Showing posts with label Martial Arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martial Arts. Show all posts

Tuesday 11 August 2020

MMA Striking Class Video

Karate Style Striking for MMA

Key Concepts:
1 - Side on Stance - Presents less of a target for Opponent.
2 - Distance - Bouncing in & out of range to land strikes. Not staying in the pocket.
3 - Single power strikes rather than combinations.
4 - Clearing obstructions - Opponent will have hands up so you need to clear them before you have a target to strike.
5 - Changing Stance - Stepping through on strikes to increase power or landing in a favorable angle.

Combinations
A - Left Hand Trap to Rt Cross / Right Elbow
B - Left Hook Kick (Ura Mawashi Geri) to clear hand - Rt Cross
C - Step through Rt Cross - Left Body Kick (Mawashi Geri) - Right Spinning Backfist (Uraken)
D - Right Body Kick (Mawashi Geri) then Right Cross while retracting kick
E - Right Front Kick (Mae Geri) - Step through to Southpaw - Rt Jab - L Rear Hook - L Head Kick (Jodan Mawashi Geri)
F - Rt Cross - bring feet together - L Head Kick (Jodan Mawashi Geri)
G - Rt Cross - L Hook (Pivoting to Left) - Rt Head Kick (Jodan Mawashi Geri)
H - Bounce in Jab - Cross - Bounce back - Left Head Kick (Jodan Mawashi Geri) or Left Side Kick (Yoko Geri)
I - Jab - Skipping Left Side Kick (Yoko Geri) - Rt Spin Back Kick (Ushiro Geri)
J - Side step Left vs. Rt Cross - Rt Side Kick (Yoko Geri) land in Southpaw - L Cross - Rt Hook - L Uppercut - L Knee (Hiza Geri)


 

Saturday 30 November 2019

ACSA Fighter Annie Thatcher wins Amateur MMA World title in Singapore

Last week Annie Thatcher won the GAMMA amateur MMA world title in Singapore. Annie had two great fights in one day first defeating an opponent from Belarus by TKO and then after a few hours rest stepped up to defeat her Canadian opponent by TKO in the final.

This was an especially impressive achievement because Annie had her first MMA bout only 18 months ago. She is now 6 fights for 6 wins in amateur mma and has also had 3 wins in boxing and Muay Thai. Annie has trained almost every day since she first stepped foot in the gym and she has shown tremendous improvement.

Annie is a great example of the kind of work ethic and dedication that we look for in our athletes at Australian Combat Sports Academy. Looking forward to see what the next year will bring for Annie’s fight career.

MMA Melbourne


Check out our MMA Classes at ACSA MMA & BJJ Melbourne:


Monday 30 September 2019

ACSA Bushido Amateur MMA - MMA Melbourne

MMA Melbourne

We are running our first ever amateur MMA event at our Australian Combat Sports Academy on Saturday 9th November. There will be no head strikes allowed (standing or on the ground) and will be round-robin format so everyone will get a few matches on the day.

This format will be a good first step for beginners who are looking to eventually compete in MMA but also just for martial artists of various backgrounds to try it out and test their skills under a compromised rule-set.

I believe that no head strikes is the best rule set for beginners to try out MMA. It's a great way for aspiring fighters to gain valuable match experience without the unnecessary risk of injury. I personally competed in many of thees types of matches in the UK in the early 2000s alongside future UFC stars such as Michael Bisping.

Here is the link to register:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/bushido-amateur-mma-competition-tickets-72835722607


ACSA Bushido Amateur MMA Rules:

Time Limits:Matches will be fought over 2 x 3 Minute Rounds

LegalTechniques:Punches, Kicks & Knee Strikes to the Upper Body
Kicks and Knee Strikes to the Legs
Punches to Body and Kicks to Legs are allowed when Opponent is in the downed position.
All throws and Takedowns
All Arm-locks and Shoulder Locks
Chokes and Strangles Excluding Neck Cranks
Leglocks Excluding Heel Hooks

Illegal Techniques:Instant Disqualification:
No strikes of any kind permitted to the head.
No Slamming of opponent either as a result of a takedown or to escape a submission.
No Neck Cranks or Heel Hooks.
No Standing Submissions.
A fighter will receive Warning: Two warnings leads to Disqualification
No Grabbing Opponents clothing or Shin-guards, gloves or Knee-pads.
No running out of the competition area.

