I guess this specific blog topic is to my personal students and people who work with me consistently in the States and overseas...
Lots of my people continue to keep diving into class including kids, parents, teens, adults, women, families and everyone who sacrifices to get you or loved one better at this crazy sport and martial art, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Everyone must have some 'competitive drive' in them to even get through one class of BJJ. It doesn't matter is someone is there like Larissa, learning to defend herself because she visits foreign countries to preach the gospel, a kid like Jackson C who struggles on the mats but shines at competition, a teen like Tristen who makes gold look easy every time or an outstanding blue belt like Jay who only comes 2x per week but his consistency keeps his growth up above the rest. Whatever your reason for training or your rank...Keep pushing! KEEP THE DRIVE!
I want to say how proud I am of my guys and gals who are a part of Team Trinity in the States and Sweden. We have made a serious statement here in Texas as a powerhouse competition team. In 2 years of having my own doors open we have placed as a team at events such as NAGA, Grapplers Quest and Fight to Win. Most importantly, I have grown the school to over 100 students now and a new wave of students are coming in to learn BJJ. As Saulo said,"Every time someone straps on a whitebelt our mission starts all over again."
The biggest thing is word of mouth for us. Trinity is a great environment for kids, teens, adults and all walks of life so everyone loves to come train.Now, even though I know people love to come train...things can be hard with scheduling, family, injuries, transportation, energy, finances and whatever else gets in the way with life. But I want to say I am so proud of everyone's dedication! Parents sacrificing so their kids can roll, adults carving out time to train, students juggling school and jitsu and most of all the competitors who give it their all with Team Trinity on your back at competition.
A new day is upon Team Trinity. We are beginning to hit IBJJF tournaments, MMA fighters are on the rise and new ranks are coming up on the mat. Everything is moving beautifully and in the right direction. As many of you know we are going to be expanding soon as well. I encourage everyone to continue to have balance and train consistently and continue your journey in the martial arts. I also encourage the competitors to take a step up mentally, physically and to higher level competition. Competing in small to medium tournaments is good for your experience but those that want to win major titles and take themselves as far as they can in this sport I recommend stepping up the higher competitions. To the casual training people who aren't in the competitive scene...always trust your Coach. If I say you will do well... you will. I don't feed my people to the wolves just to have more people at a tournament or fight and my school competition record proves that. I encourage all of my BJJ practitioners to test themselves at every rank and for those training for MMA to step into the cage if they want to and I say you are ready.
If I were to give advice and encouragement to every category I would say this...
Kids- keep training and stay disciplined, do what I teach, train, fight, win!
Adult whitebelts- keep driving and doing what I teach to get yourself closer to blue. Attack blues! Start testing the waters for your novice competitions. the longer you wait the higher brackets you get put in.
blue belts- consistency is key gentlemen. keep pressing in and have faith in your jiu jitsu at your level, purple is just around the corner for those who do this
muay thai- start sparring more if you don't already. use our foundation combos in sparring to get to the next level of thaiboxing. Head movement!!
MMA- wear your gloves at nogi times, roll with punches with those that want to. Spar more and train as often as you can striking, wrestling, sambo, bjj.
Swedish crew- stay training consistently, keep in contact with me as often as possible, compete as often as you can.
Again, thanks for your dedication and being a part of Team Trinity! God Bless
"Iron sharpens iron" The Bible:)
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
What do you want to see?
Currently, I am doing Iphone applications for Killer Apps. You can check the website out www.aKillerApp.com. Right now we have a Chokes app, Armbar app and a free Nogi Jiu Jitsu app out on Itunes. We are going to make a few more and have got some new ideas but we are also looking to see what the public wants to see!
Give me some feedback please!
Gi? Nogi?
gi chokes, sweeps, leg locks, escapes, wrestling, fitness, kettlebell, spider guard etc etc...
Hit up Killer Apps....
support@akillerapp.com
www.facebook.com/brandonquick
Give me some feedback please!
Gi? Nogi?
gi chokes, sweeps, leg locks, escapes, wrestling, fitness, kettlebell, spider guard etc etc...
