Competition advice....

Saulo Ribeiro gives a lesson on what competion is.

“It is not necessary for every student of jiu-jitsu to enter into competitions. Some may do jiu-jitsu simply because they enjoy gaining the knowledge. Others perhaps dislike the limelight or just don’t want to compete in this particular sport. I love to do other sports, but I don’t have the desire to compete in those sports. Some people don’t like to compete because they don’t know how to deal with loss. If you win, you’re happy, and if you lose, your world gets turned upside down.

That is a problem. This fear of losing scares some people from competition. Then there are those who live and die by competition, but fail to realize it is just a game. It is a game where you mix knowledge, strategy, timing, health, and attitude. Like any game, the best jiu-jitsu practitioner doesn’t always win. Take the World Championship for example. 30 guys sweat blood in their training, and there is only one winner. What about the 29 who worked so hard? Is the champion really better than all of them? It depends. Sometimes, the person with the best technique gets eliminated in the first round.

If you decide to compete, realize that competition is the art of dealing with pressure. Some people face pressure early in life and others not until much later, but in every case, where there is pressure there is competition. The student who doesn’t compete at the tournament is still competing if the pressure is there. Perhaps he even feels more pressure than the one who does go to tournaments because he fights against himself…competes against his feelings and choices. This is the toughest opponent you can have — yourself.

Ultimately, the opponent you will face in the ring is you, because you cannot compete successfully if you do not address internal issues that will affect your performance. When competing, you will not even be able to think about overcoming your opponent if you are too worried about yourself. However, if you are comfortable with your preparation, you will have the confidence to perform. Becoming the champion is not about your opponent. It’s about you.

Kettlebell Workout

This is a cool workout that places an emphasis on conditioning as well as strength.
Do as many rounds in 20 minutes of 5 pistols (right/left), 5 strict one arm press (right/left) and either 5 one arm body weight rows or 5 strict pull ups as you can.
These types of circuits give you the benefit of heavy low rep strength training, but also give a great cardio conditioning workout, especially if you take no rest between exercises or circuits.
Try and get this workout done 2x a week in conjunction to your BJJ training. A quick warm up of 5 minutes skipping and some joint mobility is always a good idea as well.
Remember your strength and conditioning work is supportive of your jiu-jitsu be carefull not to overtrain.
Enjoy
Micah

No Gi Guard

The closed guard is your first barrier in grappling. Because you have your opponent trapped between your legs you have a fair amount of control and can take a bit more time working for attacks.
Once your guard is open and you cant readily close it again you are into the territory of the open guard. This is an extremely effective position to attack from and has many variations such as traditional open guard, De la Riva, Spider, butterfly, x-guard etc...
Ideally when training you need to keep in mind that your guard wether gi or no- is based on fundamental concepts that if you can keep in mind will make your guard much more effective.

You want to have a core set of basics that work for no-gi, gi, mma and self defense with few modifications. Once youve got them down you can then obviously add details and work on some adding details etc to them. Certain techniques dont translate as well to no-gi (such as spider guard) so you need to keep that in mind when working on your game-plan.

FUNDAMENTALS FOR AN EFFECTIVE GUARD:

1: Always keep your knee's to your chest.
When your knees come away from your body it becomes easier to pass, i.e using a bull-fighter pass. Ideally when in open guard you must be sitting up like getting ready to stand in base,back hand assisting with movement and lead hand working for a grip or defending but knees bent and pulled into your chest.
Always try to keep your partner at 12 oclock and your legs between you.

2.Maintain 4 points of contact with your grips and feet pressure.
You need to be activelycontrolling your opponent with both feet (hooks, on hips, biceps etc) and your grips on his wrists, behind his head, ankle etc...

3: Be Aggressive-constantly looking for either a SWEEP/SUBMISSION/STAND UP
The guard is generally considered a defensive position but to have an effective guard you need to be attacking and applying pressure all the time. Look to link your attacks into simple combo's so that you are always threatening your opponent with something. i.e basic kimura-hip bumb-guillotine.
You also need to always threaten with being able to stand up and out of your guard esp against really big guys with great base a quick escape back to your feet can put you on top of their turtle position ready to attack their backs.
sweep/submit/stand up

4:Guard Retention Early and Late-
Early guard retntion would be techniques you use to defend your guard with your back off the mat.
Late guard retention would be once you are on your back and your opponent is working to control your legs and hips to pass to side control:
-dont let him control both your legs
-dont let him control your hips
- try keep your back off the mat. being up or at least on your side allows you to be able to move your hips and torso out to set up attacks and defend
-dont let him pass an imaginary line in front of your knees. Your foot, knee and shin are an importent barrier in your guard defense.

If you can keep these 4 points in mind youll find youre guard will become alot more effective.
Have filmed some clips and techniques to illustarte each point will upload them soon.
Train hard
Micah

Monday Morning Inspiration...

Sunday morning inspiration...

"Whenever problems seem to get the best of me, whenever I feel them closing in on me, I go to a quiet place that lies somewhere in my soul. I do not reason, analyze or think. Those will come later. I simply go. From this place of silence, I garner strength and inspiration to stand firm in the face of fire, to be calm in the midst of thunder. When I emerge, the world has not changed, but I have. And in changing, a whole new world is born."
---John Harricharan

Jacare' Highlight...

Cool highlight video of Jacare. Im working on some no-gi guard and open guard stuff which ill put up asap!
Enjoy the clip.
Train hard!
Micah

Tones of home...

Sorry for gap in posting been busy two weeks teaching and training. Have some cool stuff for the blog so will be getting it up asap.
Gotto get my ass to the train to make lunch time class on time,
chat to you later, train hard
Micah