Match Analysis; Blue Belts

This week let's take things down a notch and look at these blue belts in competition.
Pay specific attention to the attempted Guard Pass by white and how blue maintains his composure and uses the open guard (more specifically his feet and grips) to keep control of white and eventually set up the submission.




I'll be discussing the open guard further in an upcoming post.

Schwan's Foodservice for Grapplers?

Later this week, I'll be back with more match analysis but today I'd like to address a growing trend that all grappling athletes should steer clear of!

As an athlete who's always on the go, I look for ways to get my meals and workouts in even if it means cutting corners sometimes.
My philosophy is a few minutes of productive training is better than none at all. Even if that training consists of going over strategies or technical points because I don't have the time or there are too many other things to do to train physically.
My point is that as life can sometimes get in the way of training, it helps to have backup plans to get as much as you can in when there just isn't enough time.

So for many people this extends into getting less sleep or sacrificing on their nutrition and meals.

I decided to mention this today because there are some common trends that initially might seem like good ideas but in the longrun will only hurt your training.

Most people can clearly see that cutting down on sleep is a bad idea as sleep is one of the most important factors in recuperation not to mention how important it is for keeping you sharp, quick-thinking and helping to prevent and heal injuries.

But when it comes to nutrition, I've seen many athletes neglect their nutritious intake only to later see it seriously affect their performance. The thing is that because diet plays mostly a longterm role on your performance as opposed to a short term. Many don't realize it's negative effects before they've occured.
I once knew of someone who ate 5 chocolate bars after training just because they didn't have time to eat a quality meal. We'll you can just imagine the crash they later felt when the sugar rush wore out.

The real trend that I want to address today is actually frozen food.

More and more, we see people eating frozen food because of the convenience. But if you are a regularly training athlete then you'll want to stay away from this as much as possible. Why?
Regardless of what many companies say, frozen food does lack important nutrients that are vital for athletes, especially hard training athletes like grapplers.
The antioxidants in fresh fruits and vegetables are VITAL for recovery and will make a difference in your fitness and health in the long run. Nothing beats fresh fruit and vegetables for the antioxidants that you need, especially after hard training.
Although frozen foods still contain antioxidants the truth is that athletes need ALOT of these nutrients to fight off the damage that free radicals cause after hard training. These free radicals can damage your health and 6-10 servings of FRESH fruits and vegetables (more like 10 for hard training athletes) are the best way to prevent the damage these free radicals can do and help improve your recuperation after training.

Right now there is a huge marketing campaign being put out by companies like Schwan's Foodservice for frozen food. They claim that their food is frozen quickly and the nutrients are intact. The best advice you can get is to stay away from marketing hype and stick to common sense.

Think about it.

Science has only discovered phytonutrients and bioflavinoids that are in fruits and vegetables in the past 20 years. There are millions of these nutrients in fresh foods and most of them haven't even been identified yet, not to mention that scientists still aren't sure how they work together for added benefits.

Use common sense and stick to nature. Our ancestors have been eating fresh foods for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years. This is the way we've been eating for the longest time.

My point is simply to make sure you're not neglecting the fuel you put in your body to ensure you're getting the most out of your training and optimizing your performance.
Eat a balanced diet that includes at least 10 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables. Don't forget the general guidelines for nutritional servings are not for hard training athletes but for the general population.

Which we all know we aren't a part of!

Match Analysis

Let's take a look at this match from the Naga competition.
After working for grip we see Rodrigo execute a beautiful set up as he drops like he's going to pull guard and using that to outpace his opponent to side control after that his opponent manages to get half guard though Rodrigo escapes and regains side control.
After using an excellent combination to escape at 1:22, his opponent reverses the position and almost ends up with side control yet Rodrigo does a great job of thinking ahead and escaping and eventually regaining side control this time calmly working and gaining the mount position and maintaining it despite his opponents escape attempt.
From there we see Rodrigo set up a choke at 2:52 by forcing his opponent to turn and then taking the back.
He then attempts to set up an armlock and though he loses that, attempts an omoplata from the guard right near the end of the match.

