Kettlebells for Grapplers

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. I was out for 4 days and it felt like I hadn't trained for 2 weeks. Speaking of training, I saw this article today about training with kettlebells. I haven't trained with kettlebells before but after reading this article I am now considering it. The author, Brian Jones, is now a Black Belt in Carlson Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Click here to read the Kettlebells for Grapplers Article

Grip - Gi Pull-Ups

Whether you just started Jiu-Jitsu or you've been doing it a while your hands and forearms usually reach muscle failure relatively quick from holding on to your opponent's gi. Gi pull-ups are a great way to improve your overall grip strength.

There are two grip variations to the gi pull-up - thumb inside the collar and fingers inside the collar. Grab the gi with the preferred grip and do as many pull-ups as you can. Try to alternate grips and move you elbows in and out to utilize different forearm muscles.

If you aren't able to do the pull-ups then use a chair. Put the chair on the floor under the gi, put your feet on the chair and use your legs to assist you in the pull-up.

First grip - thumb inside the collar.

Second grip - fingers inside the collar.

Jiu Jitsu Tournament Performance

During the Bluegrass Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open last weekend I noticed a few people get really upset when they lost their match. I can see being disappointed in your performance but getting down right upset - really? - grow up folks!! When you go into these tournaments you have to go in with the right attitude. Go to the tournament and treat it as a learning experience. If you win every match that's great but how much did you really learn? When you loose a match you end up thinking about what you need to work on so you don't make the same mistake the next time. This is an excellent tool for improving your Jiu-Jitsu.

When you tap out to your training partner you don't take it as seriously as when you tap out in a tournament. I lost one of my matches by being arm barred within a triangle hold - yes, I was disappointed that I lost but that loss made me more determined to practice triangle defense.

Check out this video, this guy competed often throughout his entire Jiu Jitsu career but didn't win a medal until his second competition match as black belt!

Jiu-Jitsu Drills

Here is a good set of Jiu-Jitsu drills you can do at home. Enjoy!

Grappling Dummy & Side Control / Scarf Hold

Before class I had an hour to work drills with the Submission Master Grappling Dummy. I was kind of lazy and didn't go at it full bore but I did work some new technique. The legs are starting to loosen up a little as the grappling dummy is slowly getting broken in.

In today's Jiu Jitsu class we worked more on the side control/inverted scarf hold position that I talked about yesterday. A lot of emphasis was put on not having your chest down on top of your opponent but rather your hip and side the side of your torso. It feels more like scarf hold this way (your legs are still in opposite positions as they would be in scarf hold - a.k.a. kesa gatame) and you have a lot of control.

We also worked a submission from the side control/inverted scarf hold position (really wish I new the name for this position/technique). The submission was a collar/forearm choke from the side control/inverted scarf hold position: take your hand that is closest to his head and reach over the top side of his neck and then down deep into his collar on the far side of his neck with an overhand grip, with your other hand reach under your chest and grab his elbow (this should be easy as he will probably be trying to defend by pushing up on you), now pull your forearm down across his throat while pulling his elbow towards his chest, as you perform the choke be sure to move/switch your hips up towards his shoulder (this puts a lot of your body weight into the choke).

Side Control - Alternative to Scarf Hold

Today's Jiu-Jitsu class focused on the feeling of control between scarf hold (kesa gatame) vs. a another controlling position (I don't know what this is called) - like scarf hold but your chest is putting pressure on his chest/abdomen area and the position of your legs is switched (kind of like half in side control and half in scarf hold). This gives you way more control of your opponent. In scarf hold your opponent can turn into you or have a decent chance at another type of escape. This other move makes it much more difficult. I weigh approx. 170lbs and practiced is on a 230lb guy - he could NOT escape!

This control move is great and I plan on using it a lot!! I've seen it used before but never really drilled it or played around with it. If anyone knows what this is called, please let me know. My JuJitsu instructor doesn't know if there is a name for it.

