can't link cause FloGrappling and all

JT is fucking world class I couldn't picture it happening any other way

MMA grappling vs JiuJitsu pros is not always so one-sided though.

From what I hear Max Holloway who just got a purple will be tapping fools out in training. And there was that recent clip of Khabib throwing Leandro Vieira around

https://jiujitsutimes.com/khabib-nurmagomedov-rolls-3rd-degree-black-belt-leandro-vieira-caught-darce-choke/

At the same time I heard Dillon was catching Luke Rockhold with a lot of shit when he visited several months ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwwXQx6HBNw

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...They did it by killing those who opposed them...unknown

Rafa is fucking next level

His movement is so dope. I feel like he is the embodiment of Terere’s legacy. The way those dudes move is just beautiful, and this is coming from a marcelo student.

I don’t even aspire for that game I just enjoy it. I’m a sloppy pressure passer—nothing pretty about my game at this stage.


Man wtf


https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdxr0OslRUc/

He was always quite good, but he somehow went up another few levels since he came back from that long layoff - this Horcher - Johnson - Barboza "streak". Also seems like he is STILL GETTING BETTER.

I mean, he came back with a new approach and has been murdering these guys with it. I've been trying to emulate some of his looks in class. Specifically with takedowns, attacking in half- and quarter- guard, and with passing from standing. IMO, he's the best grappler in MMA. Even better than Maia.

I think he beats Tony pretty easily. Tony's best chance is the Darce, imo. I don't see him KOing/TKOing Khabib. The triangle won't be there for him because Khabib is going to stay on the feet until he is "safely" in Tony's half-guard, which is one place Khabib loves to attack from.

That said, Tony stands a better chance than Conor...

maybe that's the difference between a guy that has added wrestling onto a world-class level BJJ base vs. a guy who has sambo, judo and freestyle wrestling throughout his foundation

When I talk to people at my job from the casual fan to a guy that has been training jiujitsu for years, they can't get over the level of force he can generate while also not compromising anything with his base and control of the opponent. He seems to be very conscious of the fact that the road back up to the feet starts with the legs and he wraps up and shuts down the legs better than anyone in the game. I wonder if Tony is strong enough to drag the fight back up to standing since it's almost a certainty the fight will end up there at some point.

Tony's strengths really only play into Khabib's strengths. He likes creatives sweeps... that means Khabib has to have attempted to take him down which is bad news. He likes to work submissions from bottom, that means he has to withstand the best top pressure in MMA. I agree that I don't see anybody beating him right now if he's at 100%

All the strengths they address in this video can get Tony eaten up by Khabib

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V71AOI25LKQ

Bladed Square Dance... basically you are just making Khabib choose between if he wants to shoot a single if you're bladed or double if you're square lol.

Spinning Elbows... soooo you're gonna turn your back on a Dagestani?

Elbows from guard... but Khabib will be in side control soooo

But I also think Tony is being undersold quite a bit. He's a D1 level athlete with dangerous/tricky striking and still a competenmt ground game. 10 fights in a riow at the diviusion.


>All the strengths they address in this video can get Tony
>eaten up by Khabib
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V71AOI25LKQ
>
>Bladed Square Dance... basically you are just making Khabib
>choose between if he wants to shoot a single if you're bladed
>or double if you're square lol.
>
>Spinning Elbows... soooo you're gonna turn your back on a
>Dagestani?
>
>Elbows from guard... but Khabib will be in side control soooo
>
>

The difference in level of domination between Khabib's last wins vs Tony's are really what's making the projections though

It keeps going back and forth publicly. Tony has an impressive perormance and it flips. I mean he beat Thompson Dos anjos and Barboza then his stock was sky high before the kind of unimpressive (but still finish) of kevin Lee

grossest example of a staph infection i've seen in a minute

he shouldnt have fought with Staph, and since he did, no excuses.

I'm just bullshitting about staph being THE factor

I was in the camp that this is the best fight possible for the division, but now I'm just thinking how does Tony fend him off?

He has the length and the striking to delay the inevitable but can he withstand the pressure

Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg
http://Tupreme.com

you down?

Maybe....

Saturday is John's last day before he has his kid. Hes gonna be out 3 months or so...so i may train at MGA. I do want to get a day in at Masterskya though

Purple belt John? Oh shit
I had coffee with him and Peter last weekend. I didn't realize he had a baby so soon on the way

But the new location is dope. I could probably walk there in 5-10 minutes from the crib so I might alternate there and MGA on Saturdays.

>Purple belt John? Oh shit
>I had coffee with him and Peter last weekend. I didn't realize
>he had a baby so soon on the way
>
>But the new location is dope. I could probably walk there in
>5-10 minutes from the crib so I might alternate there and MGA
>on Saturdays.
>
>
>
Nah, grants homie John who took that Paul private with us back in the day. he started training a lot more recently, but he does AM crew.

have you actually trained there yet?

Id prefer them Sunday (but they are ogi Sundays)

They have an open mat friday night that I may do to get closer to home friday evenings

nah haven't trained there but Matt told me they opened a location in Downtown Brooklyn so I hit Alex Masterskya up on IG. I had already been thinking of maybe doing Boxing / Wrestling at Class One MMA since it's also close. the MMA fighting female purple from MGA teaches nogi there I think.

I was debating Saturday or Sunday myself, but just went with Saturday since it will probably be the better attended

it's been a bitch getting in and out of the city especially 23rd st on the weekend. would be nice to keep it local in BK.

I'll let you know how it goes

Told him I'm going next Saturday.

Lmao too soon. I don’t want mynpurple til at least our winter ceremony. I’m not a purple yet. I’m a tough blue if you let me play my game, but if you force me to play guard...I’m pretty bad. Give me 8 more months and I’ll feeel a lot better about my guard. Over the past 2 months I’ve been working it more

Need to make my closed guard more offensive
Continue my work with DLRx guard which is my favorite open guard
And I’m getting better at half guard as a recovery guard when I get passed. I use guards for transitions to my top game though, I hate being In guard too long.

Bottom Game:

- old school butterfly guard sweeps
- transitioning to X-guard and subs from X
- lasso guard and getting to omoplatas from it

Top game:

- leg drags
- taking the back

the main thing for me is the timing of everything. I'm a hair slower than more seasoned black belts (and younger, more athletic dudes)

Competition:
- pushing myself to my mental and physical edge and trying to find more in the tank
- finding the guys who give me the worst time at the end of a sparring session and having them push me to the point of wanting to quit

I got complacent right after getting promoted to black but now I got the hunger back. I also came to understand fully that there are no bad training days regardless of if you're the hammer, the nail or the wood being nailed.

some of the younger competitor blues will just murk me relentlessly.

Bottom Game:

left side - single leg X entry to sweep
right side - DLR to back take
half guard - half guard sweep / back take tandem
better timing on hook sweep / butterfly sweeps while opponent is passing

really, really, really, need to get more subs from my back. I have not landed a single armbar from closed guard in training. Was catching triangles for a little while, but it's been some time.

also, I keep almost catching guys in the loop choke when they are trying to pass, but not finishing


Top game:

build chain of submissions from side control
build an over-under / smash-pass game: so far have been using standing passing, but with a healing ankle, I can't use agility and footwork as much

ahhh yea... finishing triangles.

I cnat do that anymore. I just get stuck adn stacked on my shoulders and cant back up to make space.


Such a mindfuck when you have that triangle, youre squeezing or cutting angle, and then you finally have to give it up and youre stuck in side control :(

I've been a brown belt since Dec 2016. Had a talk with my instructor, and he essentially said he just wants me refining my game and able to define it. So I've mostly just been trying to tighten everything up, and get rid of any mistakes I make.

being so close

I see some guys who have been brown for a minute and working with what the expectations are from them as leaders as well as jiujitsu wise. I've heard guys talking about being suspended years ago for fighting and feeling the need to actively engage people positively because of that. Others kind of seem to not care.

But yeah it seems like it can be the longest mile to walk

Before I was being given much larger tasks and goals to work on - it's kind of nice being told to just improve on a macro level.

I mean, I work on the small details myself, and I work on timing, leverage, etc... but honestly, it's been a a bit liberating to just go to the gym and just work on whatever I want, or conversely, nothing at all. Just go in and roll and see what presents itself that day.

*shrug*

If I have questions or need to troubleshoot or workshop stuff, my instructor always, always jumps in and helps.

would you like to open a school, or teach more extensively?

Do you plan to train just as consistently as before?

I have always bought cheap to average gis and belts - I figure for black I will finally get some nice shit.


>would you like to open a school, or teach more extensively?


I don't have any aspirations to open an academy, particularly since the area I live in is already oversaturated. If I moved to an area where there wasn't a school within 30 minutes or so or there wasn't a gym I felt comfortable with, then I would probably open a school. But otherwise, I'm good.

I still am always learning new things from my instructor. Getting a black belt won't change that and motivate me to leave.


>
>Do you plan to train just as consistently as before?
>
>


Yeah, I'll maintain the same schedule as long as I can. I train 2-5x/week.

excellent quality. Embroidering was a lil pricey but I figured since it'd probably be the belt I wear til I die in, it might as well be nice.

http://www.eosinpanther.com/

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...They did it by killing those who opposed them...unknown

and being more comfortable there. Over the last 2 months of playing more guard, I would say I dont have a good guard, but I have figured out how to get to recovery guards. I can get passed and be a lot more proactive finding and underhook or getting underneath my opponent to get to half or deep half.

Still a lot of work to do there.

In terms of guard, in my mind I have a map of where I want to be

Closed Guard
- collar choke
- armbar
- triangle
-hip bump
-back take
(I can do all these, but need to tighten them up technically).

Once they stand, sleeve grips to Day 1 sweep, or Leandro Lo Mermaid sweep

If i have to open my legs then I try to get to DLR. If I can get DlR im trying to get the DLR x hook in. Im more and more comfortable with DLRX as my strongest guard...but of course the battle is getting there.


Sometimes in training when I get the DLRX inm, guys just sit and let me come up...which kind of sucks. I find at MGA people still play guard more so sometimes I try to play guard and guys wont let me lo. My instinct is to just come up on top.




On top I love to half guard smash pass. Its my best move, but Im trying to add some variety to it. At the beinning of the roll im trying to control your hips to either side and go to work. If I cant get you to half, I can get you to butterfly and work from there. There's a skip leg drag to dope mount I've hit a couple times, that's a nice option 2 from the halfguartd pressure pass, and also getting around to the back side.

Ive also been playing a lot with leandro Lo passing from DLR. Stuffing the DLR hook, spamming for an underhook on that side and using active postinbg and pressure to get past.


I need to refine my closed guard and spider/lasso guard passing.... but Not enough guys are playing it on me


Im working with a few different finishes right now from side control...sharpening my north south and looking for farside armbars

Ive spent a lot of time with a lapel choke I learned from Bernardo, and I still hit it a lot, but I want to add some variety here.



I need to work on my standup in a major way too if I continue want to compete :(


>Bottom Game:
>
>- old school butterfly guard sweeps
>- transitioning to X-guard and subs from X
>- lasso guard and getting to omoplatas from it
>
>Top game:
>
>- leg drags
>- taking the back
>
>the main thing for me is the timing of everything. I'm a hair
>slower than more seasoned black belts (and younger, more
>athletic dudes)
>
>Competition:
>- pushing myself to my mental and physical edge and trying to
>find more in the tank
>- finding the guys who give me the worst time at the end of a
>sparring session and having them push me to the point of
>wanting to quit
>
>I got complacent right after getting promoted to black but now
>I got the hunger back. I also came to understand fully that
>there are no bad training days regardless of if you're the
>hammer, the nail or the wood being nailed.

oh and im doing more nogi and actually starting to enjoy it

He's 22 but he has been building up to this for years.

