New blue belt!

HUGE congrats to Ed Kelly, who was promoted to blue belt on Sunday by Helen Currie; Ed trains in Heywood and all his hard work and dedication has paid off.  Congrats from myself and all the lads and ladies at Heywood and Bolton.

Ed Kelly (middle) and Lee 'Demolition Man' James

Open Mat Visitors!

As you all know, my club has an open door policy, welcoming travelling BJJ warriors from all over the UK and beyond.  This weekend, I had the pleasure of the company of two very good friends of mine, Barry Callow and Tommy Costello who travelled up from the mean streets of Runcorn to attend the Open Mat session.

Tommy, YT and Barry

As I have stated before on here, the club welcomes all who share our passion for jiu jitsu, the doors are always open wide and a warm welcome awaits, so get in touch and I look forward to seeing you on the mats.

Kimura Seminario!

Had the pleasure of hosting Combat Base UK chief instructors, Darren and Helen Currie this afternoon at the gym, delivering an absolutely awesome seminar on my all time favourite submission - the kimura.

 

After a light warm up from Helen (lucky escape for once) Darren jumped right in and showed how to really tighten up the submission from side control, using a three stage progression that puts you in a world of pain.  Fast.

 

From side control, Darren went on to show a number of what if scenarios from common kimura positions and from when you get swept when applying the submission; all the techniques were designed to give maximum pain in the shortest time possible and I am writing this report up now, as I was Darren's test dummy and Lee 'Demolition Man' James's training partner and between them both, I don't think I'll have the use of my arms in the morning to type this up.

 

A really cool set up came by way of side control, when either a Judo guys has you tied up, or a catch wrestler/MMA guy and a super cool reversal from defending a guard pass and a host of other funky shit from there also.  Which I can't divulge, as I need all the surprises I can get at this ripe old age.

 

Darren ended with some neat guard application of the kimura, with three sweet moves, also throwing in a few calf slicers and defences of the calf slicer too.  Value for money all round.

 

Massive congrats to new blue belts Ed Kelly and Duncan Aitchison, well done from myself and all my students, next stop purple.  Massive thanks to all who came and supported the event and to Ryan Broomhall from Factory BJJ who came over and joined in the fun too.]

 

Kimura Part 2 coming soon..................................Ooooooooooooos!!

BJJ Globetrotter interview!

Check out this cool interview of my very good friend Christian Graugart by my other very good friend, the Blogging sensation that is Liam Wandi................

http://parttimegrappler.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/bjj-globetrotter-interview-christian.html

Morgan Freeman knows the score................

Wise words from Morgan............................

Fundamentals class

Thursday night is Fundamentals class and is always well attended, by both the white and blue belts from the club; you can't beat the basics, they need to be drilled every session, regardless of belt colour.  Last night's class was well attended, juniors and seniors sharing the mats and having fun, which is what it's all about.

Mike, YT & Kevin

At the sparring class, the club was honoured to have a couple of BJJ warriors, Mike Dawson and Kevin Herbert from Ross Hudson's Forca Academy, which is based in Ormskirk; Ross and I are good friends and I drop in at Ross's club on a monthly basis to take a class, so it's nice to have visitors at the club.

 

We have an open door policy here at the club, all are welcome, if you're thinking of planning a visit drop me a line via Facebook on the Combat Base Bolton group and we look forward to seeing you on the mats.

Feeling Good!

I connected with the fabulous guys and gals at The Supplement Centre via Twitter and after talking to the lovely Abby, they have kindly sent a few products from Matrix Nutrition for me to road test.

 

I have a bottle of multi vits, a tub of Matrix Crea-Pro Uptake and a 5K tub of Matrix Waxy Oats and have been using the products for the last month.  I had one multi vit tablet every day, have the oats in the morning and after my weights work out and use the Creatine half an hour before I start the sparring class three times a week.

 

Being a BJJ'er Of A Certain Age, I can't push myself as hard as I did ten years ago, too many injuries won't allow me, so I have to be careful not to do anything foolhardy and injure myself, both on the mats and in the gym.

 

Using the creatine drink before rolling has really helped me immensely, it really gives me a lift and at the end of the session, I'm left wanting more, instead of dragging myself off the mats and hiding in the corner of the gym until I get myself back together.  The multivits are helping me get all the essentials into my body and I do feel more perkier and less prone to dips in energy throughout the day, which in turn is helped by the waxy oats, which I throw in with my breakfast cereal and am now baking flapjacks and throwing some into the mix as well.