This video shows what I'm trying to explain, the part where his legs are spread and his weight is over his opponent's chest/abdomen area (not the part where he goes into regular side control).

Wrestling - Turtle Position

Today at Jiu-Jitsu class we focused on a couple of wrestling moves. This was new to me and should prove to be useful as these particular wrestling moves work when someone is in a turtle position and taking the back really isn't feasible.

The wrestling move I liked the best is when your opponent is in the turtle position and you are on the side of him: reach over or under his near side arm and grab his far side wrist, reach over with your other hand and grab his far side ankle, now put your head into the side of his ribs and drive your head forward while pulling back on his wrist and ankle - this will flip him over as you end up in side control.

Yup.....I plan on using this one!!

Grappling Dummy - Quick Workout

Today....home at 6:30, need to work on strength, cardio, & technique with the grappling dummy all within 45 minutes.

Threw in P90X ab ripper X, did some burpies (pushup then jump squat back up), did a few pull ups and then I got out the Submission Master Grappling Dummy. My gi didn't fit him very well so I threw on a pair of fishing pants & a fox racing jersey - works fairly well.

The jujitsu dummy and I had a good little 10 minute roll session. I decided to roll instead of doing repetitive techniques over and over because I need work on transitioning one submission position to another position that is difficult to get into. So I tried to work on going from a bottom position to a top position, from one side to another, ... and so on. I didn't reposition the jiu-jitsu dummy, I just went into what ever move I could from the position we were in. Surprisingly enough the dummy moved around quite a bit and as long as you keep changing positions you can get a pretty good workout. I was even able to simulate an armbar from a sideways back position (hooks not in - not a true back mount) with the grappling dummy rolling over his head (I used my legs to make the dummy roll over his head) simulating an attempted escape while rolling with it and hanging onto the arm for the submission.

Not the most intense workout today but at least I was able to get some training in. Looking forward to tomorrow's no gi jiu-jitsu class!!

iGrapple - Triangle Choke Escape

In yesterday's post I discussed how I got caught up in the triangle hold at the tournament and couldn't escape. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to find much on iGrapple about this - but it proved my wrong! There are five techniques specific to the exact setup I was in (arm across my neck while in his guard) and one of them is the exact same technique I was trying to do (gable grip, post and turn, step towards his head). It turns out I had the right concept but I was turning in the wrong direction. It literally took me a matter of 2 minutes to learn what I did wrong from iGrapple. If I had only known this yesterday the outcome could have been much different for that particular match! Now I know and hopefully I won't make that same mistake again.

Bronze Medal

I took home the bronze at the Bluegrass Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open today. It was a fun day and I learned a lot about what I need to work on. Another great learning experience!!!

The number one thing I tried to improve on from my last tournament was my nerves. At my last competition I was worn out before I ever started because my nerves and adrenaline had me exhausted. This time I had a better handle on it but it was still a HUGE factor. We arrived  for weigh-ins at 8:30am & I didn't compete until 4ish. The whole time my heart was beating faster than normal, hands were shaky, felt weird & tingly, etc.. Then when I finally competed I felt worn out. It wasn't as bad as my last tournament but it was a still significant factor in my performance.

I think the reason why I had my nerves a little better under control this time was because of two things - confidence & experience. The more I train and compete the better it will get. My goal is to get to the point where when I go to compete it will feel like another day of rolling at Jiu-Jitsu class.

One of the matches I lost was from not being able to escape the triangle. I stacked him and tried to move around his head but when I started to move around his head I lost the gable grip - this resulted in him tapping me out with an armbar from within the triangle hold . Tomorrow I will look at iGrapple to see if there are any escape options other than the one that I tried.

Another problem I had was overall strength when put in awkward positions and trying to escape. Yes I know........good Jiu-Jitsu is about technique and leverage - not strength! But when your opponent has you in an awkward position that you haven't trained for yet, you don't have much choice but to rely on strength. I think a good start to improving on this is to work on my overall conditioning and to try and find some way to get more roll time with my training partner purposely putting me in bad positions. I will also check iGrapple for any possible techniques that may have helped that I haven't learned yet.