Now, before watching this match several times ask yourself, what can you learn from this match?





You'll notice there are two main reasons why Rodrigo dominates this match.

First off, he always attempts to set his opponent up using a combination of moves.
From the beginning attempt at dropping into guard to attempting to control his opponents side/back to gaining side control.
Then when he gets reversed he doesn't panic but immediately goes for an escape to his opponent getting side control on him by thinking ahead and escaping to his half guard where he reverses his opponent.
This is the second reason, he stays focused, doesn't panic and thinks ahead of his opponent.
For beginners, this is a great demonstration of the two technique principle, although Rodrigo is obviously more advanced and uses three or more technique combinations at times.
You can easily see the effectiveness of combining techniques and using them to set up other techniques.

Furthermore, developing the ability to think ahead of your opponent by developing immediate responses and escapes to positions that you can perform in the moment as they are occurring is a critical skill to develop.

Now, go back and study this match several times looking for the details discussed.

Again focus on the question, what can you learn from this match and apply to your game?

Finding Pool Leaks and Jiujitsu

This week I want to tell you about a friend of mine's problem and how it relates to BJJ and all martial arts for that matter.
My friend was having a problem with his pool since the end of last summer. He figured he would wait until this year to fix it.
His inground pool had a leak in it and he couldn't find it.
He brought over some other friends to check it out and no one could find a crack, but as soon as he put some water in the pool it would slowly empty out.
Finally he did some digging and found a pool cleaning company who said they guaranteed they could find and seal all cracks and leaks.
So my friend called them up, a guy came over and sure enough within 10 minutes he found the leak and sealed it.
My friend couldn't believe it when he saw the crack.
He never would have noticed it in a million years if someone hadn't told him and he was shocked that such a small little inconspicuous crack could leak out so much water.

Ok.
So what does this have to do with BJJ???

Everything.

You see many times what we aren't trained to see will get right past us without us realizing it. It can seem like it's invisible.
My friend had surely looked over the crack many times but never really "noticed" it.
That is his eye wasn't trained to look for it and so it passed him by.
The exact same thing is true of BJJ.
The difference between many skilled players and unskilled ones is often down to what they "notice".
So if you want to be better you must learn to notice more subtleties during your rolling as well as when watching others roll.
The best way to do this is to study grappling matches and pay close attention to what's happening.
This is why I'm going to be featuring analysis of several classic grappling matches in the upcoming weeks.
Another thing you can do if you're a beginner is to pick up The Brazilian Jiujitsu Formula DVD.

You can get it by clicking the link or visiting the products page at www.jiujitsuuniverse.com

Until next week.

Andre Galvao

Thanks to all the emails I've been getting on the book recommendation I made for Saulo Ribeiro's book I will continue to offer occasional reviews and recommendations when I find a must-have product that will be a huge benefit to my subscribers.

This week i've included a clip of Andre Galvao commenting on the imporance of conditioning drills. Check it out for some great ideas on training drills.

And if you want to take conditioning drills to another level in your training then check out my BJJ Drills DVD it's sure to help take your game to a higher level.

Here's Andre's clip, just click on the link to view.

Saulo Ribeiro Side Mount Escape

It's great to hear about all of you who took my advice and picked up the
Jiujitsu University book and sent an email or left me a comment to tell me how great you found the book and the immediate impact it's having on your training.
That's the only book you'll need for a long time.

In that spirit, this week I'm including a video of Saulo Ribeiro demonstrating his superior instructional skills and BJJ skills in this demo of an extremely effective side mount escape.
Enjoy and keep the emails and comments coming.

A MUST HAVE BOOK!

This week I'd like to discuss a book that will make a huge difference in your game.
If you only buy one book on BJJ then this is it!
If someone offered me every book on BJJ or this one, I would pick this one and give up all my other BJJ books if I had to choose.
Trust me it is that good.
You've probably already heard talk about it and probably also heard how great it is. What you might not have heard is that this is easily the most complete book on BJJ ever put out, not only that but it's a book you will actually learn from.
The book is aptly named Jiu-Jitsu University
by Saulo Ribeiro with kevin Howell.

