martial arts

Stretching For BJJ: Develop Black Belt Flexibility

March 12, 2024

If you’ve done BJJ for any length of time you have undoubtedly encountered an opponent with high levels of flexibility and been frustrated as their rubber like limbs stymie your pass attempts and squirm out of submissions. You may have even ended that roll and decided that you want that kind of advantage for yourself.

While some people seem to have been born flexible it is possible to earn it. Regular stretching, in combination with a good strength training program, can lead to huge improvements to your Jiu Jitsu performance. Better flexibility leads to more powerful throws & takedowns, slicker escapes, better guard retention and more agile passing. Beyond performance gains, a regular stretching practice also helps promote your longevity in the art by protecting your joints and correcting skeletomuscular imbalances brought on by the demands of training or the effects of daily office work.

The very best way to begin developing your flexibility is to regularly participate in a program like Yoga for BJJ under the guidance of a qualified instructor.

Failing that, targeted stretches performed on a frequent basis as a part of a wholistic training plan is the way to go.

Basic Programming

Make sure to warm up before doing any kind of concentrated stretching or flexibility work.

Never stretch through an injury except under the direction of a physiotherapist or sports doctor.

Static stretches (like most of those demonstrated) should ideally be performed separate to strength training. The best times would be directly after BJJ training or as their own session.

If stretching after class pick two to three different movements and focus on them for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks change one of the movements.

Hold each stretch for 3 sets of 30 seconds with about 30 seconds rest in between.

The best stretches for improving performance focus on the hamstrings, glutes and lumbar.

The best stretches for longevity focus on the shoulder capsule, thoracic spine and hip flexors.

######

While there are literally hundreds of stretches and mobility exercises you could choose to work on here are some of our favourite stretches for BJJ.

Middle split (no hands)

Stand in a deep horse stance, and slowly start to walk your feet away from your body. Hips in line with feet, knees locked out. You shouldn’t feel any pain.

Front split

Lunge forward with one foot, keeping both feet hip width apart. Slowly start to slide/walk your front foot further away from you, ensuring you’re up on your toes on your back foot, and weight through the heel of your front foot. Your hips and shoulders should be square and your front knee should be locked out. You should feel a stretch in the front leg through your calf, into the glutes, and in the back leg from your quads down.

Couch stretch (hip flexor)

Made popular by Kelly Starett, the couch stretch is a really effective way of stretching your quads and hips. Start on all fours, close to a wall, slide one leg back and place your knee in the intersection of the wall and floor. Now raise your upper body, so that your front leg is at a right angle to the floor – squeeze your glutes to support your lower back.

Pancake

Sit on the floor with your legs in a straddle position about 90°. Reach forwards with both arms, and walk your hands away from your body. The goal is to compress your hips to get your chest, and head to the ground.

Bridge (high and low)

For high bridge, start by lying down on your back with your feet close to your bum, and your hands by your head, a little wider than your shoulders. Start to push your hands and feet into the floor, with straight arms, so that your body forms a smooth arc – there shouldn’t be too many right angles with this one!

“Kinks” in your bridge usually indicate areas holding large amounts of tension. As you can see, Simon is currently very tight through his upper back and shoulders. To help alleviate this, or if you’re not particularly mobile, you can place your feet onto a box.

For a low bridge, jam your heels underneath your bum with the weight going through your toes and ball of your foot. Push your knees forwards and down (your south), head and shoulders touch the floor, and you can choose whether to use your hands or not. Squeeze your glutes!

Depending on where you are tight, you may find one easier than the other – it’s ideal to be able to do both, especially for Jiu Jitsu.

Pike:

Keep your legs together. With your knees locked out, try to compress your body at the hips. And yes, you can point your toes if you like to make it pretty.

The Jefferson Curl:

First popularised by Steve Maxwell and then more recently by Christopher Sommers, the Jefferson Curl is a fantastic tool for promoting both strength through the spine and flexibility.

Start by standing tall on a flat surface or an elevated surface and with some kind of weight in your hands. This could be a barbell or kettlebells. You’re not looking for the heaviest weight possible, so start light (eg. 5kg) and progress from there.

When performing the movement, lock out your knees so your legs are straight. Then lean forward slowly, and think about “peeling” each vertebrae one at a time, until your arms are hanging down as low as they can. Do not to let your hands rest on your feet or the floor.

If you can touch the floor, move up onto an elevated surface (for example, a box or weight plate). Ultimately you are looking to have your upper body rest against the front of your legs. To return to the top, contract through the backs of your legs, concentrating on your hamstrings, and roll up one vertebrae at a time.

Pigeon:

This particular version of the Pigeon stretch has a slight tweak to it and it’s fantastic for opening up your hips.

Start on all fours and slide one leg back. Lean forward to place most of your weight on the front leg. Now play around with letting that front knee fall out to the side. Find your sticky spot and hang there for a moment.

Rather than hold for time perform 10 slow pulses then a hold for 10 seconds on the last rep.