Hit up Killer Apps....
support@akillerapp.com
www.facebook.com/brandonquick
Sunday, July 11, 2010
OWW!!! Changed My Game
Recently I got a tweak in my knee. Bumps, bruises, twists and pains are a part of the grappling lifestyle. We all know that. But what I actually like is when pain can HELP me fill the holes in my game. Its amazing how pain in the knee can scare the daylights out of me but in reality it's good because it forces me to play other parts of the grappling game. If your knee hurts and you work thru it and it's not a serious injury it can actually benefit you. For me it helps me to not stand so a de la Riva hook hooks that leg, pass to my weak side of passing, no leg locks, no guard if I can help it, certainly no rubber guard or twister setups but most of all I am forced to be strategist and enforce my gameplan and at a bare minimum enforce my safety. With an injury one should not even roll but I find pain to be a great game change up. I am by no means think I know everything there is to know nor have all my reps in each move to be a master of masters so I look at my cup as half full when these situations arise and am actually thankful I experience the pain in order to grow.
I use a similar tactic with my blue belts. My local guys; I have them use 3x5 cards with assignments of positions, sweeps and submissions that I want them to focus on for that month. If a guys guard is horrible I may make him attack armbars from the guard. To go even deeper I may make the same student attack only the opponents right arm for 2 weeks to a month. This really hones in on a specific technique. The same can be done with any positions, sweeps and submissions you choose. I really individualize it for each student. If a student has been doing privates recently on half guard I would have them going straight to half as much as possible for the time period on their card. Things will happen, bad things- when a grappler is open enough to improve a weakness. Their back can be taken, they can be passed etc until they have the right timing and execution but those who look at BJJ as a marathon and not a sprint do the best. If the attitude is "I never get armbars from the guard but today I got 2 because I kept trying even though the 1st 10 times I got passed" that mentality, that humility of that student will make him to be a great Jiu Jitsu player. Some of my guys I have given my cards to and they never used it or maybe used it once. Every week I am supposed to get written results so it's also a good indicator of who is serious and who just runs their mouth about wanting to get better. Even my Team Trinity advanced students in Sweden write me a weekly report via Facebook. Constant communication and consistency is they key factor between student and adult in my opinion..
thats all for now
I use a similar tactic with my blue belts. My local guys; I have them use 3x5 cards with assignments of positions, sweeps and submissions that I want them to focus on for that month. If a guys guard is horrible I may make him attack armbars from the guard. To go even deeper I may make the same student attack only the opponents right arm for 2 weeks to a month. This really hones in on a specific technique. The same can be done with any positions, sweeps and submissions you choose. I really individualize it for each student. If a student has been doing privates recently on half guard I would have them going straight to half as much as possible for the time period on their card. Things will happen, bad things- when a grappler is open enough to improve a weakness. Their back can be taken, they can be passed etc until they have the right timing and execution but those who look at BJJ as a marathon and not a sprint do the best. If the attitude is "I never get armbars from the guard but today I got 2 because I kept trying even though the 1st 10 times I got passed" that mentality, that humility of that student will make him to be a great Jiu Jitsu player. Some of my guys I have given my cards to and they never used it or maybe used it once. Every week I am supposed to get written results so it's also a good indicator of who is serious and who just runs their mouth about wanting to get better. Even my Team Trinity advanced students in Sweden write me a weekly report via Facebook. Constant communication and consistency is they key factor between student and adult in my opinion..
thats all for now
Monday, July 5, 2010
Team Trinity: Texas State Champions
http://www.fighttowinmma.com/index.php/Grappling-Results/2010-texas-bjj-championships.html
June 26th we conquered the Texas State Championships! I am so unbelievably proud of my students! We will get our 1st place cup from Fight to Win next week and be featured in the paper again! Kipp from NAGA is sending our 2nd place cup from our last competition with them as well! WOW! Kids, Teens, Adult, Absolute...you name it we did well. It actually surprised me when I heard we won being that we were only about half strength in numbers. Trinity just keeps getting better and better, winning and winning!
We made a statement by winning the States. Team Trinity is no joke! WAAAARRRR!!!!
Congrats to all of my competitors and new State Champions!!!!!!
June 26th we conquered the Texas State Championships! I am so unbelievably proud of my students! We will get our 1st place cup from Fight to Win next week and be featured in the paper again! Kipp from NAGA is sending our 2nd place cup from our last competition with them as well! WOW! Kids, Teens, Adult, Absolute...you name it we did well. It actually surprised me when I heard we won being that we were only about half strength in numbers. Trinity just keeps getting better and better, winning and winning!
We made a statement by winning the States. Team Trinity is no joke! WAAAARRRR!!!!
Congrats to all of my competitors and new State Champions!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Gi or not to Gi?
