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 [...]

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 [...]

Grappling Books & Recording Progress

I have about 30+ books on grappling; Sambo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Judo, Submission Wrestling and MMA. Like all of the martial arts books I have bought over the years I have poured over them and practiced techniques that have caught my eye.
However, in my quest to improve my BJJ game this approach seems more like a [...]

Jimmy DaSilva’s Brown Belt Demonstration

You guys know I raved about the Blue Belt Requirements DVD put out by Roy Dean. I also talked about the Purple Belt Demonstration by Jimmy DaSilva. This demonstration provided a real clear picture of the skill level, timing and basic overall aptitude a blue belt should have before he or [...]

Pass, Pass, Pass!!!

Yesterday we worked on guard passes during drill. Smiley had us us work on our favorite guard pass for the first half of class and then we had to choose another pass for the second half. I was able to work out a lot of kinks out of two guard passes that I have been [...]

Last Class – Points and Submissions

Last Thursday’s class was all about working from different positions. After the warm-up we took turns holding guard, being placed in side control, the mount and being mounted from the back. The person in the defensive position had to work their way out or reverse their partner while the person on top went for the [...]