90/90:

For this one, start with the lead leg directly in front of you with the knee bent at 90° lining up with the foot. Then place the trail leg out to the side and also bent at 90° inline with the heel.

Lean forward to get the deep stretch through the hip and glute minimus.

For the trail leg, try to square yourself off inline with the knee but, if you cannot, you can lean back to help achieve the position.

Quadratus Lumborum Stretch:

Sit on the floor in a typical hamstring stretch position. Turn your upper body towards the bent knee, grabbing it with the opposite hand and lean your upper body towards the foot of the straight leg. The trick with this one is to hold on tightly and think about guiding your head and shoulders towards and beyond the foot.

Cossack Stretch:

The Cossack Stretch is a great position to ‘teach’ your hips how to do the splits and is similar to positions you can find yourself in while passing guard or attempting a takedown.

Straighten one leg (again point your toes if you feel like it). Tuck your other leg up towards your butt, trying to keep your heel and glutes nice and close to each other. With that same leg, try to keep your foot flat on the ground, and your knee and toes pointing in the same direction.

Deltoid capsule stretch:

Lie face down (prone) and feed your left arm underneath your chest. Let your left knee fall out to the side. To add more intensity to it, reach forwards with the non-stretching arm.

Scorpion stretch (pec to bicep):

Lie prone on the floor. Reach forward with one arm, then out about 45° (so either 10:30 or 2:30 on a clock). Keep the non-stretching arm close to the body (like a push up position), and use it to create leverage and push the stretching shoulder into the ground.

Reach the opposite leg to the stretching arm backwards over the body and just hang there.

######

In combination with a regular strength practice, implementing a consistent stretching routine has some serious benefits for Jiu Jitsu athletes. As your flexibility develops improvements in performance and resiliency will shortly follow.

######

Demonstrations and descriptions by Simon Le. Simon is a Strength & Conditioning coach at Elements Fitness, holds a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is a Contra Mestre in Capoeira. If you’re interested in training with Simon he can be reached through our contact form or at his website Simon Le Coaching.

A Guide To Strength & Conditioning For Combat Sports

August 2, 2023

When people think about strength and conditioning for combat sports they think of, well… they think of Rocky.

But if you get them to focus on real world boxing, people typically think of the lean, lithe bodies of lightweight champions like Manny Pacquiao and Vasyl Lomachenko or the stocky muscular physiques of heavyweights like Mike Tyson and Jack Dempsey. However, when talking about great boxing physiques few people think of Tyson Fury. At the time of writing Fury is the WBC heavyweight champion and undisputedly one of the greatest boxers of all time but the Gypsy King’s physical appearance is more what people associate with a divorced dad trying to pull himself together than an elite athlete at the top of his game. This is brought up not to take a crack at Fury’s appearance but, rather, to highlight the important point that strength and conditioning is about developing fitness and fitness is the efficient ability to perform a specific task. If we are talking about fitness it’s important not to get distracted by aesthetics. We are interested in how well we do the task not how good we look doing it.

So, if your current focus is on developing your sport specific fitness, it’s fortunate that combat sports have lots of options for improving your fitness while also developing your skills. Pad work, Partner work, Shadow work, Speed drills and Sparring can all easily be tweaked to focus on developing your conditioning.

Notice that things like running, push ups, squats and burpees are entirely absent from this list. Remember that you are a martial artist first and foremost so the majority of your time should be spent practicing your martial art. It isn’t that these exercises are without value, it’s just that they are not directly related to the activity to which are trying to specifically condition ourselves. Specific strength and conditioning is built on the mats and general strength and conditioning is built in the weights room.

While the best kind of strength and conditioning for a specific task is always the task itself, if you want to maximise your training and performance, some time in the weight room is invaluable for developing high end strength and power. Unfortunately, in the martial arts community, strength and conditioning has a strong tendency to morph into conditioning and conditioning. Don’t misunderstand me – conditioning is very important in any competitive combat sport but it is often emphasised to the point where other vital qualities are diminished. As a general rule 80 to 90% of your time training for a martial art should be spent actively doing the martial art. So, if we are only going to spend 10% to 20% of our training time developing our general physical qualities, we need to prioritise:

Strength & Power.
Aerobic baseline conditioning.
Additional Anaerobic conditioning if recovery allows.

When programming strength & conditioning the question should not be “how much can I do?” but rather “what can I recover from and still make progress?” If your S & C training interferes with your sport specific training you should re-examine your priorities. It is your capacity to recover, rather than your capacity to work, that determines the volume, intensity and density of your strength & conditioning training.

As for how to determine the actual nuts and bolts of a program designed to complement martial arts practice the very best way would be to hire a strength coach who understands the demands, listen carefully to what they recommend and then – this is the important part – actually go do it.

Failing that, here are some general guidelines.

First a combat athlete needs to be strong… for a combat athlete . A combat athlete doesn’t need to be strong when compared to a powerlifter or a gymnast; they need to be strong according to the needs of their art. This means strength training with a particular emphasis on developing your power to weight ratio, power endurance and mid section stability. Exercise selection should centre on large, multi joint movements that allow a focus on tension and speed over pump and burn.

