DarthPenguin

Hi, I just picked up a copy of 'the Black Belt Blueprint' by Nicolas Gregoriades and thought it might be of interest to some people to write a short review. I know that for myself i often look for reviews of martial arts books etc prior to purchase so i thought it might be useful. I have a few other bjj books in the house that i would be happy to include a short write up on if anyone is interested Review The book is quite short but i think it is a good one. What it most definitely is NOT is a book full of techniques ala Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro or the Guard series of books by Joe Moreira & Ed Benneville. What it IS is a book covering general concepts for bjj and suggested methods for learning and absorption of techniques. Personally i think it is best aimed at people with at least a year or two of experience in bjj to get benefits from it. There is a really nice section covering suggested methods for drilling to retain new technqiues and make them a reflex. A lot of the information due to the length of the book is quite high level but i think it is enough (personally) to give some ideas of areas to develop in and i think it will likely be quite helpful. On the negative side there are a number of errors in the book, typos, mislabelled diagrams etc that do takeaway a little from the professionalism of the book. It is quite obvious that it is self published and it could have done with a higher level of proof reading (as an example there is one picture in my copy that shows someone performing an achilles lock to illustrate a point but the accompanying text discusses an armbar). Personally i don't find these errors too bothersome as the meaning of all of the sections is still clear but some people might. Overall i would recommend it though.

Makes sense though cheap doesn't always means 'looks cheap' I suppose it comes down to if the issue is with appearance (ie not looking smart enough) which i can understand given your background (and tbh i would usually expect people to be presentable) or quality which is slightly different. If someone wants to use a cheap quality (but presentable looking) gi that just doesn't last as long until they have to replace it then i don't see the harm. Might also be the bjj in me though! I remember training under an individual in a former style who was mega picky, if you had stubble you couldn't train etc as he said grooming and appearance was important (though mysteriously this rule got waived when he decided to grow his own beard..). I remember when i trained there is i was late due to transport issues getting to the class and turning arounf and going home if i was 5-10min late as there was no guarantee i would be able to take part and i might even get banned for a month! Was totally different when i began bjj - i remember automatically going to do the same and the coach noticed me turning round and asked what on earth i was doing? He told me that in his book the important thing was getting in as much training as possible. As long as your gi is clean etc and hygiene measures have been followed then he didn't care really

I had exactly the same thought - other than active management moves (trades etc) the team has been drafted under the same criteria as every other one so it is a fair team for someone to pick up If someone wants it i will have a look at how to go about transferring it to them

Not wanting to be confrontational here but can i ask why? The quality of someone's gi (in my opinion at least) has no bearing at all upon their skills. Martial arts is an expensive activity so i don't see why you would want to price people out by almost making them use a pricey gi? I know that wherever i have trained they would much rather you turned up and trained in an old gi than didn't train at all - for me the decision to pay the greater fees for training more often vs an expensive gi is a no brainer. I am probably being slightly hypocritical here as i just ordered myself a new Hirota karate gi which wasn't cheap and i use quite expensive bjj gi's too but i have never really looked at someone else's gi other than wondering what one they had as it looked a decent fit and they look the same size as me etc! Can i ask what would be wrong with the black belt being in a cheap gi? Doesn't the colour of the belt show their dedication and commitment to the art? Again i hope this doesn't come across as confrontational, i am genuinely curious as it is an opinion that i haven't heard before and it might be a line of thought i am oblivious too and a gap in my own knowledge!

IF I ever get into BJJ, it won't be until after I get my karate black belt, but I do intend to start judo by the end of this summer. I think it would be easier for me to disregard belts if I've already got a black belt (or two) from elsewhere. Best of luck then! Judo is a lot of fun but i have had to put it on the backburner for now. two young mini people means not much time to train, so i do bjj at work lunchtimes and karate is in evening. Judo is pretty hard on the body though so factor that in when deciding what to start when!