MANY people have been asking me my opinion on the debate of gi vs nogi. Now we all know that this subject has been talked, blogged, threaded and exhausted many times over but we shall revisit it once again. The reason people are asking my opinion on it is because I trained gi, then purely nogi from 2006-2009 and since then have trained with the gi. Another reason people are asking is because I trained Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet system and now train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Bruno Bastos of Nova Uniao and Sambo with the American Sambo Association. On top of that I used to be an outspoken pro 10th Planet supporter and now I am not.
This is in no way a "BJJ vs 10PJJ or Sambo vs 10PJJ" post. This is strictly my opinion of training in 3 different styles and teaching them to my students past and present.
When I returned to Hollywood after 6 years in the Army I wanted to train more nogi. I had trained gi and nogi for a long time but took a high interest in training for mma and nogi. A Jean Jacques Machado blackbelt (whom I received my BJJ brownbelt from) Jamie Walsh, referred me to his old training partner Eddie Bravo. Eddie had a straight up nogi school in the area and eventually I became an affiliate of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu when I moved to Dallas, Texas in late 2007. From 2007-2009 I was a highly outspoken nogi supporter (even opened my mouth on YouTube and on DVDs about it) and did not train a day of gi then. In May of '09 I split from the 10PJJ system and went back to BJJ in the gi and Sambo in the Kurtka. Tons of drama went down on some forums and to this day I still have some haters but the supporters still outweigh the haters. This is not to address any of my haters nor to bash 10th Planet or Eddie Bravo. This is strictly my observation of training gi, training nogi for 3 years and then returning to the gi over the last year.
Now that I have grown up a ton mentally and spiritually I want to 1st and foremost say that in the end- you should train how you want to and whatever makes you happy. At its core this is not truely a gi or not to gi debate. This is a martial arts debate. Just like Kung Fu, Karate, TKD, Krav Maga, Sambo, JuJutsu, Judo....you get the point...all argue their supremacy in one way or another. In the sport and martial art in which I am involved in the debate is always on 2 things. 1-does gi make your nogi better? and 2-what is better for mma?
Here are some of my thoughts and observations (now please also take into account that I am NOT a world champion, ADCC vet or at the top of the food chain on the BJJ scene...but of course I do one day hope to be:) and some of these thoughts may be at random so bare with me. I write my blogs when I'm sitting on the couch and my wife is watching America's Got Talent as a spur of the moment writing. It is not some highly detailed and outlined essay written for a Harvard professor. So I apologize ahead of time.
Nogi- (pre return to gi) the nogi 'style' I was doing was an MMA based system and a physical attribute (flexibility of the lower body, including the knees) based system so I don't have a solid pure nogi BJJ training history of a student of say Alliance, Nova Uniao or Gracie Barra. I have trained wrestling and nogi a lot but my solid time in 10PJJ outweighs my days of regular BJJ nogi. That brings me to something. Some of you may be thinking, "Is this dude saying there is a difference between nogi of big name BJJ schools and 10PJJ?" Yes! 10PJJ is its own system and its master Mr. Bravo, has even mapped it out in his books. But that is not to say that many people don't cross train and use techs from both styles. In this period of my nogi training I clinched, clinched and clinched. I focused heavily on rubber guard, the twister path, my head n arm game, leg locks and half guard. When I taught, rolled and watched my students compete I realized that we needed to have basics so we practiced traditional bump sweeps, passing the guards and submission escapes/attacks that aren't heavily emphasised in the nogi style we practiced. I also loved leg locks because of the rules of local to international submission wrestling tournaments. To me the legs are half the body and 1/3 of our possible subs come from there. We only have a neck, arms and legs to be attacked after all. I relied on breaking my opponent down and going for my foot in guard and getting the lockdown when in half. On top I aimed for going down the twister path and getting head n arm chokes. This caught a ton of people off guard when we rolled with them and we loved it. The system had 'paths'. It had a direct approach to a goal and options if a certain path failed. This is phenomenal when it comes to teaching and learning. People can learn easily and connect things in their brain quicker while grappling and that is what I credit my school for winning so much at our early tournaments in Texas. The downside is after a while it becomes predictable in training. Even though a person may favor say half guard and another person the twister and another the rubber guard...everyone still knows the next step to what their opponent is looking for. This does a few things. It makes one have to force his game more or come up with ways to trick your opponent. But most of all it creates counters to the system which is awesome yet at the same time can be almost negative because 99.9% of the people you come across in competition are not going to be from the same system. A good positive I had from all of the clinching was obviously I had a good clinch and movement in the clinch. I had a good sense of direction in my game, I knew where I wanted to take my opponent. At the time I felt that my prior BJJ training lacked this and that this was superior to my prior methods. I was also a firm believer that training nogi makes your nogi better. It didn't make sense to me..all the collar grabbing, belt lifting and gi based techs...how could that make my nogi better? Wearing the 'pajamas' the 'Japanese superhero outfit' as others call it was a ridiculous idea for nogi.
