The Tozi Pass

This is an interesting pass thats worth playing around with a little. I first saw Mike Fowler doing it for no gi and it looked interesting.
"Most" guard pass's need you to first establish good posture to open the guard and this is one of the few that doesnt. So definately worth a look, there are a few variations Ill put up as well.
Enjoy
Micah

First and Foremost

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I dont much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
-LEWIS CARROLL

Cool Cobrinha Highlight Video!

There are some awesome techniques on display here, look out for some slick 'Brabo' chokes, sweeps and guard passes.
Cobrinha is a smaller dude and incredibly athletic, there are some sick clips of him doing Capoeira floating around, so keep that in mind while watching. There is still definately stuff to be learnt here though even for us mere mortals!
Work those basics! Advanced jiu-jitsu are basics done well!
Enjot this clip!
Micah

Monday Motivation

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. ~Edmund Hillary


Once again, please excuse gaps in posts but stilladjusting to my new sleeping patternsof 2-3 hours on, 1-2 hours off!
Sleep has become a precious comodity! As I type this Im trying to psyche myself up to get up and get to training.
My gi is packed and Ive had my bfast smoothie but my bed is calling!!!
Had about 4 hours sleep last night but if I dont go now I know Ill regret it, I can sleep later but wont get back the class Ill miss if I dont go.

Have a great Monday! Enjoy full nights sleep if you can :-)
Micah

Do you have these 24? If not get to work!

This was an awesome email by Stephan Kesting of beginningbjj.com that i wanted to share with you. It will help you a lot with your gameplan design, which if you are battling with, this will definately get you started!
Ive been doing Jiu-jitsu now for 12 years and I constantly realise more and more just how important the fundamentals are, and having a well rounded game before starting to specialise in any positions.
Enjoy this email and check out www.beginningbjj.com for some great resources from Mr.Kesting.


Early in your BJJ development you should be a generalist. This means developing basic skills in ALL areas of BJJ. (Eventually you'll probably specialize a little bit more, but that comes much later, usually around purple belt).

So for now you need to make sure that you're covering all your bases. You really don't want there to be severely underdeveloped areas of your game!

One way to figure out whether there are major holes in your game is to use a checklist like the one below.

Try ranking these positions in order of how much you know about them:

• Closed guard
• Open guard
• Half guard
• Side mount
• Knee mount
• Full mount
• Rear mount

This ordered list then becomes a handy tool to decide which techniques to practice, and what positions you should start your sparring in.

Remember, usually you make your fastest progress by working your weakest area!

Another, somewhat more analytical approach, is to subdivide these positions even further. Lets split each of the above positions into three technical areas:

1. Submissions from that position.
2. Transitions from the position to an even better position.
3. Escapes/guard passes if you're caught in that position.
   

When we take consider those three types of skills for each of the major positions, we end up with 24 skill sets:

1. Closed guard submissions
2. Closed guard passes
3. Closed guard sweeps
4. Open guard submissions
5. Open guard passes
6. Open guard sweeps
7. Half guard submissions
8. Half guard passes
9. Half guard sweeps
10. Side mount submissions
11. Side mount transitions
12. Side mount escapes
13. Knee mount submissions
14. Knee mount transitions
15. Knee mount escapes
16. Full mount submissions
17. Full mount transitions
18. Full mount escapes
19. Rear mount submissions
20. Rear mount transitions
21. Rear mount escapes
22. Turtle submissions
23. Turtle transitions
24. Turtle escapes

Now I don't normally assign homework, but I want you to try this. Go down that list again and figure out if you know at least two techniques for each area.

To be able to flow and spar and play and feel comfortable on the ground you need to have at least a few good options for each one of the above 24 areas.

This approach also helps you identify areas for improvement.

Hypothetically, let's say that you know 17 different sweeps from the open guard, but you're completely lost when you get stuck in the half guard.

Question for you: if that's the case, should you work on more open guard techniques, or spend some quality time on the half guard?

I bet you just answered the question yourself! Stephan Kesting
www.beginningBJJ.com

Stability Ball for BJJ-part 2

The original Physio Ball Master-Circus Charlie.

Here is part 2 of the physio ball instructional by Roberto.
Hope youve been working on the basics in part1 as this one builds on those basics moves.
The intro is great too where he reminds us that we are using the ball as an adjunct to our bjj training so not to get too carried away with the ball and learning tons of fancy tricks!
Enjoy and train hard!
Micah

Sorry for the gap in posts!

"When Science and Art
Embrace — looking at the stars,
Knowing God is real "

Laura Ann Atkinson
11.03 am
6th of July 2009

Have a great weekend,
Micah :-)