Depending on your schedule and personal recovery capabilities you should be looking to program strength training somewhere between two and five sessions per week. Ideally your weekly volume should be around the same regardless of how many sessions you perform. More frequent training means shorter sessions with reduced volume and less frequent training should result in longer sessions with greater volume.

Next, we should address our aerobic baseline conditioning. Aerobic baseline conditioning is essentially your non specific cardio vascular fitness and it plays an important roll in your ability to recover both between rounds and after more intense bursts of energy. Aerobic training needs to follow the Goldilocks rule – not too easy and not too hard, it’s got to be “just right.” Go too hard and you end up working your anaerobic energy systems but go too easy and you won’t get a training effect at all.

To determine your ideal heart rate zone for aerobic training use the following formula:

Max Heart Rate

180 minus your age – if you’re hitting this you need to ease up.

Minimum Heart Rate

160 minus your age – if you’re hitting this you need to get back to work.

Because aerobic baseline conditioning is non-specific we are not limited in how we achieve our goal heart rate. So while you can simply go running I would encourage you to explore alternatives with fewer downsides and more secondary benefits; kettlebell swings, prowler work, rucking, belt squat marches and hot yoga are all excellent options. You’ll need to do 1 to 3 sessions per week and each session should be between 20 and 90 minutes long.

Incidentally, using these numbers keeps workouts repeatable and repeatable is probably the most important key to longevity in training and competition.

Finally we look at additional anaerobic conditioning. This is usually where most fighters’ strength and conditioning training starts and ends; hammering the Glycolytic energy pathway, bathing their muscles in lactic acid, puking on the floor and then wondering why their skill training isn’t going very well. Anaerobic conditioning training is an important part of any program which aims to maximise your combat sport performance – just not in the volume typically seen. Most people who train regularly only really need one anaerobic conditioning focused workout per fortnight; maybe one per week if they have excellent recovery or are in a period of lessened activity. Anaerobic conditioning is also far more specific in effect when compared to training for general strength, power and aerobic conditioning and so more care needs to be taken in exercise selection in order to get the most benefit. When in doubt go for simple, multi joint exercises that emphasise either hip drive or upper body push/pull along the X/Y axis. Also, remember that this additional anaerobic conditioning should be the first thing to go if you’re having trouble recovering or if it’s negatively impacting your sport performance.

So put together what does this all look like? An amateur athlete aiming to get the most out of their training would have a schedule along the lines of the following:

Martial Arts practice four to six days a week.

Strength practice two to five days a week.

Aerobic baseline conditioning one to three days a week.

Anaerobic conditioning once a fortnight.

It might not be as cool as the training montage you’ll see in a Rocky film but a montage only lasts 30 seconds. Training like this will last you a life time.

Power Up Your BJJ Skill Development With Personal Challenges.

April 4, 2023

Setting a personal challenge is a fun and adaptable method of focusing skill development to a specific area without moving away from the greater task.

There are three key steps to successfully creating a personal challenge:

Set a challenge.
Set a time frame.
Set stakes.

Set a Challenge

A good personal challenge can be anything that narrows your focus during sparring without taking away from the general focus of that sparring session. Some of the most effective challenges that I have tried in the past include:

Only attack submissions from certain positions (eg. You can only attack from mount).

Limit yourself to certain categories of submissions (eg. armlocks only).

Don’t get scored on at all.

Score first in every match.

Score a point every thirty seconds (great for cardio).

Set a Time Frame

Your challenge should have a clearly defined start and end.

One session.

One week.

Three months.

Strange as it seems time frames that run longer than one week but less than three months aren’t particularly useful. Challenges that focus on behavioural habit setting (ie. score first, score every 30 seconds) are best done over shorter periods and undertaken frequently throughout the year. Regular re-exposure to the stimulus is key in circumstances where behaviour over technical skill is being trained.

Challenges that focus on developing particular skills (ie. armlocks only, attack from mount only) are best performed in blocks of three months. Generally speaking it takes around eight weeks of regular practice to develop a new level of competence in a skill and an additional two to four weeks to consolidate those gains.

Set Stakes

Stakes create accountability and accountability is the difference between a concrete goal and just wishful thinking.

Stakes can be as simple as telling people who are to call you out if they see you doing anything different but remember that consequences work better than rewards so plan accordingly. It is far more effective to know that you will have to buy your training partner lunch if you fail than to get a free lunch if you succeed.

Appropriate stakes make a huge difference to how likely you are to finish a challenge or complete a goal. Without stakes the average rate of success is around 33%, whereas the average success rate with stakes is just over 72%.

The Three Phases of Technical Skill Development

February 23, 2023

When it comes to learning techniques and developing skill most people massively overestimate what they can achieve in 5 weeks and massively underestimate what they can achieve in 5 years. This largely comes from a misconception of what it is to be skilful, a lack of patience with the process and fundamentally failing to know what that process should be.

First, we should understand the difference between techniques and skills:

Techniques are specific, explicit and discrete.

Skills are general, implicit and open.