The return to the Gi- As I speak about the gi in this section I also am referring to the kurtka (russian for jacket) since I train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Sambo at my school. I now train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Bruno Bastos of Nova Uniao and the Sambo with the instructors from the American Sambo Association. Both Mr. Bastos and Mr. Koepfer (ASA Pres.) both believe that the core and majority of one's training should be done in the gi. This is the view of most instructors in BJJ and Sambo. I went back to gi with an open mind. I just listen and train and do what I am taught, teach my students and we all have a blast training. The main reason I went to the gi is for myself and my students. I had to make a choice. Stay training nogi by myself and never achieve a BJJ black belt or go back to gi and stick to my old roots and hopefully one day earn a blackbelt. Now I am not vocal on the whole gi/nogi debate. I am just concentrating on getting better, trying to fill the holes in my game and having fun while doing it. On another note I have all of my competitors competing in the gi and the almost every single person now actually prefers the gi! I really got blindsided by that fact. I offered gi classes and in a short while people started to turn toward liking the gi. I in no way forced their opinions. We still had nogi classes but only about 3 of my people still prefered nogi. Maybe it's the fact it was new to them, slowed their game down, gave them new grips/subs to play with, opened up their game and offered a different approach. Shoot, some just like putting on the uniform like a warrior going to battle. I have a different approach to the game and teaching now. Get on top! Pass! Submit! The biggest realization I had for myself is that there comes a time when all the knowledge of tricky, cool techniques won't do me any good. I have to be a master of the basics and enforce my game. My passing has gone up tremendously as well as top pressure and the reality that my guard is not as good as I thought. I train now to compete in the gi as well as nogi. I competed at the Mundials this month 1-to be an example to my students who compete in the gi. how could I have them fight in it without me doing it infront of them? 2-because I want to be the best I can be. As many people state...The best jiu jitsu fighters in the world nogi, gi, FILA, ADCC, GQ you name it, the best and the champions are gi guys or were gi guys for their foundation. I am not going to just train BJJ but train BJJ with one of the top guys in the world, fight gi and nogi, have fun training and just go with the flow, teach my students what they like and whats best for them. Likewise I will do what my instructor sees is best for me. Solid fundamentals are a must and so is gi if one wants to be of any rank in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Nogi (post return to gi)- passing in the gi can have a lot of friction, submissions are hard to escape in gi. Training more gi helps me with the intricate details of passing and escaping. Therefore my passing and defense is much easier nogi I can slip right through. My free movement is better such as arm drags and getting to the back. My grip lacks. I can tell that when I roll with guys who are gi dominant that their hand grip is stronger than mine but my over/under hooks are strong. Since going to a more traditional BJJ game again my fundamentals are becoming more solid. I can still of course have a LONG way to go in my training. I don't even think of blackbelt right now only improving my game and my students game. It will come when my instructor thinks I deserve it. I still use rubber guard, old school sweeps and dogfight sweeps, calf cranks and armbar setups that I used before but I do it as flavor in my game, not the meat and potatoes. I do not know if I would even call it rubber guard I just go for the omo plata from what 10pjj would call chill dog. I never go to mission control and do the path. My old school sweeps and half guard game is still there but I don't like to use lockdown and flatten myself out. Lockdown is used primarily to stop a pass or give me time to save myself from a kimura. Never have actually, I just put my outside leg in and do my footwork while on my side. At the same time I believe in having a traditional half guard game. My clinch now comes in phases. I feel like that if I clinch the whole time that if my opponent gets an inch past my guard he can be completely passed. Whereas if I utilize the more open game of the gi while doing nogi I am more free to defend the pass, escape, move my hips, catch submissions and move around him. I find that a serious clinch is needed at times and sometimes it can work heavily against me. Space creates escape. What is truly the best is my rolling partners can tell I have greatly improved and I did much better in competition. I also of course credit this to Mr. Bastos. He crushes me every time I train, pushes me and knows my holes in my game. I also still believe in leg locks just the same as I did before. They are a must in competition and especially submission wrestling.
