Are BJJ Belt Rankings subjective? Yes. They are...

This article is a good read regarding ranking in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, it could be interesting for those who are unfamiliar with BJJ and don't have a lot of understanding of the process or those who train in BJJ, but have questions.

I certainly remember having thoughts about my rank and its legitimacy when I was awarded my purple belt and shortly afterwards I rolled Clancy Roberts, one of my first coaches, who was still a purple at the time (although he was awarded his brown belt the next day).

I remember saying to Clancy that I didn't feel comfortable wearing the same rank as him as he had been a purple when I was a white and had also had a huge impact on my development in BJJ. Clancy just laughed and said "if your coach thought you deserved the rank then you deserve it, no one can take that away from you." That comment was typically accurate and succinct and I know agree with it wholly. My feeling is that a promotion is subjective, but that is appropriate as the measure of progress varies from individual to individual.

Anyway instead of me writing about it, I will just post this article as it was written better than anything I would be likely to write.

Check the article out here.

http://eliknight.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/who-deserves-a-belt/

Thinking & Jiu Jitsu

One of the things I love about Jiu Jitsu and specifically coaching Jiu Jitsu is the thought process. Jiu Jitsu lends itself to all kinds of ponderings and reflection when training, developing technique or analysing your game, but I particularly like the process of thinking about technique in order to best deliver training. I like to start by thinking of a concept that will be both rewarding and pertinent at the same time and then to join the dots between the movements themselves and the desired outcomes of the class. I believe a good class should cover at least a few of the following; improve the skills of practitioners, develop new skills in practitioners, improve understanding of practitioners and improve the thought process of the practitioners. I think that if you can cover at least two of those in a class then you are on the right track when coaching and planning a good lesson is key to that.

Recently I have enjoyed the challenge I set myself of planning 3 sessions based on the parrallels between Gi and No-Gi training (as opposed to the differences which some people tend to focus on). I have always been of the opinion that the differences between the 2 are slight, they are usually more about preference than principle, at least that is the ideal situation. In fact I watched a video on youtube recently that was of an interview with Jean Jacques Machado, in it when discussing his entry and success in the early ADCC events he said that competing without the gi wasn't particularly new to him because in Brazil the hotter summer months meant no gi training. At the time they didn't specify a difference between Gi and No-Gi, they just called it Jiu Jitsu and made the call based on the weather (I have inserted the video below, the comments on No Gi are from about 6:28, but it is all worth a watch).



So when planning my lessons on the similarities between Gi and No-Gi training and technique I wanted to be sure that what I taught would be techniques and concepts that would be applicable in both worlds. Over the course of 3 lessons I intended to show that:

1. In some cases the same strategic concept, but with slight technical variation could apply,
2. In other cases that different techniques, but based on the same physical movements could be used
3. And in other cases virtually identical techniques could be used.

For point 1, I for both gi and no gi I taught a version of a butterfly hooks sweep with an overhook, where instead of taking away the opponents post you threaten a choke. This gave the opponent the choice of defending the choke or posting to defend the sweep, but not both. With the Gi the choke was an overhook cross lapel choke and in No-Gi it was an arm in guilotine. So slightly different movements, but the same strategic concept.

In Point 2 I dealt with both countering an underhook escape from sidecontrol and attacking from a sprawl. For theescape counter with the gi I used the gi tail to set up a cross lapel with the overhook and with no gi setup a Brabo/Darce choke. From the sprawl I rolled under for a loop choke with the gi and in the no gi I rolled under for a Brabo/Darce.

Point 3 I taught both the arm bar from the guard and a pendulum sweep from the arm drag both of which had subtley different grips, but these were preference and the techniques were still the same.

The fun part of planning these classes was thinking about techniques to show these three points, but also that are practical for everyday grappling. The idea was that students would be exposed to ideas they didn't know but were fundamental (or for the more experienced have the chance to drill and refine these important movements) all while still being exposed to the ideas on Gi and No-Gi technique and strategy.

Jiu Jitsu is fun, whether you are training, competing, coaching or all three, and the fun doesn't stop when you are off the mat, if you let yourself get creative.

Have fun on the mat.

Blue Belt

There are probably dozens if not hundreds of posts on the internet about the meaning of the belt system in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or the requirements for each belt level or similar. They all do a great job of providing a picture of what a belt means. So I don't think there is any necessity for me to go into great detail going over the same ground.

However, I have been thinking about the Blue Belt a bit recently and in some ways I think it is the most important one. It may be just due to my own experience, but I recall a time in Tasmania when blue belts in BJJ were as rare as hen's teeth and it was a monumental task to get to the Blue Belt level (it took me the best part of 6 years to get there). I believed that this was a common BJJ feeling and by and large that is the case, although I have seen some schools in more populated states where the Blue Belt isn't quite given the same regard.

Now that a lot of those original Blue Belts are Black Belts and Brown Belts and there are many Purples and even more Blues in some ways the Blue Belt may have lost some sense of importance in Tasmania. I can't really say for sure because it has been a long time since I was a white belt looking up to the lofty heights of blue belt. It is my hope though, that the Blue Belt is still considered as high an achievement as I viewed it, because frankly I still view it that way.

As a coach I have seen many prospective students walk through the academy door, but only a very small minority are able to put in the work to develop sufficient technique, develop their bodies and develop sufficient character to reach the level of Blue Belt. So when a student puts in the effort to get to the Blue Belt level I see it as a huge and special achievement.

