I’m very excited to talk about a new project that I’ve been working on. It’s called Bjj Gear Junkie. Right now it is just a Youtube channel, but the actual web design phase has begun! So let me tell you a bit about the project.
Whenever I am looking to buy a gi or any brazilian jiu jitsu gear, I’m always hesitant because I’m forced to buy it online. I think there are only a handful of actual stores across the US that you can walk in and physically touch these products. I try and search around the web for reviews or videos, but hardly find any that really make me confident in my purchase. So I decided to make a website that will be the leading place for people to go to read and watch reviews on the products and gear before they buy them.
There will also be a user submitted video gallery featuring videos of jiu jitsu. This will help people browse by category to find the cool vids without having to sift through all the junk that is currently on youtube. I look forward to this part especially because I think it will be cool for people to see their video of a competition match featured on the homepage and in the gallery.
So thats the skinny on the new project. Please check out the youtube channel, like it on facebook and follow on twitter – @bjjgearjunkie
Once the website goes live you will be able to find it at www.bjjgearjunkies.com.
If you would like to see any bjj gear reviewed shoot me an email at info@bjjgearjunkie.com
The other night at The Foundry I felt really good. I had taken a few nights off this past week from BJJ to rest and get rid of some of the soreness in my body. Teaching and going to class 4-5 times a week can start to take its toll after a month or two. I felt refreshed and recharged. I didn’t get a ton of submissions or anything like that, but I felt my body was just doing what I was asking it to.
Sometimes after a roll I have tons of thoughts like “man I wanted to do this or that, but just couldn’t.” Or sometimes I think “maybe if I was just a little bit stronger or faster I could have swept that person.” This last class though was not like that. I stepped off the mats with an empty mind, and a feeling of everything is where it should be. This is what I consider a great rolling session.
There is a saying often used in life, “go with the flow”. Basically when you stop and think about it, it boils down to not getting hung up on the small things you can’t control. Just kick back and enjoy the journey no matter where it takes you.
This is what I have been trying to do for this past year really. Life on and off the mats has been crazy in 2010. When I say crazy I mean some good and some bad, but that is life and you have to go with the flow. Since this is a BJJ blog I’m not going to bore you with the off the mat stuff, but let me fill you in on the Jiu Jitsu happenings of 2010. First of all I have stepped into a teaching roll with my girlfriend Bri who I often post about. We continue to help carry the Foundry flag with all of our team mates. At first I thought maybe teaching would take away from my learning progress, but I think at this point I can say that it hasn’t. Having to prepare class and research moves 4 days a week forces you to constantly think about Jiu Jitsu. I think always thinking about Jiu Jitsu makes you think outside the box and develop your game in areas you normally wouldn’t.
We have coached our team so far at 3 local tournaments this year and The Foundry represented well at all of them. This is a great feeling, when you teach someone how to do something and then see them apply it, and then see how happy they are. That is such an amazing feeling. Here are the highlight videos from two of the 3 events. The Freestyle Grappling Open and the Maine Skirmish. Enjoy!
I believe everyone goes through what’s called the blue belt blues. This is a time when people feel like they have reached a point in their training, where they just are not progressing anymore. Now let me stress the fact that I said when people “feel” like they are not. Often times they are still progressing just fine, just in a different way than before.
There comes a point in your Jiu Jitsu journey that you know most of the basics. Before when you were a white belt something as major as a triangle was totally new and amazing. Then as the more you progress, the more you learn, and less is new. This is perfectly normal and all part of the progression of your skills. What needs to change to get past this, is your out look on training. Instead of focusing so much on that thrill of learning something new, focus on playing the game. You now have a large toolbox to draw from so get enjoyment out of molding your game to defeat another persons game. Use the tools to your advantage and work on applying them in the right situations. You could know a million techniques, but that won’t help you if you are not confident passing the guard.
Jiu Jitsu is a very flexible art, that’s just one of the things that makes it so great. Sometimes we just need to be flexible ourselves with our training.
Here is an awesome video I found to motivate you to get back on the mats!
Finally I have accomplished one of my short term goals. I work for a web development company who has developed an awesome Content Management program called Aptuitiv Studio. For the past few months I have been working with one of our partners to design a new look for my Jiu Jitsu club The Foundry. Jon and I reviewed the mockups and thought it was the look we were going for, so we gave the go ahead to move forward. Now the site has just launched and I think it turned out great. Be sure and check it out if you have some time to kill www.foundrybjj.com.
It feels good to have accomplished one of my goals. This goal doesn’t help me on the mat or anything, but it does help out my club and all of the students who attend. I hope they like it as much as I do. Sometimes setting small goals for yourself in Jiu Jitsu can prevent you from getting burnt out. Sometimes I will set a goal for the month, maybe even the week or sometimes down to the roll I’m about to have. Even if it’s sometime like pulling off a certain sweep, progress is progress, no matter how big or small. If you do this for yourself I think you will feel more successful with your Jiu Jitsu journey.