These are my honest thought on MY PERSONAL experiences. I intend no harm to anyone who trains straight up nogi or gi guys. I know people may take this all crazy and post it other places so I would like to reiterate this has nothing to do with Sambo, BJJ, Eddie, 10PJJ, Bruno...just me and my experience and how I am liking and training at this time in my life. If anyone twists this into something besides that then they are just starting false drama
WHAT IS BETTER GI OR NOGI?
WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY!
This is in no way a "BJJ vs 10PJJ or Sambo vs 10PJJ" post. This is strictly my opinion of training in 3 different styles and teaching them to my students past and present.
When I returned to Hollywood after 6 years in the Army I wanted to train more nogi. I had trained gi and nogi for a long time but took a high interest in training for mma and nogi. A Jean Jacques Machado blackbelt (whom I received my BJJ brownbelt from) Jamie Walsh, referred me to his old training partner Eddie Bravo. Eddie had a straight up nogi school in the area and eventually I became an affiliate of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu when I moved to Dallas, Texas in late 2007. From 2007-2009 I was a highly outspoken nogi supporter (even opened my mouth on YouTube and on DVDs about it) and did not train a day of gi then. In May of '09 I split from the 10PJJ system and went back to BJJ in the gi and Sambo in the Kurtka. Tons of drama went down on some forums and to this day I still have some haters but the supporters still outweigh the haters. This is not to address any of my haters nor to bash 10th Planet or Eddie Bravo. This is strictly my observation of training gi, training nogi for 3 years and then returning to the gi over the last year.
Now that I have grown up a ton mentally and spiritually I want to 1st and foremost say that in the end- you should train how you want to and whatever makes you happy. At its core this is not truely a gi or not to gi debate. This is a martial arts debate. Just like Kung Fu, Karate, TKD, Krav Maga, Sambo, JuJutsu, Judo....you get the point...all argue their supremacy in one way or another. In the sport and martial art in which I am involved in the debate is always on 2 things. 1-does gi make your nogi better? and 2-what is better for mma?
Here are some of my thoughts and observations (now please also take into account that I am NOT a world champion, ADCC vet or at the top of the food chain on the BJJ scene...but of course I do one day hope to be:) and some of these thoughts may be at random so bare with me. I write my blogs when I'm sitting on the couch and my wife is watching America's Got Talent as a spur of the moment writing. It is not some highly detailed and outlined essay written for a Harvard professor. So I apologize ahead of time.
Nogi- (pre return to gi) the nogi 'style' I was doing was an MMA based system and a physical attribute (flexibility of the lower body, including the knees) based system so I don't have a solid pure nogi BJJ training history of a student of say Alliance, Nova Uniao or Gracie Barra. I have trained wrestling and nogi a lot but my solid time in 10PJJ outweighs my days of regular BJJ nogi. That brings me to something. Some of you may be thinking, "Is this dude saying there is a difference between nogi of big name BJJ schools and 10PJJ?" Yes! 10PJJ is its own system and its master Mr. Bravo, has even mapped it out in his books. But that is not to say that many people don't cross train and use techs from both styles. In this period of my nogi training I clinched, clinched and clinched. I focused heavily on rubber guard, the twister path, my head n arm game, leg locks and half guard. When I taught, rolled and watched my students compete I realized that we needed to have basics so we practiced traditional bump sweeps, passing the guards and submission escapes/attacks that aren't heavily emphasised in the nogi style we practiced. I also loved leg locks because of the rules of local to international submission wrestling tournaments. To me the legs are half the body and 1/3 of our possible subs come from there. We only have a neck, arms and legs to be attacked after all. I relied on breaking my opponent down and going for my foot in guard and getting the lockdown when in half. On top I aimed for going down the twister path and getting head n arm chokes. This caught a ton of people off guard when we rolled with them and we loved it. The system had 'paths'. It had a direct approach to a goal and options if a certain path failed. This is phenomenal when it comes to teaching and learning. People can learn easily and connect things in their brain quicker while grappling and that is what I credit my school for winning so much at our early tournaments in Texas. The downside is after a while it becomes predictable in training. Even though a person may favor say half guard and another person the twister and another the rubber guard...everyone still knows the next step to what their opponent is looking for. This does a few things. It makes one have to force his game more or come up with ways to trick your opponent. But most of all it creates counters to the system which is awesome yet at the same time can be almost negative because 99.9% of the people you come across in competition are not going to be from the same system. A good positive I had from all of the clinching was obviously I had a good clinch and movement in the clinch. I had a good sense of direction in my game, I knew where I wanted to take my opponent. At the time I felt that my prior BJJ training lacked this and that this was superior to my prior methods. I was also a firm believer that training nogi makes your nogi better. It didn't make sense to me..all the collar grabbing, belt lifting and gi based techs...how could that make my nogi better? Wearing the 'pajamas' the 'Japanese superhero outfit' as others call it was a ridiculous idea for nogi.
