Last Thursday – Butterfly Guard Pass

In drill we focused on securing a number of arm-bars from the guard. However, my main goal Thursday was to work on my butterfly guard  (BFG) passes during the rolling session. I have dabbled at it before but it occurred to me in the last class that it is the guard of choice for a [...]

Felt like old times – also a special thanks to P90x

After being away for such a long period I felt as if I hadn’t missed any time at all.
Ryan (purple belt) instructed class today and he was teaching us the “100 percent” technique that he has been working on the past few months with Art. He showed us how to achieve three submissions using it [...]

Chance Meeting….

It’s been 41 days since my last BJJ practice. Since that time I have not even performed a BJJ solo drill. And that’s bad since that is what my website was initially based on when I started it nearly 2 years ago.
Anyway, last weekend, my wife and I decided to head to the mall after [...]

Last Class and sometimes it may be better not to roll (22)

Last Thursday’s morning class was relatively small. Four of us were vets (including the instructor Ryan/purple belt) and there were three new people. As I have to arrive late because I teach in the morning, I caught the last half of drill which consisted of setting up an elbow lock from the guard.
The new guy [...]

Well look who decided to show up!

I finally returned after a month layoff. That is the longest voluntary lay-off I’ve had since I began in 2004. I can’t explain it well, but I just lost motivation to train. I know people who follow the blog will probably say, “I’d probably lose motivation too if I had been slammed on my face [...]

Sometimes it’s the Simple Things….

Recently, I have been analyzing a lot of videos to learn more intricate techniques. However, watching this clip of Marcelo Garcia reminded me that often simple techniques is all it takes to be dominant in BJJ. 
At the 42 second mark of the video he captures his student in a rudimentary wrist [...]

Working from Positions & a little bit of Boxing After BJJ (17)

I didn’t write up my last class, but that day Carlos had us work on the baseball bat choke and a couple of variations. I realized that the baseball choke is what Smiley has submitted me with a few times (and a random purple belt who came to class once). The subs were so quick [...]

Success as an Unconscious Process: Level 2 and Revisiting “Blink”

Quick Post.
In my Psychology of Success Blog I shared one of my Jiujitsu tales. Here’s the link: http://psychologyofsuccess.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/success-as-an-unconscious-process-level-2-and-revisiting-blink/
Thanks,
Bakari

Do Dreams Count?

Last night I had a dream that I was a purple belt. Which is odd because I haven’t been to class in a week. In the dream I had on a white gi (my real gi is blue) and I was tightening up my purple belt while talking to some new guys.
Also all of this [...]

Book Knowledge translated to Mat Knowledge

My efforts to record what I practice from books has borne fruit. I was able to tap 2 people (albeit new guys) today using new techniques. I have been working on the Closed Guard Overwrap and Overwrap to Back techniques from “Jiu-Jitsu University.” Today I was able to use both with a little variation during [...]