This week is guard submission topic. Serge taught the triangle on Tuesday While Stu took the blue belts to drill their techniques for our new experimental class. Warm up drills Spider guard pass, framing from bottom side control Throw of the week was Ko Uchi Gari Normal Tachi Waza sparring and drilling as well We had our usual one hour of rolling on Tuesday.

This week, we are experimenting a new format for our advanced students (blue belts on wards). They will get to drill their favorites techniques. If they do not have a specific techniques to drill, the black belt instructor will supply them with drills. The idea is to get them to think on their own and develop their own skills. From blue belts, we do not want to spoon feed our students. We want to encourage them to learn, research and drill on their own. If people like this style, we might alternate every week. See you on the mats. Below is our introduction program Below is our introduction to intermediate guard (from blue belt on wards) Andree Galvao views on drilling techniques. Below is a video of Kit Dale that does not like drilling. More write up of drilling pros and cons http://proteusbjj.com/learning-bjj-on-drilling-and-more-part-1/ http://www.jiujitsubrotherhood.com/2014/04/why-concepts-are-better-than-techniques-in-bjj/

We have completed the positions sequence and are now entering the guard actions (submissions, passes. sweeps and half guard games). If you want to learn triangle, arm bars, cross chokes. This is the week. See you on the mats.

Fernando is now teaching at ETK Northshore. Fernando is a BJJ brown belt and also a Judo Black Belt. So his throwing skills are top notch. Call Fernando on 021 0453547 60-62 Mokoia Rd, Birkenhead, Auckland , New Zealand 

I just saw this meme that makes no sense apart showing how ignorant people are.  To start with, anyone should learn how to sweep and pass the guard.  Berimbolo is a technique for sweeping (also known as inverted de la Riva) Sweeping from your guard is a vital skill just like a passing. 

19 September 2015 – Gi Nationals for Adults & Kids (Auckland) 7 November 2015 – No-Gi Regionals for Adults & Kids (Auckland) NZ grappler runs the best competition in Auckland.  I hope they run a double elemination system and also if they have a masters division.  Start dieting if want to compete and aim for a lower weight category. Do not wait until the last week to make weight. 

We do know much about Luta Livre apart the fact they do not train with the GI, that it originated from Brasil and was the rival of Gracie Jiu Jitsu for many generations. Videos of Luta Livre are rare and it is great to see Luta Livre Black Belt Nico Welco released some technical videos on his you tube account. Enjoy. Luta Livre is a complete Brazilian martial art , which is primarily a mixture of Catch wrestling and Judo . Luta Livre is a Brazilian based martial art that was created by Euclydes Hatem . [1] [2] Euclydes Hatem went by the name of Tatu. [3] It was designed in Rio de Janeiro and means "free fight" in Portuguese(cf. " freestyle wrestling ") also known as Brazilian Wrestling, or Sport wrestling. There are also striking techniques with hands, feet, knees and elbows. The name "Luta" is Portuguese for "Fight" and "Livre" for "Free", roughly meaning "Free fighting". [4] There are two styles known as ...

Thanks Mario for teaching self defense. http://www.aucklandbjj.com/p/inau.html Mario will be teaching this new program under the supervision of the black belt instructors. Mario joined our club in 2013 from Ecuador. Mario received his purple belt from the Bidokan Ecuador (Prof.  Roberto Bitar Cabezas) http://www.bidokan.com/ The Bidokan is a Royce Gracie affiliate and teach traditional Gracie Jiu Jitsu with a strong focus in self defense. We are very happy to offer this important and vital aspect of Jiu Jitsu.

In the previous article, we mentioned that Fuji Mae Martial Arts Supplies store sponsored the first Artaxias (BJJ subs only event). http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2015/03/fuji-mae-martial-arts-supplies-store.html I am glad to announce that Fuji Mae is sponsoring more events and teams (that are hosting events): the Maori Nationals, Combat Room, Mai Dojo, Southern Tribes Manawatu to name a few. The last 4 sponsored competitors are Jay Jay Wilson, Philip Allsop, Steven Matthews, Alex Scott. Cheers to Fuji Mae to help the sport grow in New Zealand. If you want look at their website or facebook https://www.facebook.com/Fujmae http://fujimae.co.nz/collections/brazilian-jiu-jitsu-bjj

In past articles, I wrote about the curse of the blue belt and the many reasons why people quit training after the blue belt. In this article, I would like to introduce the concept of the pyramid of needs. Yes, it sounds like an Indiana Jones movie title. It is about understanding what drives the students and at what stage of the pyramid each individual is at. Therefore you can understand their needs and help them. You will be able to retain them by helping them reaching to the different layers of the pyramid. Instead of expecting them to fit in your "mould". Everyone is different. You cannot create a unique mould for all your students. What is the pyramid of needs? It is actually called the " Maslow's   hierarchy of needs  is a theory in  psychology  proposed by  Abraham   Maslow  in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in  Psychological Review . [2]   Maslow   subsequently extended the idea to ...

Next week is North South Position. You can click on the below link to see a preview of the techniques. http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2014/03/training-report-north-south-choke.html

During my last visit for my Hellerwork treatment/clinic, we worked on the Psoas Muscles. Allan explained in great details why they are so important for our body movement. They directly involved into controlling our legs which means our BJJ guard. The session aim was to "wake" up those muscles as I was not using them as much I should do. Other muscles were compensating for that negligence. Over compensating meant sharp pain in affected areas. The next day, I was rolling using my favorite spider and it was sharp and crisp and no longer felt in pain. We did one hour rolling and I did not get any back pain the next day. So what are the Psoas? Where and What is My Psoas? The Psoas is one of the largest and thickest muscles in the body. It attaches to the vertebrae of your lower back, and the head of your femur (thigh bone). The Psoas is primarily responsible for hip and thigh flexion and has a lot of influence over your lumbar posture and the way your hips are p...