Techniques are not skills but you can become more skilful in the application of your technique. For example, an armbar from closed guard is a technique; Performing armbars from guard is a skill.

Gaining proficiency in a technique can take anywhere up to eight weeks but becoming skilful in the application of that technique is an ongoing and arguably never ending process.

The process that begins with gaining proficiency and continues into long term skill development has three primary phrases – Accumulation, Intensification and Transformation.

Accumulation is the period that is focused gaining proficiency with the technique and, as such, you should mostly be concerned with getting your reps in, learning the primary mechanics of the technique and how to apply them in a live environment. Effective training strategies for this stage include getting in some extra repetitions before and after classes, frequently attempting to “hit the move” in sparring and, most obviously, receiving formal instruction on the technique from a knowledgeable coach.

Intensification is the phase that will take you beyond being merely proficient in a technique to being truly skilful in its application. Here you will develop a series of heuristics and begin to move towards the ability to apply the technique intuitively. This stage should be characterised by lots of specific sparring focused around different aspects of the technique and regular troubleshooting sessions with coaches and training partners.

Transformation is the stage where the technique is almost fully autonomous in execution and adjustments to timing, speed, power, angle, balance and leverage are all made completely intuitively. Your training at this phase is more focused on transferring the new skill acquired by developing this technique to other areas of your game and exploring/exploiting the reactions of your opponents in their attempt to deal with your new skill.

Sadly many people tend to stop at the accumulation phase and prize developing a surface level understanding of a multitude of techniques over developing true skill.

It should also be noted that skill in a given domain is frequently acquired without learning any distinct techniques but techniques cannot be effective without skill.

How To Take Notes Like A Black Belt

November 17, 2022

Note taking is one of the most effective yet underused tools available to a martial artist or athlete to convert diverse and excessive information into precise action and follow-up.

It is – by far – my most frequently recommended exercise to improve skill development outside of physical training. As a note taking tragic, I am happy just to see someone taking notes but there are a few best practices you can employ to really turbo charge the effects.

First, notes to aid recall of information (like online instruction or a lecture) should be made at the time the information is received or immediately after. For best effect, this should be reviewed the next day and reviewed and refined seven days later or once the module of study is complete.

Notes to consolidate physical practice (like a jiu jitsu class) should ideally be made the day after training and then reviewed and refined seven days later.

Second, I recommend having two types of note books – a general, day to day book that gets used for scribbling down notes on the first pass and other, topic specific notebooks to record that information once it has been reviewed, condensed and consolidated.

Your daily notebook can be as organised or as disorganised as you prefer. This book is more about having a place to collect information and thoughts.

Topic specific notebooks should be clearly organised. These books are for the clear and concise breakdown of information and should be formatted in a way that makes that easy to do.

Leave a page or two so you will be able to create a table of contents. Every time you make a new entry to your notebook simply title and/or number it and then add a corresponding reference to your contents page.

When making the notes themselves, write the key points and topics on the left hand page and the minor details and explanatory notes on the right. Try to keep everything to short bullet points rather than make long hand, journaling style entries; the goal of this form of note taking is to condense information into small, easily manageable chunks.

Making notes is about imposing structure on information for increased retention and better understanding – not developing rote recitation of someone else’s description or phrases.

The act of note taking is what provides the primary benefit. You might never refer back to your notes once the review period is concluded and there would be little difference in utility between yourself and someone who refers back to their notes frequently.

How To Shadow Box

February 13, 2020

MMA fighters, boxers and Nak Muay all shadow box as a regular part of their training. Nearly all striking based martial arts make some form of shadow boxing a standard part of their classes.

Why?

What is shadow boxing?

Why should I do it?

What’s the best way to shadow box?

What is Shadow Boxing?

Shadow boxing is a popular exercise with fighters and athletes who participate in a martial art whose primary focus is striking. It is essentially the act of sparring with an imaginary opponent and, while it is often seen as merely a warm up, shadow boxing is an effective and versatile method for improving your striking ability.

Why should I Shadow Box?

Done properly shadow boxing allows you to work on techniques and correct errors in a realistic manner without the external pressure of an opponent or training partner. It is also excellent for specific mental preparation and the rehearsal of game plans. Regular practice leads to dramatic improvements in form, footwork and flow and results in the development of the lethal grace exhibited by top boxers and kickboxers.

How to Shadow Box

There’s more to shadow boxing than just punching and kicking into the air. Shadow boxing is a form of deliberate practice for your striking art and as such it needs to be purposeful, systematic and mindful.

One of the best things about shadow boxing is its versatility – you can do it anywhere, anytime and for practically any purpose related to developing your striking game. For example it can be used to simulate sparring, work on a specific technique, develop a combo, refine a movement or even to correct an error. It doesn’t particularly matter what your purpose is; the key is to come into your shadow boxing practice with a clear goal in mind.

As you start your practice make sure to be progressive and build towards your primary training purpose of the session. Start the round by checking that your stance and structure are correct, then begin to move around ensuring that you are using the correct footwork and then spend a few moments getting comfortable with all of this before you even think about throwing a punch or beginning to work on your goal.

