Monday, May 16, 2011

Jiu Jitsu University

So after plowing through Eddie Bravo's Jiu Jitsu Unleashed, I decided although these were all great techniques, it was perhaps better for me to focus on the fundamentals. So I have located a copy of Jiu Jitsu University , a weighty tome of Jiu Jitsu goodness authored by Saulo Ribeiro and Kevin Howell. This book is divided into several sections, each based on a belt colour and focusing on a different aspect of the game. The author starts off with White belt- Survival, and describes many useful survival techniques, ideal for the new white belt, and progresses on to Blue Belt- Escapes, another handy tool for the player who finds themselves on the bottom alot, (this is me :) ).
Although it is difficult to learn from a book and there is no substitute for hands on instruction, it is useful to be thinking and working on some of these techniques when outside the gym. I have personally been concentrating on some survival positions for the mount and back control, and put them into play and found myself lasting a bit longer. Next time -- "Escapes"!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Back to training!

Okay, so it's been a while. Turns out I did get my rib busted up, tore some of the intercostal muscle and cartilage where ribs meet up with sternum. Took some time to rehab, and now I feel I am good to go. Its been probably about 5 months now since I have been training Jiu jitsu properly, had some days in between but nothing consistent.

So what have I been doing during my hiatus? Well I have been working on my core strength and concentrating on strength and conditioning exercises, lots of circuit workouts and plyo's. In addition I have also been reading a few BJJ books, and hope do do some reviews on these later on, Jiu Jitsu Unleashed-Eddie Bravo, and A fighters Heart-Sam Sheridan, both great reads.



I had my first proper training in a while last Friday, and it felt great, rolled with a bluebelt, and another whitebelt and survived!! This is my main goal at the moment, concentrate on surviving, and being comfortable on the bottom, which is where I end up most of the time. Monday now, so have a lunchtime training coming up soon, and looking forward to it. Will check back in later to update this more often.


L