Category Archives: Review

Review: Ryan Hall’s Instructional on Arm Triangles

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Ryan Hall has released a new 3-dvd set on just arm triangles. Everything I’ve seen of it so far reminds exactly why his instructionals are (in my humble opinion) the best out there today. I’ve been praising his backtake dvd ever since I started jiu jitsu, and it’s probably had more influence on my game than any other instructional.

He presents all the techniques in the context of a unifying system of principles. So he essentially gives you the tools with which to go drill / train to figure out the details that make the techniques work for your body type.

The bottom line is that he can verbally explain in detail all the things that make the technique work. I think a lot of instructionals are more “show” and less “tell”. That’s okay for in-person instruction when the teacher can walk over and fix the stuff you’re doing. But for “one-way” instructionals, the more detail about the principles behind the technique is provided the better. While, in class, I usually like it when the instructor is brief and then walks around fixing stuff. I want the opposite from the instructional.

Given the depth of his explanations, it’s hard to believe that Ryan is relatively young, and also started jiu jitsu relatively late in life. He is truly one of the best teachers of the art that I’ve encountered (never in person). Anyway, check it out, and buy it if you can afford it, so that he keeps making more of them.

Breathing for Warriors

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I went to a seminar on breathing (aka the breathing class) today. It was hosted by Osagame and run by Dr. Belisa Vranich (pictured left).

To me, some of the most interesting ideas that she touched on related to the “warriors” part of “breathing for warriors”. She often works with combat athletes on the physiological and psychological aspects of dealing with immense stress in competition through controlling breathing.

Since the audience of this class today ranged from zero martial arts experience to those that practiced jiu jitsu for 10+ years, I think Dr. Vranich adjusted to a slightly more general discussion and practice of breathing. So more than the many cool ideas she explained, the most important thing I took away is how important breathing is, and that breathing exercises have to become a daily part of my training.

Some Ideas on Breathing

She went over the basic anatomy of how we breath. From that, stemmed the discussion of using our diaphragm to get the most oxygen from every inhale: to breath with the whole body.

There are too many things to talk about here. The ideas are simple, but what makes them powerful is that most of us never think about it. We take breathing for granted. If in a tournament, I am driven to exhaustion and panic, I’ll blame poor cardio. While that’s partially true, getting control of breathing (this requires physical and mental practice) could’ve really helped make “bad cardio” less of a factor.

I will definitely write more about this subject in the future as I start practicing the various exercises she pointed me to. There is, of course, a close tie between meditation, breathing, and yoga. They help gain a better understanding of my mind and body. But at the end of the day, grappling is about kicking ass. The breathing just helps maintain focus and clean technique.

Combat Breathing

One of the cool things Dr. Vranich mentioned is “combat breathing” or “tactical breathing”. It’s a simple 4 count technique to gain control of your breathing after it speeds up due to intense activity or a stressful event.

So, in the world of grappling, it could be something you do between matches, or even in between aggressive exchanges. When I’m passing someone’s guard, I imagine that my heart rate must at times jam up against 200 rpm. And once I pass, I often get 3-10 seconds to regain my breathing and composure before going in aggressively for a submission. I don’t mean that I stall, but I think that a lot of the techniques I do from side control often require less energy than the chaotic process of passing guard.

Holding Your Breath for Time

At the start of the class, and again at the end, Dr. Vranich had us hold our breath for time. I’m sure there are many reasons for doing so, but for me it was fun because I’m competitive as hell. Surprisingly, I held my breath less than almost everyone else in the class, but I did improve a good amount after the long mediation session.

Matt (pictured left) beat almost everyone (probably to show off). I believe he was using performance enhancing drugs, but I can’t prove it yet ;-)

In a way, not breathing made me more aware of how much my body needs oxygen, and how powerful this autonomic process is. It seems that gaining some control of it may pay off big in the competition.

PS: Thanks to Alma Qualli and everyone for putting this thing together.