No matter how specific a goal you are training towards, you should always be mindful that your are also trying to simulate the energy and actions of the “real thing” as closely as possible. This means keeping your movements realistic and remembering that you are training to perform against another human being and not some kind of meat based punching bag. A genuine opponent will move, a genuine opponent will defend your attacks and a genuine opponent will make attacks of their own and your shadow work should reflect this reality.

That said, because there actually isn’t an opponent there trying to hit you in the face, shadow boxing should be a 100% stress free environment. This is your chance to practice perfection. Make sure your stance, structure, movement and strikes are as spot on as possible. Your focus should be on achieving flow over speed and power.

Common Mistakes

Shadow Boxing with Weights

This is one of the most harmful things you can do in your boxing practice – it doesn’t work, it increases the risk of injury, it makes you slow and it screws up the specific motor pattern that you are trying to develop.

Adding a vertical load (gravity on dumbbell) to a horizontal movement (punching forward) means the resistance doesn’t even load the movement you are trying to strengthen. To do this, you are loading the most distal point of your limb and then violently extending that limb away from you. This creates huge amounts of stress in your wrist, elbow and shoulder joints, increasing your chances of developing bursitis, arthritis and more. If that wasn’t enough, when you load an explosive action and movement speed drops by 10% or more it will have a negative impact on the execution of the unloaded movement meaning you now move slower and punch worse. All in all, this method will not help you.

Do not do this.

Not Moving Enough

It’s pretty common for athletes new to shadow boxing – or who have not been properly coached in how to shadow box – to stand dead still or move directly forwards and backwards like they are on train tracks. Remember that you are simulating a sparring match or a fight and these both take place in a 360 degree environment.

Moving Without Purpose

On the other end of the spectrum is the athlete who takes six steps for every one that is necessary. It’s important to move but it’s more important for your movements to have purpose. Your movement should be to set up an angle to attack, evade a specific incoming strike or even to circle off before re-engaging. You should not be moving just to be moving.

Judo – The Genius Of Dr. Kano

February 4, 2020

Dr. Jigoro Kano is well known as a philosopher, educational reformer and, most famously, the founder of Kodokan Judo. His ideas and concepts completely revolutionised the martial arts landscape and form the basis for the way many modern martial arts train. While Kano had many innovations, four in particular changed the world.

1. Limited Technical Selection

When it comes to the techniques that make up the core of Judo’s curriculum, Kano was more akin to a curator than to an inventor.

Over the years he been trained in a variety of styles of Jiu Jitsu and was proficient enough that he received the manuscripts and secret scrolls for two of them. Additionally he was recognised as someone working to preserve the history, traditions and skills of Jiu Jitsu. As such, a number of other Jiu Jitsu instructors had entrusted him with the scrolls and manuscripts of their schools in the hope that Kano might be able to preserve those as well. By the time Kano was establishing the formal syllabus for the Kodokan, he had accrued knowledge of a broad selection of Jiu Jitsu techniques and had access to a wider selection still.

While he was heavily influenced by the throwing techniques of the Kito Ryu, Kano drew on all these systems when determining what would be in the Kodokan curriculum. He eliminated from consideration any techniques overly reliant on strength, flexibility or psychology, and any techniques he deemed too likely to injure someone.

To ensure that his system would be cohesive, of the remaining he only kept those techniques that worked well together. These he grouped and ordered into an efficient learning progression.

This one stroke of genius not only made Judo safer and more effective than the traditional Jiu Jitsu schools, it also made it possible for the average student to develop an understanding of the entire core syllabus.

2. Emphasis on Ukemi

Kano placed great importance on ukemi or the ability to take a fall without being hurt. Previous to this Jiu Jitsu students were mostly just expected to work out how to fall as they went along. His emphasis on safety resulted in an explosion of technical development and refinement unknown prior to the meiji era.

Kano’s insight was two fold.

First, by removing the most dangerous techniques and limiting the risks associated with being thrown, Kano increased the combative effectiveness of Jiu Jitsu by making it possible to regularly train at, or near to, full force on an uncooperative training partner. Second, Kano realised that a safer training environment would result in more people being able and willing to train more often. This greatly increased the potential talent pool available to the Kokadan. Kano had at his disposal a large number of martial athletes and technical academics to help him propagate and refine his art.

3. Kuzushi & Sei-ryoku Zen-you

Kuzushi is the theory and practice of breaking an opponent’s balance. Someone who’s balance has been broken has limited strength and offensive options and is exceptionally vulnerable to attack.

Sei-ryoku Zen-you loosely translates as “minimum effort, maximum efficiency”.

Taken together the concepts of Kuzushi and Sei-ryoku Zen-you significantly advanced how martial arts in general, and the grappling arts in particular, are trained and performed.