The reason that I have had Blue Belts on my mind of late is that last night I had the pleasure of awarding my first Blue Belt, to my student Tim Nissink. Tim, has trained with me and my coach Adam Newton for the last few years and has shown exceptional character and perseverance in that time. I am very proud of him and was very proud to promote Tim to Blue Belt.

Technique: Principle vs Preference

Over the last few months of teaching both classes and one on one sessions i have found myself saying one thing a lot. I have been showing my students how to break down the techniques i have been teaching into principles and preferences.
This has become something of a habit due to the frequency that phrases like "but Joe Bloggs does it this way" or "Joe Bloggs told me to use this grip" are used by students when a technique is taught. I recall as a white belt that i got information from a lot of sources (youtube started towards the end of this time) and i often asked those same questions. Looking back i wish i had just practiced what i was taught because i would probably have learnt more and wouldn't have wasted my coaches time. However, i didn't and now it is my turn to answer the same questions.
What i have learned, though is that every technique has a core principle that is universal regardless of who is doing it (in fact i would go so far as to say if the principle differs between two versions of a technique then you are dealing with 2 distinct, albeit similar, techniques), but that personal preferences can allow for variations in how it is applied.
A great example of this can be seen in the side control escape to guard. It is one of the first techniques that most of us learn and is taught with a lot of variation from coach to coach. As an example just a few versions of the job of the outside arm in this escape are as follows:

1. It reaches across your body towards your hip so that it can form a frame on your opponents hip or establish an underhook.

Jeremy Arel of greatgrappling.com

2. The forearm braces under the jaw of your opponent to create a frame for your escape.

Kurt Osiander of Ralph Gracie Jiu Jitsu

3. You use your arm to reach across your opponents head in order to interfere with their posture.

Henry Akins of Dynamix Martial Arts

Like i said that was just three variants on just one limb, there are many more i can think of and they all have merit depending on the circumstances. However none of these are the core principles of the technique. The core principles that are constant in all the successful variants of this escape are:

1. Creating space through a bridging movement.
2. Maintaining that space by creating some sort of frame or posture.
3. Hip escaping away from your opponent and inserting a knee.
4. Straightening up and establishing a guard.

All successful versions of this technique contain these principles despite having almost infinite variations of the "preferences".
When i teach now i try to explain to my students what part is a fundamental principle and what is a variation, for 2 reasons. The first is to help them realise that even if it isn't identical to the one that they originally learnt it isn't "wrong" and the second is to let them know that they are still getting benefit from training the technique even if they don't consider it to suit "their game" at that stage.
My philosophy now is to try anything that is taught to me, not second guess it straight away. I just wish someone had of explained the difference between principle and preference to me sooner so that i wouldn't have taken so many years to get the philosophy right.
Have fun on the mat.

Happy in a new club.

So after a tumultuous few months I am really happy to be officially in a new club. I am training under my long time coach Adam Newton in his new club Maromba South . This club has one of the best atmosphere's that I have been involved in for a long time. Without deviating too much into a shameless plug, it is I think the best place to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Hobart and the Eastern Shore and is composed of people who focus on helping each other grow. In addition Maromba South has a network of like minded clubs around Tassie through it's involvement with the Tasmanian Federation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We are also affiliated with a Launceston based club BJJ TAZ/Maromba with whom we share training and friendship and have an open door policy with each other.

It is no secret that the world of BJJ (and all martial arts) can sometimes be effected by "politics", which is I believe, often just a word for rudeness. I have certainly been the subject of this before and I am pleased though to say that the core group that make up Maromba South are friendly and welcoming, everything that a club should be.


My coach, Adam has decided to affiliate and train with Thiago Stefanutti of Maromba Academy Australia, I am very pleased about this as Thiago is a great coach who has shown generosity and genuine care for his students and also has a great sense of humour. I am pleased to call Thiago a coach and a friend.

So basically I am really happy to train in a family friendly environment where the focus is on your own development and where there is room for eveyone's goals to be met, not just an elite few. Between my training partners, my coach Adam and our head coach Thiago, I feel like I am in really good hands....

Adam (my coach), Thiago (head coach) and Me......

European BJJ

Just thought I would share a few links to some blogs and pages that I like...

These pages belong to Christian Graugart and Martin Aedma respectively who are in my opinoin two of the best minds in Jiu Jitsu in Europe, this is both to do with their games and skills as well as their personal philosophies.


First is Christian Graugart, who can be found on either of the 2 links below. Christian is a great grappler from Copenhagen, Denmark and is the now famous "BJJ Globetrotter". In addition to his dedication to Jiu Jitsu I really his philosophy on no politics, this is exemplified by the global team that he has set up, "The BJJ Globetrotters", their value system is basically everything I am behind (just written more articulately, not bad for a guy with english as a second language).

 












Well worth checking out...
http://www.bjjglobetrotter.com/
http://www.shogunhq.com/


Second is Martin Aedma, a BJJ Black Belt and true pioneer from Estonia. Martin is a strong competitor who seems to truly believe in the integration of Jiu Jitsu, Judo and Wrestling, he has even coined the phrase "Wrest-Jitsu" to describe his concepts, this is a concept that I try to instill in my classes as well. Martin has a blog that has some great breakdowns of everything from passes, to sweeps, to chokes, I really have gotten a lot from it.

Check it out here.
http://martinaedma.bjj.ee/


Lastly here is a great vid that Christian created of Martin demonstrating his pressure passing called "Estonian Guard Passes from Hell".



Both cool guys and have a lot to teach....