tallgeese

4/16 1.25 mile run. .5 mile for time. Bodyweight routine.

4/15 Drilled taking mount from side with step over mechanics. Variations on the arm bar from modified mount. No free roll tonight. Trying to get my wrist to heal up after getting it rolled on wrong on Monday. PTK: Footwork heavy night to give the wrist a break. Broken footwork, triangle and diamond footwork. Striking mechanics. Fluid 5 form. am: body weight work out.

4/15 Drilled taking mount from side with step over mechanics. Variations on the arm bar from modified mount. No free roll tonight. Trying to get my wrist to heal up after getting it rolled on wrong on Monday. PTK: Footwork heavy night to give the wrist a break. Broken footwork, triangle and diamond footwork. Striking mechanics. Fluid 5 form. am: body weight work out.

1 mile run , intervals. bodyweight routine. Weighted pull-ups

5/13 Drilled mount control followed by Cross collar choke and armor. 10 free roll (minor injury) PTK: Reviewed fluid strikes. Diamond footwork with strikes. Bridging. Flow.

4/12 1.25 mile run Body weight regimen.

Alex, Sounds to me that your square footage is about 1000, right? That was the exact square footage of my very first dojo, it's a nice working space. Some that took some time to get it right. Do we face this way, or do we face that way!?! What's the square footage in the basement and what will that space be used for? Thank you, in advance!! Yes, that's about right on the 1,000 total. The down stairs is around another 2,000 square feet, but I'd need to pull the plans to get an accurate number. Just shy of half that will be showers/ locker rooms. A couple hundred will be a small waiting area. The last 1000 will be more mat space. Again, these are rough numbers. We'd like to be able to run a beginners class concurrent with an advanced class. But we're still 10-20 regular attendees off of being able to do that. It would also give us the option of renting out space for a MT class at the same time I'm running a PTK class. It's a long term plan to make as much use of our space with an many varied groups as we can. But, we are still building.

Thanks, Bob! There's no signifgance to the side of the belt. Jits has a far more relaxed set of rituals than most uniformed arts. For that reason, you'll see people tying belts with the black tab where stripes go going right or left.

We're at about 800 square feet of matted training area. Another couple of hundred of changing/ restroom space. This constitutes our current facility. In a couple weeks we're hoping to kick off construction in the basement of our building to expand that.

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu rank advancement can move at a snail's pace. It's an 8-10 year journey from white to black belt for your average participant with no prior grappling history who is attending class 2- 3 times per week. That's a hefty commitment. Because of this, there's always questions about what each rank means. What should you be doing at each, what starts to qualify people for promotion, and there is an awful lot of comparisons with other players. This is unavoidable in an art where competition is a huge part of it. So, when I ended up talking about what upper level promotions mean at a recent test someone decided to record it so I could stop saying it over an over again Here's a clip from one of our affiliate locations when a couple of the guys are getting some well-deserved stripes on their purple belts. It pretty well captures what I think is the most important aspect of higher belt level promotions. Any comments welcome.

Welcome aboard KF!

Welcome to KF!

I will, respectfully, be the desisting voice here. While the best way to train to physically prevail in a conflict is to train, regularly, seminars like these continue to be a mainstay in introducing different populations to fighting arts. Given that, some training will almost alway be better than none as long as it is relevant. We can dissect technique and application and agree or disagree with it, but at the end of the day this program is designed for people coming from NO background. More than technique, you're looking and mindset. It's stressing awareness, avoidance, verbal and then physical resistance. The numbers they are touting are accurate. These things WILL decrease the likelihood of assault. You'll note, the FBI and DOJ studies don't cite WHAT course of physical resistance prevent assault, just that it DID! Now, take a female with no background in fighting and hasn't even considered the fact she might be assaulted. Teaching her these things and even a strike or parry that we might not like as practicing martial artist has RADICALLY changed her outlook on things. It's given her and idea of action. That action, and action, is more important than technical details AT THIS POINT. We can set here and go on about this or that concept or efficiency, but we train constantly. She hasn't. She's just increased her potential response by 100 percent. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be violent. As for the mindset, I didn't find anything in the verbage to be aligned as anti-male. Yes, women have a radically different version of what aggression looks like than men. Right or wrong it's a cultural truth. Is every man a potential threat? Until you know them yes. Even then look at the numbers of assaults that come fro "acquaintances." Yes, they should be cautious and carry a different mindset than male counterparts. So, if the program is less than ideal in our eyes is irrelevant. Is it teaching them to play to the documented percentages that will give them a chance to avoid assault? If it is, more power to them.

