The Blog of the Fighting Photographer: October 2015

Thursday, 29 October 2015

Five dietary pitfalls to avoid!

http://www.bjjee.com/articles/5-common-nutritional-mistakes-made-by-fighters/

Read this article and make yourself a stronger and healthier grappler!

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Leg reaping rules - IBJJF video

Regarding the leg reaping rules, there is a lot of confusion on what is legal and what is an instant DQ, not knowing the rules can get you an early and expensive, especially if you're at one of the big IBJJF events.

Official IBJJF referee Marcelo Ribeiro delivers a short video on what's legal and illegal.

Study well.

IBJJF - Leg reaping rules
Leg reaping rules video
Posted by International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation on Saturday, October 29, 2011

Buchecha video!

Enjoy!!

Tips for white belts when rolling

A great conceptual video packed full of info for white belts to help them when starting out as a white belt, in the confusing world of the roll.

Tuesday, 27 October 2015

BJJ is for everyone - what's your excuse?

http://www.bjjee.com/bjj-news/athlete-with-down-syndrome-gets-black-belt-in-brazilian-jiu-jitsu/

Stripe night and my 1000th post!

Had the pleasure of awarding a stripe for one of the lads last night, which came to him as quite unexpected; big congrats to Satinder on a well deserved award, keep up the hard work. This also happens to be the 1000th post on this Blog, so another well done on this historic occasion, your cheque is in the post ;).

Samantha Cook seminar @ London Fight Factory

After the immenseness that was the Grading Day on Saturday just passed, there was more immenseness for the ladies of the Arte Suave, as brown belt Samanatha Cook hosted a seminar at London Fight Factory on the Sunday.

Two of my students attended the session and both had lots of fun and learned some really cool moves; the seminar was well attended with belts of all colours sharing the mats with Samantha and after the success of this one, I'm sure there will be other seminars planned for the future.

Monday, 26 October 2015

Pass the guard - Buchecha style!

Jiu Jitsu Techniques with Marcus Almeida: Guard Pass
How To: Guard Pass with Marcus Almeida "Buchecha" #Oss #BJJ
Posted by Hayabusa on Friday, October 16, 2015

Stripes for the lads!

It was a very special day for Checkmat Wimbledon at the Grading Day, as I was pleased to award two stripes to three of my students; they have been with me since day one, when I opened the gym last June and have trained with me every week without fail.

Huge congrats to Ron, Farhaz and Nayden, your hard work has been rewarded!

Grading Day!

Had an awesome day on Saturday with the annual Grading Day, the mats were rammed with students from as far as Amsterdam and Malta, all down to share in the fun, as Luiz gave out well deserved promotions.

At the start there were nine black belts on the mats and a short while later, this increased to ten as Enrique Villasenor received his black belt from Luiz to thunderous applause.

An awesome souvenir tshirt was up for grabs too and the day ended with a brutal whipping for all those who promoted and it was off for beer and cake to celebrate. An awesome way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Thursday, 22 October 2015

Lunch time class @ London Fight Factory

Awesome class today, sparring only, a mix of five and eight minute rounds. Thanks to Ross Nicholls, Samantha Cook, Slavimir, Sakuraba, Steve Aston, Sophia from Checkmat Amsterdam and a couple of blue belts whose names escape me, for the tough rolls and a life saving cafe on Old Street, for much needed refuelling.

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Women only seminar with Samantha Cook @ London Fight Factory!

This weekend is going to be action packed down at London Fight Factory; on Saturday there is the annual Grading Day, with clubs from Golders Green, Wimbledon, West Ealing, Amsterdam and Malta gathering to share in the celebrations and the belt whippings.

The day after, the super talented Samantha Cook will be holding a seminar for all the female practitoners of the Arte Suave, so make a date in the diary ladies, this one is open to women of all levels and asscoaitions.

Samantha is two times European champion, two times European National Pro champion, quadruple gold medallist IBJJF British National champion and winner of the Finnish No Gi Worlds Trials.