Hes an MMA guy? what promotions has he fought in?

Hasn't fought in promotions, but has trained locally with cats that do. Wrestled in high school, had a great Sifu, got up to Brown belt then his trifling ass mama sabotaged the shit and wouldn't pay for classes. Took him with me to Capoeira. He is serious about it. Been trying to get him to head west for years, and he finally went last week.

Covers BJJ in the Southeast and is likely expanding its focus nationally very soon. My boy founded it and I understand it to get rave reviews from dedicated practionners and big-name guests.

http://www.dirtywhitebelt.com/

Nice, Ive listened to some of their episodes. Werent you thinking about training forr awhile? Was it through this friend?

torn rotator cuff and bicep (from yoga!) probably put paid to that idea forever, though. now i won't do anything with that shoulder that i don't feel completely comfortable with.

yea jiujitsu on a bad shoulder is TOUGH


damn man wtf kind of yoga were you doing?


We have a yoga/pilates teacher cme every thursday to our jiujitsu studio to teach a class. She runs that shit hard, and we sometimes jokingly call it Submission Yoga...but never felt close to injuring myself like that

Culminating with 3.5 hour sessions and 12 hour weekends during teacher training, which progressed to starting a daily ashtanga practice while approaching 40. That’s way too many chatarangas and a recipe for a repetive stress injuries. Morale of the story: intelligence doesn’t keep one from being really fucking stupid

didnt have a single point scored on him.

I wouldve liked to see Matheus vs Craig Jones, but im happier Matheus got the W

Love the tight (upper body) but Dynamic hip movement passing hes been using for the last year or so. Hopefully he can get after Lo this year and win Worlds/

>Love the tight (upper body) but Dynamic hip movement

It's funny cause Craig Jones did a seminar at Masterskya and so the lesson was going over a heel hook set-up he taught off the g-roll when I went on Saturday (bro by the way I felt like I was cheating on my wife learning heel hooks for the first time). Everybody is on a big Craig Jones high based on his recent performances and to be honest I thought he would be going to the finals too.

I know Matheus is a fucking savage and had a good chance to win Group B, but he exceeded my expectations. He was by far the most old school in his progress-through-positions approach and the fact that he actually went for takedowns, but he was also super wrestley. From how he looked during his really impressive run at EBI to how he looked at Kasai, his style is just way more grinding now. His transitions are still super fast, though.

>
>>Love the tight (upper body) but Dynamic hip movement
>
>It's funny cause Craig Jones did a seminar at Masterskya and
>so the lesson was going over a heel hook set-up he taught off
>the g-roll when I went on Saturday (bro by the way I felt like
>I was cheating on my wife learning heel hooks for the first
>time). Everybody is on a big Craig Jones high based on his
>recent performances and to be honest I thought he would be
>going to the finals too.
>

You went to that? How many other celebs or MGA guys? I saw eddie and Ottavia were there. Craig is good, but he gets lots of social media love like Keenan because he is...WHITE.

Mike perez is good though. He gamed that fight right to win. It sucks cause imo he was running a lot of it, but it wasnt blatant enough to lose.



>I know Matheus is a fucking savage and had a good chance to
>win Group B, but he exceeded my expectations. He was by far
>the most old school in his progress-through-positions approach
>and the fact that he actually went for takedowns, but he was
>also super wrestley. From how he looked during his really
>impressive run at EBI to how he looked at Kasai, his style is
>just way more grinding now. His transitions are still super
>fast, though.


Yea group B was so much easier once DJ jackson pulled out. I was mad the non-Shawn Williams dude was acting like Matheus passed and stalled. He would pass and guys would just shell up. I was glad he looked good on the feet. At pans (albeit in the Gi) he was getting beat on teh feet a lot

I think the seminar was the week prior

>Mike perez is good though. He gamed that fight right to win.
>It sucks cause imo he was running a lot of it, but it wasnt
>blatant enough to lose.

For sure he did.

>Yea group B was so much easier once DJ jackson pulled out. I
>was mad the non-Shawn Williams dude was acting like Matheus
>passed and stalled. He would pass and guys would just shell
>up. I was glad he looked good on the feet. At pans (albeit in
>the Gi) he was getting beat on teh feet a lot

Yeah that was laughable about the stalling insinuations. Most aggressive guy in the tournament.

I have a feeling the Sub Only crowd vs. the IBJJF crowd is just going to not put emphasis on takedowns or even sweeps as much. I rolled with a really good purple on Saturday from 10th Planet in PA and when I swept him he was like 'oh yeah I just give up sweeps I don't care about points' and he was really into sub-only reflecting real life etc. Obviously with strikes IBJJF is already building real life into the points and you should definitely work NOT to get swept whenever possible, but it's just bizarre people's games will be so different based on what rule-set they train for.

how did you choose? Closest location?

That space is absolutely beautiful. I want to live there lol.

From all Ive heard Kenny is a good coach.

i moved to westwood this past weekend. plus what T Reynolds was saying about how it's a BJJ specific gym rather than an MMA type of place, seems more focused

Great location over near Sawtelle and a cool aesthetic they got going on. Also cool that Kenny Florian is an MMA guy that opened a pure jiujitsu school rather than an MMA gym. Seems like a guy that will emphasize a good school culture. Also a big plus that they offer a judo class. Take advantage of that!

LOl 4 submissions in 5 matches.

The 1st 3 subs

Armbar, Anke Lock, NS choke....all different parts of the body


Beat Yago De Souza in the final...


Its Worlds Season!!!

It was really crazy how long he held that NS with the arm in then adjusted to get the pressure the way he wanted it.

he was just so patient. Good lesson for me there...to not rush it. I actually had a similar position today and my arm was held. I thought to myself "what did marcos do" and just waited till I freed my hand...then settled for the choke.

In a 5 min training round though, sometimes you dont have that much time.

The pressure there mustve been insane. When the dude got up he was rubbing his head and maybe tearing up a bit.

Marcos was teaching

Every round he would just tap them with pressure from side control lol

I'd like to think I wouldn't tap to his pressure but I probably would

https://www.instagram.com/p/BifUL8RFQLJ/?taken-by=hanafishersilva
armbar from guard pull

NS choke in two parts
https://www.instagram.com/p/BicapGdFzgC/?taken-by=hanafishersilva
The setup
https://www.instagram.com/p/BicbEKOl_b8/?taken-by=hanafishersilva
the finish

https://www.instagram.com/p/BicZTm3F0Xa/?taken-by=hanafishersilva
Ankle lock

Opening Round Armbar
https://www.instagram.com/p/BicRmf2FyBH/?taken-by=hanafishersilva
(dont blink)

What it is on, when it is coming out, etc.

I'm not huge on DVDs but I love both of his.

I also got the Eddie Cummings seminar on Digitsu, and it's pretty good.

I know in the gym he's been working on a ton of cool bolos and backtakes with Gianni and a couple of the really good brown belts at the gym.

He just shouted out Matt Darcy's new Iron Maiden Back Control set on IG, which I promptly bought this morning. I hadn't heard of him before but he runs Guerrilla BJJ and is a 2nd degree Camarillo bb. It's good so far.

But yeah I love the 1/2 DVD. So far I've only worked on the most basic 2 or 3 half guard set-ups and sweeps while sparring but it's been pretty awesome revisiting 1/2 over and over again as you try out the techniques in live sparring. the Pressure Passing dvd I haven't really drilled and worked on as much. I'm going to try to start drilling some more to work out these techniques before classes.

Did you watch Kasai 3? What did you think?

I've gone over/drilled the Pressure Passing material many times, but 1/2 only a bit. I like 1/2, though.

I saw that Iron Maiden back control, too, but didn't know that guy. I know Dave and Dan have interesting back mount and guard techniques, so not surprised to hear he is a Camarillo black belt.

Haven't watched Kasai 3. Wasn't surprised one bit to read about about Paul Harris.

90% of my YouTube/internet grappling viewing these days is wrestling, judo, and MMA grappling. That's where my head and game has been. I've been working on takedowns and non-sport oriented BJJ a lot the past 1.5 years.

sounds like they are keeping the release date and full content pretty quiet. All I heard was the same thing I later saw you can find online, that it's a conceptual dvd. Weird that it's been like 7 months since they finished filming, but Digitsu doesn't even have a release date.

clip you probably saw: https://www.facebook.com/DigitsuOnline/videos/1908690492505621/

Shawn has been busy lately but hopefully he can weigh in.

With the pressure passing, I still find myself more comfortable using some speed or athleticism to pass rather than heavy shoulders, hips, head positioning that is the bread and butter of pressure passing. Demian Maia showed a great detail to use shoulder pressure to get out of a pesky quarter-guard at his seminar though, so I've been using that. It's funny because it's the guys that have a glacier like, monstrous-grip, slow advance passing technique that are killing me in training recently.

I've been doing a wrestling class at the academy and it's improved my comfort with takedown techniques. Head positioning, shot / re-shot, levels of defense (head, hands, forearms, hips, and escapes / tricks).

Something I noticed with some of our seasoned brown belts is that they focus less on sport and get back to the old school aspects. I rolled with one recently and he was showing multiple wrist locks during positional sparring where I was on the back (without finishing) and also slowly applied a knee on neck submission. Grade A in-the-streets stuff.

Kasai 3 was cool to attend and the round robin was pretty fun. I thought the Calestine / Grippo decision was lame, but I guess JC had more attacks. Grippo outworked him and out-positioned him which should still count towards the decision, but whatever.

>
>With the pressure passing, I still find myself more
>comfortable using some speed or athleticism to pass rather
>than heavy shoulders, hips, head positioning that is the bread
>and butter of pressure passing.


I started out a pressure passer, became a mobility passer, went back to pressure passing, and now do a hybrid version of both. The goal for me is be able to alternate btwn the two styles, so the opponent isn't able to predict what route you will take, especially if you mix passing to both sides, rather than just one. It can be overwhelming for the guard player.


Demian Maia showed a great
>detail to use shoulder pressure to get out of a pesky
>quarter-guard at his seminar though, so I've been using that.
>It's funny because it's the guys that have a glacier like,
>monstrous-grip, slow advance passing technique that are
>killing me in training recently.


That's the point - pressure passing drains the opponent, and also utilizes the least amount of energy for the passer, when properly done. By the time you pass, the opponent is exhausted, and you are still fresh and can proceed quickly to attacking the submission. This is one way to keep ahead of the opponent.



>
>I've been doing a wrestling class at the academy and it's
>improved my comfort with takedown techniques. Head
>positioning, shot / re-shot, levels of defense (head, hands,
>forearms, hips, and escapes / tricks).


Nice! I have a feeling you would give me a hard time.


>
>Something I noticed with some of our seasoned brown belts is
>that they focus less on sport and get back to the old school
>aspects. I rolled with one recently and he was showing
>multiple wrist locks during positional sparring where I was on
>the back (without finishing) and also slowly applied a knee on
>neck submission. Grade A in-the-streets stuff.
>


For me, and I also wonder how much this is true for others, but there is definitely a positive correlation btwn the old-school game and aging and accumulation of injuries. I've been doing this for a little over 8 years (ages 28-37 in November), with only 2 extended breaks that weren't even all that long. So all that mat time and the natural aging process has definitely molded my propensity towards old-school/old-man BJJ.