Everyone here as given good advice. It's no big deal on occasions of high-intensity exercise. It should not be frequent. You can do too much to be healthy. If it continues, or is out of pace with your exertion, see an MD. Lastly, there are very few reasons to routinely drill to throw up. Training for a fight, maybe. Academy or basic, maybe. Routine, hobby level training, no way. Don't be afraid to take a seat.

4/10 Drilled North/ South Shin control followed by arm bar and American finishes. 40 min free roll. 4/11 Reviewed week's material. 45 min free roll.

We spent the week working side mount variants and transitions, a key (and under worked) aspect of maintaining control from top. This particular position is highly controlling but requires some time spent working the transition to properly hold it. It's time well spent. It's also a really aggressive position. In the video though, we run thru a lapel choke that utilized the position and pressure to finish. Check it out: As always, comments and questions welcome. So, who capitalizes on side mount and what variants do you like?

Yes. Moving with purpose is the key.

4/9 1 mile run. Bodyweight work out.

4/8 Drilled shin control sequence from side. 40 min free roll.

Brian hit the nail on the head. It's movement for a purpose. It's not always huge movement, it might be a minute adjustment that is critical. I always talk to people about the difference between a scramble for position and technique. A scramble occurs when an opportunity presents itself outside the bounds of routinely accepted positions. It's just that, a scramble to find the better position with both parties jockeying for position. I've heard instructors, good instructors, talk about techniques that "lead to a scramble." With respect, I think this is lacking. However, technical transition occurs when the same opportunity presents, but you know and understand the principles of the art and have an intuitive understanding of connection, reading, and timing that allow you to guide that motion to your desired outcome. Scrambles will almost always go to the individual with a higher degree of speed, athleticism, and/or strength. Technical transitions will go to the individual who has laid the foundation of not just technique (the starting point) but also conceptualized learning and UNDERSTANDING of the "why" of the art. I'm rarely the strongest, fastest, or most athletic individual on the mat. Therefore, I always strive to build the best technical transition I can. This, to me, is the difference between movement with purpose and just aimless movement.

They are typically way thicker, although there are varying degrees of weave even within grappling gis. Still, as you say, there is CONSTANT stress on them. That particular gi top is in the neighborhood of 8 years old, but it's not in my day to day rotation. It's probably got 3-4 years of hard use on it.

4/4 Review the week's material. 60 min free roll. 4/6 Drilled arm bar and americana from scarf after working transition to scarf from side mount. 35 min free roll. PTK: Review of forms and applications. Drilled bridging applications. Flow and Distance sparring.

It's got some miles. I shredded out a Lucky gi last year and had to retire it, followed by my blue Spartan gi that finally lost an arm that wouldn't sew back early this year. I'm not sure how many miles the OTM has left. Add to that a Combat Corner that shrunk (really irritating since it's only a year old) but still wearable and I'm starting to run thin. Almost time to start ordering again.

This week, our group focused on dealing with back mount, particularly from the Turtle Position. Here, we break down a bit of fundamental structure, how that plays into setting up the technique, and the transition from turtle to half guard. It ties in with last weeks video very well. Check it out and feel free to discuss from any point of view you'd like. Comments, criticisms, and questions are always welcome.

If it's a small circle school with a good lineage, you're in great shape! Defiantly go. That said, I too (as people have pointed out) leery of the way it's presented. I would normally think a small circle school would have that more prominently mentioned, but that might be a small thing. As always, check it out and go from there. Keep and open mind, but always, always, always ask: Does this make sense for what I'm here for?