Safety Equipment:Eight Ounce MMA Sparring Gloves
MMA Shin Guards
MMA Knee Pads
Mouth Guard
MMA or Muay Thai Shorts

Competition Area:The competition area will be 6 x 6 meters with an outer safety Perimeter of 2 Meter.

Referee Decision:The referee can stop the match and award victory if:
One fighter has taken too many unanswered strikes from any position.
One fighter is in a locked-in submission but is refusing to tap and is risking injury.

Ways to Win:Submission via Tap Out due to Choke, Arm-lock, Shoulder Lock or Leg Lock.
Submission via Tap Out due to Strikes.
Technical Knockout due to strikes either in Standing or Grounded position.
Referee Stoppage
Judges Decision
Disqualification

SCORING TECHNIQUES: In the event of a Judge's decision the match will be scored based on the following criteria:
Effective Striking - Strikes that have an immediate or cumulative impact with the potential to end the match.
Effective Grappling - Takedowns, submission attempts, reversals and the achievement of advantageous positions that have an immediate or cumulative impact to end the match.
A successful takedown is not just a changing of position, but an attack from the use of the takedown.
Submission attempts taking considerable effort to escape are given greater weight than those that are easily defended and escaped without effort.
Impactful throws and takedowns are weighted more heavily than athletes who are tripped or bundled to the mat.

Tuesday 12 February 2019

Deliberate Practice

Over my years of training and coaching martial arts I've seen many training partners and students come and go. Some students improve a lot and others don't seem to make any progress. In martial arts and particularly BJJ there is a culture of 'Just train bro' just keep turning up to class and eventually you'll get the hang of it. In my experience this is not the case, turning up to class and going through the motions is not enough to guarantee improvement and this lack of improvement will lead to loss motivation and quitting.


The key to improvement is Deliberate Practice. This is the opposite to just turning up to class and mindlessly hitting pads or doing arm-locks. It means concentrating and being focused on what you are doing with the specific intention of improving your performance.
Here are some of the basic requirements of Deliberate Practice :

A - Goals.
Having a clear 'stretch' goal of what you are working towards - Its important that this goal is something that will be quite difficult for you to achieve because this will force you grow and improve. Eg. Win all my matches by submission at my next BJJ tournament. Its also a good idea to have 'mini-goals' for each practice session Eg. Today I want to use that Combination/ Technique / Guard Pass at least 5 times in Sparring.

B - Concentration and Effort.
Full Concentration and Effort: When you are training in the gym, you are fully concentrating on what you are doing and giving it your full effort. If you are having a chat with your training partner while hitting pads don't expect to see great results.

C - Feedback.
Immediate and Informative Feedback: This could be from either a coach or from a training partner or alternatively you can just figure out how to give yourself feedback. Eg. I tried that arm-lock but my sparring partner got out of it and passed my guard - therefore what did I do wrong and what do I need to fix before next time.

D - Repetition.
Repetition with Reflection and Refinement. Lots of Repetition but not Mindless Repetition. You need repetitions with Reflection ('did I do that properly or did I screw it up?') and Refinement ('This time I'll make sure I keep my elbow close to my hip')


Monday 4 February 2019

The Four Stages of Learning Martial Arts

This is a very useful concept that doesn't just apply to learning martial arts but to learning any skill.

There are four stages of learning.



Stage 1 - Unconscious incompetence  
This is where you are screwing everything up but you don't yet realize you are screwing it up. For example, Dropping your hands when you punch, trying to bench press your way out of mount.

Often students will stay in this phase much longer than is necessary because of either
A - They are not being given feedback (either verbal feedback - 'Keep your hands up' or Physical Feedback - Getting your teeth knocked out because you didn't have your hands up).
or
B - They are having some success even though they are using terrible technique. For example, Your training partner taps to a submission even though it was incorrectly applied.