The return to the Gi- As I speak about the gi in this section I also am referring to the kurtka (russian for jacket) since I train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Sambo at my school. I now train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Bruno Bastos of Nova Uniao and the Sambo with the instructors from the American Sambo Association. Both Mr. Bastos and Mr. Koepfer (ASA Pres.) both believe that the core and majority of one's training should be done in the gi. This is the view of most instructors in BJJ and Sambo. I went back to gi with an open mind. I just listen and train and do what I am taught, teach my students and we all have a blast training. The main reason I went to the gi is for myself and my students. I had to make a choice. Stay training nogi by myself and never achieve a BJJ black belt or go back to gi and stick to my old roots and hopefully one day earn a blackbelt. Now I am not vocal on the whole gi/nogi debate. I am just concentrating on getting better, trying to fill the holes in my game and having fun while doing it. On another note I have all of my competitors competing in the gi and the almost every single person now actually prefers the gi! I really got blindsided by that fact. I offered gi classes and in a short while people started to turn toward liking the gi. I in no way forced their opinions. We still had nogi classes but only about 3 of my people still prefered nogi. Maybe it's the fact it was new to them, slowed their game down, gave them new grips/subs to play with, opened up their game and offered a different approach. Shoot, some just like putting on the uniform like a warrior going to battle. I have a different approach to the game and teaching now. Get on top! Pass! Submit! The biggest realization I had for myself is that there comes a time when all the knowledge of tricky, cool techniques won't do me any good. I have to be a master of the basics and enforce my game. My passing has gone up tremendously as well as top pressure and the reality that my guard is not as good as I thought. I train now to compete in the gi as well as nogi. I competed at the Mundials this month 1-to be an example to my students who compete in the gi. how could I have them fight in it without me doing it infront of them? 2-because I want to be the best I can be. As many people state...The best jiu jitsu fighters in the world nogi, gi, FILA, ADCC, GQ you name it, the best and the champions are gi guys or were gi guys for their foundation. I am not going to just train BJJ but train BJJ with one of the top guys in the world, fight gi and nogi, have fun training and just go with the flow, teach my students what they like and whats best for them. Likewise I will do what my instructor sees is best for me. Solid fundamentals are a must and so is gi if one wants to be of any rank in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Nogi (post return to gi)- passing in the gi can have a lot of friction, submissions are hard to escape in gi. Training more gi helps me with the intricate details of passing and escaping. Therefore my passing and defense is much easier nogi I can slip right through. My free movement is better such as arm drags and getting to the back. My grip lacks. I can tell that when I roll with guys who are gi dominant that their hand grip is stronger than mine but my over/under hooks are strong. Since going to a more traditional BJJ game again my fundamentals are becoming more solid. I can still of course have a LONG way to go in my training. I don't even think of blackbelt right now only improving my game and my students game. It will come when my instructor thinks I deserve it. I still use rubber guard, old school sweeps and dogfight sweeps, calf cranks and armbar setups that I used before but I do it as flavor in my game, not the meat and potatoes. I do not know if I would even call it rubber guard I just go for the omo plata from what 10pjj would call chill dog. I never go to mission control and do the path. My old school sweeps and half guard game is still there but I don't like to use lockdown and flatten myself out. Lockdown is used primarily to stop a pass or give me time to save myself from a kimura. Never have actually, I just put my outside leg in and do my footwork while on my side. At the same time I believe in having a traditional half guard game. My clinch now comes in phases. I feel like that if I clinch the whole time that if my opponent gets an inch past my guard he can be completely passed. Whereas if I utilize the more open game of the gi while doing nogi I am more free to defend the pass, escape, move my hips, catch submissions and move around him. I find that a serious clinch is needed at times and sometimes it can work heavily against me. Space creates escape. What is truly the best is my rolling partners can tell I have greatly improved and I did much better in competition. I also of course credit this to Mr. Bastos. He crushes me every time I train, pushes me and knows my holes in my game. I also still believe in leg locks just the same as I did before. They are a must in competition and especially submission wrestling.
