New DVD to be released! (FREE for subscribers)

Hey everyone, I've been hard at work on my latest DVD and will be offering it FREE to all my subscribers for their feedback before I release it publicly.
I'll be posting more info on that next week so be on the lookout as I have a very limited amount of copies and will likely run out fast.

In the meantime, Stephan's Free DVD offer is still up for grabs but ends this Thursday so if anyone is still interested and hasn't gotten it yet, you'd better hurry!

It's available at:
13 Techniques You Can Use On The Mat Today

Keep a lookout for next week's post.

UPDATES ON FREE OFFERS!

Hi everybody,

I've been busy at work on some new projects that I know everyone is going to absolutely love including my FREE DVD offer, which I will be letting everyone know about within the next few weeks.

Before that I want to let you all know about an amazing and FREE video tutorial on the X guard position, that my friend and BJJ Black Belt Stephan Kesting just released.

The 'X Guard' is a hybrid position that combines aspects of both the open guard and the half guard. It's a VERY powerful sweeping position (as proved by Marcelo Garcia who has used it to cut larger and stronger opponents down to size at the very highest levels of competition).

Stephan is an amazing BJJ instructor and his free tutorial even includes a whole bunch of tweaks to make the X Guard MUCH more powerful.

Learning how to use the X Guard position is critical if you intend to develop your grappling skills to the best they can be and applying the info in this free tutorial is sure to make a HUGE difference in your game fast.

And you can check it out just by going to the link below:







Even better Stephan is also offering a FREE DVD Entitled:
13 Techniques You Can Use On The Mat Today
This phenomenal DVD is sure to make a huge difference in your game!
Just click on the DVD title to check out his amazing offer.

PS: If you do want to order his FREE DVD I would suggest you do it quick as quantities are very limited.
You'll hear from me soon with some more great news and some more FREEBIES.

Subscriber ONLY Offers!!!

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be making several offers available ONLY to subscribers of the Jiujitsu Universe Blog.

One of these offers will be for a FREE DVD that I will be releasing for subscribers only!
There will be limited quantities only available for my subscribers and the offer will only be available for a limited time.
I will then be releasing the public version of the DVD for $14.99.
Subscribers will have it FREE (only a small shipping and handling charge will apply).

All I ask is you let me know what you thought of the techniques demonstrated on the DVD.

Also a friend of mine is putting out a phenomenal offer that I will also let you in on. The only reason I would share this with my subscribers is because of the incredible value I know it will bring to all BJJ athletes.

Keep an eye out for the next few posts which will feature more details, I know you'll be thrilled and amazed with what I have in store for you!

The 2 Technique Principle Revisited.

Since we're on the topic of strategy I'll be revisiting an invaluable strategy for developing your game efficiently and effectively.
Keep in mind that although this is an efficient learning approach it is not and shouldn't be considered a short cut.
For the simple reason that it takes work, focus and time. Yet it is faster than training haphazardly hoping for results, the key here is staying focused and organized.

OK, with that out of the way here is the gist of this principle.

The 2 technique principle allows for a more efficient and organized approach to training and developing your BJJ skills simply because you focus the techniques you learn around 2 responses to a position or situation.

So you start by writing down the most likely positions you will find yourself.

For instance let's take a look at positions.

Simply:
-In your opponents guard
-With your opponent in your guard
-In opponent's half guard
-Half guard on your opponent
-Mounted
-Mounted on your opponent
-Side control bottom
-Side control top.

Now there are many more positions and variations of them (such as turtle, open guard, etc,...,) but beginners should start with the most basic and build from there.

So you focus exclusively on 2 guard passes, 2 attacks or sweeps from your guard, half guard passes, half guard attacks, 2 mount escapes, 2 attacks from the mount, 2 side control escapes and 2 side control attacks or transitions and work to make those techniques and their combinations second nature.

You then apply this principle to other positions and situations.

Now by no means does this mean that your game should never evolve past this point.

You will never develop a complete understanding of the grappling game by limiting yourself, BUT, this is the optimal way to begin as well as develop a working knowledge and ability in sparring.