Stage 2 - Conscious Incompetence
This is where you start to learn and develop. Its at this stage that you start to be critical of your own technique and begin to figure out exactly what you are doing wrong and what you need to do to improve.
Examples include - 'Why am I getting kicked in the leg so much? Why can I not escape mount position? Maybe I'll pay more attention the next time coach shows us that technique'

Stage 3 - Conscious Competence 
At this stage, you know exactly how to perform the techniques properly and when to do them. You can figure out what you need to do and what to work on. However, you realize that there is also the possibility to lapse back into bad habits if you lose concentration.

Stage 4 - Unconscious Competence
This is the final stage of mastering any skill and this is a common trait with all great champions. They perform the skill perfectly without having to think about it.

Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.



Wednesday 6 June 2018

The most important fights in MMA history



In this series of articles I will look at the fights which I regard as the most significant in the evolution of Martial Arts. Rather than focusing on fights which had the highest pay per view numbers or media impact, I will discuss the matches which I feel had the most historical significance in terms of shaping and changing the sport. Mixed Martial Arts to me is all about the fights themselves and more precisely the fighters, techniques and training methods used to produce these fights.

As a coach it is important to understand the history of your sport and understand how and why it has developed in a certain way over the years. This helps to open your eyes to the techniques and training methods which have been adopted, developed or in some cases discarded. It is essential to learn from those who have come before you in order benefit from the lessons and experience they learned the hard way and avoid repeating their mistakes.

Lets begin with a fight which in my opinion really started it all; Royce Gracie versus Art Jimmerson. November 12, 1993.

The history of Mixed Rules Fights


UFC 1 was not the first Mixed Rules Fight event. There were several earlier MMA promotions including Shooto in Japan which had been active since 1986. Perhaps the most notable prior example of a Mixed Rules fight was Muhammad Ali vs Antio Inoki held in Tokyo in 1976. This fight was generally regarded as a huge failure which did not capture the imagination of fans. It was difficult to agree on rules which would accommodate both the Boxer and the Wrestler. This led to the creation of a compromised rule-set where neither fighter could really use their weapons effectively, it actually appeared that the fighters weren't trying to fight each other at all and instead just trying not to lose, something which go on to be a recurring problem in modern day MMA. There was also a lot of confusion over whether the fight would be real or 'worked' and its generally understood that even Ali himself wasn't sure if it would be a real fight until right before the match.

The first Ultimate Fighting Championship promised something that the public had never seen before. A No Rules style versus style event where the most deadly martial arts systems would be pitted against each other to discover which was most effective. 

The Background of this Fight


The most important fight in my opinion was Royce Gracie vs Art Jimmerson. The outcome of this match now seems very obvious and predictable. The idea of a highly trained Jiu-jitsu expert taking on a Boxer with no grappling experience and wearing one glove seems ridiculous now however in 1993 it was an eye opener about the potential of the unknown Martial Art from Brazil.

Art Jimmerson was a legitimate threat as a highly experienced professional Boxing Champion. At the time of fighting in the first UFC he had accumulated 34 fights with 29 wins and was on a 15 fight win streak  His last loss was in an NABF light heavyweight title fight against Olympic gold medalist Andrew Maynard.

Little was known about Royce Gracie prior to the event. He was actually the least experienced fighter on the card and had trained exclusively with his own family for his entire life. The rest of the tournament was filled with veteran competitors from Kickboxing, Full Contact Karate, Boxing, Shoot-fighting and Sumo. 

What was it about Gracies style that made it so effective in the Jimmerson fight and then in his next ten fights all of which he won via submission within the next year?

Breakdown of the fight:


The actual fight is very uneventful by today's standards. Jimmersons speed and footwork looks  impressive however he is unable to land a single punch before being taken down by Gracie with a double leg take-down one minute into the match. Gracie then easily steps over to full mount position and grapevines his legs taking away all of Jimmersons mobility or any chance of escape. We can see that Gracie is patiently waiting for his opponent to exhaust himself with his escape attempts before attacking with any submissions or strikes. Jimmerson realising he is unable to escape taps out two minutes into the match. 


The importance of Ground-fighting:


The first crucial lesson we can learn from this match was how it highlighted the importance of ground fighting. No modern era fighter would consider competing in Mixed Martial Arts without extensive training in BJJ or another ground fighting system. Back in 1993 very few people realized the importance of ground fighting or had any idea of what they would do if a fight went to the ground. 