These are my honest thought on MY PERSONAL experiences. I intend no harm to anyone who trains straight up nogi or gi guys. I know people may take this all crazy and post it other places so I would like to reiterate this has nothing to do with Sambo, BJJ, Eddie, 10PJJ, Bruno...just me and my experience and how I am liking and training at this time in my life. If anyone twists this into something besides that then they are just starting false drama
WHAT IS BETTER GI OR NOGI?
WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Texas State Championships!
Team Trinity did great at the BJJ Texas State Championships held by Fight to Win and WGC. The day was fast and organized. Brett Boyce of World Grappling Circuit and Seth Daniels of Fight to Win have teamed up some time ago and I like how their tournaments are run. We were completely done and gone by 3:00. No hour long rules meeting or waiting forever either. Us Texans are used to tournaments having Kids Divisions going 1st on all mats and then adults after. FTW has a mat for each division so Masters, Teens, Adult, Kids and Women are all going at the same time. I think this is the reason the tourney goes fast. Only adjustment I would make if I were them is having the kids on 2 mats . 5-12 on one mat novice-expert, gi and nogi is a long time for kids to sit. Besides that its great feedback from all my parents and myself.
As for the results...My students Jordan Ramirez (gi/nogi), Faith Ruble(gi/nogi), Garrett Mowles(gi), Levi Mowles(gi/nogi/absolute), Edwin Lipsey (nogi) are new STATE CHAMPIONS!!! Dang I'm one proud Coach!!! All of the above are my Gold Medal winners. We also earned 9 Silvers and 5 Bronze from other competitors as well! I also had a few 1st time guys and one gal. It was so cool being able to see them go from training and then see them in competition. Becky did great in women's division and got robbed by a ref's decision. She passed all of the 1st round and overtime yet he gave it to an 'attempted' throw the 1st 5 seconds of the match. Lame. What about the 'attempted' passing from top half and 3/4 mount for 4 minutes and 1 minute of the overtime? Weak sauce, but hey its what happens when you leave it in the refs hands right? Roberto got smashed his first match in nogi. This surprised me. You see Roberto is a 225 lbs guys who isn't all muscle but is a natural go getter and trains everyday. Heck, he even has caught experienced bluebelts and he is only a 3-4 month whitebelt. I was taken back when he lost and wanted to go home and not compete again that day. I would not allow this. I literally had to push him back in the door to compete again to get over his fear and embarrassment. He was glad I did because he wrecked some in the men's absolute with a choke, a 12-0 and his 3rd opponent bowed out in fear, finally he lost to a solid brownbelt via omoplata. He was stoked! Running around all confident and ready for National competition. Ha! I love this sport.
Levi Mowles (http://www.youtube.com/user/rblgmowles) is my prodigy and mvp for the day. This kid will have been with me for 2 years in August and just turned 14. He won Advanced Nogi, Greenbelt and Teens Absolute! He has an awesome work ethic, is humble, listens and is calm in his jiu jitsu competitions. Be on the lookout for him in the future but for now check out his youtube.
Next post I will discuss the requested whole Gi/Nogi debate since I went back to gi and train with a currently competing, World Champ, Brazilian and ADCC vet with TONS of hardware after leaving the gi and training only nogi with the Twister
As for the results...My students Jordan Ramirez (gi/nogi), Faith Ruble(gi/nogi), Garrett Mowles(gi), Levi Mowles(gi/nogi/absolute), Edwin Lipsey (nogi) are new STATE CHAMPIONS!!! Dang I'm one proud Coach!!! All of the above are my Gold Medal winners. We also earned 9 Silvers and 5 Bronze from other competitors as well! I also had a few 1st time guys and one gal. It was so cool being able to see them go from training and then see them in competition. Becky did great in women's division and got robbed by a ref's decision. She passed all of the 1st round and overtime yet he gave it to an 'attempted' throw the 1st 5 seconds of the match. Lame. What about the 'attempted' passing from top half and 3/4 mount for 4 minutes and 1 minute of the overtime? Weak sauce, but hey its what happens when you leave it in the refs hands right? Roberto got smashed his first match in nogi. This surprised me. You see Roberto is a 225 lbs guys who isn't all muscle but is a natural go getter and trains everyday. Heck, he even has caught experienced bluebelts and he is only a 3-4 month whitebelt. I was taken back when he lost and wanted to go home and not compete again that day. I would not allow this. I literally had to push him back in the door to compete again to get over his fear and embarrassment. He was glad I did because he wrecked some in the men's absolute with a choke, a 12-0 and his 3rd opponent bowed out in fear, finally he lost to a solid brownbelt via omoplata. He was stoked! Running around all confident and ready for National competition. Ha! I love this sport.