It is an ideal way to develop your foundation and I feel all white belts should use this principle in their training.

Now this is just a basic overview of the 2 technique principle as it has several different approaches, strategies and specific ways that you can implement it in your game.

After much thought, I decided that putting together a DVD on this approach wouldn't do it or the people watching it justice.

Why?

Because I have always felt that it is important to be cautious when introducing techniques through DVDs. I decided against putting out a DVD demoing the principle while showing techniques.

I have always been of the belief that martial arts are best taught by a live instructor. Scratch that, it's more than a belief I'm convinced that it is a fact as I've seen the results of people who tried to learn martial arts skills from DVDs too many times.

DVDs are great for introducing techniques, refreshing your memory and reviewing but trying to learn from them will develop holes and bad habits in your training that will take longer to correct.

That's why I only released a coaching CD where I cover all the necessary aspects of applying the 2 Technique Principle to your game.

As for the techniques themselves, you'll have to get those from your instructor. ;)

Next week I'll be back with more on strategy.

Why It's Critical To Develop Strategy In Your BJJ Training...

Regardless of how many techniques you know or how well you know them, the biggest factor in your using them successfully is your application of them and this ties in directly to strategy.

This is probably one of the most important areas of your training.

Yes the physical side is critical as well but the mental side really seperates the great from the average.

As a matter of fact this is what seperates the top acheivers from the average in almost any field.

So how do you go about working on your strategy?

You begin by knowing your strengths and weaknesses and also by studying the strategies of the top fighters.

By becoming aware of your strengths you can maximize your use of them. As for your weaknesses, you can prioritize your training on them to minimize them and develop those areas further.

Also by studying the best, you can learn how they implement the same techniques to outperform their competition.

The faster you focus on this area of your training the faster you will see progress in your ability to implement the techniques you learn into your game.

Over the next few weeks I'll be going deeper into strategy and the development of a solid game.

A Complete Overview Of The Blue Belt Curriculum

This week I will feature a review of yet another Blue Belt curriculum series that is incredibly detailed and complete in it's scope of the basics involved in developing a solid BJJ game.

This DVD series is by Marcello Monteiro and is called Brazilian Jiujitsu Curriculum: White To Blue.

As expected all the main areas for developing into a solid Blue Belt are covered;
positional skills, attacking and defending, counters, escapes, guard passes, sweeps, set-ups and submissions.

Most impressively Mr. Monteiro leaves no stone unturned as he covers all the secret tricks, movements and crucial details to allow for the optimal performance of the techniques.
To say that Marcello Monteiro merely teaches techniques would be an understatement as his approach delves much deeper than the learning of a technique into fully understanding and mastering the full scope of the skills presented.

The first of the DVDs is seperated into the four sections of Bottom Game, Top Game, Submissions and Takedowns. It is very easy to navigate through the selections to view each of them individually or you can view them all together consecutively.

The second DVD introduces Escapes as well.

The third and fourth DVDs further build on these five sections and take the student into the more complex techniques required for Blue Belt proficiency.
The approach is seemless as the first DVD introduces the fundamental basics and the following DVDs progress logically into more difficult skills to ensure the development of a solid Blue Belt game.

One aspect of the 4 DVD series that some viewers may question is the way that techniques are seperated. Personally I find that this helps with focusing on the individual material being taught without overwhelming the student. Also, it makes it easier for finding footage you want to review over again without having to search through an extended part of the DVD.

Finally I would like to add that the techniques on the DVD are very current and up to date featuring a thorough introduction to open guard techniques as well as the Butterfly Guard and De La Riva Guard.

I believe the information presented in this series more than justifies the price and makes it well worth it as a well presented and complete encyclopedia of techniques for developing a rock solid foundation for your BJJ game.

For more info go to www.bjjcoach.com

Brock Lesnar, Grappling, The UFC And The State Of Combat Sports...

