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.

FGO 2009 Second Match

Recently I came across an amazing podcast about Bjj. It has over 600k listeners so I think I’m a little late finding it, but it’s well worth the hour spent listening to it every Sunday. They cover all types of news related to Bjj and often have in depth interviews with Jiu-Jitsu stars and legends (this week it’s Silvio Braga) . Jiu jitsu is way more then just an activity that I do 3 times a week. It really is a way of life, and the more time spent doing it, the more it spills over into other aspects of the day to day. So check it out, I highly recommend it and its free! The FightWorks Podcast

So the other night after Thursdays class, we headed straight to the local gym and weighed ourselves. This was just to get an idea of where we are at and gauge how much weight we have to cut for the Freestyle Grappling Open in Oct. My girlfriend Bri doesn’t need to cut weight and never does, so that wasn’t a shock. Justin had less then 5 pounds to lose. Me on the other hand…10ish maybe even 12 pounds. One thing as become apparent I am a Taco-holic. I friggen hate cutting for competitions. I cut out beer and try to eat healthy for about a month and a half, but by the time the date rolls around I would kill a man for a Big Mac. So needless to say, this week at the Foundry I have been trying to put in extra work and rolls to shed some of these pounds. I need to cut down to 155 by mid Oct. Tofu here I come!

I was excited the other day because I got a new gi. If you are into Jiu-Jitsu then you know the feeling I had when I came home and saw the package on the doorstep.

I got the new Koral competition light gi in black. This time I went with an A1 for the first time to try and reduce the bagginess in the chest area. I have to say that the A1 fits pretty damn nice. It feels a tad bit longer then my other Koral, but I haven’t washed it yet either. I don’t really expect it to shrink very much because Korals come pre-shrunk, but I think the fabric will tighten up some. The weave on it is really cool and its pretty light as well. So far I think it’s going to be a good purchase.

This past week was Noels last class before moving down to DC. It still feels strange and I’m sure for the next couple classes I’ll catch myself wondering where he is and why he isn’t in class. We are left in very capable hands though. Justin received his purple belt a few weeks ago, Matt got his brown, and of course we still have Jon our resident black belt. Things are changing, but I honestly don’t think any of us will suffer. I am confident.
Lately I have been in somewhat of a slump. Not that I have been rolling bad or anything, I just don’t know what to work on next. Positions and submissions are more familiar to me now the more time I spend on the mat. I wish it was really obvious what the next step is. I have general ideas of what I need to work on, but it’s not in your face anymore like when I was a white belt.
I need to work on my teaching. I want to be able to help the lower belts like Justin helped me. It makes me realize how hard it is to explain a move when you just normally do it without thinking about it.

Thanks Noel for the solid foundation. One day I hope you see the house I’m going to build on it.

Last night at class we had the privilege of having a black belt by the name of Trent Lewis do a seminar. He has been all over the place and trained with some great Jiu-Jitsu practitioners like Robson Moura and Marcelo Perreira. World CHAMPS!
He had a really cool new school meets old school game. Showed us some nice attacks from guard that attacked both arms. It really left you in a triple attack position. I believe he is going to try and put out a video instructional so I wont get into more detail. If you have the chance to train with Trent I highly suggest it. Great guy on and off the mat.
Shawn Smith also got another stripe on his purple belt. I really can’t say enough about Shawn he is a monster on the mat. He destroys me every single time we roll. Maybe one day I will be able to give him somewhat of a workout haha. Grats again Shawn keep it up!

It’s been a few days since our trip out to Cali and it’s been great to get back out on the mats. It’s also nice to be able to roll again full speed without having to worry about them tweaking something before such a big tourney. We have had some really good new guys showing up that are starting to learn some fundamentals and it’s great to see. A few of them got their first stripe last night and you could tell they were happy by the look on their faces. I remember getting my first stripe and how good it felt.
We had a couple guys go to the Naga Worlds right after we got back from the Pan Ams. Shawn did great as always, placing 2nd and 3rd in various divisions. He is a great competitor and it just shows the reward of competing often. I can’t wait to see him in class next time to ask him more about his wins.
The weather is getting nice outside and it’s almost time to start running again. As crazy as it sounds once I get in the swing of running I actually like it a lot. It’s one of the few things that are so simple, just you and the track. No distractions.
Like the good weather changing, the club is going through some changes as well. Noel and Missy are moving to DC in pursuit of a better life (one outside of Farmington Maine.) Justin and John will be taking over the club and keeping the Foundry name going. The location will eventually change and where to is still up in the air. This all makes me sad, but happy for them and I wish them the best of luck.
My game seems to be changing again, I can no longer play De La Riva guard on Justin he is figuring out a way to counter it right off the hand shake. I still play open, but its morphing into a more scissor type guard. One thing I feel, is as my guard has become better my escapes have become worse. This could be very true or it could just be the people who pass my guard are skilled and are getting better every day.

One word can describe Abmar Barbosa…WOW. And I don’t mean World of Warcraft. His bjj is off the chain. It was a great seminar and we had a really decent turn out. There was a ton of skill on the mat Sunday, from white belts to browns and black.

Abmar Barbosa!

This Sunday I will have another chance to train with Abmar. He came to our school a few months ago and I was very impressed with his style. I heard that he dominated at the most recent Naga and I’ll be checking Youtube frequently looking for video of some of those matches. If I find them I will be sure to link them.
One of the nasty moves he taught was a great transition from Omaplata to armbar. I try it almost every time I end up in the Omaplata position, but I fail to pull up enough on the arm all the way through the move. The result is my partner being able to keep his elbow on the mat. Justin is great at defending this.
For more info check out www.abmarbarbosa.com