While not a new concept at the time when Kano made kuzushi one of the fundamental underpinnings of all judo he radically altered the martial arts landscape. By insisting that Kuzushi be a part of every technique and that each technique be efficiently executed, Kano emphasised the technical aspect of Judo over athleticism and physicality. This is the norm for martial arts now but previous to Kano many schools insisted that their practitioners develop extraordinary levels of strength or conditioning to simply be able to practice the art. Kano flipped this dynamic on its head and made improved athleticism a result rather than a requirement of training Judo.

4. Plan for the Successful Resolution of Combat

Before Kano most martial arts – and Jiu Jitsu in particular – lacked overall strategy. Most styles were essentially a collection of tricks and techniques to defeat opponents in specific situations but lacked the means to ensure those situations would arise. This lack of direction greatly diminished the average martial artist’s combat effectiveness and could easily be the difference between victory and defeat.

Kano provided the following roadmap to victory for his students:

Close the gap and clinch with your opponent.

Throw your opponent.

If necessary follow up with a pin, strangulation or joint lock to incapacitate them.

It might not seem like much, but this simple plan eliminated much of the uncertainty and chaos that occurs in a fight. It gave Judoka of the day an enormous advantage allowing them to overcome physically and technically superior, but less strategically directed, opponents.

******

In 1886 Tokyo Metropolitan Police held a Judo vs Jiu Jitsu tournament in order to determine which was the superior fighting style and become the official training style for the Tokyo police academy. It was to be competition which pitted the best fighters from across multiple schools of Jiu Jitsu against students of Kodokan Judo. Across the 15 matches the Kodokan Judoka won all but two which ended in a draw. This led to widespread acceptance of Judo and it became recognised that Kano had created training methods that were superior to those traditionally used in Japan.

Judo has gone on the become the progenitor of many other fighting styles – most notably Sambo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – and many of these innovations and training methods are still in use today.

How To Improve Your Cardio Instantly.

July 25, 2019

“Breathe. Just Breathe.” – Jedi Master Luke Skywalker

This is probably one of the most commonly misunderstood concepts in martial arts so let’s just start with a bit of science to help us talk about it sensibly.

First – I don’t care what your mum, Kron Gracie or the yoga instructor with the pretty eyes told you it is physically impossible to further oxygenate your body. Blood oxygen levels typically sit at 95 to 100% and your breath can only affect this minimally. Breathing is more about maintaining the balance between oxygen being taken into your body and the carbon dioxide being expelled.

Most people assume that low levels of oxygen trigger the urge to inhale. Instead, it is the concentration of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream that brings on the desire to breathe. Everyone has a certain level of carbon dioxide in their blood; it is a product of normal oxygen metabolism. However, unlike blood oxygen levels, carbon dioxide concentration is controlled by the frequency and intensity of breathing.

As a result, the feeling of being “out of breath” is less about you needing to take more oxygen in and is more about needing to get more carbon dioxide out.

When you exercise your body will begin to breath harder and faster in an effort to maintain the balance between the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, inefficient breathing patterns where the exhale is cut short – and attempts to “take a deep breath in” – undermine this process leading to a situation where an otherwise fit athlete fatigues and potentially even panics.

One of the easier ways to overcome this issue is to adopt and develop specific breathing techniques while you train. While the following strategies are described with the Jiu Jitsu practitioner in mind the concepts and principles are easily adaptable.

Exhale and Centre

This breathing technique is by far the simplest and can be integrated into your training immediately with surprisingly effective results.

You ready for it?

Take a deep breath out.

Seriously.

Anytime that you catch yourself feeling tired, stressed or panicky focus on making a long exhalation before resuming. This has the dual benefit of bringing your breathing under control in a way which directly addresses the imbalance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your system and re-centring yourself in the moment.

While this method is easy to implement, and can be used in conjunction with the other methods listed in this article, it unfortunately treats the symptoms of inefficient breathing rather than addressing the cause. It is also a massive signal to your opponent that you were just feeling tired, stressed or panicky.

Percussive Breathing

Most commonly exemplified by the Gracie family this method involves taking a normal inhalation followed by two or three short, sharp exhalations while contracting your diaphragm.

“Tss… Tss… Tss” – Rickson Gracie

The main benefit of this approach is the unchanging nature of the breathing pattern itself – you don’t speed up when you get excited or stressed and you won’t unconsciously start holding your breath during tense moments.

The downside is that I’ve found that this style of breathing initially takes a fair degree concentration so it’s difficult for someone who is not already very technically competent to implement.

Match your Breath to the Extension and Flexion of the Hips

When you breath in the air pressure in your lungs increases and exerts force against the anterior of your spine which results in a more rigid torso and when your breath out this same pressure decreases allowing for a more relaxed and pliable torso.

As Roger Gracie Blackbelt, Nic Gregoriades, notes “In Jiu Jitsu the movements which require the most strength -like bridging under mount – are usually those which involve hip extension and a rigid torso and those which require the greatest relaxation -like getting stacked during a guard pass – are those where your hips and spine go into flexion. If we match our breathing to these motions we can increase our strength or relaxation in the most efficient way possible.” (edited for brevity)

Anytime the distance between your shoulders and your toes decreases breath out.

Anytime the distance between your shoulders and your toes increases you should breath in.

