Laercio Fernandes Seminar

Laercio Fernandes seminar yesterday at Breaking Point MMA...(all week in fact, but I can only attend Tuesday's class)

The Cobrinha "Cobra"

Laercio taught the beginner class at 6:00pm and showed a few key details for armbar from the guard as well as an interesting way to transition into the triangle. I find each time I see a high level guy doing these basic techniques, I see some little detail that makes me say "a-ha"!

In the advanced class at 7:00pm we learned a few high level guard passes from when your opponent has the DLR hook in. I think slowly my comfortability with the DLR hook is getting better.

Instead of rolling we did a "shark tank" with 5 or so guys starting from guard, and the rest of the class lining up on the wall waiting their turn to have a chance to pass their guard. I started on the mat and had a fairly good string of sweeps going. The highlight was hitting an omaplata from guard.. I think it is the first time I have sub'ed someone from an omaplata. Definitely a high point for my BJJ game this month...

/Mike

"Killers"

The talent runs pretty deep here..

This pic is from the Saturday class at Breaking Point MMA (Dan Hale BJJ). We had a lot of high level guys from around the GTA drive out to Burlington to roll. The session went 2 1/2 hours. Awesome time... I think everyone enjoyed it.

Thanks Dan, it was awesome

/Mike

Measuring Your Progress Against Teammates

I read an interesting post from Jackjitsu over on Jiu Jitsu Forums..

He explains progress between teammates as two intersecting sinewaves that ramp up together. Both of you plateau at different times, and peak at different times.

You're the green, your teamate is the red 

I love this example/analogue as it sums up those times when I easily tap out my teammate one week, only to be smashed the next week.

I think the moral of what jack was trying to say is that regardless of the short term "ups and downs", when you look at it on a longer timeline it is easy to see the upward trend of both of you.

Operation: Assertiveness...fighting lazy Jiu Jitsu

I read JoshJitsu's great post on assertiveness as a part of your BJJ game. I suggest you read it first.

http://www.joshjitsu.info/2013/05/operation-be-more-assertive-is-go.html

I agree wholeheartedly that this is a major problem in my BJJ development, I will wait for my opponent to make a mistake, instead of actively working to improve my situation and finish my opponent.  This approach assumes:

• Your opponent will make a mistake
• You will know how to capitalize on that mistake...

This is what I call "Lazy Man Jiu Jitsu".

Just chillin'

This style of game IS effective...assuming your opponent has almost no grappling skill. My mindset has always been that as long as I defend, my opponent will inevitably "wear out" after trying countless times and become tired and helpless.

I was recently tapped out repeatedly to two different white belts at the new academy I am training at. 

After the roll, I assumed the reason for this was they were due for a promotion, or that they were younger/stronger/faster... or it was their "day".

Perhaps some of that was true, but after reflecting on it for a week or so, I have come to the conclusion that I was not actively fighting back. I was defending against their attacks, but not really attacking. If I am never really threatening them with attacks, then they are free to just chip away at my defense till they find a hole... 

What my defense looked like after 10 min rounds of attacks

Not a good scenario.

I think somewhere along the way(perhaps because of my lack of tournaments), I deemed it was OK to wait out the clock during a roll. Now I am in an academy where they are constantly attacking and I fins I am running for my life. I always seem to be under attack.

NEW ROAD: Attack.. Try.. make mistakes.. focus on offense instead of defense...

Update: I found this great article on how modern BJJ players DO NOT get tired like they did in the old days

http://www.innerbjj.com/2013/05/evolution-of-bjj.html Great read.

Changes...New BJJ Club

Life is funny... Change is funny

I quit the dojo I was a part of for the last three years, and went on a search to find a new home. I wanted to take my jiu jitsu more seriously, and needed something different. There were politics involved (when aren't there?), but at the core, I wanted to learn a more modern style of jiu jitsu. De La Riva, Berimbolo, 50/50 etc...

Leaving my old dojo was an emotional process. It feels very much like turning your back on the brothers (and sisters). You sweat, bleed, laugh, cry, share, win and lose together, and now effectively I am telling them they are no good, and (selfishly) pursuing a different path. I can see this hurting friendships.
BJJ is such a small subgroup that it would be great if we didn't have team/dojo alliances, or were able to avoid "us vs them" mentality. It would be great to bond together under a common love, but that is not reality...

I am afraid that possibly the next time I get to roll with some of my old teammates.. it will be under tournament conditions... that makes me sad.

 Before leaving, I spread myself out far and wide. I wanted to try out a few other clubs around the Toronto area. I had a list of criteria  (in rough order of importance)

• distance from home, 
• skill set, 
• class size, 
• instructor lineage, 
• less "formal" or "traditional"
• price

I tried a few different places, some good, some bad. Some where I was instantly the most experienced, others where I was smashed and hurt by the end of the night... It was an eye opening experience. Overall I never felt like I was "drowning" at my belt level.. but most places I had to swim pretty fast(In retrospect, I probably couldn't keep that pace for long)

I finally settled on Dan Hale at Breaking Point Martial Arts.

Dan is a purple belt under Cobrinha. He is extremely technical, runs a great place, and fields an active competitive team. After a couple of class it became apparent that Dan's students are friendly, welcoming, and most importantly to me.. extremely skilled and technical. I can not get away with any mistakes or "lazy jiu jitsu" all of the blue belts WILL capitalize on my mistake. There are skilled people here and "iron forges iron" I think I have made the right choice.

I like Dan's approach to rolling as well, he mandates 10 minute rounds in his classes.. this quickly separates the strong from the technical. Very few strong guys can keep up that pace for ten minutes.. it forces you to address energy conservation.

Great instructor, great place, great choice

/Mike