Ground fighting also known as NeWaza or ParTerre did exist in various other systems such as Judo, Sambo or Wrestling but was quite often underestimated or ignored completely. It was just something you did if you couldn't throw your opponent. Most stand-up stylists were oblivious to the possibility of ending up down on the mat. They assumed that a skilled fighter would be able knock out or disable an opponent before they could get a grip on them or would easily be able to escape from any grip or hold.

Brazilian JiuJitsu was one of the only Martial Arts styles that focused on the strategy of getting an opponent to the mat by any means necessary rather than a classically impressive match winning throw or take-down. Once on the ground you have taken away all of the opponents kicks, punches and strikes. The opponent being unfamiliar with ground grappling is unable to put up any offence while you are free to work towards getting a joint lock or choke. Many realizing they are out of their depth simply gave up before any submission had even been attempted. This is exactly what happened in the Jimmerson fight. It should be noted however that a big part of this strategy was the lack of time limit on the ground (unlike in Judo and Sambo) which allows the fighter to work slowly and methodically without taking any big risks which may result in losing the position and allowing the opponent back to his feet. 


The Secret to the Success of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu


No secret techniques were employed by Gracie in this fight or in any of his next ten submission wins. All of the techniques used by Gracie to win those matches were already familiar to Judokas and other martial artists. In my opinion the reason for his success was in the Ground focused strategy discussed above and also in the training methods. 

Pressure testing your techniques in some way is a vital component of all martial arts. It can be called Sparring, Rolling, Randori or Kumite but the ultimate goal is the same, to learn to apply your skills under some degree of resistance. Sparring can be divided three categories based on the level of resistance from your training partner. 


Levels of Sparring


The first level is compliant Sparring. This is great for initially learning technique but the least effective for developing fighting ability and is most commonly found in Traditional Martial arts. Compliant Sparring cannot really be considered a genuine test as you are working with a willing partner who offers no resistance and allows you to execute your technique.

Second is the the most common and generally most useful type of Sparring. This involves trying to execute your techniques against a partner who is attempting to use the same techniques against you. For examples, Two judo players try to throw each other under,  Two boxers try to land scoring punches on one another, or a sport karate fighter tries to kick and punch to score points against a partner who is trying to score points on them,

The Third type of training is what made Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so effective in the early days. Imagine if the judo player was sparring against a partner who was not playing by their rules. What if the opponent was trying to punch or kick the Judo Player rather than grip fight? This would severely limit the type of throws which it was safe to use. What if there was no referee to declare an Ippon from a hold-down or a throw? The Judoka would then be forced to shift his attention to techniques which leave your opponent unable to continue such as joint locks or strangles leaving them to either admit defeat by tapping out or risk injury or unconsciousness.

In my opinion the combination of the correct strategy to fit the rule-set plus the correct training method - Practicing Jiu-jitsu to fight against other martial artists and fighters rather than to fight against other Jiu-jitsu players was the key to Royce Gracie's success and the dominance of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the early days of mixed martial arts. This led to the situation where everyone needed to learn ground fighting if they wanted to survive in this type of fight and eventually to the point where fighters were able to figure and shut down the BJJ fighters which I will cover in the next article. 

Tuesday 29 May 2018

Martial Arts Injuries


Injuries are one of the main reasons students quit their martial arts training. Many students quit either directly because of an injury, they take time off to recover and then never return. Alternatively when they return all of their training partners have improved so much that they feel that they'll never catch up so they give up.


You can never completely avoid injuries over the course of your Martial Arts training career. The basis for all types of martial arts is injuring and opponent or attacker. Its unrealistic to expect that you wont pick up some types of injuries. Even in forms of martial arts which are usually seen as relatively safe such as Tai Chi and Aikido, there is still a possibility of injury


Comparison with other sports


Injuries are possible in all forms or sports and physical activities. There are lots of best practice methods to prevent injuries which are exactly the same across all sports. These include warming up thoroughly, making sure you are using proper technique and doing a cool down and stretch at the end of a session.



