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Home : News

December 28, 2005

Let Us Know Your Thoughts

It was recently brought to my attention that in order to comment on posts, you needed a blogger account. I have since changed the settings so that anyone can comment. On the comments screen you can choose to post with your blogger account, as other (type in your name) or anonymously.

I encourage you guys to post your thoughts and feedback. To do so, click on the comments link at the bottom of the post you would like to comment on.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

December 22, 2005

Shawn Williams Seminar

Black Belt Shawn Williams will be in Indiana Dec. 30 for a 3 hour seminar. Shawn is a Renzo Gracie student who teaches in California (www.hollywoodbjj.com). I have heard nothing but good things about Shawn and his technical and teaching ability. This is a great opportunity to learn from a great jiu-jitsu black belt.

Location:
Ringsports
24 S. Shelby
Indianapolis,In 46202.

Time:
6-9 PM

Cost:
$50.00

Information:
Ron Garrett
317-509-6378
ghjjgarrett@yahoo.com

December 21, 2005

Ft. Wayne Workshop


Recently I had the opportunity to teach a two hour workshop at Jay Luce's club, Summit City Jiu-Jitsu in Fort Wayne, IN. I want to thank Jay and his students for inviting me to teach. Jay has a lot of tough guys with great potential at his school. I hope that I will see some of you guys at the Warsaw academy soon.

Special thanks to Nick, Brandon, and Mark for traveling and helping out at the workshop.

Ricardo Liborio

A few weeks ago Total Jiu-Jitsu member Jim Katris had the opportunity to train with jiu-jitsu legend Ricardo Liborio. Jim reports that Ricardo was a gracious host and tremendous teacher. If any of you are in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area and are looking for a great place to train make sure that you check out Ricardo's academy.

Liborio Interview


Ricardo's Academy

December 17, 2005

New Member

Total Jiu-Jitsu's newest member is Talan Michael Longmire. Talan was born on December 15, 2005. He is healthy, happy, and ready to be on the mats. Congratulations to Jason and Amanda Longmire on the birth of their first son.

December 15, 2005

Temporary Photo Gallery

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have set up a temporary online photo gallery. I am not sure what direction we will go with the photo gallery, but for now enjoy the pictures.

Photo Gallery

December 12, 2005

How Do I Get Better?

There are a myriad of reasons to train jiu-jitsu. The most common are self-defense, competition, or fitness. There are other reasons that people train, but for now we will focus on the "big three." While each and every person has a different reason for training-I believe that the methods that we need to use in order to achieve our goals are very similar.

Whether the goal is self-defense, fitness, or competition the modality for achieving excellence is the same. Improve your technique!! While this answer is relatively simplistic it contains the key to success regardless of your goals.

As a student interested in self-defense your goal should be to prepare yourself to deal with a larger, stronger, and more athletic adversary. When you are threatened by this opponent-the only answer is technique. You must understand how you need to position yourself in order to eliminate your opponent's advantages. How can I move my body to increase my leverage? How can I off-balance my opponent? These are the answers that will help you succeed and survive in the face of a physically superior opponent.

For those interested in competition improved technique is still the answer. My instructor, Royler Gracie, is a great example of technique being more important than size and strength. Royler is the most decorated grappler on the planet. He has won numerous championships both with and without the gi. Royler, although a world class athlete, in most cases, was not the biggest, strongest, or fastest competitor. He relied on his technical prowess to win matches. While we may not be competing at the same level as Royler (at least not yet) we can still learn from his example.

Technique improvement for fitness may be the most evasive example of technical improvement helping achieve one's goal. Think back to the first time you ever stepped on the mats. How long were you able to last? 1 minute? 2 minutes? If you are like most of us the answer is not very long. In order to achieve fitness through jiu-jitsu one must put in time on the mats. In order to put time in on the mats one must have the technical ability to survive.

What do I need to do to get better? The answer is...improve your technique. Now that we know the answer the next logical question is how do I improve my technique? Check back soon for some thoughts and suggestions.

December 06, 2005

The Butterfly Guard

During the Rosendo Diaz seminar I had the opportunity to spend some time working with Rosendo on the butterfly guard.

The position is very useful for those of us that are smaller in stature. It allows the person on the bottom to make great use of their legs in controlling their opponent. This is very important for those that might lack the upper body strength to move their opponent or for times when you may be competing with someone who has a size and/or strength advantage. In addition to control the position is wonderful for reversing your opponent and also for setting up multiple submissions.

Rosendo was able to share some really good insight and fine details of the position with me, and hopefully over the next few weeks I will be able to pass the same tips along to my students.

As a side note, it was nice to see some new faces in class last night. Thanks to Mark Modglin and Jay Luce for stopping by. I hope to see you guys back in class soon.

December 05, 2005

Belt Promotions

The following article was brought to my attention the other day and I felt it was worth sharing. It offers very good insight into the how's and why's of belt promotion.

Belt Promotions

Rosendo Diaz Seminar

Rosendo Diaz completed a great seminar and private class weekend at the Total Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Warsaw. During the seminar we were treated to takedowns both with and without the gi and also great insight on the armlock/kimura combination.

In addition to the sport techniques with and without the gi Rosendo showed some great self-defense techniques.

The seminar was very well attended and all of the students really enjoyed Rosendo techinques and also his teaching style. We are very fortunate to have such great instructors in the RGDA.

A huge congratulations goes out to Branden Beatty who was promoted to blue belt after the gi portion of the seminar, and also to Shereen Hall who was also promoted to blue belt after a private lesson. Both of the promotions were well deserved.

Thanks to everyone who attended.