Top 3 BJJ and Judo Blog Posts of the Week

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I read a bunch of blogs on judo and jiu jitsu throughout the week, and I thought that I’d pick out my favorite 3 every week. First, let me give a shout out to BJJ News (and on Facebook too). They do an awesome job of finding interesting articles and videos on a daily basis.

Here are three posts I liked in no particular order. Check them out, comment, and subscribe to their feeds! Reward informative blogs with your positive feedback. They will appreciate it, and work that much harder.

  1. Are You Consumed With the Question of Why from BJJ Canvas:
    You should always be asking yourself “why” especially when a technique doesn’t work. That leads to a better understanding of the concept behind the technique and in turn helps you figure out how it can work for your style and body type.
  2. Interview with Professor Jacare Cavalcanti from Science of Skill:
    Lots of wise words here from the head of Alliance in US. Including: a team of champions builds “momentum”, and that the job of an instructor is to find ways to challenge everyone no matter how good they are.
  3. Judo Players to Dominate Mixed Martial Arts? from Business/Judo of Life:
    A brutally honest look at judo in MMA from a judo world champion and the mom of one of the star judokas in MMA right now. If your game relies on grips, your throws may not transfer effectively to the cage.

“There’s No Wrong Way In Jiu Jitsu”

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As usual I must type out a bunch of tangential soliloquy before I get to the point of the blog post. Bear with me.

Given my recent work load, my “training” has included a lot of watching of jiu jitsu and judo instructionals and competition footage.

I talk about drilling a lot, but I should also mention that watching instructionals is a really effective way of improving your game. It depends on your personality of course. It works for me. A good instructor sets you on the right path and fixes critical mistakes, but exploring the intricacies of techniques is often something you have to do on your own. That where instructionals come in. I don’t just watch random stuff. I focus on specific positions.

One of my favorite takes on passing the closed guard, for example, is from the online instructional of Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu. I’m a member of his new online training academy at BJJWorldChampion.com. There’s about 15 videos on passing the closed guard alone. I could spend several months just working on those. He basically shows the good solid fundamentals of the like you might find in Saulo Ribeiro’s classic instructional. But he adds a few interesting details to each technique which makes me think about the position in a whole new way. I now know how to take the back off of the stack pass ;-)

Now the title of the post is a quote of Cyborg in one of those videos that grabbed my attention. He introduced the technique as just one way of doing it, and that there is no right or wrong way in jiu jitsu. You have to find the variation that works well for your physical and mental attributes. Cyborg’s basic justification for a technique is two fold:

  1. This has worked for me against the best people in the world in competition.
  2. I think it may work for you as well for the following reasons…

Frankly, it’s refreshing to hear that, because too many instructionals claim their way of doing a technique as THE way. I understand why they do it. Because while there is “no wrong way in jiu jitsu”, there are lots of ways that are most likely going to be wrong for most people. But the cost of that is it discourages exploration and understanding what makes the technique work.

 

Four Hundred Pages on One Technique

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There is something very appealing about a big book that focuses on a single technique. That’s the reason I’ve really enjoyed Marcelo Gartcia’s X Guard book (that’s been out since 2008, before I started jiu jitsu). And that’s also the reason I’m really curious about an upcoming book from Steve Scott exclusive focused on the armbar: Juji Gatame Encyclopedia.

I always felt that the judo community has a very interesting approach to the armbar. The rules of sports judo require that you progress toward a successful submission much faster than in jiu jitsu. Therefore, judo folks can find the armbar from a lot of positions and finish it very effectively. The problem of course, from the perspective of a jiu jitsu player, is that sports judo players are not concerned about “losing position”. By that I mean, they are not worried of giving up their back if the arm bar fails.

Either way, I’m sure there is a lot I can learn from this, and I’ll be sure to buy it when it comes out in a few weeks.

I hope that more people will release authoritarianism books like this that focus on one technique. That allows the student to immerse himself in the system that integrates everything necessary to make the technique part of an effective game. Besides I’ve always believed in exploring different variations of a technique until I find one that I fall in love with. Sometimes a certain way of performing a technique just clicks. I’m always in search of that…