Tuesday was fun with a little fitness test. Serge taught spider guard to the advanced students while Stu taught guard submissions to the beginners. Thursday we took it down a notch and did some flow rolls instead of warm/up - drills. The competitors drilled their game plan under Stu supervision, while Serge taught continued on the topic of guard submissions. Also Stu taught a Judo foot sweep technique. Do not forget to enroll for the NZ grappler event. The club will refund you half of your entry fee. Also, there is a $100 winning prize for whoever wins by submissions at the National Competition Price money will be split if you have the same amount of submissions. Tomorrow is Saturday. Training at city BJJ for open mats or Judo in Epsom. Come down and support our hybrid students that will competing at the Auckland Judo Open. Next week topic is guard pass. Have a good weekend and thank you for the support.

Stop the press. Due to the national GI competition next week, we are splitting the classes to accommodate for the competitors. So fundamentals and competition training. See you on the mats. Thank you for the support.

For the next 5 weeks, we will focusing on the guard for our fundamental program. This week is guard submissions, next week is guard pass..then..guard sweeps..top 1/2 guard and to complete the fifth week...bottom 1/2 guard. See you on the mats.

Tuesday 26 and Thursday 28 July Guard subs Spider guard Tuesday 2 and Thursday 4 August Guard pass De La Riva guard Saturday 6 August NZ grappler GI National Competition NOGI class will start every Thursday to prepare for the Regional NOGI competition/season Tuesday 9 and Thursday 11 August Guard sweep Lasso guard & collar and sleeve guard Tuesday 16 and Thursday 18 August Top 1/2 guard Sit up guard Tuesday 23 and Thursday 25 August Bottom 1/2 guard Butterfly guard Tuesday 30 August and Thursday 1 September Turtle X guard Tuesday 6 and Thursday 8 September Questions and Answers Single X guard Tuesday 13 and Thursday 15 September Mount Tuesday 20 and Thursday 22 September Back Deep half guard Saturday 24 September Inter Club Nogi competition with City BJJ (to be confirmed) Tuesday 27 and Thursday 29 September Side Control 50/50 guard Tuesday 4 and Thursday 6 October Knee on the belly Spider guard Tuesday 11 and Thursd

This week, we split the class into 2 group. Stu taught the north south position while Serge taught some 50/50 guard pass on Tuesday Then on Thursday, Serge taught some leg lock such as toe hold, knee bar, slicers to the blue belt.

BJJ is hard and difficult and no matter what we do to make easier to the public, it takes it toll on your body. Sometimes,it is not your fault. Accident happens no matter what safety guideline we put. As we graduate students every 6 months, I can only recall the first stripe and my last stripe I received. My first stripe actually was within 6 months, I got badly injured and my instructor told me to seek medical help even thought I was eager to train. I got better and came back for training. Then I received my first stripe which I did not feel I deserved. But the idea was to reward the tenacity which is the trait I look into students and encourage. Train smart, do not quit and if you are injured, get better. But please let your training partners of your current injuries so you can make a easy recovery into training. Thanks for the support.

Knee on the belly is a devastating position. At the same time, you are controlling your opponent but you are also are putting lot of pressure and can set up for many submissions and even a transition to mount. Knee on the belly could also be use for striking if needed to and also you are keeping a more upright position which more ideal in a self defense point of view. Serge taught knee on the belly, escape and 3 submissions to the beginners while Stu taught Triangle and Triangle defense. Next week is North South position. See you on the mats.

A student that gets promoted and still feelthat he did not deserve it is most probably the worst feeling ever.  We are lucky that we never had this problem in our club. Now belt and stripes are the carrot of martial arts.  It keep encouraging people to attend days after months and years of training.  If at the end, he feels like he did not deserve it is weird but not uncommon.  Many people train martial arts due to a lack of self confidence and it is normal that they still question them self after years of training.  That is why if I think that a student will feel the pressure of a new belt, I would delay it. No one needs the burden of a new belt on his hips. Jiu jitsu is supposed to be fun. It is the escape from a hard day of work and not another cause of stress.  Ego is terrible. Even if you create an environment that it is OK to tap to lower belts. Which would happen if you do not avoid anyone and keep training hard. You still feel down if you get caught.  We prom

Always great to attend the city BJJ open mat on Saturday is meeting and rolling with  new people due to their true open mats policies. They welcome anyone from other clubs for their open mats. I got to roll with  John Robinson: "The good looking guy with a brown belt". Sorry, we will take a picture together next time. from  http://www.evolvefunctionalcrosstraining.co.nz/about-us/about-us-evolve-highbrook/ If you live in his area, give it a try.

Busy week as we had our graduation and also taught the topic of the week. Dwain and Wez graduated to blue belt. Dom graduated to orange belt and our new 14 years member Jordan graduated to yellow belt Side Control is a fundamental position in order to understand to established the guard pass. Stu is back from Japan so he also taught Ippon Seo Nage. Serge taught side control escapes and some submission from side control. Situational rolling from side control, Tachiwaza and normal rolling next week topic is knee on the belly. On Saturday, we attend the Judo class taught by Ben from 11 pm at the Epsom Dojo Or you can attend the open mats at city bjj from 10 am http://citybjj.co.nz/ 8 West Street, Newton, Auckland, 1010  See you on the mats and thank you for the support.

Paying heaps of money for graduation: like $100 for blue, $200 for purple, $300 for brown and $400 for black belt. Having to buy "club" t shirt or "club" gi in order to train. Having to "help" out by giving more money for silly fund raising. If you want to travel the world to play sport, get a job and save money. Compulsory and expensive seminars which are tied up to graduation.  Paying for internal competition. Absentee instructors making volunteers work for them instead.

This is probably the tricky topic of our program. The reason is because I do not have a solid back escape techniques. Just like chess, there is a counter to any BJJ techniques and it is blatant when you teach the back escape. So I resigned myself to teach the 2 hand on one hand escape which seems to work in the UFC and is simple. Also, I conclude by teaching the alternative back escape that is made popular by Saulo Ribeiro Book and which Stu enjoys doing. It is about sliding into a deep half guard. Otherwise, I taught 5 submissions from the back. Saturday was our inaugural inter club versus City BJJ. It was great event with double elimination rounds and even an open weight division. Great way to prepare for the NZG National gi competition. We will invite City BJJ to our dojo for the next inter club and maybe invite another club. This week topic is side control. But we also have graduation on Tuesday. Start working your cardio for the Nationals comp. See you on