I am so inspired by people who have taken fitness to a new level.  Just amazing.

In reading ____ I came to realize that beliefs are a major force in who we are and what we do.  The example Sam Harris gives is...

So I started to wonder if this could be appleid to bjj.  In other words - Do I have certain beliefs that are helping or hurting my game today or my development in this beautiful art.

competition?

I have never trained with Erik Paulson, but it is on my list for someday.  I have only heard great things about him from some people I really respect.  In this clip he shows a few ways to defeat the lockdown made popular by Eddie Bravo.  Very cool counters.

rolling to win...

More and more I find posture to be an essential part of life.  There are many sources of information on this topic, but more often than not, I return to Esther Gokhale.  The above video was her speaking at Google before the release of her book on eliminating back pain.

Both of these videos are from Paul's recent seminar at OneWorld.  It turns out that the guy in the second video was the guy I partnered with during the seminar to work techniques.  Super nice guy.

See you on the mat.

• How do I start from the knees?
• How do I get away when I have been crossfaced?
• What attacks do I have from <insert postition here>?
• Which palm goes up or down when going for chokes?
• What is the exact percentage of effort I should give when drilling?
• Should I roll hard or just play?

More recently I have been asking questions like:

• How do I take top position from anywhere?
• How can I transition to the back from anywhere?
• What is the key to controlling this position?
• What is the controlling hub I want in this position?
• What is my next attack if they defend this one?
• How can I use my lower body in this position?
• How can I eliminate their defenses to gain an advantage?

I am not saying that one list is better than the other - they are snapshots at a point in time in my development.  What questions are you asking of yourself or your instructors?  Sound off in comments, I'd love to hear...

See you on the mat.

I was recently reading the requirements for Brown Belt that Roy Harris puts on his website.  Roy has always done a great job laying out a clear and complete curriculum for his students.  One of the lines that struck me was this one:

I want the student to be able to effectively and efficiently use their feet, shins, knees and thighs for MOST of the control.

I found it interesting since over the last month our club has been working a lot on using the lower body much more from every position.  In my experience, when people realize they can work with more than their hands and arms it is a big day for their game.  Everything gets better for them, and much harder for their opponent.

Using the lower body can come into play in a ton of positions, but I used to just think about it for passing the guard, sweeping my opponent or performing some escapes.  We have been finding a good amount of success with using the legs to create attacking advantages as well.  In this case, I mean advantages in the sense that you can gain a superior attacking position by eliminating some defenses of your opponent. 

Here are two examples:

First is finishing from the back position.  My inspiration on the back has been the Demian Maia set.  He shows a simple way to use your overhooking arm (assume a harness grip) to control the opponents wrist just long enough to trap it with your leg.  This is pure gold and sets up an immediate attacking advantage.  You can now work your armlocks, chokes, etc with both your hands while the opponent has just one to defend.   This is now what I do immediately when taking the back.

Second is finishing from side control.  My inspiration here has been the Robson Moura set.  Robson gives a few ways to trap the opponents near side arm with your knee/shin.  From there you begin your attacks.  I can tell you attacking and controlling gets a lot easier when you have this type of control.  Becoming proficient at this is a bit harder than the back control discussed above, but when you get it you become a nightmare.

Obviously, the ideas of using your whole body or removing opponents defenses are not new ideas, just something we have been doing with good success recently at the gym.

I want to give a special thank you to Alicia of AliciaPhotos for letting me use this image.  She takes the best BJJ and Submission Wrestling photographs, so check out her site for some fantastic images!

 I never start our classes with any sort of stretching.  Some of my training partners do, that that's all good with me.  To each their own.  However, a recent report in the New York times (and several others recently) talk extensively about how static stretching (the kind we are all used to from playing sports growing up) is actually harmful.

It seems that a dynamic warm up like jogging, jumping jacks, hindu pushups, bodyweight squats, spiderman walks, etc, etc are the way to go.  My personal favorite these days is to do the 6 exercises Paul Schreiner showed at his recent seminar.

You can read the full NYT article here.

I was suprised and very grateful when I received a package in the mail the other day from the DogFight Gear crew.  This is a new mma clothing company headed up by a few friends out of Modern Combatives in Berkeley.  Inside the box was a brand new white Gi in size A3 for me to try out.  I was excited since I was recently in the market for a new one and now it seems that fate has saved me a bit of coin.

The fit and finish of the gi is fantastic and I really like the styling.  They have the same weight and overall feel as my classic Koral (which is my favorite gi to date) - so that is a good thing.  They also have the stripe along the pants and jacket edges.  As a special bonus for SBGi gyms they have the SBGi logo treated on the back.  I say treated since it is not a patch, but more like it was painted into the gi.  It's a nice touch.

I am just starting to use the gi, so I'll get back with a review after a few washings and some wear and tear on the mat - but check them out.  It's a high quality product from a really nice group of people and I always like to support a local group of friends wherever possible.

Thanks again to Eric and Lily for the Gi.