31 May 2010

Some geezer in a cool T-shirt and brown belt submission king Oli Geddes
Yesterday I competed at the Gracie Invitational BJJ tournament in London. I lost two fights to pick up a bronze, saw a ton of other great fights and took some nice photos. All in all a fantastic day out.


Gracie Invitational 2010 at SENI

Some geezer in a cool T-shirt and brown belt submission king Oli Geddes Yesterday I competed at the Gracie Invitational BJJ tournament in...

28 May 2010


I couldn't resist picking up this fab new T-shirt design from my good buddy Matt and his Scramble range of very intelligently crafted BJJ/grappling themed clothing.






According to Matt, this T is a collaboration between top grappling company Manto and himself. Well what they actually said was, hey dude we like your style, give me your new design or we blow your head off. Or words to that effect. Anyway, just goes to show, a little bit of hard work, good luck and inspiration can go a long way.

Lock & Roll!

I couldn't resist picking up this fab new T-shirt design from my good buddy Matt and his Scramble range of very intelligently crafted ...

27 May 2010

Just a quick training update: I had a pretty good series of rolls last night at class. We had two visitors down who really helped me out prior to my attempt to compete at the Gracie Invitationals at SENI this coming Sunday.

Isaac was the first person I ever competed against (last year at the Brighton Grab and Pull event). He's not competing at SENI but regardless, generously took time to give me a right good thrashing, which I really needed. You see, Isaac fights in my division (purple, light feather, masters) and in the comps he's attended, he has done very well indeed, including gold at the CBJJE Europeans, so we're talking about someone who is my direct peer and with whom I should try to match in terms of skill level. Anyway, we ran through a few scenarios designed to get me used to the way other light feathers fight and he also popped in a few wrist locks. Now this was a total surprise to me. Despite Roy Dean's excellent video series (Art of the wristlock) I was never really convinced wristlocks worked in BJJ. But Isaac showed me just how they do work, and quite painfully so as well. Props to the man for generously sharing the mat and humbly sharing his knowledge with me.

The other visitor was Pippa (nick-named 'Banana' for some reason) who is smaller than me and devilishly fast. She plays a very aggressive top game and is also incredibly flexible. I mean really flexible and she uses it to her advantage. At one point, I was sort of side mount when a leg came at me from nowhere! It worked enough to distract me and she escaped. Amazing stuff. Last time we sparred was over a year ago and she's definitely improved by a quantum leap. So again, great practice for me against a smaller, faster opponent. In fact, if I had to pick a 'team' of sparring partners - you know, like Pro boxers do at their training camps, Pippa and Isaac would certainly be in there. I'd like to wish Pippa the best of luck as she tackles the Mundials next week.

So on Sunday I'll be at SENI and looking at my division it will not be an easy ride. Everyone at purple belt is a seasoned competitor with very good, tough, tight games. My aim is just to hang there and survive. Not ambitious I know but after my performance at the British Open earlier, I consider just lasting the course without being submitted as a step forward. We'll see. I'll be 41 years old this year and competing even at this level doesn't get any easier, but I still enjoy the cut and thrust of tournament training and competing.

Wrist locks and 'Bananas'

Just a quick training update: I had a pretty good series of rolls last night at class. We had two visitors down who really helped me out pri...

26 May 2010

Jiu-Jitsu truly is for everyone and no more is this point made when you see people with disabilities who train. I'm quite moved when I read articles or watch videos such as the following examples. As my own instructor says: "[they] got more balls than most people I know".

Andrew Robb: BJJ student and spina bifida sufferer.



Kyle Maynard, wrestler, MMA fighter and congenital amputee


Alessandro, BJJ student, blind


No excuses.

Able bodied

Jiu-Jitsu truly is for everyone and no more is this point made when you see people with disabilities who train. I'm quite moved when I r...

24 May 2010



I've just come back from an awesome weekend in Bournemouth where Roy Dean was teaching a seminar at the K3 Martial Arts Academy. For those who don't know who Roy Dean is, he is an American BJJ black belt under Roy Harris who, previous to BJJ, had spent many years training in aikido and several other Japanese martial arts. He also spent some time in Japan as a live-in aikido student (uchi deshi) but he is probably better known through his many youtube videos, especially the belt demonstrations, and highly rated instructional DVDs. This seminar coincided with the UK's first hot spell of weather for what seems like eons and proved to be another meeting of some of the UK's BJJ bloggers in one room...