Keep Training!

Tournament Tomorrow

Well, tomorrow is the tournament - I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance review my Jiu-Jitsu notes or look at any moves on iGrapple today. I will rely on visualization when I go to bed and on the way to the tournament. Supposedly when you visualize techniques your brain doesn't know the difference between physically performing the moves and performing the moves in your head - either way you're still training. I will do more research and try to post a good link on this at later date.

Wish me luck!

Chokes - Rear Naked Choke

Most anyone training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu knows the rear naked choke. However, a lot of people let their non-choking arm become vulnerable for attack when they go to grab their bicep and then put their non-choking arm's hand behind the opponent's head.

Typically, if you are inexperienced, when you go to grab your bicep you end up bringing your arm over your opponent's shoulder which leaves your arm exposed for attack. To avoid this, while keeping your arm in tight, take your hand and place it on top of the hand of the arm that is around his neck, slide your forearm along the top of your hand until you reach your bicep for the bicep grab (your hand should now be behind his head), finish executing the choke.

This slight adjustment to your technique will keep your opponent from defending the rear naked choke - provided you already have your choking arm sunk deep around his neck.

iGrapple - Guard Pass From Standing

In 3 days I will be attending my second Jiu-Jitsu tournament (Bluegrass Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open). In preparation I thought I'd study some of the video from my last tournament. Each match seemed to show a weakness that stayed consistent throughout the match. One such weakness was being unable to break my opponent's guard while standing. Since I wasn't able to break his guard I tried to stack him while trying to perform a collar choke. That was probably a BIG no-no since he could have armbarred me. Time ran out and I didn't get submitted but I still lost the match on points. Time to see what iGrapple has on this.

iGrapple shows 37 different techniques from standing within your opponents guard. One of the techniques does show how to get out of the exact problem I was having during my match (unable to break his guard while standing). The technique is much simpler that anything I could think of on my own ("knee wedge, push waist") and I will definitely being using it from now on!

Out of the 37 techniques I will probably study about 50% of them. Why? Because some finish with ankle locks, heal hooks, & leg bars (I'm a 3 stripe white belt, I have no business messing with any locks other than the straight ankle lock or straight knee bar). There are also a couple of other moves that I just don't see my self using right now. However, when I become more experienced the other 50% will probably come into play.

iGrapple - Side Control Escapes

At class tonight we did a couple of drills and then went straight into rolling. It seems each time I roll I have a different problem that stays consistent throughout the sessions. My problem this time was escaping from side control.

This is the perfect opportunity for me to try out the iGrapple to see what I can do to to fix this problem. I logged in, went to side control, opp has side control, under chest to chest position, arm on low side of opp's head,...... there are 11 different videos showing what to do from this point. I didn't realize there were so many different options from this particular micro-position (there are other positions in side control to escape from but I will have visit those another time). This opened my eyes a lot, I will definitely practice these escapes with the grappling dummy this weekend.

Tip: To scroll the tree of positions in or out to make smaller (to see all branches) or larger, hold down the "ctrl" key and roll your mouse wheel forward or backward.

Grappling Dummy - Armbars

Today was my first official day of training with the Submission Master Grappling Dummy. I didn't drill repetitive reps of the same technique over & over. Instead, I went over armbar techniques from my jiu jitsu training notes. I reviewed each technique and practiced it about 3-4 times on each side.

This was a great refresher for me. Not only did I perform the armbar techniques but I also tried to imagine what the next position would be for my opponent as he tries to defend the armbar. Then, I would go into the next move from there - usually some type of a triangle (chances are he will try to roll into you as he hangs on to the gable grip).

Tip: Armbars are great to start out with until the grappling dummy gets broken in as the legs are a bit stiff.

My Quest

Welcome to Jiu-Jitsu Grit! 