Martial Arts Specific Injuries

There are several types of injuries which are more likely to occur in Martial Arts. These include joint injuries or loss of consciousness as a result of submission techniques, Cuts and bruises from accidental contact with strikes. Skin infections such as Ringworm or Staph infection commonly seen in grappling styles as a result of poor hygiene, there are also various injuries and illnesses associated with excessive weight cutting.


The most serious in my opinion is Head Trauma and Concussion. This is more common is striking styles but can also happen in grappling as a result of a slam or take-down. Excessive head trauma and concussion have very serious long term effects (memory loss, depression, loss of cognitive function) which are only now being understood. I would advise all Martial Arts students to be aware of these risk factors and choose their training activities wisely. Including choosing your training partners wisely which brings me to the next point.


Risks of Sparring


Something specific to martial arts is the risk involved in sparring or rolling in BJJ. This is one of the most fundamental and productive activities in Martial Arts training but it requires a large degree of trust and responsibility with the participants. You are trusting your training partner with your personal safety. You need to ensure you train with partners you can rely on to not go crazy and do risky or unpredictable techniques,

80/20 rule - 80% of the injuries are caused by 20% of the students.

I've found that the majority of students can be trusted to roll or spar safely without any problems and without causing injuries. I've also noticed over the years that most of the injuries in sparring usually come form 20 percent of the students. If you're the coach I think it's a good idea to monitor the sparring and look out for those 20% of students who are constantly going too hard, being too competitive or using too many risky or unorthodox techniques. Take them aside and encourage them to tone it down or join up at the new gym down the road instead. You’ll be amazed how the injury rate goes down once you get rid of the ten ‘win at all costs’ students. Then the rest of your students can train in a safe and productive environment.


If you're a student have a look around at who is sparring sensibly and who is going crazy and try to avoid them as much as possible.

Check out my BJJ Sparring article here:



Other tips for minimizing injuries for Students and Coaches

Make sure all beginner students complete a Pre-Training evaluation / Functional Movement Screening. This will make sure any existing injuries or conditions are known to the coaches so the activity can be modified where necessary.


All sessions begin with a sport specific warm up. Use functional movements which will be similar to types of movement actually used in the session. Gradually increase intensity rather than going too hard too soon.


Training starts off at an easy technical pace for new students for at least the first two months - don't rush into sparring or high intensity training too soon. Even though the student may enjoy it their body will not yet be ready which leads to injury and quitting.


All students focus on training with good technique, not taking shortcuts. One of the common reasons for technique breaking down is due to exhaustion so make sure everyone trains at a pace they can maintain. Injuries are also just more likely to occur when a student is exhausted so adequate rest and recovery is essential.


Make sure all students have appropriate level of good quality, clean training equipment. This includes gloves, head gear, shin guards, mouth guard, clean clothing suitable for the activity (such as rash guard for grappling).


Additional strength training twice a week can also go a long way to prevent injuries in Martial Arts. It's important to avoid any kind of exercises which could cause additional injury risks and focus on good form and technique.


Recovery training such as Foam Rolling, Stretching or massages are also important for injury prevention and a good way to prolong your Martial Arts training career.
Adequate Supervision


As mentioned above Martial Arts and Combat Sports are dangerous. Make sure all training is supervised by an experienced coach - This is one of the biggest risk factors I see in Martial Arts training. The 20% of students mentioned above get together to bang it out or roll on their own schedule because they are too busy to make it to the regular classes. Inevitably this leads to the students getting injured and quitting Martial Arts within three years.


This is also a big danger of open mat sessions in BJJ. Students may be doing reckless, injury causing techniques on each other without supervision. There needs to be firm rules in place about what is acceptable.


All sessions need to be run by a qualified and experienced coach. There is a big risk from a business point of view of sessions run by inexperienced coaches who have inadequate training on how to coach safely and effectively and how to minimize and prevent injuries.

Finally, its important to refer to a sports medicine specialist or sports physiotherapist if there is a serious injury or problem.

Check out my article about building the right Gym culture here:


Tuesday 22 May 2018

White Belt Advice


White belt is the make or break stage in your Martial Arts journey. BJJ has a very high drop off rate and the majority of people who begin training don't make it past the three month mark. There are a variety of reasons for this but quite commonly students quit because they feel they are not making any progress.