Tuesday 4th April Sporadic updates from me - have been feeling really fluey / full of a very heavy cold for the best part of a couple of weeks which has cut down on my training. Have been trying to do some kihon training myself at home most days as can moderate the intensity and working on some hip strengthening exercises every day - can already see an improvement in these : have been starting with a straight leg out in a sidekick position and doing reps of lifting leg up, working towards lifting to the step above. Started both legs on third step up, lifting to fourth and now on fourth lifting to 5th. Doing these grease the groove style, so multiple sets a day spaced out. managed a brief lifting session today though as per below : Lifting Session Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 25kg x 5 32.5kg x 5 37.5kg x 5 42.5kg x 5 bulgarian split squat with kb (total reps = L + R) 8kg x 16 8kg x 16 8kg x 16 8kg x 16 8kg x 16 These felt good. Need to start adding in more single leg stuff i think for general strength and working on stabilisers etc. Movement felt smoother with every set single arm triceps rope pushdowns (total reps = L + R) 10kg x 10 10kg x 10 10kg x 10 tried these as a new exercise as thought single arms might be a good idea and the lower load might work better with feeling ill! total poundage lifted : 1727.5 time = 26min density = 66.44 kg/min this is lowest density for a long time but as i was feeling ill i am just pleased i got the workout in!

Weekly Update Monday 3/4/23 Thats the season up and running with the first few days in the books. The Fartknockers are in the lead though there are 4 teams within a span of 2.5pts at the top of the standings so a very even start so far! Encouragingly the placeholder team is bringing up the rear of the standings - will be quite disturbing if the non actively managed team flies up the rankings though! the auto drafts seem to have been interesting and given most teams multiple players in the same positions so there could be some interesting trades at the beginning of the season while people try to even out their rosters. Short one this week, roll on the next week of the season

In doing my shopping around, I did stumble across a Tang Soo Do dojang in my area that also has BJJ. They require you to get a blue belt in BJJ in order to get a black belt in TSD. To their credit, though, they tell you this up front instead of having you find out after you've invested so much time. Boy I'd love to find a school like this. I had recommended the idea of bringing in some basic grappling skills that each rank would need to demonstrate proficiency in, but the idea has not taken hold. Is always an interesting one the idea of adding skills in. Intuitively i am more in favour of adding something in rather than having to attend a new style/school but that can have it's pitfalls. I remember multiple years ago (when i had been at bjj for about 1-2 years so by no means skilled in any way - not that i am now either!) attending a karate club that added in some grappling. One of the bb's was fighting an mma bout and they asked me to grapple with him to get an idea of how he was. I expected to get thoroughly handled but instead was staggered at how poor his grappling was - to the extent i told them that he should not engage in any groundwork at all in a fight (i did a 5 min round with him and was submitting him every 30seconds or so - someone good would have basically submitted him instantly). This might just be an example of one school where it didn't work out well but it did show the potential pitfalls of adding in things people aren't too skilled in themselves.

In doing my shopping around, I did stumble across a Tang Soo Do dojang in my area that also has BJJ. They require you to get a blue belt in BJJ in order to get a black belt in TSD. To their credit, though, they tell you this up front instead of having you find out after you've invested so much time. Out of curiosity, have they always had that requirement or if not then what did they do with those who already had a black belt prior to instituting the rule?

I wouldn't get too worried about this : the only time i have ever heard anyone at a bjj school be worried about attitude is making sure people are respectful to their training partners and don't hurt needlessly. Tbh attitude seems to matter more at karate (from my experience). At every grading we do the examiner comments on the students attitude and it is quite obvious that a good attitude can outweigh the odd mistake Regarding some people seeming to get promoted faster it can be down to a tonne of things : maybe the one being promoted slower is really into competition - no point promoting them too quickly and into a division that is beyond their ability. Maybe the person who 'looks like' they are so much better really arent - they might be muscling everything, using only one of two techniques, just not 'get it'. Tbh the path to a bjj black belt is so long that you will have plenty of time to make adjustments or changes if you need to en route. It will take you a decade at least (unless you are an amazing competitor at world level!). So do it if you think you will enjoy it. I wouldn't personally do it as a belt hunt though as it takes too long and there is no guarantee at all that you will ever get it.

Glad to hear it's worked out for you! Slightly surprised to hear of a rank in a separate discipline being required to attain rank in your main one, but maybe they find that it works for them. I am a big fan of cross training but not sure how it would sit with me if i was told that to pass my karate black belt i had to get a belt X in another style that i don't even want to practice.

