Troubleshooting the X Guard with Emily Kwok

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If you had the opportunity to ask one question to a world champion, what would it be?

Bumbling around Facebook one morning I saw that former Vancouver resident Emily Kwok would be making a homecoming of sorts to film an instructional video with Stephan Kesting of GrappleArts.com. There was to be an open workshop with Emily at the downtown In-Fighting academy, which is a five-minute Skytrain ride from my apartment in False Creek. Needless to say I was intrigued and decided that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to learn from the 2007 brown/black belt middleweight world champion.

Emily Kwok is a current student of Marcelo Garcia, and has adapted his game to the needs of a smaller female in a male dominated art. It was therefore appropriate that the theme of the workshop was “how to defeat the bigger, stronger opponent,” which would become the very specific-sounding name of the DVD package released by Kwok and Kesting a few months later.

The workshop was structured as a public private-lesson with In-Fighting coach Richie. Richie would ask questions about techniques or situations with which he was having difficulty and Kwok would take the group through a drill that would provide the correct technique. Being an on-again, off-again patron of Garcia’s online instructional site MGinAction.com, I recognized many of the techniques taught as being straight from Garcia’s game.

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Marcelo Garcia – One leg X guard

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ADCC Training with Rafael Mendes

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“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.” – Proverb, unknown author.

In addition to being a two-time world Jiu Jitsu champion at black belt, Rafael Mendes is also the reigning two-time ADCC submission wresting champion. Not only that, but the entire Atos team, including brother Guilherme and ADCC middle and absolute champion Andre Galvao, are winning every tournament in sight, both with and without the gi. Clearly, they are doing something right to achieve such results.

Thankfully, William Burkhardt at BJJPix.com has just released a highlight video of Rafael Mendes’s training regiment for ADCC 2011. The footage shines a light on how Rafa and team Atos have achieved such dominance in competition. The video is filmed at Atos’s Rio Claro academy, with Ramon Lemos presiding over his star pupil’s training. The Rio Claro academy is actually a beautiful place; the exposed brick and natural light make the small gym as aesthetically interesting as the techniques performed therein.

The video starts with a brief look at the physical training that Rafael had to endure to get ready for the world’s most important tournament without the gi. The training that is shown focuses heavily on plyometric and explosive exercises with an emphasis on muscular endurance. The footage includes plyo-pushups, high-repetition bench press and push press, box jumps and an interesting sprawl-and-turn drill with a band belt. Previously released footage of the Mendes brothers’ physical preparation for ADCC 2011 also demonstrates Atos’s use of high-rep, explosive conditioning, which the team seems to favour over lower-repetition strength training. They tend not to show any heavy squats or deadlifts, although just because they don’t show it doesn’t mean they’re not doing it.

The primary value of the highlight is, however, the glimpse that it gives to the technical drilling performed by the Mendes brothers. Most drills are orchestrated to include not only a single technique, but a transition based on the most likely reaction of a well-trained opponent. This is one of Atos’s secrets to success. Below, several of these drills are  discussed, including animations. Beware, however, that the gif format used for animations is memory intensive and may take a while to load.

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Rafael Mendes – Preparation for ADCC 2011

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Match Breakdown: Marcelo Garcia vs. Robert Drysdale – ADCC 2007

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“”Marcelo doesn’t talk in shades of grey. Everything is black and white.” Josh [Waitzkin] was with him at ADCC in 2007, and when he lost to Drysdale, Josh had talked to him about why. Was it that he needed more training against the darce (the choke Drysdale used, now much in vogue) or was it that he needed a game plan for long-armed opponents? Had Marcelo gotten too predictable with the single-leg takedown? “I need to be faster,” Marcelo said with a smile.” – Source: The Fighter’s Mind: Inside the Mental Game by Sam Sheridan. Pg. 195.

Robert Drysdale was one of the last people to defeat Marcelo Garcia by submission. In recent years it’s rare for opponents to score points against Marcelo, let alone cause the Alliance competitor to tap. Few victories were of large enough consequence to put a new Jiu Jitsu superstar on the map. But this is what happened in New Jersey in 2007 when Garcia stopped pushing against Drysdale’s hip with his left hand to defend the darce choke, and used it to tap four times. Drysdale had already won the World Championships in 2005 and as part of the famed Brasa team was a well-known rising star in the Jiu Jitsu community. But with this win Drysdale was put in an exclusive category with Roger Gracie, Jacaré Souza, Braulio Estima and Augusto Tereré.

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Marcelo Garcia vs. Robert Drysdale – ADCC 2007

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The Jiu Jitsu Lab on The Flow Podcast

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About a month ago, Emilio Carrero from The Samsara Blog and I sat down and had a conversation about Jiu Jitsu for his excellent Flow Podcast show. For some reason the idea of a person from Vancouver, B.C., and a person from Orlando, Florida who have never met face to face discussing Jiu Jitsu tripped me out, even though the basic technology to do this has been available since the 1900′s.