Great picture of Coral belt Antonio Collares "Tonicao" with red belt Flavio Behring. Flavio Behring is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Red Belt who was taught the martial art by both Helio Gracie and João Alberto Barreto . Apart from Flavio Behring’s personal contribute to BJJ, he also fathered two of the sport’s biggest stars in the 1980’s, Sylvio and Marcelo Behring http://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/flavio-behring For more posts about Antonio Collares "Tonicao" http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2013/06/antonio-claudio-collares-tonicao-jiu.html http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2014/07/antonio-claudio-collares-tonicao.html http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2015/05/tonicao-and-de-la-riva.html http://www.aucklandbjj.com/p/lineage.html

Drills to warm up sit belt control to back control re-composition. framing from side control side control escape to turtle roll single leg takedonw. Igor who is back from Brasil taught a nice set up to triangle from top side control Serge taught the knee on the belly: concept, escape and subs (far arm bar, close arm bar and baseball choke). Then situational rolling from side control. Take down sparring Training concluded with 1 hour of rolling Some students left at 7.30 pm and the rest continued to spar until our new closing time for sparring on Tuesday at 8 pm. Thursday will be part 2 of knee on the belly I think we just roll until 8 pm again. See you on the mats.

What to do in Auckland this weekend? Go down and watch some submission only tournament at the Fitness Expo. Saturday is Gi and Sunday is Nogi. ASB Showgrounds 217 Greenlane Road West, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand 1344 https://www.facebook.com/events/254023978101229 /

In order to prove their martial art, the Gracies offered an open challenge to the public. Carlos Gracie went to the local newspaper and put an ad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracie_Challenge For generations, the Gracies fought challengers from every martial arts styles. The challenge were fought under vale tudo rules most of the times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_tudo Once Rorion Gracie moved to the USA, he kept the tradition of the Gracie challenge like the rest of the Gracie clan. Rorion also organised the first UFC in order to promote Gracie Jiu Jitsu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_1 The videos below are called Gracie Jiu Jitsu in Action. It is made from videos from such challenge matches.

We have a new set of drills for warm up: framing from side control, side control to single leg, back take drills. PK visited us from Otorohanga and taught a single leg takewdown, He also gave some tips on posturing for wrestling and fighting for the underhook. Topic of the week is side control. Serge taught the fundamentals (concept, side controls escapes and subs). While Stu taught the advanced side control, it was more submissions focused and with judo scarf hold as well. Then we had situational rolling, take downs sparring and normal sparring. Next week topic will be Knee on the Belly topic. See you on the mats.

I completed 3 out of the 11 sessions. So far so good. I went in with a sore back and I no longer feel the pain. He worked on different body parts and I could see physical difference right after the session. The changes last as well. In simple terms, it is a similar concept of the wheels alignment. If something is out of alignment, it will cause pain somewhere else in your body. Too many changes to quote but a few that are worth mentioning. My shoulders are almost sitting at the same height. Now, I am actually walking straight and my hips swigs in the normal manner. Before that, I was walking like a duck and it locked my spine. Breathing has improved as he re ajusted the thoracic cage. He also worked on my shoulders that went sore after many years of sparring in BJJ. Apparently, my shoulder blade rotation and hips were ok but he still worked on them. My posture has improved and my head is sitting a little bit higher that I am used to. I am actually forward to...

Americans are our second highest readers of our blog after New Zealand We had 29839 page views so far. Thank for the support. Some videos of American competitors that won the IBJJF world cup.

Take control of your learning. Learn the name of every techniques (sweeps, positions, guards, submissions etc..). Create a game plan/blue print and use it for sparring. Analyse the success or failure of your game plan and how you can improve it. Self analysing can be difficult. So do not hesitate to talk to your instructors and other students. We all have been the up and downs of the learning curve in BJJ. I am sure you can provide you feedback and ideas. Watch and learn from videos online. I put videos on our training reports for that purpose. The idea is not to expect to be spoon fed information like you were in primary school. I think the videos are great additional tool for learning. They were not available when I started learning BJJ. Also a new trend of BJJ videos are coming out which are more concept base than technical based. http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2014/06/concept-based-learning-for-brazilian.html Now, one of the pitfalls of watching too many videos or ...

This is a documentary on the legendary Rickson Gracie.  That was back in the days when the Gracies fought to prove the art. A must watch for BJJ fans.

This week, we taught the position of back control, back escape and back escapes. The throw of the week was just  arm drag. Situational rolling was from back control. A couple of rounds of sparring for takedowns. Then training concluded with rolling (sparring from our knees). If you are free on Saturday, you can attend open mats at Douglas Santos Academy. http://www.douglasjiujitsu.co.nz/locations/auckland-central/ Open mats starts from 11 am and usually last for 90 minutes. You can enter and leave when you feel like it. It is not a formal class, it is just rolling (sparring). If you are looking for a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Club, we are located in Epsom. Come down for a free class. http://www.aucklandbjj.com/p/training-details-whenwhere.html Next week, we will teaching side control. Have a good weekend See you on the mats.