It's Saturday night and I've just finished watching UFC 100.
Overall a great show with some impressive performances by GSP and Dan Henderson.
The one thing about the whole event though that compelled me to come home and write this blog post was Brock Lesnar's attitude and antics after his match against Frank Mir.
Brock Lesnar, besides being a phenomenal athlete who has great wrestling and overall grappling skills on top of his huge stature, (He probably fights at around 280-290lbs.) perfomed well and kept Mir trapped on the ground by controlling his head as he rained punches on him. Simply put, he did a great job of negating Mir's skills and keeping him from gaining momentum and control during the fight.
The one thing I feel forced to write about though was the inexcusable anctics of Lesnar after the match.
Yes some people might say that he is just basking in his glory and trying to gain notoriety as a fighter but he should be doing that with his skills in the cage not by belittling his opponent or giving the finger to the crowd.
Maybe someone should quickly remind Lesnar that those very fans who he was flipping off were collectively responsible for paying his earnings that night and without whom he would not have the opportunity he presently does.
The sport of MMA as a whole is worse off from this type of attitude and behaviour and I honestly believe that he should come to his senses and apologize for taking a great sport and degrading it the way he did.
Combat sports in general have been tied in to a culture that ends with respect and integrity for the most part.
It's what seperates these athletes from the majority of the sports world and propels them to an epic status. The fact that so much dedication and sacrifice goes into performing on the level that these guys do engenders and deserves more respect than what Brcok Lesnar demonstrated on this historic night of the 100th event of the UFC and the largest MMA show around today.
Let's hope that this stays as an exception and doesn't drag the UFC down to the level that professional wrestling fell to.
Maybe we should just treat it as an opportunity to remember how important a role mutual respect plays in our training in the grappling arts.

Thinking Outside the Box...

For those of you looking for different tactics you can use for catching your opponents off guard, I've got a recommendation that will interest you.

Hopefully you are thinking outside the box when it comes to strategies you can implement in your game.

The recommendation I'd like to make is a DVD called The Art Of The Wristlock, by BJJ Black Belt, Roy Dean.
What's so different about this 2 DVD set is that it incorporates wrist locks taken from Japanese Jujitsu and Aikido and demonstrates their effectiveness against resisting opponents in a BJJ setting.
It gives a clear framework for adapting and using these wristlocks to surprise your opponents and take them off guard.

The beauty of these techniques is that many grapplers don't expect them therefore they aren't usually prepared to defend them.

There is also an excellent segment on footlocks and lower body submissions on the second DVD.

I can highly recommend this DVD set to all Grapplers who are constantly seeking to improve their game as well as add unconventional approaches to their skills.

The BJJ Notebook Coming Soon... FREE For Subscribers

Hi, just a quick note to let everyone know I'll be sending out my newest product called the BJJ Notebook to all my subscribers for FREE in PDF. format.

So keep a lookout in your email over the next week.

It will features several interviews including such BJJ greats like Dave Camarillo and more, a biographical article on Rickson Gracie, called The Flowing Wave Of Jiujitsu, and many other articles.

Also, feel free to send in any questions or comments.

To Gi Or Not To Gi?

This seems to be the age old question in Jiujitsu.

The funny thing is that there are proponents of either method that are often very convinced that their way is the ONLY way.

The truth is that both methods have their pros and cons.

For the record I train in BOTH methods and although I do train primarily in no-gi Jiujitsu, I feel that the gi is VERY important to training.

The pros to no-gi training are that the lack of a gi forces you to use grips that don't depend on clothing.
Underhooks, overhooks, and neck/head control allow you to control your opponent regardless of what he's wearing.
To me this is a little more realistic in terms of habits and skills to develop.

Now yes it is true that people often wear jackets and that developing gripping skills with the jacket allows for more chokes and points of control than training without the gi does. This is why I feel that Jiujitsu practitioners should at least have some gi experience if they choose to train without the gi.

The cons to training only with the gi are that if the gi is taken out of the equation, the gi fighter will have to adapt his skills on the fly to the lack of grips he has available and if he has no experience at all without the gi he could have serious problems adapting.

In the end, regardless of what method you choose to train in, I can sincerely advise you to train in the other side as well. This can only be beneficial for you in the long run and will make your game more complete.