Academix Martial Arts

Dan Hale has moved into his own facility. He has poured his heart and soul into it and I must say that it is coming along to be one of the nicest I have seen.

I have been to a few different gyms in my travels and I really would say that Dan is building a world class jiu jitsu Mecca.

Very Cool

From this....





To this...

And that doesn't include the striking area, juice bar, top notch change rooms with showers and a welcoming front entrance.

Official Grand opening is on March 22nd-23rd weekend with a Special guest instructor....

Gonna be epic...

Updates on the academy here...

Dan Hale BJJ Facebook page

Academix Martial Arts Facebook Page

and address...

2388 Fairview Street, 

Burlington, ON Canada 

L7R 2E4

West side of building, head down the stairs of the Soccer Store.

View Larger Map

i guess Steve took the picture...cause he ain't in it.!

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

New Road...Diet...Exercise...Flexibility...And BJJ

Since I have changed direction in my BJJ journey, I want to outline a new set of goals and strategies. I should start with Diet

DIET

I have always thought of slipping into laziness as one big slide. Something that has large clear signs to watch out for. In reality, I find that my fitness progress slides to a standstill much more deceptively. Laziness becomes a warm blanket I wrap myself in. It becomes easily acceptable to take the easy way out and NOT do any kettlebell swings, or run, or sweat. It is only after realizing that it has been a few weeks since I wrapped my hand around a bell, or did a decent push-up that I recoil in horror..

Did....did I...just completely fall off the wagon (or "on"... I can never remember which one it is)?

What happened? When did I accept my old diet back into my life?.. Gooey, cheesy, pizza three times this month? WTF?

No more......... NO MORE.... I WILL get back to my diet "winning ways".. this has only been a small hiccup in an otherwise great weight loss process.

Salads for lunch, portion control, Home cooked food, controlled fasting, all easily obtainable and repeatable goals... I feel better emotionally, spiritually, and mentally when I control my diet.

EXERCISE

Exercise has definitely been lacking in my life. When I have a hard rolling session, I wake up the next day weak and tired... definitely not where I was 6 months ago. To fix that, I will do:

• 10 min Kettlebells after class Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
• 20 min Kettlebells at home Monday, Wednesday and Friday
• Sunday is rest day.
• I will take the stairs at every opportunity 
• I will walk around the block after lunch each workday
• Protein shake each night 30 mins before bed

STRETCHING

I have also not met my flexability goals.. I heard somewhere that being flexible takes just as much effort as building large muscles..

• Morning stretches before getting in the shower to loosen tight areas.
• Use the back roller to stretch out my back
• Occasional Bikram yoga
• Use the stability ball

BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU

My game is lacking in several area's and I have allowed the dexterity in my legs to become my sole focus on skill improvement. This needs to change, as it is providing diminishing returns

• I will focus on a more offensive game and stop "flopping" on my back. This is my ego in disguise. If I start in that position and I get tapped,  I can mentally say "Well you started in a bad position so it doesn't really count.
• Flopping on my back, also sets the tone of "I am going to defend instead of attack".
• I will write down the lessons and key points I like... too often I think I will remember and do not..
• I will be a better student. I will listen better, and stop being "defensive" in my learning. I will follow "Learning to Learn's" advice.
• I will loosen up... Jiu jitsu is fun. 

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