Practice this during your warm up, any kind of solo work and eventually during drilling with a partner and in will become an ingrained part of your movement patterns.

******

It’s also worth considering that your mental state and your breath are inexorably linked. Some simple breathing exercises can have a profound effect on your state of mind and improve the quality of your Jiu Jitsu practice if you make them a part of your regular routine.

You have to let it all go. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind. ” – Morpheus

Solo Breathing Drills

Never ever, ever perform any kind of breath control practice in or near a body of water. Seriously – this is an easy and depressingly common way to die. Performing them while standing on a ladder or leaning over a display of knives is also highly discouraged.

Bellows Breathing

To practice either kneel or sit cross legged on the floor with your palms on your knees and a straight back. Do not perform bellows breathing sitting in a chair as this breathing exercise is the one most likely to cause you to faint if you over do it.

Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, keeping your mouth closed but relaxed. Your breaths in and out should be equal in duration, but as short as possible. This is a noisy breathing exercise.
Try for three in-and-out breath cycles per second. This produces a quick movement of the diaphragm, suggesting a bellows. Breathe normally after each cycle.
Do not do for more than 15 seconds on your first try. Each time you practice Bellows Breathing you can increase your time by five seconds or so until you reach a full minute.

4:7:8 Breathing

Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth and keep it there through the entire exercise. Relax your throat. You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue.

Exhale completely through your mouth allowing your throat to make a light whoosh sound.
Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
Hold your breath for a count of seven.
Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

Note that with this breathing technique, you always inhale quietly through your nose and exhale audibly through your mouth. The tip of your tongue stays in position the whole time. Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation.

“If the mind is the kite then the breath is the string.” – I can’t remember

Box Breathing

Close your eyes. Breathe in through your nose while counting to four slowly. Feel the air enter your lungs.
Hold your breath inside while counting slowly to four. Try not to clamp your mouth or nose shut. Simply avoid inhaling or exhaling for 4 seconds.
Begin to slowly exhale for 4 seconds.
Hold your breath out while counting slowly to four. Again, try not to clamp your mouth or nose shut. Avoid inhaling or exhaling for 4 seconds.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 at least three times. Ideally, repeat the three steps for 4 minutes.

How To Be The Best At BJJ All The Time.

May 1, 2018

Correct the technique of higher ranked, more experienced people than yourself.
They love it and will view you with respect and awe.

Never wash your rash guard or gi.
Just keep it in your car or balled up in your bag. If someone complains they clearly don’t understand the #bjjlifestyle.

Don’t pay any attention to what is being taught.
If you haven’t seen it before it’s definitely bullshit. If you have seen it before you already know it and it’s not worth your attention.

When your partner is practicing a new technique counter it every time to show them they are doing it wrong.
This way they will know that you are definitely better than them and they will appreciate the constructive feedback.

Always roll like you’re in the final of the Mundials.
If you’re not practicing winning, you’re practicing losing.

Attempt nothing.
Just hug your partner and perform a 300 second isometric squeeze. If you don’t attempt to do jiu jitsu you can’t fail at doing jiu jitsu.

About to lose? Start coaching or fake an injury.
You haven’t really been submitted if you stopped trying.

Either don’t trim your nails or trim them right before class to ensure that they are razor sharp.
If your training partner has to leave the mat to make sure they don’t bleed out from the thousands of cuts you just inflicted that stills counts as victory.

Always brag about the submissions you got in training to other class members.
Re-live your favourites with anyone nearby. Your past submissions are like MASH reruns – no one ever gets sick of them.

If you compete in a tournament and lose be sure that everyone understands that the problem wasn’t your poor work ethic, your low level of fitness or your complete lack of technique – it that you (select all that are appropriate):

Were sick
Haven’t slept well all week
Didn’t eat before the match
Ate too much before the match
Had a BYE the first round
Had an opponent who had a BYE the first round
Lost to the guy who won the division
Were robbed by the ref
Had an injury
Lost to a sandbagger
Faced an opponent who was on steroids
Didn’t have enough time
Got DQ’d for some bullshit
Lost by a bullshit advantage
Faced an opponent who just stalled
Were tired from traveling

Just remember that you don’t need to do better; you just need to convince yourself – and everybody else – that you already have.*

Explain how if this was a no gi match you totally would have won.

Explain how if this was a gi match you totally would have won.

Explain how if this was an MMA match you totally would have won.

Exclusively go for techniques you are not allowed to do.
Neck cranks, finger locks and nipple cripples should be your go to moves. BJJ is a martial art for the street and you refuse to water down its effectiveness.

Ask for advice from your coaches and training partners about a problem you are having. Explain to them how it’s not actually a problem and why you are not going to follow that advice.
That way they will know that even your problems are actually successes they don’t understand.

Beat the hell out of new guys.
This will show them the power of BJJ and guarantee they come back.

If you are tired wait until you are losing to stop.
You shouldn’t give your training partner a false sense of success by letting them tap you just because you are tired from all the winning you have been doing. Instead stop rolling and the moment you end up in an inferior position you can’t easily escape from and explain that you are not unfit – you’re just recovering from a max deadlift attempt and the three different Crossfit WODS you considered doing earlier that day.