There are several common problems that I see with most beginner students and in this article I will offer possible solutions that will help you improve and make progress in your martial arts journey.

Some Beginners will never suffer from these problems, particularly so if they are athletic or have a background in other combat sports. They may not get exhausted or stuck in bad positions when rolling with other beginners, however, I think its actually beneficial for students to go through this frustrating process and to get used to it. This is something you will have to experience again and again throughout your training career. The sooner you can get comfortable with being uncomfortable the more benefits you will get in the long term.

Gassing Out... 


The first problem for many beginners is lack of fitness leading to exhaustion during sparring. Don't base your entire BJJ game around fitness and outworking your opponent at the expense of proper technique, however, it will always help to improve your fitness if you feel you are struggling during sparring rounds. 

To achieve this I recommend simple solutions such as getting up half an hour earlier and going for a run, bike ride or swim twice a week. Yes there are more scientific and technical ways of maximizing your fitness but as a White Belt you aren't trying to win the Olympics just attempting to build your gas tank so you can roll at a sensible pace without feeling completely exhausted and having to sit out rounds.


Another tip to avoid gassing out is to make sure you roll at a pace that is suitable for your fitness level. If you find you are breathing heavily and exhausted within 30 seconds you need to slow down and concentrate on what you are doing. Don't waste energy relentlessly squeezing your opponents head when you should be figuring out how to move your hips and legs to escape.

Getting Stuck in Bad Positions...


This is one of the most common questions I get asked by beginners. They get stuck under side control or Mount for every round of sparring and never get a chance to use any of the techniques they have learnt. 

My first piece of advice is to learn and drill the escapes from these positions then practice them in isolation sparring. This involves rounds of starting from side control and once you achieve an escape or reversal resetting and doing it again. This method will improve your escapes 100%.

Another useful idea is to occasionally just ask your training partners to reset once you've been stuck under side control or mount.  Getting better at escaping especially against heavier and more skilled opponents is a time consuming process and you can't expect results overnight. For this reason I would advise new students to just ask their training partners to reset in a different position and work from there rather than wasting valuable training time.

At a slightly higher level the biggest key to avoiding getting stuck in bad positions is to avoid ending up there in the first place. The key to this is Guard Recovery and Guard Pass Prevention. The better you get at preventing getting your guard passed the less time you will be spending in bad positions. As mentioned previously this is a long term process but the earlier in your grappling career you get started on it the better results you'll get.

Can't get any Submissions...


Another problem is that the typical BJJ student learns or is at least exposed to dozens of submissions in their first few months of training but when they try to apply these techniques in live sparring they never work. This is because all the other students have also been taught the same techniques during the same period and so they are aware of them and are ready to shut them down. This often leads to the less than ideal 'Youtube Arms-Race' scenario where ambitious White-belts will scour the internet for secret techniques to catch their training partners unawares rather than just focusing on learning how to do the fundamental techniques properly. 

I advise beginners to follow the BJJ maxim - 'Position before Submission'. Focus on building your game, at least in the early stages, of getting to solid control positions such as Side Control, Mount and Back Control and then the opportunities for submissions will begin to present themselves. I also encourage building your game around submissions where you will not lose position if it doesn't get the tap. For example if you cant finish the Rear Naked Choke you are still in Back Control so you get to try it again and again until the end of the round.

Can't remember their techniques when Sparring...


As previously mentioned during your first few months of training you will be exposed to what seems like an endless amount of techniques. It is usually too difficult to remember everything you learn and it will be almost impossible to recall and use it effectively when needed in live sparring.

The first stage in the solution to this problem is to try to retain as much information as possible. Make notes on everything you learn as soon as possible after learning it. Drill the technique as much as possible after your Instructor shows it then try to drill it again a few times later in the class e.g. before each sparring round or a few reps at the end of class. This will help keep it fresh in your memory. Its also a great idea if you get to class early to grab a partner and do a few reps of the techniques you learnt in the previous class.