Roy Dean Seminar, Poole, UK

I've just come back from an awesome weekend in Bournemouth where Roy Dean was teaching a seminar at the K3 Martial Arts Academy. For t...

20 May 2010



I often think back to the first time I tried BJJ. It was in 2003 and I was curious to find out more about this Gracie thing I kept hearing about. You see back then I was really in to my Japanese style of trad ju-jitsu and loving the training, but throughout my journey I kept coming across Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It was unavoidable, there was a growing library of BJJ books, websites, forums and a couple of clubs in London. However, because I was commited to my trad-JJ training, I wasn't really interested, until one day I attended a trad-JJ seminar on groundfighting run by a judo and ju-jitsu instructor (who was a wonderful man and has since passed away).

One seminar of groundfighting - and remember this was nothing to do with BJJ - lit my fire like no other sport or activity has ever done. During the seminar we learned one or two chokes and joint locks applied whilst in side mount of something - I can't remember the details - but it was the sparring at the end that really stoked me up. I lost horribly each time but I loved it at the same time. I knew, from that moment on, I wanted to explore this further.

It took a wee while for me to find a club to try out a BJJ session. But I did and it was amazing. Just the whole laid back atmosphere of the class, the variety of cool techniques and of course the very intense and aliveness of the sparring - all of it was a world away from what I was used to. I remember to this day, the first lesson I did covered spider guard...just picture how amazing it is to try something this cool when you've never ever seen spider guard before? Back then, there were no beginner lessons, you were simply dropped in at the deep end. It took me quite a long long while to find my feet, and sparring for me was awful, I really felt I was going backwards each session, and yet I persisted. I never forget those early sessions, they have formed the bedrock of how I train and roll today.

And so that was my first time. What was yours like?

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When was your first time?

I often think back to the first time I tried BJJ. It was in 2003 and I was curious to find out more about this Gracie thing I kept hearing...

17 May 2010


When I was promoted to purple belt back in January I thought I would buy a little present for myself. I thought: wouldn't it be cool to have a high quality belt that was embroidered with my Meerkatsu logo and the kanji for jiu-jitsu? It would be the ultimate in chic personalisation. Not too loud and brash like a blinged up gi, but just discrete different enough to be noticed only by the eagle eyed. So I ordered one. Little did I know that getting that belt in my hands was going to be an arduous, frustrating and expensive affair ending with a belt that costs more than the priciest gi I've ever owned...

The Tale of the World's Most Expensive BJJ Belt

When I was promoted to purple belt back in January I thought I would buy a little present for myself. I thought: wouldn't it be cool to...

14 May 2010




Just a quick Meerkatsu good luck shout out to our resident stars Roger Gracie and Braulio Estima who both fight MMA matches this coming Saturday. Roger will fight Kevin Randleman on the Strikeforce event. It'll be his third Pro MMA fight and it looks set to be his toughest challenge so far. Braulio will fight Rick Hawn on the Shine Fights promotion. It is Braulio's debut MMA event and he's not taking on an easy opponent by any means (according to punters who know about these things). Sadly I don't think UK fans can get to see either of these fights legal or otherwise live, but our thoughts are with them anyway.

Good luck Roger and Braulio

Just a quick Meerkatsu good luck shout out to our resident stars Roger Gracie and Braulio Estima who both fight MMA matches this com...

11 May 2010

Mestre Mauricio Gomes came to Mill Hill tonight to provide a seminar. Unfortunately I cricked my neck over the weekend so couldn't take part. There is nothing worse than being injured and having to watch BJJ on the sidelines. Grrrrr!

Anyway, how does one explain who Mauricio is in one sentence? Let me try with this: one of the original Rolls Gracie 'famous five', undefeated in all competitions, father of Roger Gracie and the person who kick started BJJ in the UK and made it the phenom that it is today.

Sound important enough? You bet.

Anyway, since I did not take part, I took photos, here are some - look out for his excruciatingly painful trademark technique simply referred to as 'knee on chest'. Ouch!








Me with Mauricio

Mauricio Gomes at Mill Hill BJJ

Mestre Mauricio Gomes came to Mill Hill tonight to provide a seminar. Unfortunately I cricked my neck over the weekend so couldn't take ...