Don’t tap.
If your training partner let’s go to make sure that you don’t get hurt then the submission wasn’t really on. If you get hurt then they are being way too reckless and there’s no way they could have got you if you had been going as hard as they were.

Always use extra force and power when rolling with anyone smaller and weaker than you.
They will appreciate the respect you show them by not holding back and be encouraged to get better. Whenever you roll someone bigger or better than yourself complain that they are too rough.

Before rolling explain you have an injury and want to go light.
After they agree roll lightly for ten seconds before surprising them by attacking with 100% speed and power. This will definitely impress anyone watching.

*credit to a Josh Hinger rant for inspiring this one.

The Six Practices of Being an Athlete

March 12, 2018

See to it that you temper yourself with one thousand days of practice, and refine yourself with ten thousand days of training.
– Miyamoto Musashi

Athletic Practice

Your sport or art should obviously be the primary component of these six practices. The key here is to understand that your athletic practice is the most important aspect of all your training. If you are interested in being a legitimate athlete then focus is genuinely required.

To quote coach extraordinaire, Dan John, “The goal is to keep the goal, the goal.”

If you have an element of your training or lifestyle that is interfering with your ability to train or perform your sport or art you have to decide what your focus is going to be.

You should be training or performing in your athletic practice 4 to 6 days a week.

Strength and Power Practice

The poor implementation of a strength and power practice is by far the largest and most common impediment in an athletes development.

Too many people consider the barbell a test of mettle rather than as a tool of training.

The goal of this practice is to become strong and powerful for the kind of athlete that you are and not in some kind of general or absolute sense. This means that roller derby skaters need to be strong compared to other skaters but not necessarily when compared to powerlifters or gymnasts.

The bottom line is that what you do in this practice should support – not hamper – what you do on the mat, field, track or ring.

Ideally your strength and power practice should be overseen by a knowledgeable and experienced strength coach. If a personal coach is not an option for you I recommend researching Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program or Pavel Tsatsouline’s Power to the People program.

You should be implementing your strength and power practice 2 to 5 days a week.

Nutrition Practice

People often act like proper nutrition is some kind of complicated black magic or quantum level science but unless you have a severe or rare metabolic disease nutrition can be boiled down to two simple rules.

1. Eat like a fucking adult.
2. Don’t kid yourself.

If you can do this you are already out performing 90% of the population.

Eat like a fucking adult.
Eat food.
Eat real food.

Real food doesn’t come out of a can, or a box or a bag. Real food goes off.

No one over the age of 12 really thinks that nutri grain is ironman food or that diet coke is a healthy choice.

Eat vegetables for health.
Eat meat for strength.
Eat carbs for recovery.

Don’t kid yourself.
You know that pizza and beer aren’t getting you closer to your goals.

And the problem is not that you should *never* consume pizza and beer. The problem is that you pretend that because you ordered a gluten free base and low carb beer that you are somehow still eating well when what you actually did was fuck up a perfectly good meal.

Movement Practice

Repeated movement patterns take a toll and the more specific and intense your athletic practice the more specific and intense stress is placed upon your body.

If longevity in your sport and maintaining a pain free day to day life are among your goals (and they should be) then these issues should be addressed by maintaining a movement practice as a part of your schedule.

Stretch what is too tight, open what is too closed and stabilise what is too loose. This can be as simple as going through a mobility routine – like DeFranco’s Agile 8 – three or four times a week or beginning a full blown yoga practice.

Meditation Practice

A meditation practice is an incredibly powerful tool for improving all areas of your life especially your athletic performance.

We’ve all had those experiences of getting into the “zone” or hitting our “flow”. Matches or performances where time seems to slow down and our ability to think, move and react seems limitless. We recognise the advantage of this state but hardly anyone actually trains to deliberately enter into it.

As athletes we are obsessed with training our bodies but so few of us put the effort in to train our minds.

The “zone” is really nothing more than consistent mindfulness. The ability to remain in and focus on the present moment without distraction.

Regular meditative practices cause actual structural changes in the brain. Just ten minutes a day can improve your will power and decision making capabilities; increase your focus and decrease your stress.

Ten minutes a day, everyday.

Developing a meditation practice doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll end up sitting in the lotus position, wearing flowers and talking in the breathy, hushed tones of someone who just finished a three day yoga instructor course.

To get started try the Headspace app, google ‘daily journaling’ or click here.

Lifestyle Practice

Your lifestyle practice is primarily about making sure you stay physically, mentally and emotionally healthy. By necessity training environments tend to be fairly insular and it’s easy to fall into the pattern of eat, sleep, train, repeat. While this makes for some neat tee shirts the reality is that it’s an expressway to injury and burnout.

The specifics of a happy and healthy lifestyle are unique to each person but there are few general principles that will always apply.

Get enough good quality sleep.
Have interests outside your athletic practice.
Spend time with people.
Spend time by yourself.
Spend time simply playing.