The Importance of Keeping Track

One of the first things I was told when I started taking Hung Ga Kung Fu about 7 years ago was to get a notebook. “After class write down all the techniques you learned, down to the details,” my instructor said. Never being one for writing by hand, I didn’t actually heed this advice. My loss.

So, lesson learned. I recently began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu again, after about 6 years since the last time I took a “class.” Check out the About page for more information on that and where I train currently. Now that I am quite familiar with WordPress (and am in possession of my own domain, I might add), I thought I would start keeping track of my classes and training sessions. And, I suppose, pretty much anything else I do/read/see/learn in relation to this sport.

That being said, I’m flying out to Cancun tomorrow for a 4-night vacation.

Is it sad that I’m fretting over missing 6 days straight of classes?

Leave a Comment

Filed under Log

Upcoming Articles

As often seems to be the case lately, life’s keeping me inordinately busy. There are quite a few techniques I want to post about, but have not gotten around to. In the interest of remembering them for when I have time, here’s a list items for later posts, with some notes to remind me of details: Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Musings

Half-Guard: No Underhook? No Problem!

Any time a training partner points out to me that I had an opportunity to sink in a collar choke, I immediately explain that I avoid them like the plague. It’s true – I often won’t go near collar chokes, as I find I have a very difficult time finishing them. That being said, this next technique is one of my favorite lapel chokes. That’s not to say I’m good at it, ’cause I’m not. I simply like setting this one up, even if I can’t finish it. It’s one of those moves where you seem to be giving up control and putting yourself in a bad spot, but if done correctly you will be safe the whole time.

Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Chokes, Gi, Half-guard, Log

Got the Blues. In a Good Way.

It’s finally mine. The blue belt, the symbol indicating that I know just a tad more than nothing about this art that has verily taken over my life. Though my official training has been somewhere in the realm of a year and a half, I’ve been waiting years to achieve this. Now that it’s out of the way I can forget about milestones, titles, and symbols for a while and concentrate on just improving my skills. This belt is going to see me through arguably the most important stage in my BJJ career, and it’s not going anywhere for a while.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Musings, Pictures, Promotions

Side-Control Saturday: Sneaky Set-Ups

After the guard, top side-control is easily my favorite position. There are lots of options for attacks and setups. The array of possibilities is literally laid out in front of me, as my opponent is prone on the mat. From a transitional perspective, I can still move to other versions of side control (kuzure kesa-gatame, knee-on-belly, etc.), spin to the other side, or climb to mount.

It’s no surprise, then, that classes teaching offensive side control are among my favorites. Saturday’s no-gi class was such a session.

Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Chokes, Joint locks, Log, No-Gi, Side control

Grapplers Quest – March 24th & 25th, 2012

As a four-stripe white belt for a couple of months now, the threat of a blue belt has been floating ominously over my head. I know you’re thinking, “Is this guy nuts? Blue belt isn’t something to fear, it’s an accomplishment!” While I don’t disagree, as it’s something I’ve been wanting for the past 6 years or so, at the same time receiving my blue belt would put the kibosh on gi competition for me for a while. Let’s face it – I’m no BJJ prodigy, and I only get about 4.5 hours a week to practice, on average. There’s no way as a newly-anointed blue belt I would be able to compete in a gi division with people who may have had their blue belts for 1-3 years already (and likely on the verge of receiving their purple belts). I don’t fancy the idea of sandbagging either. So I knew I had to compete at least one last time as a white belt, and I would have to do it soon.

Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Competition, Gi, Media, No-Gi, Videos

Ride Into Obsession

“Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.” That’s one of my favorite sayings. Most things can be good in moderation. Excessive overuse, however, will turn even something good for you into something bad. For the most part I try to take wisdom from this adage when it comes to things I like doing.

That being said, I’m clearly addicted to BJJ in a bad way, and it can’t be stopped. On or off the mat, I’m constantly thinking about it. Looking up ways to tweak my techniques, replaying the previous night’s class(es) and sparring sessions in my mind, thinking of what I want to work on and what I can or should try next class. I even obsess over things that aren’t directly about rolling, like when I’m going to workout to improve my pathetic excuse for cardio, or if I am finally going to start taking private lessons, or when I should compete, or how I’m going to manage to make it to at least 3 classes a week when I’m so busy with three jobs. See? Obsessing.

But enough about that. On to interesting stuff (i.e., techniques):

Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Half-guard, Log, Musings, Sweeps, X-guard

Great No-Gi Class

Brutal. That’s how I’d describe the chokes we learned in today’s no-gi class. I decided last week that I’d take today’s no-gi class, and fortunately I was able to follow through. Class was a great workout, and I had some time to hang out afterwards which allowed me to drill some stuff and do some gi training too.
Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Chokes, Gi, Guard, Joint locks, Log, Mount, No-Gi

Professor Renzo Teaching – Two Stripes Later

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 5 months since my last update. In that time I went from my second stripe to my fourth. I regret slacking on here, but free time has been a luxury of late. Since my company launched its new website and I accepted a side project to make some additional money I find myself snatching every bit of sleep whenever I can get it. Thus my commute, which was when I wrote most of my posts, has since become an opportunity for a quick nap. It sucks always being tired.

Not too tired to hit the mats, though. Never too tired for that 🙂

Great news: Prof. Renzo is now teaching regularly at RGA NYC. I had the pleasure of being one of many taking his class tonight. The mats were packed, and with good reason. The professor demonstrated some great details for finishing the sitting armbar. Fair warning: it’s a lengthy post, I tried to squeeze in as much detail as I could recall.

Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Chokes, Gi, Joint locks, Log

It’s Damn Good to Be Back

Monday, 8/15:

There’s something to be said for taking a two-week break from the mats, as much as I hated doing it. You come back with lots of energy and a renewed drive to push yourself all the way. Such was the case tonight, when I took my first serious BJJ class in two weeks, coming off an arm injury. I’m still not entirely sure what caused it, but somehow I managed to sprain a muscle in the forearm of my right arm. It’s not completely healed as of yet, but I just could not stay away from the mat any longer. There’s jiu-jitsu to be learned! And I dare say I made my first class back in the gym count.

Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Escapes, Gi, Guard, Log, Sweeps

Love Saturday Morning Classes

Saturday, 7/30:

Title says it all. These classes leave me refreshed, ready to take on the day. I had an excellent partner whom I’ve seen in class but have not really rolled with before, and we both seriously tested one another’s limits. A testament to this is the fact that by the time class was 45 minutes in we both felt ready to bring up the previous night’s dinner. Always a good sign, right?

Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Chokes, Drills, Escapes, Gi, Guard, Log, Side control