Also, I feel like I've seen so many BJJ trends come and go, but the basics/old-school game has always stayed the same, and for most folks (i.e. non-pros) that is probably the best and safest BJJ path that you can ever be on. One that you can do for the rest of your jiu-jitsu "life". Plus, it's fun, bc the old-school game is probably the most ruthless and imposing. : )

>The goal for me is be able to alternate btwn the two
>styles, so the opponent isn't able to predict what route you
>will take, especially if you mix passing to both sides, rather
>than just one. It can be overwhelming for the guard player.

>That's the point - pressure passing drains the opponent, and
>also utilizes the least amount of energy for the passer, when
>properly done. By the time you pass, the opponent is
>exhausted, and you are still fresh and can proceed quickly to
>attacking the submission. This is one way to keep ahead of the
>opponent.

>For me, and I also wonder how much this is true for others,
>but there is definitely a positive correlation btwn the
>old-school game and aging and accumulation of injuries. I've
>been doing this for a little over 8 years (ages 28-37 in
>November), with only 2 extended breaks that weren't even all
>that long. So all that mat time and the natural aging process
>has definitely molded my propensity towards old-school/old-man
>BJJ.
>
>Also, I feel like I've seen so many BJJ trends come and go,
>but the basics/old-school game has always stayed the same, and
>for most folks (i.e. non-pros) that is probably the best and
>safest BJJ path that you can ever be on. One that you can do
>for the rest of your jiu-jitsu "life". Plus, it's fun, bc the
>old-school game is probably the most ruthless and imposing.
>: )

haha, only a jiujitsu guy would say fun, ruthless and imposing in the same sentence

I'm 37 myself, so I'm definitely working to keep myself healthy actively. Another old head who is a beast just put me up on turmeric which I just started taking along with Triflex (glucosamine and chondroitin).

That's impressive that you've only had a couple breaks over a pretty long career.

>
>I'm 37 myself, so I'm definitely working to keep myself
>healthy actively. Another old head who is a beast just put me
>up on turmeric which I just started taking along with Triflex
>(glucosamine and chondroitin).



I've been thinking about turmeric. I've done BJJ with and without fish oil, and I definitely notice a difference when I am off it.


>
>That's impressive that you've only had a couple breaks over a
>pretty long career.
>


One 4 month break when I switched gyms (...gym drama, of course), and one 6 month period where I would only go once every couple weeks or so (due to having our first child, while working a third shift job).

Arm drags and a basics series.. in case u missed the drop.

The gym I'm going with does a month-long, 2x/week grappling basics class geared toward new folks.

After that you can start attending other classes/open mat.

Hopefully my fat, out of shape ass makes it. The class I observed was not super intense and after warm-up was all drilling a sequence with focus on technique and class size was pretty small (like 10-12 people).

Congrats on getting in there

The aim is retention so I'm sure it will be manageable.

Is there live rolling in the basics class or just technique?

I started real slow myself, 1x a week just technique no rolling, then 2x a week, then have been going 3x a week for the last 3 years.

here is the spot:

www.elevatemmacademy.com

i don't know if there is any live rolling in the basics class. i didn't see any when i visited and it was the second to last class of the cycle. the class basically just worked on learning the sequence for sweep after the warm-up was completed. i would be surprised if there was any live rolling at all.

owner, head instructor of the school is a BB under Robert Drysdale and i stayed to watch him teach the gi class after basics. really appreciated his teaching style. space is limited and the mats were crowded during gi and the rolling class after that.

thanks for the support will keep y'all posted

A Drysdale black belt is as official as it gets.

I'm guessing you are going for the Basecamp classes, but do they only actually roll in the Rolling classes? That would be interesting.

but looking at their site it doenst say yes, doesnt say no.

Maybe some real basic supervised rolling

Welcome to the Tribe, for our newest members we have designed a program to give the true essentials for starting your journey. Students will be exposed to the fundamentals of grappling, with an emphasis on correct body mechanics and continual progression.


Throughout this course students will learn:
Basic solo ground movements
Positions on the ground
How to takedown your opponent and prevent takedowns
Controlling your opponent with proper technique and leverage
Escaping from bottom position
How to grapple in an efficient manner


This course will serve as an on ramp for new students, where they can expect to receive greater individual attention as they prepare for the consistent classes.

>here is the spot:
>
>www.elevatemmacademy.com
>


I've rolled with Cody before; he's talented. I've never been to his gym, but I've heard lots of good things about him/it. If I'm being honest, I've heard some not so nice things, too. However, that's pretty much any BJJ gym, especially around the Triangle.

I've also stopped in at the Lepri affiliate you may have been interested in and trained with Tony. Tony is very good also. Same situation I just mentioned. Good and bad. Unfortunately, that comes with doing BJJ. Lots of egos and machismo.

I should say I've never seen either Tony or Cody teach, so I can't speak to their ability.

If you ever make it to Durham to train, feel free to hit me up.

n/m

I dont know if you went with the Lucas Lepri affiliate, but man I love Lucas. probably my favorite modern competitor. he's so good from everywhere.

Also, impulse who is our resident upper belt is from NC I think so he may have a good pulse (no pun) on the schools there.


Looks like you found something. For someone as athletic as you with combat sports experience, Im gonna guess the foundations class (while great for fundamental and techniques) will feel boring for you in terms of cardio and getting an actual workout in. I know thats how I felt doing fundamental only.There was a guy kinda like you that was fuckin all us true white belts up and teaching us shit lol. appreciated the safe space to not get thrown into live rolls. Inevitably though when you start rolling, you will get fucked up and tapped left and right.

all good homie. don't even worry about it

I ended up choosing Elevate because it's so much closer and didn't want to deal with traffic being a potential blocker. I visited and got a good feel from the gym, Cody and the community.

plus, i appreciated the Foundations type approach as an intro. and my background no longer applies so i am legit nervous about even the rudimentary conditioning aspects. plus i'm nursing sedentary lifestyle/desk job injuries so I'm good on doing a crazy warm-up or any of that shit until I get back toward some modicum of fitness.

i'll definitely keep you posted. thanks to you and the rest of the folks for your contributions to this post

really nice guy too when he visited MGA

I love his nogi instructional

No questions asked, have to go to Lucas'

with grappling. Let Trey, Impulse and I know....

LOl i guess you can try Sambo too....

part of me says ok considering, but could he have done more?

I mean he took a lot less damage in GNP than a lot of "better" grapplers. He did a good job of dirty grappling -- holding the cage and gloves to keep himself relatively safe. His TD defense wasnt as good as I thought it would with his athleticism and hip movement, but he kinda slipped away once or twice I think. he got out of that Kimura which some people are saying Khabib let go ---- but then he made like the pre-white belt mistake of just getting frustrated and giving up his back. I mean I dont know what it feels like to be punched while grappling, and when you are getting punched, turtling seems like a nice option im sure....

On the flip side, Khabibs pressure and transitions between positions is so good.

LOL this thread is gold

https://www.reddit.com/r/bjj/comments/9meons/stuff_nongrapplers_have_said_about_khabib_vs/

letting go of that low single. He stuffed a couple shots well in the third I believe.

I'm surprised he didn't limp leg the way Ragin Al had so much success doing, or use lateral movement + sprawls.

But yeah first round he wasn't even gassing himself under khabib, and didn't take much punishment. Second round he caught some big shots but nowhere near Edson Barboza levels. And not for nothing but as hard as Khabib throws those, why is he not knocking more people out in GNP?

he definitely got himself out of the kimura, I also saw that dumb comment that khabib let him live so he could make him suffer more lol

Yeah, I saw that thread on reddit. Thank God the resident MMA expert hasn't come over to my desk to shower me with his knowledge yet, but it'll get here. He'll say something outlandish that seems totally logical to him on what Conor could have done differently smh lol.

>He did a good job of dirty grappling --
>holding the cage and gloves to keep himself relatively safe.

all of this was illegal and Herb Dean should have stopped McGregor when this was going down, especially the grabbing of the gloves. If I'm not mistaken, McGregor grabbed the cage with his hands and his toes on more than one occasion.

The only times he was successful was when he cheated. Which was almost every minute of every grappling exchange. (What the hell is Dillon coaching him on? Conor's grappling looks about the same as before he started training with Dillon.)

The small amount of success he had was bc he a) grabbed Khabib's shorts, b) grabbed Khabib's gloves, or c) kept his guard down when standing. And that led to him getting dropped.

There was just basic shit Conor was doing wrong. I think after the Diaz submission and this one by Khabib, I agree that Conor looks for ways out of the fight when he is losing. I mean, he gave up his back way too easy both submissions.

Gordon looked unstoppable at Quintet 3 by the way. But he basically said Conor's jiujitsu was a lot better than he's been given credit for, even though he still can't defend the back but I think he was broken by that point, didn't manage to sweep or threaten with any subs but mitigated damage, recovered guard after mounted, conserved energy etc. he didn't absorb as much damage as guys who are less comfortable on the ground like edson because he made small adjustments, recovered his hooks, overhooked / underhooked the arms. If you take this Conor and put him up against Mendes again I think he looks much better on the ground. He already proved his improvement against Nate the second time around, and I think he will have improved even more by this point.

Tony for sure will give Khabib more problems, on the feet and on the ground, i think.

I think you also gotta separate sport from fight a bit. Not to get all Gracie, but maybe you're right in terms of sport bjj there's a lot more improvement to be made. But in a fight BJJ perspective... dirty grappling is more allowed and acceptab;le while using basic bjj principles and techniques

I didnt see this last one yet, but love the format and read the PBP recap

>Gordon looked unstoppable at Quintet 3 by the way. But he
>basically said Conor's jiujitsu was a lot better than he's
>been given credit for,


Eh, that strikes me as opportunistic and Gordon angling to get in Conor's good graces with a comment like that.


even though he still can't defend the
>back but I think he was broken by that point, didn't manage to
>sweep


I've watched the fight 4 times now. I don't recall Conor even attempting a sweep or sub, and his escapes did not look good. I don't think he ever even got close to getting back up after each takedown.


>or threaten with any subs but mitigated damage,


I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this, if Conor wasn't getting hit, he was probably hooking Khabib's gloves. When he wasn't able to do that, he almost got finished (round 2).


>recovered guard after mounted,


I remember him doing that once. I think Khabib is fine with not passing, which is how partially how Conor got his guard back. Khabib is not afraid to strike in the guard.



conserved energy etc. he didn't
>absorb as much damage as guys who are less comfortable on the
>ground like edson because he made small adjustments, recovered
>his hooks, overhooked / underhooked the arms.


I don't remember Conor getting either overhooks or underhooks. I will say, at least Edson was able to get back up and (I think) break away a few times from Khabib, despite getting taken back down again. But keep in mind the Edson fight was 3 rounds. After watching the Iaquinta and MsGregor fights, you can clearly see Khabib does pace himself in the 5 rounders. The 3 round fights he goes ham, and is definitely inflicting a lot of damage faster.


If you take this
>Conor and put him up against Mendes again I think he looks
>much better on the ground.


I think Mendes that does a full camp beats Conor, especially now that we've seen the blueprint.


He already proved his improvement
>against Nate the second time around, and I think he will have
>improved even more by this point.


I didn't think he looked better against Nate the second time. He just came with a game plan and stuck to it instead of throwing everything he had behind the left hand. Essentially his/Kavanaugh's game plan was the JacksonWink point-fight game plan. Conor even turn and ran like some of the JacksonWink fighters do.

>Eh, that strikes me as opportunistic and Gordon angling to get
>in Conor's good graces with a comment like that.