We discussed a variety of topics important to the Jiu Jitsu world including Rodolfo Vieira’s guard passing, Rafael Mendes and Atos, transitional positions, self-defense, steroids in Jiu Jitsu and ADCC 2011. It was weird being asked to come on the podcast, since I’m a random purple belt who is completely unknown in the Jiu Jitsu world, and I was very hesitant to do the show. But I think it turned out okay.

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You can listen to Episode 10 of The Flow Podcast online or download it from iTunes.

Click here to listen online or download Episode 10 of The Flow Podcast.

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Click here to subscribe to The Flow Podcast on iTunes.

18 Awesome Jiu Jitsu Logos

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Logos in Jiu Jitsu don’t differ that much. An animal in a gi or a variation on a triangle seem to be the most common. Other geometric shapes can also be seen academy logos, particularly if they evoke Japanese mon. For gi companies there’s always the series of Brazilian, U.S., and Japanese flags to fall back on. Another common logo design in Jiu Jitsu is the two poorly drawn men grappling, which inevitably appears to the general public to advertise a club for aficionados of unfortunate subtext. I think my personal favourite bad logos include those that incorporate the head instructor’s tattoos, and anything with a dog in it (I have a soft spot for the original Carlson Gracie bulldogs, though).

This article is not about bad designs in Jiu Jitsu, however; that would be too easy. Our objective is to celebrate good design. A good logo should be simple, distinctive and instantly communicate what your brand is about. The need for simplicity comes from the requirement to be printed or sewn onto a variety of materials at a variety of sizes. Your team crest (incorporating Japanese kanji, the Brazilian flag, a bird in a gi grappling a snake also in a gi, and some random tribal barbed-wire) might look spectacular painted on the academy wall, but when your logo is embroidered onto a 4” patch it may lose some of the splendour.

Thankfully we have several examples of excellent logo design that are cutting through the clutter to remind us that design in combat sports can still be clean and intelligent. A word of warning – I’m not a designer by any stretch of the imagination so my rationale behind most of these choices is nothing more than, “Hey, that looks dope as hell.” But you will see a few themes emerge. One is simplicity; many of the logos below are black and white. Others incorporate a limited and distinct palette to the same effect. Another theme is communication. Many of these designs will give you a very clear understanding of what the team or company they represent is all about. Hopefully this list makes people think about how they portray their team and their sport/martial art of Jiu Jitsu to the public. If there are any excellent designs that I missed please post them in the comments.

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The Pareto principle and progress: playing the percentages in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

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In 1906 an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto identified that 80% of all of the land in Italy was owned by a mere 20% of the people. Pareto’s work may have had little impact outside of the field of economics had it not been for Joseph M. Juran, a prolific management theorist who rediscovered Pareto’s ideas in the 1930’s and applied them to quality management under the memorable phrase, “the vital few and the trivial many.”

Juran’s work, in turn, has been appropriated by a host of self-help gurus seeking to help people better deal with time management in an increasingly complex world. A notable interpretation of Juran’s ideas can be seen in the New York Times best-seller The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss (as an aside, here’s Ferriss being thrown on his head by everyone’s favourite Jiu Jitsu and MMA trainer Dave Camirillo).

As a skeptical person, I find myself often chafing against anything marketed as a “principle” or a “rule” that will make our lives easier and better. And this idea seems too simple and intuitive at first glance to warrant deep investigation. But despite its popularity with self-help readers and Oprah viewers (not too much separation on the Venn diagram there), is “the 80/20 rule,” also known as the Pareto principle, something that can help us with our everyday life? More importantly, is it something that can help us get better at Jiu Jitsu faster?

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If Marcelo Garcia does it, it’s high-percentage.

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Match Breakdown: Cobrinha vs. Rader – No-Gi Worlds 2011

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Justin Rader had faced Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles when the Lovato student was a brown belt. It was a major highlight for the young competitor since it showed that, although he lost, he could hang with the best in the world.

Rader’s base is difficult for anyone to contend with; it’s been honed on the wrestling mats since he was four years old. The last time they were paired up Cobrinha had a surprising amount of trouble sweeping the brown belt. This match, which took place in Long Beach, California, during the finals of the 2011 No-Gi Worlds Pena division, was much different.

Check out the video below for the match, which I narrated. If you dig the commentary let me know and I’ll continue to do it for future matches, otherwise I’d be happy to not have to hear my own voice ever again! Of course a full written breakdown is below as well.

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Match Breakdown – Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles vs. Justin Rader – No-Gi Worlds 2011

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Super Smash Pass!

