Earlier this year, I thought it’d be an interesting experiment to start drawing concept or mind maps for BJJ. Last week, I finally got a white board and tonight I took my first crack at sketching.
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This map is made up of four large sections: guard, top, escapes and passing. The red arrows [...]
As I’ve said repeatedly, this journal is a reflection of my personal interests. If there hasn’t been much new material posted, it’s because I’m not working on new techniques. Rather, I’m returning to “old” stuff and working on it again, a process I started months ago.
I’ve also been working on aspects more fundamental than revisiting [...]
I have too many goals at the moment. Maybe one of them should be to have fewer goals.
Here’s the grand list:
A recent ankle injury has caused me to change the focus of my game. The main areas I’m working on are standing from guard and snapping down to the front headlock then doing brabo chokes. I’ve also been working on the wrestler’s sit-out simply because it’s a skill I’ve never really developed and figured now [...]
It’s almost a curse word. It’s the worst part of class, next to warm-ups. You may wish you could skip it and get on to the fun stuff.
Yet drilling is a necessary and important aspect of learning, regardless of how loved it is. You’ve got to build muscle memory somehow.
The disdain for drilling likely comes [...]
The draw of this journal has been its constant tutorials and techniques. Some of you may have been disappointed lately, with the frequency of updates slowing down and fewer tutorials being put up.
As you may have figured out, this journal is largely a reflection of my personal interests. I only share techniques I use, and [...]
Several times a year, I sit down and ask myself a series of questions to evaluate where I currently stand.
This gives me a chance to thoroughly examine my skills, recognize my strong points and highlight weaknesses that need to be addressed.
It also gives me a way of comparing how far I’ve progressed since the last [...]
Thanks to my recent injuries, I’ve had more time to hit up BJJ forums. In my e-travels, I’ve written a few lengthy answers to questions that forum-goers asked me, and I want to share them here.
In this first Q&A, I’m covering two common problems—not getting smashed in half guard and escaping side control—so I think [...]
As is the fashion when one receives a new belt, I felt I should offer a handy list of advice on what helped me get my purple.
The problem with pieces like this is how easy it is to blow off their truisms. I hope I can avoid this a bit by offering less common tips [...]
This article began as a response to readers asking me about how I prepared for tournament.
Then it was to offer insight into how I got my purple belt.
Most recently, it’s how I’m filling a request that I discuss the theory of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu more, not just the application.
Let’s see if I can’t hit all those [...]