Oh, he openly angled for a job right after the comments. But if he was gonna knock Danis' coaching he would have done it like AJ Agazarm did and just basically said what Conor did was trash.

>I've watched the fight 4 times now. I don't recall Conor even
>attempting a sweep or sub, and his escapes did not look good.
>I don't think he ever even got close to getting back up after
>each takedown.

You are correct. He did not a once. He got his feet out of the legwrap and reestablished leg hooks, elevated. He got back up a couple times after takedowns though, but maybe you mean getting back up immediately. I've only watched it twice. To me, he didn't try a tripod sweep (he's hit one in a fight against diaz) in round 2 where he was getting bombed on but managing the hips of Khabib with his feet, because his hands were covering up so he couldn't create a push pull with his hands. He couldn't execute stuff he obviously knows how to do either because Khabib's base is crazy or he was frozen up.


>I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this, if Conor
>wasn't getting hit, he was probably hooking Khabib's gloves.
>When he wasn't able to do that, he almost got finished (round
>2).

I don't think he was hooking gloves other than before Khabib started complaining. So round 1 I think went well for him. He took almost no damage.

>>recovered guard after mounted,
>
>
>I remember him doing that once. I think Khabib is fine with
>not passing, which is how partially how Conor got his guard
>back. Khabib is not afraid to strike in the guard.

It's not so much an issue of not passing it's that he recovered guard after being mounted which under khabib is a fight-ending position. I think he had half guard (not a good one since he was flattened) but he had good foot and leg positioning for a lot of the fight, he just didn't balance with good upper body control against Khabib because Khabib is so good.


>conserved energy etc. he didn't
>>absorb as much damage as guys who are less comfortable on
>the
>>ground like edson because he made small adjustments,
>recovered
>>his hooks, overhooked / underhooked the arms.
>
>
>I don't remember Conor getting either overhooks or underhooks.
>I will say, at least Edson was able to get back up and (I
>think) break away a few times from Khabib, despite getting
>taken back down again. But keep in mind the Edson fight was 3
>rounds. After watching the Iaquinta and MsGregor fights, you
>can clearly see Khabib does pace himself in the 5 rounders.
>The 3 round fights he goes ham, and is definitely inflicting a
>lot of damage faster.

That's a fair point, but Conor was also conserving energy on bottom due to the length of the fight. I know people laughed at Dom's comments, but I 100% believe Conor was letting Khabib tire himself out to a large extent. Khabib had almost every takedown thwarted by Iaquinta's limp leg. I know Al is a excellent wrestler so maybe Conor couldn't recreate that skillset under the time frame he had but he stuffed 2 or 3 takedowns straight up, just like he did against Diaz in the second fight. He almost escaped the first but couldn't de-incentivize Khabib's grip on his leg.

>If you take this
>>Conor and put him up against Mendes again I think he looks
>>much better on the ground.
>
>
>I think Mendes that does a full camp beats Conor, especially
>now that we've seen the blueprint.

I think wrestling is clearly Conor's kryptonite

>He already proved his improvement
>>against Nate the second time around, and I think he will
>have
>>improved even more by this point.
>
>
>I didn't think he looked better against Nate the second time.
>He just came with a game plan and stuck to it instead of
>throwing everything he had behind the left hand. Essentially
>his/Kavanaugh's game plan was the JacksonWink point-fight game
>plan. Conor even turn and ran like some of the JacksonWink
>fighters do.

People forget Diaz couldn't dominate him grappling because he couldn't get the fight to where he wanted it (not for lack of trying). Conor outboxed him straight up for the first two rounds, and then came back in the last rounds after Diaz started to turn it around like the first fight. If it DOES go to the ground I don't think Diaz' top pressure is strong enough to completely nullify Conor's jiujitsu like it did in this fight.

SO big question
Does Tony's elbows from bottom / rubber guard / funky 10th planet game give Khabib trouble?

Beat him... probably not.

Tony really pressures forward, which will give Khabib the easy takedown. I think Tony's guard is good, but I don't think it is better than Khabib's top game.

I think both of them will take a lot of damage, but I think ultimately Khabib wins. Tony's defense is not so good and he has gotten dropped a few times now.

I do think that if Tony wins it won't be from the guard, but it will be a Darce off a takedown.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bjj/comments/9miko1/ufc_vet_cole_miller_is_looking_to_hire_an/

Dont know about Warner Robbins....near Macon, military base...so you might get a crowd you dont really want to fuck with

Is Quinn Mulhern training at MGA now? I've seen him there in a few pictures on social media. I was thinking he was at 50/50 now, but I guess he moved on.

He's a really good guy. I trained with him for a month in Santa Fe back in 2012. Him and almost all of the other folks I met at GB Santa Fe were great folks and good jiujitsu, too.

Oh, one other thing - I am in the process of sending out PhD apps. I'm applying to a lot of schools, but NYU, Columbia, and John Jay are on my list. I would really like to go to NYU or John Jay. Who knows, maybe I'll be in your area permanently this time next year. Also, I was in Manhattan (stayed in the Lower East Side) a month ago for an overnight trip. I really wanted to stop in MGA, but there wasn't enough time.

>Is Quinn Mulhern training at MGA now? I've seen him there in
>a few pictures on social media. I was thinking he was at 50/50
>now, but I guess he moved on.

He is at MGA full time and he did come from 50/50. his brother is actually Paul Schreiner, not sure if he moved up because of that or for other reasons, but he's been a great addition to our gym. I wonder if he is originally from that same Santa Cruz lineage as his brother or not.

>He's a really good guy. I trained with him for a month in
>Santa Fe back in 2012. Him and almost all of the other folks I
>met at GB Santa Fe were great folks and good jiujitsu, too.

Was in a group of four with him once (basically a shark tank positional sparring session for back control). He was so helpful with how to defend the choke and just with general tips that I still use. That's aside from being really cool as a staff member.

>Oh, one other thing - I am in the process of sending out PhD
>apps. I'm applying to a lot of schools, but NYU, Columbia, and
>John Jay are on my list. I would really like to go to NYU or
>John Jay. Who knows, maybe I'll be in your area permanently
>this time next year. Also, I was in Manhattan (stayed in the
>Lower East Side) a month ago for an overnight trip. I really
>wanted to stop in MGA, but there wasn't enough time.

Shit! That's cool! I went to NYU undergrad and my wife went to John Jay. She loved it. Wish you good luck on your applications and maybe one day you can join MGA! lol

or at least visit when you are in town.

>>Is Quinn Mulhern training at MGA now? I've seen him there
>in
>>a few pictures on social media. I was thinking he was at
>50/50
>>now, but I guess he moved on.
>
>He is at MGA full time and he did come from 50/50. his brother
>is actually Paul Schreiner, not sure if he moved up because of
>that or for other reasons, but he's been a great addition to
>our gym. I wonder if he is originally from that same Santa
>Cruz lineage as his brother or not.


Wait, what? Paul and Quinn are brothers? I had no idea. Funny bc you know I am big fan of Paul and his game, and I admired Quinn's a lot, too.

It's possible Quinn may remember me without seeing my face. It's worth a shot. You could mention my name, Justin; I was a blue belt at the time. Light-skinned, beard, built pretty much like Daniel Cormier. I was in SF for a month back in 2012, and my wife came out for a week and she trained there, too. Quinn (and Robert) were two of the kindest people I've met in jiujitsu and both are very talented.

I remember one time Quinn played Radiohead during sparring at open mat and I was cracking up about it. Like he played one of the really slow, depressing songs from In Rainbows, and I thought it was hilarious. I remember stopping mid-roll to look around the room to see if anyone noticed, but I was the only one.

I mentioned it to him in good fun a couple times, but I think he may have thought I was picking on him. Either way, he might remember that, too.

Of course, if you bring me up you get to have the awkward conversation of how we know each other from OKP and ... well, I'll let you decide that one.


>
>>He's a really good guy. I trained with him for a month in
>>Santa Fe back in 2012. Him and almost all of the other folks
>I
>>met at GB Santa Fe were great folks and good jiujitsu, too.
>
>Was in a group of four with him once (basically a shark tank
>positional sparring session for back control). He was so
>helpful with how to defend the choke and just with general
>tips that I still use. That's aside from being really cool as
>a staff member.


Yep, same. He introduced me to the N/S choke and the monoplata, and I still use his tips. I imagine he fit right in at MGA with his game. N/S is huge part of my game today.


>
>>Oh, one other thing - I am in the process of sending out PhD
>>apps. I'm applying to a lot of schools, but NYU, Columbia,
>and
>>John Jay are on my list. I would really like to go to NYU or
>>John Jay. Who knows, maybe I'll be in your area permanently
>>this time next year. Also, I was in Manhattan (stayed in the
>>Lower East Side) a month ago for an overnight trip. I really
>>wanted to stop in MGA, but there wasn't enough time.
>
>Shit! That's cool! I went to NYU undergrad and my wife went to
>John Jay. She loved it. Wish you good luck on your
>applications and maybe one day you can join MGA! lol
>
>or at least visit when you are in town.
>


Yeah, I'm applying to like 15 schools or so, but really hoping to get accepted by NYU, John Jay, UCLA, or Howard. I would love to live in NYC.

Even if I don't get accepted, I'll stop in MGA my next trip to NYC.

>Wait, what? Paul and Quinn are brothers? I had no idea. Funny
>bc you know I am big fan of Paul and his game, and I admired
>Quinn's a lot, too.

yep. official brothers they got pics as kids together. the way they move on the mat even outside of rolling is similar

>It's possible Quinn may remember me without seeing my face.
>It's worth a shot. You could mention my name, Justin; I was a
>blue belt at the time. Light-skinned, beard, built pretty much
>like Daniel Cormier. I was in SF for a month back in 2012, and
>my wife came out for a week and she trained there, too. Quinn
>(and Robert) were two of the kindest people I've met in
>jiujitsu and both are very talented.
>
>I remember one time Quinn played Radiohead during sparring at
>open mat and I was cracking up about it. Like he played one of
>the really slow, depressing songs from In Rainbows, and I
>thought it was hilarious. I remember stopping mid-roll to look
>around the room to see if anyone noticed, but I was the only
>one.

Man we got some interesting playlists at MGA, so this doesn't even sound weird to me. We got Marcelo playing "if you gonna be dumb" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Mn6V1IzHw. Paul playing Kodak Black and French. Satava playing The Misfits, Matheus playing Kevin Gates, and Philzhino playing 90s dancehall. I'm sure Quinn will get control of the playlist soon enough.

>I mentioned it to him in good fun a couple times, but I think
>he may have thought I was picking on him. Either way, he might
>remember that, too.
>
>Of course, if you bring me up you get to have the awkward
>conversation of how we know each other from OKP and ... well,
>I'll let you decide that one.

I'll wait til you drop in to relive this one with yall lol


>Yep, same. He introduced me to the N/S choke and the
>monoplata, and I still use his tips. I imagine he fit right in
>at MGA with his game. N/S is huge part of my game today.

One of the hardest to master but most devastating subs

>
>Yeah, I'm applying to like 15 schools or so, but really hoping
>to get accepted by NYU, John Jay, UCLA, or Howard. I would
>love to live in NYC.

My man was a assistant professor UCLA a lot of my people were living in Delta Terrace freshman year and I grew up a Bruins fan. Another good choice man.

>Even if I don't get accepted, I'll stop in MGA my next trip to
>NYC.

You definitely should. Especially cause Quinn is at the front desk.

Do you know if anyone receives a tuition discount for any reason?