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The smash pass: not only does it sound cool, but it is arguably one of the most effective and efficient ways to pass the guard. There’s some confusion about what constitutes a smash pass, however. I’ve seen knee-to-nose and other passes labelled as “smash-passes” because they put weight on your opponent. Simply put, you know you’re performing a smash pass anytime you are directing your opponent’s knees together on one side of their body.

There are several entries into the smash pass including the now-famous leg drag. This feature won’t go into detail about the leg drag since it is one of the most-discussed guard passes on The Jiu Jitsu Lab, although there are two nice leg drag videos show below. When I first started this blog there was little to no information about the leg drag online. Under a year later there is an abundance of “leg drag” material out there, not all of it any good. But the leg drag is only a small piece of the guard passing puzzle. More specifically, it is a good example of how a smash pass can be utilized in a specific scenario, primarily when in de la Riva guard or when you can’t stuff your opponent’s leg between your own.

Thankfully there are several excellent smash pass tutorials cropping up online that can help alleviate any confusion. Additionally, two DVDs from “Little” Tony Pacenski provide systematic guard passing instruction that includes many ideas that can be labelled as smash passes. I’ve been drilling material from Seminar Series Vol. 2 Sao Paulo Approach to Passing the Guard.

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Tony Pacenski – Smash pass against the closed guard

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Tony Pacenski – Smash Pass against reverse de la Riva guard

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Jiu Jitsu Laboratory Awards 2011

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Jiu Jitsu Laboratory Awards 2011

Competitor of the Year (gi): Rodolfo Vieira

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2011 was unquestionably Rodolfo’s year. Rising to prominence in 2009, big things were expected of the young GF Team standout. This year Rodolfo lived up to all expectations taking the Pan-Ams, World-Pro and Worlds at both weight and absolute. Opponent’s like Bernardo Faria,Rafael Lovato Jr., Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida and Antonio Brago Neto  just couldn’t keep up with Rodolfo’s guard passing and athleticism, making it clear that he will be a force in the gi for many years to come.

Runners-Up: Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida, Rafael Mendes

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Competitor of the Year (no-gi): André Galvão

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André Galvão’s path to the very pinnacle of Jiu Jitsu was a roundabout one. Winning every tournament in existence on his way through the belt ranks André appeared unstoppable – until he ran into the immovable object that is Marcelo Garcia. Then, after a series of disappointments including a rough start to his MMA career and being on the receiving end of 2009′s submission of the year at the hands of Braulio Estima, Galvão came into 2011 re-energized and re-focused, winning the Pan ams and giving a near-flawless performance at ADCC 2011. His weight and absolute victories at ADCC over the likes of Pablo Popovitch, Gunnar Nelson and Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares make Galvão the standout without a gi in 2011.

Runners-Up: Rafael Mendes, Rafael Lovato Jr.

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Female Competitor of the Year: Gabrielle Garcia

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Leading up to these awards I asked the knowledgeable folks at one of the major grappling forums who they thought should win the major categories. I agreed with almost all of the feedback with one exception. It seems that almost no one wants to give Gabrielle Garcia her due. Many feel that due to her size and strength Gabi has an unfair advantage. But Gabby didn’t make the weight classes, and it’s impossible to argue with her results: ADCC champion, World champion, Pan Champion. 2011 was the year of Gabi in the female division.

Runners-Up: Luanna Alzuguir, Michelle Nicolini

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Marcelo Garcia

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What do you do when the best keeps getting better? Marcelo Garcia is still young (depressingly, he’s the same age as I am), but his career accomplishments seem to belong to a much older competitor. Garcia would have already been a Jiu Jitsu hall-of-fame member many times over even if he sat out the 2011 competition season. But thankfully for fans of Jiu Jitsu he did not. Taking the Worlds middleweight and ADCC lightweight divisions, Marcelo displayed a rare dominance over opponents such as Leo Vieira, Kron Gracie, Victor Estima and Lucas Leite. This performance makes Marcelinho the only four-time ADCC champion and a five-time World champion.

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Rookie of the Year: Leandro Lo

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Rookie of the Year is awarded to a recently-awarded black belt that shows potential to be one of the best in their divisions. One of the most exciting prospects at lightweight, Leandro Lo had some major victories in 2011 that put him on the short-list of potential future champions. Most recently Lo won the Copa Podio Lightweight Grand Prix in December 2011, with victories over Denilson Pimento, Ed Ramos, and Cláudio Caloquinha. Beating world champion Michael Langhi in April of 2011 put Lo on the map. His exciting style and frequent tournament victories are expected to keep him there.

Runners-Up: Davi Ramos, Zak Mawell

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Additional awards include: 

Jiu Jitsu Monopoly!

Jiu Jitsu Monopoly - Click for full size image