 

A lot of supplementation can be hit and miss, with a plethora of pills and powders to boggle the mind at the best of times; that said, for me this trio works well for me, so I ain't gonna mend something that don't need fixing.

 

For more info on Matrix products see www.matrix-nutrition.co.uk and www.supplementcentre.co.uk

Omoplata - The Clark Gracie Way!

Man of the moment Clark Gracie shows a super cool way of setting up the omoplata from an arm bar defence.  Watch, absorb and drill!!

Open Mat!

As always, a great session today at the Open Mat at the club, packed with blue belts and a couple of visiting blue belts made the trip over from Manchester to join in the fun.  Don Barr and Michael Woodall train at Martyn Cahill's Fighting Labs in Manchester and is also home to the Blogging legend that is Liam Wandi.

Don Barr (left), YT and Michael Woodall

It's always nice to welcome fellow jiu jitsu addicts from other clubs, that what the Open Mats are all about, the mats are open to anyone regardless of belt colour or team.

We really are, all one!!

Club mascot!

One of my students brought one of his two Dogue de Bordeaux to the no gi class the other week, which went down a treat and thankfully no students were eaten by the beautiful beast.  The dog is still a pup and weighs the same as blue belt Lee Jones (50K without gi) and I hear the other dog is bigger still!

 

So, for anyone thinking of dodging their training fees, you'll be greeted by this prize specimen at the end of your bed, first thing in the morning.  With the bigger one in tow as well!!

Technique time with Eddie Kone!

Watch and learn from my very good friend Eddie Kone, showing a nice little reversal from side control....................

Leo Vieira HL Reel!

One of my all time favourite BJJ competitors back when I was a blue belt; had the pleasure of meeting Leo at the Scandinavian Open when I was a blue belt and had a really long chat with him after my match.  He spent some time chatting with me, after I interviewed him for the ADCC website and gave me some tips after he watched my fights.  Awesome!

 

Check out the back take at the one minute mark, my favourite way of taking the back, looks really flash but it's really high percentage move.  Try it out when you roll next in class and let me know if you nail it!

 

 

Dealing with a loss in competition......................

Take time out and watch this video from Gustavo Dantas, who talks about dealing with a loss in a Jiu Jitsu match; we've all been there at some point, at the end of the day some one has to lose and it's always a 50:50 chance of winning or losing, so don't sweat if you come up short now and again.  Listen to Gustavo and don't be too hard on yourself after a loss; get back on the mats ASAP and start working towards your next competition and enjoy the ride!

 

 

 

 

The Paulista Pass with Kurt Osiander!

A high percentage half guard pass given the Osiander treatment, delivered in his own unique style.  Packed with plenty of tips on how to the pass unstoppable, watch closely, study hard and drill the fuck out of it in class! 

 

(Ooops! Seems like Kurt's unique teaching style is rubbing off on me :))

 

 

 

 

Back to the drawing board....................

Really pleased with the way things went yesterday at the UMA BJJ event; all the hard work, drilling, drilling and more drilling by the lads really paid off.  Drill to win is the mantra in our gym, if it's good enough for Andre Galvao, who made a book of it, then it's good enough for us mere mortals at Combat Base Bolton.

 

The level at all belts was very high, with great sportsmanship from all fighters and the referee's all did sterling work, always a thankless task at the best of times. 

 

So, it's back to the drawing board tomorrow, business as usual at the gym;  after watching the lads fights, there's a handful of things to go over tomorrow and over the next  few weeks, that can be drilled to death and sharpened up and a whole bunch of other stuff I have up my sleeve, as well as a lot more BJJ specific cardio drills for everyone, regardless of if they are competing or not.  The cardio drills really gave the lads an edge yesterday, when you start to fatigue, technique flies out the window and it's hell out there on your own, when the gas tanks are running empty.  Expect plenty more lovely lung expanders!!

 

To all the lads that are not yet competing, you also contribute to the outcome of all the comps the lads enter, it's a team effort from everyone that turn up each evening.  We only have each other to train with, so any medal won is a testament to the coaching and having good training partners, that help each other improve.

 

Congrats to all the lads that competed yesterday, everyone's a winner for stepping up and laying it on the line; can't wait to get back in the gym tomorrow and start prepping for the next handful of gi and no gi comps!!!!!!