Happy New Year!

It's been a great year for Checkmat Wimbledon, the club has gone from strength to strength and I'm very pleased to have female students on board as well; we've dipped our toes in competitive waters and have come back with hard earned medals, not bad for a fledgling club.

The club has been very fortunate to have black belt tuition over the last few months, with everyone looking forward to (and dreading at the same time) 'Mineiro Monday' and everyone learning so much, myself included.  Obrigado Mineiro!

I'd like to thank all my students for all their hard work and support over the last year and I look forward to bigger and better things in the new year; thanks to Steve Dixon from Holistic Fitness Studios for all his help and support in providing an awesome training environment and to club secretary Dickie Wilkinson for promoting the club online and in the club newsletter.

HUGE thanks to Luiz Ribeiro from London Fight Factory for everything he's done to help me become part of the Checkmat family and a part of the team at his club, together with all the guys and gals I've met and trained with this year.  There's never an easy roll at the Factory and it's not been the best year personally training wise due to a pesky back injury, but I'm over the worst of it and my back's fully recovered and as strong as it will ever be, so I'm looking forward to the new year, where I can get myself back into full fitness and spread some Old Man Jiu Jitsu at the Factory.  Huge thanks to Gareth Baxendale, aka GARTISTA for his awesome club logos and to Paul at Subguards.com for turning logos into awesome rash guards and shorts.

Last, but not least, massive thanks, love and appreciation to my long suffering partner Emma, who's had to put up with all my moaning and whining about injuries, the tears of frustration and pain over my back and most of all, helping me get my socks on in the morning. Mwah!

Happy New Year to everyone I've trained with this year and everyone I've met on seminars and competitions; to all the new BJJ friends I've made and to all my old students who've kept in touch, hope you all have a great night tonight and the very best of British for 2016 and to everyone, an injury free New Year.

Ooosss!

Twelve of the best of 2015!!

From BJJEE.com, twelve of the best grappling matches from 2015 - enjoy!

http://www.bjjee.com/videos/12-most-exciting-grappling-matches-of-2015/ 

Stretch that body!

If, like me, you've indulged in too much festive feasting and can't touch your toes, then this little video is for you.

 

Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish everyone out there in Blog land a very merry Christmas and as always, an injury free New Year!!

The Circle of Death!

Not for the faint hearted....................

http://www.bjjee.com/videos/video-circle-of-death-belt-promotion-even-more-hardcore-than-the-gauntlet/ 

I'm on BJJ.org!!

Big thanks to Justin Anderson for posting two of my slo-mo videos on his website.

http://www.bjj.org/two-cool-slow-motion-sweeps 

Kimura from side control!

Here's a neat little video on one of my favourite submissions from side control, the kimura.

 

Grappling Arts - Strengths and Weaknesses

A very interesting article over at the BJJEE.com website - http://www.bjjee.com/articles/strengths-and-weaknesses-of-major-grappling-arts/

Walking the Atos Gauntlet

Love it or loathe it, here's one man's birds eye view of the traditional belt whipping at the Atos Academy.

 

Arm bar escape!

Russian Grip to Kimura with Brandon Quick

Here's a neat video on one of my favourite moves that I learned during my Trad JJ and Sambo days back in the 90's; I remember training this move all through my grades in Trad JJ, usually starting from a two on one arm drag and was a go to move in my gradings, along with everyone else.

I still teach this move now to my students and still enjoy doing the move myself, it's a great one to pull off in a comp and can really suprise your opponent in a BJJ comp, who's usually waiting for a double guard jump.

Keep it old school.

 

Star Wars 7 - Spoiler Alert!

The Force is everywhere..................

 

BJJ masterclass - UFC 194: Demian Maia vs Gunnar Nelson

An awesome display of BJJ in the UFC 194 match up between Demian Maia and Gunnar Nelson; showcasing the relentlessness of Maia in his attacks and pursuit of the win, Maia shows that BJJ rightly has its place within MMA.

 

The importance of competing

Another great article from the BJJEE.com website, all about the importance of competing; even if you only do it once in your BJJ lifetime, you can say you have been there and tested your skills to the very maximum and not be labelled with the keyboard warriors who have neither tasted victory or defeat.

http://www.bjjee.com/articles/the-importance-of-competing-in-brazilian-jiu-jitsu/ 

Four side control escapes!

Being stuck underneath in side control sucks, whatever belt you happen to be; in this video are four simple and effective escapes from side control that you can easily add into your training and warm ups.

 

5 things they never tell you.............

If you're just starting out in the wonderful world of BJJ, this article is for you!

 http://www.bjjee.com/articles/5-things-nobody-tells-you-when-you-start-training-bjj/

Iconic Gi wear!

Here's a really cool article on a dozen of the most iconic Gi's in BJJ history.

 http://www.bjjee.com/articles/top-12-most-memorable-gis-in-bjj-history/

Stripes for the lads!

Huge congratulations to Craig and Billy who are now on the journey to enlightenment, getting their first stripe on Monday night; hard work and commitment have their rewards, keep up the good work guys.

Ooosss!

Mineiro Monday!

Had an awesome session on Monday night, with Mineiro as guest instructor; as always the session was packed with drills and for the technical side, an introduction to the DLR, with two awesome sweeps to be playing around with until Christmas.

Huge thanks again to Mineiro for a brilliant class.  Oooss.

Five injury prevention tips

A great article from the BJJEE.com website, offering advice on injury prevention, something us silver submitters need to be on the ball with, week in week out.

http://www.bjjee.com/articles/olympic-coachs-top-5-injury-prevention-tips-for-grappling-arts/ 

Little Rascal Choke!

Check out this cool no gi submission from my good friend across the pond, Jeremy Arel.

 

MMARAP self defence class at MENCAP!

Had a very enjoyable and rewarding session last night over at MENCAP, delivering a self defence class for the service users, as well as the staff.  Thanks to Jonathon Buffong, the main man behind MMARAP for securing the session and helping the more vulnerbale in society to boost their confidence and learn new skills.

Everyone enjoyed the class, including the staff, the young people and their parents and carers, I hope to be back there again in the future.