Sweeps Seminar @ EKBJJ Rotherham!

Had a great afternoon teaching the finer points of sweeping on Sunday March 4th, at the invitation of Jonathan Keeley, head coach at EKBJJ Rotherham; three other brown belts were on the mats and a mixture of whites, blues and purple belts graced the mats gave up their free time to join in the fun. 

The first half of the seminar looked at sweeps from the closed guard and after a short break, the second half looked at a number of sweeps from the open guard; the three hours flew by and ended much too soon and after the team photo, it was over to the Flaming Dragon for refuelling, before heading back home.

Huge thanks to Jon Keeley for bringing me over and all his students for supporting the event and to my students Adam Berry and Lee Gilmore, for supporting the event and joining in the fun.

Group photo

Acadedmy visit - EKBJJ Rotherham

Eddie Kone @ EKBJJ Rotherham

Read up on my latest academy visit - http://www.bjjstyle.com/news/ekbjj/rotherham.php

Extra classes @ Combat Base Bolton!

Due to expanding class numbers, there will be extra classes at the club with immediate effect from Thursday, March 1st.  The Fundamentals class on Thursday will run from 6-730pm and following that, there will be a gi and no gi sparring/specifics class running until 9pm.

www.combatbasebolton.co.uk/classes

Stroops MMA!

My good friend Eddie Kone has been raving on to me about a US based company, that sell cutting edge strength and conditioning products, widely used by some of the biggest names in BJJ and MMA.  Eddie told me about the amazing gains he and his students have made using these products and recommended I go and get a piece of the action.

I looked at the equipment online after a telephone chat with Gary Harker, Director of Education and am pleased to say I have made my first order, an Accelerator and Takedown, with all the attachments.  With these two products, I can take myself and my students to the next level, helping improve their takedowns, throws, shrimps, wrestling, ground and pound and many more exercises, giving them that killer finish come competition time.

If you haven't heard of Stroops (shame on you) then have a look at this video featuring Eddie Kone using some of the equipment at his gym in London.





For more info visit - www.stroopsmma.com

New Andre Galvao HL Reel!

Another HL reel of Andre Galvao to help inspire you and make you put your gi in your bag and go hit the mats :) 

Eddie Kone Seminar @ EKBJJ Rotherham!

Eddie Kone was up North in Rotherham last weekend, to host a seminar and to officially open the new Rotherham BJJ HQ, run by Jon Keeley; over twelve months in the making and enduring much heartache and pitfalls along the way, Jon and his team of helpers now have a purpose built facility for fitness and strength and conditioning, as well as a permanently matted area for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts.

Group photo

After a quick warm up, Eddie thanked everyone for supporting the event, which was well attended with a large number of blue and purple belts on the mats and started off proceedings with a few takedowns; from there Eddie showed some variations on the guard passes that Rafael Lovato Jr had shown at Eddie's place a few weeks before, which led nicely on to side control attacks, before finishing off with ways of taking the back and finishing from the back.

Open guard sweep

All that remained was an hour of rolling and I had a very enjoyable yet tough hour rolling with purple and blue belts, which is a credit to Jon, Monkey and all the other coaches in Eddie's group, the standard remains very high and at the end of the hour, some new blue and brown belts were given out.  Dan Taylor, Danny Harding and Iain Bushby were promoted to blue and Jon Keeley, Harry Jenkins and James Harding stepped up another level and entered into the land of brown belt.  Huge congrats to all involved, as well as a handful of guys that received stripes on their belts.

Jon Keeley (l), myself, Eddie, Monkey and young Harrison

Now the race is on for the first black belt to be given by Eddie, so place your bets, there are a number of contenders and will be a well deserved promotion when the time is right.  I'd like to thank Monkey and Jon Keeley for the continued friendship over the years and and giving me the chance to come over and train with all the guys and of course to Eddie for keeping me in the loop with his very busy teaching schedule.

Second helpings please!

With the training over, all that remained was refuelling at the Flaming Dragon all you can eat buffet, which is the law after every seminar in Rotherham; Eddie and myself gave the Teppan Yaki a thorough going over and Eddie was up to his usual tricks, playing practical jokes with everyone, myself included, to much laughter from all at the table.  Overall, a super day out, a combination of jiu jitsu training and fun and games post training, which is what the jiu jitsu lifestlye is all about.  Having fun.

www.ekbjj.com

Rafael Lovato Jr - exclusive interview!

My good friends across the pond in the good old US of A have put my interview with Rafael onto their website; be sure to read the interview and see what a world class competitor has to say about staying motivated and tackling that dreaded illness, 'belt-itis'...............http://www.bjjweekly.com/blog/post/rafael-lovato-jr-interview-issue-092