We will like to congratulate Sensei Rick Littlewood on his latest achievement at the annual Kodokan event. He won and was presented with a trophy and certificate for being the best Kodokan 7 th dan at the Kodokan high grades and the 1st non Japanese ever to be presented with such an honour,  It is great to see Sensei back at competition after last year health problem. If you want to learn Judo under Sensei Rick Littlewood, please chek out our sister club website  http://www.judokong.com/ Also, I believe he was allowed to compete with his back patch as well.

We are 3 weeks away from the masters comp and 4 weeks away from the NZ grappler gi comp. Please let us know if you want to do any specific techniques and training to prepare for the comps. We are flexible and can adapt to the needs of the competitors. Meanwhile this week, we will cover the north south position and a choke from such position. It is an old topic which I already blogged about. http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2014/03/training-report-north-south-choke.html You will do some guillotine and guillotine defense for warm up. Also, double legs take downs and sprawls. See you on the mats.

We want to thank our generous sponsor for making this event possible and for showing their commitment to promote Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and supporting our inaugural masters competition. http://knights-security.co.nz/ http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2015/03/aucklandbjjcom-gi-masters-2015.html

Do not cut weight on the last week. If you want to lose weight, start now and do it the smart way. Remember that you weight in as you fight. You weight in and enter the bullpen for fighters. If you cut weight on the last week, you will not feeling well during the matches. Start dieting now if you want to. My suggestion is to compete at your natural weight unless you are at the bottom of your weight category and the mirror is telling you that you could lose a few kg to look good. Please note that IF you do not make weight on the day of the competition, you will be disqualified. No refund, no complain. Good luck.

Our usual warm: scissor sweep arm bar Throw of the week Tomoe nage Topic of the day: Knee on the belly

Is the blue belt is the new white belt? In my previous article the curse of the blue belt, I discuss the reasons why students leave BJJ after graduating from blue belt. http://www.aucklandbjj.com/2014/07/the-curse-of-blue-belt.html I also offers some suggestions for retention of such blue belts and try to avoid the inevitable migration of your students. In this article (or a rant), I am looking at a different phenome of BJJ. In BJJ, graduation is usually held twice a year: June and December. Recently, I read of gyms that created a new belt to fit in between the white and the blue belt. They would create a green belt for adult. It is funny as green belt is the last belt for kids. The new federation lead by Rickson Gracie as a white/blue belt to fit in the gap as well. Why do we need such belt? Is it that hard to retain white belts until they progress to blue belt? I read of gyms that coincide their promotion with their long term contract. You sign up f...