In this case my school is moving to a new location. We are restructuring the way things are run and turning it into more of a non-profit club. It’s a really cool concept that will allow us to not have to turn students away because of membership fees. We will also be able to sponsor a competition team with the extra money. It will help cover travel and other expenses like entry fees. I personally think this move will be a good one in my case. It gives me something to look forward to in the new year. Has anyone else gone through a club switching locations? Or for those of you who have actually left one school and went to train at another what was your experience like?

Yup it’s that time of year again folks. Most people are starting to think about their resolutions for the new year. Some are going to quit smoking again, others are going to lose weight again, but lets think of something different…Jiu Jitsu! So lets hear it. What are your Jiu Jitsu resolutions? When thinking of one, make sure to be specific enough so that you can track your progress. I personally am going to work on sweeping from the bottom and gaining the mount. I feel that I need to work on my subs from mount and I am a guard guy, so I need to sweep the person to get on top. The more I put myself in the mount position the more I am forced to make sub attempts from there. On a side note make sure to subscribe to my blogs RSS feed. You can do this by clicking the link that says subscribe to this feed towards the top left of the page. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays!

I have been listening to The Fightworks Podcast for several months now. I have mentioned this in the past on this blog and I highly recommend the podcast to any Jiu Jitsu practitioner. This past episode interviewed Rener Gracie. He was talking about the path his school has taken in regards to teaching pure Gracie Jiu Jitsu. He had some great points when talking about their philosophy. They believe teaching self defense comes first, gold medals and competitions come later. They come under fire sometimes because of their lack of representation in the competition circuit. I have asked myself the question of what is “pure Gracie Jiu Jitsu” compared to the style I train? Rener answered this question by stating if you have the mind set, “if I do not allow myself to lose I will eventually win.” Helio was the master of defense, he could fight for hours before submitting his opponents. This is what Rener was talking about with pure Gracie Jiu Jitsu, no time limits, no rules. Their Jiu Jitsu is based around this and not time limits of competition. I can’t help, but say this all sounds great on the surface, but I feel like I’m being sold something. Rener is very passionate about Jiu Jitsu and that certainly comes through, but it sounded like he was selling a used car to someone. I think sometimes the Gracie’s take a lot of flak for the way some of them have sold Jiu Jitsu to America. I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this. I recommend listening to the interview before weighing in. So how do you feel about either training “pure Gracie Jiu Jitsu” or training just plain Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

Hey everyone. Here is a setup that I have been having some success with recently. I would love to hear some feed back and peoples thoughts. Remember I’m just a noob blue belt so take it for what it’s worth. I look forward to hearing from everyone! Enjoy.