The key to being able to use the techniques in sparring is to find a way to speed up the decision making process. You need to write out a game-plan of exactly what you will do in each position and in each scenario. For example, when on top in Side Control rather than attempting to remember and choosing between twenty different submissions you will have one designated attack to go for. If the opponent defends this you will then transition to your secondary attack. As you progress and get more experience you will gradually expand and adapt your game-plan but you need to start somewhere or you will waste years sparring ineffectively.

Not sure what they should be doing during Rolling....


When watching beginners rolling its clear that their only objective is to win the round by any means necessary and this is something which will usually be detrimental to their long term progress.

If your're unsure about what you should be doing when rolling then try to spend some time watching the higher belts at your academy. Don't look out for spectacular techniques or trick moves but rather how do they do the basic moves, how do they move and react when they are defending a guard pass or any other common situation that you are likely to find yourself in, what sort of pace and tempo they are working at?

If possible try to video yourself rolling so you can get a clearer view of what you are actually doing in sparring compared to what you think you're doing.

Finally, try to have some objectives for each round of sparring or training session. For example, I want to use my Double Under Guard Pass or my Scissor Sweep. The afterwards go back and if possible analyse your video and see if you achieved your objectives and how you can improve upon your performance for next time.

My most important piece of advice for beginners who feel that they are not making progress is that they should not become too demoralized. All combat sports take a long time to get good at and you will go through periods where your progress plateaus and you don't feel you are making improvement. 

Over the last 20+ years of grappling training I've seen many people who looked very impressive after a few months of training but usually these same people were the ones who quit after a year or so because they stop improving at the same rate they initially did. 

Its not about who is best after six months, but who's best (and who's left) after ten years.

Please comment below if you have any other White Belt Problems not covered here that you'd like me to discuss in a future article and also please check out my other article on how to improve your BJJ Training here


How to improve your BJJ training


Tuesday 13 February 2018

BJJ Sparring




The Purpose of Sparring and Rolling



The purpose of BJJ Sparring is to safely try out your techniques against resistance. This is not the same as fighting and I’ve found that people who are overly competitive in sparring usually make very limited progress in their training. Sparring rounds need to provide realistic resistance without being too competitive. One factor which makes BJJ so effective is that students can spar relatively safely and can try out the techniques in a realistic manner not long after learning them. This gives the student feedback about whether they were practicing the techniques correctly,


Safety


As with any activity related to training, there's no point in doing it if it can't be done safely. All techniques need to be executed in a controlled manner. As a student you should use only techniques that you know and understand. Also, focus on techniques that your partner also knows and understands. Don't try to catch your training partners with ’Trick’ moves that they haven’t seen before and which haven’t been taught in class. Training partners may not recognise the danger and might not tap or may react unpredictably.


Safety Rules



Apply all joint locks in a slow and controlled manner rather than jerking them on quickly. Make sure you give your training partner enough time to tap out even if that means they might have time to escape the submission attempt.

For all choke techniques make sure that pressure is actually being applied in an even manner to the neck rather than just cranking on the neck or jaw.

Move in a controlled manner rather than jumping around or swinging your hands, elbows, knees, feet and head into your training partners.

If you are heavier than your training partner avoid driving your weight into your partner or using your strength or weight advantage to muscle your way in or out of positions.


Avoid sparring in an overly competitive or intense manner


Make sure both your training partner and yourself understand the techniques which will be allowed



How to Start the Round


Its important to avoid wasting time in your training. One of the biggest wastes of time in BJJ training is to spend too long wrestling from your knees in an unrealistic situation. There are two options to get around this, first both partners can start off from standing position (however this is usually not suitable for injury prone beginners), The second option is to just start on the ground in a more realistic position, for example, one partner on bottom closed guard or open guard and then go live from there.


Have a Purpose


Have a few techniques and strategies in mind to work on during the round. For example, this could be one submission or sweep from guard or certain type of guard pass. I’ve found that its usually counter productive to tell your partner what you intend to work on as they will often feel obliged to let you do your technique which defeats the purpose or even worse they may try to block your attempts completely. It's also a good idea to have a few options for what you want to work on just in case you can't get to the position you need to get to to work on your chosen techniques.


Long Term BJJ Training

Eleven years ago since I got my black belt and I thought this would be useful advice for anyone who is in the earlier stages of their JiuJi...

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