Levi Mowles (http://www.youtube.com/user/rblgmowles) is my prodigy and mvp for the day. This kid will have been with me for 2 years in August and just turned 14. He won Advanced Nogi, Greenbelt and Teens Absolute! He has an awesome work ethic, is humble, listens and is calm in his jiu jitsu competitions. Be on the lookout for him in the future but for now check out his youtube.
Next post I will discuss the requested whole Gi/Nogi debate since I went back to gi and train with a currently competing, World Champ, Brazilian and ADCC vet with TONS of hardware after leaving the gi and training only nogi with the Twister
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Scrimmage for TX State Championships
Ever since about a year ago Justin Rose (Owner of Bushido MMA in Arlington, TX) and I have talked about getting our schools together for some rolling. Last NAGA on May 22/23, Bushido placed 1st for kids/teens and we earned 2nd. We don't care about our teams beating each other but making our students the best they can be. Bushido has a strong Judo background, kids do gi and nogi and the adults just do gi. Team Trinity is BJJ & Nogi and has a Sambo influence.
It turned out to be an AWESOME day of training! 75 people came to compete and roll! We ran 4 matches at once. I ran 1 match in my cage, 3 on my main mats and we packed the house with spectators. My blue belts helped ref, Justin's brother watched the teens in the cage while Mr. Rose and I matched the kids up as best as possible. The kids ran about 2 hours and they probably got about 10 or so rolls in a piece. We focused on getting as much rolling time in for the kids as possible. Next came the adults and kids were dismissed with the exception of those who wanted to roll in the octagon. We had them 'compete' for about a half an hour and get 4 or so rolls in a piece and then we just called an open mat and had everyone roll and keep switching partners.
I can only watch people roll for so long before I start twitching and have to roll, especially at MY gym. lol So I changed from t-shirt and shorts to rashguard and nogi shorts and got my roll on for the 1st time since Worlds. I rolled for about an hour and then the guys wanted some break down of my head and arm game. I broke down the Darce from half guard, the Japanese Necktie and Hawaiian Necktie. After a few more rolls we started shooting the breeze and hanging out. They are a GREAT bunch of guys and can't wait to do the 'scrimmage' every 4-6 weeks. Obviously Bushido is a great school and has a great instructor. They don't sandbag to win and are an honest bunch who just like to train. That's why it works so well for us. I just want the best for my students and cross training like this is reaaaally good for my people. We learned some good Judo from them and they had a great side control. It helps to open peoples minds to what I ALWAYS am telling them,"Train takedowns!" We have a wrestler who teaches that's from Iowa and I teach Sambo but people will shy from the throwing classes. We smash takedowns gi and nogi at tournaments but some people got their eyes opened by going against a school who trains Judo 3 times a week.
till next time
It turned out to be an AWESOME day of training! 75 people came to compete and roll! We ran 4 matches at once. I ran 1 match in my cage, 3 on my main mats and we packed the house with spectators. My blue belts helped ref, Justin's brother watched the teens in the cage while Mr. Rose and I matched the kids up as best as possible. The kids ran about 2 hours and they probably got about 10 or so rolls in a piece. We focused on getting as much rolling time in for the kids as possible. Next came the adults and kids were dismissed with the exception of those who wanted to roll in the octagon. We had them 'compete' for about a half an hour and get 4 or so rolls in a piece and then we just called an open mat and had everyone roll and keep switching partners.
I can only watch people roll for so long before I start twitching and have to roll, especially at MY gym. lol So I changed from t-shirt and shorts to rashguard and nogi shorts and got my roll on for the 1st time since Worlds. I rolled for about an hour and then the guys wanted some break down of my head and arm game. I broke down the Darce from half guard, the Japanese Necktie and Hawaiian Necktie. After a few more rolls we started shooting the breeze and hanging out. They are a GREAT bunch of guys and can't wait to do the 'scrimmage' every 4-6 weeks. Obviously Bushido is a great school and has a great instructor. They don't sandbag to win and are an honest bunch who just like to train. That's why it works so well for us. I just want the best for my students and cross training like this is reaaaally good for my people. We learned some good Judo from them and they had a great side control. It helps to open peoples minds to what I ALWAYS am telling them,"Train takedowns!" We have a wrestler who teaches that's from Iowa and I teach Sambo but people will shy from the throwing classes. We smash takedowns gi and nogi at tournaments but some people got their eyes opened by going against a school who trains Judo 3 times a week.
till next time
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