BJJ

Rest? Who needs it?

I had a discussion with some friends over beer and barbecue yesterday about the effects of training and age on your body. We’re all of the same age (mid to late thirties), and are of varying levels of physical activity. We had a bit of a laugh at the niggles and stiffness we were all … Continue reading →

Immersion

I want to talk about learning a new language. You can learn as many new phrases as you like from tapes or books when you’re going on a holiday. But saying “Excuse me, can you tell me where the nearest massage parlour is?” isn’t communicating once the native replies “What type of massage are you … Continue reading →

It’s all me, me, me

I wonder and have doubts about the idea of being properly analytical about your own training. I think it is possible but I think you have to monitor yourself very carefully. I hate the term “self coached” since that implies you almost came up with stuff independently, however for the bulk of my 20s and … Continue reading →

My old gi

This is what I think of as my brown belt gi. I call it this because I bought it in 2011 while a purple belt, and around the same time I decided that for my own development, the development of my students and the greater good of my club, I would rededicate myself to Brazilian … Continue reading →

Don’t fail. Here’s a really quick post but hopefully an informative one on exercise selection when doing conditioning training. There is one key thing I advise when selecting movements and exercises for high intensity conditioning sessions. Never fail Within that phrase are 2 key things. First is to never fail because either the weight you’re … Continue reading →

Mo training!

Since having the idea to log training more often, I have trained less often. I’ve been a bit sick this week, not enough to keep me at home but enough to keep me from training. But I did get these sessions in. Sunday 7th Oct Had a swim in the morning and then went up … Continue reading →

Simple 10 minute session

This is an addendum to a larger article that will be on VPX in a few days. I thought I’d post this video here since there’s a few cobwebs on the front page! This took ten minutes, repeated. It’s a nice, simple mini-session that requires just 2 things- a med ball and a wall to … Continue reading →

Spring Camp with Nivaldo Oliveira

We’re right in the middle of a spring training camp with Checkmat black belt and Elite BJJ competitor Nivaldo Oliveira. ‘Nil’ has been working us hard for the first 3 sessions, and there are still 4 more big sessions to go. The focus so far has been on the X-guard, some entries, a couple of … Continue reading →

Strength Training Template

There’s a lot of talk in professional circles about Continuous Professional Development, or CPD. The idea is that the world is moving so quickly that you need to keep up or you will be left behind. But I want to talk about an older phenomenon known as TTBOWTB, which will never catch on. But it’s … Continue reading →

Battling the complications

I purchased a pair of heavy ropes last week, for use both as battling ropes and as climbing ropes to hang out of our bag frame. I’ve been playing with them since. For those of you who don’t know what battling ropes are, here’s a 7 second video of me using them on Monday night. … Continue reading →