It's very unlikely we would be able to afford full tuition for myself and my wife. If I get admitted to NYU (I know, cart before horse) we would be living on her salary as a teacher and mine as a doctoral student. So paying $450-$500/ month is probably not going to happen.

If you don't know the answer to this, who would be good to talk to about it?

>Do you know if anyone receives a tuition discount for any
>reason?
>
>It's very unlikely we would be able to afford full tuition for
>myself and my wife. If I get admitted to NYU (I know, cart
>before horse) we would be living on her salary as a teacher
>and mine as a doctoral student. So paying $450-$500/ month is
>probably not going to happen.
>
>If you don't know the answer to this, who would be good to
>talk to about it?
>
>
I know it happens,, but I think it is rare— especially for people not already in the circle somehow. Does your professor or his lineage have any direct line to Marcelo?

I feel like one of the weaknesses about MGA there is it is run very much like a business. They won’t hook people up or provide discounts just because.

On the flip side... unity just moved to a bigger space. They are very close to NYU and Murilo and Ana are open to those convos. I think you can off the bat pay around 300 a month for both of you without explaining hardship more.

You also have another option— masterskya in Brooklyn, but I’d start with unity.

>>
>>
>I know it happens,, but I think it is rare— especially for
>people not already in the circle somehow. Does your professor
>or his lineage have any direct line to Marcelo?
>





>I feel like one of the weaknesses about MGA there is it is run
>very much like a business. They won’t hook people up or
>provide discounts just because.


Dang, I thought all gyms had a law enforcement or student discount.


>
>On the flip side... unity just moved to a bigger space. They
>are very close to NYU and Murilo and Ana are open to those
>convos. I think you can off the bat pay around 300 a month for
>both of you without explaining hardship more.


I think that sounds like a great option. Thanks. I might reach out to them in the Spring if things work out.

so while MGA may be out of your comfort zone, you can always drop in but have another gym as your home gym.

Cheapest with best quality is definitely Masterskya (it's half the price of MGA so you guys can both train for the price of one MGA membership). Alex is a nice dude and it seems like they have people dropping in from everywhere. I agree with Shawn that Unity is a better gym but not sure if the price differential is gonna be that much. There's a lot of other gyms in NYC. Clockwork, Birdman, Park Slope BJJ, Dan Covel, I really don't know about prices of any of these, but they're probably less. Considering your experience, I wonder if any of these would be open to you teaching classes in order to receive a discount?





>Do you know if anyone receives a tuition discount for any
>reason?
>
>It's very unlikely we would be able to afford full tuition for
>myself and my wife. If I get admitted to NYU (I know, cart
>before horse) we would be living on her salary as a teacher
>and mine as a doctoral student. So paying $450-$500/ month is
>probably not going to happen.
>
>If you don't know the answer to this, who would be good to
>talk to about it?
>
>

Considering your experience, I wonder if any of
>these would be open to you teaching classes in order to
>receive a discount?
>


I've thought about this, too. Kind of like how if you work at the Y a few hours a week you can get a free membership.

I have already informed my instructor we will be moving next summer (he's pretty bummed out). I think it is possible that he promotes me to black before I leave, so that would definitely help if I decided to look into teaching for a discounted membership. I feel like good-hearted folks know that a PhD student and a teacher wife (with two kids) can't justify $500/month on a hobby/sport, and would work with me on dues. I wouldn't mind paying dues if I had the money, but MGA prices are extreme.

Plus, when I think about how little time I may actually have to train... ugh

I was thinking... since you're so close to black belt, really, would you want to be given the black belt by a certain black belt in NYC, or would you be given it long distance by your long time instructor like sometimes is the case when a student opens a new school in another state, etc., because most likely it's going to happen one way or another during your time in NY.


>I have already informed my instructor we will be moving next
>summer (he's pretty bummed out). I think it is possible that
>he promotes me to black before I leave, so that would
>definitely help if I decided to look into teaching for a
>discounted membership. I feel like good-hearted folks know
>that a PhD student and a teacher wife (with two kids) can't
>justify $500/month on a hobby/sport, and would work with me on
>dues. I wouldn't mind paying dues if I had the money, but MGA
>prices are extreme.

You've obviously been thinking about where you plan to live. If you commute from the boros or NJ, you could probably find a local school that would love another black belt around. But maybe you will take advantage of campus housing in the NYU or John Jay etc. areas. In that case it's not even just MGA but all Manhattan gym prices that are dumb high.

Let me know if you need me to ask around or if I can help with anything man

>I was thinking... since you're so close to black belt,
>really, would you want to be given the black belt by a certain
>black belt in NYC, or would you be given it long distance by
>your long time instructor like sometimes is the case when a
>student opens a new school in another state, etc., because
>most likely it's going to happen one way or another during
>your time in NY.
>
>


I'd rather get promoted to black by my current instructor; even if I did start training at MGA, Unity, or wherever. But I'll worry about that issue if and when I need to.



>>I have already informed my instructor we will be moving next
>>summer (he's pretty bummed out). I think it is possible that
>>he promotes me to black before I leave, so that would
>>definitely help if I decided to look into teaching for a
>>discounted membership. I feel like good-hearted folks know
>>that a PhD student and a teacher wife (with two kids) can't
>>justify $500/month on a hobby/sport, and would work with me
>on
>>dues. I wouldn't mind paying dues if I had the money, but
>MGA
>>prices are extreme.
>
>You've obviously been thinking about where you plan to live.
>If you commute from the boros or NJ, you could probably find a
>local school that would love another black belt around. But
>maybe you will take advantage of campus housing in the NYU or
>John Jay etc. areas. In that case it's not even just MGA but
>all Manhattan gym prices that are dumb high.
>


Yeah, we are planning to stay in grad housing. I think my chances at NYU are decent; John Jay not so much. NYU overall is my #1 choice (Howard, #2), but I'm applying to 16 schools, and I will be looking to take the best offer I get.



>Let me know if you need me to ask around or if I can help with
>anything man
>


I 100% absolutely will, but I will probably wait until Spring when acceptance and rejection letters start rolling.

The other thing I've been thinking a lot about outside moving into grad housing and finding a new BJJ gym is day care. My oldest will be in first grade, but my youngest will be 3, so we have to navigate that. Which I know is a nightmare in Manhattan.

You going Shawn?

https://youtu.be/Xwmd5Epeh68

How prevalent are the QAnon types? Eddie Bravo is obviously the most famous/notorious in that vein. However, i just found out that the school my kid goes to is owned by someone who responds to posts on FB with some wild views - like white privilege is a myth because whites ended slavery, and also seems to be leaning flat earth in response to posts about global warming...

My little man is only 5, and that doesn't come up in class, but I also don't want him around that stuff when he's like 13 and hella impressionable.

Post-edit TLDR;
such a good question I didn't really read your question specific to your situation. I think it's ok to learn a skill from kinda out-there people when there will be benefits, especially if they are good with not beating kids in the head with their bullshit. Also... forgot to mention the nerd factor, the biggest most obvious factor. As Joe Rogan says, you think it's gonna be a bunch of meat-heads at the jiujitsu school, but it's not. It's nerds. Nerd assassins. Nerds = Computers = 4chan = Qanon. So there's that.

----
OK, so let's be honest here, there IS racial disparity in the BJJ world. Jiujitsu does not attract the amount of young black and brown athletes that other sports and martial arts attract, from boxing to even traditional martial arts. TLI had the first African American black belt champion ever, Jamil Hill, just last year (some of the best fighters of Brazilian history have been Black Brazilians though, see Terere, Jacare). It does attract people of all types from everywhere, to be sure, but there are several stigmas to this type of fighting (one: it's done on the ground, two: 'it's men hugging' etc) that give it a shade of being dishonorable, gay, ineffective, cheap, boring whatever, that doesn't rock well with young men's self-image.

There's also a class issue. It's expensive to participate in many places. Although there are more young men of color from the US getting into MMA and jiujitsu, the first wave of Americans picking up the sport from Brazilians in California were to a large extent white. Granted, many were the surfer types that may or may not be classified as liberal, but demographically, this was San Diego (not Southeast), this was Santa Cruz, not particularly diverse places. So already you're not seeing great diversity in it's base within the US, even though it's roots are typically left-leaning culturally, and I would argue, still is. Part of that I'll expound on later with the stoner factor.

So up next, the law enforcement factor. Just in terms of being able to perform their job better (giving the benefit of the doubt here), lots of cops sign up for jiujitsu classes. With the LE culture comes conservatism, right-wingery, Under-Armourism, NY-Postracy, and Giulianihilism, just off GP, but I have never been friendly to police officers (my wife's godbrother came after BJJ) UNTIL I started BJJ. I don't even get into politics with some guys because it's gonna end bad, but just as people and training partners I've come a long way in accepting other people's view points.

Then you have the UFC factor. These are the guys that 'trane UFC, bro'. Now, I love MMA, but I don't love all of its fans. It's kinda self explanatory what kind of bigoted, nationalist (domestic and abroad), mf's might also love the sport. Mix that with a gym that promotes toxic masculinity and you've got problems.

Lastly, the stoner factor, which when conflated with the woke factor, can lead to a rush to know more about the unseen, to understand the universe more deeply, than your more mainstream brethren. This is the corner of the BJJ universe where the Eddie Bravos of the world congregate. In order to avoid this, just don't let them do 10th Planet jiujitsu, is all. In fact, they shouldn't even do any nogi until they complete a year of training in the gi.

It's definitely a school run by a woke youtube stoner who also happens to a world class jiu jitsu player.

I guess as long as my kid is just learning jiu jitsu, i'll roll with it for a few. The second he comes home asking me 'why everyone thinks the earth is round, when you can see that it's flat' he's done with that school, though.

If i decide to train at some point, i might start looking for another school.

We're pretty lucky in that there are a few good options for schools around our area.

There are so many BJJ schools now, no reason to stay at that one, IMO.

First, about me: I work in social science research on race and discrimination in medical care and the social safety net system. As I mentioned in this post, I'm headed back to school to work on a doctorate studying race/discrimination and the police. I am Black, I am a father, and I live in the South. I have long since given up discussing race with almost all White people and I don't try to educate/convert ignorant folks anymore. People who still don't understand the history of people of color in the US, and are vocal about that, get no time with me.

One thing that I've seen that is virtually universal at BJJ gyms: the personality and temperament of the instructor is what the gym's becomes. If you have a macho, asshole instructor, that's what the gym will be. A bunch of macho assholes running around doing macho asshole shit. Likewise, if you have a friendly, welcoming, helpful instructor - friendly, welcoming, helpful gym.

I would not let my kids hang around coaches who are vocal about those kinds of beliefs. BJJ is so culty, and I've seen so many students fall in line with the hive mind nonsense over and over. Kids are so impressionable. When I grew up playing sports, I thought all my coaches were awesome. When I think about them now, I realize they were almost all a bunch of misogynistic, racist, poorly educated assholes.

I wasn't able to separate "my coach, the athlete" from "my coach, the person" when I was younger. I just accepted them holistically. I wouldn't expect my kids to be able to do it either, so I could easily see them falling in line with the gym/instructor. and his or her beliefs.

on the mat. Been almost 20 years.



www.Tupreme.com

who y'all got?

I like Hinger a lot but Lovato is bigger, stronger, more seasoned and just as good if not better no gi. I'm just hoping for a good fight.

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...They did it by killing those who opposed them...unknown

Hinger is tough but I think Lovato will take it

I also like that Lovato is a real martial artist, also partial to the fact he did JKD

I am testing for black belt next month.