10 May 2010


*** UPDATE ***
10th June 2014
BJJ Heroes has found the first female black belt in BJJ - Yvon Duarte. Read about her here:- http://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/yvone-duarte

For posterity, the original blog post is as below:

******

I began researching this post ages ago with one simple question: who was the first woman to achieve the rank of black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

No one I asked seemed to know the precise answer. Wouldn't you think the first female black belt would be a landmark moment, a stupendous achievement against great odds?
Something that would be recorded in the annuls of BJJ history?

Obviously not. My quest was to take me across the globe (figuratively speaking) to quiz some of the leading authorities and female icons in BJJ today. Along the way, I learned a lot of new things...


The First Lady of BJJ

*** UPDATE *** 10th June 2014 BJJ Heroes has found the first female black belt in BJJ - Yvon Duarte. Read about her here:-  http://www.b...

5 May 2010


Here is quote from one of the last interviews Grandmaster Helio Gracie gave:
“The Jiu-Jitsu that I created was designed to give the weak ones a chance to face the heavy and strong. It was so successful that they decided to create a sportive version of it. I would like to make it clear that of course I am in favor of the sportive practice and technical refinement of all athletes, whatever their specialty may be, as well as good nutrition, sexual control, avoidance of addictions and unhealthy habits. The problem lies in the creation of a sport-oriented Jiu-Jitsu, based on rules and time limits, which benefits the heavier, stronger, and more athletic individuals. The primary objective of Jiu-Jitsu is to empower the weak who, for not having the physical attributes, are often intimidated. My Jiu-Jitsu is an art of self-defense in which rules and time limits are unacceptable. These are the reasons for which I can’t support events that reflect an anti Jiu-Jitsu.”  
And yet here we are, 2010, and BJJ schools up and down the country are teaching techniques that would not stand much hope outside the strict rule set of BJJ tournaments. It doesn't bother me personally because I train BJJ for the technical and sporting side of things anyway. But some people might ask, how can I use BJJ as a self defence?
To be honest, I have no idea myself. You could say that the overal fitness, conditioning, 'alive' style of sparring, and understanding of positional dominance one receives from regular BJJ training could tip the balance in one's favour. But for specific self defence training, I imagine you would get more benefit from one of a number of BJJ-based self defence systems currently available. Here are a few I've come across recently:
1. Gracie Combatives - "The Fastest Way to Street Readiness" claims the website. Well not sure about that, but this at-home training instructional program does offer the self defence elements of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to those who live too far from a BJJ academy.
2. Crazy Monkey Defense Program - BJJ black belt Rodney King's Crazy Monkey self defence style has a jiu-jitsu element to it, known as Monkey Jits. I'll be covering this in more detail in a later post as it is a fascinating topic on its own.
3. Gracie Barra Fundamentals - 16 week rotating course taught by GB schools and also available on DVD focusing on self defence and basic positions. Better description here.
4. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Self Defence- the book by Royce and Charles Gracie covers basic defences to stuff like headlocks and bear hugs.

I'm sure there are quite a few others out there too.
When I ran a traditional ju-itsu class the whole syllabus we taught was geared towards self defence, not sport. Over time, I soon realised that absorbing a ton of techniques and hoping for the best is not the answer for anyone concerned about their personal protection - in fact I don't think there is a perfect answer to such problems. It's a subject area that gets discussed a lot by people more experienced than me, so I'll leave it at that myself. But I can recommend reading the jiu-jitsu sensei blog articles written by Lori O'Connell, a traditional ju-jitsu instructor over in Canada who writes very good stuff on the whole martial arts and self defence thing.
In the meantime, for your average BJJ-obsessed guy or girl not interested, or not able to attend specific self defence classes, there are things you could do to help tip the balance. Most academies now offer MMA, boxing or Muay Thai classes and it seems logical that adding some strikes and kicks to positional grappling skills would be a good combination. Oh and I recommend a Geoff Thompson book, like Dead or Alive, or Animal Day.

BJJ self defence

Here is quote from one of the last interviews Grandmaster Helio Gracie gave: “The Jiu-Jitsu that I created was designed to give the weak on...

2 May 2010

Fighter Profile: Luke and Andy Costello

Andy Costello
Luke Costello (taking the back)
Each month I have a gander with up and coming British BJJ talent. For the month of May 2010, I would like you to meet the fantastic father and son team of Andy and Luke Costello:

Fighter Profile: Luke & Andy costello

Fighter Profile: Luke and Andy Costello Andy Costello Luke Costello (taking the back) Each month I have a gander with up and coming B...

 

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