Holy smokes people, summer is officially here! I have been busy as hell lately, but things are going well. I have moved into a new roll at The Foundry. Our black belt Jon Lamarche now has a new work schedule and he has asked me to fill in and help teach when he can’t be there. Let me first say, this is an honor. I’m very pleased that my instructor has enough faith in me to leave the class in my hands. How it works now is he makes a schedule with a plan of what needs to be shown and taught during specific classes and then I see to it that everyone understands the material.
This does however mean that there are fewer classes where someone is actually teaching and instructing me. This part makes me depressed because I have this fear that my Jiu Jitsu may stagnate and that I will not progress as rapidly as I should. On the other hand though I have noticed that in preparing to teach classes its helped me tune some areas of my technique that I don’t normally use every class. So in that respect I see some growth in my game. How do you feel about this? Does teaching tighten up your game? Or does stepping up into a teaching roll tend to bring your game down? I would love to hear everyone’s view on this.
Oh by the way, Ferdum subbed Fedor last night. JIU JITSUUUU!
Here are a video of me rolling recently as well. I have the black Gi top on. Enjoy.
This past Sunday I had the pleasure of attending another great seminar taught by Joe Moreira. I think this was my 3rd or 4th at this point and all of them have been excellent. It doesn’t matter how long you have been training Joe can break down a basic technique for hours, and show you so many more details to tighten that move up, it will amaze you. This seminar was held at Pushard’s it was about a 45 min drive from The Foundry so we all car pooled. The weather was great so the drive flew by as we all chit-chatted and talked Jiu Jitsu. Once we got there we were introduced to Rob Pushard, the person in charge and the one who made this seminar a reality, also a very nice and welcoming individual. We all suited up and started to stretch. Jon Lamarche ran a short warm-up and then we got down to business. Joe showed some great top game stuff this time and I really think this will tighten up my side control and give me some more options. After we all went out to eat and it was great to talk with all the guys and hang out with Joe. It was a great seminar, met some great new people, learned some great new techniques. Another day in the Jiu Jitsu life.
Recently I ordered a Dragao Arm Lock Series Gi from www.mmagearpimp.com. When it was all said and done I believe it cost about $188 USD. I heard really good things about Dragao and of course I checked out www.jokerjitsu.com for reviews before making my decision. This will be a two part review. The second part will be after a month or so of rolling in it, so you all can see how its held up. For background I have a Koral Lite, an Atama Mundial #7 and a Koral MKM. I also have owned a Keiko Raca at one point. All of these pictures were taken after the Gi had been soaked in vinegar and washed through the rinse cycle twice then hung to dry. Little to no shrinking occurred.
My first impressions of the Gi when I first opened the package were I was surprised how light the Gi top was. Also that both the top and the bottom were pretty stiff and it was going to take a while to break them in. After trying it on I was pleasantly surprised at how snug it fit for an A2. I am currently not training for any competitions so I weight about 165 and I’m around 5 8′. My Atama fits so baggy it feels like I’m wearing a trash bag while training. The Dragao fits more like my Koral Lite which is an A1. Again this was a good thing and it didn’t shrink any after I washed it twice in cold water and air dried.
After rolling in it for the first time last night, I can say that the top softened up pretty fast and was comfortable to wear over a rashguard. The pants on the other hand are a bit suspect. They are good in terms of length, but they are a bit baggy around the waist. When I tie them there is a bit of balloon action going on. They are still stiff and I think it will take many washings before they will relax a bit. I’m still not sure I like them yet or not. They may be good for training, but not for competition. I’ll make sure I touch more on this in part 2 of the review. Now on to some pictures!
I hope everyone enjoyed the first part of this review. If anyone has any questions or needs any measurements, I would be happy to answer or assist.
OK so I’m pretty sure most of us out there knew that Damian Maia was going to have a tough fight on his hands at UFC 112 against Anderson Silva. I knew in fact that Maia was going to get beat up on the feet and that taking Silva to the ground was going to be hard. What I was not expecting was to have Silva show such disrespect for his opponent and then refuse to engage for 3 rounds. I by no means thought Anderson was going to just flop into Maia’s guard, I knew he would play it safe and keep the fight standing. What really bothered me was the things he was screaming at Damian and the disrespect a Jiu Jitsu blackbelt would show the art. Here are a few links to different stories about some of the things that Silva was screaming during their fight. Here and here I know Anderson doesn’t really use his Jiu Jitsu much, but for someone to hold a black belt in the art and then trash talk someone saying things like “why don’t you use your Jiu Jitsu now?” makes me think he doesn’t take his BJJ Black Belt seriously. I lost a lot of respect for him this last fight, but this is what bothered me the most. What are your thoughts not only on the fight, but his disrespect towards Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
If any of you are like me, you spend time on Youtube looking at Jiu Jitsu videos. I would like to create this post as a place where everyone can send links to their favorite Bjj highlight videos. Some of these videos are so well done they give me such a rush to get on the mats and train. So lets try and motivate each other and at the same time spread some great videos at the same time. I’ll start with a few of mine- Braulio Estima, Marcelo Garcia, and of course Cobrinha.