Not sure of all the details of the test yet. I will be testing with a teammate, and it sounds like the the process will last about 3 hours.

I expect it to go well, in spite of the stress and grueling nature of it. If my instructor says I'm ready, I believe him.

I've been running to get my cardio up for it.

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...They did it by killing those who opposed them...unknown

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

I'm sure you will kill it

What does your black belt test look like? Is it rolling or stringing together techniques?

The test is next Saturday.

I'm testing with another guy for black. Our testing together is expected to be 2-3 hours long. Format is sort of like this:

1) Technique quiz, with no resistance from partner. We don't know what we will be asked to demo, so we kind of have to know everything.

2) Submission escape sparring - Start in X submission (we won't know what until the test), and escape. With resistance from partner.

3) Positional sparring - Start from X position (again don't know what, but these will be general positions - mount, side control, closed guard, etc) and work from there. With resistance.

4) Open sparring. With resistance.

just getting this far is a huge achievement.

Test was about 2 hr 45 min. Had maybe six 1-2 minute water breaks and some breaks to tie our belts, but that was about it. It was tough.

Happy to answer any questions.

Congratulations man

sounds very grueling.

What were some of the most advanced techniques you felt like you mastered that made you feel like you were ready as you were taking the test?

Was there anything unexpected / psychologically overwhelming he threw in?

For our JKD Phase 2 test our instructor had us grapple with two people at once (did not have any jiujitsu experience at that point) at the start to get rid of the nerves and excess energy, and we also did the u-drill blindfolded with a real knife lol. Was there anything like that in your black belt test?

>Congratulations man
>
>sounds very grueling.
>
>What were some of the most advanced techniques you felt like
>you mastered that made you feel like you were ready as you
>were taking the test?
>


Not necessarily techniques, but concepts. The chief one was pacing myself, which if you are mastering BJJ as an "art" is paramount. The whole point is to use as a little energy as possible to submit someone so you never get tired (keep in mind this is still thinking of it as an art form, and an entirely different mindset from when viewing BJJ as a sport/competition). So even when I was "losing" so to speak, I had to show/tried to show I wouldn't panic, and I would stick with using technique, and not rely on athleticism. I worked hard on this in preparation for the test, but also for the past 4-5 years.

In relation to that was I worked really hard on the efficiency in my movement and in my defense of attacks.


>Was there anything unexpected / psychologically overwhelming
>he threw in?
>
>For our JKD Phase 2 test our instructor had us grapple with
>two people at once (did not have any jiujitsu experience at
>that point) at the start to get rid of the nerves and excess
>energy, and we also did the u-drill blindfolded with a real
>knife lol. Was there anything like that in your black belt
>test?
>
>
>


No, nothing crazy like blind grappling with knives. Haha. I was definitely caught off guard with the number and breadth of techniques I was supposed to be able to demonstrate when asked, and to demonstrate them repeatedly. Some techniques I may have done as many as 10-12 times. I had no idea what techniques he was going to ask me to demonstrate. Some of them were no-brainers (triangle choke, hip bump sweep, that type of stuff). But some of them were fairly uncommon (I think 4-5 ways to escape North/South, 3-4 ways to escape turtle with opponents' hooks in, 1-2 ways to escape flattened out on stomach with opponents' hooks in, that kind of stuff).

We were also put in full-on armbars and triangles by different people, and told to escape over and over for maybe 15 minutes total.

>Not necessarily techniques, but concepts. The chief one was
>pacing myself, which if you are mastering BJJ as an "art" is
>paramount. The whole point is to use as a little energy as
>possible to submit someone so you never get tired (keep in
>mind this is still thinking of it as an art form, and an
>entirely different mindset from when viewing BJJ as a
>sport/competition). So even when I was "losing" so to speak, I
>had to show/tried to show I wouldn't panic, and I would stick
>with using technique, and not rely on athleticism. I worked
>hard on this in preparation for the test, but also for the
>past 4-5 years.

>In relation to that was I worked really hard on the efficiency
>in my movement and in my defense of attacks.

This is the jiujitsu knowledge that can't be taught but only learned. Beyond any move of the day or sick submissions on youtube, this is what the art is all about.

>No, nothing crazy like blind grappling with knives. Haha. I
>was definitely caught off guard with the number and breadth of
>techniques I was supposed to be able to demonstrate when
>asked, and to demonstrate them repeatedly. Some techniques I
>may have done as many as 10-12 times. I had no idea what
>techniques he was going to ask me to demonstrate. Some of them
>were no-brainers (triangle choke, hip bump sweep, that type of
>stuff). But some of them were fairly uncommon (I think 4-5
>ways to escape North/South, 3-4 ways to escape turtle with
>opponents' hooks in, 1-2 ways to escape flattened out on
>stomach with opponents' hooks in, that kind of stuff).
>
>We were also put in full-on armbars and triangles by different
>people, and told to escape over and over for maybe 15 minutes
>total.

That's nuts. I have zero escapes for any of those really bad situations lol.

Seems like the first part of your response kind of covers the 'way' to do jiujitsu whereas the second more comprehensive part covers the endless 'how'.

What's the plan (if any) now that you got the black belt?

And also, how is the grad school search going?

>
>What's the plan (if any) now that you got the black belt?


BJJ is a hobby for me, I don't have aspirations to open my own gym. I would only do it if I found myself in an area where there were no gym options available within maybe a 30 minute drive/commute.

So nothing will change really; just keep chugging along and trying to improve. Since we are moving, I'm definitely concerned about how much gym dues will be since we get a pretty good deal at my current spot. My wife also trains and my son wants to start, so that would be a good chunk of money.


>
>And also, how is the grad school search going?
>
>


I was admitted to Northeastern, Rutgers, Howard, and waitlisted at Albany. All Criminology or Sociology programs. I still have one app pending for McGill; I mostly applied there bc I love Montreal and my wife and I would love to live there, despite the awful winters. It's still a good program, but definitely not the best for what I want to do (study black folks and the police).

I didn't get into any of the NYC schools I applied to, so I won't be joining you and Shawn. But since I'll be nearby-ish, I'll definitely look to drop in during holidays or the summer, particularly if I go to Rutgers or Albany.

(Side-note: NYU was probably my first choice. Turns out the guy I wanted to work and built a relationship with there is leaving after this academic year anyway, but it seems he was unable to tell me until after I was not admitted. He was not on the admissions committee this year. He is leaving to go to Princeton. We still hope/plan to work together.)

On on vacay so just a quick congrats on bjj and school admittance.

Is Rutgers Newark or New Brunswick campus?
If you’re in New Brunswick — housing there is definitely cheaper and you can train with Emily Kwok. She’s been training and stopping at Marcelo more and more— besides being a badass herself I think she’s one of Marcelo and his wife’s closest friends. She also has a family with two young kids and I’m guessing she could use another instructor who is a black belt.

Or if you go to northeastern live in the burbs further out toward Bernardo’s school where it’s cheaper and train with him. I think he’s about 30 minutes from campus. Split the difference and live somewhere 15 from each.

You can do that for Emily and Princeton too

>
>Is Rutgers Newark or New Brunswick campus?
>If you’re in New Brunswick — housing there is definitely
>cheaper and you can train with Emily Kwok. She’s been
>training and stopping at Marcelo more and more— besides
>being a badass herself I think she’s one of Marcelo and his
>wife’s closest friends. She also has a family with two young
>kids and I’m guessing she could use another instructor who
>is a black belt.



New Brunswick campus. Man, I totally didn't think about Emily Kwok! I would love to train with her. I'll be in New Brunswick this week, I might actually try to stop in and talk to her if she is available.



>
>Or if you go to northeastern live in the burbs further out
>toward Bernardo’s school where it’s cheaper and train with
>him. I think he’s about 30 minutes from campus. Split the
>difference and live somewhere 15 from each.
>



Yeah, I already Google Mapped Bernardo's school. I just had a hunch his school is going to be way out of our price range.

Especially since you seem to have a pretty clear career and graduate study path mapped out.

>I was admitted to Northeastern, Rutgers, Howard, and
>waitlisted at Albany. All Criminology or Sociology programs. I
>still have one app pending for McGill; I mostly applied there
>bc I love Montreal and my wife and I would love to live there,
>despite the awful winters. It's still a good program, but
>definitely not the best for what I want to do (study black
>folks and the police).

Canada (Montreal at least) doesn't have the exact same systemic issues the US has to really study law enforcement and communities of color the way it's become ingrained in the States.

All great schools, and Albany I think would be interesting. Upstate NY is a sociological goldmine. You have fringe communities that take root up there, and all the problems of bigger cities but in more manageable (or studiable) proportions.

>I didn't get into any of the NYC schools I applied to, so I
>won't be joining you and Shawn. But since I'll be nearby-ish,
>I'll definitely look to drop in during holidays or the summer,
>particularly if I go to Rutgers or Albany.

That's good. Rutgers is close and Albany is really not that far.

>(Side-note: NYU was probably my first choice. Turns out the
>guy I wanted to work and built a relationship with there is
>leaving after this academic year anyway, but it seems he was
>unable to tell me until after I was not admitted. He was not
>on the admissions committee this year. He is leaving to go to
>Princeton. We still hope/plan to work together.)

That's too bad but also sounds like he made a good career move. Definitely will be good to know somebody with access to those resources.

On an MMA note: What did you think about Woodley / Usman? As a new black belt, judging a fight between two newish black belts, what happened with Woodley?

>Especially since you seem to have a pretty clear career and
>graduate study path mapped out.
>
>>I was admitted to Northeastern, Rutgers, Howard, and
>>waitlisted at Albany. All Criminology or Sociology programs.
>I
>>still have one app pending for McGill; I mostly applied
>there
>>bc I love Montreal and my wife and I would love to live
>there,
>>despite the awful winters. It's still a good program, but
>>definitely not the best for what I want to do (study black
>>folks and the police).
>
>Canada (Montreal at least) doesn't have the exact same
>systemic issues the US has to really study law enforcement and
>communities of color the way it's become ingrained in the
>States.
>


Agreed, I would definitely not get the same education, and might find myself going a different direction with my research. But, getting to live in Montreal for an extended period, and escaping the US political climate, is a huge plus.


>All great schools, and Albany I think would be interesting.
>Upstate NY is a sociological goldmine. You have fringe
>communities that take root up there, and all the problems of
>bigger cities but in more manageable (or studiable)
>proportions.
>
>>I didn't get into any of the NYC schools I applied to, so I
>>won't be joining you and Shawn. But since I'll be
>nearby-ish,
>>I'll definitely look to drop in during holidays or the
>summer,
>>particularly if I go to Rutgers or Albany.
>
>That's good. Rutgers is close and Albany is really not that
>far.
>
>>(Side-note: NYU was probably my first choice. Turns out the
>>guy I wanted to work and built a relationship with there is
>>leaving after this academic year anyway, but it seems he was
>>unable to tell me until after I was not admitted. He was not
>>on the admissions committee this year. He is leaving to go
>to
>>Princeton. We still hope/plan to work together.)
>
>That's too bad but also sounds like he made a good career
>move. Definitely will be good to know somebody with access to
>those resources.
>
>On an MMA note: What did you think about Woodley / Usman? As a
>new black belt, judging a fight between two newish black
>belts, what happened with Woodley?


I mean, it's hard to judge when you aren't in the positions and feel what is going on. That said, I've always thought Woodley's grappling is overrated. I think he met someone who is just as athletic - if not more so - with better grappling, and he froze up. I just think he had no clue what to do. He mitigated getting hurt, and did a great job at that. But as far as anything offensive, he is just not on Usman's level.

