No Gi session @ Salford MMA

Can't believe how fast the time flies - two weeks since I was at Darren Sherlock's gym and it's that time again to take the no gi session.

Salford MMA posse

After a thorough warm up, I took the class through the material I've been working on at my place and after an hour, finished them all off with specifics and sparring.  Well done to Lewis Wood, who's fighting at Cage Conflict on May 18th, who toughed it out and completed two five minute rounds in the cage, facing a fresh opponent each minute.  A real warrior!

 

See you again in two weeks guys!

BJJ class @ Voodoo Gym, Macclesfield!

Had a very enjoyable session over at Voodoo Gym in Macclesfield yesterday afternoon, taking the 4-6pm BJJ class.  The weather was dull and wet outside,  but inside it was hot, hot, hot as the lads and ladies all worked hard on the mats, getting ready for upcoming gi and no gi comps on the UK circuit.

With gym owner, Dave Kari

After introducing three new side control drills, I went through a very high percentage open guard sweep, that I've used many times in competition, before taking things to the ground.  From the ground, taking the mount and more importantly, keeping the mount was given a thorough dose of looking at, covering what I've been teaching in class all week at HQ.  From there, our old friend the Ezequiel choke was dissected, showing ways to get the choke when the opponent defends, which went down a treat.

The Voodoo Posse

All too soon the class was over, time flies when you're in the zone!

 

Thanks to Dave Kari for inviting me over to share the knowledge, look forward to seeing you all again in a few weeks :)

 

www.voodoogym.co.uk

 

 

Gold medal for the Demolition Man!

The Demo Man is back!!

 

Huge congrats to student Lee 'Demolition Man' James on his gold medal win at the Manchester Open at the weekend; all the hard work on the mats at Heywood and at the Open Mats at Combat Base Bolton were rewarded with the gold medal.

 

Competing in the blue belt Ultra Heavy division, Lee faced Bellator veteran Karl Etherington, a huge guy with deadly Judo skills, a tough first match for anyone.  Lee weathered an initial attack from Karl and the fight went to the ground; in under two minutes Lee submitted Karl with one of his favourite chokes from side control, a superb start to the day.

Big Lee and the bling

Lee's second match ended up the same as the first one, with Lee managing to get in a big kata garuma throw, that he's been itching to get in a comp for quite some time and finished the match old school style with a closed guard kimura.

 

Brilliant performance from Lee and all down to a team effort from all the lads at the club, who have all helped contribute to Lee's gold medal; I'm over the moon for Lee and his medal, as well as all my students in helping build a strong team of competitors, everyone helping each other get the best out their training sessions. 

 

Can't ask for anything more.

Salford MMA!

Had a great time last night, as always, over at Darren Sherlock's Salford MMA gym, taking the no gi class; the guys are doing really well with their training, picking up a few gold medals at the recent UMA no gi event and competing in Thai boxing interclubs in Manchester.

After the usual warm up and drills, I took the class through a number of high percentage submissions, namely the Brabo, Anaconda and Japanese Neck Tie, as well as helping out in the cage, getting one guy ready for an upcoming MMA fight.  All good fun.

Look forward to being back there in a few weeks :)

100,000 up!!

I'm pleased to say that the Blog has passed the 100,000 page views mark :)

I'd like to thank everyone who has stopped by to read the Blog and in your continued support in following the Blog, for many years to come :)

Ooossss!!

The Spirit of Jiu Jitsu

Awesome video from Stuart Cooper, featuring Nic Gregoriades and Kev Capel, shot on location in Phuket, Thailand.  Nic talks about life and jiu jitsu and his approach to 'Soul Rolling'.

Watch and enjoy :)

BJJ Globetrotter Seminar review by the Part Time Grappler!

My very good friend and prolific Blogger Liam 'Part Time Grappler' Wandi was at the BJJ Globetrotter seminar at the weekend; Liam's training partner and lift to the event had injured his back and Liam told me he was unable to attend, so I offered to pick him up at the train station, along with Christian and bring him to the club and join in the fun.

Liam with Christian, repping the PTG patch!

Liam has a very popular Blog and he posted his own seminar report, plus a neat little video of Christian outlining his thoughts of integrating wrestling techniques into the BJJ game, namely sweeping your opponent from guard.

Read, enjoy the footage and leave me a comment on the video :)

http://parttimegrappler.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/bjj-globetrotter-christian-graugart.html

BJJ Globetrotter Seminar!

Just back from an awesome seminar this afternoon at HQ, with the BJJ Globetrotter, Christian Graugart; despite suffering with a torn cornea, as a result of training a few days ago, Christian cut a swashbuckling figure with a black eye patch and carried on as normal to deliver a high quality seminar.

 

The seminar was well supported with people travelling from Manchester, Yorkshire, Stafford and Cumbria to support the event, giving Christian a warm Northern welcome, in stark contrast to the ever freezing cold gym that greeted us this afternoon.

 

After a quick warm and a selection of drills, Christian explained his teaching methods at seminars; rather than overloading us all with dozens of techniques that will soon be forgotten by them time one has changed out of the gi, Christian covered two topics on the day, namely sweeps and chokes.

Shiver mi timbers! It's the Globetrotter!

Regards the sweeps, Christian adopted a different approach which was greatly received and I for one am looking forward to testing them out in class next week; after a quick break, the second section dealt with setting up the guillotine, which came with guard passes and mount attacks to really screw up the opponent, all good stuff.

 

Rolling ended a highly enjoyable day and I really hope to have Christian over again in the near future; thanks to my students and to all who supported the day, you know who you are.  Please leave a comment or two on here with some feedback for Christian, I'm sure he'd be delighted to hear your comments.

BJJ Globetrotter seminar is still ON!!

Despite tearing his cornea in training the other night, Christian Graugart will still be at Combat Base Bolton on Sunday 1-4pm to take the seminar.  Christian is still looking forward to the seminar, a mix of gi and no gi techniques, but will be unable to roll with people on the day, but will be on hand to offer help and assistance during sparring.

 

 

Big respect to Christian for still coming over despite having a pretty nasty injury, we're all looking forward to Sunday :)

Forca Academy, Ormskirk!

Since returning to the UK, I've been busy doing what I like best, hitting the road and spreading the BJJ knowledge across the North West; last week, I was invited by Ross Hudson to the Forca Academy, in Ormskirk to take a gi class.

Team photo

After a thorough warm up, the class started with, yes, you guessed it, the side control drills that are proving to be a great hit with all the clubs I've been teaching at; in future posts I will put the drills together on You Tube and share them on here and you can let me know what you think of them and if they help you in your overall training (after being practiced diligently, of course).

With Ross 'Hoss' Hudson

Once the drills were covered, I went through a number of high percentage sweeps from the guard position and next thing we knew, the class was over, two hours gone in the blink of an eye.  Teaching the drills from scratch take up a large chunk of the class, as I am at pains to get the guys doing them right from the start, but once people have them in the bag, the improvements to their rolling justifies the time spent showing them.

 

Huge thanks to Ross in bringing me over to teach, I had a great time, with a great set of students, all keen to learn and I look forward to returning real soon.