Jiu Jitsu is for everyone.

Lapel choke with Kurt Osiander

Another foul mouthed technique video from the legendary black belt, Kurt Osiander.

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Technique video - sweep to arm bar with Tanner Rice

Move your hips!

Check out this tip filled video from Budvideos 'This week in BJJ' with guest black belt Adem Redzovic.

Monday, 19 October 2015

Lunch time class team photo

The obligatory post training photo at London Fight Factory.......................

Lunch time class with Finfou!

For all the Northern readers, this was the dinner time class at 1230pm at London Fight Factory; with this place, you never know who's going be dropping in and today was no execption.

Finfou called in on his way back to Stockholm and took the class, alongside three other black belts, what a great way to kick start the week. The technical side of the class dealt with the Lasso guard and how to defend the Lasso attack and a neat number of ways of passing the guard. From the Lasso tie up, a sweep was shown that was countered with a nice rolling knee bar and three rounds of tough sparring brought the session to an end.

Thanks to Finfou for coming in and sharing his knowledge and to Emily, Slavimir and Mineiro for the awesome rolls.

The spoils of war!

After the lunch time class today, I grabbed a quick photo with Luiz and one of the trophies from the London Open.

Checkmat - champions of the London Open!

Just as Chico Mendes predicted, the Checkmat team cleared up at the London Open, winning the Gi and No Gi divisions over the weekend; a triple gold Sunday for Omid Alimohammadi was just one of the higlights for the Checkmat squad and there will be many team mates and fighters nursing sore throats today.

Awesome result for Checkmat, but today it's another day at the office.

Ooosss!

Triple gold for Omid!

Yesterday was a very special day for LFF purple belt Omid Alimohammadi, picking up three gold medals at the London Open. A phenomenal achievement from Omid, who has worked very hard preparing for the event and has been duly rewarded.

Congrats Omid!

Sunday, 18 October 2015

More medals at the London Open!

Some more pix from the London Open today...................

Checkmat @ the London Open!

It's Day 2 and it's No Gi at the London Open today and the Checkmat team are out in full force, doing what they do best, winning medals. Here's a few photos from the weekend so far, both the men and women up on the podium.

Still more time for more medals...........................

Saturday, 17 October 2015

Last night's class @ London Fight Factory

Last night's class was the 7pm session at London Fight Factory, with Luiz promising a special guest instructor, something he does on a regular basis, so it's always worth dropping in on any class as you never know who might be there to take the class.

Last night was no exception as five times world champion Terere was the special guest, along with seven other black belts taking centre stage. Black belt Jimmy Johnstone brought Terere up for the night and the mats were packed out for the occasion, with fifty people on the group photo alone.

Terere started the class by apologising for his favela English, but with so many Brazilians on the mats, tranlsation clearly wasn't going to be an issue; two spider guard sweeps started the session and with mat space at a premium, you really had to control your opponent and stop them from colliding with other pairs, something which proved very challenging during the course of the evening.

With Jimmy Johnstone

Two back takes followed which required minimum space to practice and the technical portion ended with a neat way to pass the pesky DLR guard; all of the aformentioned diamonds have been stored away and will hopefully keep until my next class on Monday evening, so plenty to look forward to there.

Sparring followed and I had three tough rolls with Ron, the brown belt pikey, Ashley the purple belt beast and blue belt Monica, one very tough individual; thanks to all three for pushing me real hard after a quite lengthy lay off due to a back injury. As I type this report the day after the session, I am pleased to confirm I am still in one piece; my back is fine and I was able to bend over and put my socks on, something of a novelty this past twelve months.

The obligatory team photo followed after two speeches from Terere and Luiz and another awesome session in the bag. Huge thanks to Jimmy Johnstone for bringing Terere up to London and to Luiz for everything else and to all the guys I rolled with and my student Nayden for being an excellent training partner.