Y'all probably don't want to hear this, but I think Colby probably would do the same to Tyron.

edit: I will also say I think Tyron broke mentally, and I think he was being truthful when he talked about how his body just wasn't responding how he wanted it to. He got dominated, had no answer, and his mind and body shut down. He probably knew he was going to lose after the second round.

But I think you are 100% correct on Woodley's body language and the loss in general.

I personally didn't know Usman's grappling was THAT good. He doesn't even always use it, but he sure knew that was how he would take it to Woodley.

to the group chat, like, 'this is what yall are about?'

https://deadspin.com/brazilian-jiu-jitsu-fighter-fakes-injury-brawls-with-c-1832875154

Something incredible had to happen for Deadspin to be covering jiujitsu in the first place. Too bad it's this.

I feel like BJJ is just rampant with assholes.

in BJJ

territorialism, greed, vigilantism

and that's the thing with lineage. I went to a Dave Camarillo seminar at my academy and heard nothing but good things about Professor Camarillo, but then when I look up his lineage and I see he is under Ralph Gracie, it kind of made me stop and think. Just like black belts are careful who they give the black belt to because of the way their actions can reflect on their instructor, same can happen when someone formerly respected with tons of students turns serious heel.

Sidenote: not sure if you heard, 10th Planet is opening a location in NYC. They are opening with Eddie Bravo seminar this weekend which funny enough will be hosted at my JKD school. The shared space will be their temporary home, with the 10p brown belts Rey Deleon and Cece Mena teaching classes. I definitely look forward to training a little in the 10p system, the guy Rey's closed guard that I've seen in comp (specifically against Mike Davila) is ridiculous.

i recently switched schools to dave camarillo's and have been loving it. he's def a down to earth guy and, i don't want to speak out of line, but i think part of the falling out w/ the gracie's had to do w/ some of their negative attitude.

saw he had a great teaching style. He introduced the topic of kimura trap / arm bar with great detail and walked around helping anybody who needed a hand.

I tell this story all the time, but when I was in the Barnes & Noble martial arts section a couple years ago, this dude who also trained was browsing and we started talking about BJJ obviously. He was like, forget everything else here, just get Guerrilla Jiujitsu by Dave Camarillo. After the seminar I see what he was talking about.

Paul’s a master teacher and he respects Dave As a master teacher so that’s enough for me.

There’s an old post where for awhile after Dave and Paul cosseted Ny and took a adanaher class before danaher really got hot— Dave required anyone who was gonna get a black belt from him to take a danaher private. I do t know if that’s still the case.

I heard the story about somebody who required a private lesson with Danaher to receive a black belt, but I didn't know that was Dave Camarillo. Interesting.

coincidentally, dave just posted this pic on IG of the two of them:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvHfHuClLDs/

I think Paul reposted that picture too

I don't follow a ton of black belts like some of my friends at the academy do, but I definitely follow Paul.

She is only 3 and they have 3-5 kids classes right down the steeet.

we want to make sure our kids have tools to defend themselves but not sure if this is the right one since they are girls.

Would karate be a better option?

Me personally, I think 3 might be too young for jiujitsu and that Karate is better for discipline, respect, self-defense, confidence all that stuff you want to teach kids really young. But I don't have kids. It's right down the street and they have ages 3-5 for a reason. I assume they will have the right kind of instruction for the age group.

I figure at 3-5 years they are keeping it super simple.

They won’t be having them doing anything crazy at that age though. It’s worth trying. If your kid has fun you can stick with it. If not maybe revisit in a year or two. How fun it is for her will probably largely depend on how many other kids her age there are in the class.

Marcelo’s first black belt world level champion

I took a PM class for the first time in awhile tonight and Matheus was teaching.

So happy for him and definitely seen him mature as a coach and person in my 4 years training

Great matches:
Tonon vs. Canuto
Alvarenga vs. Maciel
Giles vs. The Giants
Miyao vs. Ruotolo
Torres vs. Rocha

JT Torres back to back is so impressive.

Lepri (and I guess Dillon) was right about steroids in the ADCC, but I don't think they care at all. I think the arabs low-key like watching monsters throw each other around.

There were so many classics. I'm not sure how I feel with a phenomenal athlete and competitor like Nicky Rod getting purple never playing guard ever lol. That combat base is like the closest he gets to playing guard.

Seeing Hudson Taylor vs. Cyborg was pretty interesting really. Dude had a sick escape and almost took Cyborg's back, but that's a legend.

I couldn't even really watch the super fight after the first 5 minutes. Aside from Pena getting blast doubled into the table I don't think there was much to see. Congrats on 4 in a row though.

Some really low scoring fights. And the rule-set is cool because it leads to more scrambles, but there were some clear passes like Satava's on Leon that were not scored because one arm was off the mat. Kinda bone-headed.

How tf is training?

I'm averaging 1-2x a week; my training is pretty relaxed. I don't roll hard; I have that weight lifted off me, I don't have anything to prove at this point. So I mostly roll technical. But since I am black belt, a big one at that, everyone always comes at me full steam. It's fine, all part of the game at this point.

Because of that, I mostly work on my defense, and then simpler concepts like breathing, staying calm, surviving, etc. Being "unsubmitable". I've also been playing around a lot with rolling back takes.

Since I only train 1-2x a week, I've gone back to lifting during my workday, which has been fun. I do that 3x a week. I haven't done much yoga at all recently, which sucks.

Tentative plan is to come to the city in Dec or Jan, maybe I'll catch you guys then.

So I missed June and July. August through now I've been doing 3x a week. Managed 4x a week recently and I want to alternate 4x and 3x a week.

I feel like I'm improving. I did a private lesson with a really good brown belt on collar / sleeve (mostly because I was having a really hard time dealing with that particular guard) and since then I've been hitting more omoplata sweeps, and more scissor sweeps. Many times I get my shit passed entirely though, but of course working on recovery and reguarding, and working out of side control especially with bigger guys. Also since I can't do DLR with my left knee still not 100% from the MCL I work on it on the right side and have more success getting the back because people don't expect DLR from that side). My finishes from the back and from mount definitely need to be improved on though, but I feel like I can maintain the position longer and longer so that's positive. My SLX and X-guard games are pretty much non-existent still, which is sad considering where I train.

I'm now a blue with four stripes so there's only one way to go at this point, and I'm hoping I'll be ready for purple by the time next promotion comes up. I've been going solid for 3 years at blue with a couple breaks for injury (MCL this year, avulsion fracture in ankle last year), so overall I think I'm going in the right direction and I'm comfortable with where I'm at.

>So I missed June and July. August through now I've been doing
>3x a week. Managed 4x a week recently and I want to alternate
>4x and 3x a week.
>


I can't even imagine training 4x a week anymore. It's carzy bc when I was white and early blue, I would do 2x a day. And then sometimes I would train 5-6 a week. Thinking back on that is funny.


>I feel like I'm improving. I did a private lesson with a
>really good brown belt on collar / sleeve (mostly because I
>was having a really hard time dealing with that particular
>guard) and since then I've been hitting more omoplata sweeps,
>and more scissor sweeps.


Funny, one of Marcelo's books got me into doing the omoplata with collar/sleeve.



Many times I get my shit passed
>entirely though, but of course working on recovery and
>reguarding, and working out of side control especially with
>bigger guys. Also since I can't do DLR with my left knee
>still not 100% from the MCL I work on it on the right side and
>have more success getting the back because people don't expect
>DLR from that side). My finishes from the back and from mount
>definitely need to be improved on though, but I feel like I
>can maintain the position longer and longer so that's
>positive. My SLX and X-guard games are pretty much
>non-existent still, which is sad considering where I train.
>
>I'm now a blue with four stripes so there's only one way to go
>at this point, and I'm hoping I'll be ready for purple by the
>time next promotion comes up. I've been going solid for 3
>years at blue with a couple breaks for injury (MCL this year,
>avulsion fracture in ankle last year), so overall I think I'm
>going in the right direction and I'm comfortable with where
>I'm at.



What are the expectations of a purple belt at MGA? Who would promote you?

>>So I missed June and July. August through now I've been
>doing
>>3x a week. Managed 4x a week recently and I want to
>alternate
>>4x and 3x a week.
>>
>
>
>I can't even imagine training 4x a week anymore. It's carzy bc
>when I was white and early blue, I would do 2x a day. And then
>sometimes I would train 5-6 a week. Thinking back on that is
>funny.

Yeah, believe me at my age it's tough. Some classes (like Marcos Tinoco's classes) are notorious for straight up porrada. No technique section, just drilling, positional sparring or stand up sparring, then regular sparring. I can't do multiple days in a row of those type of classes.

3x a week w/ 1x a week strength and conditioning has been my perfect workload. I guess I've felt the need to ramp it up with so many guys who started after me managing to get purple in less time going 5x a week. At our school they really look at attendance and commitment.

At the same time a personal trainer at my other gym that use to train at Marcelo's doing 2x a day back maybe 8-9 years ago totally burnt out on BJJ. He keeps saying he wants to train again but it never happens. I think unless you're super young you'll burn out with that type of volume.

>>I feel like I'm improving. I did a private lesson with a
>>really good brown belt on collar / sleeve (mostly because I
>>was having a really hard time dealing with that particular
>>guard) and since then I've been hitting more omoplata
>sweeps,
>>and more scissor sweeps.
>
>
>Funny, one of Marcelo's books got me into doing the omoplata
>with collar/sleeve.
>
>
>
>Many times I get my shit passed
>>entirely though, but of course working on recovery and
>>reguarding, and working out of side control especially with
>>bigger guys. Also since I can't do DLR with my left knee
>>still not 100% from the MCL I work on it on the right side
>and
>>have more success getting the back because people don't
>expect
>>DLR from that side). My finishes from the back and from
>mount
>>definitely need to be improved on though, but I feel like I
>>can maintain the position longer and longer so that's
>>positive. My SLX and X-guard games are pretty much
>>non-existent still, which is sad considering where I train.
>>
>>I'm now a blue with four stripes so there's only one way to
>go
>>at this point, and I'm hoping I'll be ready for purple by
>the
>>time next promotion comes up. I've been going solid for 3
>>years at blue with a couple breaks for injury (MCL this
>year,
>>avulsion fracture in ankle last year), so overall I think
>I'm
>>going in the right direction and I'm comfortable with where
>>I'm at.
>
>
>
>What are the expectations of a purple belt at MGA? Who would
>promote you?
>

At the last promotion Marcelo talked about his personal standards for purple belt. Going to Rio for the first time to compete as a blue belt and seeing purple belts and how tough and intimidating they seemed to him. But as for promotion, the black belts convene and talk about attitude, attendance, personality, effort, whether you compete, and come to a decision on whether to give you a stripe or a belt. It's a painstaking task for how many students we have and that's why they put their heads together.

took around 15+ years off.



Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg

¨Your mother is Colin Powell¨ - Lurkmode

www.Tupreme.com

It was a long journey at blue belt, but we made it.

It's funny how when you are not expecting or eager for promo as much it happens. I was iffy if I would get it just because of all the injuries and time off and shit.

3 years at blue. Definitely some setbacks and hard days, etc. But it's been a very rewarding pursuit. It's pretty awesome that we got our blues and purples at the same time, bro. Paul looked super happy for you too.

Definitely thankful for all the friends I've made at MGA more than anything, but the purp is pretty cool too.

Funny because I was happy at promos, and mildly proud when I told my wife, but then it hit me at 2:30 in the morning and I couldn't go back to sleep lol.