And they are off! Opening day in the bag and an interesting day it was. Aaron Judge homering on his first at bat - maybe he will hit 80! Annoyingly for me Ohtani got 10k's (yay!) but as usual his bullpen messed up and cost him the win (boo!). I'll try to post a weekly update on a Monday as to where things stand - i thought it would make things more interesting and keep the conversation flowing!

my auto draft was interesting too! drafted 4 shortstops! So i may have one or two available for trades. On plus side it also drafted ohtani and trout, though ohtani will require a lot of attention - he needs to be removed from his pitching spot to be allowed to be DH and vice versa. Seems a bit mean to me!

Congratulations

Excellent, thanks for sending on patrick. I've sent you an invite for being 2nd mgr of dummy team. Helps keep everything transparent and above board! Any other settings/rules that anyone wants updated or amended prior to the start? Should be good - i haven't done a fantasy baseball team for ages, used to be amusing!

There might also a difference with regards to countries in the west. Speaking as someone UK based (and taking shotokan) it is not uncommon for someone to get their black belt in 3 years (from what i have seen). Most reasonable students seem to stick to the minimum timeframe throughout the kyu grades and only seem to slow (if at all at 1st kyu). Does seem to take longer than the minimum for most people from 1st to 2nd dan though. This is also under the KUGB, so a substantial and well thought of organisation

Valid point! Totally agree also, much better term

Monday 27 March Warm ups Warm ups carried out as per usual Kihon Couple of different combinations from the usual ones. All focused on correct movement of the hips and shoulders, seemed useful ones from that perspective Kata Worked on Bassai-Dai. Don't technically need to know it yet but was nice to learn it

yep an autodraft - seemed the easiest with people being in different locations and timezones. Also means that the placeholder team is equally drafted so if anyone wants to step in last minute they can take that one

I think that some of the different views also are due to the different meaning ascribed to the black belt level. Some people look at it as having completed the basics and you are now ready to learn properly, in which case i can see why some people would advocate for more dan ranks and assessments. Others (and this is the tack i think Wastelander is taking) look at it as a sign of 'mastery' of the art - you have completed the syllabus and now it is about personal development. To my mind it is more like the bjj style of black belt : once you have got it then it is down to you to develop yourself - thats the formal instruction done (though i am very very very far away from bjj bb so i might be wrong here!). Unfortunately the general public often conflate the two: thinking of someone being a martial arts master after getting bb even if it is the older school 'finishing apprenticeship' that taken 3-4 years.

Yeah it definitely does sound interesting and am curious to hear a little more. For the 'live testing' is it via a webcam or do you have to visit someplace in person? Am also curious how you are finding the online tuition : do you require a certain base level of karate knowledge to be able to reliably demonstrate the techniques and improve them from the videos? I have always found that with bjj instructional videos it does make a difference if you have some familiarity with the art etc. Sounds like you have hit on what you were looking for though which is good I remember seeing a video of a jka 7th dan training with them and performing one of their katas a while back. Looked interesting

Added placeholder team. If someone else would like to be added as 2nd manager (i think this is a good idea) to confirm that no active management takes place for the team then please PM me your email address here and i will add you. Have set the draft for Thursday and set a randomised draft order for fairness. Please let me know if any issues with this

No-one else has objected so i will do that now just so we can get things moving.

If we can't get another player what is everyones thought on my adding a dummy team : we draft it as auto draft, leave everything on auto, no trades/waivers etc (unless everyone decides it is needed for some reason) and let it run in the background. Since it is not a head to head league it shouldn't skew the head to head results and would let us get the league set up

SAturday 25 MArch Lifting Session Still full of heavy cold so cut the volume a little from plan Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 95kg x 5 107.5kg x 5 122.5kg x 5 the final set actually felt easier than the penultimate one. Really focused on pushing the floor away. Standing KB one arm press (L + R = Total Reps) 16kg x 22 16kg x 22 16kg x 22 16kg x 22 16kg x 22 Triceps pushdowns 10kg x 25 Was going to do a few high rep se†s but started to feel lousy so stopped there. Also fitted in 3 sets of hip lifts at 11 reps per leg Total poundage : 4135kg time taken : 31min density : 133.4kg/min