My interest in learning self defense lead me to a local school (Lawrenceburg Martial Arts) that teaches Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, Japanese JuJitsu , Che-Lu Karate (pronounced Chi-Liu), Combat Sambo, Judo, and other defensive tactics. Naturally, being only five minutes from home, I knew I had to check this place out. 

In May of 2011 I went to the local dojo to find a humble setting. There was wasn't anything fancy - just mats on the floor, old plaster walls, and a smell that said this is a real dojo! I was welcomed and given a brief synopsis of how the dojo operates. The main focus was on Che-Lu Karate, Carlson Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, & Combat Sambo.

I decided to give Jiu-Jitsu and Combat Sambo at try. At first I didn’t know what to think, then after a few weeks of training I became hooked. I found myself looking forward to classes – even passing up overtime at work to go to class! After a few months the Combat Sambo instructor’s military duties were pulling him away from teaching and eventually resulted in a lengthy deployment to Afghanistan. With the Combat Sambo instructor’s deployment came an opening in the class schedule which was filled with more Jiu-Jitsu instruction.  

My training with BJJ has slowly but steadily increased over the past year. I started out training once a week, then twice a week, and now up to 3-4 times a week. It has gotten to the point where it is starting to consume me! If my mind isn’t actively engaged in something intriguing I find myself thinking about Jiu Jitsu.

Constantly thinking about Jiu Jitsu and being good at it are two totally different things. By no means do I think I am any good. The more I learn the more I realize that I have a long way to go just to get proficient at the basics. I found this out the hard way at my first tournament. During my matches my mind went blank and muscle memory was non-existent. That needs to change!!!! This blog is the beginning of my quest to train my mind, muscle memory, and overall grappling performance.

Everyone knows that it is difficult to get a training partner to work with you on your schedule outside of class. With work, family, and other life endeavors, there really isn’t a way to train the moves you learned in class with another Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Repetitive drills are needed in order to develop the much sought after muscle memory we all seek. My solution to this problem is to use a grappling dummy. After reading grappling dummy reviews and jiu-jitsu dummy reviews I settled on the Submission Master Grappling Dummy. The reviews I read on forums and blogs all seemed to conclude that this is the best grappling dummy for practicing Jiu Jitsu. Although a little on the pricey side, it appears that you get what you pay for. Other grappling dummies are cheaper but they don’t appear to measure up to the Submission Master Grappling Dummy. I will be documenting my own experience with this grappling dummy through this blog.

Using the grappling dummy should develop the muscle memory like I want, but now I need a solution for keeping my mind from going blank when I am competing. Unless you are new to Jiu-Jitsu or grappling you have probably heard that grappling is like chess - to defeat your opponent you must use strategy to set him up and gain positions in order to tap him out. Capturing the chess pieces is the muscle memory but the strategy comes from your mental ability to read your opponent and react or adjust accordingly.  

There are many different Jiu-Jitsu Videos and Grappling Videos – even online training programs, but the ones that I have seen don't really seam to help with the problem of, “Ok, now I am in this position, what should I do from here? Ok, now that lead me to this position, what options do I have from here? That previous move lead me to here, now what?” and so on. The videos show great material but you have to rewind or skip to the move that you want, then think about your options and try to find the next move either from your training notes, somewhere else in the video, or on YouTube. There seems to be a lot of time wasted by thinking and searching for “what options do I have from here?” Upon ordering the Submission Master Grappling Dummy I discovered a product that looks like it will help with the problem of “what options do I have from here?” It is called the iGrapple and it appears to be a great tool based on the branch-out system. Click on the iGrapple link and watch the demo video to see how it works.

In addition to documenting my experience with the Submission Master Grappling Dummy and the iGrapple, I plan to post miscellaneous links that I think will be beneficial to those seeking to expand and develop their grappling. I welcome all comments, advice, discussions, and constructive criticisms. Please feel free to post comments as community discussions on any topic related to grappling should prove to be beneficial.