I'd been checking in on this post since you started it just to keep up with you guys' progress, but in August, I started Muay Thai. They typically practice BJJ in the class before mine, and lately I been watching them like hmm

10th Planet opened up temporarily sharing space with my JKD school, and whenever they would get a wild session going with cheering, everybody would kind of stop drilling or sparring and look over nonchalantly.

We have a ton of Muay Thai guys that train BJJ and in a way, BJJ for them comes easier because they are used to sparring, and grappling is far less damaging than getting hit in the head and liver. You should definitely give it a shot. Guys talk about cross-training all the time but rarely do, but for you it would be literally a walk across the gym.

https://giphy.com/gifs/denzel-VJ2B0I6t2HEUE

Very happy for you guys! Got any promotion pics? Did you have to do any testing?

We don't test at our academy. What is on the test for purple at your school? I'm curious what kind of base you need to have before you get past blue.

The test for blue is to know a pretty extensive amount of techniques, and then to do some sparring.

Purple - no techniques to know, but a lot of sparring. You must also be able to show combinations of techniques, i.e. chaining moves together, rather than doing techniques discretely. I've seen people who can do techniques well, but not chain them together, fail. A lot.

Sparring for purple is positional. You start from guard, mount, and side mount - all of those offensively and defensively. So you do six rounds total, with however many people show up. And generally you go with each person about 3 times each round.

Paul usually teaches and it mostly consists of positional sparring rounds. 1 to 2 minutes top / bottom for a particular guard or pass starting in the position and then resetting for a pass, sweep or submission. Also starting in the positions you named along with back control. You do two rounds each top / bottom and then switch partners and do multiple rounds of that.

I think that's a way we can work on specific positions but also a way for the instructors of knowing where students need work.

So ... uh, a lot's change since this was last upped, huh?

Lol man I miss rolling so much.

And bjj is like the toughest sport to do safely.
Marcelo thought they might have to close in August for awhile and relocate but now they’ve announced they can hold onto the academy.

I was looking into a 1on1 partner to drill and train and almost had one but then we decided to pod up with another family so I had to pass on that.

I’m out of town now but when I get back I’m gonna look I to a 1on1 or really controlled small group— otherwise it may be a full year til I train (if not more)

I had gotten really sick with the flu (or covid) then, and by the time I had fully recovered and was ready to train, that's when the NY quarantine began.

I've accepted that I'm not training until there is a successful vaccine. I'm also going to find a new school. Presented without commentary, this is gym I WAS training at before all this started:

https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-york-jiu-jitsu-studio-reopening-wednesday

Also, when the protests started, it definitely seemed as though he was more on the side of the police. Between re-opening during quarantine and that, I was done. I should have known better; the gym is like 99% white folks, and it has an astonishingly high amount of police training there.

I may actually just go full-on with judo. Or maybe open a community-oriented BJJ school if I can find a place for dirt cheap.

Probably won’t solve racism issue since you’re upstate but have you checked Brian Beaury?

He's probably the school I will end up at if I don't do judo or open my own place. I liked him a lot, just a little pricey.

man that was a long 16 months of 0 training.

Back in November I decided to get off my ass and started working out so im in decent shape -- but rolling is a different beast in terms of cardio and the small muscles you use that get and stay sore.

The place im training at for no wis local and mostly nogi. They have a bunch of mixed classes but their guys prefer nogi lol.

Ive only made one gi class.

Not Surprisingly there are some little details you forget, but most my game is still in tact and I can see rebuilding around what's there. Just wish I hadnt lost so much timeon my journey at 40+, but it is what it is

I went back last week. I switched gyms. The previous gym I was at was not a good fit. So did you move? I'm assuming you aren't at MG anymore.

I was surprised -- my brain was still wired for BJJ. My body, however, was not. It did not want to comply with what I wanted it to do, haha. I think I'll be okay in a few months.

>I went back last week. I switched gyms. The previous gym I
>was at was not a good fit. So did you move? I'm assuming you
>aren't at MG anymore.
>
>I was surprised -- my brain was still wired for BJJ. My body,
>however, was not. It did not want to comply with what I wanted
>it to do, haha. I think I'll be okay in a few months.
>
>

But do plan on making it back to MGA. I appreciated how Marcelo handled the academy during the pandemic. I meanI also acknowledge with how big they are they had the privilege of wiggle room that small academies don't -- but it felt like Public health and responsibility were at the center of those decisions -- not just $.

I thought about moving to Unity cause I love Murilo and they had opened sooner, but some of their key people posted some conservative shit so im like nah, no thanks.

Im training at a MMA gym right now where the instructors are purple and brown belts -- but its all I need for now. Active folks to roll with who are a good community that is accesible. I can get to thisplace in 10 minutes. Right now with my schedule I cant imagine 1 hour commute each way and 75 minutes of training for MGA. In the fall I may work more in person so I plan to go back.

In terms of technique the foundation of my game is there, but I found myself forgetting small details to make the "moves" most effective i.e. frip fighting or clearing legs a certain way for a guard pass.

I find myself remembering right after or right after classs ...like OHHHH i used to do this or that, but with more parctice I think itll be back.

This academy spends time on the leg game which MGA didnt do. That shit is a whole new world to me and I am very much a first week white belt. It makes very little sense to me, but I am trying to keep my mind open and remember I was there with grappling in general 5 years ago.

but some of their key people posted some
>conservative shit so im like nah, no thanks.

Same here. The gym I was training at after moving to NY was always fairly sus, but I decided to dip after some comments were made around the time of the civil unrest of the George Floyd protests and the beginning of the pandemic outbreak. My wife was never comfortable at that gym either. I ended up at Brian Beaury's. I like it there so far.

The last year and a half really exposed how right-leaning this sport is and how uneducated so many of its practitioners are.


>
>Im training at a MMA gym right now where the instructors are
>purple and brown belts -- but its all I need for now. Active
>folks to roll with who are a good community that is accesible.
>I can get to thisplace in 10 minutes. Right now with my
>schedule I cant imagine 1 hour commute each way and 75 minutes
>of training for MGA. In the fall I may work more in person so
>I plan to go back.


Nice, man. I hope you are happy there for the time being and that it works out that you get to go back to MG.


>
>In terms of technique the foundation of my game is there, but
>I found myself forgetting small details to make the "moves"
>most effective i.e. frip fighting or clearing legs a certain
>way for a guard pass.
>
>I find myself remembering right after or right after classs
>...like OHHHH i used to do this or that, but with more
>parctice I think itll be back.
>
>This academy spends time on the leg game which MGA didnt do.
>That shit is a whole new world to me and I am very much a
>first week white belt. It makes very little sense to me, but I
>am trying to keep my mind open and remember I was there with
>grappling in general 5 years ago.


Yeah, at minimum you have to know how to defend and escape leg locks. The game has evolved that it is a must. You don't have to make them a part of your game if you don't want, but in the current meta, you have to know how to respond to being put in them.

Nice, maybe when things fully open up youll get a visit from JT

Yeah, I believe he is coming in a month. I also plan to visit his school this summer.

I've finally developed a system that keeps me in some sort of gym or yoga studio 5 days a week. My boxing coach moved out of nowhere earlier in the month, and he had grandfathered me into his older rates, so 1-on-1 private boxing sessions are no longer financially feasible. Enter BJJ

I've been doing Muay Thai here and there for the past two years and have had exposure to some of the BJJ guys. I did a free class to replacing my boxing day last week and was intrigued. It's obviously VERY different from boxing/Muay Thai, but I loved the energy in the gym and I see where it could round out my arsenal

There is an intro membership for three months. I owe it to myself to at least try it for that long

I still have little idea what the hell I'm doing, but I feel like I've at least learned how to speak the language. When I'm rolling, a lot of times I find that I know where I want to go but just don't know the move to get me there. I know things will continue to come to me so I'm willing to be patient

I'm also gonna have to figure out a consistent training schedule, as I'm still doing Muay Thai, and hot yoga is a non-negotiable due to injuries. It will definitely be part of my routine at least once a week indefinitely though

The guy who runs that also runs the BJJ program at my Muay Thai gym, so it was an easy transition

After I made it to the first stripe, I told myself I'd give myself till blue belt. Honestly, it's been a struggle to want to stay consistent. The community is cool as shit, but right now it feels like that (as well as the soft promise I made to myself) are the only things keeping me there. I told myself I'd train twice a week every other week vs twice a week every week, but I've been gone for three weeks while traveling, packing, and moving, and I don't really feel compelled to go back

We'll see, but I may just take time away and stick to Muay Thai/yoga and incorporate weights again for a time

Last year around this time I found a local gym where I was able to train 1-2x a week and Ive been doing that -- but it ebbs and flows. I havent found a way to build jiujitsu (with the commutes) back into my pandemic schedule. Fortunately my kids are older and more self sufficient. Son is going to 8th grade next year and pretty much takes the trains on his own.

Looks like Marcelo is leaving NY and passing the school over to Paul and Matheus.

I have a 3 month credit at Unity - so I think I may start back up there and see what its like training with Murilo.

I hope this summer I can start a 3-4x a week schedule and et regular again.

I'm 38 and started training jiu jitsu as well as a no-gi combo wrestling/jitsu class. I have an old shoulder injury from playing basketball (dislocation) and it just keeps getting reaggravated. Not enough to be a full on injury, but enough to make me skip a class atleast once a week. Then there will be a week where it doesnt bother me at all but i break a pinky toe. Lmao. I refuse to stop going but i so wish i had started in my 20s. They were shocked when they found out my age and that i was rolling/wrestling with 20 year olds. That respect makes me refuse to skip, probably to the detriment of my shoulder. Ha

I was out from February 2020 to June 2021. Been back at it since then. I think I mentioned to you before that I train with Brian Beaury now. Before Brian started with JT, he was at Unity. I get the impression from him that Unity is pretty intense, wth regard to training.

I'm guessing you moved? Are you still in the city?

I didn't realize Marcelo was leaving NY. Where is he going?

had committed to going to Unity this weekend to sign up so I could just have a membership to train regularly.

Got a robocall from my kids' dentist to remind me of their appointment on Saturday. The funny thing is my kids' dentist is literally on the same block as Marcelo's -- about 50-70 yards away.

I thought about just hitting open mat at MGA on Saturday since it was right down the street, but like Peter I denied that thought and stuck to my plan to sign up for a membership.

Headed to Unity and did the thing. Have 3 months free training, but signed up for 6 months.

Murilo taught class. The Unity Gym is big (i hadnt been to the new location), and lot sof mat space, but it definitely is grimier than MGA. Things are kept pretty spotless at MGA and i never really feel gross there. Walking around the unity bathrooms gave me a different feeling.

But training was good!

Ive been doing so much nogi over the past year (70-80%) that I forgot about my first love in the gi.

That said, right now gi makes me nervous. I get all kinds of butterflies before training lol -- especially training in the gi at Unity. People's guard is just really good, and all that damn fabric and cloth just gives you so much more to get tied up in and pulled into guard.

So far ive taken classes with Murilo, Jefferson Guaresi, and Sebastian Rodriguez. It's been a friendly environment with a lot of variety in size and belts.

ight now im staying away from those young lion blue and purple belt competitors. I DO NOT HAVE IT to fuck with them.

I start sweating heavily during technique practice and get winded pretty quickly - but this is a start.

We started a home search in the summer and by fall we’re deep in it.

I think the last time I trained was in October.

I haven’t been on a mat/anything.

Now that we’ve moved into our new place, I’m trying to get back.