We definitely see an evolution in BJJ books here and they've set the bar pretty high.
Saulo has definitely gone the extra distance with this book.
I would easily pay $50.00 for it, it lists for $39.95 but you can get it for only $26.37 from amazon.
It would be great if a DVD set would follow.
The description says that this book will change the way Jiujitsu is taught around the world and I believe it!

Many people have said that this is the best book on BJJ out there and once you check it out you'll agree.
One thing I really like is how it breaks down the basics of each belt level and gives a super clear and concise view of the game.
With a lifetime worth of BJJ theory and applicable knowledge, featuring 368 pages with full colour incredibly detailed photos.

Do yourself a huge favour and click on the link to buy this book, it's very rare that I make recommendations to my readers but when I see something this valuable I have to share it.

As a matter of fact, I challenge you to get this book and write me if it doesn't improve your game. I'm willing to bet everyone who writes me will be to thank me for helping them improve.

Just buy it now, you'll thank me for this.

Dave Camarillo

This week, I'd like to discuss one of the most important grapplers around today.

Dave Camarillo.

If you're not familiar with him then you'll want to read this week's post carefully because in it I'll go over one of the key strategies he uses,(among many) to develop a well rounded game.

Mr. Camarillo calls this The hybrid game or ‘A” game

He has identified three types of training where many people are only interested in one of two.

The first is Controlled Training where you control your opponent through technique, using technique to control the position and the opponents movement.
This is also known as the Positional Approach.

The next type is the Mobility Approach, this is where your strategy is based on using technique through constant movement.
Basically, don't stop moving until you can set up a submission and tap your opponent out or until you get submitted.
This approach is favored by younger, more athletic grapplers.

This is where Dave Camarillo's approach comes in.
He calls this the hybrid game or ‘A” game.
Basically, this is a mixture of both the Positional Approach and the Mobility Approach.

What's great about this idea is that you can develop the best of both world's and remove the limitations involved by focusing on one approach.

The focus is to develop proper Positional Control and skill in the positions of Jiujitsu and also develop the athleticism involved to use speed, strength and endurance to both counter and dominate the scrambles for position that can happen when you lose control of the position, enabling you to use the Mobility Approach when needed and giving you a more well rounded and complete game.

He calls this the Hybrid Game or the "A" game for the simple reasons that it is a combination of both approaches and results in a higher level of performance.

Mr. Camarillo has taken this approach to an Elite level and I believe this approach will become more and more popular.

I believe that the earlier in your training you take this approach the better off your performance will be for it. That is the best time to get into the habit of developing your game to a higher level.

So if you concentrate your game on one of these areas, start making it a habit right now to work not only positional skills but also mobility skills and vice versa.

You'll end up a more complete grappler with your "A" game and you'll have Dave Camarillo to thank.

Demian Maia

In a continuing look at some of the best BJJ players around today, this week, I'd like to discuss this video by Demian Maia.
Demian has made a huge impact on MMA with his BJJ style that he has very well adapted to MMA competition.
One look at his dominant performance against Nate Quarry in their UFC match, and it's obvious how skilled Maia is.

One definite focus of his excellent Instructional series The Science of Jiujitsu, is on the biomechanical details that enable him to fully control and dominate his opponents.

In this excellent short clip on counters, he goes over great detail on techniques on setting up counters your opponent doesn't expect.

Check it out!

As usual just click on the link to view.

Marcelo Garcia's Arm Drag

Over the next few weeks I'll be looking at some of the top grapplers in the world and examining a key part of their game.

This week we'll be looking at Marcelo Garcia.

The following video demonstrates a key technique that Marcelo has popularized; the arm drag. He shows how to use the arm drag to smoothly take your opponents back.
Pay special attention to how he applies the grip to use the arm drag effectively and take his opponent off balance.

Just click on the link to view the video.