Tag Archives: forums

Best Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) Forums

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First, the list of top jiu jitsu forums, then some philosophizing by me. If I’m missing a good one or the order is “wrong”, let me know.

  1. Sherdog Grappling Forum
  2. Underground Atama BJJ Forum
  3. Jiu Jitsu Forums
  4. Lockflow BJJ and Submission Forums

Other promising new non-forum forums:

Also, in case you’re interested in judo, hands down (as far as I know) the best forum for judo is JudoForum.com.

Forums are the oldest form of communication known to man. A bunch of people sign up under a real or fake identity, and can say (almost) whatever they want. There are two defining characteristics of a forum:

  1. Everyone’s comment has equal value. Meaning, you can’t up-vote a good comment or down-vote a bad comment.
  2. The design and navigation of the forum has to have the look and feel of a website that was create in the mid 90′s.

internet-tough-guyMiraculously, such flat structure produces some remarkably valuable content amid a sea of unremarkable chatter. The bits of good advice and commentary is extracted by Google for posterity. Say you’re looking for “cutting weight for BJJ competition”. Google is your friend. Type that into the search box and you’ll get some blogs and some forum links. Both will be full of advice from white belt to black belt in a one sentence or multi-paragraph form. It might be from a post made in 2003 or 2013, and either way you’ll probably get some good food for thought.

I try to avoid forums precisely because of point #1 above. It’s easy to get pulled into comments that fuel drama and never get to the comments that have good thought-provoking advice. But still, I think it’s important to regularly go to the forums to get ideas on how to improve your game and also to stay in touch with the jiu jitsu community.

Breaking News: Lloyd Irvin, Keenan Cornelius, Jordon Schultz

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breaking-news-lloyd-irvin-keenan-jordon-atosI heard a bunch of “breaking news” references on the mat over the last couple of days. I find it fascinating that our jiu jitsu community has grown big enough that the news of drama from 100′s to 1000′s miles away reaches everyone from white belt to black belt where it becomes a topic of conversation. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter have created online jiu jitsu celebrities, and not all of them are famous for just their jiu jitsu. Lloyd Irvin is an example.

The Lloyd Irvin off-the-mat soap opera has captured the attention of thousands of people, probably all of them grapplers… Lloyd Irvin’s sexual misconduct, Keenan leaving the team for Atos, Jordon coming along with him, etc.

The sexual misconduct charges are very serious and it’s important for anyone who did anything bad to get punished.

Instead of going on the forums and contributing to the senseless scream-fest, I’ll just do what most of the people I look up to are doing: focus on creating a positive and respectful environment for the people I train with, and make sure there’s no place for drama on the mat. It’s a sanctuary of sorts, and one that has changed my life for the better. All I can do is help pass it on in small ways every day.

Seoi Nage: Post-Criticism

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I’ve recently written a couple posts about seoi nage here and here and also posted a few videos of it up for critique by the kind folks at the Judo Forum here. Because of all the criticism, I found myself questioning every aspect of my technique, which is a great thing for the learning process. I took a couple videos on Monday of a (1) speed throwing drill and (2) regular throwing session.

Putting My Technique up for Criticism

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On an impulse, I put up a video of one of my throwing sessions to a judo forum: JudoForum.com post

The result is a lot of positive and critical comments on the details of the technique. I would summarize the more critical points as:

  • More kuzushi (more pull)
  • Get lower (bend more at the knees)
  • More consistence in throw dynamic
  • More control of uke landing
  • Don’t use crash pad
  • Do standard version of seoi nage before drilling Koga’s version

Each of these points could be argued, but it’s undeniable that they each contain a grain of truth. I’d say that the experience of posting myself performing a technique online for criticism is a positive one. I have a lot to think about and to work on. As long as I don’t take some of the more negative comments to heart, I think I can grow from this experience.

Ben Reinhardt provided links to a few excellent videos on standing seoi nage. One that was particularly interesting to me (and one I haven’t seen before) is of Hidetoshi Nakanishi (1983 world champ) throwing seoi nage for 10 minutes. I downloaded this video and watched it in slow motion. Just doing that over and over is a great visualization tool.

Also, Ben provided links to these three excellent videos: